Labour Minister Dr NK Gopaul this week said that as of December 23rd there were nine deaths from industrial accidents, however another occurred on December 24th at the BOSAI bauxite operations.
A release from GINA reported Gopaul at his end-of-year press conference as saying that industrial accidents continued to be a source of concern to the Ministry even though the number had declined.
During 2014, 421 accidents were reported. There were 320 in the agricultural sector, 10 in the mining sector, 77 in manufacturing, 2 in forestry and 12 in other areas, GINA stated. This represents a decline from last year by 20% with 530 accidents reported.
While there has been a reduction, much more has to be done to make workplaces accident free, GINA said. The Minister urged workers to see themselves as joint advocates to ensure that workplaces are accident free.
Gopaul expressed the hope that the year 2015 will be a year for no fatalities. A day after the minister spoke, a BOSAI worker, Bertram Pollard was crushed to death by a truck at the East Montgomery Mine.
GINA said that the Occupational Health and Safety Act has several regulations governing mining and quarrying, and are at the chambers of the Attorney General for final vetting before they are gazetted. This act will be proceeded with early in 2015.