Austal USA to make fixes to combat ships Strength of Navy becomes election issue

The USS Gabrielle Giffords, a 416-foot trimaran designed to destroy mines, hunt submarines, interdict drugs and rush humanitarian relief to distant shores, bears the name of the former congresswoman. Austal When the USS Omaha made its debut at the Austal USA shipyard in Mobile, it was deemed a very impressive sight. It's an Independence-class littoral combat ship with a futuristic design that sits high above the water.

(Austal)

Since 2011, dozens of workers at the Austal ship manufacturing plant in Mobile, Alabama, have been maimed by a dangerous cutting tool that management had referred to as the "widow maker."

Between January 2011 and March 2015, 53 workers were injured by the tool, suffering gashes to face, neck and arms, while some even lost fingers, according to Austal injury logs obtained as part of an investigation by the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR).

Austal workers on the manufacturing side of the business raised concerns to health and safety officials at the company in March 2011, saying that workers had complained about the cutting tool, calling it "unsafe" and warning that "someone is going to get hurt."

The tool, originally a grinding device manufactured by Metabo, is designed to cut through metal in straight lines, but Austal swapped out the original discs for saw blade-style discs that are faster and can carve around edges.

The operating manuals that come with the tool specifically warn against using saw blades, stating in the operating manual that "such blades create kickback and loss of control."



One worker that lost a finger in February 2014 from using the modified cutting tool, told CIR that it was the most "dangerous tool that I have ever put in my hands," while adding that the accident had left him depressed and still in extreme pain.

Another Austal worker, who ultimately had a finger amputated after severing the bone in his finger from using the tool, said that he had asked managers to give him a safer version of the cutter, but was ignored. "It's fast, it's cheap and it's available," said the employee on why Austal wouldn't get safer tools. "They're just about 'get the boat out, get it done.'"

Despite $60,000 in fines and penalties handed down by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for exposing workers to "to amputations, severe lacerations, and other injuries," around a quarter of the 4,000-strong workforce at Austal might still be using the tool today, according to Austal workers.

"The government expects that contractors, such as Austal, should not only deliver a good product, but also conduct operations in a safe manner," Joseph Roesler, OSHA's area director in Mobile, said when he announced fines against the company in 2014.

Austal has appealed the fines and penalties.



Despite the injuries sustained to its staff, Austal's top safety manager stated in a 2015 email to employees that all injuries sustained from the cutting tool were because of "carelessness, improper use and complacency."

Current and former Austal employees have opened a lawsuit against the company, claiming it intentionally endangered them by forcing them to use the cutting tool that managers knew to be dangerous. The manufacturing of the tool Metabowerke GmbH and Metabo are also named in the suit along with Southern Gas and Supply Inc., which supplied the tools to Austal.

"How does any company in America sit there and say, 'I'm going to have dozens and dozens of my employees injured using the same tool,' and not get another tool?" said Brian Duncan, an attorney for the workers. "To me, it rises to the level of intentional misconduct."

A court in Mobile has allowed the lawsuit to move forward, although Austal has already appealed to the Alabama Supreme Court to have the suit quashed.

The appeal is pending.