OWTU: Make NiQuan fire report public

THE Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) is demanding that employers be held accountable for the deaths of employees due to failure to make their workplaces safe.

President general of OWTU Ancel Roget made the statement on January 22.

He was holding a news conference to comment on the report of the commission of enquiry into the Paria tragedy in which four divers lost their lives in an undersea pipeline at Pointe-a-Pierre.

Now that this report has been made public, the OWTU is demanding the same treatment for the investigation into a fatal NiQuan Energy Trinidad Ltd (NETL) incident.

In June 2023, Allanlane Ramkissoon, 35, a pipe fitter with Massy Energy Engineered Solutions Ltd (MEES), was working on the gas-to-liquids plant at the mothballed refinery at Pointe-a-Pierre.

There was a fire at the NiQuan plant and Ramkissoon suffered burns over 60 per cent of his body. He was flown abroad for treatment, but died on June 18.

Investigations were initiated by the Ministry of Energy, the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA), and NiQuan. OSHA also temporarily shut down the plant.

In the Senate in December, Opposition Senator Wade Mark asked Trade and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon – speaking on behalf of Energy Minister Stuart Young – about laying the NiQuan report in the Parliament. Gopee-Scoon said then the matter was sub judice and the report would not be laid in the Parliament.

To Mark’s call for laying the root cause analysis (RCA) report on the incident in Parliament, Gopee-Scoon replied that the report was commissioned by NiQuan Energy Trinidad Ltd, a private company, and hence the report was not the property of the Energy Ministry, but subject to the control of NETL with respect to its circulation and distribution.

“The ministry is not at liberty to disclose the contents of the report, nor its authors, as to do so would open the ministry to liability and potential litigation,” she said.

Roget said this incident resulted in a fatality and someone must be held accountable.

“People die while providing for their families. The only act they commit is to go to work to try to put food on the table for their families.

“Employers, having not taken up their duty of care as defined in the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA), ensuring their workplaces are safe cause people to die, and nobody is held accountable.

“I want to remind the Trinidad and Tobago public about that death, that fatality, that accident that took place at NiQuan not too long ago. They (NiQuan) continue to hoard and hold very close to their chests the investigation, and the report.”Roget recalled that NiQuan was composed of “public assets that were carved up and given in to all kinds of questionable arrangements.”

Pointing out the absence of a union presence there, Roget noted that lack of accountability in such a situation.

“A worker died, but you heard nothing. We also want to call for the producing of that report into the enquiry of the NiQuan worker’s death,” he said.

Ramkissoon was the breadwinner for his widow Sarah and their children, and also financially supported his parents, Danny and Christine Ramkissoon.

Ramkissoon’s sister Ruthlane Ramkissoon-Gobin also called for the report to be made public, or at least made available to the family so they can have closure.

“The report will not bring him back, but at least it will give us some comfort,” she told the Newsday.

In July, Allanlane’s widow, through her attorneys, wrote to MEES demanding a comprehensive report on the accident.