Burying answers

THE BODY of Allan Lane Ramkissoon, who died while being treated in Colombia after an incident at NiQuan Energy Trinidad Ltd’s Pointe-a-Pierre plant on June 15, has finally returned to Trinidad. But with it has come few answers.

What was the cause of the fire that severely injured this worker? Ramkissoon was an employee for Massy Energy, the company sub-contracted by NiQuan on a maintenance job.

Were the responses of company officials and first responders adequate? Could this accident have been prevented? Considering prior incidents, is there a problem with safety at this plant? What are the findings, whether initial or otherwise, of investigations launched by the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA), the Ministry of Energy and the companies involved? How confident can we be that such an incident is unlikely to recur?

More than a month later, members of the public cannot say.

What we know for sure, however, is that answers are unlikely given the posture adopted by government officials on this and related matters.

In Parliament on June 20, the Prime Minister, who cut the ribbon for the plant, suggested reports into the incident might not be released because NiQuan is a private legal entity.

“These things are guided by commercial controls and legal controls,” he said. This approach is disappointing.

When it comes to accountability for worker deaths, it should not matter whether a company is private, public or quasi-public. All employers operating in this country should be subject to the same disclosure requirements as pertains in other countries.

For example, the US Department of Labour keeps a database, accessible to members of the public, relating to fatalities and OSHA investigations. Anyone can check the status of a case, whether it is open or closed, whether citations have been issued, violations added or deleted and penalties applied.

If it is true that legal impediments stand in the way, a government has, through its parliamentary majority, the power to enact laws to overcome such hurdles. At the very least cabinet ministers have the power to make statements to the House detailing the findings of agencies overseen by them and funded by the State.

In this case, it is also true that while the facility may well vest in a private entity, the Government has most certainly facilitated its operations in a variety of direct and indirect ways that raise a moral, if not legal, expectation of a basic degree of transparency.

A worker has died, and that tragedy requires a fulsome approach, not one in which officials are allowed to hide behind fig leaves.

Closing the door to scrutiny only serves to open the door to fears of cover-ups. Such is detrimental to the interests of workers, their families, the economy and the country as a whole.