Packebush . . . offered Chase the biggest break of his career: Chase Koch, interview by author, 2018; “Koch Fertilizer Announces New Holding Company and Leadership Changes,” press release, Koch Industries, December 5, 2013.
Chase would be the public face of Koch Industries: Chase Koch, interview by author, 2018; “Koch Industries Breaks Ground on Single Largest Project in Company History,” Wichita Business Journal, October 10, 2014; “Koch’s Largest Project: Enid Expansion,” Discovery: The Quarterly Newsletter of Koch Companies, February 2015.
It was an awful day to make a speech: Video of groundbreaking on expansion of Koch Fertilizer plant in Enid.
Chase Koch’s confidence . . . changes in his personal life: Chase Koch, Rudd, interviews by author, 2018; “2010 Year in Review,” Discovery: The Quarterly Newsletter of Koch Companies, January 2011.
Chase and Annie . . . their home: “Buyer of 70 Acres Is Newlywed Chase Koch,” Wichita Eagle, June 10, 2010.
wasn’t what most people might think it would be: Chase Koch, interview by author, 2018.
CHAPTER 23: MAKE THE IBU GREAT AGAIN
Steve Hammond volunteered to become a union official: Hammond, interviews by author, 2013–17.
This question was at the heart of . . . Koch Industries in 2016: Ibid.; for worker fatalities citations, please see this chapter’s endnotes p. 646–48.
Hammond still worked . . . Longshoremen’s union hall: Hammond, Dodge, interviews by author, 2013–17; descriptions of office from notes and photos taken during reporting trips, 2014, 2017.
In 2015 . . . biggest challenge of their new partnership: Hammond, Dodge, Smith, Franzen, McKinney, interviews by author, 2013–17.
The discontent throughout Georgia-Pacific went beyond economic concerns: Georgia-Pacific employee speaking on background, interview by author, 2017–18.
When Koch . . . inherited a new monitoring system at the company: Ibid.; Georgia-Pacific internal TRAX reports, 2008–18. Ten years’ worth of TRAX data, and other documents listed here, were provided to the author by a Georgia-Pacific insider in the summer of 2017 and early 2018. When Koch Industries was given a chance to respond to this material in early 2019, the company provided its own set of TRAX data which differed slightly from the data the author previously obtained. Koch explained that the deviation was due to updates made to the data over time as new cases were added or old ones eliminated. This explanation seemed reasonable. The data showed the same patterns over time, although Koch’s new data showed the problem was worse than indicated earlier—accident rates had increased more steeply and reached a higher level than was evident in 2017 or 2018. The author chose to use Koch’s newly provided data for this book because it was more recent and because the deviations were small.
Between 2005 and roughly 2009, the TRAX data set was spotty: Georgia-Pacific employee speaking on background, 2017–18; Georgia-Pacific TRAX report, 2010.
Georgia-Pacific was reporting six worker deaths a year across the country: Internal Georgia-Pacific safety presentation, slide 4: “Hearts and Mind: Averaging 2 Fatalities a Year Since 2007.” The presentation is undated but includes data through the first quarter of 2017.
Koch Industries was delivered something of a reprieve: Ibid.; analysis of safety procedures at Georgia-Pacific is based on tours of Georgia-Pacific plants in Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia, and interviews with current and former Georgia-Pacific managers and employees named in this chapter.
During the lull . . . injuries declined: Georgia-Pacific TRAX reports, 2007–11.
In 2011, the housing market . . . began to recover: Housing-starts data taken from historic database of US Census Bureau, Department of Commerce, “New Residential Construction,” 2005–17.
Koch’s newly renovated operations . . . were put to the test: Notes and interviews at Georgia-Pacific facilities, 2016; debt ratings from Thomas J. Nadramia and Maurice Austin, “Summary: Georgia-Pacific LLC, Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, Corporate Credit Rating: A+/Stable/A-1+”; earnings from Georgia-Pacific 10-Filing, 2005; Hannan, interview by author, 2016.
Jim Hannan, a rising star within the company: Hannan, interview by author, 2016.
But one stubborn problem emerged in the shadow of the rising profits: Georgia-Pacific TRAX reports, 2011–14.
Injuries jumped sharply between 2013 and 2014: Ibid., 2013–14.
Most alarmingly . . . rate of injuries also increased: Georgia-Pacific TRAX reports, 2013–17.
Hannan joined a group of senior executives: Notes from “Health and Safety Conference,” March 17–March 19, 2014.
Koch Industries changed the way people worked: Dana Blocker, Mark Caldwell, interviews by author, 2016.
Koch Industries tried to mitigate these safety risks: Georgia-Pacific employee speaking on background, interview by author, 2017–18.
a forty-one-year-old man named Robert Wesson: Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection report and accident summary, August 12, 2014; Georgia-Pacific employee speaking on background, interview by author, 2017–18; “Hamburg Man Killed in Plant Accident,” KTVE online, last modified August 13, 2014; Patty Wooten, “Hamburg Man Killed in Accident at Georgia Pacific,” Seark Today (AK), last modified August 13, 2014; internal Georgia-Pacific safety presentation, slide 7, “The Heart,” list of Georgia-Pacific fatalities.
Wesson’s death was the fifth . . . in 2014: Safety presentation, slide 7, “The Heart.”
Sam Southerland was working . . . in Pennington: OSHA inspection report and accident summary, April 16, 2014; obituary of Samuel Eugene “Sambo” Southerland Jr., April 2014.
at Georgia-Pacific’s plant in Corrigan, Texas: OSHA violation detail and accident summary, September 23, 2014; OSHA inspection detail, April 27, 2014; Jessica Cooley, “2nd Plant Explosion Victim Passes Away,” Lufkin Daily News (TX), June 6, 2014; “7 Injured in Texas Plant Explosion,” Associated Press, April 27, 2014; Bailey Woolum, “Nine Injured in Paper Plant Explosion,” KFOR online, last modified April 27, 2014; Gary Bass, “Lawsuit Filed to Determine Cause of Georgia-Pacific Plant Explosion,” KTRE online, last modified August 5, 2014; obituary of Kenneth W. “Kenny” Morris, June 2014; obituary of Charles Wayne Kovar, May 2014.
Georgia-Pacific employee named Lydia Faircloth: OSHA inspection report and accident summary, July 25, 2014; internal Georgia-Pacific safety memo, “Safety Awareness for Everyone,” April 20, 2012; Susan Vernon-Devlin, “Colquitt Woman Killed in Tragic Accident at Georgia-Pacific,” Miller County Liberal (Colquitt, GA), July 30, 2014; Lance Griffin, “OSHA Investigating Georgia Pacific Workplace Fatality,” Dothan Eagle (AL), July 28, 2014.
Wesson was killed at the mill in Crossett: Georgia-Pacific employee speaking on background, interview by author, 2017–18; safety presentation, slide 7, “The Heart.”
six workers had been killed in Georgia-Pacific: Safety presentation, slide 4, “Hearts and Mind: Averaging 2 Fatalities a Year.”
accidents and injuries continued to climb each year: Georgia-Pacific TRAX reports, 2010–17.
Koch Industries needed to change . . . how it would do so: Notes from “Health and Safety Conference,” March 17–March 19, 2014.
Georgia-Pacific was fined $5,000: OSHA violation detail, January 20, 2015; OSHA volation detail and accident summary, September 23, 2014.