A reading of the report entitled “Preliminary Inquiry into the Fire Aboard Trawler `Captain Lloyd 97’’ leaves one wondering whether any part of the government functions remotely how it should.
Why in the first place this report should be styled a `preliminary inquiry’ is itself subject to an inquiry but perhaps enough time has been wasted. It has taken nearly six months for this report to make its way into the public domain. In its scope it was a report eminently presentable after a good week’s work.
Considering the horrors that were found aboard the vessel and in the safety practices of Pritipaul Singh Investments (PSI) it verges on dereliction that upon this discovery there wasn’t an immediate investigation of practices aboard all local trawlers plying the deep sea and which activities have resulted in a number of deaths no doubt caused by atrocious labour conditions.
In this particular case, the captain, Mr Delbert Williams was severely burnt and disappeared at sea following the fire. Eighteen-year-old Orlon Munroe succumbed at the Georgetown Hospital after several weeks in agonizing pain. The proximate cause of this calamity was a faulty alternator aboard the vessel which caused sparking that ignited fuel. The inquiry found that there had been several notes in the company’s worksheets of a malfunctioning alternator.
There was one on January 4, 2010, another on February 15, 2010, another on March 10, 2010 and another on May 31, 2010. Yet the Fleet Operations Manager at Providence, Mr Wilfred Singh told the report that while he knew that there was a problem on the vessel he was not cognizant of the specifics. The report was left to conclude that PSI was in clear breach of its obligation to outfit the captain with a seaworthy vessel.
There are two other enormously troubling aspects of this tragedy. Both on board the vessel and at various PSI installations there was a thorough neglect of safety practices. The lifeboat aboard the vessel had no paddles. How was it expected to provide safe passage from disasters such as the one on June 19? The bow line attached to it was also of insufficient length. There were no fire buckets, parachute flares, orange smoke signals or signal lamp on board.
At the Providence Shore Operations, the nonchalance with which safety was treated led to the report concluding that “It is abundantly clear that the emphasis in the company is to maximize production, which is expected and understandable, but this ought not to be achieved at the expense of Health and Safety of employees and contractors
“Personnel are clueless as to the requirements necessary to maintain functioning and serviceable fire-fighting equipment, hence the unacceptable state of these equipment. No safety management exists at this facility”.
Second, there were serious human resources problems. Key management personnel were unqualified for the tasks that they were allotted and in relation to the ill-fated trawler, young men without much experience were cast onto the dangerous high seas. Aside from the captain, on board the trawler were Mr Munroe who had no maritime training, 20-year-old Mr Keith Adams who had no maritime training and was on his first voyage, 18-year-old Mr Elvis Todd who had no maritime training but was on his third trip in six weeks and Mr George Fitzpatrick, 40, who had no maritime training but had been at sea for about 20 years.
It is shocking that such inexperienced young men are being sent into harm’s way at sea when maritime training and safety standards should be adhered to. It would be unfair to broadly extrapolate but in this one case four out of the five crew had no maritime training and three were between the ages of 18 to 20. How typical might this be?
It is clear from this report that serious infractions of the law have occurred and there exists liability for a death and a presumed other which should see those culpable at PSI and elsewhere being charged. Yet, there is no hint of this in the report which however went on to take the liberty of making anodyne recommendations to the company of the order of ensuring all emergency and safety equipment must be on board among others.
It has been apparent for sometime now that PSI is one of those companies in good favour with the government which has enabled it to treat the public with contempt. One would expect that very soon, the `Preliminary report’ composed by the team will be made final and that this will be passed onto the Guyana Police Force and inevitably to the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions for the necessary investigations.
Thus far neither of the pronouncements by the Ministry of Agriculture or by the Minister of Labour inspire confidence that the government will make a serious attempt to bring PSI to book and to improve the working conditions of the hapless crew members who were aboard the vessel that day. The Minister of Labour, Mr Nadir, who should have been anxiously awaiting the report to determine whether there were egregious labour law violations could only say that he was still to see the report. Given that the report was released by GINA and via his colleague, Minister Benn, Minister Nadir should have had a head start on his mission of determining why his labour officers failed to discern the horrific conditions that prevailed on the `Captain Lloyd 97’ and which conditions are more than likely prevalent in other companies.
The Ministry of Agriculture for its part on Thursday issued a warning about licensing and stringent examinations. Considering what was found and not found aboard the Captain Lloyd there would be little confidence that the ministry could get the job done.
The ordering of an immediate, phased and detailed examination of the ocean-going trawlers and a review of the skills levels and training of crew members would have been more appropriate.
Blame is also attributable to the Guyana Association of Trawler Owners and Seafood Processors. Where is its condemnation of the conditions aboard the trawler and what has it since done to ensure safer practices? What does MARAD have to say?
The families of those who perished at sea in this and other cases and the public at large await the pronouncements of these organizations on safety issues.
