United Steelworkers (USW) International Vice President Gary Beevers issued the following statement concerning the explosion and fire of an offshore petroleum platform in the Gulf of Mexico today:

“We are thankful that no one was killed in the explosion today of an offshore petroleum platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Unfortunately, one person was injured and that is one person too many."

“This latest explosion shows that we need to make sure all these rigs in the Gulf are safe to operate before we put personnel back to work on them. I would hate to see a worker killed in our haste to reopen the Gulf to drilling. We need to give the government adequate time to do its inspections and ensure adequate health and safety provisions are in place ... more