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 "worker deaths" ...
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House of Horrors
This series follows the devastating facts of the death of a 10-year-old girl and the abuse of her twin brother and how child welfare workers failed to notice the warning signs until it was too late.
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Profiting from Fallen Soldiers
Bloomberg finds that more than 130 life insurance companies have been profiting from the death benefits owed to family service members and government workers.
Tags: soldiers; death benefits; life insurance; Prudential; Met Life
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Profiting From Fallen Soldiers
In this series, reporter David Evans exposed how "more than 130 life insurance companies" devised a system that allowed them to profit from death benefits that were "owed to families of service members, government workers and millions of other Americans." MetLife and Prudential led the scheme. Evans revealed that the companies withheld $28 billion owed to the families of deceased soldiers. The story prompted "almost immediate changes in U.S. government policies."
Tags: life insurance; MetLife; Prudential; Robert Gates; Veterans; taxpayer; American Legion; military
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Fatal Care
“At least 22 children died from 2004 to 2008 despite clear warning signs from the Bureau of Child Welfare they were at risk”. A number of reasons were to blame for the deaths of these innocent children. The reasons include: workers making these “fatal mistakes” were reassigned instead of being fired, the parents mistreating their children were never punished, and secrecy in the Bureau persisted.
Tags: Milwaukee; county; kids; preventable; social service; social workers; turmoil; caseworkers; guardians
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"Prison Predator"
Overcrowding in California's 33 prisons has led to inmate violence, death and an alarming lack of accountability among prisons workers. In the past year, Lancaster state prison has seen two deaths as a result of inmate violence. In both cases, officials have keep quiet. A federal court ruling has asked California prison officials to relieve the overcrowding by releasing 40,000 inmates, though the ruling has been met by resistance by the governor and other politicians.
Tags: Lancaster; California prisons; inmate violence; jail violence; Greg Thomas; Cayenne Byrd; California Department of Corrections
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3F Members Die Prematurely
The story investigated the death records of all members of the union 3F (unskilled workers) and compared this mortality rate to standard mortality rates for the population as a whole. The aim was to see which union members had higher (or lower) mortality rates, and which causes of death were higher and lower compared to the population on the whole.
Tags: mortality; death rates; union workers; unskilled workers; 3F; mortality rates; lung cancer; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; COPD; accidents; heart disease
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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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A Girl's Life
The single 7,500-word story chronicled the life and death of Acia Johnson, a South Boston girl who seemed to be doing everything right: getting good grades in school, becoming a standout basketball player with a chance at a scholarship to go to a good high school and taking care of her younger sister. That was until her house was set ablaze last April in what authorities said was a jealous rage by her mother's lover. Acia burned to death along with her three-year-old sister in her third-floor bedroom closet. Her mother stood, safe, on the ground with the family dog. Her father was in jail. It was the last in a long list of instances of neglect recounted in the story. Anyone could have saved her life--her parents, drug addicts and sometimes violent petty criminals who never managed to get straight' neighbors who knew about the violent family fights and often didn't call police; friends who did nothing though thought it unusual that Acia was left to care for her sister while their parents were out running thr streets; social workers who had declared Acia's parents unfit in 2003 and placed her in the custody of her grandmother but who never figured out that she was still living with her mother. They didn't figure it out even though they frequently visited Acia at her mother's house, including two days before the fire. They didn't figure it out even though her mother reported Acia was living with her when she applied for housing subsidies, food stamps and cash assistance. And they didn't figure it out even though her mother's house was listed as Acia's primary residence at her middle school.
Tags: social workers; arson; child death; neglect; custody; Boston
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American Imports, Chinese Deaths
The U.S. imports $287.8 billion of products from China, however, the Chinese workers have no health and safety regulations. While making the imported products the workers suffer "from fatal occupational disease because they touch and inhale carcinogens," and "have suffered limb and finger amputations because of saw/cutting instruments they use are very old."
Tags: trade; China; worker safety; health; carcinogens; occupational hazard; amputation; disease; imports
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Death in the Energy Fields
This story investigates the underreported fatalies and accidents in the oil and gas industry. The oil and gas industry is "it's own subculture, out of the mainstream; it operates in high rural areas; it's a hugely profitable industry that directly or indirectly controls communities and states, so questions are not raised and concerns are buried. And the victims - the workers and their next of kin - are not well equipped to stand up for worker safety."
Tags: worker safety; oil and gas industry; fatalities; unions; drilling; work accidents; worker-safety agencies