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Mahaicony employer puts workers’ lives at risk
Stephen Clarke Jnr, who was formerly employed as a welder at M. A. Haimpersaud Construction Service located at Branch Road, Mahaicony, now has steel plates in his left leg following an accident at the said construction site.
Stephen Clarke Jnr
Unfortunately, Clarke is not alone. A co-worker known only as Sanjay suffered the same fate.
Clarke, while cutting a piece of metal using an angle grinder, almost lost his legs as the disc on the machine broke. This was as a result of poor safety precautions on the part of the construction service.
Labour Occupational Safety and Health (LOSH) officers, whom staff of the Government Information Agency (GINA) accompanied, visited the construction site after learning about the incident.
According to Clarke, the event occurred on July 10, last while he was cutting a piece of metal to construct a catwalk. Clarke related to the LOSH officers that the incident happened due to two reasons, one being that the disc being used was not to the manufacturer’s specification and was therefore inferior and that the machine did not carry a protective guard as required.
This is a clear indication as to why there is a need for safety measures to be taken seriously. Safety precautions can determine whether a person lives or dies or as in the case with Clarke, whether he will be able to have the full uses of his leg again.
Clarke related to GINA and LOSH officers that he did not know the disc on the machine was not the original. He claimed that it was only after he was hospitalized that his supervisor informed him that the disc he was using was a substitute.
The accident required multiple surgeries and involved Clarke having steel plates placed into his leg as part of restructuring it.
This brings to mind safety gear for workers. Clarke disclosed that employees are required to find their own safety gear such as helmets, gloves, and dust masks and if they do not have, they are still required to carry out their daily task. In addition, the Labour officers upon their inspection found that most of the machines that were at the construction site were defective. The first aid kit found at the site was useless too.
The officers are requesting that Mr. Haimpersaud take into consideration his employees’ health and most importantly, their lives. According to the LOSH officers, the construction service was in breach of the safety laws and steps will be taken to make sure that the work environ is safe.
Clarke is hopeful that he will be the last person to be injured at the site as he fears that the next person could lose his or her life. (GINA)
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