Workers urged to put health, safety first

The nation’s oldest trade union has issued a caution to employers whose staff is required to be on the job during the current COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

virus among some employees of the state-run National Assistance Board (NAB), the Barbados Workers Union (BWU) has insisted that employers put the health and safety of their staff above everything else.

Deputy General Secretary Dwaine Paul told Barbados TODAY: “If any worker has to go out, for us, health and safety has to be paramount.

“We cannot have touching or compromising the health and safety of workers because none of us has the ability to grant life.”

Reflecting on the authority’s call to heed physical distancing, the BWU official declared to business owners and public sector leaders that an economy can be restored or revived, but a dead worker cannot be brought back to life.

He said: “An economy can be rebuilt… an economy can be resuscitated, but an individual’s life cannot be restored; that is something that is not within the purview of man.

“So, therefore it has to be the head thing by which we operate and be our guiding principle in terms of making these decisions.

“We recognize there is a lot of economic pressure out there… and some companies are doing better than others in trying to make sure they follow the rules, but other companies are obviously seeking to avoid the cost element of providing and making sure their environment is safe and comply with all of the recommendations required for operating in an environment like this.”

Paul warned those companies which he said expose staff to the virus because it is “financially prudent” for them to do so.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb