On Thursday the police were summoned to the Muneshwers complex at Houston on the East Bank of Demerara following a suspected workplace accident. A Cuban man, Alex Gonsalves was found dead in a pool of blood under a container.
With the rapid expansion of the oil and gas industry and the construction sector there has been a marked increase in the number of workplace accidents and there is therefore a greater onus on the authorities to improve safety at workplaces and to ensure that employers are aware that there would be severe consequences for any lapses that lead to deaths or serious accidents.
However, there is no sign of this leadership from the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Planning. It is unclear if this is the type of accountability and proactiveness that President Ali requires of his Cabinet but since the appointment of Minister Keoma Griffith to the portfolio in September 2025 there has been no decisive action to address workplace deaths and to hold employers accountable. To the contrary the Ministry and its Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Department have shown no public interest in this matter.
During the tenure of the former Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton figures were supplied on the number of workplace deaths and there were routine bulletins on the Ministry’s Facebook page of investigations of these even if the final outcomes were not forthcoming.
There is no such sign on the Ministry’s Facebook page these days. An entry on August 19 referred to the inaugural statutory meeting of the National Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH), marking what was described an important step in strengthening occupational safety and health systems and practices across Guyana. This was however just formulaic material meant to make it seen as if something was being done. There were no calls to action, no numbers of deaths or trends in particular sectors. If this is what our ministries are producing then President Ali should examine whether he and his Cabinet members are wasting taxpayers’ money.
The last major report from the ministry on workplace fatalities came in January 2025 from then Minister Hamilton. He had disclosed that thirty-two persons died at workplaces in 2024, reflecting a 45.4 percent increase compared to 2023, an alarming rise. Minister Hamilton stated that “One of the things we are concerned about… this year, again, is workplace deaths …So we started in 2020, 32 persons lost their lives, and then up until 2023, it was 22 regrettably, with all that we have done in 2024, 32 persons lost their lives in workplaces. Primarily in mining and construction. That is where most of the deaths are happening. There was a 5% decline in the number of non-fatal accidents. As I have indicated, the concern is about the increase of deaths at workplaces”.
To address the issue he stated that the ministry planned to launch a public relations programme to reach all persons as the issue of health and safety is not just for workplaces alone. It is unclear what became of this programme.
No consolidated figures were provided by the current Ministry for 2025 but evidence on the ground points to a significant problem with workplace accidents. The Ministry has also been silent on what the numbers have been so far this year. What has been evident from the ministry has been utter silence on this serious problem.
Minister Griffith’s ministry should tell the public what his OSH department has done to investigate workplace deaths and hold employers accountable otherwise one would have to assume that his ministry is there only to make positive sounds but to ignore anything that might be remotely negative.
Mr Griffith’s ministry should explain publicly what it has done in a number of cases to apply the letter of the law. Just days after Minister Griffith was sworn in a Cuban man died when what was believed to be a poorly constructed wall on a Chinese-owned business at Bachelor’s Adventure, East Coast Demerara, collapsed and crushed him to death. A year later, no one knows what the ministry has done to hold the employer and builder accountable and to ensure justice for the family of Dayrovis Martinez Mendoza.
On February 4th this year, four men died from noxious fumes aboard a Pritipaul Singh vessel docked at a Water Street wharf.
The deceased were identified as Brandon Deonarine, 18, a seaman of Support, East Bank Demerara; Nerwaine Persaud, 57, a boat captain of Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara; Dominic Alexis, 33, a seaman of De Kinderen, West Coast Demerara and Getindra Sanchara, 25, an engineer of Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara.
This was a major incident requiring concerted action by the ministry to investigate the conditions under which the men worked, decide whether the matter should be handed to the police and to ensure that the families were given a formal report which would allow them to seek justice. There has been complete silence from the ministry.
There have been other cases including the deaths of crewmen aboard the MV Barima on July 18. The Ministry has maintained complete silence on this matter even though the police force had the audacity to bring 73 murder charges against the captain and a crewman over the deaths of passengers. The Ministry of Labour which has the responsibility for ensuring safe workspaces and no fatalities has not been heard from at all.
The Ministry must provide data on workplace deaths and accidents for all of 2025, the first half of 2026 and must describe what its investigations of workplace deaths have yielded.
Discussion