On Thursday, September 19th, the San Pedro Police Formation received a report of an adult male falling from the fourth floor of a building located north of San Pedro Town. Upon arrival, police officers discovered the lifeless body of a Hispanic male identified as 45-year-old Belizean construction worker Abisur Loza from Patachakan Village, Corozal District. Medical assistance was quickly called to the site, but unfortunately, nothing could be done for Loza as he had succumbed to his injuries following the fatal fall.
The deceased was identified by his son, Jordy Abisur Loza, a laborer from the same construction site. According to a witness, Arnold Villanueva, at about 7:18AM, he was working at the construction site when he saw one of the construction workers, who had been seemingly working alone on the edge of the fourth floor of the building, trying to push a sizable white culvert drainage pipe that was hanging from above the floor with a bush stick. Villanueva said he immediately thought that was dangerous. However, he walked to the storeroom to pick up some tools. Suddenly, he heard someone shouting, “Buay!” Immediately after, he heard a loud knock as if someone had dropped from the building. That is when he saw some lumber dropping from the top of the building. He then quickly went to see what happened, and that’s when he saw Loza lying face up on the ground.
After the incident, the Rickilee Rescue Response (RRR) Team’s ambulance was called and quickly arrived at the scene. RRR personnel checked Loza’s pulse and confirmed that he had passed away. The body was then transported to Dr. Otto Rodriguez San Pedro Polyclinic II, where he was pronounced dead at about 10:41AM by Dr. Luci Eli Molina. The body was then taken to the San Pedro Cooling Unit until a post-mortem examination could be carried out.
Unfortunately, workplace incidents are not uncommon in Belize. Workers have been injured on numerous occasions due to poorly implemented safety measures. The Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Bill was proposed to address this issue on January 22, 2014, following nationwide consultation for implementation at construction sites. The bill responded to the National Trade Union Congress of Belize (NTUCB) urging the then Prime Minister of Belize, the Honorable Dean Barrow, for its introduction.
On February 15, 2024, the Ministry of Rural Transformation, Community Development, Labour, and Local Government announced that the Cabinet had approved amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Bill. The OSH Bill aims to establish a comprehensive legal framework dedicated to ensuring the safety and health of workers.
The bill’s primary objective is to prioritize workforce welfare and establish a secure working environment for all workers. However, recent tragedies indicate non-compliance with these measures across various workplaces, prompting calls for more enforcement to guarantee the safety of construction workers. The legislation aims to safeguard workers’ well-being and prevent the recurrence of these tragic events. However, there is a lack of clarity regarding the specific measures for ensuring laborers’ safety in their daily work. The San Pedro Sun attempted to contact the San Pedro Building Unit for further information on the island’s safety regulations. Several attempts were made to speak to someone in this critical unit, but no one was available for comment on this matter.
