Labour Ministry urged to read ‘riot act’ at building sites with safety anomalies

A simulated worksite accident at a safety seminar in Georgetown earlier this week

With urban Guyana currently experiencing a surfeit of major construction, Safety and Health expert and Director of the private consultancy Optimum Safety Solutions Dale Beresford wants the Ministry of Labour to step up inspections at construction sites to ensure that there are adequate measures in place to identify safety hazards and that preventive action is taken.

“Construction sites present special challenges to worker safety and while the increase in construction work is an indicator of development there is a need to build into the process a regime that is strongly biased in favour of workers,” Beresford said.

Stabroek Business sought Beresford’s comments in the light of reports of a number of recent accidents at construction sites in the city. In one instance, a Labour Ministry official denied that an accident had taken place at a major work site after this newspaper had secured evidence to the contrary.

Beresford told Stabroek Business that at a time when several major buildings were under construction “employers