In a Pasadena union hall near the heart of the Houston Ship Channel, U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, announced plans to reintroduce a bill today that would enable federal prosecutors to pursue criminal cases against employers whose willful violations of safety rules are linked to deaths of contract workers.
Currently, such prosecutions are only possible when a company's violations are tied to the death of a direct employee. In rare cases, prosecutors have used it to put employers behind bars.
Contractor safety bill coming
Green's legislation was inspired by the explosion at the BP refinery in Texas City on March 23, 2005. It killed 15 contract workers, including Jim Hunnings of Pasadena, an employee of Fluor.
Linda Hunnings, his widow, said on Monday that she was "really appalled" when she learned there could be no criminal prosecution of BP under safety laws, despite its OSHA violations in the case.
"Every time I hear my husband and the other workers did not have to die, it rips my heart out," said Hunnings, who retired from her own petrochemical job after the accident.
Hunnings said her husband was "more than a contract worker"— he was a husband, father of her children and a grandfather whom she still misses every single day.
"Everyone in my family wants to see someone prosecuted for this," she said.
Hunnings supports Green's proposal, as well as another bill recently reintroduced by Rep. Gene Green, another Houston Democrat, that would force companies to report to OSHA the deaths of contract workers who die on their premises.
These changes are "real important to me and my family," she said. "Things have to change."
Al Green's bill, called the "Equal Protection for All Workers Act," may have more of a chance now that the composition of the U.S. Congress has changed from a Republican to a Democratic majority, Green said Monday. He has 10 co-sponsors on the bill this time, including co-chairmen of the Congressional Caucus for Labor and Working Families.
"By taking this step to protect all of America's workers equally, we honor the lives of those 15 victims by assuring that employers should not be allowed to ignore the real issue of improving overall safety."
In the BP case, it remains possible that the company could be prosecuted under different federal laws primarily designed to safeguard the environment. A U.S. Justice Department review continues.
Blogalaxia Tags: BP,US Congress,US Justice Department
