THE COMMERCE and Technology Minister, Mr. Phillip Paulwell, has tabled a report on the manufacture of poor quality product by Caribbean Cement Company Limited (CCCL) which makes for very worrisome reading, although it confirms much that was known or suspected.
It suggests a level of arbitrariness on the part of the management of a company that held not only a monopoly in the market, but whose product is crucial to the construction sector and must meet minimum safety standards.
Carib Cement failed in the latter regard. That might have been overlooked as an aberration, the kind of problem that may pop up in companies from time to time, except that in this case, the report, by University of Technology (UTech) engineer, George Blankson, suggests an unpardonable dereliction of duty.
Even what is perhaps the most minor of the findings ought to be of grave concern to Jamaicans, that is, the confirmation that more than 500 tonnes of poor quality cement recalled by Caribbean Cement reached the market both before, and after, the March 2 recall date. How much of this poor quality is out there is not known, but ought to be of significant concern to the CCCL, the Government and anyone who may have mixed concrete from this inadequate batch. It seems to us that both the company and the authorities need to speak to this issue.
But there are other frightening issues that are raised in the report which demand urgent and transparent attention by the company if it is to regain public trust and confidence. For the point is to be made that the problem of poor quality cement did not emerge or come to public attention because of the internal systems of Carib Cement, but rather the agitation of consumers who raised concerns about the product. Imagine that the complainers had not persisted and things had gone on as they were for longer. In the end, we might have had a major project, say, the stands of Sabina Park, constructed with inferior cement, possibly to collapse during a match of the Cricket World Cup.
Just as worrying as how the Caribbean Cement was forced into taking action was its failure to monitor its processes seriously, or if it did monitor them, to respond when shortcomings were evident. For the Blankson report pointed out that "declining trends in the production process parameters" began to appear as long as a year ago. The company's management, however, failed to take effective action.
The situation began to turn critical in January of this year and continued until March of this year, again without effective action by the management.
One day in February the company's mill was heated "significantly above" the allowable temperature without anything being done about it for several hours. We wonder what magnitude of disaster was escaped at Rockfort and nearby communities.
If Caribbean Cement expects to emerge from this situation as a credible corporate citizen, it cannot just say that it has put in the corrective procedures and even have these approved by the relevant government authorities, for the record suggests that the Bureau of Standards does not itself come out of this smelling too good. Carib Cement will also have to invite independent oversight monitors, who will report to the public on what is being done.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
