.png)
‘Serious safety breaches @ Cruise Pier site’- Sources
It was just Sunday last, March 8, 2015 that the boom of a crane came tumbling down, injuring a number of employees. With photos of the incident reaching the public domain via this news site and social media, a number of informed persons have spotted several glitches which indicate that despite having safety laws and regulations in “black and white” they are reportedly not being enforced even at the level of management.
Workers made to sign Confidentiality Contract
“I want to know who is watching who because from the top to the bottom are in breach of one of the most import conduct; safety and especially on the scene of an accident they should be ensuring that these are being adhered to. Everything is going wrong on that project, everything it goes even beyond safety,” said a worker whose identity must be protected at all cost as several employees said that they were allegedly made to sign a confidentiality document which prohibits them from making public any information from within the site.
“You guys know of three or four accidents but we who work in there can tell you of more and if our eyes had cameras installed in them we would sit all day to show you photographs. I believe there is a curse on this project from the beginning. That’s just my opinion but we there to earn a dollar and I for sure will protect my daily bread,” said the employee.
In one of the photographs of the accident at the work site, a senior person on the project is clearly visible on the barge absent of any Personal Protective Equipment (PPE - hard hat, life vest, and safety boots) as well as all of the other persons on the barge.
According to one person who has expressed serious concerns about a number of issues they claim are saturated across the project, “Normal safety practice in marine construction is that any worker on floating equipment or otherwise at risk of falling into the water must wear an approved life vest - no exceptions. One can also see bottles of acetylene, propane and/or oxygen resting horizontal - these should be secured in a vertical position as if something falls on these or they roll into something, they become, in essence, a bomb.”
Visible in yet another one of the photos published on this news site atop the tug, there is a worker sitting on the small aluminum boat without a life vest or hard hat on. Of the three persons at the bow of the tug approaching the scene, at least two of them do not have life vests on. These are obviously serious contradictions of the safety regulations and laws of the Virgin Islands and Meridian Construction.
Labour Code on safety in breach?
The Virgin Islands Labour Code, section on Protective clothing and devices states, “143. (1) Persons entering an area in a workplace where they are likely to be exposed to the risk of head, eye, ear, hand or foot injury, injury from air contaminant or any other bodily injury, shall be provided with suitable protective clothing or devices of an approved standard and adequate instructions in the use of the protective clothing or devices, and a person shall not be permitted to be in that area unless he or she is wearing the protective clothing or device. (2) The employer and operator of a workplace shall conspicuously display in areas where protective clothing or devices are required to be worn, a notice to that effect.”
On the other hand, the Meridian Construction Barge Safety code of conduct made it clear from the very beginning that the employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy workplace for their employees. Meridian Construction’s role is to ensure the safety and health of working men and women by setting and enforcing standards; providing training, and encouraging continual improvement in workplace safety and health.
This news site made several valiant efforts to contact key personnel of Meridian Construction to no avail as none of the persons responded to our calls. Among those we attempted to reach were Partners of Meridian Construction Mr Richard Starkey, Mr Percy Rhoden and Mr Ian Vier, who is the Commercial Manager of IDL/Meridian Joint Venture.
This news site was advised by Public Relations Officer attached to the BVI Ports Authority (BVIPA) Ms April T. Glasgow that the BVIPA is only responsible for the security of the port construction site (entrance and exits) and they have that fully in place.
3 accidents on controversial project
While workers on site have informed this news site that there have been more accidents than reported in the media, Virgin Islands News Online has reported on three accidents on the controversial Ports Development Project.
More than two persons were reportedly injured on March 8, 2015 when the boom of a crane collapsed on a tug. Reliable sources informed that a main cable on the crane snapped resulting in the boom crashing down on a tug that was close by.
Contact was made with one of the lead persons on the project, Mr Percy Rhoden, who confirmed there was an accident but said it was minor in nature.
On December 18, 2014 there was a collision between two barges while on October 6, 2014, a truck ferrying stone at the work site overturned into the water as it was negotiating a narrow pass.
It is not clear whether this latest mishap is likely to cause further delays to the multimillion dollar project already behind schedule.
_(2)1.png)
.png)
_-_Made_with_PosterMyWall.jpg)
_(2)_02.png)
_02.png)
Follow Us On
22 Responses to “‘Serious safety breaches @ Cruise Pier site’- Sources”
we've had accidents also while building the airport,beef island bridge.While undertaking any govt projects
you are made to take out insurance so as to absolve govt from and problems that may occurre ,there may
be a project manager but he cannot micro manage every thing,any equipment breakdown rests with the
contractor.However if there are always equipment failures the only thing he can ask for is maintenance
records.If there is none he can only recommended is to get equipment with sound maintenance records
Govt only say in this matter is to get the job done not micro manage.
As an example, I notice in previous pictures that all of the rebar used in the concrete was not the corrosion resistant kind despite being in a salt water environment. How much will it cost to continually patch the concrete that falls off when the rebar rusts? How long will the pier be safe from collapse once the rebar rust through? Will this take one year or will it take 5 years? Was black rebar used according to the design or was this a short cut by the contractor to save money? Is this is by design, what about the rest of the design?
Seize the time.