13 electrocutions, few answers
Jim Higgins
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/army_electrocutions_071908w/
Posted : Saturday Jul 19, 2008 8:12:06 EDT
Halliburton KBR improperly installed electrical wiring or failed to fix
known electrical hazards at U.S. bases in Iraq that resulted in the
deaths of 11 service members and two civilians, family members and
former employees of the contracting giant testified at a Congressional
hearing.
Electrical hazards in showers, swimming pools and work spaces have
killed 10 soldiers, one Marine and two civilian contractors since 2003.
Sen. Robert Casey, D-Penn., expressed frustration that the latest
electrocution, which caused the death of Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth on Jan.
2, 2008, occurred four years after an Army Corps of Engineers report
warning that these electrical hazards on bases were a “killer of soldiers.”
“That’s October 2004 and we are sitting here in 2008 and we are still
talking about this,” Casey said, describing his disgust that Maseth, a
Special Forces soldier, lost his life while taking a shower in his
barracks in Baghdad. “That’s an abomination.”
Maseth’s mother, Cheryl Harris, testified at the Senate Democratic
Policy Committee hearing, telling lawmakers that she has learned that
KBR found the electrical hazard during an inspection of her son’s
barracks 11 months before his death. She listed deficiencies such as
that “the building’s main circuit panel, the secondary feeder panel and
the water tank were not grounded.” In addition, the “wiring leading into
the secondary electrical panel was not sized properly for the main
[circuit] breakers, did not have proper thermal coating and did not meet
U.S. or British electrical codes.”
Harris became upset, her voice quivering several times during her
description of how her son “lay in electrified water until he was
discovered by a fellow soldier who kicked the door down. There, lying on
the ground, was my son’s body, burnt and smoldering,” she said. “One of
the soldiers who attempted to rescue Ryan was himself severely shocked
because the electrical current was still running through the water and
pipes in Ryan’s bathroom.”
The hearing, “Contractor Misconduct and the Electrocution Deaths of
American Soldiers in Iraq,” was the 17th before the committee on alleged
waste, fraud and corruption by large contracting firms hired to provide
services to troops overseas.
KBR officials were invited to the hearing but did not attend. In an
e-mailed statement, a KBR representative said the company’s
investigation so far has not turned up evidence of a link between its
work and the electrocutions.
“We continue to conduct technical inspections on all facilities serviced
by KBR throughout Iraq to ensure safe and proper operations for those we
serve,” spokeswoman Heather Browne said in the statement.
In a written response to several questions Casey raised on the issue
during an April 8 hearing, Gen. David Petraeus, commanding general of
Multinational Forces-Iraq, said the 13 electrocution deaths in Iraq
“occurred under the following circumstances: five died from contact with
power distribution lines, two installing communications equipment, two
performing maintenance on generators, two taking a shower, one while
power-washing equipment and one while swimming. The only two events that
occurred inside billeting facilities (both while taking a shower) were
on different bases in Iraq and occurred 3½ years apart (May 2004 and
January 2008).”
Petraeus also stated in the response that the Defense Contract
Management Agency “has directed KBR to implement a theater-wide, full
technical inspection of all maintained facilities where no prior
inspection was performed. Additionally, DCMA directed KBR to perform
life, health and safety inspections on all other maintained buildings to
begin necessary repairs.”
But Debbie Crawford, an experienced electrician and former KBR employee,
questioned KBR’s ability to perform such inspections, based on her
experience with the company from July 2004 to July 2006.
“It’s like the fox watching the henhouse,” she told lawmakers.
Crawford, a journeyman electrician with nearly 30 years of experience,
testified that qualified supervision of electrical work on KBR jobs was
“sorely lacking” and that many of the employees KBR hired were
third-country nationals and Iraqis who weren’t properly trained.
“The KBR employees supervising these electrical contractors often had no
electrical experience at all,” Crawford said. “How can you effectively
supervise electricians when you don’t understand what they are doing or
what the potential ramifications are if it is not done correctly?
Qualified electricians found it difficult to deal with the complacency,
the lack of leadership, the lack of tools and materials and the lack of
safety. … Time and time again we heard ‘This is not the States,
[Occupational Safety and Health Administration] doesn’t apply here.
You’re in a war zone, what do you expect?’ and ‘If you don’t like it you
can go home.’ ”
Larraine McGee blames the Pentagon for not doing enough to prevent her
son, Staff Sgt. Christopher Lee Everett, from being electrocuted while
power-washing the underside of a Humvee at Camp Taqaddum in Iraq on
Sept. 7, 2005.
In a December 2005 report, the Army stated that the “generator supplying
electricity to the power washer was improperly grounded, resulting in an
electrical current passing to the power washer and through the water in
the hose to the nozzle Chris was holding,” McGee said.
“When the Army presented this report, they led me to believe that
Chris’s incident was the first such fatality. They told me outright that
as the result of Chris’s death, all generators across Iraq were being
properly grounded so that this would not happen again.”
It wasn’t until April of this year that McGee said she learned that her
son was the fourth person to be electrocuted in Iraq at that time and
that the military was warned about these hazards in the 2004 Corps of
Engineers report.
“My son should never have died. Ryan Maseth should have never died,” she
told the committee. “Proper grounding is a basic safety requirement. The
problem was known about long before Chris’s death.”
There were no representatives from the Pentagon at the hearing, but
Casey said the Defense Department needs to immediately address the issue.
“If I were working for the Department of Defense … I would want this
problem corrected — right now,” he said. “I would want to demonstrate
without question to the American people that this problem is fixed; that
no one will ever lose their life in Iraq this way.”
When contacted after the hearing, the Pentagon released a statement
declining comment, saying the matter had been referred to the Defense
Department Inspector General’s office for investigation.
--
Civis Romanus Sum
Mr.Smartypants
> 13 electrocutions, few answershttp://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/army_electrocutions_071908w/
The US is a CAPITALIST nation and as such making MONEY comes ahead of
everything else.