TRENTON, Dec. 15 — Senior managers of a New Jersey foundry owned by McWane Inc., the nation's largest manufacturer of cast-iron pipe, conspired for years to violate workplace safety and environmental laws and then obstructed repeated government inquiries by lying, intimidating workers into silence and systematically altering accident scenes, according to a sweeping federal indictment unsealed here on Monday.
The motive, the indictment said, was to enrich the foundry, Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe in Phillipsburg, N.J., and its managers by maximizing production "without concern to environmental pollution and worker safety risks."
The foundry's managers routinely dumped thousands of gallons of contaminated wastewater into the Delaware River, repeatedly exposed workers to unsafe conditions and regularly deceived environmental and workplace safety regulators, the indictment charges.
When one worker, Alfred E. Coxe, was struck and killed by a forklift with a history of brake problems, the indictment stated, the McWane managers "took steps to conceal facts" and instructed one employee to "provide a misleading account" to hide the plant's faulty forklifts from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The managers took other steps to evade regulators, the indictment asserted. They falsified injury logs, submitted false pollution monitoring reports and burned incriminating evidence in the foundry's cupola, a furnace that turns scrap metal into molten iron.
"To Atlantic States' blue-collar work force, composed in large part of immigrants, some non-English speakers, all working in an area with few jobs that could support a family, these defendants routinely presented a harsh choice," Tara Donn, a special agent for the Environmental Protection Agency, wrote in an affidavit that accompanied the indictment. "Perform an unreasonably dangerous work task or lose your job; work injured or lose your job; lie to OSHA or lose your job; lie to environmental regulators or lose your job; forego filing workers compensation claims or lose your job."
In court on Monday, defense lawyers entered pleas of not guilty for Atlantic States and its managers, who were released on bail but ordered not to return to the plant without permission because of reports of witness intimidation.
Later, at a news conference, a lawyer for McWane, the former Whitewater prosecutor Robert Ray, called the company a "responsible corporate citizen" that has demonstrated a willingness to change its culture. While acknowledging "areas where the company has fallen short" in the past, Mr. Ray said that McWane had spent tens of millions of dollars on new safety equipment and pollution controls and remained committed to making all of its plants "model facilities for the 21st century."
"While this is a difficult day and a disappointing day for the company," he added, "the company also knows that it is now in a position to move forward and get through this process."
Prosecutors said on Monday that they had begun their multistate investigation into McWane's safety and environmental record in January, after reading a series of articles in The New York Times and watching a companion documentary by The Times, the PBS program "Frontline" and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The articles and documentary described McWane as one of the nation's most persistent violators of workplace safety and environmental laws. Based in Birmingham, Ala., and owned by the McWane family, a wealthy industrial dynasty, the company employs thousands of workers in about a dozen plants in the United States and Canada.
"What you will see as alleged in this indictment is a pattern of completely outrageous illegal conduct," said Christopher J. Christie, the United States attorney in Trenton. The indictment, Mr. Christie added, is "something, quite frankly, that is well long overdue."
Criminal inquiries are continuing at several other McWane plants around the country, including its largest plant, Tyler Pipe, in Tyler, Tex.
Mr. Ray said the company was cooperating with the investigations but was also fully prepared to defend itself from any additional charges.
According to the affidavit accompanying the indictment in New Jersey, managers were instructed "to instill fear in the workers" to squeeze the most profit from Atlantic States. They screamed, threw hard hats at workers and used racial and ethnic slurs, Ms. Donn wrote.
Ms. Donn told of one worker who asked for time off after learning that his father had two weeks to live. The plant manager's response, she said, was to tell her to stop complaining and get back to work.
Several workers, she wrote, told investigators that members of minority groups and workers who were labeled "troublemakers" were punished by being assigned to "more dangerous and unbearable work stations." One of the worst was near the door of a 2,200-degree oven, she wrote.
Mr. Ray, the McWane defense lawyer, asserted that many of the acts cited in the indictment were "historical" incidents, years old and not representative of McWane's recent efforts to improve its safety and environmental record.
But several events included in the indictment happened no long ago.
As recently as August, according to the indictment, the plant manager ordered up to 100 drums of paint burned illegally in the foundry's cupola.
In May 2002, prosecutors said, plant managers ordered a safety device removed from a cement mixer so that pipe production would not be slowed. Months later, they said, a worker lost three fingers because the device was missing, and the plant manager then "proceeded to orchestrate a cover up to fool the OSHA inspectors."
But on Monday morning, investigators for the E.P.A. appeared at Atlantic States in Phillipsburg and arrested the plant manager, John Prisque, 54, its maintenance superintendent, Jeffrey Maury, 36, its engineering manager, Daniel Yadzinski, 60, and a production superintendent, Craig Davidson, 39. A fifth man, the plant's former human resource manager, Scott Faubert, 40, turned himself in to the authorities.
The men were brought to United States District Court here, where they were met by their lawyers, who are being paid by McWane.
An assistant United States attorney, Norv McAndrew, said in court on Monday that under federal sentencing guidelines all five face six to eight years in prison if convicted on all charges. Mr. McAndrew said Atlantic States could be fined up to $2 million.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/16/national/16PIPE.html?tntemail0 16dec03
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
McWane, Inc.
Media Contact: (205) 871-9774
December 15, 2003: Phillipsburg, NJ — Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company, a division of McWane, Inc., today issued the following statement regarding actions taken by the Department of Justice (DOJ):
We are dismayed to learn the DOJ has decided to take action we believe to be both unwarranted and unnecessary. The charges do not reflect the condition of our plants or the manner in which we conduct our business. Further, the charges do not accurately portray the facts and we look forward to having the opportunity to tell our side of the story in court. In addition to demonstrating that the DOJ’s charges are not true, we are confident this proceeding also will confirm the considerable progress Atlantic States and McWane have achieved in environmental, health and safety excellence through substantial investment and the efforts of management and employees.
The Company is particularly disappointed that the DOJ has chosen to prosecute issues that have been properly addressed by state and federal regulators, despite the Company’s demonstrated progress in creating a corporate culture that demands excellence in the areas of worker safety and environmental compliance. “The matters that are the subject of these charges occurred years ago. Where there was need for improvement we took corrective action, and addressed these issues with the appropriate state and federal regulatory authorities,” said G. Ruffner Page, Jr., president of McWane, Inc. “We have made it clear that we have done and will do what it takes to protect the environment and to provide our employees a safe workplace. We have been deeply saddened when one of our employees has suffered a serious injury or loss of life, and believe we have done our best to ensure that these tragedies are not repeated. The fact is our management team has devoted substantial time, energy and resources to the safety and environmental programs at all of our facilities in an effort to make them the standard for excellence in the industry. We are forward-looking, as are our employees and the unions that represent them. So are the regulatory authorities. We are troubled that the Department of Justice has chosen to take this step backward.”
Over the course of the investigation, McWane has cooperated fully with the DOJ in the hope they would take notice of the depth of the Company’s commitment to environmental, health and safety improvement -- a commitment demonstrated by its investment of substantially more than $150 million in safety and environmental systems at its plants since 1997. In New Jersey, specific projects have included installing a $2.1 million storm water collection system designed to avoid water runoff into the Delaware River, a new $3.5 million air emissions control system, and the latest machine guarding. The Company also has raised employee awareness of workplace safety through extensive, OSHA-approved training and a comprehensive ethics and compliance policy. Moreover, McWane has entered into cooperative initiatives with both OSHA and the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) to improve health and safety.
In recent testimony before the United States International Trade Commission, Leo Gerard, President of the USWA, noted that he expected that the “health and safety practices at McWane will be amongst the highest in the North American foundry industry and certainly in the water fittings industry.” Mr. Gerard also stated, “I give credit to McWane for coming in and taking foundries that would have been on the verge of closing...and trying to rehabilitate them and bring them back to life and invest in both technology and workplace health and safety.”
Over the past year, at McWane’s request, two of the nation’s leading experts in the areas of environment, health and safety have performed top-to-bottom reviews of the Company’s programs: Pat Tyson, former director of OSHA and the immediate past Chairman of the Board of the National Safety Council, and Hank Habicht, former Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
“On the basis of our ongoing review of McWane plant facilities, I believe that the Company, starting with its top leadership, is committed to environmental excellence and cultural change, and has already made major strides toward integrating sound and sustainable environmental practices into all of its operations,” observed former EPA Deputy Administrator, Hank Habicht. “The Company is near completion of an upgrade of its existing environmental programs to include a comprehensive Environmental, Health and Safety Management system consistent with ISO 14000 that is being designed to exceed regulatory requirements.”
“McWane’s present management team has demonstrated a strong commitment to safety,” added Pat Tyson, former OSHA Director. “The Company has addressed those areas that needed attention and continues to work towards becoming best in class at all of its facilities. McWane is a Company that takes safety very seriously and has clearly turned the corner.”
“Over the past twenty years, McWane has supported a vital domestic industry, providing jobs and securing the future of communities in need,” added Mr. Page. “We did this at a time when others in the industry were not expanding operations domestically, but were moving production offshore to places like India and China, or were exiting the business altogether. As we’ve acknowledged before, our period of rapid growth presented challenges to our safety and environmental performance, but our current management team is dedicated to developing state-of-the-art safety and environmental measures and our achievements are plain to see.”
The company will be holding a press conference today at 2:30PM EST at the Marriott Hotel in Trenton, New Jersey. The hotel is located at 1 West Lafayette at the corner of South Warren Street. The press conference will be held in the Hamilton Room on the 2nd floor. The hotel telephone number is 609-421-4000.
All press inquires should be directed to the McWane, Inc. media line at (205) 871-9774.
# # #
source: http://www.atlanticstates.com/press_release_20031215.html 16dec03
ABOUT US
Welcome to Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company Division of McWane Inc. The original foundry was founded on March 3, 1856 as the Warren Foundry and Machine Company. Its purpose was to "Carry on General Foundry business, including the casting of stoves, steam engines, mill gearing, and all or any branch of the Foundry Business."
At the time the Company was established there was no thought of making pipe. It was an era of railroad expansion. Several important rail lines ran to or through Phillipsburg and the founders felt much promise existed for foundry work - especially car wheels.
Destiny changed the Company's course in 1857 - when it was but a year old. It was a year of panic - a year of wild speculation in land and money. The country was in turmoil. That year two English Foundrymen, John Firth and John Ingham came to Phillipsburg. The Company had been making modest quantities of small-size pipe in inclined molds, but Firth and Ingham knew how to make pipe vertically. They joined Warren and in a few months were successfully producing 30" pipe in dry sand pit molds, then successfully applied the process on smaller sized pipe. From then on the manufacturing of Cast Iron Pipe became the Foundry's principle business.
In 1951, the pit cast method was replaced by modern centrifugal casting using metal molds. By then the Company was producing and shipping pipe in Diameters of 2" to 108" for applications across the country.
The foundry was eventually purchased and operated as Shamoon Industries and then later acquired by Canron Industries. The plant ownership changed again in 1975 and became known as Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company.
Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company is a division of McWane, Inc., a major national producer of Ductile Iron pressure pipe, fittings, valves, and hydrants. With its other holdings, McWane, Inc. distinguishes itself as a company that operates pressure pipe plants in each of the country's major market areas. In addition, the parent company owns and operates a coke company and extensive coal mining operations in the Southeast.
Today, Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company is recognized as one of the country's most experienced manufacturers and suppliers of Ductile Iron pipe. The Company's modern facilities, combined with the latest engineering techniques, offer 3" to 36" Ductile Iron pressure pipe and fittings to meet customer needs throughout the Mid-Atlantic, New England states and Canada.
This is a brief history of our plant which today employs in excess of 200 people and produces Ductile Iron Pressure Pipe in sizes 6" to 24" in diameter.
source: http://www.atlanticstates.com/about.php 16dec03
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