Divers Drown: The Recordings

The California Department of Water Resources Operations Chief Carl Torgersen says his workers suffered from complacency, the day two divers drowned in the aqueduct. Tim Crawford and Martin Alvarado were performing an inspection dive at the Dos Amigos Pumping Station when they got sucked up against the trash racks by one of the massive pumps. We wanted to give you some of the recordings we obtained under the California Public Records Act that show just how abysmal the emergency response was that day.

Diver Tim Crawford calls Control Room

Dive Tender Mark Madeiros calls Control Room Operator Ken Allen

Control Room Operator Ken Allen calls Safety Manager Bill Collins

Control Room Operator Ken Allen calls Project Operations Center in Sacramento

Safety Manager Bill Collins arrives

Division Chief Jim Thomas orders pump shut down

Control Room Operator Ken Allen calls 911

Sheriff calls Control Room

Project Operations Center in Sacramento calls Control Room Operator Ken Allen

Worker calls Control Room

Coalinga Office calls Control Room Operator Ken Allen

Manager calls Control Room Operator Ken Allen

You can hear from some of the divers’ relatives and see more information about what happened in our first report from February.

For our report, Carl Torgersen told me no one's been disciplined for the divers' deaths. Late today, through his spokesman, Department of Water Resources Director Lester Snow says Torgersen also was not disciplined for the failures of the workers under him. Snow says he has no plans to replace Torgersen.

Comments

[Ted Lobach]

I want to KNOW!!! Was Cal/Osha NOTIFIED PRIOR TO THESE MEN ENTERING THE WATER? What safety protcols or requirements by their employer,such as tie off, extra air, a method of extraction incase of trouble, communication with land(radios etc.)a backup diver!! WHY IN THE HELL NOT?
As a contractor when excavating holes in the ground over 5ft in depth we have to notify Cal/Osha prior to entering the trench fill out forms with a plan and send it toCal/Osha. I am in total dis-belief that a State Agency can get away with willfull neglect. Somebody should be responsible for the death of these working men!!!!!

[Joseph Rego]

Thank you for an outstanding report. I am in utter disbelief that two men lost their precious lives because of a lack of safety procedures. Where was the state safety oversight? Where is OSHA's safety records on this pumping station? What sort of emergency procedures and drills were being followed by this pumping station?

As a marine engineer and a former merchant mariner, this comes as a total shock, especially in an advanced country like ours. The conduct of the staff was absolutely shocking!! They were totally clueless!! It appears that incompetency was the rule of that day!! There wasn't a minuscule sense of urgency on anyone's part. The time wasted all around is simply staggerring. Neither the dive tender nor the control room person were even aware of the basic breathing time the divers had. This incident tantamounts to a homicide or a minimum manslaughter charge against the chief of operations. I was amazed at his nonchalant remarks. Yes, he bears the entire blame (and blame is definitely warranted)in this terrible, needless tragedy.

[Charlie]

I hope the county gets their pants sued off. One of the guys has NINE kids. Jesus. Poor guys and a bunch of untrained mornons. Almost manslaughter and they weren't even suspended. I hope a good lawyer takes the spouses case and really hurts these guys so bad this doesn't happen again.

[Stan]

My condolence to the families of the divers. Especially under this special outrageous circumstances.

Ignoring the tone of voice and just concentrating on content of the dialogue expressed, mutiple delayed responses and reactions...these are ...

(EMPLOYEES WHO ARE TAKING THEIR JOB FOR GRANTED or JUST DON'T GIVE A DAMN)...you have worked with people at one point.

IT IS NOT ACTING CALM UNDER FIRE!

IT IS NEGELECT!!!

I have been there and seen people staying calm and staying on top of the situation.

There were no emphasis on URGENCY for GOD SAKE.

I hope the two, especially the control room person get involuntary manslaugher and/or neglegance. This should include the person who hired the tender without the proper qualifications.

Sadly, I have seen how some government employees works and curruption with the hiring process.

[pwillinger]

I think Mark Madeiros did the best he could for a short handed crew that tragic day. They would not have been short handed if Bill Collins had been doing his job assigned to him that he so oddly backed out of that morning. Bill what could you possibly been doing to not have answered either of you phones, especially the EMERGENCY PHONE !!! Then you make them wait till you get there before action can be taken! You as a diver knew they had minimal air supply. Your actions caused the death of Tim and Martin. Ken Allen, your a discrace. You, yes YOU could have saved them if you had just shut down the pump. Oh, wait, you might of gotten in trouble for not following chain of command. Yet you don't even get your hand slapped for negligant homicide. Jim Thomas, how dare you! The State of California Department of Water Resources should be made to pay and I hope they do, someday soon!

[Grace King]

I worked as a Hydro-electric operator For 14 yrs at Oroville dam. Management was excellent when I first started in 12/89. Then they started replacing retiring mgrs with young, unknowledgable people. They started trying to micro-manage with out the knowledge of our safety procedures. I refused to take orders that I knew were unsafe for personnel as well as equipment. They started harassing me and I was told from others that they wanted me gone. I tryed to stand up for myself and got the union involved. I obtained a right to sue through the fair housing and employment dept. That's when Dave Starks really started harrasing me, along with our new chief (who came from the POC)Terry Dennis. He had several letters placed in my file (which I refused to sign) just to harrass me. I had a lot of on the job injuries with workers' comp restrictions and took an early disability retirement on 3/24/04. Things were just getting too dangerous and I was scared to work in that power plant any longer. I was dianosed with post traumatic stress disorder and the Dept. offered me a nice settlement if I dropped my right to sue. I took it, but now regret it. If I had sued, the employees that are still there may be much safer. I, along with other retirees, keep in touch with a few friends that are still there. There have been so many safety rules violated that it is amazing no one has been killed yet. One of my electrician friends almost did when he was instructed to do something that he knew was wrong and ended up getting shocked with 230kV. He has since retired, but will have life long physical and mental disabilities from it. If you want more of the dirty details of what's going on with DWR, feel free to contact me. At least we used to put a full clearance on the intake before divers were allowed in the water.
Sincerely, Grace King, Oroville Field Division, DWR.

[sarafina]

This accident was not Bill Collins fault. When his schedule was changed, the dive should have been canceled. When the trained dive tender was not available again the dive should have been canceled. The Safety Coordinator and plant operator do not have the authority to order pumps shut down, only Operations Superintendent and the Chief. These workers were following protocol.