Benn urges safety practices, culture of self-regulation to end boat tragedies

AT LEAST four persons will die next month in small boat accidents on Guyana’s waterways, according to a prediction by Minister of Transport and Hydraulics, Mr. Robeson Benn.
He arrived at this figure, he said, based on statistics from such accidents in recent months.

He said: “I told the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) last year December that statistics revealed that an average of four persons had died in small boat accidents on our waterways every month in 2012. I told them that based on probability statistics at least four will die in such accidents every month in 2013. I have been right on that score every month to date. We just had four for May the other day. Four will die in June.”
He said: “I am beginning to feel like an undertaker.”

Quote:We behave as if we can break the rules and get away with it and so we have regular tragedy’

He explained: “When the trouble happens, I gotta find the helicopter. The men gotta find the boat. We got to rush out there and we done know that people dead. We only going there to recover. It’s not search and rescue anymore, it is search and recovery.”

Meanwhile, he emphasized that the only way four will not die in June is if the boat owners, the charterers, the operators, the crew members take stock of themselves; take on board safety awareness and safety practices and apply a culture of self-regulation as they go about transporting passengers along the waterways.

The minister made the comments while speaking to participants at a Safety Awareness Seminar for fishermen being held by the MARAD yesterday. The one-day seminar was being held under the theme: Focusing on safety is a worthwhile investment.”

The topics dealt with included Maritime Security and Safety, Maritime Law Enforcement, Maritime Communications, Use of the Global Positioning System, General Fire Safety on ships and boats, and Developing a Safety Culture on fishing and other vessels. The participants included fishermen and boat operators.

Among the resource persons were officers from the Guyana Fire Service, the Guyana Defence Force Coastguard, the Guyana Police Force Marine Division and the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, among others.

The venue was the Carifesta Sports Complex, Carifesta Avenue.
In a very graphic presentation to the seminar, Minister Benn said that he was extremely distressed by the situation with respect to safety with the small boats and their operations.

He said that every month four people will die not because there are too many boats or because operating a small boat is similar to driving a car on the road.

“The reason for it is because men and mostly young men in their prime think that they are indestructible; that they don’t need to bother about safety; that they are less macho if they put on a life jacket. We behave as if we can break the rules and get away with it and so we have regular tragedy.”

He stressed that Guyana cannot develop much with this continuous ongoing situation.

“The grief and distress is too much. The mothers and the children and the wives and the partners are unable to sustain their livelihoods when these things happen. The personal loss is incalculable.”

He lamented the fact that a life jacket costs $1960 and the same people who were unwilling to purchase a lifejacket would cheerfully buy and drink several beers costing five hundred dollars per bottle. He said: “This is a serious problem. We cannot continue with this happy-go-lucky attitude with respect to safety on the waters.”

BUY LIFEJACKETS FOR THEM
He said that “maybe the wives and relatives of those who travel on the waterways should buy lifejackets for them and give these to them, in a similar manner as they hand over their lunch kits to them, before they leave home.”

He told the participants: “Self regulation apart, I want to appeal to MARAD, the Coastguard, the Marine Police, the Fire Service, to do a comprehensive introspection on this matter; to map out a game plan and to take actions which will cut the losses being experienced due to people dying, getting injured and owners losing   shipping assets like vessels and cargo.”

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.