Employer Confirms Report Given To Ministry of Labour

It is a mandatory in Fiji if any employee had an accident or death while working, the employer has to report to us, says Usamate .

The report of the death of a worker while carrying out underground pipeline works in Labasa last Sunday has been submitted to the Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations.

A reliable source from a contractor for the Water Authority of Fiji, Reboth Pipeline Civil Works, said the firm had done their investigations and had submitted the report this week. Occupational Health and Safety worker Timoci Kanailagi, 30, died after he was buried alive in a hole at Damanu Street in Labasa. The firm was responding to a comment by the Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations Jone Usamate who said his ministry was aware about the death of the employee but had not received a report from the Water Authority of Fiji’s contracted company. “Employers have an obligation to file a report to our ministry when an employee dies while working for them,” Mr Usamate said.

“It is a mandatory in Fiji if any employee had an accident or death while working, the employer has to report to us.

“If the employer doesn’t do it then families can report to the ministry and our staff will follow it up. “Employers have to live up to the law.”

When Fiji Sun contacted WAF representatives they said they could not comment as Mr Kanailagi of Nailawa, Labasa, was an employee of their contractor, not Water Authority of Fiji.

Photo: Wati Talebula Firefighters on Damanu Street, Labasa, where a man was buried alive after falling into a hole which he helped dig on January 14, 2018.

Occupational Health and Safety worker Timoci Kanailagi, 30, died after he was buried alive in a hole at Damanu Street in Labasa.

Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations Jone Usamate.