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JUDY WOODRUFF: As a candidate,
President Trump called for the
largest expansion of the Navy

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since the Reagan administration,
but his latest budget proposal
contains more modest short-term

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increases.

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Still, it would boost business
in the U.S. shipbuilding
industry, which, despite serious

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safety violations in the
past decade, continues
to win billions of
dollars in contracts to

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build Navy and
Coast Guard vessels.

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Aubrey Aden-Buie of Reveal, from
the Center for Investigative
Reporting, has the story.

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JOHN WILLIAMS, Injured in
Accident: I love you, baby doll.

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WANDA WILLIAMS, Wife of John
Williams: I love you, too.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE:
Wanda Williams' life
changed forever when her
sister-in-law rushed to her

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house in 2014.

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WANDA WILLIAMS: And she
got out of the car crying.

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And she said that John got hurt
and he was hurt really bad.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Wanda's
husband, John, nearly died in an
accident at the shipyard where

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he worked.

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WANDA WILLIAMS: We would have
never thought that this would
have happened to him, because

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this is things that he
did every single day.

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He went to work as my husband,
and he came home as a child.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Wanda
now takes care of her
husband 24 hours a day.

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The accident happened three
years ago at a VT Halter
Mississippi shipyard.

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A surveillance camera recorded
as Williams' crane lost balance
and suddenly tipped over.

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His co-worker, Willie
Horne, saw it happen.

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WILLIE HORNE, Co-Worker: The
boom pulled back and it just
bounced back all kind of ways.

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And he was just messed up.

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His head was crushed.

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That stuff like that, it's
just something that you
just can't forget like that.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: The
accident crushed Williams'
skull and left him blind.

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For months before the accident,
he had complained about the
crane's broken load sensor.

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VT Halter re-installed the
sensor two days earlier, but the
Occupational Safety and Health

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Administration, or OSHA,
later determined it
wasn't fully operational.

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There is a history of serious
accidents at VT Halter.

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A few years earlier, two
workers were killed applying
paint thinner inside a tugboat.

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In this crawlspace, while
working with insufficient
ventilation and without
explosion-proof lights,

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vapors built up over 600
times the legal limit,
igniting in a flash fire.

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Joey Pettey barely
escaped the blast.

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JOEY PETTEY, Accident Survivor:
The explosion, when it happened,
it blew doors and hatches

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and electrical panels,
boom, boom, boom.

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When that third one
hit, it blew it out.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: OSHA
investigated and called
that accident horrific
and preventable, and

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fined the company over $800,000.

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But a month following
the explosion, the Navy
awarded VT Halter the
contract to build this

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ship, worth $87 million.

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JOEY PETTEY: The contracts
are pretty hefty amounts,
and the fines is really low.

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It seems like a slap on the
wrist when you got that kind
of money rolling around.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: We repeatedly
reached out to VT Halter,
but they declined to comment

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or to be interviewed.

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They're one of seven major
U.S. shipbuilders that contract
with the Navy and Coast Guard.

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Our review of federal contracts,
court records, and OSHA files
found that, since 2008, the

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federal government has awarded
more than $100 billion to these
companies, despite serious

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safety lapses that have
endangered and killed workers.

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In neighboring Mobile, Alabama,
Austal USA is building some
of the country's newest naval

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vessels.

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Huge aluminum modules are
assembled into warships on
the banks of the Mobile River.

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But dozens of its workers have
been injured by a power tool
used to cut through metal.

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Their own top safety manager
dubbed it the widow maker.

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MARTIN OSBORN, Injured
in Accident: The day
of my accident, I was
using the miller, as

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it is called at Austal.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Martin
Osborn is a welder at Austal.

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MARTIN OSBORN: I was up in a
boom lift, as we call it, or a
man lift, up in the air about

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40 feet, cutting a lifting
lug off the side of a module,
and had a violent kickback.

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It kicked out of my hands
and went across my left
hand, cutting me pretty bad.

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I didn't take my glove off,
because, I knew if I did that,
I would have blood everywhere.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Before
Osborn's accident, Austal
modified the Metabo
grinder by replacing

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the standard disc with
a sawtooth blade made
by an outside company.

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This made the tool more
versatile, able to cut
through aluminum more quickly.

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But the manufacturer of
the grinder specifically
warned against using
these blades, saying

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they cause frequent kickback
and loss of control.

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MARTIN OSBORN: I have seen
pictures of people getting cut
in their face, in their necks,

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in their thighs.

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It's the most dangerous tool
I have ever put in my hands.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Does
Austal know that the tool
is as dangerous as it is?

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MARTIN OSBORN: Yes,
ma'am, they do.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Company
e-mails among Austal's
managers obtained by
Reveal show that, even

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before Osborn's accident, they
called the modification lethal,
and the grinders an accident

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waiting to happen.

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Yet, according to Osborn,
Austal workers still
use the grinder daily.

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MARTIN OSBORN: I have
had numerous supervisors
tell me that, you
know, if you don't want

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to use the tool, go get
a job at Burger King.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Despite
repeated requests,
Austal declined to
comment for this story.

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The company has received
more than $6 billion in
Navy contracts since 2008.

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But when OSHA concluded the saw
exposed workers to amputations,
severe lacerations, and other

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injuries, they fined the
shipyard just over $4,000.

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Austal's own records show at
least 50 workers were injured
by the tool in four years.

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BRIAN DUNCAN, Attorney:
Why would any manufacturer
or any company continue
to use a tool after

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dozens and dozens of
people have been injured?

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Attorney
Brian Duncan is representing
Osborn, along with eight others,

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in a lawsuit which he
hopes will bring more
than just compensation.

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BRIAN DUNCAN: I hope, when there
are companies out there that
have intentionally, knowingly

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violated safety standards, that
somebody will come in, in that
scenario and will hold those

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people accountable.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: David
Michaels, the head of OSHA under
former President Obama, was

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until recently in charge of
enforcing workplace safety laws.

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He acknowledges that
OSHA's maximum penalties
are insufficient,
capped by federal law.

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DAVID MICHAELS, Former OSHA
Director: They're tiny compared
to the contracts that many of

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these companies get
from the government and
from the private sector.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: He says
that the real power the
government holds is in
awarding the contracts

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themselves.

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DAVID MICHAELS: The biggest
fine is a million dollars,
two million dollars.

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That is petty cash for these
companies that get $100 million,
$200 million, $300 million

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contracts from the Defense
Department to build
ships that are protecting
the United States.

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We need to be protecting
our workers as much as
protecting our shores.

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MATTHEW PAXTON, President,
Shipbuilders Council of America:
I know Navy puts a high priority

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on safety, as do our shipyards
that are building those ships.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: President
of the Shipbuilders
Council of America,
Matthew Paxton, says the

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government does consider safety
records when awarding contracts.

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MATTHEW PAXTON: I think they
take that into a whole lot of
considerations that they have

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to figure out on
their contracting end.

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And there's many requirements
that go into that beyond safety.

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But safety's in there.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Yet,
the Navy's history of
awarding contracts to
companies with repeated

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violations suggests that
it places little emphasis
on safety records.

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NAVSEA, the Naval command
responsible for shipbuilding
contracts, declined an on-camera

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interview, but a spokesperson
said in an e-mail that
it's up to OSHA, not
the Navy, to enforce

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federal safety laws.

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They added: "We are not
the overlords of private
shipyards when it comes
to workplace safety."

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DAVID MICHAELS: The
Navy has the power.

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They can easily say, if
workers are hurt, if you don't
follow the basic commonsense

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safety rules, you don't
get any more contracts.

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That would have a huge impact.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Former
President Obama signed
an executive order
that required companies

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to disclose three years of
safety violations when vying
for large federal contracts.

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But a federal court
blocked that order.

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And, this spring, Congress
drafted a resolution to
overturn it altogether.

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SEN.

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MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY),
Majority Leader: The regulations
aren't issued in a vacuum.

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They have real economic
consequences that can
harm the middle class.

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They can kill jobs, raise
prices, depress wages
and lower opportunities.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: President
Trump signed the resolution into
law, meaning companies don't

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have to disclose their
safety records when
competing for contracts.

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That same month, Senator
Elizabeth Warren asked
the Justice Department
to open a criminal

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investigation into VT Halter.

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SEN.

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ELIZABETH WARREN (D),
Massachusetts: We want
to get to the bottom
of why people have died

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and what kind of responsibility
the company itself has.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: Warren wants
the Navy to scrutinize safety
records when granting contracts

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to all shipbuilders.

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SEN.

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ELIZABETH WARREN: And in the
same way that they look at
how much is it going to cost,

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they also need to look
at whether or not this is
a contractor who injures
and kills employees.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: At Austal's
shipyard, Martin Osborn still
frequently uses a sawtooth blade

09:37.900 --> 09:40.466 align:left position:20%,start line:83% size:70%
like the one that
cost him his finger.

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He says nothing will change
unless shipyards are made to
pay a price for putting workers

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at risk.

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MARTIN OSBORN: We're not
worried about if you get cut
or the next guy gets cut.

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We just put another guy in your
place and move on down the road.

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AUBREY ADEN-BUIE: For the
"PBS NewsHour," I'm Aubrey
Aden-Buie in Mobile, Alabama.