Based on the fact that a Commission of Inquiry has found culpability, not only on the part of the company, but also the Ministry of Labour and respective oversight agencies in the on-the-job death of BOSAI Minerals Group Guyana Inc (BMGG) employee, Neptrid Hercules, the family is taking the company to court.
“We have heard no word from BOSAI. No word! So we are going ahead with Mr Hughes [attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes] and will be taking them to court,” Hercules’ daughter Kenisha Hercules last week told the Sunday Stabroek.
“Going forward, overall, we are looking for some sort of satisfaction and betterment for the current workers of BOSAI. It is so unfair, not only to the family but to those workers too because nothing has really changed and they have not even reached out to us,” she added.
Hercules said that after her father’s death, a representative of the company promised “faithfully” that they would be hearing from the company. They are still waiting.
The family’s attorney confirmed to this newspaper that BOSAI would face litigation but gave no details into how soon.
Still devastated by her father’s untimely and horrific demise, Hercules said that wounds reopened when she learned of the CoI’s findings.
That report, which was handed over to the company and government, this newspaper understands, found culpability not only on the part of the company, but also the Ministry of Labour and respective oversight agencies, as had they been vigilant in their duties and enforced laws of the country, the fatal incident would have never occurred.
It had surmised that had the company heeded warnings and were regulatory bodies vigilant, they would have been aware that had the necessary risk assessments for the area been carried out, it would have shown that the soil was loose and highly saturated, thus heavy objects ran the risk of being sucked in.
The report included a long list of recommendations with timelines for implementation to prevent another occurrence, but it is unclear what has been done nearly three months after by those identified in the Ministry of Labour, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
The Ministry of Labour had issued a release with some of the recommendations in the report, but there was no word on the overall report findings nor was it stated that a timeframe was advised for the implementation of the recommendations.
The report presented the results of an investigation undertaken, consequent to an earth structure failure on March 11, of an area being reclaimed by BOSAI where Hercules was entombed along with a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer. He had been operating the machine at the time and the report underscored that had certain requisite risk assessments been taken prior, the accident could have been avoided.
“The primary cause… was BMGG’s failure to conduct a risk assessment of the reclamation dump construction methodology. The risk assessment would have identified the possibility of liquefaction simply based on the stratigraphy of the dump and the consequences associated with a highly impermeable layer underlying a loose granular soil with no ability to dissipate ground and surface water inflows into the granular layer. Another contributory factor is BMGG’s failure to address geotechnical engineering/groundwater hydrology issues in its operations,” the report seen by Stabroek News stated.
It explained that elementary geotechnical knowledge would recognize that clay would lose strength in undrained load conditions when loaded, but this was never considered by BMGG.
“Reclamation dump operations never integrated any soil strength data into the design, therefore the likelihood of soil strength loss was never considered. BMGG had no monitoring instrumentation in place at the reclamation dump. The development of elevated pore water pressures, warning of the possibility of liquefaction, could have been determined if low technology stand-pipe piezometers were installed in the area… several minor failures [had] occurred at the reclamation dump previously,” the report highlighted.
“Legislative/regulatory bodies also must bear some culpability for the failure. Application of best technology and risk assessment requirements by the EPA; the Ministry of Labour’s request of BMGG for a report, bearing the seal of a professional engineer that the ground stability would not endanger a worker and GGMC’s application of some of the requirements of the 2005 Mining (Amendments) Regulations may have induced BMGG to incorporate geotechnical engineering and hydrology considerations into the reclamation dump construction,” the report added.
Best practices
In a stinging rebuke to the company, the report stated that “best practices” such as risk assessments for large-scale operations were never applied by the company and while it had hired an Occupational Health and Safety consultant, that person focused more on public relations than ensuring safety measures were implemented.
The investigation also highlighted that the company also did not have an Emergency Response Plan and thus no noted measures could have been activated on the said day.
According to the report, the failure that day resulted in the displacement of approximately 35,000 cubic meters (m3) of soil and was reflected by significant saturated soil flow to the base of the wall opposite the reclamation area. That saturated soil flow also progressed to the north and east of the mined-out area and was precluded from entering the active mining area by a ramp separating it from the mined area.
“There was failure to identify risks associated with dump construction, consequently an appropriate corrective mechanism could not be applied to dump construction. An Emergency Response Plan, which would have been prepared if a risk assessment was undertaken, was never prepared for the likelihood of reclamation dump failure,” the report said.
Further, it added, “The site visit confirmed the presence of small static liquefaction flows elsewhere around the reclamation dump. This should have alerted BMGG to the likelihood of other failures. BMGG should have considered the increased likelihood of additional failures given the occurrence of these small liquefaction flows coupled with the failure reported by Mr. Bacchus and Mr. Graham. This confirms the absence of technical oversight of a relatively complex reclamation dump construction.”
Negligence
The report said that BMGG’s actions, after the failure and loss of life, “indicated no interest in resolving the technical issues and gaps in the design and construction methodology. BMGG continues the dump reclamation operation with practically no changes despite the technical deficiencies having been identified.
“BMGG efforts are more focused on public relations as is evidenced by its hiring of a non-technical consultant. That consultant, Mr. Peter Benny, adds no value to BMGG’s ability to develop solutions to the technical deficiencies in the reclamation dump design and construction…”
And with the state owning 30% of the company, the report said, BMGG seems to believe that it “validates its failure to comply with the legislative/regulatory framework which is applicable to its operations.”
“There is an urgent necessity for the Government of Guyana to ensure that this is immediately addressed and corrected. This is especially important to ensure that the Government of Guyana is not regarded as being insensitive to environmental, health and safety concerns given its development thrust based on the exploitation of natural resources. Inaction of the legislated/regulatory bodies does not excuse BMGG from exercising appropriate Standard of Care and Due Diligence required of an international mining company,” the report stated.
Hercules was employed with the mining company for 42 years and was expected to retire in October this year.
