Shipyard workers blame managing director

Workers of the PSC Tema Shipyard in Ghana said their Malaysian Managing Director (MD), Rahin Bim Jaafa, was responsible for the fire that killed 15 workers, destroyed the ?Polaris?, a Togolese registered fishing vessel, and adjoining oil installations. The shipyard, which is located next to the port of Tema, has dry docking capacity for vessels up to 100,000 dwt and can take on repairs and refurbishments of large seagoing vessels.

Sparks from welding work onboard the fishing vessel are believed to have caused the fire when they came into contact with an oil slick leaked from the nearby Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) pipeline. Workers said maintenance work on vessels, especially welding, was prohibited in the slipway area but, for reasons best known to himself, the MD allowed welding in the slipway area on Good Friday, a public holiday.

Angry employees criticised the MD for ignoring the danger and allowing a private contractor to engage the services of novices to undertake the welding job instead of hiring experienced welders. “If we the workers of PSC Tema Shipyard had worked on the vessel we could have offered expert advice on safety and prevented the disaster,” they said.