Truck runs over mechanic in nile plywoods factory

Jinja, Uganda |  THE INDEPENDENT  |  A motor vehicle mechanic attached to Nile Plywoods factory in Jinja city has died while repairing a truck registration number; UAG 313P in the factory premises.

Twenty-four-year-old Dennis Nviri met his death around 1 pm on Sunday afternoon while oiling the truck, which ran him over.

At the time of the accident, the deceased was not wearing any protective gears like a helmet, gloves and gumboots, which his colleagues say worsened the injuries.

A driver who had come to inquire whether the service was complete discovered Nviri’s lifeless body that was lying under the front tires of the truck. Some of the workers raised complaints of fatigue and lack of protective gears.

James Baryomuruhe, the human resource manager at Nile plywoods factory confirmed Nviri’s death. He, however, claimed that all their employees receive protective gears but most of them are reluctant to use them while executing their duties. 

Farouk Mukose, a mechanic in the factory, says that Nviri was a trainee from the Nile Vocational Institute and remained behind after completing his internship three months ago.

He says it was out of order for their supervisors to allow him to work alone without any form of guidance from senior mechanics.

Mukose also claims that their supervisors are found of pressurizing them to complete hard tasks without rest, which is dangerous.

Rodgers Musenze, another mechanic says that they are frustrated by the conspiracy between police officers and factory owners who jointly frame charges against employees and in turn, dismiss them whenever they attempt to demand protective gears at their workplace.

Musenze stresses that although they laboured to inform police officers that their colleague had passed away at 1:00 PM, police officers arrived at around 4:30 PM and did not bother inspecting the accident scene.

Abbey Ngako, the Kiira Region police spokesperson denies any form of foul play, saying that all the matters pertaining accidents within factories are investigated and handed over to the labour officer for compensation.

Nviri is the third person to die within the Nile plywoods factory in a period of two months because of an accident. The first two succumbed to suspected exposure to poisonous effluents in early February.

However, Baryomuruhe downplays the incident claiming that the victims died because of multiple organ failure.

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