BALTIMORE — Federal regulators last year sanctioned the company that chartered the Dali, whichin Baltimore Tuesday, for firing a whistleblower who had reported safety problems on one of the company's vessels to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The first mate reported that"the lifeboat block and releasing gear were inoperable, crew members were in possession of alcohol and drinking onboard, the emergency fire pump was not working, trainees were standing watch unsupervised, and the cargo hold bilge system needed repairs as it was causing flooding," according to the DOL report.
Months later, after hearing no word about when he would return to the vessel, the first mate received notice from Maersk that he was being fired. Maersk justified the firing by saying he failed to follow the company's procedure for dealing with safety issues: bringing them up with higher-ups in the company to be fixed before notifying the coast guard.
In layman's terms, the policy allows the company to fix the problems before informing federal officials, preventing any consequences that could be brought down by an immediate investigation. , which protects whistleblowers who report safety issues to the coast guard. "The conjecture that many have drawn is that this lack of whistle blowers was because most employers had a company policy in place to prevent employees from directly contacting the USCG, OSHA or other regulatory bodies," the blog post said.