Archive for February 7th, 2011
Glass House sick say reports
(CNS): The move from the current government offices at the Glass House into the new accommodation can’t come too soon for some government workers who continue to complain of ill health. It appears staff have been breathing in mould and sewer gasses for many years, according to reports made public on the Lands and Survey website in its freedom of information disclosure log. The reports show that people have been complaining of serious illness for over a decade and environmental reports completed as recently as last year show the building is still home to some dangerous pathogens. Going back as far as 1998, government reports, which were kept confidential, say staff in the Glass House have been working in offices that could have made them ill.
Over the last twelve years government workers appear to have complained about suffering from ill-health while working in the Glass House and reports conducted as recently as last year reveal that not all of the problems have been addressed, with evidence of mould inside the building. The move to the new accommodation was set to take place last month but the need for various inspections has delayed the start of the transfer, which officials say will be completed in stages.
Although the various reports state there are no generally accepted guidelines for comparative levels of fungi and mould on the inside to the outside, the Glass House, when compared to outside levels of spore samples, have generally shown similar levels and species composition. However, in some cases the reports show that there appears to be high levels of mould in some offices.
One of the many reports that is now on the Lands and Survey website conducted by the DoEH in 2009 shows that one government employee who worked on the second floor in the Treasury Department had reported respiratory problems and when tested had shown a high level of allergy reaction to Aspergillus, one of a number of dangerous spores found in his office at “moderate” levels. In the summary of findings the report said that in the Treasury Offices there were several spots which showed mould growth typical of extended exposure to moisture and samples taken directly from the vent in the office indicated the possibility of contamination of the ducts.
CNS contacted the public servant in question to ask him what had happened as a result of the report but he said he could not comment on the situation as he was still a member of the civil service and was not able to talk to the press but he confirmed he had been moved from the Glass House.
The issue of health and safety at the thirty-year-old office block was raised back in 2005 when the Governor’s Office moved out because of inadequate fire escape provisions. After government decided it would build the new government office accommodation building a decision was made not to install a new fire escape. While questions of mould and other dangerous pathogens had been muted at that time, it was never confirmed by government that people were suffering from respiratory conditions as a result of working in the building. E-mails revealed in the disclosure log demonstrated that government officials knew there were problems in the building that could cause ill health and that there was a need for major engineering works to address the odours, mould and contamination in the air supply.
Although the new office accommodation building has been completed more or less on schedule, there have been some last minute delays. Government workers are now expected to begin the move this month. Given the revelations about the health concerns raised over the years about the real condition of the Glass House, the move to the modern, environmentally friendly building could see a marked improvement in the health and well being of the country’s civil service.
Luxembourg court releases Icelandic documents
(The Guardian): Criminal investigators looking into the failed Icelandic bank Kaupthing have won a rare victory in the secretive tax haven of Luxembourg where the supreme court has thrown out attempts to block the release of documents seized in a police raid almost a year ago.The documents are likely to be critical to a complex international investigation into the activities of the bank and some of its largest clients in the months before its collapse. The investigation is focused on money flows between three financial centres: Reykjavik, London and Luxembourg.
‘Cayman Islands pride’ bites the dust
On Wednesday evening I heard the ‘Honourable’ McKeeva Bush declare an alleged $17 surplus in the first 6 months of this financial year’s budget. On Thursday morning I received an email regarding the Cayman Islands Pride Campaign (the clean up project). This employed people for between 3 and 4 weeks in late November to mid December 2010 and was supposed to start a second phase (as it did last year) in early February 2011.
With less than a week’s notice this campaign has been cancelled by the government because it ‘does not have enough money’. Mr Bush’s much trumpeted ‘stimulus plan’ played heavily on the clean up campaign as one of the main ways that the government was helping Caymanians and putting extra money in their pockets, which would in turn be spent with local businesses. The fact that the ‘stimulus’ would only be for 3 weeks was conveniently omitted.
The Pride Campaign gives a lot more to its temporary employees than just money in their pockets for 3 weeks. It has been invaluable as a way of raising the morale of those who are unemployed and giving them a chance to obtain a decent reference for use when applying for permanent jobs. It has shown those in charge of Public Works Roadside Maintenance crews what can actually be achieved in a short space of time if you have motivated workers with responsible supervisors who do not see the work day as an opportunity to do as little as possible (although it is a great pity that this doesn’t seem to have changed to attitude of those in charge of that auspicious department).
Those who worked on the project were told that there would be a phase 2. To be told a week before it started that it will not be taking place and then in the same day to hear the Premier in a live broadcast boasting of a (alleged) $17 million dollar surplus in the budget is a slap in the face to all the Caymanians this government has time and time again said it is trying to help. The clean up campaign has a total budget of $1 million dollars across the islands. How pathetic that those with the most who are controlling these purse strings cannot see their way to pass on a little of this alleged surplus to those who have the least.
In the words of Harry Truman, ‘it’s a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it’s a depression when you lose your own’. Let us hope that we don’t all one day feel the bite ofthe depression at the hands of a government unprepared to help when we need it most.