Union: OSH violations at Crown Point Fire Station

Fire Services Association president Leo Ramkissoon is calling on the Ministry of National Security to urgently address the issues affecting officers at the Crown Point Fire Station in Tobago.

Ramkissoon said a failure to do so will result in "serious action," which he preferred not to expand on at the time.

Speaking to Newsday on Tuesday, Ramkissoon said the fire station was plagued by overcrowding, a faulty air condition system and inadequate washroom and locker room facilities.

He said those problems were exacerbated after officers from the Scarborough Fire Station, which was severely damaged in a fire on April 14, 2019, were relocated to the Crown Point Station.

The officers from the Scarborough Fire Station were to be housed at a commercial building in Carnbee but that has not yet materialised.

"It is a melting pot of hazards and breaches of the health and safety act," Ramkissoon said of the conditions at the Crown Point station.

He said overcrowding was a major concern.

"That Crown Point station was designed to hold up to 20 officers on duty on a daily basis. It is now holding upwards of 60 officers inclusive of female and male officers. And the place, therefore, is severely overcrowded.

"The toilets and other amenities are severely overworked and is already shutting down. So, you have limited use of toilets. You have about three or four toilets to service 60 people."

Ramkissoon said the officers from Scarborough Fire Station were supposed to be accommodated temporarily at a site in Old Grange.

"Up to Monday, I wrote to the ministry pleading for them to finalise an agreement for a rental accommodation for the officers. They have been toing and froing on that place for months now and it seems like the ministry is unable to complete the contract so that the officers could be housed there."

He said Tobagonians were being treated like second-class citizens.

"It is terrible how the citizenry is being treated because this is a matter of urgency and it is not being treated as such. And the officers are treated even worse because their health and safety is being totally disregarded."

Ramkissoon said the association haD also spoken to Chief Fire Officer Marlon Smith about the issues.

"It is beyond the Chief Fire Officer to some degree because it is really the Ministry of National Security that has to enter into an arrangement for a facility for the Fire Service. The chief does not have it within his remit to go and rent a property.

"Nonetheless, we feel that the chief should be more vociferous in this regard. He is way too passive. He is supposed to be representing the officers even more vociferously than we are."

Smith could not be reached for comment.