Title supplied by cataloger.; Photograph was edited for publication purposes. On June 24, 1971, a methane gas explosion in a water tunnel killed 17 workers of the Lockheed Shipbuilding & Construction Company. A crew of workers was digging a 5.5 mile-long tunnel, 170 feet underground for the Metropolitan Water District. Seventeen men were killed in the blast or in the flames and suffocating smoke that followed, and it was almost 10 hours before firefighters could remove the first bodies. The explosion was the second in two days at the Metropolitan Water District's San Fernando Tunnel. The company was bankrupted after being found guilty of gross negligence and in violation of state safety laws, was fined $106,250, and paid out $9.3 million in civil judgements. The disaster led to changes which gave OSHA the power to impose fines and shut down hazardous job sites. Photograph caption dated September 3, 1972 reads "A jury supervisor pull names of jurors at random. This doesn't mean they'll serve." The employee is standing in front of a box on a table, next to an American flag.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;26 x 21 cm. Photographic prints
Employees--California--Los Angeles Civil service--California--Los Angeles Flags--California--Los Angeles Women--California--Los Angeles Los Angeles Herald-Examiner photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
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