It’s a sad day for National OHS Service – Ministry of Labour

Sera Vosarogo,  Suva

Where is the Chief Health and Safety Inspector or Permanent Secretary (PS)?

Part of his/her responsibilities is to see proper implementation of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1996 and its regulation.

What happened to the workers who conducted the renovations? I hope they were equipped with proper standard personal protective equipment.

Were the asbestos dust contained at Civic Centre or did they take it with them via public transport and have their clothes laundry at home by innocent family members?

Now the ministry is working on the Safe Removal Procedure, and training of workers in handling hazardous material such as asbestos embedded material. What a reactive approach. Someone is sleeping on the job.

The only qualified asbestos personnel in Government now is PS Defence, Osea Cawaru.

I hope he will make a statement soon to calm the situation and panic from public.

With asbestos dust, you can’t smell it, you can’t taste it or see it. It’s very tiny and once you inhale the asbestos dust it stays in your lungs forever unless one undergoes surgery.

It will not show symptoms soon but will take five, 10 to 15 years to fully develop depending on a person’s health status.

Someone needs to be taken to task.

Chief Health and Safety inspector – you need to empower your new inspectors.

Send them on specialised training so they can be very creative and be bold to go out and identify old statutory buildings or government buildings before any renovation.

The Suva City Council civic centre renovation has been known for the past three to four years. Your office has been next to it.

Why wasn’t a team formed to discuss the renovations timeline and identification of material and how will they contain the nuisance dust?

Perhaps through that process you will be the first (rather than a non-government organisation) to identify the material.

What happened to the proactive approach from Occupational Hygiene Unit? Is it no more? Hope this will be a big lesson for the department.

Asbestos dust causes a few types of cancer. You can look it up on Google search.

Right now, I am concerned about the workers who conduct the removal prior to the stop work order given. Period. Enough said.

Thank you for the road work

Sachi Gayan, Suva

Just want to thank Government and the Fiji Roads Authority for fixing the inside roads between Suva and Nausori. You would not believe it, but a few years ago all the side roads from the main roads were really bad.

The good old Public Works Department and Department of National Roads would very thinly tar seal it and then disappear.

The tar seal only lasted for a little while. So thank you for fixing up the roads in these areas. I also like the idea of the new footpaths and street lights which was mentioned in Parliament by the Attorney-General.

Cunningham Road is already getting it and you can see hundreds of people using it everyday. Lets hope we get it everywhere very soon.

Vinaka!

Kidney failure

Sukha Singh,  Labasa

A small boy’s kidneys have failed and he requires dialysis three times a week costing $750 per week.

In one year the parents have to pay $39,000 for dialysis alone. The parents have requested for help, but I could not get the account name and the number given on the radio.

I would like Government to provide free dialysis and the travelling costs to this child’s family till a kidney donor can be found.

This family will need at least $50,000 to keep their son alive for a year.

Another option is to review the dialysis charges and make it comparable to what the charges are in India.

Sorcery and kava

Savenaca Vakaliwaliwa,  Suva

It is interesting to note that most items used for yaqona consumption are closely linked with sorcery (FS 30/5).

Even though we see the picture of tanoa, davui, dari and other items being burned to drive away evil spirits, the million dollar question is does this act truly drive away the demonic forces associated with it?

The Bible teaches that when one believes in Christ and repents then the act of burning or destroying or putting away the old carnal nature and its practices through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, is the proof of one’s true repentance.

However, demons are not material things and the act of burning artefacts does not destroy demons which are evil spirits.

It is imperative therefore that those who worship demons and conjure up evil spirits through the consumption of yaqona, do not fall back into yaqona consumption.

Christ set captives free and when we are set free, we need to fully surrender to Him in doing His will.

Going back into yaqona consumption opens the door to demonic infiltration and one will be worse off as a result.

Following and believing in Christ is a personal choice and so is the consumption of our national drink.

From a Christian perspective, if a drink is associated with witchcraft and sorcery then it is wise to stay away from it.

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