China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) was on Tuesday allowed to resume operations at the site of the Cheddi Jagan International Airport expansion project after labour department officials were satisfied that some safety violations were corrected.
Junior Social Protection Minister Simona Broomes says the company still has a lot of work to do to rectify violations, which were discovered after the recent death of a worker.
On September 17th, 23-year-old Lui Li, a Chinese national, died at the project site at Timehri after he became trapped in a pit he was working in. Another Chinese national, Zhang Yixun, was injured in the accident.
On Wednesday, Broomes told reporters that the death of the worker was due to “complete negligence.” She further noted that the ministry’s Labour Department learnt of the accident “by the way” although the labour laws state that it should have been reported to the ministry immediately.
According to Broomes, after reviewing the report on the accident that revealed unsafe practices, the ministry sent the company a letter asking that it cease work.
Broomes visited the site on Tuesday and it was revealed that some work has been done in terms of correction and safety. She said her visit was to ensure that the area was safe for workers to recommence work.
She added that it has been decided that officials of the Labour Department will visit the site every month for inspections. She noted that the law makes provision for the ministry to ask the contractor to, at its own expense, have a certified engineer inspect the worksite whenever called upon to do so by the ministry. That engineer will then submit a report to the ministry, she said.
“That was a very unfortunate situation. Apart from the worker’s death, there was no contract for him. It was a young worker, he had just arrived in Guyana… what also was clear there is that they have no documents here for them, everything is in China,” she said, while adding she indicated to company officials that the “Chinese law is for China and Guyana law is for Guyana.”
Broomes added that she was informed that the employee was cremated and his ashes were sent back to his relatives in China.
She noted too that the company will now have to correct the working hours in place for their employees. She said employees working 12 and 24 hours a day is against the labour regulations and the situation will have to be corrected. She said the company will now have to pay all the workers who had worked beyond the eight hours. “It is not only about the payment but their health and safety. I think it was bad that it was imposed upon them to work these long hours, both Guyanese and the Chinese nationals…it has to cease here,” she stressed.
Asked if the company has been given a timeframe in which the necessary corrections had to be made, she said officials have already began to furnish the ministry with requested information, which includes a list of both foreign and local workers, work permits and other documentation for the foreign workers as well as salary scale for workers to help sort out the overtime money that was not paid.
Asked if she is concerned that the foreign company was allowed to violate the labour laws, she said, “I think it is a disgrace on the past administration. The previous government did not care at all about workers and the Guyanese people and their rights and even the foreign nationals that were coming here… the manager there said that they have never interfaced with the Labour Department. They have never seen a copy of our Occupational Safety and Health Act and that in itself will tell you.”
