Describing the death of four divers in Pointe-a-Pierre in February 2022 as “avoidable,” US-based diving expert Phil Newsum praised the government and the Occupational Health and Safety Authority (OSHA) for trying to implement diving regulations in Trinidad and Tobago.
He made the comment as OSHA hosted a public stakeholder consultation on a draft policy for the creation of the regulations.
On February 25, 2022, Kazim Ali Jr, Rishi Nagassar, Fyzal Kurban, Yusuf Henry and Christopher Boodram were sucked into a 30-inch pipeline they were repairing at a facility belonging to state-owned Paria Fuel Trading Company.
Only Boodram got out alive.
Paria’s general manager, Mushtaq Mohammed, and operations manager Colin Piper, as well as the head of Land and Marine and Construction Services (LMCS), Kazim Ali Snr, have appeared in court to answer charges arising from the incident.
Newsum is also the executive director of the Association of Diving Contractors International (ADCI) – an organisation that works with countries and regulatory agencies to establish uniform safe standards for commercial divers, and encourages industry-wide observance of these standards.
Newsum said the Paria incident was unfortunate and should not have happened.
“I think the first word that comes to mind is avoidable. It's known throughout industry that the use of scuba for commercial applications should be very, very limited, especially the scuba that these gentlemen were using. Half-masks and no communications on the divers themselves to be able to communicate with the topside environment.
"Also, scuba should not be used for any offshore applications. It's something that should be very limited and there's plenty of documentation and plenty of lessons learned to be able to substantiate that.”
Newsum was reluctant to say any particular person or entity was at fault, saying there was a lot of blame to be shared.
“Should the divers at some point have looked and said, ‘Hey, how do guys throughout the industry perform operations like this? What type of equipment are they using? Are they using recreational scuba equipment?’
"Most commercial divers that I know out there are up to speed on what is the requisite equipment they should be using for the tasks that they've been assigned.
“And then, of course, the contractors and what they should have been aware of in terms of the requisite equipment that should have been used and the current industry standard.
"Also, the folks that are paying the money should not have put themselves in a position where they're so exposed to be able to just assume that the contractor or the divers know the best and safest way to conduct the operation.
"So really, blame goes across the spectrum.”
[caption id="attachment_1068323" align="alignnone" width="690"] The four divers who died in an accident at Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd's Pointe-a-Pierre facility in February 2022. From left: Kazim Ali Jnr, Yusuf Henry, Rishi Nagassar and Fyzal Kurban. -[/caption]
During a question-and-answer session, one
