An autopsy has confirmed that saw mill worker David Smartt died of cardiac arrest as a result of electrocution and the Ministry of Labour has launched an investigation into the incident.
Smartt, 19, of Welcome Street, Rosignol, West Bank Berbice, died on Monday while he was working at Ousman and Son’s Sawmill, where he was employed.
A post mortem, which was conducted Thursday, confirmed the cause of death, according to Smartt’s relatives.
Labour Minister Manzoor Nadir, meanwhile told Stabroek News that a preliminary report was concluded but he noted that the owner of the sawmill did not report the incident to the Occupational Safety and Health Department of the Ministry. “It is the obligation of every employer to immediately inform the [department] of any job related incidents like this,” he explained. Nadir said that he was unable to give more details of the investigation since the officer was still in Rosignol at the time.
Police have also launched an investigation into the incident. So far, the sawmill manager has said the company does not know how Smartt was electrocuted, since he was not operating any machinery at the time.
Meanwhile, speaking to Stabroek News via the telephone, Smartt’s mother, Pamela, said he the eldest of her four children had given seven years of service to the sawmill. “After he deh with he father on the cart is suh he end up at the sawmill, as a lil porter boy pushing cart with lil sawdust,” she said.
Smartt was 12 years old when he started working. At that time, he had only a primary school-level education. “…Since he start wuk he is the one you can depend on,” his mother said.
Smartt’s father, Pamela added, worked “donkey cart” and the boy would often accompany his father. In June of this year, she said that Smartt’s father passed away, making the young man the head of the home.
The 42-year-old woman, who has been a domestic worker all her life, said that when he was younger Smartt “use to runaway steady to his grandmother at D’Edward.” She said that they would be searching for him for weeks sometimes before they learnt of his whereabouts. However, she said that when he began working, “he change much, much, he was a quiet going child. He don’t fight with people and suh.”
Pamela also said that she did not know how much her son would get paid or what it was he did at the sawmill. “I know he wuking as a porter,” she said. “I don’t know exactly what he use to do there.”
Pamela said that her family was poor and has been living at their address since she was born.
Her two older daughters are also domestic workers, she said, and Smartt would usually contribute financially to the home when he got paid.“Whaeva he give as a home we tek it and say thank you,” she shared.
With Smartt no longer around to contribute to the home, Pamela said that “we lef God in charge of it. God is going to tek over his part.”
The woman said of Smartt’s early introduction to the work force that while the family was aware of child labour, at that time it was not as serious an issue as it is now. “He’s not the first child to work at the sawmill. A lot of children work there,” she added.
“There are support mechanisms that exist for poor people but putting their children to work below the age of 15 is not an option,” Nadir, however, told Stabroek News. Sawmills are being targeted by the Labour Ministry, which has been receiving complaints of child labour, Nadir said, but he added that it has been difficult to prove same since the evidence of child labour is cleared by the time officials get to the site.
Nadir noted that lack of physical evidence of child labour is a hindrance to prosecuting those who exploit children. “We have to physically find them on the job,” he explained, if a solid case is to be made out against the perpetrators, especially in court.
