Update on St. Jude Hospital’s Roofing

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he Board of Directors and Management of the St. Jude Hospital have sought to reassure staff and clients of their commitment to ensure quality health and safety standards are maintained during the removal of the current fibreglass roof at the George Odlum Stadium.

One glance at the loose sheeting on the roof of the George Odlum Stadium emphasizes the potential hazard to staff and clients at the St. Jude Hospital. Government has contracted the services of Brice and Company to remove the fibreglass sheeting, guided by the British standard for demolition agreed to for the project.

CEO of Brice and Company, Eaton Jn Baptiste said the company has met all the requirements of government and St. Jude with reference to the works, including the method statement and insurance certificate. He said his company has the competence and track record to deal with the project, having been in the roofing business for the past 18 years.

“So we’ve been around that type of roofing system. Fibreglass is a material that is used with various other materials. There is a percentage in the roof; it is basically a plastic roof. There is a percentage of fibreglass you would find in a regular shingle roof on a house that we remove every day. So we are equipped to deal with it. We have dealt with it before in the past and our workers would always adhere to all the safety requirements where that is concerned in terms of the safety gear, the necessary safety harnesses and so on. We adhere to the procedures where that is concerned, fully.”

Based on the work done thus far, the contractor is confident of completing the project in less than half the estimated time.

“We started this about a week ago. We have not had a complete five days of work on it. There have been some disruptions here and there but eighty percent of the work is done. Initially the ministry and the government expected us to be there for about three months and we rather suspect we’re going to cut it in half or a little less,” said Jn Baptiste.

Verna Charles, CEO at St. Jude Hospital said there is ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the project by management of the hospital and the contractor.

“Within one week everything was going on fine but halfway during the course of the second week we experienced some challenges with our staff on compound and, as was reported in the first press release, that anything with the project that would compromise the health of our staff, our patients, visitors, we would go back to the drawing board and revisit the scope of work and implement new interventions to ensure the safety of all concerned. So this is what we have done thus far,” said Charles.

Chairman of the Board of Directors at the St. Jude Hospital, Wayne Harrow said the board remains concerned and directly involved with works happening on the ground: “We wish to state also that the health and safety of all concerned is and remains our first priority. The patients, the visitors and, of course, our professionals who deliver quality health services to our patients. We wish to say that their safety remains our first priority. We will continue to collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure that whatever decisions we take benefit every single person whether you’re staff, whether you’re a patient or visitor. This remains our first priority.”

Minister of Health and Wellness, Sen. Hon. Mary Isaac, Trade Union representatives, Officials from the Ministries of Planning and Labour met with management and staff of

St. Jude Hospital on Thursday July 12th to discuss the project. A subsequent walk-through was conducted of the entire facility.  Management said they look forward to the report of the observations and recommendations from these stakeholders to ensure the safety of staff and clients of the hospital.