Barge incident: Victims were trying to help each other
BVI News has received more details on last Saturday’s incident on a barge, in which two men lost consciousness and another died after allegedly inhaling toxic chemicals.
It’s understood that the deceased is a 55-year-old Jamaican national who was employed by the barge company where the incident occured on February 17.
Our news centre was told that on the day of the incident, two men opened the barge tank and immediately went inside to carry out maintenance works. However, this was the fatal error, as the workers were reportedly advised to always allow the tank to remain open for several hours before carrying out maintenance works.
Once inside the tank, which reportedly has a depth of six feet, it’s understood that the Jamaican man was immediately affected by toxic chemicals, which caused him to shake and fall to the ground. The second man who had entered the tank also appeared to be affected.
That’s when two other workers on the outside decided to enter the tank to rescue their colleagues. They failed to assist the Jamaican man – who appeared unconscious and difficult to move – but managed to assist the second man who initially went into the tank.
However, the two brave men who entered the tank to assist ended up losing consciousness shortly after due to exposure to the toxic chemicals. They were later treated at hospital where they also regained consciousness.
BVI News was informed that the authorities carried out extensive investigations but there are no indications that anyone will be held liable for the incident. There is also no word on what affected the workers once they entered the tank.
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A very sad yet classic case of a confined space fatality. See https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/94-103/default.html for a description of related tragedies. Many would be rescuers end up being victims. Many incidents come from marine environments.
It does not sound like there were any procedures in place, no safety training, no atmospheric testing, no emergency rescue plan. BVI’s Labor Code (2012) has requirements for addressing occupational health and safety hazards, not that there appears to be any enforcement, or even public education/outreach on this topic. See https://www.hse.gov.uk/confinedspace/ for guidelines on confined spaces
Also worth noting that oxygen deficiency rather than toxic chemicals may have been the issue. Steel rusts and absorbs oxygen from the air. If there is no ventilation, eventually oxygen levels decrease. Dimished oxygen levels impair decision making abilities increasing the risk of adverse outcomes. Yet, it’s easy enough to test for that with instruments that these days are affordable.
Everything you said is true. But at the end of that article we read this “BVI News was informed that the authorities carried out extensive investigations but there are no indications that anyone will be held liable for the incident”
SMH.
I thought I was a strange sentence as the families still have the option of a civil lawsuit.
Thank you for intelligent information / my respect / it would be so nice if that canary from the yello site would write & blogg some constructive on his site , instead of racism
All I know is the owner of that barge and the contents should be investigated. Knowing WHO the barge for we know that is not happening.
Whether or not noxious fumes are at play any confined space can be lethal. I know a worker fainted entering an empty water cistern too fast (he was fine). Perhaps this tragic incident can at least lead to greater awareness.
Name of the barge and the owner please. Thank you
A canary would have been a sensible if archaic suggestion.