By Sue-Ann Wayow
THERE is nothing in documents provided by both Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd and LMCS Ltd that deals with communication with family members of victims of incidents.
Chairman of the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) Jerome Lynch, KC, on Tuesday gave his reasons for allowing the evidence of some family members to be heard before the Commission despite the application by Paria that they should not.
Lynch spoke more on the submissions made by both attorney Prakash Ramadhar and attorney Asif Hosein-Shah who both objected Paria’s application and also referred to the Terms of Reference which he said was deliberately widely drafted.
He said, “Nothing in Paria’s documentation, IE policy statements, emergency response procedures, plans, Incident Command System or any other documents of that kind or LMCS’s HSE manual or anything else deals with communication by the employer or contractor with the victim’s families in an emergency situation.”
“They should,” Lynch declared.
He continued, “It is this feature that we have come to the view that renders this evidence relevant and admissible and is likely to form part of the recommendations as to the future in these situations where there are communications lacking.”
Lynch said, “I leave aside whether it is best practice on the international standards to have in place a policy that deals with communications with family and relatives and the public. It is our view, the common decency to keep the families informed and to provide proper facilities to them was the pre-requisite here.”
According to Lynch, the evidence heard deals with the following matters:
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Failures by Paria and to some extent LMCS to keep the families informed. Nearly 24 hours passed before anyone from Paria spoke in a meeting to all of the families waiting for news about what was happening.
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Families were left to camp in a carpark at the gates of Paria facility for days until some measure of assistance was given to them driven largely by the public outcry and the intervention of the union.
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Rumour and misinformation as was clear from some of the evidence read on Monday becomes rife when there is no formal dissemination of the facts told honestly and timely in a consistently updated manner by those who are in authority and knew those facts.
Lynch said according to a Paria document showing the different responsibilities assigned under an Incident Command System for emergency events, it includes an information officer and a liaison officer but “says absolutely nothing” about what they were supposed to do.
In laying out his reasons, Lynch said, “There must be a humanitarian element to any future emergency response plan includes honest regular communication with the immediate families of those most affected by the emergency unfolded.”
He reminded the Commission that one of its roles was to provide recommendations for the future.
“We have no doubt at all that these witnesses can provide important evidence that will shape the kinds of recommendations that all organisations require to have an emergency response consider the way in which they communicate with and treat the potential victims of a disaster or tragedy,” Lynch said.
Giving all his reasons stated above, Lynch said he will allow the remaining family members to give evidence on Tuesday, the last day of the witness statements.
He said the Commission received a further two statements which will also be read.
Speaking on about the evidence of Aliyah Henry, Yusuf Henry’s 11-year-old daughter, Lynch said, “Aliyah Henry is an 11-year-old girl. She is the daughter of Yusuf Henry. It is a short heartfelt statement setting out her loss. I am not going to exclude it.”
