-mining fatalities seen fuelled by high gold price
By Milton Grannum
Thirty-two persons died at workplaces last year, reflecting a 45.4 percent increase compared to 2023, the Labour Ministry revealed yesterday.
Out of the 32 persons who died, the ministry stated that action has been taken against only one employer for a “serious incident”.
Addressing the ministry’s end of year press conference, Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton stated that “One of the things we are concerned about… this year, again, is workplace deaths …So we started in 2020, 32 persons lost their lives, and then up until 2023, it was 22 regrettably, with all that we have done in 2024, 32 persons lost their lives in workplaces. Primarily in mining and construction. That is where most of the deaths are happening. There was a 5% decline in the number of non-fatal accidents. As I have indicated, the concern is about the increase of deaths at workplaces”.
Additionally, 543 accident reports were received with 176 being investigated including the 32 fatalities. The majority of the non-fatal accidents occurred in the agricultural sector.
To address the issue he stated that the ministry plans to launch a public relations programme this year to reach all persons as the issue of health and safety is not just for workplaces alone.
“It is not just for employers and employees. We have a new thing that is developing, explosions of gas bottles in people’s homes. And all of us, we left our houses this morning and we leave in there a 20-pound bomb, right? And for those of you who are doing better, you have a 100-pound bomb. And some people have 200-pound bombs. So we hope that the media can help us in 2025. To execute a programme dealing with the culture of violence. How we don’t care about that. I have said before, and let me repeat, if we don’t change the culture in this country, let us all prepare to go play dominoes and cards at wake houses and bury people. That is the two options we have”.
Last year, the Labour Department conducted 3,131 inspections in various industrial establishments surpassing their target by 15% and also increased inspection activities by 25% when compared to 2023. It is estimated that they have reached nearly 20,000 persons through the inspections which were conducted from Regions 1 to 10.
Hamilton linked the increase in deaths at mining sites to the spike in gold prices.
“I don’t know what more could be done. The amount of work we have done and continue to do. We have done a lot of work, sensitization, we have gone in there with flyers, we have spent days with them. Officers have gone in camps, stayed in camps. I had conversations with them, speak to them about mining practices. We have a joint technical committee with GGMC (Guyana Geology and Mines Commission), with the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association. So it’s not an easy task. In the mining district, it’s not that easy to do. So we have our work cut out for us. I’m being very frank here. We have done a lot of work here. If you follow the international trend, the numbers increase the same time the price for gold has increased on the world market. You understand what happens there? And that is how the gold mining industry operates”, he stated.
He added that while those efforts will continue the onus is also on persons who are in the industry to look after their own safety.
“There’s a new phenomenon now within the gold mining industry, and we have had several deaths, where now people raid camps in the night. We have had several deaths where people, go to get gold in the gold mine that is not theirs, at midnight”, he said.
According to the ministry’s figures, 1,381 inspections were completed in both high and low-risk workplaces in the formal and informal sectors in Georgetown and Region 1 to 10. Of these numbers, 673 were high-risk workplaces.
Meanwhile, investigations conducted by the Ministry found no instances of child labour.
Highlighting a six percent increase in reports received via an app launched by the Ministry to receive complaints from employees about their work conditions, he stated that many persons are too intimidated to report labour violations. The ministry has since resolved several hundreds of those cases that went to the courts raking in $31.7 million on behalf of employees from companies.
Hamilton stated that security companies are the chief culprits as it relates to labour violations.
“The chief culprit, at the moment, is security companies. I’m saying this without reservation, not being diplomatic, the chief culprits are security services and companies. And when they rob people, 2024. Next year in 2025, they change the company name to another name. A lot of the security companies, the name they started with, I can tell you that is not the name they have five years or ten years.
Training
The Board of Industrial Training (BIT) trained some 1,490 persons in 104 projects across 29 occupational areas in all regions except Region 8. 794 are males and 696 are females.
When asked by Stabroek News about tracking those trained to ensure they are getting jobs that match the skills acquired, he referred to documents shared by the Ministry which revealed that a “tracer study” undertaken by the Ministry showed that of a sample of 2000 graduates from 2020 to 2023, 226 responded to an email, representing an 11 percent response rate. Of the 226 persons 73 percent responded saying they are gainfully employed.
Additionally 18 percent of the respondents are employed in the area of training while 43 are employed in the public sector and 26 in the private sector.
“Our data suggests that 60% of the people we have trained over the last two years are females. Many in different areas, as well as AC technician, auto electrician, electrical installation …”, Hamilton said.
A collaboration was formed with an international partner for a programme funded by the World Bank that will commence on January 13th and will run for 2 years. Twenty women – two from each region – will become specialists in solar PV technology. The programme will be supervised by the Guyana Energy Agency and executed by the Board of Industrial Training Trainers..
Additionally another training programme for 90 “youths at risk” will begin with 30 persons each selected from Sophia, Albouystown and New Amsterdam.
The ministry was also asked by G-Mining; a Canadian company doing gold mining to train all the staff that will work at the site.
“I think 1,500 in the first instance. That is for the preparation and development of the mine, and then after the development of the mine, I think 2027 or 2026, we will continue to train all the people who will work in this mine relative to the equipment that we have, relevant fabricators, electricians, and so forth. So that programme will start very shortly. And the focus primarily is on people from the region, in seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), both males and females”, while 60 persons with disabilities were also trained in the area of computer and small electronic repairs, data analysis, general office administration and ICT training and website development.