MIL-VET Professional Divers LLC

A sad fact of life is as time passes common more & more work place behaviors gradually fall under government regulation. Our government these establishes regulations to "protect us from ourselves". Common sense - is no longer part of corporate work ethic as companies now hire persons with no actual trade or craft skill to dictate how craftsmen should or should not perform certain tasks.

This mentality and practice may look good on paper; however it is and has had deadly results. When an individuals "Degree" is given consideration over an employees documented training, a fire begins to smolder that can and eventually will erupt into an out of control blaze. Bad for Business all around.

Recently an incident occurred in a work place where the individual responsible for plant safety informed an "employee" (a Qualified & documented supervisor) that if they were not satisfied with the answer they were given to write a letter to O.S.H.A. !  

I was that "employee".

Really? - the individual who is solely responsible for the safety of an entire plant and the reputation of the company telling an employee to write a letter... 

"Back in the day", Safety had no actual authority in any yard other than to govern practices and remove or identify hazards; this has now been dumped on Supervisors and crews.  If a supervisor saw or identified an issue, a compliance team was assembled to evaluate and resolve it publicly.

This say's one of two things; that either the Safety & Legal Departments are  not aware of the repercussions - or they are aware of the situation and are silently saying that they just don't care (i.e "I don't want to hurt any ones feelings"). Despite the employees thorough training and knowledge into the violation the Safety & Legal department refused to internally evaluate the situation with the employee to quietly & correctly resolve the issue and the employee was left no other resource but to file a formal complaint.

The real issue:

 "O.S.H.A. was formed to insure every company in the United States complies with understood and Government regulated safety practices. Regrettably many O.S.H.A. offices are manned by similarly "Degreed" or minimally trained individuals with no actual  work experience in the rules they are there to enforce.

Back to the complaint; O.S.H.A. was contacted and the individual was told that the office contacted would have to do; - (now get this) "Research" into the violation and get back to them....

The Government Oversight Office responsible for employee safety nation wide & with all the tech the government spends our tax dollars on (including free access to their own information on the internet); -would get back to them?

Unfortunately, unlike in the past, many companies are just as aware of O.S.H.A.'s lack of real world knowledge - or again they would rather fire the "trouble maker and pay the fine",rather than trust their own employees knowledge and take immediate internal action. There is a false sense of security in both employers knowing O.S.H.A. investigators are getting younger and have less experience as well as the offenders that are being investigated; and concerned employees thinking there will be immediate resolution - it's not going to happen.  It's regrettable that an employee trains their entire career to be a safe and productive worker, bringing skill & previous training and obey the regulations they face retribution from supervisors & co-workers or dismissal and the offender continues to profit unleashed. 

O.S.H.A. regulations are only as good as the individuals willingness to thoroughly and completely understand, investigate and document to offenses and enforce them immediately.  CFR's (Codes of Federal Regulation) are not open to interpretation by the accused or the investigator; they are enforceable regulations in place to prevent workplace injury.

At last report the individual who made the "report" ( again at the insistence of their own safety department) is still working as is the reported and documented offender. In this case as in many the resolution is still pending. After several calls and e-mails to their local O.S.H.A. office there have been no comments.

Several years ago, a friend and son of one of my Sub Sea brothers was killed when a faulty compressor was sent to a job-site he suffocated only 7 feet from the surface. This mans death was preventable and the investigation that should have followed if properly conducted would have shown this. His father though at that time having minimal knowledge of our industry was forced  (and continues) to fight an unnecessary battle alone at great cost. This should Never in this country occur. The men & women who were responsible for investigating his son's death botched their investigation miserably due to their lack of knowledge & skill in the rules they are sent to enforce.  

In the seventies and eighties a number of O.S.H.A. investigators were removed from their post's or arrested for taking bribes that favored the companies that paid for their silence or just solemnly "Looking the other way". Hopefully due to transparency laws this has ceased.

When a company can fire an employee who forgets their ear plugs or glasses but will not investigate possible errors in judgment of the contractors they are also responsible for and covertly attempts to damage the reputation  and credibility of the concerned employee and a government representative is dumbfounded by the rules they are required to enforce than "interpretation"( - industries deadliest word) will continue to thrive.