| IMCO General Construction, Issue No. 2 |
October 2000
|
The Contractors Critic
IMCO General Construction Reporting on Safety, Productivity, and Honesty in the Construction Industry.
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NEGLIGENT AND DISHONEST?
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IMCO charged with
killing TWO CHILDREN AND ONE ADULT IN AN EXPLOSION
IMCO was hired to build a
water storage and pipe facility adjacent to the City’s Water Treatment
Plant in Whatcom Falls Park in Bellingham, Washington. Tragedy struck the City
of Bellingham when on June 10, 1999, a pipeline, owned by Olympic Pipe Line
Company, ruptured and consequently killed 2 children and 1 adult. Olympic Pipe
Line is publicly blaming IMCO, in newspaper articles and a lawsuit, for the
ruptured pipe that caused this disaster. According to Olympics court suit "…a
piece of heavy equipment operated by IMCO, repeatedly struck and damaged a
segment of Olympic’s pipeline leaving a series of dents, gouges and scrapes
readily visible…". The court documents also state that "…IMCO knew…it had
damaged Olympic’s pipeline…(and) IMCO covered up and buried the pipeline with
dirt….concealing the damage." Olympic stated that IMCO did not apprise anyone of
the damage to the pipeline. According to Olympic, if IMCO had not damaged that
section of pipe, there wouldn’t have been a rupture. If IMCO had informed
Olympic about the alleged damage, then perhaps the cost would have been reduced
from loss of precious life to just a few extra dollars.
|
"...IMCO knew it had damaged
Olympic's pipeline.... IMCO covered up and buried the pipeline with dirt....
concealing the damage." |
When dealing with safety, most contractors make the safety of the
construction worker and ultimately the public their number one concern. The
Critic strongly agrees with that practice. If Olympic's charge is true, it is
safe to say that IMCO does not abide by that practice and this is just another
example of where IMCO puts the financial bottom line above everything else. If
IMCO is to blame for this horrific, preventable accident, The Critic maintains
that regardless of the amount of financial responsibility that is ordered by the
court, it can never equate to the loss of a childs life, much less two of them.
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LAKE STEVENS PROBLEMS
Lake Stevens was in need of a clean up due to an algae problem. The City of
Lake Stevens, Snohomish County and Drainage District 8 are now experiencing
costly problems with an IMCO installed aerator system. Since the aerator was
first turned on back in 1994, it has cost $434,000 in repairs and more repairs
are still needed. The estimate for total repairs is approximately $600,000.
According to an article in the Everett Herald dated August 21, 2000, "...KCM
Inc., which designed the system, permitted contractor IMCO General Construction
Co....to change the construction." | | | | | |
