A report by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) on the death of geologist Ryan Taylor at the Troy Resources Guyana Inc (TRGI) mine site on October 8th, 2019 found excavator operators and, by extension, the company culpable of allegedly negligent behaviour.
The report said that Taylor himself was also negligent in his behaviour on the fateful day at the Karouni mine site. A separate report by the Ministry of Social Protection (MoSP) also held TRGI to be responsible for Taylor’s death.
Taylor was working on the construction of a “bench” in a mining pit at Troy’s gold mining operation in Region Seven. A slippage occurred which led to him falling and being covered by the rubble. The company has said that while it has done its own report on the death, it awaits the government’s findings.
TRGI has said that it hasn’t seen either of the reports and has since requested these. It is unclear why nearly ten months after the reports were completed they have not been shared with the company. GGMC Commissioner Newell Dennison has told Sunday Stabroek that it isn’t “typical” for internal reports of that nature to be made public. The MoSP report indicates that the report was to have been shared with Troy.
The GGMC’s report was done by a senior mining engineer, who said that during his investigation an occupational safety and health officer from the MoSP, an environmental officer of the GGMC and a mineral processing engineer from the GGMC were also in attendance.
The report, seen by the Sunday Stabroek, stated that the accident occurred at 2:25 am as Taylor, who had worked as a pit technician with the company for three years, was sitting on a bucket atop a safety berm talking to his supervisor. “Ryan Taylor – Pit Technician was sitting on a black bucket on the safety berm beside the haulage road whilst conversing with (the supervisor). He was involved in verifying whether saprolite mined from the mine block is either waste or ore,” the report stated.
The report said that he was authorized to do so and was experienced in his task.
“His duties involved verifying visually with the aid of a torchlight and a light tower set up nearby, whether the saprolite material mined from the mine block is either waste or ore. (An) excavator operator … was loading a haulage truck … The Excavator was approx.9.14m (30ft) away and it was involved in removing saprolite,” the report said.
According to the report, the situation under which the accident occurred “can be (labelled) as normal since it is a proven fact based on soil mechanics and slope stability that once the disturbing force (self-weight of the soil, dynamic loads, force due to seismic activity) exceeds the resisting force (stabilizing force-soil strength) there will be a failure of some magnitude.”
“The presence of water further affects the soil strength,” the report added.
The inspector’s assessment of the causes of the accident, both direct and indirect, and their sequence and relative significance outlines that the company and the three employees at the area at the time all displayed callousness with regard to occupational health and safety guidelines.
“The excavator operators and by extension the company Troy Resources Guyana Inc’s failure to put slope designs for the respective soil types. The soil type in the accident area can be identified as saprolite. From observations done, the temporary … wall had not (conformed) to the suitable angle for the respective soil type. Further the removal of the second (batch) of saprolite thereby increasing the pit height …, compounded by the presence of mine vehicles traversing to and fro from the area (created) instability of this pit wall. From observations, slope angles for the temporary pit wall reveals instances of being close to vertical 9 and 10,” the report stated, with accompanying diagrams to explain.
Failure of “the authorities in charge” was also pointed out for not properly analyzing and assessing their work environment and works aspect.
Lack of awareness
On the part of Taylor, the report said that he also exhibited irresponsible behaviour for “positioning himself on a safety berm in close proximity of an area that was being mined” and demonstrated his own lack of awareness of the work environment and subsequent failure to apply safety procedures.
The shift supervisor who was speaking with him “displayed a lack of supervision and awareness of the work environment”. The supervisor, the report said, told investigators that “sitting of the pit technician on a safety berm is a customary practice at the mine.”
It was the duty of the excavator operator also to inform and advise Taylor about the poor location he had chosen to sit “and his failure to observe and assess the area he (the excavator operator) was excavating.”
“Acts of negligence were committed by the following: Ryan Taylor the pit technician, the mine supervisor, the excavator operator who were all working at the time of the accident. They failed to properly analyze and assess their work environment and work aspect which resulted in the death of Ryan Taylor,” the report stated.
“A thorough assessment of the work aspect and work environment would have resulted in the following: proper sitting of a pit technician, proper construction of pit wall with adequate slope based on geotechnical parameters, proper planning of the earthworks phase and frequent inspection of the pit wall,” it added.
The report noted that there was a breach of occupational health and safety regulation 214 – Unsafe Working Conditions that endanger life and limb.
Earthworks
Advising on how the accident could have been technically prevented, the GGMC report says that all three men should have performed certain safety checks before work began. It said that earthworks should have been done by the company based on sound engineering practice.
Taylor also should not have been sitting on a safety berm and his supervisor should have ordered him to move to a much safer location. The excavator operator should have been aware of the impact the earthworks would have on the walls and by extension the safety berm, the report contended.
The report from the Ministry of Social Protec-tion was stern and recommended that the company be charged.
“The potentially hazardous nature of open pit mining requires the application of sound geotechnical engineering practices to the mine, design and (development of) general operating procedures to allow safe and economic mining of any commodity with any rock mass, the absence of one which resulted in the pit wall subsidence at the Hick’s Pit 1 Extension which claimed the life of Ryan Taylor,” the report stated.
A comprehensive inspection of the company’s Karouni project site was recommended as the report said it would identify areas of “potential danger and areas with the potential for continuous improvement.”
Charges
And while the MoSP report said that its inspectors will work with TRGI to establish a joint workplace safety and health committee, it is unclear if this was done.
Charges were recommended to be laid against the company as the report said it did not report some 12 cases of occupational diseases, although told about this by on-site medical practitioners and for allegedly obstructing the work of occupational safety and health department (OS&HD) officers.
“Charges are recommended against TRGI for failing to report 12 cases of Occupational Diseases (after being duly informed by the on-site medical practitioners) which were discovered during an inspection of the medical records for TRGI workers at the Karouni Project Site’s medical facility. Charges are recommended against TRGI for obstructing an officer of the OS&HD, MoSP in the execution of his official duties, that is to say that the management of TRGI refused or neglected to permit the investigating officer to visit the “Ohio” exploration site to continue his investigation into the operations of TRGI and also refused or neglected to submit to the investigating officer, documents formally requested during his visit to the Karoni Project Site,” the report said.
“The Ministry of Social Protection’s investigation of the fatal accident at Troy Resources Guyana Inc. has recognized the TRGI to be entirely responsible for the death of Ryan Arthur Taylor. TRGI had failed to provide a safe, sound, healthy and secure working environment for the said Ryan Taylor, which contributed significantly to his demise,” it added.
The mother of Taylor and guardian of his three children, June Taylor, has said that she is yet to receive a report from the company on how her first born met his demise as she has only heard recollections from friends and coworkers of the tragic day. The woman said that she has a lot of questions and needs some form of closure.
The reports were referred to in a letter by the Head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Vincent Adams to TRGI Head Ken Nilsson rebutting complaints levelled against him by TRGI.
