–about recent spate of plane accidents

The Labour Occupational Safety and Health Department of the Social Protection Ministry on Monday expressed concern over the recent spate of industrial accidents which have afflicted the local aviation industry over the past six weeks.
The department’s statement, signed by the Chief Labour OHS Officer, Charles Ogle, comes one day after an Air Services Limited (ASL) plane crashed approximately two miles north of Mahdia in Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) killing the pilot, Captain Imran Khan.
Khan is the second pilot from the local aviation industry to have died in a plane crash within a period of one month.

According to the statement, the Labour Occupational Safety and Health Department has a legal and moral mandate under the Occupational Safety and Health Act Chapter 99:10 to ensure that all employers ensure the health and safety of their workers.
“It is through the provisions of the law that the Department is required to investigate and report on all accidents whether or not they are fatal,” the Department stated.
It has noted, too, that the concern is being raised at a time when it is investigating industrial accidents involving three different local airlines, during which two pilots perished and one was seriously injured.
“We are cognisant of the fact that other stakeholders are also concerned with these industrial accidents, and will be conducting their independent inquiries,” the Department said, adding:

“However, this Ministry’s primary focus is to determine the casualty factors of industrial accidents within the realms of the employer-employee framework.”
It also quoted the subject minister as saying that his ministry will continue to work with all interested parties to guarantee the Safety and Health of all employees and employers. “To that effect, the Ministry is resolute in executing its mandate of investigating all industrial accidents whenever these occur in order for workable recommendations within the context of preventative action to be taken,” the statement said.
It also used the opportunity to express the ministry’s condolences to the families of the two pilots who perished, while wishing speedy recovery to the one that was injured.
On July 25, 2017 Roraima Airways pilot, Colin Martin perished when his Britten-Norman Islander aircraft crashed on landing at Eteringbang, in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni).
Two weeks later, the Britten Norman Islander Captain Dominic Waddel was flying also went down in the Eteringbang area, but he escaped with injuries.
In December 2014, ASL’s Britten Norman Islander, registered as 8R-GHE, disappeared while on a routine shuttle operation from Mahdia to Karisparu, Region Eight.
The pilot, Captain Nicholas Persaud, 27, cargo handler David Bisnauth, 51, and the aircraft have, to this day, not been found.