Gonzales outlines WASA safety measures for excavation

PUBLIC Utilities Minister Marvin Gonzales said the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has implemented a number of excavation safety procedures following the death of a WASA employee on a job site in October 2023.

WASA wastewater craftsman Kern Etienne was working on the sewer and water mains at the San Fernando Licensing Office Compound when he was buried alive after a mound of dirt fell and trapped him in a trench.

Gonzales was speaking in the Senate in response to a question from Opposition Senator Wade Mark, who asked what health and safety measures were adopted by the authority given that the Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) Authority identified six breaches of the OSH Act in its investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death.

Gonzales said the authority immediately did an internal review of excavation safety procedures in collaboration with the National Gas Company and identified a need for the stringent implementation of the following best practices, some of which had already been implemented.

He said those included having qualified and competent people for inspections as per the authority’s standard operating procedures (SOP) for trenching safety, as well as the OSH Act 2004 and ensuring that all excavations for planned jobs were properly designed and a competent person designated.

“This will ensure that once works are being performed, the crew is fully aware of the required techniques to be employed for safeguarding the trench wall and who is the assigned person designated as the competent person. Another procedure was ensuring that all crews involved in excavation do basic safety awareness training on excavation safety, trenching SOPs, and safe job analysis (SJA) for pipeline work.”

Other measures included using lightweight modular aluminum sheets instead of heavyweight steel boxes and sheeting materials for shoring during excavation.

“The lighter material can be configured to fit most trenches and can be easily assembled on-site and transported in the tray of a typical 4x4 pickup, as opposed to heavy materials that are impractical to use and entail heavy equipment to transport and install.”

Gonzales said the final measure was having a rescue team readily available during excavation works. He said WASA had started sourcing spinal boards for safe extraction of injured people, as well as identifying local trainers who can provide the necessary specialist training for selected employees who could perform rescue operations.

He said WASA was implementing compulsory training and certification for all people in charge of work which required excavation and pipeline repair installation.

“This should be a mandatory requirement prior to any promotion or assignment. Additionally, as part of that person’s performance metric, excavation safety is to be part of the assessment. This entails completion of JSA and conducting toolbox talks as well as performing trench inspection and signing off on fit-for-entry.”

Gonzales said the measures outlined had been a work-in-progress as it involved re-configuring internal safety procedures, doing training, and other processes.

“I can assure you that the procedures are being implemented with respect to employees and contractors of the authority as we speak.

“Upon the finalisation of the investigation and the recommendations for training, contractors were also brought on board to ensure they complied with the new safety procedures. When I visit some of those sites, I am seeing their full implementation by the authority as well as its safety procedures unit ensuring the contractors comply with them. If those contractors do not comply with those safety procedures, the authority will take the appropriate action to shut down the worksite until these procedures are fully adhered to.”

Gonzales said written procedures and the accompanying appropriate sanctions had been established by WASA.