THE company originally contracted by Imperial Pacific International to oversee construction site safety said the IPI workers removing the tower cranes from the unfinished casino-hotel in Garapan are not certified to do the job.
The removal of the tower cranes resumed on Tuesday, but according to David Rillera, president of Guam-based DR Safety Consultant LLC & DR Constructors and CM Services, none of those doing the job is certified, and the current condition of the tower cranes poses a danger to the workers.
He said IPI owes his company about $100,000, adding that if anything bad happens during the removal of the tower cranes, his company will still be liable because their contract with IPI remains in effect.
“DR Safety is still the main safety [contractor] for the tower cranes,” he said. “IPI still owes us money and if they start to work on the cranes I will let the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration know that it’s unsafe and they don’t have anyone certified to take them down.”
Rillera said he is raising this concern because he wants to make sure that the tower cranes are taken down safely, and those performing the task are certified people.
“IPI’s former construction manager, Eric Poon, knows that we, DR Safety, have the authority,” Rillera said adding that he is not aware of IPI’s current arrangement with the CNMI government that allowed the hotel-casino investor to use non-certified, in-house construction workers.
“These tower cranes are rusted and in poor condition,” Rillera said. “If they don’t listen to me, a certified crane inspector, I will sue them again and also get the federal authorities involved.”
Jesse Aquiningoc who leads the team of in-house construction workers, earlier said that “safety is our first and foremost priority.”
DR Safety stopped working at the IPI job site in December 2020 “due to nonpayment of construction safety services rendered.”
Asked for comment, IPI said, “We’re not giving a statement at this time, thank you.”
One of the platforms of the tower crane mast at the unfinished IPI casino-hotel is now rusting.
