—Hamilton affirms

By Feona Morrison
LABOUR Minister Joseph Hamilton has said that the government is determined to reform labour laws to reflect the realities of the 21st century.

Hamilton acknowledged, in a recent interview, that Guyana’s labour laws are not in sync with the demands of the modern day.

There is “a lot, a lot” of room for improvement, Hamilton said, emphasising: “We have to amend laws. We have to repeal laws. We have to consolidate labour laws.”

His ministry is currently discussing the matter with the Attorney General’s Chambers.

Significantly, he said that Guyana is updating its laws and regulations pertaining to occupational safety and health (OSH) to include provisions governing the oil and gas industry.

“A lot of our OSH laws presently, [they] never contemplated the oil and gas sector. So, that we have to deal with and we have to have conversation with the ILO (International Labour Organization) to give us some help in that regard,” the Labour Minister said.

According to Minister Hamilton, there were only nine OSH personnel to oversee work across the entire nation in the extraction of oil and gas when the PPP/C returned to office in 2020.
“Now, the complement of OSH officers has increased to 32. And that is a work in progress. We continue to bring in people and train them. We had to increase the labour officers, co-op officers and the central recruitment officers so that we can outfit all the offices across the country,” he said.

Hamilton related that because Guyana is improving, the Labour Ministry is trying to hire OSH specialists for every industry.

Among the industries he mentioned were mining, oil and gas, construction, and agriculture. He added that under the previous coalition government, worker health and safety were never given priority. He said that this will remain a prominent issue under the PPP government as the Labour Ministry strives to carry out its duties.

“We have made a lot of progress. When I became minister, workplace deaths were 32. In three years, it has reduced by some 12. Last year, it was 20 which is too much. If we didn’t have the type of interventions, that 32 might have been 42 and 52 and increasing yearly…,” Hamilton said.

Four workplace deaths have been recorded so far in February.

A workplace death took place at Guyana Shield Resources Incorporated, Dora, East Bank Demerara (EBD), on February 4. Lennox McPherson, 66, a resident of Cinderella City, Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice), was an excavator operator working for the company.

He was reportedly pinned against an excavator’s track in the late morning hours after being struck by a Doosan excavator bucket outside of a sandpit in Dora.

On February 6, Trevor Jones, 64, passed away at John Fernandes Wharf in Georgetown after being crushed by a super reach stacker.

According to reports, Jones was walking behind a super reach stacker as it was reversing when he was struck by the counterweight at the rear of the vehicle. Subsequently, he fell to the side and was fatally injured by the rear right wheel of the machine.

Domindra Narayan, 26, of Columbia, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) died on February 9 as a result of injuries he received a month prior after falling from a 10-foot metal scaffold, while pressure-washing Imam Bacchus and Sons Limited’s complex at Affiance, Region Two.

On February 10, Rusbel Jesus Rengel Azocar, a 37-year-old Venezuelan health and safety worker, died at the Vreed-en-Hoop Shore Base, the man-made island in the Demerara River.

According to reports, Azocar was engaged in the task of placing a barrier around a hole with water on the southern half of the site’s quay wall and during the process he fell into the hole.

He was reportedly not wearing a life jacket at the time, despite protocol requiring it. The Labour Ministry is investigating these fatalities. The imposition of steep fines for violating occupational safety and health regulations was previously discussed by the ministry.