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Friday, October 18, 2024

Occupational Safety and Health: A documentation of a few tragic and traumatic outcomes at work


Don't gamble with your safety or your life. Having access to adequate and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is a fundamental human right.

Video: PPE Training
Video: Workplace safety

TRAGIC & TRAUMATIC OUTCOMES: Lessons Learned?

A traumatic situation

On Wednesday, October 11, 2023, at the Springer Memorial Secondary School, a simulated exercise that followed an orange alert (for intrusion or gang activity) sent both students and teachers into a panic. Two masked males, referred to as "actors," walked around the all-girls school beating on windows while brandishing a machete and a "mock gun." The exercise was meant to teach pupils how to respond to gang intrusion on the school premises, but it instead left the students in fear and traumatized. Parents were incensed by the emergency school safety drill on Wednesday morning, which also sparked a contentious national and political debate. The Barbados Defence Force and the Barbados Police Service collaborated on this simulated exercise. While some students fainted, others experienced panic and asthma problems. One pupil was hurt. Both Springer Memorial School principal, Cheryl Gill, and Chief Education Officer, Dr. Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, apologized for the simulation mishaps. The latter further stated that the Ministry of Education is developing a national schools' security policy.

For more on this specific situation, click on the following link:

https://teshealthandsafetycommittee.blogspot.com/2023/10/education-chief-admits-simulation-at.html



TRAGIC OUTCOMES


❶ Acting Station Officer, Christopher "German" Edwards, a 35-year veteran of the Barbados Fire Service was electrocuted by a live power cable while responding to a fire in Station Hill, St. Peter. Edwards lived at Reservoir Road, Ashton Hall, St. Peter. Edwards died on December 15, 2010.


Alfred Odle, a 65-year-old construction worker of Maxwell, Christ Church, died on Monday, March 20, 2023 after falling into a 60-foot well at the airport. According to police, Odle was cleaning the well when he fell into it around 1:45pm. Personnel from the Barbados Fire Service recovered Odle's body around 3:20pm (1 hour and 35 minutes after the incident). He was pronounced dead at the scene.


❸ Patrick Jones, a 46-year-old man was electrocuted while carrying out a task at his St. George workplace yesterday around 11:40am, Wednesday, September 13, 2023. While handling a long metal object which was hoisted by a crane onto a roof, the object came into contact with electrical lines and Jones fell to the ground. According to Police, Jones only started working at the Glacial Pure Ice Plant, where the incident occurred, on Monday. He died while receiving medical treatment at the scene.


Jeffrey "Milk" Broomes, a 64-year-old worker of Upper Goodland, St. Michael, died on Friday, September 29, 2023 when a container fell on him during a cargo vessel operation. As he neared retirement, the dedicated veteran of over 30 years was killed in the presence of his son.


❺ 
Andell Mc Garrell, a 51-year-old Guyanese man, fell to his death while working on a construction site. Mc Garrell's 52nd birthday falls on May 09, 2024, which is one month from now. According to the police, the tragedy happened in Apes Hill, St. James, at around 8:20 am on Monday, April 8, 2024. Two workers were reportedly working on a building at lot C4 Apes Hill when they fell from a scaffolding that was 30 to 40 feet high. The 51-year-old Barbados resident was impaled after he fell upon a piece of steel. He died on the spot. The other worker, a man in his 50s, was taken to the hospital via ambulance.

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