Dogbey Dotsey lost his right arm at the Buipe Plant of the Savannah Cement Company
Thirty-Nine (39) year-old Dogbey Dotsey will have to live the rest of his life without his right arm following his involvement in an accident at the Buipe Plant of the Savannah Cement Company (SAVACEM).
On the day the whole nation this year was commemorating the cross road shooting incident, that same day, the father of six who is the sole breadwinner of his family had his hopes almost shot dead too, after the unfortunate accident on February 24, 2018.
Speaking to MYNEWSGH.com, he was as much about the very painful accident that took his arm than by the fact that the company he has laboured for five solid years of his life (since 2013), appears to be indifferent to his plight.
Dogbey Dotsey who works as a mechanic for the company gave a chilly account of how he lost his arm and ever since, is yet to come to terms with the reality that he has hit the end of the road in ever being able to fend for his family as well as he would want to.
He disclosed to MyNewsGh.com that on the day in question, he was operating a machine at the cement factory when he suddenly realised the machine had stopped working for some unexplained reasons.
In view of the fact that it was his schedule, he decided to establish the fault and fix it in order to continue with the production but in the process, the machines started on its own, dragged the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing and chopped off his arm.
“When I got to work, I started the machine but I realized it was not working. I decided to get closer and check what was wrong but before I knew what was happening, the machine started on its own, trapped my long sleeve shirt and chopped off my hand which fell to the ground.”, he narrated sadly.
The wails after the excruciating pain he suffered after his arm had been chopped off he added, saw colleagues come to his rescue and rushed him to the hospital while efforts were made to locate the severed arm.
He consequently rushed to the hospital.
According to him, he catered for all the bills at the hospital with no attempt by the management of the company to help him bear any part of the cost.
Dogbey Dotsey who was on a monthly salary of GHS720 disclosed that he was relocating to his hometown of Afloa in his sorry state after failed attempts to get management of the company settle part of the bills and, possibly compensate him for his loss of arm.
He disclosed that his supervisor was the only person who showed some concern by offering to pay GHS550 as part of his hospital bills adding that he also nearly lost his sight in August 2016 in an accident while on duty.
The distraught employee revealed how his joy has been snatched away from him expressing worry at the kind of treatment meted out to employees at the company.
When reached for his comments, General Manager of SAVACEM Sirinivasa Raul told MyNewsGh.com he had not been informed about the incident since the injured person did not fall directly under his supervision.
He referred this portal to one David Avorgbedor alias Sabu who is a subcontractor in whose company the victim works.
Sabu admitted he is abreast with the situation and said he was working to mitigate the plight of the victim. Words.
“As I speak with you, I am on admission at the hospital myself. I gave him some money for his hospital bills but once I am discharged, I will try as much as possible to get him money to compensate him”, he promised.
He was, however, unable to tell this portal how much compensation he was going to give to the father of 6 or when.
We are by this story drawing attention to the plight of workers who work in uninsured environments and factories often through complex legal arrangements under very dangerous circumstances and also on the responsiveness of our Labour laws as a country to their plights in the event of accidents, severe life-shattering accidents that hurt them and their dependants.
