A Dynamic Engineering employee contracted by the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he was pronounced dead at approximately 16:00hrs yesterday.
Ronald Arthur, 22 years of Lot 69 Pompey Street, Section 3 Christianburg, Linden passed away after an unsecured GPL utility pole fell while he was conducting work on the lines.
Stabroek News understands that GPL workers on the scene took Arthur to the hospital where he was attended to by emergency staff before being pronounced dead. Arthur was on the pole when it broke and crushed him at the worksite in Le Ressouvenir, East Coast Demerara earlier in the afternoon.
At the hospital, Arthur’s mother stated that she had told her son not to look for work in town. She was in shock yesterday.
Arthur’s sister stated that her brother had moved to Georgetown approximately a month ago to work with GPL, but that he had moved around.
The young man’s mother was consoled by other family members who expressed their outrage that they had not been able to see Arthur’s body after arriving at the hospital. GPHC staff had already removed Arthur’s body from the triage area and had it prepped for the mortuary. He is survived by his family including two children ages one and two months.
This is the third death involving a work-related accident for GPL in 2013. On February 14, Seon Scott was left paralyzed and dependent on life support after he was shocked while working on a GPL utility pole at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice.
He later succumbed. Scott was a contracted employee at GPL. Parmamand Ramroop fell from a ladder on April 7, at Richmond Village, Essequibo Coast and died. Unlike Scott, who was a contracted employee, Ramroop was a permanent employee. GPL had stated that if the company was found liable for Ramroop’s death, compensation would have to be paid out to the family.
Answering a parliamentary question posed by Leader of the Opposition David Granger, Labour Minister Dr Nanda Gopaul revealed on Thursday that including Ramroop and Scott a total of eight persons have died while on duty in 2013.
Last month, Ryan Henry, a GPL employee, who was burned while working on a utility pole at Parika had several parts of his left hand amputated.
