Guysuco receives lawyer’s letter from family of deceased
DEPUTY Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GUYSUCO) Rajaindra Singh said the family of the factory worker who died following an explosion at the Enmore Sugar Factory is rejecting an offer of compensation by the company and has sent a lawyer’s letter to the company. Jainarine Singh died on May 23 following the explosion at the Enmore Packaging Plant two weeks before then. He had been in hospital at Woodlands Hospital and was being treated for first degree burns and injuries to his intestines.
The GUYSUCO official said that since receiving the letter, the corporation has taken a hands-off approach, preferring to deal with the matter through the legal channels.
Some weeks ago, Shakuntala Singh, widow of the 47-year-old factory worker, had expressed appreciation for the support she has received by officials of GuySuCo and Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud.
According to reports, the factory worker was injured in the section of the Enmore Factory that houses the dryers, which were part of the recently commissioned packaging plant. It is reported that workers complained about a defective valve which had allowed excessive flow of pressurised air into the pipe system and that the requisite testing of it was yet to be done. The Guyana Agricultural and General Workers Union (GAWU), also confirmed in a press statement that workers had complained about a defective valve.
Rajaindra Singh said since the explosion, the Enmore Packaging Plant has not been producing, since work is ongoing to ascertain what happened.
Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle yesterday, Singh said the corporation has an ongoing programme to review the safety of all operations, he noted that the accident could have been worse, since at the time of the explosion, many other workers were in close proximity to the ‘danger zone.’ (JOHANN EARLE)