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SUBIC BAY Freeport: The administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan
Authority ordered immediate stoppage of construction activities at a
foreign shipyard here on Saturday, a day after a worker was killed
and four others were injured in an apparent accident.
Armand Arreza issued a cease-and-desist order
against Hanjin Construction Corp. Ltd. minutes after learning of the
incident from a company official.
“The safety situation at the shipyard has
become alarming,” Arreza said.
The order did not cover other shipyard
operations.
South Korean-owned Hanjin is the top foreign
construction firm in the country today.
It is undertaking a $1.6-billion project at the
Redondo Peninsula at the freeport.
Mario Atrero, 52, from Candelaria, Zambales,
died when a metal frame collapsed on him and the other four
workers—Joel Alido, of Palauig, Zambales; Darvin Silva, of San
Antonio, Zambales; David Alcayaga, of Castillejos, Zambales; and
Leody Abad, also of Palauig. They had sought shelter under the frame
during a sudden downpour around 4 p.m. Strong winds apparently
caused the metal frame to give way.
The latest accident brought to 12 the number of
deaths recorded at the shipyard since Hanjin began its operations in
2006. Most of the accidents supposedly involved workers hired by
subcontractors of Hanjin.
Last week, Arreza said, the metropolitan
authority recommended termination of contracts of three
subcontractors who were found to have been remiss in implementing
safety requirements at the shipyard.
The freeport administrator identified the
subcontractors as Trigon/Bodahh Inc., a worker of which fell from
the roof of a building on March 11; Globe Distribution Services, two
workers of which were pinned to death by a collapsing metal beam on
March 10; and DMK/Philnorkor, a worker of which fell from a moving
truck in December last year.
“[We] are doing a thorough investigation of
each accident, and while it may take time before actions are made
since [we] are going through the whole process, [we] have to assure
the public that the [authority] will do all that is necessary to
ensure the safety of workers inside Subic,” Arreza said.
He added that officials of the authority met on
Wednesday with Undersecretary Lourdes Melicor-Transmante of the
Department of Labor and Employment and Dr. Dulce Estrella-Gust,
executive director of the department’s Occupational Safety and
Health Center, to formulate safety guidelines for Hanjin.
Among the measures required by the metropolitan
authority and the Labor department are the conduct of a third-party
quality audit of all shipyard equipment and safety performance, the
creation of an inter-agency occupational health and safety superbody
at the shipyard, and the weekly submission of job safety and
occupational health reports to the authority.
“[We] also issued a notice to Hanjin on
Wednesday for the company to complete all the occupational health
and safety requirements within 30 days,” Arreza said.
“Otherwise we will suspend their operations,
not just construction activities, but also shipyard operations,”
he added.
In Hanjin’s production pipeline is the
building of a multimillion-dollar ship that would be the biggest in
the world.
Currently, Hanjin directly employs almost 3,000
for its shipbuilding operations. Its expansion plans are expected to
open up more than 13,000 direct jobs by next year and 15,800 by
2011.
-- Anthony Bayarong and Katrina Mennen A. Valdez
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