Almost two weeks after David Smartt was electrocuted at a sawmill where he worked in Rosignol, it is still not clear how he met his demise and a report on the investigation are still to be submitted to the Labour Ministry’s Occupational Safety and Health Department.
Yesterday a source at the Labour Ministry told this newspaper that the official report is still to be submitted by the regional officer as well as the report of a private electrician who was enlisted to inspect the sawmill where Smartt was electrocuted.
Smartt, 19, of Welcome Street, Rosignol, West Bank Berbice, died while he was working at Ousman and Son’s Sawmill, where he was employed. An autopsy had confirmed that he died of cardiac arrest as a result of electrocution.
Meanwhile, Smartt’s mother via telephone yesterday said that she had met an official of the Ministry of Labour and the sawmill owner. She said that she was questioned by the ministry official on when her son received his first pay cheque but she said that she told them that she could not say.
“They say that if I need settlement I’ll have to go elsewhere but they ain’t tell me where,” Smartt’s mother said. The meeting was held last week.
Last week head of the Occupational Safety and Health Department, Yog Persaud, of the Labour Ministry had told this newspaper that the sawmill had breached the law by not reporting the death of Smartt. He added that it was recommended that charges be prepared to be brought against the sawmill operator.
This newspaper was unable to confirm yesterday if the sawmill operator was charged but Persaud had said that there is a six-month window for the charges to be instituted. Calls to the sawmill for a comment went unanswered.
According to Persaud the breach of the law, not reporting the death, carries a $25,000 fine.
