The revelation by Christopher Boodram that he had survived another industrial accident two months after becoming trapped inside a vortex that killed four of his diver friends, has brought into question the nature of safety procedures at Paria Fuel.
In an interview yesterday, Oilfield Workers Trade Union Pointe-a-Pierre Branch president Christopher Jackman said the December explosion was only made public to the union after the February 25 diving tragedy.
He said it was then the OWTU was informed that commercial underwater diver Rishi Nagassar, one of the men who died, had risked his life to save his fellow workers after the December explosion.
Asked whether the OWTU had reported the explosion, Jackman said ever since the closure of the company, the OWTU has not been within the Paria facility and was not privy to all that was happening there.
With most of the Paria workers being contracted and non-unionised, Jackman said the OWTU could not be the vanguard of HSE, noting that many times workers were afraid to report accidents in fear of losing their jobs.
“Any incident that occurs we are kept out. We will not know unless the employee informs us. Many times out of fear of victimisation by Paria, the employees tend to keep information away from us,” Jackman revealed.
He said before Petrotrin closed, there was a robust safety structure.
“We played an active role in HSE, ensuring there were checks but when the company Petrotrin was shut down and Paria was established, the OWTU was put out. We still have a Pointe-a-Pierre branch and we have some OWTU members, but they have to keep their membership secretive in fear that they will be fired. They have been told Paria wants no unionised members in there,” Jackman claimed.
He added, “We have to be on the outside fighting to find out what is going on inside.”
Under the Petrotrin HSE structure, the department was led by a head of HSE and R&M (Refinery and Marketing), who was assisted by a clerical assistant. Under this level of the hierarchy, there was a document control officer, senior process safety process specialist, senior SE specialist and senior fire officer. Four other levels existed with fire technicians and ESA.
Jackman said all of these positions are now filled with contract employees, some of whom were not around during Petrotrin and so did not possess the requisite experience and skills needed for effective HSE.
He said accidents at Paria were “frequent” and some have gone unreported.
Guardian Media reached out to Paria’s communications team requesting information on the Berth No 2 incident and details on the existing HSE structure but there has been no response.
Guardian Media also reached out to OSHA communications manager Kendall Reid to find out whether OSHA had a report of the explosion at Berth No 3.
He told us a comment will be issued later. However, in an earlier response to the number of accidents at Paria, Reid revealed that excluding the February 25 incident, only one other diving accident had been reported to the OSH Agency since 2018.
Reid said an investigation was conducted into the accident.
Boodram revealed details of this explosion during an Express interview where he reportedly said the explosion had been swept under the carpet. When contacted last week, Vanessa Kussie, the wife of diver Rishi Nagassar, told Guardian Media her husband had been traumatised after the December explosion and never wanted to speak about it.
