Do CEO Bonuses for Worker Safety Do Any Good? Massey Trial Begins
- Energy, mining companies linking pay to safety have tripled
- Only 12% of compensation on average tied to incident rates
Don Blankenship during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on May 20, 2010. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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Massey Energy was one of a handful of mining and energy companies that tied its chief executive officer’s bonus to safety performance in 2010. Today, former CEO Donald Blankenship goes to trial on charges stemming from a West Virginia mine explosion that killed 29 workers, the U.S. industry’s deadliest in almost four decades.
Blankenship had his bonus cut by about $150,000 that year for failing to meet safety goals. He still got a $669,000 award because only 10.5 percent of his annual bonus was tied to safety.