The Center for Public Integrity

Workers at plants billed as the nation’s safest are dying in preventable accidents: explosions, chemical releases, crane accidents and machinery-related crushing and asphyxiation, a new investigation by iWatch News finds.

There are 2,400 work sites across the country dubbed “model workplaces” by the federal government for their commitment to safety. But since 2000, at least 80 workers have died at these locales and investigators found serious safety violations in at least 47 cases, iWatch News discloses in the first in a series of reports on “Model Workplaces, Imperiled Workers.”

All of the workplaces are part of the Voluntary Protection Programs run by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The program was started during the Ronald Reagan administration on the theory that partnering with industry could improve workplace safety. Membership benefits include an exemption from the agency’s regular inspections. Participating sites range from chemical plants and refineries to shipyards and sawmills.

Supporters say VPP is a more effective way of getting companies to improve safety than traditional enforcement methods. Critics and former OSHA officials contend even one death at a “model” facility, coupled with safety violations, suggests a failure to meet the program’s goals.

Read the full story here.

A version of the story will appear on PBS Need to Know July 8. A second installment that focuses on some of the nation’s more dangerous industries will appear at www.iwatchnews.org on July 11.

Iwatch News contributor Rick Schmitt discusses his recent investigation on flaws in the nation's background-check system for gun purchasers. Millions of law enforcement and mental health records aren't included in the checks, leading to catastrophes like those in Tucson and Virginia Tech.

iWatch News reporter Kristen Lombardi was on MSNBC today discussing our new investigation on substandard school buildings on U.S. military bases and the pressures that puts on kids.

The Center for Public Integrity, one of the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit investigative news organizations, has named Gerard Ryle director of the Center’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

Ryle is currently deputy editor of The Canberra Times. He has more than 25-years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor and his work has won four Walkley Awards, the top Australian award for journalism, for which he has also been a finalist 12 times.

Ryle will lead the ICIJ’s headquarters staff in Washington, D.C., as well as oversee the consortium’s 100 member journalists in 50 countries. The group’s work appears in iWatch News.org, published by the Center, as well as media outlets across the globe.

“Gerard is a top investigative reporter and editor with strong global credentials,” said Executive Director William E. Buzenberg. “He is one of the most decorated journalists in Australia and his stories have had a major impact on that country’s laws and public policy. I’m confident his strong investigative instincts will continue to advance ICIJ as a leader in cross-border investigations worldwide.”

Ryle was born in London and holds dual Irish and Australian citizenship. He spent 12 years at The Sydney Morning Herald where he held numerous positions, including investigations editor. Earlier in his career, Ryle worked for The Age and The Irish Press. Ryle has uncovered some of the biggest stories in Australian journalism – from orphaned babies used for medical experiments to police corruption and crooked land deals.

Center Staff Writer Kristen Lombardi has been named a 2011 Nieman fellow. She is one of 24 journalists from the U.S. and abroad who will take a sabbatical year of study at Harvard University.

The fellowship is funded by the Neiman Foundation for Journalism. Kristen will study the legal and social conditions that promote wrongful convictions, particularly the impact of institutional misconduct and the consequences of systemic resistance to reform.

Learn more here.

Center for Public Integrity Senior Reporter Jim Morris gave the 11th annual Upton Sinclair Memorial Lecture for Outstanding Investigative Reporting on May 18 in Portland, Ore. The lecture is sponsored by the American Industrial Hygiene Association.

Morris specializes in environment and public health reporting and has lately been digging deep into worker safety problems in the oil refinery and asbestos industries. Read more about Jim’s remarks here.

The Center for Public Integrity and NPR have received a prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for the story “Seeking Justice for Campus Rapes.”  

The Center’s 12-month investigation with NPR showed that students who have been the victim of sexual assaults on campus face a depressing array of barriers that often assure their silence or leave them feeling victimized a second time. Meanwhile, students found responsible for alleged sexual assaults on campuses can face little or no punishment and go on to graduate, as colleges and universities ignore the problem.

“This was a meaningful and powerful investigation,” said Center Executive Director William E. Buzenberg. “The Center for Public Integrity is delighted to have collaborated with an excellent team from NPR in exposing a deeply troubling fact of life on too many campuses across the country. We know that as many as 50 million Americans read, saw or heard these compelling stories.”  

The NPR series was reported by correspondent Joseph Shapiro, who worked in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity’s lead project reporter, Kristen Lombardi. NPR’s investigative team included Robert Benincasa and Susanne Reber; the Center’s team included Gordon Witkin, David Donald, and Kristin Jones.

“I’m pleased the story has had such a clear impact on public policy,” said Lombardi.  “It spurred congressional action on Capitol Hill and led the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen its oversight of how colleges and universities handle campus rape cases.”

Spring is journalism awards season and we’re delighted that the Center for Public Integrity and partner NPR have received a prestigious Dart Award for the story “Seeking Justice in Campus Rapes.” The award is bestowed by the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma at Columbia University.

“This series combined far-reaching investigative reporting with powerful personal stories to expose a pattern in which college students found responsible for sexual assaults face little punishment, while their victims receive little help,” said the Dart Center in a statement. Center journalists Kristen Lombardi, Kristin Jones, David Donald and Gordin Witkin were named in the award, along with Joseph Shapiro, Robert Benincasa and Susanne Reber from NPR.

Our health care analyst Wendell Potter continues to give unprecedented insight into how insurance companies make money and game the system. We’re particularly proud that Wendell’s book, Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans, just won the Ridenhour Book Prize. The prize is given in honor of investigative journalist Ron Ridenhour.