
DATE: Wednesday, July 16, 1997              TAG: 9707160481

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  102 lines

SHIPYARD WORKERS MOURN 3 DEAD OSHA CONTINUES ITS INVESTIGATION OF THE ACCIDENT

Several hundred workers gathered as the sun rose Tuesday at Newport News Shipbuilding's 50th Street gate for a service to remember three men who died in a Saturday accident at the yard.

``We're here today to honor our fallen brothers,'' said Arthur Keyes, vice president of the United Steelworkers of America Local 8888, which sponsored the memorial service and represents the yard's 12,000 blue-collar workers.

``We're here to offer our heartfelt consolations to their families,'' Keyes said. ``But we don't ask why; we know that God has his reasons.''

The church-like service featured prayers, Psalms and songs. Workers frequently responded to the call of several ministers who spoke with a quiet ``Hallelujah!'' or a boisterous ``Amen!''

Hundreds of Navy personnel and yard workers filed silently through the 50th Street gate as the 45-minute service proceeded.

``Let us remember our brothers and let us remember as we go into work this morning that we are responsible for each other,'' said a tearful Judith Boyd, the Steelworkers' sub-district director.

While the service may have offered some consolation to the workers, it did nothing to quell the rampant speculation in the yard and along Washington Avenue.

The accident is being investigated by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA, shipyard and union officials pressed the investigation Tuesday as shipyard workers mourned the deaths of Richard Thompson, 45, of Virginia Beach, and Newport News

residents Roosevelt Eure Jr., 42, and James Morris Jr., 40.

The workers died on the carrier Harry S. Truman when the pump room in which they were working filled with methane and hydrogen sulfide gases from a sewage leak.

Investigators are looking at everything in the pump room, which is jammed with valves, flanges, welds and pipes that could have failed, said a source close to the investigation who didn't want to be identified.

An OSHA spokeswoman at the Philadelphia regional office said investigators are interviewing people in the yard, examining the accident site and reviewing shipyard records.

OSHA's investigation will take at least a month, said OSHA's Marie Cassady. Investigations of fatalities typically take at least three months and must be completed within six months, she said.

Shipyard officials released updated figures Tuesday showing that its safety record has improved.

In 1994, 18.2 percent of yard workers had a reportable injury and work-related illness. The shipyard industry average was nearly 32 percent that year.

Last year, 13.8 percent of the yard's workers had reportable injuries; in the first six months of this year the rate is 10.3 percent. The percent of workers who lost a day to injury or illness fell from 4.6 percent in 1994 to 2.5 percent last year and 1.6 percent this year through the end of June.

Like the OSHA spokeswoman, a shipyard spokeswoman declined to comment on the speculation surrounding the accident.

The union also didn't want to add to the rumor mill.

``As far as knowing what happened, we're not at liberty to say anything because we don't want to fan any rumors,'' said Paul Stitzel of York County, chairman of Local 8888's Health & Safety Committee.

``The whole idea is to find out what went wrong and correct it so this terrible tragedy doesn't happen again,'' said John Molovich, who was sent to Newport News by the Steelworkers International headquarters in Pittsburgh to support the investigation.

``One thing I'm going to insist upon is that we get to the bottom of this thing quickly,'' Molovich said. ``There's 1,800 people working on that ship. I don't want this thing to fester.''

But it already is.

Workers sitting in a Washington Avenue restaurant, drinking beers at 7:30 a.m. after working the night shift, speculated freely on what might have killed the men.

The Steelworkers union lashed four wreaths to the shipyard's iron fence at the 50th Street gate, a big one from the Local 8888 executive committee and one for each dead worker. Toward the end of the memorial service, three small toy doves were tied above the wreaths to symbolize the three flying home to God.

Led by Arletha Oliver of Newport News, the crowd took up the hymn ``Blessed Assurance, Jesus is Mine.'' Several hundred voices swelled for the refrain: ``This is my story, this is my song, praising my savior, all the day long.''

And after a quick amen, workers filed through the gates to be on the job by 7. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

BETH BERGMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Shipyard employee Robertyne Pearson, right foreground, and others

attend Tuesday morning's memorial service at Newport News

Shipbuilding's 50th Street gate. Below, artificial doves - one for

each man who died - were attached to a shipyard fence to symbolize

the three victims flying home to God. Several hundred shipyard

workers attended the memorial service as the sun rose.

Graphic

The Virginian-Pilot

NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING'S SAFETY RECORD

SOURCE: Newport News Shipbuilding