Dear Editor,
We as a nation seem lacking in a proactive approach and instead react when something horrible happens. We then look for ways to prevent recurrences when simple steps could have been taken to prevent the occurrence in the first place. I come to this conclusion based on observations I made when I travelled on the relatively new Essequibo ferry last weekend.
I am from a security and safety background and as such as soon as I settled in, I started to look for safety equipment which I could access just in case something went terribly wrong. I was sitting in the passageway near the canteen.
To my surprise I could not see any personal flotation equipment or clearly visible signs or instructions concerning where to go to acquire this in the event one needs to. I held out the hope that there will be a safety talk by someone over a public address system or there would be leaflets distributed to educate the over one hundred passengers on what to do in the event of an emergency. I was overly confident that as soon as we sailed this would happen. No such luck.
I wish to humbly suggest to the powers that be in the Transport and Harbours Department and also my friends in MARAD to consider ensuring that the passengers are somehow educated in the procedures to be followed in the event of an emergency.
This will go a long way towards saving lives and reducing panic. By the way, how often are the crew drilled in the procedures in the event of an emergency?
Lastly, I noticed that alcohol in the form of stout and beers was being sold to passengers during the journey.
The sale of alcohol on such a vessel is not a good idea from a safety perspective, as well as for the maintenance of order on board.
This practice needs to be immediately stopped. I noticed about five passengers who were clearly inebriated before the vessel sailed and should not have been allowed to board the vessel in the first place; they were allowed to patronize the canteen throughout the hour-plus journey. One happened to be the driver of a vehicle that was on board the vessel! You can guess what their condition was by the time we docked at Supenaam.
The T&HD needs to take serious stock of the foregoing. For real.
Yours faithfully,
John M London
