Paria Fuel’s terminal operations manager Colin Piper says the worst thing a person can do during an emergency response is act “instinctively and emotionally,” and he paused the rescue operation so he could get a better understanding of the situation being faced.
But while it was a difficult decision to take, Piper said it was a decision that had to be taken.
Piper made the statement as he took the witness stand at the Commission of Enquiry into the Paria/LMCS Diving Tragedy on February 25.
Piper, one of the most anticipated witnesses in the enquiry, took the stand around 2 pm yesterday, after Paria’s acting technical lead Catherine Balkissoon.
Questioned by counsel to the CoE, Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Piper said the team did not know the conditions they were facing in the pipeline or what had caused the accident.
“We did not know at the time what the condition in the pipeline was, we did know that there was oil in the pipeline. We did understand that there were men in the pipeline, so we did not know where the men were in the pipeline, we did not know how much oil was in the pipeline, so there were several unknowns to us in that pipeline,” Piper said.
“This was a confined space, this was not an ordinary space. This is a confined space of quite a magnitude. That is not a simple space for someone to go in for any reason, so I took the decision at that point in time to pause because we needed to assess,” he added.
This prompted Maharaj to ask: “You need to assess what? You wanted a method statement? You wanted a risk assessment.”
Piper seemed thrown off by the statement.
When he eventually continued, Piper said he believed the right decision was taken.
“The worst thing you can do in an emergency response is to act instinctively and to act emotionally. That is the absolute way you should not respond in an emergency and definitely in this case,” Piper said.
“You don’t respond like that in an emergency and therefore, I had no choice but to say stop, we need to assess we need to understand what is going on. So, I took that decision as difficult as that decision was, don’t believe for one minute that that was a simple decision.” He added, “That was an extremely difficult decision but at that point it was the decision that has to be taken.”
Piper said when LMCS diver Christopher Boodram, the lone survivor from the incident, came out the pipeline, he was covered in oil and in a state of trauma.
Piper said Boodram kept saying “they are in the pipeline to go get them.”
“Mr Boodram was not clear on time and space, so he was still in a traumatised place,” Piper said.
“You will appreciate the primary concern for Mr Boodram at that time was his well-being,” he added.
Piper was asked if he knew that he made a decision that would mean life and death, but he said the decision was taken in consideration of the lives of the rescuers as well.
He said previous studies show that rescuers can die in confined spaces.
