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Heat Stifles Shipyard's Productivity

Posted on: Thursday, 28 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

Jul. 28--NEWPORT NEWS -- Northrop Grumman Newport News has allowed thousands of hourly shipyard workers to leave work early this week because of scorching heat.

A yard memo said "foul weather" -- high temperatures -- initiated an early departure program on the George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier in which workers could go home early because of the heat.

Wednesday, that program was extended to the Virginia class submarine program, too.

Yard workers and Navy sailors who worked at the yard -- including on the USS George Washington and USS Enterprise -- said the heat made Wednesday the hottest day so far on the job this year.

Pipe fitter Terry Moore's job -- which entails some small welding jobs -- means he wears steel-toed boots, long sleeve coveralls, a hard hat and goggles. Moore, 45, a 23-year yard employee, worked on the George Washington on Wednesday, and carried a cooler of water around with him all day. "When I see a young guy working real hard in the heat, I go up to him and tell him, 'Hey, be careful, take a couple of minutes off, drink some water and then go back to work.' "

But Moore is no slacker. Every day at lunch, he works out -- outside -- doing an array of pushups, sit-ups and other exercises. And the hottest day of the year was no exception: He exercised in the early afternoon under the cover of a set of outdoor stairs.

Navy first-class electrician's mate Antonio Mirabel Jr., 43, a Bronx native now living in Virginia Beach, called the heat "brutal."

Beads of water accumulated on the walls of the inside of his ship, the USS Enterprise.

"The ship itself was sweating, as if it had a life of its own," Mirabel said. "The ship seemed to be crying out for help."

He added: "This heat is why the military is for young people -- young, tough, people. "It's not for people like me. That's why I'm getting ready to retire." He has less than two years left in the service.

Workers who left under the early departure program, also called "liberal leave," could use either vacation time or be docked pay. The hours not worked are not counted against employees' 40-hour workweek for purposes of qualifying for overtime.

Shipyard spokeswoman Jerri Fuller Dickseski said the yard goes to great lengths to protect its "greatest asset," its workers, and the early departure program attests to that.

"Like many other industries and local employers, we have many employees required to work outside," she said. "We are very much aware of the extreme heat situation and we have worked with our programs where employees are most likely to be affected -- by allowing them to leave early while also trying to minimize the impact on our business."

Some yard workers, however, complained that workers in various machining, piping and other shops scattered throughout the yard didn't fall under the early departure policy, too. "The temperature is hovering around 100 in some of the shops," said Arnold Outlaw, a sheet metal worker and union grievance committee member with the United Steelworkers' Local 8888. "A lot of the shops are just as hot as the ship."

Claude De-Berry, a machinist and a grievance committee representative for the local, said the yard's heat policies didn't go far enough. He suggested the yard should set up air tubes to flow cool air into areas of dead heat on ships like the Washington and Enterprise.

"That's the least Mr. Petters (shipyard president C. Michael Petters) can have his shipyard do for the workers," De-Berry said.

Dickseski said that such tubes are not intended for cooling, but are required by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration for ventilation, like the removal of welding smoke and grit.

But De-Berry said the yard has blow tubes that are used to cool equipment, in addition to the more common air-suction tubes used to ventilate spaces. Some of those blow tubes, he said, could be used for cooling work areas.

"They're talking procedure and OSHA requirements," he said. "But I'm not talking procedure, I'm talking about conditions for the workers. I didn't say it was required. I asked that they make the workers feel cooler than what's in there now. So why not install it? People would be more productive."

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NOC,

Source: Daily Press

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