If investigations into the death of crewman Parmanand Ramroop find the Guyana Power and Light Inc (GPL) liable, then compensation will be forthcoming to his family, according to company Chief Executive Officer Bharat Dindyal.
Ramroop, 21, of Danielstown, Essequibo Coast, fell from a ladder and died while on duty at Richmond, another village situated on the coast. Unlike 19-year-old Sean Scott, a contracted worker who was hit by an electric wire while on duty in Berbice and later died, Ramroop was a full-fledged employee of the company.
Scott, a linesman, was about to belt up to a utility post in Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, when he was hit by a live wire, which sent him crashing to the ground. Scott, who had sustained severe electrical burns, succumbed to his injuries at the Georgetown Public Hospital. To date, Scott’s family has not received any compensation for his death
Dindyal had explained that Scott was an employee of one of the company’s subcontractors and, therefore, not a beneficiary of compensatory packages. He had said that if investigations into the man’s death found his employer culpable, then it was the contractor who would have been liable to provide compensation once such provisions existed.
Ramroop, however, was confirmed by Dindyal to be a GPL employee, which would require the company, according to Guyana’s labour laws, to pay compensation to his family if it is found that his own negligence was not to blame for his death.
Dindyal explained that if the investigations into the man’s death found the company to be liable, then its lawyers would advise the company to make some kind of compensation to the family. He added that the family may also opt to secure legal counsel to represent its interests on the issue.
He added that if the family does not have representation, the company would seek to ensure that it retains some form of legal guidance so as to prevent a scenario where family members feel forced into accepting the compensation being proposed by the company.
He maintained, however, that they “are still in the process of determining exactly what led to his death.”
The responsibility of investigating the deaths of both young men falls within the purview of Chief Labour Officer Charles Ogle. When Stabroek News approached Ogle on the status of investigation surrounding Scott’s death, he had explained that the investigation had not yet been completed since his office lacked information pertinent to the completion of the investigations. Ogle had said that a request was made of GPL to provide the said information, with which he would be able to complete his investigations. It is not clear if this information was ever received.
When contacted again this week, Ogle said the volley of labour-related activities held recently had usurped the time and attention of his offices. As a result, he said, he was unable to comment on the current status of the investigations.
Whether or not Scott had been trained had been a contentious issue both during his hospitalisation and after his death, especially since Guyana’s labour laws demand that persons working in high risk fields, as he was, be formally trained.
Despite claims by GPL officers that GPL staff as well as those of its subcontractors received formal training from the company, the boy’s aunt had said that he never received any formal training. The woman had said that prior to becoming an employee of the contractor, Scott would normally tag along with his older brother, who also worked with the contractor. She said that this was where and how he received whatever little knowledge and experience he had.
Ramroop was trained via GPL’s internal training programme according to Dindyal. However, the National Association of Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE) General Secretary Kenneth Joseph on Monday voiced concerns that Ramroop may have also not been adequately trained. He said for some time the union had been pointing to the fact that many of these contracted workers were inadequately trained, “a cry which has for some time fallen on deaf ears.”
Joseph said, however, that unlike Scott, Ramroop was represented by NAACIE, which gives the union more scope to follow up his death. Joseph said, “We are concerned about the safety or our workers and will do whatever we can to ensure that the family of the young man receives satisfactory compensation.”
