Accident sheds light on use of Filipino 'guest workers' in offshore industry

(Gallery by Michael DeMocker, NOLA.com and the Times-Picayune)

Grand Isle Shipyard Inc., the company whose workers were aboard the West Delta Block 32 platform Friday morning when an explosion and fire killed one worker, left another missing and injured 11 more, is facing charges of abusive and exploitative working conditions akin to slavery in a federal lawsuit filed by former workers from the Philippines.

The allegations surfaced as the federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which regulates the oil and gas industry, began its investigation into Grand Isle Shipyard and Black Elk, the Houston-based owner of the oil platform that caught fire 18 miles southeast of Grand Isle.

The independent federal Chemical Safety Board announced it also was considering an investigation into the accident and served two subpoenas on Black Elk on Monday.

More information about the crew aboard the platform has emerged as the Coast Guard continues to search for the missing crewman, Jerome Malagapo. The body of contract worker Ellroy Corporal was recovered Saturday night; it is being prepared for return to the Philippines after an autopsy.

Both Malagapo and Corporal are Philippines nationals, according to DNR Offshore and Crewing Services, a job placement and recruitment firm with an office in Manila that brought both men to Louisiana. DNR also is a defendant in the lawsuit alleging widespread mistreatment of Grand Isle Shipyard's workers.

One of the four workers suffering burns during the platform fire, Wilberto Ilagan, 50, also from the Philippines, is now in good condition at the Baton Rouge Medical Center, center officials said. The other three men remain in critical condition.

There are more than 150 Filipino welders, pipe fitters, scaffolders and riggers working in the Gulf, according to the Philippines embassy, and many of them apparently work for Grand Isle Shipyard.

Twenty former employees of the firm, all from the Philippines, filed the lawsuit last year accusing the company of improper treatment of its workers. The suit claims the workers were required to pay between $2,000 and $3,500 a month to live in 10-by-10-foot rooms, six to a room -- some in a work barge in Lafitte and others in a Galliano bunkhouse that had been converted from a bowling alley.

An attorney representing the workers said she didn't believe any of those involved in the lawsuit are still employed by the company. "I know workers on the platform were from the Philippines, but none to my knowledge are our clients," Lori Mince said.

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Accident sheds light on use of Filipino 'guest workers' in offshore industry