PERMISSION has been granted China Harbour Engineering Company Limited (CHEC) to re-start work on the Cheddi Jagan International Airport expansion project, at Timehri. The project is some 25 months behind schedule.
Following a site visit yesterday by Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Simona Broomes and a team of occupational health and safety officers, it was agreed to re-commence work at the site.
“I hope I would not have to regret my decision; the request has been received, and I am given all clearance… But I am giving approval for work to commence with supervisors,” Broomes told CHEC representatives, while noting that Technical Advisor Ministry of Public Infrastructure Walter Willis will overlook the operations of the company.
The Ministry is expected to communicate the approval in writing today.

CAVE-IN
The worksite was closed just over a week ago to facilitate an investigation into the death of Lui Li, and the injury of Zhang Yixun, both employees of the Chinese company. It was reported that the two were part of a team of workers testing the soil at the project site when the land caved in and trapped Li.
But while Broomes granted the company its request to have the worksite reopened, she warned of the many areas to be tightened up with respect to occupational health and safety issues, as well as total compliance with the labour laws.
“Safety comes first! It is safety; then work! Put safety first!” the minister stressed. CHEC’s contract with the Ministry of Public Works, now the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, speaks in a limited way to occupational health and safety regulations.
“The contract is vague on safety,” Minister Broomes said. “The site engineer, in his brief, could only identify one safety measure; and that is not good enough… You need to set up an occupational health and safety committee.”
She noted that after operating in Guyana for more than two years, it is surprising that CHEC never communicated with the Labour Department.
“I want you to maintain good practices going forward; you must have an engineer assigned to work along with you on this project… Somebody should be responsible for oversight,” she told CHEC.

SITE INSPECTION
During an inspection of the worksite, Minister Broomes noted that while there has been some transformation, more still needs to be done. She made the point, too, that all will seem well, now that the site is not currently active. “The site has no one excavating at the moment, and so it will be a different picture when you have lots of people working here,” she explained.
She advised CHEC’s local manager Kevin Liu to source bigger pumps that would aid in the removal of slush from the site being used.
The death of the Chinese engineer was as a result of improper methods of removing slush from the swamp-lands, the Guyana Chronicle was told.
“The area is swampy; they have been filling it with sand, but what has happened is that the pumps used have not pushed the slush far away, so when the engineers were doing the soil test, the slush and everything caved in and trapped the engineer,” the minister explained.
“They need to use a bigger suction that could excavate some of the slush; this would create a drier and less slushy situation…” she advised.
Another area of concern for the ministry’s labour department is the lack of adequate lighting at the worksite. Minister Broomes noted that if the company intends to work at night, adequate lights would be needed. “Lights here are a major concern,” she said. “But not only that; you would have to provide helmets with lights, so that workers can be easily seen at nights and protected.”
The Ministry, she added, will be conducting night inspections at the project site to ensure that CHEC is compliant. “Visits are in the best interest of all stakeholders,” she said.
She opined that there is need for greater collaboration, and as such offered the full support of her office. Additionally, the Minister has committed to facilitating a workshop on occupational health and safety to ensure that members of the company understand the rules and regulations governing the issues at hand.
“There should be no place for negligence here; we will not tolerate it… It was your negligence that resulted in the death of an employee, and we cannot afford another death; we will not accept it,” she said firmly.
Meanwhile, Liu committed to working with the Department of Labour to ensure CHEC is complaint. “I will try my best to improve site safety,” said Lui, who also committed to submitting an Occupational Health and Safety plan to the Ministry for approval, along with the compilation of monthly reports. He is expected to work with Lydia Greene, Assistant Chief Occupational Health and Safety Officer to ensure compliance.
WORK TIMES, COMPENSATION AND DOCUMENTS
Following the site visit by the Minister, she requested several documents from CHEC; a list of all workers attached to the company, their hours of work and their pay sheets.
Minister Broomes made it clear that CHEC has been in violation of the Labour Laws that state that employees are required to work forty hours a week which is broken down to mean, eight hours a day for five days. Should employees work beyond the stipulated eight hours, they have to be compensated.
Ironically, CHEC’s contract with the subject ministry states clearly in sub-clause 6.5 that “normal working hours will be ten hours per day, seven days per week. The employer shall guarantee the contractor has no less than 10 hours available and effective work-time per day…when and where necessary, the contractor is entitled to work overtime up to twenty four hours per day and seven days per week to cope with the actual site conditions and progress.”
The sub-clause, Broomes said, is a blatant contradiction of Guyana’s laws and must be corrected immediately.
“This does not only apply to local workers, but to all persons working in Guyana. You have to comply with our laws….I am guided by the Law, and you have to comply with the law,” she said.
She said all workers who have been working beyond eight hours must be paid by CHEC. “It is pointed out here (in contract) this is a valid case, it is fact, it is written…These slip ups come at a cost… the company would have to face some costs here and pay the workers,” Broomes instructed.
She said there must be clear documents that speak to the times worked by workers. This publication was informed that with the recent incident that resulted in the death of the Chinese engineer, it was discovered there is no evidence of a work permit, although the deceased was living and working in Guyana for approximately two weeks before his death. The work permit issue is apparently not only limited to the dead employee but to other Chinese nationals working with CHEC. Also, there is an alleged lack of payroll information and other relevant documentation for staff.
However, Liu said there are documents but all are written in Chinese and have to be translated. The Minister insisted that the documents (English and Chinese versions) be provided forthwith to her ministry for verification.
Broomes told Guyana Chronicle that the preliminary report into the incident is out and several recommendations have been made. She did not state what the recommendations are but stressed on the need for workers to be adequately paid, and documents be available for scrutiny by the authorities.
Also present at the site visit was Technical Advisor Ministry of Public Works Walter Willis who also sought to explain some of the challenges on the project.

 
By Ariana Gordon