GRENLEC lineman amputation a “teaching experience” for employees says VINLEC CEO

CLOSE TO A year ago, while Caribbean islands were dealing with the damage from the passage of Hurricane Beryl, an employee of the Grenada Electricity Company (GRENLEC) suffered a devastating injury while carrying out restoration work, resulting in a double hand amputation.

Chief Executive Officer of the St Vincent Electricity Limited (VINLEC), Dr Vaughn Lewis described the incident as a “teaching experience” and a serious warning to employees of the company not to take shortcuts while carrying out their duties.

His admonition came during the launch of the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Awareness Month scheduled to run for the duration of May.

The incident highlighted by Dr Lewis occurred in Grenada on August 2, 2024 while one of the Hotline Teams was carrying out restoration work in the community of Beausejour.

He explained that the team was charged with the responsibility of fixing three phase transformer bank.

“The HP fuses on the transformer bank kept blowing and it was determined that there was a faulty transformer. The team managed to change one transformer and after changing that transformer the problem persisted. They were in the process of changing the second transformer when a serious incident occurred and a lineman who was up in the bucket truck was shocked …”.

The injured lineman was initially treated in Grenada, and later transported to Trinidad for further medical treatment. Doctors found that there was no living tissue in his hands and both hands, just above the forearms, had to be amputated.

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