By Bon Peters
Workplace safety is something that Indorama Petrochemicals Limited, Eleme, Rivers State, says it is steadfastly committed to.
This was revealed on Friday at a media briefing held at the company’s headquarters in Eleme Rivers state by Dr. Jossy Nkwocha, Head of Corporate Communications, in order to disprove claims of negligence made by Mr. David Diepreye, an injured site worker who works for one of the company’s contractors.
According to information obtained by our correspondent, the accident victim was employed by SPEO Nig. Limited, an Indorama Fertiliser Limited service contractor, prior to the aforementioned incident.
Nkwocha acknowledged that Diepreye, a Masher hired by SPEO Nig. Ltd. and stationed at the Indorama loading bay, was involved in an accident that happened on December 23, 2020.
According to him, the victim of the collision suffered injuries to both legs.
The victim received the appropriate first aid at the company’s clinic, and after that, he was moved to Rehoboth Medical facility, a SPEO retainer facility, where he received orthopaedic treatment, according to the company’s spokesperson, Nkwocha.
Furthermore, he stated that SPEO was not registered with the National Social Insurance Trust Fund at the time of the accident. Consequently, the employee was not covered by the Employee Compensation Act, which prevented the victim from receiving accrued benefits related to workplace accidents.
“Consiquently, on compersionte grounds, Indorama took over the victims medical bills and also ensured that he remained on its payroll till date, his salary has been paid up to date,” Nkwocha stated.
He went on to say that the victim had been getting treatment as an outpatient for more than two years following corrective surgery that was partially funded by Indorama and his direct employer, SPEO.
Speaking further, Nkwocha disclosed that the victim had filed a lawsuit against Indorama and his parent firm, SPEO, requesting N8 million in additional medical care in addition to a 500,000 naira legal cost.
The University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), which was supposed to perform the necessary surgery, and the claimant’s attorney conducted additional research, he said, and the results showed that the cost implications of the surgery was N1.9M.
He claimed that although though Indorama was not a direct employee, the victim made false accusations and damaged the company’s reputation because he was unhappy with the procedure that was selected for his surgery.
In his capacity as the company’s representative, he expressed surprise at the victim’s attempt to use the Industrial Court as a means of extortion and asked the court to order SPEO and Indorama to pay N12 million in out-of-court settlement compensation.
According to our correspondent, Diepreye accused Indorama of failing to provide for him throughout his medical recovery following a job mishap.
