WHAT APPARENTLY was a routine operation turned into a tragedy at the Jamaica Public Service Company's Old Harbour power plant on Saturday.
We are anxious to hear the details of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Arthur Williams, Woodford Brown and Owen Townsend, who apparently inhaled a toxic gas while on assignment. This unfortunate incident has again thrown into sharp focus a concern we have expressed before about safety standards in industries.
Only a few months ago, two workers in the sugar industry perished in separate occupational accidents. We recall in our "Pieces of the Past" feature that just over a century ago on June 24, 1904, 33 workers perished when water flooded a large tube in which they were working at the Bog Walk hydro-electric power plant.
Safety consciousness and safety standards have been much improved in industrial operations everywhere since that tragic day of long ago. But there can never be a moment of letting down our guard. Entire national agencies like the U.S. Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration have been created to oversee matters of workplace safety and health. Our own Ministry of Labour and Social Security operates an Occupational Safety and Health Unit, which has already started its own investigations into the JPS accident.
The men, to whose families we extend our condolences, were overcome by the unexpected. A full public investigation must answer the question whether the incident which took these workers' lives could have been reasonably anticipated and prevented. Employers have that obligation.
One day after the Old Harbour power plant tragedy experts have been flown in from the US-based parent company, Mirant, to conduct investigations. So the company has expert capacity to respond to accidents of this sort and obviously in its U.S. operations anticipates that similar industrial incidents can arise. How much of that expertise and preventive anticipation has been made available to the Jamaica operations has to be a critical point of the investigation.
Survivor Glenford Campbell said that when they went to render assistance his work partner collapsed and he himself experienced shortness of breath and his tongue getting heavy. Had these attempted rescuers been aware of the mortal danger they themselves faced it would have been obvious that a rescue effort would neither be reasonable nor successful in that toxic environment without specialised equipment and that further loss of life was highly likely.
The workplace tragedies in the sugar industry and now at the JPS must prompt us to take a long, critical look at our occupational safety and health systems. The Government has been promising stronger legislation. We have just pointed out the need for greater worker education at all levels. Now is the time to act to strengthen the three-fold responsibilities of Government, employer and worker for improved occupational safety and health.
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