The Ministry of Labour yesterday said it has so far learnt that a crane on the artificial island shore base which toppled and seriously injured a worker was being tested at the time.
In a statement, the ministry named the injured man as Collis Hall.
It said that the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Department has started an investigation into the accident that occurred at the construction site of the Vreed-en-Hoop Shore Base Inc (VEHSI), West Coast Demerara, Region Three.
The accident occurred on Saturday, May 25, 2024, at approximately 6:57 pm.
“The injured employee has been identified as Mr. Collis Hall, an operator employed with Saipem Guyana Inc. who was working at Vreed-en Hoop Shore Base Inc.
“According to information received from Manager, Mr. Della Rosa, and Safety & Health Officer, Mr. Alex George, Mr. Hall was using a 400-tonne Manitax Walk Crawler Crane during a test loading exercise, when it suddenly toppled over causing him to be seriously injured”, the statement said. Hall was subsequently transported to the Woodlands Hospital, where he remains a patient.
This investigation is being conducted by Assistant Chief Occupational Safety & Health Officer, Maxean Bess.
“There was an incident last evening and an investigation is ongoing,” was all that VEHSI’s Public Relations person Ajay Baksh would say about the incident, when contacted on Sunday by the Stabroek News.
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.
VEHSI had said that work at the facility had been suspended after the fatal accident and one week later updated that work had recommenced.
Days before the fatality, ExxonMobil had said that a 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 Demerara 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. This newspaper had reached out to the company for comment on this matter 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.
VEHSI is a joint venture between NRG Holdings Inc., a 100 percent Guyanese-owned consortium, and Jan De Nul, an international maritime infrastructure company headquartered in Luxembourg.
