Ouch, sorry to hear that there could be such repercussions through out the local industry for bringing safety concerns to light. In an ideal world there would be some sort of reward for the effort, but you are right. Instead many times you place yourself at risk when you speak up. But if you are comfortable with the Company you now work for wouldn't they have respect for you if you did make a report on the previous idiots you worked for.
I can tell you form years of experience that if the company you work for doesn’t have a "Safe Work Practice and Procedures Policy” in place, they are going to loose a lot more money to accidents then they would have spent designing and maintaining one. Many large companies look at the safety records of a contractor before they will issue them a contract even though they might be the lower bid on a project. In general safety is a good reflection of the quality of the work. Sometimes on critical projects, it's better to pay a bit more to insure that the contractor does a safe and quality job, and doesn't go broke on you in the middle of the project.
It sounds like you are with a good outfit now, but I haven't got a clue what your job title means or weather it is a step up or not.
[This message has been edited by Ray97502 (edited 10-04-2004).]