Worker fatigue high at Connecticut power plant

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Two people affected by the explosion of a Connecticut power plant that was being built say workers had been spending more than 80 hours a week at the site.

The son of killed pipefitter Ray Dobratz told The Associated Press on yesterday that his father had told him he was working 12 hours a day, seven days a week, for six months.

Erik Dobratz says his father told him others were also working long hours because they were under pressure to finish and were exhausted.

Paul Gaskins, who was working on a steam turbine at the time of the explosion, says they worked 12 to 13 hours every day. He says they were not rushed.

A spokesman for the contractor, O&G Industries Inc., would not comment. A message left at Keystone Construction, where Dobratz worked, was not immediately returned.

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