LONDON, CMC – The UK-based Privy Council has reserved its judgment on a last enchantment within the tragic 2022 Paria diving incident, which claimed the lives of 4 divers.
The 5 regulation lords concluded their listening to on Wednesday, with their resolution now keenly awaited, as it’s going to outline the Occupational Well being and Security Authority and Company (OSH Authority)’s window to provoke well being and security offense prosecutions.
The incident noticed Land and Marine Contracting Providers Restricted (LMCS) divers Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar, Yusuf Henry, and Kazim Ali Jr. sucked right into a 30-inch diameter pipeline throughout upkeep work at Paria’s Pointe-a-Pierre facility.
Christopher Boodram, although significantly injured, managed to flee. A subsequent Fee of Enquiry (CoE), whose report was launched final January, introduced dozens of suggestions, together with expenses underneath the OSH Act.
These expenses had been ultimately laid towards Paria, LMCS, and key people – Paria’s common supervisor Mushtaq Mohammed, its terminal operations supervisor Collin Piper, and LMCS director Kazim Ali Snr – with proceedings initiated earlier than each the Industrial Court docket and a Justice of the Peace’s Court docket.
The fees had been filed greater than two years after the incident, and after they appeared in Court docket final September, the businesses and people pleaded not responsible to the costs.
The pivotal authorized query now earlier than the Privy Council stems from a separate case involving the OSH Authority and the College of the West Indies (UWI). This enchantment pertains to a grievance filed by the Authority regarding UWI’s alleged delay in reporting an incident the place a cow injured an worker in March 2016.
The core of the authorized debate revolves round two sections of the Occupational Well being and Security Act (OSHA). UWI objected to the grievance, citing Part 93, which mandates {that a} grievance be filed inside six months of the difficulty coming to the Authority’s consideration. Conversely, the OSH Authority pointed to Part 97(B), which states that each one proceedings underneath the Act have to be initiated inside two years of the reason for motion arising.
The Industrial Court docket initially sided with the OSH Authority, ruling that the two-year restrict utilized to prosecutions earlier than it. In distinction, the six-month restrict was confined to related however separate well being and security offenses pursued earlier than magistrates.
Nevertheless, UWI efficiently appealed this resolution to the Court docket of Attraction. The Attraction Court docket reversed the Industrial Court docket’s ruling, concluding that the six-month restrict utilized to prosecutions earlier than each Magistrates and the Industrial Court docket and that the two-year restrict was solely related for civil lawsuits underneath the laws.
Legal professional Robert Strang, representing the OSH Authority earlier than the Privy Council on Wednesday, underscored the profound impression of this differing interpretation on his shopper’s operations.
“The authority scheduled its investigations and prosecutions primarily based on the two-year restrict,” Strang informed the Lords, urging them to affirm the Industrial Court docket’s broader interpretation.
In response, UWI’s lawyer, David Alexander, defended the Attraction Court docket’s ruling, asserting its thoroughness and adherence to the plain which means of the legislative provisions.
“There ought to be no issue with phrases in these provisions… The plain which means of the phrases is obvious,” Alexander argued, noting that the six-month time restrict aligns with that set underneath the Abstract Courts Act for abstract prosecutions.
The end result of this enchantment will immediately decide the OSH Authority’s capability to pursue a number of high-profile circumstances, together with the Paria tragedy prosecutions. It’ll redefine the framework for well being and security enforcement within the nation.
Past the OSH Act expenses, the Paria tragedy has spawned different authorized actions. Christopher Boodram and Rishi Nagassar’s household filed negligence lawsuits towards each Paria and LMCS final October, with completely different households anticipated to observe swimsuit. Whereas LMCS has admitted a compensation obligation underneath the Workmen’s Compensation Act, it factors to a dispute with its insurer. It claims Paria ought to bear sole legal responsibility for the incident’s dealing with.
In early April, former Prime Minister Stuart Younger introduced the Cupboard’s resolution to make ex gratia funds of TT$1 million every to Boodram and the households of the deceased divers with out admitting legal responsibility. This week, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Legal professional Common John Jeremie, SC, when questioned in regards to the funds, said that the dedication can be honored.
Persad-Bissessar, alternatively, advised that judicial help could be essential to resolve such advanced circumstances.
