What started out as a normal Tuesday for a Richmond, Essequibo Coast resident ended with him losing one of his body parts at Supenaam, when the blade from the disposal truck he was working on severed his left foot.
Danny Narayan, 42, left his home around 7 am on February 3, and as normal he went to his workplace at Bushlot—Puran Brothers Inc (the waste disposal company which provides services to residents along the Essequibo Coast) and prepared for the day’s work.
Narayan, who began working as a labourer with the company in September 2014, is the sole breadwinner for his wife and 11-year-old son.
Leena Outar related that her husband was working on the small disposal truck at Supenaam and while talking with a family member, his foot somehow got stuck between the blade and was slashed from his heel to above his ankle. The blade is manually controlled and it is still unclear who pressed the switch that controls the blade.
As the man screamed in anguish, his relative rushed to the front of the truck and alerted the driver to what was happening. Narayan’s uncle and the truck driver sprang into action and assisted the traumatised man from the back of the truck. He was taken to the Suddie Public Hospital, where doctors tried feverishly to reattach his foot, which was hanging by the skin.
“When I reach at the hospital the doctors deh already take Danny to do surgery and his bossman and other workers already went there and I just start crying.
It was hard for me. When he finally come out from the surgery room, the nurses tell me that I can’t see him because I was crying too much,” Outar said.
The woman added that her husband was not aware of what had really transpired until three days later.
“Friday morning when I gone then he tell me that he foot cut off,” she said. “He say that he was feeling plenty pain and he was trembling. The nurses had to strap him to the bed because of the trembling and he was crying plenty. He cyaan work back on the truck now because of the foot. He is the only person who working and we took a small loan which we gotta pay back plus meh son preparing to write common entrance soon. It’s so hard for me and my family right now.
“The manager from town call me and tell me that they will replace a foot for Danny and provide another job fuh he when he get better. They say that they will give him his normal week salary too for now.
But it still hard because every day I have to go till to Suddie morning, midday and afternoon to take food for him.
Meanwhile Branch Manager of Puran Bros at Bushlot Matthew Munroe said the company acknowledges that the accident was an industrial one and will undertake the responsibility and obligation to look into the matter and provide compensation to Narayan.
“We have Mr Narayan at heart and we are very sorry for what happened,” Munroe said. “Mr Narayan was at the back of the machinery when the incident occurred. The truck cannot be operated from the cabin. All operations are handled from the back and on the day when the incident occurred, Narayan asked the driver to put on the power… He was standing on the truck talking to a family member when the blade caught him from his heel. He was not supposed to be standing there… Every day we caution our workers about putting their safety first.
The disposal truck is a cut and crush system and the life of Narayan was saved as a result of him turning the switch off,” he added.
Munroe added that the general manager of the company in Georgetown had spoken with Outar.
Narayan remains a patient at the Suddie Hospital and according to his wife, he will be released when his left leg is completely healed.
