The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "construction workers" ...
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KOMO TV: Under the Bridge
Our ongoing investigation “Under the Bridge” began with a tip about workers drinking on the job and ultimately uncovered a pattern of design flaws, construction mistakes and contract violations made in the building of the largest floating bridge in the world.
Tags: Bridge; design; construction; contract; flaw
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Las Vegas Construction Deaths
Workers had been dying at a rate of one every six weeks -- 12 deaths in 18 months -- until contractors made sweeping safety improvements after the Las Vegas Sun revealed that poor safety practices and lax oversight by state regulators had contributed to the fatalities. Before the story, construction safety had been a non-issue in Las Vegas. The deaths were considered the cost of doing business in a $32 billion building boom, the biggest in Las Vegas history. High-rise construction is dangerous, authorities said. Contractors and state regulators blamed many of the accidents on the dead workers themselves. This investigation found those arguments were "plainly wrong."
Tags: Occupational Safety and Health Administration; Las Vegas; construction work; worker deaths; property; contractors; Nevada state regulations
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Does State Fund Control Contractor Pure Premium?; Pure Premium Decision Reveals Doubts About SCIF Expenses
State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF) us a quasi-governmental provider of worker's compensation insurance and has been found to not be fairly competing with private insurance companies. The SCIF controls enough of the market to have an effect on the pure premium rates. Also, State Fund affects how much personal and business consumers end up paying in construction costs.
Tags: Worker's Comp Executive
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Bay Bridge: A Special Investigation
This investigation of the Bay Bridge centered on allegations made by 20 welders who worked on the construction of a new Bay Bridge span -- the largest ongoing transportation public works project in the country. The workers alleged they were pressured to conceal substandard welds in the bridge's foundations and that they witnessed the contractor concealing injuries from health and safety regulators. The investigation continues, with pending results of the attorney general investigation, lawsuits and the state audit.
Tags: Bay Bridge; transportation; corruption; Department of Transportation
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Deadly Consequences
This series investigates an explosion at an excavation site in the Northern California suburb of Walnut Creek that killed five workers. It was known that a high-pressure petroleum line was in the immediate area, but the reporters used public records and extensive reporting to find out how it was ruptured.
Tags: Freedom of Information; FOIA; worker safety; California Public Records Act; OSHA; construction; gas
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Construction workers' safety net full of holes; State tries to stop death in the trenches
This series, which originally sought to identify the most dangerous jobs in Washington state, investigates preventable deaths among construction workers in the state. The investigation also looks at both state and national laws which do very little to punish those responsible with any serious fines. According to the questionnaire, "if you pollute a wetland in Washington State, you are liable for more fines than if you oversee a construction site where someone is likely to fall to their death."
Tags: workplace safety fines; trench deaths; OSHA
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The money pit
This story involves an often repeated complaint by consumers concerning home renovation. Dateline NBC sent a few reporters undercover to investigate what goes on behind the scenes. Interviewing people who had been through the remodeling they revealed that most often the time the time and the cost taken to complete the project is way more than the initial estimate. They also found that many a times the contractors were over-billing their customers.
Tags: home remodeling; construction; construction workers; contractors; home decoration; remodeling
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"Destructive construction"
A lawsuit involving the electrocution of a crane worker prompted this investigation that uncovered a loophole in the enforcement of safety laws. Texas law requires an electrical insulation device be used when cranes work near power lines. But because Texas relies on OSHA, a federal agency, to regulate and enforce workplace safety, the Texas law wasn't enforced. A spot check by reporters of numerous crane operators in the area showed they were not using the insulation device as required by law. The story prompted changes at OSHA and at the county level.
Tags: cranes; electrocution; OSHA; Department of Labor; NIOSH
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Building Homes: Building Problems
"A yearlong investigation by the Orlando Sentinel and WESH-NewsChannel 2 into new-housing construction in the region uncovered a systemic lack of quality control by builders who are producing too many homes too fast, with not enough trained workers and inadequate oversight." The investigation consisted in a survey of new home construction in the state of Florida and the inspection of 406 homes built in 2001, that were randomly selected from the 18,000 new homes sold in Central Florida that year done by engineering students at the University of Central Florida. "The reporting attributed the cause to the construction of too many homes too quickly, by a poorly trained and supervised work force dominated by illegal migrants, with inadequate oversight by regulators."
Tags: building; homes; construction; Latino; Hispanic; immigrants; illegal; inspection; workers; migrants; Florida; subcontractors; Mexicans; engineering; homeowner; builder; CAR
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Building a record of death
National Engineering & Co., a construction company in Ohio, came under fire in the early 1990s after recording eight worker deaths in 12 years. This rate was three and one-half times the construction industry's national average. In 1992, they were overseeing the construction of the Main Avenue Bridge, even though they had paid numerous legal settlements, including one to the family of a mother and daughter who died after a temporary bridge built by National collapsed as they were driving over it.
Tags: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); National Engineering & Contracting Co.; construction accidents