The validity of government safety awards has come under question in light of the bestowing of such honors to companies responsible for two of the country’s worst accidents this year.

 

Six months before the Upper Big Branch coal mine accident in West Virginia, where 29 men died in April, owner Massey Energy received three Sentinels of Safety awards from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and the National Mining Association. The awards were the most ever presented in a single year to one mining company, going all the back to the Herbert Hoover years.

 

Following the Upper Big Branch accident, the Department of Labor, which oversees the MSHA, said Massey had underreported its employee injury record, upon which the awards were based.

 

A similar embarrassment occurred with the Minerals Management Service (MMS), which presented Transocean, owner of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that exploded and sunk less than a year after the company was given the 2009 Safety Award for Excellence (SAFE) for its operations in the Gulf of Mexico. The accident killed 11 workers and unleashed the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

 

MMS officials almost had another gaffe on their hands because BP, which was leasing the oil platform, was in the running for a 2010 SAFE award at the time of the explosion. The award ceremony was canceled, and BP was dropped from the list of finalists.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Coal Mine, Oil Rig Disasters Highlight Problems with Government Safety Awards (by Kimberly Kindy, Washington Post)

Mine Safety Administration in Rare Move to Shut Down Dangerous Coal Mine in Kentucky (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)

Interior Department Gave Deepwater Horizon Operators Safety Award in 2009 (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)