KBR faulted in soldier’s electrocution

[unhappycamper]

KBR faulted in soldier’s electrocution
By Matthew Cox - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 22, 2009 17:58:34 EST

An Army investigation calls the electrocution death of a U.S. soldier in Iraq “negligent homicide” caused by military contractor KBR Inc. and two of its supervisors.

In a document obtained by The Associated Press, an Army criminal investigator says the manner of death for Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24, has been changed from accidental to negligent homicide because the contractor failed to ensure that “qualified electricians and plumbers” worked on the barracks where Maseth died.

The Special Forces soldier from Pittsburgh died of cardiac arrest on Jan. 2, 2008. He was electrocuted while taking a shower in his barracks in Baghdad.

Maseth’s death occurred four years after an Army Corps of Engineers report warning that these electrical hazards on bases were a “killer of soldiers.”

Two electricians who formerly worked for KBR in Iraq testified at a July 2008 Congressional hearing that qualified supervision of electrical work on KBR jobs was “sorely lacking” and that many of the employees KBR hired were third-country nationals and Iraqis who weren't properly trained.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/01/army_negligenthomicide_012209w/%2e

[grannie4peace]

1. i wish they could close kbr down!!!