The family of a young man, who died while operating a machine at a Chinese tyre company at Daa in the Bekwai Municipality of the Ashanti Region, is advocating for the enforcement of better safety standards for companies operating in the area.
Francis Kwame Adu met his untimely death on Monday, May 6, 2019, while using one of the machines at the factory.
Following his death, angry residents in some surrounding communities invaded the company’s premises and vandalized properties to express their displeasure.
Opanin Kofi Fofie, an uncle of the deceased, who narrated the incident to Citi News said “when I got to the scene, one of his hands had been chopped off. The upper part of the body-from head to the waist level was inside the machine.”
“Only the leg to the waist level was not inside the machine. The Youth in the area – not just one community but persons from surrounding communities who are Ghanaians and work there insisted that he is removed from the machine or they will destroy properties”.
The family of the deceased therefore wants the company to be banned from operating until the right safety measures are put in place.
They are also calling on government to look into the operations of the company.
“I am calling on government to help regulate the Chinese companies in this area. They should check their documents to find out if they are dully registered to ensure the safety of their workers. Many of their workers get injured at the workplace. The workers come from various parts of the country.”
“They get injured all the time but the company does nothing about that. Even my uncle’s son got injured at the same place and has now been staying in the house and cannot do any other work. The government should help regulate them to avoid these recurrent incidents and injured persons should be well compensated,” the deceased’s uncle stated.
Assembly Member for the Anwia-Nkwanta Electoral Area, Sarfo Kantanka Agyemang, told Citi News that he has received a number of reports about some persons sustaining various degrees of injury at the company.
According to him, some workers had even lost their fingers.
He further indicated that workers who get injured are not well compensated, and are sometimes sacked shortly after such accidents.
He is thus calling on authorities to ensure that the companies operating in the area make the safety of their employees a priority.
He also alleged that the company was not paying the right royalties to the Assembly, and does very little in terms of corporate social responsibility projects.
The parents of Francis Kwame Adu, the deceased, said the company has given them GHC 5,000 to use for the final funerals rites.
They are however calling for more support to fend for his pregnant wife and the three children he left behind.
“For me, I want them to give us a compensation to be used to take care of the pregnant wife and the three kids he left behind. I don’t have money to take care of the children,” the mother of the deceased, Ama Ameyaa appealed.
Father of the deceased is also advocating for government to ensure that measures are put in place for persons who face similar situations to be given adequate compensation.
“Government has to ensure that the company pays compensation to persons who get injured while working at the place”.
Managers of the Chinese company have not been operating since the incident occurred, and have not been available for comment on the matter.
The Ghana Standards Authority in the Ashanti Region has indicated that it is looking into the matter, to assess the operations of the company.
Meanwhile, the Ashanti Regional Police Command and the Bureau of National Investigations, BNI, are also investigating the matter.