Claudine Housen, Staff ReporterWestern Bureau:
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security says it will collaborate with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Caribbean office, to conduct a full survey of the safety and health standards in the sugar industry.
This follows the deaths of two sugar workers over the past month.
"We have been having a spate of accidents so this is a major concern," said Andrew Dale, Senior industrial safety inspector, in the Occupational Safety and Health Department, in the Labour Ministry, in a recent interview with The Gleaner. "We have requested their (the ILO)
assistance in the assessment of
the safety and health programme in the sugar industry."
The announcement of the
ministry's probe comes quickly on the heels of calls from the labour unions for an in-depth study of safety practices in the nation's sugar factories after the death of two sugar workers. They are 23-year-old technician, Kajel Insang and 29-year-old machinist, Lloyd Campbell, who lost their lives in separate factory incidents at the Long Pond and Appleton sugar factories, respectively.
