THE Department of Labor and Employment in Central Visayas (Dole 7) has ordered the temporary suspension of operations of a department at Universal Robina Corp.’s (URC) Mandaue City plant after the death of one of its workers, Stephen Corilla.
Marites Mercado, head of the Tri-City Field Office of Dole 7, said URC was also fined P100,000 for violating Department Order 198, or an act strengthening the compliance of companies with occupational safety and health standards.
She said URC already paid the penalty on June 7.
Corilla was killed around 1 p.m. of June 2 after the machine he was working with accidentally turned on while he was still inside it.
He was rushed to the Eversley Childs Sanitarium and General Hospital but was pronounced dead by the attending physician due to severe injuries.
Undersecretary Victor del Rosario, concurrent director of Dole 7, issued a cease and desist order on June 6 on the Sugar Pulverizer Machine Operations of URC after investigation by labor inspectors found that the interlock safety device of the machine was defective.
Mercado said the URC department cannot return to its operations unless the machine defect has been repaired.
The manpower agency provided P97,300 to Corilla’s family for funeral and other expenses.
“Amo sab giawhag ang kompaniya nga maghatag sab ang URC sa ilahang financial assistance. I-consider unta nila ang pamilya, labi na kadtong mga anak (tulo) kay siya raba ang breadwinner,” Mercado said.
(We urge URC to also give its financial assistance. It should consider the victim’s family, especially the three children he left behind because he was the breadwinner.)
Mercado added that URC is also conducting its own investigation on the incident.