By Richardson Dhalai Thursday, September 3 2009

Fourteen contract workers of Petrotrin had to receive medical treatment after inhaling fumes from a gas leak at the Point-Lisas oil company’s sulphur recovery unit (SRU) yesterday.

The fumes blew over to the gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant where contracted crews were working on its construction, sickening them, Oilfields Workers Trade Union branch secretary Shaffick Hyatali said yesterday.

The mishap occurred at about 10 am. Hyatali said all of the workers, employed by several contractors, were immediately evacuated from the plant. The 14 who fell ill were treated at the Augustus Long Hospital and have since been discharged. They were employed with Jokhan General Contractors Limited. On August 25, a welder with Jokhan General Contractors, John Marshall, died at the San Fernando General Hospital after he reportedly inhaled toxic sulphuric fumes while working at the US$240 million GTL plant, which is part of Petrotrin’s modernisation programme. A Marshall family member declined to comment on the latest incident at the plant.

OWTU (Pointe-a-Pierre) branch president Anil Bhagoutie said numerous complaints have been forwarded to Petrotrin’s management about the alarm going off at the SRU facility, indicating the presence of gas emissions. The complaints, he said, were lodged by staff at both the GTL plant and the refinery lab. Occupational Health & Safety Agency (OSHA) corporate communications officer Alicia Charles yesterday said they received a call through their hotline from Petrotrin and an OSHA official was dispatched to conduct onsite investigations.

Petrotrin corporate communications manager Arnold Corneal yesterday confirmed a gas leak at the SRU, which facilitates part of the refining process for gas and oil. “We noted that the emission of the SO2 (sulfur gas) was at unsafe levels at 8.30 this morning (yesterday) so we initiated an evacuation of the employees at the GTL plant in Pointe -a-Pierre.

“Even in doing so, 14 employees of the GTL plant were affected and they were taken to the medical facilities at Pointe-a-Pierre where they were examined and subsequently discharged.

The SRU and GTL have been shut down until the cause of the leak is determined.