Months after being injured on the job during an explosion at the Demerara Oxygen Com-pany Ltd’s (Docol] Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) filling plant two men are alleging that the company has broken its promise to cover all their medical expenses.
Speaking for the first time since the horrific incident, Ravindra ‘Randy’ Ramdhani and Mirvel Richards, both 19, railed against “the unacceptable treatment” they have been receiving from Docol. The men also recounted the events which led to the October 29, 2010 explosion.
Following the incident, Docol’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shameer Hoosein had told Stabroek News that officials from the Ministry of Labour (MoL) visited the scene and an investigation was being conducted. He had also confirmed that Docol had committed to paying. Since then, Stabroek News has been unable to contact the CEO.
To date there has been no word from the company or MoL about the investigation. Repeated efforts made since Tuesday to contact Minister of Labour Manzoor Nadir and Hoosein have been futile. When this newspaper visited Docol’s office at Eccles on Friday morning an employee there said Hoosein was not in and would not be in for the rest of that day. The visit to the Eccles office was made after repeated efforts to make telephone contact were futile.
Ramdhani and Richards told Stabroek News that when they visit the Docol office in Eccles, where the explosion occurred, they are locked out or the officials there refuse to let their mothers in with them. “They are treating us as though we are bothering them for something which we are not entitled to,” Richards said.
Last year a cooking gas cylinder exploded at the location and resulted in Ravindra, Richards and Heera Persaud, 18, sustaining burns about the body.
The men were hospitalized for about a month at the St Joseph Mercy Hospital and the bills were paid by Docol.
In subsequent meetings with the men’s mothers, who take care of them, Docol had committed to paying medical expenses for the men related to the injuries they sustained during the explosion. How-ever, Indramattie Ramdhanie told this newspaper on Tues-day that Docol has refused to cover the expenses as was promised and has declined to pay for spectacles her son needs.
Indrapattie and Joylin Douglas, mother of Richards, visited this newspaper’s Robb Street office along with the still recovering men to voice their concerns.
Since Ravindra was released from the hospital, she said, Docol has been giving them $16,800 every two weeks. While her son was on the job, she explained, he was paid approximately $10,000 weekly. The woman said that in addition to this Docol is supposed to provide for transportation to take Ravindra for his doctor’s visits and for his ongoing treatment.
“At first they were treating us nice but now is a different story,” Indramattie told Stabroek News. “Now we hearing a different tune. They telling us that we need a letter of approval from them before my son or the other two boys can be treated at the hospital… Docol destroyed these boys and now left them to deal with it on their own.”
On January 17 Dr Michelle Ming prepared an estimate for the cost of spectacles for Ravindra, the woman said. It was found that one of her son’s eyes was damaged due to the injuries he sustained in the explosion. When presented with the estimate, the woman said, Docol refused to cover the cost.
Meanwhile, Douglas said that as a result of the injuries her son Richards suffered he now has a periodic pain in his chest. Just over a week ago, the woman said, Richards had an attack of the chest pain and was rushed to the St Joseph Mercy Hospital. He was admitted and spent one week at the medical institution.
“When the hospital contacted Docol they initially refused to pay the bill and it wasn’t until we threatened to go to the police or the media for them that they send someone to pay the bill and they told us now that unless they give the hospital a letter giving permission to treat my son then he cannot go there anymore,” Douglas said.
‘…we were
brushing off
our skin’
On October 29 last year, Ramdhani told Stabroek News, he was working in the plant along with Persaud. He, Richards and Persaud, he explained, did three different tasks but worked together at all times.
“One of us would seal and test the cylinder, another would turn it off the line and the other would pack it. When we get tired of doing one task we would rotate,” he explain-ed.
At that time, Ramdhani recalled, he had been working at the plant for eight months while Richards had been there for nine months. They were yet to be confirmed, but had been promised confirmation by management.
Ramdhani said he had just tested and sealed a cylinder and it continued along the line. He later discovered that the bottom of the cylinder was rotten and it toppled and fell from the line.
“This cylinder should have gone through quality control before it was filled,” he explained. “So when I saw this one topple I realized that this was metal against concrete and there must have been a spark, the gas escaped from the faulty container and that is what I believe cause the explosion.”
He and Persaud, the man recalled, were closer to the cylinder which exploded. Richards told this newspaper that he was just returning to the room from the washroom and it was as he stepped in that the flames flew out at him.
After the explosion, Ramdhani said, it was sheer chaos in the plant as employees dashed for the exit. The man said he was the last person to exit the building and by the time he was running out the sprinklers had been activated. “I looked in a reflecting window and I saw what was happening to me and I knew I had to run out of there… I was screaming for help even after I got outside but no one came to help me,” he said.
He and his injured colleagues, he recalled, were left in the sun for about 20 minutes before efforts were made to take them to the hospital. “I remember clearly the pain and I remember that when I was in the vehicle going to the hospital [name of a manager] started cussing me and telling me to shut up,” he said.
Richards said the primary concern of everyone around was to get themselves to safety or to ensure that the plant was not destroyed.
“When we were running we were trying to brush off the fire and we were brushing off our skin,” Richards said.
No safety
procedure
After the incident, the injured men explained jointly, it was chaos at the Eccles plant. They said that the entire facility has one entrance/exit and everyone rushed to it simultaneously.
During the months they worked with the company, Ramdhani and Richards said, they were not given any practical training. No effort, the men further said, was made by the company to train them in safety procedures.
“There are safety signs up and about the facility,” Ramdhani explained, “and there is a sign in the lunch room which says that everyone must assemble in the parking lot in the case of an emergency but other than that there is nothing else… The only safety equipment we are given is protective boots and maybe goggles depending on what task we are performing.”
He further explained that the company, during his 8 months of service, never went over any routine procedure to be followed in the event of an explosion or any other safety breach.
In December 2010, just over a month after the explosion that injured the men, a small fire broke out at Docol temporarily halting all activities. No one was injured during the incident but again concerns were raised about the safety procedures at the plant.
Reports had said that around 2 pm on December 8, 2010, a generator near the company’s acetylene plant exploded, causing a small fire. The generator, Stabroek News understands, was not in operation at the time of the incident.
A resident of the nearby area said she did not hear an explosion but saw smoke coming from the back of the compound. She said that when the smoke was observ-ed, children who were at a Christmas party being hosted on the premises were quickly evacuated from the compound to the Eccles Primary School, which is located opposite. Staff also evacuated the compound and fire-fighters arriv-ed shortly after. “It wasn’t anything major,” the resident added. According to her, the staff returned to the building a short while after.
