Labour Minister, Committee Review BOSAI states safety measures after employee’s tragic death in Guyana

Georgetown, Guyana: Joseph Hamilton, Minister of Labour, and Gweneth King, Occupational Safety and Health Consultant met with the Monitoring Committee in charge of reviewing the implementation of the BOSAI Minerals Group Guyana’s Safety and Health recommendations during the afternoon of July 27, 2023.

The Monitoring Committee included representatives from the Ministry of Labour, Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Association of Agricultural Commercial and Industrial Employees (NAACIE).

According to the update, this comes after the BOSAI investigative report on the death of Neptrid Hercules, a former employee of BOSAI Minerals Group Guyana, was previously handed over to Minister Hamilton.

Hercules vanished in the early hours of Saturday, March 11, 2023, along with the CAT D9T Dozer he was operating at the time. This was due to a failure of the Overburden Dump in the East Montgomery Mine where he was working, which caused them to be covered by the overburden material. The body of Hercules was found several days later after an extensive and painful search.

This prompted Minister Hamilton to initiate a ‘Formal Investigation’ into Hercules’ death, which commenced on March 27, 2023, in accordance with Section 72 (1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Chapter 99:06 of the Laws of Guyana.

The Ministry informed that the Act empowers the Minister to direct formal investigation into any accident arising out of and in the course of employment of any worker where he considers it expedient to so do. The persons appointed are referred to as ‘The court’ and ‘shall hold the investigation in open court in such a manner and under such conditions as the court may think most effectual for ascertaining the causes and circumstances of the accident’.

The investigating team was appointed ‘to determine the cause (s) of the accident and make recommendations for the prevention of accidents generally and more in particular the recurrence of similar accidents.’