A perfect storm

Sunday, April 6, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

Nine men have died since late 2006 while helping to transform the look of the Las Vegas Strip.

The men, construction workers, died in accidents while taking part in a building boom whose pace is frenzied.

No single answer for why so many people have died can be given. But the rush to finish is a contributing factor cited by workers. Another likely factor is an oversight system that is clearly softer on safety than it should be.

The deaths, and contributing reasons for them, are being examined during an ongoing Sun investigation by reporter Alexandra Berzon.

One reason why the pace is so furious is that phased construction has been largely supplanted by the idea that it all should be done at once — so that opening nights will showcase the project’s complete splendor. This has not only hastened work schedules, but has also overloaded work areas with people and equipment. After interviewing several workers, Berzon summed up their impression: The pace and scope of the construction is dizzying. It’s all so much, so fast.

The nine workers were killed in eight accidents at the Trump, CityCenter, Cosmopolitan, Fontainebleau and Palazzo work sites.

Whenever something highly unusual happens, such as nine fatal accidents in 16 months, patterns are analyzed to help in determining the cause.

One pattern uncovered by Berzon involves the Nevada Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The agency would cite safety violations contributing to deaths on the job, but later, in private meetings with the contractors, would often withdraw the citations or water them down.

An example is the death of Harold Billingsley, who on Oct. 5 fell through a hole that shouldn’t have been in the flooring while working 59 feet above the ground floor of what will be the CityCenter casino. After a monthlong investigation, Nevada OSHA cited Billingsley’s employer, SME Steel Contractors, for safety violations.

Later, in a private meeting with Nevada OSHA, SME officials argued that Billingsley was solely responsible for his death. The state agency agreed and the citations were withdrawn.

The kind explanation here is that Nevada OSHA is working cooperatively with contractors to improve safety by dangling a carrot rather than wielding a stick.

But there is another possible explanation for Nevada OSHA’s lack of aggressiveness — limited resources. Nevada OSHA has 25 inspector positions for the Las Vegas area, where 927,000 people are employed. And five of the 25 positions are unfilled.

Such a small staff may play a role in reaching agreements during conferences with employers. If there is no agreement, the agency must open another investigation or appear before a review panel. Either option requires time and staff.

Nevada OSHA declined to comment for the Sun’s series, but other experts said citations issued in fatal accidents should rarely, if ever, be withdrawn.

The pattern reported by Berzon is “not a reflection of (federal) OSHA policy,” said Alan Traenkner, who monitors Nevada OSHA as a director in the San Francisco office of the Department of Labor.

Another oddity reported by Berzon after probing the nine deaths is that Nevada OSHA’s post-citation conferences were between only OSHA and the employer.

No union officials availed themselves of their right to attend the conferences to ensure that fairness prevailed for the dead workers’ families and workers in general.

Berzon interviewed the business agent for Ironworkers Local 433, Chuck Lenhart. She reported his stated belief that the accidents that have befallen ironworkers are the unfortunate result of mistakes by the men who died.

“As far as I can see everything looks good out there,” Lenhart said. “My contractors, they’re performing in a workmanship-like manner. What you see is just a result of the sheer number of man-hours.”

Asked why a union representative isn’t attending the conferences, he said, “That’s between OSHA and the company.”

But during a meeting Friday of 200 ironworkers at their union hall, Berzon reports, there was agreement among union stewards that they will now participate in the citation conferences.

What Berzon revealed in her series is a perfect storm in which all construction workers caught up in the Strip’s accelerated boom are facing excess risk.

Nevada OSHA is clearly understaffed and of the mind-set to rarely assess major penalties for safety violations, and it appears the state Legislature won’t intervene anytime soon. Assemblyman John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, chairman of the Commerce and Labor Committee, told Berzon he expects legislation addressing Nevada OSHA to come before his committee during the Legislature’s 2009 session, which begins Feb. 2.

Additionally, there is a question about the effectiveness of contractor-employed on-site safety engineers. Berzon quoted one as saying, “Most of us are (at our companies) because it is mandated to have safety people, not because we have any clout. I’m constantly telling the project managers we need to slow the pace down, but they say the owners won’t let us do that.”

Given the serious issues uncovered by Berzon, we believe immediate action should be taken, rather than waiting for the 2009 Legislature.

Nine deaths are a more than sufficient reason for the state, through the Legislature or the governor’s office, to convene a task force charged with reviewing the safety plans of contractors working on the Strip, and how those plans are being overseen and enforced.

Mark Ayers, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Building and Construction Trades Department, an arm of the AFL-CIO, told Berzon, “Something is inherently wrong, but we don’t know what it is yet.”

We’d better find out, soon.