‘Safeway safe for Skinner Park’

The stage is being built to host the Panorama finals which will be held in the southern city for the first time ever, on February 17. Skinner Park also hosts Calypso Fiesta, the semi-finals of the Calypso Monarch competition, on February 10. And so confident is Ferguson, that he expects the stage to be ready in time for tomorrow’s Chutney Soca Monarch finals.

SASSL, NH International Company Ltd and Turner Alpha Limited have been found to be in breach of the Act following the collapse of a scaffolding on July 12, 2006. The accident, which occurred at the Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain Customs and Excise building site, left over 20 persons injured and one of the victims had a limb amputated.

Ferguson yesterday said while the San Fernando City Corporation had been given the go-ahead to begin preparations for the Panorama finals “very late,” SASSL had gone through the corporation’s tendering process before it was given the all-clear to start construction of the stage.

“We went through the corporation in terms of tendering and the selection of companies for all aspects of works to be carried out at the venue,” he said, and pointed out that another company, Tropical Tents, had been selected to construct the bleachers around the park.

He said construction of the stage, which was over 95 percent complete, had been carried out under the watchful eyes of engineers attached to the corporation and fire safety officers.

He also pointed out that an independent safety officer had also been brought in by the corporation to oversee the stage’s construction.

“Safety is our top priority and we insisted on new scaffolding to be used for the stage’s construction so that any cracks or other defects, which would have been hidden if the scaffolding was painted, would be plainly visible,” he said.

He said the stage, which is 40 feet wide, 120 feet long and four feet high, is able to accommodate a weight of 100 pounds per square foot. Ferguson said the cost to put up and rent the stage is an estimated $300,000 and is being paid for by the National Carnival Commission.

When Newsday visited the site yesterday, workers were seen working both on top and on the underside of the structure.

SASSL official, Roderick Jones, stated every safety measure had been observed during construction of the stage which had been inspected daily by the corporation’s city engineering staff. “Everybody from the city corporation was here on site and all of the normal procedures were followed,” he said.

However, he referred all further inquiries to the company’s administrative offices. SASSL administration manager, Donna Ali, could not be reached for comment about the OSHA charges and the Skinner Park project.

SASSL had also worked on stands built for soca star Machel Montano’s Real Unity concert, seven years ago, in which 80 people were injured when the VIP section collapsed.