Explosion in Oconomowoc pushes WisDOT toward safety reviews

Daily Reporter (Milwaukee), Apr 11, 2008 by Sean Ryan

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation and city of Oconomowoc might soon review contractors' safety records before hiring them.

Donald J. Miller, WisDOT project development director, said after the April 2 explosion in Oconomowoc, where Dorner Inc. was rebuilding Wisconsin Avenue for WisDOT, he asked his staff to include safety reviews in its planning as an overall update of the department's prequalification practices.

"We'll take a look at this particular investigation and this circumstance to see if a change in practice is warranted," Miller said. "It could be something we could incorporate if we determine it's appropriate."

Diane Gard, Oconomowoc city administrator, said she asked the city's Department of Public Works staff a month ago to look into safety record consideration because the city is bidding more road contracts. Gard said Oconomowoc must figure out if the practice conflicts with city obligations under state law to award contracts to the lowest responsible bidder.

"The only place where I'm hesitant is with the public bidding process; are there limitations to what we can ask?" she said. "What flexibility do we have?"

WisDOT policy is to use its prequalification forms instead of its prequalification process to disqualify contractors for jobs, Miller said. The prequalification forms are meant to judge contractor's ability to perform work to determine if they can handle certain jobs, he said.

Miller said in his seven years at WisDOT, he never saw debarment proceedings (PDF) undertaken for safety violations alone, but they often contribute to the overall decision to begin an investigation. He said that, depending on what investigators find in the Oconomowoc accident, debarment could be considered for Dorner of Luxemburg.

There is no specific line item for safety records, but WisDOT agents take safety into account by looking at financial disclosures, which include payments of Occupational Safety and Health Administration citations, Miller said. It's OSHA's job to police sites and determine punishment for violations, he said.

On top of that, contractors receive extensive safety reviews from insurance and bonding companies to get the coverage they need to work on state jobs, he said.

Best practices for the insurance industry includes top-to-bottom interviews about safety with employees of contractors that request coverage, said Larry Michael, producer for Brehmer Agency Bonding and Insurance Inc., Butler. Insurers also check on company's workers' compensation rates as set by the state, he said.

There is no industry standard for determining when to deny requests for insurance, and all companies are judged based on comparisons to other contractors in their industry, Michael said.

"They do it relative to other contractors," he said. "We're doing business with thousands of contractors. Some of them say they have a great safety program. Well, compared to others, they may or may not."

WisDOT and We Energies on Thursday worked with the city to set up additional safety precautions to get Dorner's road project moving again, said Dave Beguhn, Oconomowoc chief of police.

We Energies responded Wednesday to Dorner's claim (PDF) it contacted We Energies' agents as soon as crews smelled gas coming from an underground pipe that sparked the explosion. On the morning of April 2, a We Energies agent visited the site before Dorner began digging in the area and told the contractor to call the utility immediately if it discovered any unidentified pipe, said We Energies spokesman Brian Manthey.

"They were just looking at a pipe and, without consulting us, they had just assumed that it was abandoned," Manthey said. "They were working on it, on the pipe."

The pipe was put out of service 30 or 40 years ago, Manthey said, but utilities didn't start keeping records of pipes it closed until the 1980s. That's why it wasn't marked after Dorner contacted Diggers Hotline and We Energies while planning for the project.

The pipe in question was connected to the main gas line running down Wisconsin Avenue, and was capped farther down the line on South Worthington Street, so there was still gas running through it, Manthey said.