Top 15 Companies Reporting Deaths for Contractors
| Company Name | Deaths | Percent of Total |
|---|---|---|
| L-3 Communications (includes Titan) | 358 | 27.90% |
| KBR | 95 | 7.40% |
| Sandy Group | 57 | 4.44% |
| PWC Logistics | 54 | 4.21% |
| DynCorp International | 46 | 3.59% |
| Hart GMSSCO LTD. | 41 | 3.20% |
| ArmorGroup International Limited | 36 | 2.81% |
| Kulak Construction Company | 30 | 2.34% |
| Blackwater Security Consulting | 29 | 2.26% |
| Prime Projects International | 27 | 2.10% |
| Aegis Defense Service | 26 | 2.03% |
| EOD Technology, Inc. | 25 | 1.95% |
| Al- Naseem Company For General Trading | 22 | 1.71% |
| Sallyport Global Services | 20 | 1.56% |
| The Shaw Group | 20 | 1.56% |
Data from the Labor Department's Longshore Case Management System and analyzed by the Los Angeles Times and ProPublica.
Numbers include all deaths reported to the Labor Department from 2003 to Dec. 31, 2008. Figures included contractors killed by acts of war, industrial accidents and illness.
Profitable Policies
The system produced hundreds of millions of dollars in out-sized profits for the private insurance companies, of which American International Group was the largest. The top firms raked in more than $1.5 billion in premiums ultimately paid by U.S. taxpayers, earning nearly $600 million in profit.
| Company | Net Earned Premium | Payments and Expenses | Underwriting Gain | Percent Gain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIG | $1,305,827,000 | $805,740,000 | $500,087,000 | 38% |
| ACE | $88,608,000 | $64,487,000 | $24,121,000 | 27% |
| CNA | $110,722,000 | $52,722,000 | $58,000,000 | 52% |
| Chubb | $7,940,000 | $4,902,000 | $3,038,000 | 38% |
Data compiled by House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, May 15, 2008
Skyrocketing Costs for Injured Contractors
Total payments for health care and compensation benefits jumped 14-fold, to more than $170-million annually
| Year | Cases Paid | Compensation for Lost Work | Medical | Total | Average Per Claim |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 516 | $7,212,869 | $2,198,061 | $9,410,930 | $18,238 |
| 2002 | 430 | $5,480,592 | $2,101,403 | $7,581,995 | $17,633 |
| 2003 | 688 | $7,885,666 | $3,452,728 | $11,338,394 | $16,480 |
| 2004 | 1592 | $19,432,369 | $10,647,020 | $30,079,389 | $18,894 |
| 2005 | 3080 | $36,140,994 | $23,656,467 | $59,797,461 | $19,415 |
| 2006 | 5039 | $66,973,732 | $48,781,929 | $115,755,661 | $22,972 |
| 2007 | 11887 | $100,319,949 | $69,815,704 | $170,135,653 | $14,313 |
Data supplied by Department of Labor
The More Serious the Injury, the More Likely the Protest
In cases where workers suffered an injury resulting in more than four days of lost work, companies filed a protest in about 43% of cases, the investigation found. Even in cases where a worker was killed, the carriers filed protests in more than a third of cases.
| Injury Type | Total Cases | Cases Disputed | Percentage of Disputes |
|---|---|---|---|
| No lost days of work | 19,261 | 1,089 | 6% |
| More than four lost days of work | 8,948 | 3,865 | 43% |
| Deaths | 1,283 | 476 | 37% |
| Less than four lost days of work | 1,112 | 245 | 22% |
Data from Labor Department's Longshore Case Management System and analyzed by ProPublica and the Los Angeles Times.
Insurance carriers may file multiple disputes in any one case. Carriers may also file disputes to protect their legal rights and provide them time to gather information. The Labor Department does not count a dispute as "genuine" until the case has developed to show disagreement between two parties.
For the purposes of this analysis, any initial protest filed by a carrier was counted as a dispute since all such protests have the potential to delay medical or compensation payments to injured contractors or survivors.
Disputes over attorney fees were not included in the count.
Produced by Dan Nguyen and Krista Kjellman, ProPublica
