Barama has highest workplace deaths for year

Sep 05, 2010 News

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Wood shredder incident…

Wood shredder incident…

– Labour Ministry not satisfied with report, continuing probe

By Leonard Gildarie

With four months of the year still to go, Guyana has recorded an alarming year for industrial deaths with 20 persons being killed so far, five more than the entire last year.
And the Barama Company Limited has the highest number of death incidents per employer for the year- three persons- with the mining and forestry sectors proving the most dangerous places to work, accounting for more than 80% of the fatalities.
In 2008 and last year, a total of 30 persons died on the job, highly alarming when compared to the five workers killed in 1997.
Following the death of 19-year-old Jason Fraser at Barama’s Buckhall, Essequibo location, earlier this week, government yesterday said that it is not satisfied with an initial preliminary report of the incident and will be visiting the site shortly.
“We will investigate this death as I am not satisfied,” said Labour Minister, Manzoor Nadir yesterday.
The Ministry will also be investigating claims that Fraser was being paid $18,000 monthly (US$90), about half of the minimum wage.
Labour officials visited the Essequibo site following the accident and reportedly tendered a preliminary report.
Indications now are that BCL did not look too far for Fraser after he was reported missing since his time card was also not found. With a high incidence of workers just walking off the job, the company may have initially believed that Fraser had left.
However, the incident has left more questions than answers, especially on how the worker ended up in the shredder which opening was reportedly too small.
Grilled on government’s labour inspections on workplace, and especially at Barama, the official said that past checks conducted on the company found that there were “good protocols” in place. But as is evident now, like many companies, the implementation of these workplace safety rules and other systems is where the problem lies.
Hinting at logistical and staff shortages of the Ministry, Nadir, in pointing out that it is virtually impossible to be “everywhere at the same time” inspecting, said that his Ministry has been beefing up work place checks within the last number of years.
Labour inspections carried out on workplaces increased from 3,029 in 2008 to 4,029 last year with monies collected from errant employers moving from $23M in 2008 to $37M in 2009.
Some 83 charges were laid against employers in 2008 but this moved to 116 last year.
For the year 2010, the construction sector recorded two deaths while there are eight in mining; seven in the forestry, two in the security field.
Regarding the incident at Barama earlier this week, which police and investigators are ruling an accident, Fraser was said to have started working at BCL in mid-June as a boiler operator. This is the same department that handles the chipper machine which fuels a furnace.
Fraser was last seen on Monday afternoon, August 30, working on one of the chippers.
An employer reportedly saw that there was a problem with the chipper and stopped the conveyor, reporting the problem to his supervisor.
Checks were made for Fraser but he was not found in his room.
Kaieteur News was told that it was believed then that Fraser had left the work, a common occurrence for employees who are dissatisfied.
However, on Thursday, a security guard called his supervisor early in the morning reporting a nasty smell from the chipper machine that Fraser was last seen working on.
A check on the chipper found wet spots which included oil and another foul smelling substance.
The police were immediately called in and after taking statements, removed the chipper blades and found Fraser’s remains.
Kaieteur News has learnt that the company later found that Fraser had moved from the room he was located to another and that could have been the reason why his belongings were not found.
Fraser’s father, Jason Fraser Sr., on Friday questioned Barama’s safety measures and said that he would be seeking adequate compensation from the company for the loss of his son.
Fraser made the remarks shortly after his son was laid to rest at Suddie, Essequibo.
On Thursday, the grief-stricken father had visited Barama’s Buckhall, Essequibo location where his son’s remains were found.
Fraser told Kaieteur News that he observed that the switch for the wood shredder was near a wall, and that his son would have had to clamber over the shredder’s conveyor belt to reach the switch.
He speculated that Jason may have been pulled into the shredder while clambering over the conveyor belt after switching on the machine.
The youth reportedly worked alone and unsupervised on the shredder.
His older brother, who also worked at the Buck Hall site, alleged that Jason had previously operated another shredder in an area where other workers were present.
The brother said that he last saw Jason at around 12:00 hrs on Monday. He said that after Jason failed to show, he made inquiries but no one seemed to know about his younger brother’s whereabouts.
He alleged that on Wednesday, he approached a senior official who told him that Jason had “walked off the job.”
But the brother said that he expressed doubt that this was so, since the clothing his sibling wore on the job, as well as his boots, were missing.
Jason’s sibling alleged that he asked a female security guard to check the area near the shredder but she refused.
He said that on Thursday, a senior official decided to check the shredder after workers became aware of an unpleasant odour near the machine. According to the brother, the official also became suspicious after placing his hand in the machine and observing blood on his fingers.
After summoning the police, the staff dismantled the shredder and eventually discovered the labourer’s mangled remains.
The body parts were placed in two plastic sacks and taken to a hospital mortuary.
Fraser alleged that officials at the timber company have not divulged any details about the circumstances surrounding his son’s death.
In a statement Friday, Barama officials extended condolences to the labourer’s family and friends.
The release said that Fraser died “as a result of a very unfortunate incident involving one of our chipper machines located at the Barama Buckhall Factory.”

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