A worker at the Vreed-en-Hoop Shorebase Inc (VEHSI) artificial island facility on the West Coast Demerara has been hospitalized with injuries after a 400-tonne crane toppled over during a load-testing operation and investigations have been launched by both the company and Ministry of Labour.
“There was an incident last evening and an investigation is ongoing,” was all that VESHI’s Public Relations person Ajay Baksh would say about the incident, when contacted yesterday by the Stabroek News.
Reached, Minister of Labour Joseph Hamilton said, “We are alerted. We are aware and there will be an investigation.”
This newspaper understands that the worker, attached to Italian multinational oilfield services company Saipem SpA, was taken to a private hospital in the city where up to last evening he remained a patient. It is unclear if he was a local or expatriate employee of the company. Also unclear is if work was stalled following the accident.
This is the second time this year that there has been an on-the-job incident at the facility. In February, an employee, Rusbel Azocar, drowned after falling through a hole and into the Demerara River.
The Ministry of Labour’s investigation into that fatality was completed and a number of recommendations were given to the company. Among the findings were that there was improper lighting at the facility and that Azocar was not in proper safety attire.
On February 10, while working at the VEHSI construction site, Azocar fell into the Demerara River and was subsequently pronounced dead. The following day, the Ministry of Labour stated that its Assistant Chief Occupa-tional Safety and Health (OSH) officers Maxean Bess and Roydon Croal had visited the shore base to inspect the area where Azocar fell. They were accompanied by representatives of Belgian company Jan De Nul Inc, which had employed Azocar through subcontractor Gas Total Solutions Guyana Inc.
The Minister of Labour had raised concerns over the protracted period VESHI took to provide details on the fatal incident, as his ministry only learnt of it through the media.
In a statement, the MoL had said that according to reports received from the company, Azocar was engaged in placing a barrier around a hole with water on the southern half of the site’s quay wall. During the process, he fell into the hole. It added, “Eyewit-nesses alleged that Azocar was not wearing a life jacket at the time of his fall, despite a mandate to wear same on the quay wall to prevent drowning.”
The Guyana Police Force had also conducted its own investigation. According to the police, enquiries revealed that Azocar was placing cones and danger tape around a hole “as a signal to warn others of the hazard but unfortunately, he fell into the hole himself.”
The hole, according to the police, had water several feet in depth. “Azocar, who was found in the hole facing head down, presumably drowned. Some witnesses activated the emergency response immediately but unfortunately, Azocar could not be rescued in time by his emergency response colleagues,” the police press release had said.
VEHSI had said that work at the facility had been suspended and one week later updated that work recommenced.
Days before the fatality, ExxonMobil had said that the delay in the handing over of the US$300 million artificial island shore base at Vreed-en-Hoop would not affect its operations as the company had already begun moving its equipment to the site. The island is made of material reclaimed from the Deme-rara River and required engineering that is novel in this part of the world.
The first phase of the project was expected to be completed by December last year but sources had said that there was a delay in that aspect, given the technicalities of the work programme and other factors relating to construction.
Stabroek News had been told that structural issues had surfaced on the shore base which is on an artificial island built of sand and other material dredged from the Demerara River. This newspaper had reached out to the company for comment but was told, “There will be no comment from the company at this time.”
Stabroek News had reported that flooded foundation piles had been discovered and sheet piles had opened up.
Some 10 acres were to be made operational by December 2023, with additional acreages delivered by the second quarter of this year. The long-term vision of the project will see the full port of Vreed-en-Hoop completed with as much as 800 acres of port facilities.
