Georgetown, Guyana – September 23, 2025 – The Ministry of Labour and Manpower Planning will carry out countrywide inspections of construction sites after a fatal collapse at a Bachelor’s Adventure building site, Minister Keoma Griffith announced on Monday.
The move follows the death earlier that day of 28-year-old Dairobis Martinez, a Cuban national residing at Foulis, East Coast Demerara, who was crushed when a concrete wall under construction gave way at a supermarket site. Work at the location was immediately halted and investigations into the circumstances of the collapse are ongoing.
Speaking to the Department of Public Information during a site visit to Bachelor’s Adventure, Minister Griffith said his ministry will intensify enforcement of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) standards across all regions. “I intend to come into the field, onto worksites and get inspections done to see that all construction sites are complying with the occupational health and safety requirements,” he said.
Griffith said the Labour Ministry’s inspection capacity has been decentralised, with OHS teams now established in every region to carry out regular checks. “In the coming days, I intend to visit as many sites as possible…This office has been decentralised, so in every region, an office has been set up (with occupational health and safety workers) to ensure that regular inspections are being conducted,” he outlined.
The minister stressed the human cost behind the policy push. “A life has been lost, and we are concerned. There is no circumstance where we would like to see someone die on a worksite. The safety and health of every worker is of extreme importance to not only my ministry, but this government,” Griffith said.
Local police and labour inspectors continue to investigate the Bachelor’s Adventure collapse; officials have not yet released findings on the cause. The tragedy has renewed scrutiny of construction safety practices amid an active building sector, prompting calls for swift, visible enforcement to prevent further workplace fatalities.
