By Sue-Ann Wayow
OF all the written documents detailing emergency plans by Paria Fuel Trading Company Ltd, there is none to deal with a possible Delta-P situation.
And to date, there is still no written emergency plan to deal with the latent hazardous situation that is being labelled the root cause in the deaths of Fyzal Kurban, Rishi Nagassar, Yusuf Henry and Kazim Ali Jr, the four underwater divers who died in February 2022.
This is according to Paria’s Acting Technical Lead Catherine Balkissoon who took to the witness box at the Commission of Enquiry (CoE) to investigate the tragic circumstances that led to the deaths of the men on Wednesday.
Balkissoon also said that it would be too complicated to formulate a rescue plan involving a Delta-P situation such as the one that occurred that fateful day of Friday, February 25, 2022.
The CoE was delayed by one day as Paria failed to produce relevant documents in a timely manner.
Balkissoon was first questioned by CoE’s attorney Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, and CoE’s chairman Jerome Lynch, KC.
Balkissoon is part of Paria’s Incident Command Team (ICT).
According to the Incident Command System (ICS) for Major Emergencies document, Paria is to develop and implement emergency response plans for all credible emergency situations that may arise with safeguarding human life being of paramount importance.
Maharaj asked if according to the document, there should be well-documented plans for responding to major emergencies to which Balkissoon responded yes.
He asked, “Did Paria have any plan to respond to any emergency arising from an active Delta-P hazard situation?”
Balkissoon responded, “No.”
Maharaj then said by now, she would be aware that the accident which caused the men to be sucked into a pipeline located at Paria’s Berth #6 was caused by a Delta-P situation.
However, Balkissoon questioned if that was indeed the root cause of the accident.
She then attempted to explain what occurred while the men were working.
Maharaj then asked, “After this accident occurred, in the position you occupy on the IMT, you became aware that the accident was caused by an active Delta-P situation?”
Balkissoon said, “You see, I am not saying that.”
She added that Delta-P could be present anywhere and again asked if that was indeed the root cause of the accident.
Lynch stepped in.
He said, “You understand what Delta P is don’t you? (Yes). It’s a differential in pressure(yes). There was, was there not, what we now know a differential in pressure (yes) between one side of the plug and the other (correct). When you removed the plug, it wanted to equalize (correct). That causes a problem (yes) and it sucked the men into the pipe (yes).”
Maharaj repeated his question asking if there was particular documented plan to deal with a Delta-P situation to which Balkissoon again responded no.
Lynch asked if there was one presently and she also responded no.
Balkissoon later said that the ICS was activated whenever there was an emregncy and that it was activated when the accident with meetings involving the IMT.
Under the heading Incident Action Plans, for simple incidents, the plan could be oral or written but for large and complex incidents, the plan needed to be documented.
Balkissoon stated that incident on Berth #6 was not simple but large and complex.
Maharaj asked, “Since this incident occurred, have steps been taken by Paria to have a plan to deal with Delta-P, a written plan to deal with a Delta-P emergency?”
Balkissoon replied, “No.”
Lynch asked, “Do you think they should?”
This was Balkissoon’s response.
“I think we should engineer out the possibility of the impact of a Delta-P in a situation.”
Lynch then said, “Certainly, you should try and do that but in the event you fail, do you think you have an emergency plan to deal with it if you fail to engineer out a possibility?”
She then said, “I don’t think we could ever come up with an acceptable emergency plan to rescue some-one like that, that’s my opinion.”
Lynch then asked, “So that I could understand please, you are saying that it is not possible to have a plan to deal with a Delta-P situation, it is simply not something you could document in a way that you could action?”
Balkissoon said, “To the best of my knowledge and my expertise, I don’t think there is anything that … it’s something that sits with me everyday. I don’t think there is anything that I could have done more to have an emergency response plan such that you can make it safe for someone to enter and so on. That’s my opinion.”
Lynch further asked, “Do you think that it is worth trying to find a plan that could deal with such an emergency for the future or not?”
Balkissoon replied, “Yes, it is worth trying to find a plan.”
Lynch, “Thank you. Have you?”
Balkissoon, “No.”
Lynch, “That’s what I want to know. Thank you very much.”
