Healy Tibbitts Builders, Inc. v. Director, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs

The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act does not cover “all those who breathe salt air,” but neither is it limited to Popeye. The decedent in this case was killed near the water’s edge while excavating a utility line trench, a job that was part of a project to renovate three submarine berths at Pearl Harbor. We hold today that the Benefits Review Board reasonably concluded that the decedent was a “harbor worker” covered by the Act even though his specific job was not uniquely maritime in nature.

I. Background

Berthing wharves are large, concrete decks that extend from shore over navigable waters, and are used to accommodate submarines and other vessels while they are in port. Healy Tibbitts Builders, Inc. entered into a contract with the United States Navy to replace each 28-foot-long deck with a 50-foot-long deck, as measured from the land to the water’s edge where the submarines dock. The contract required rerouting utility lines that provided power and communication capabilities to the old berths by digging trenches and installing a new underground concrete duct bank, along with several new manholes. This “main duct bank,” which encases conduit through which the…