Olam denies death of casual worker at OK Foods

The management Olam International Limited, parent company of OK Foods, has denied the death of one of its casual workers, who was alleged to have died while at work.

A source within the company had told The Guardian that a man whose identity is yet to be known died in the factory during work hours and his body was immediately moved to the mortuary while the firm began frantic search for relatives of the deceased.

The source further said immediately after the incident, a form was issued to all casual workers with a sample showed to The Guardian requesting information about the workers and details of a guarantor, the first time the company will be issuing such.

When The Guardian visited the firm yesterday to confirm the incident, the head of security, who gave his name as Sam Haa, said it was only a rumour and such never happened in the company.

In his words: “We have two standby ambulances in our company and if we discover that any of our workers fall ill, we immediately ask such person to go home and take care of himself. So, I am hearing this for the first time that somebody died in our factory. As the head of security, who is aware of every happening, I can say to you that the story is a rumour, nothing of such happened.”

When pressed further on the forms given to the workers, he said: “It’s a normal thing to give them a form to fill, it is not new and such move is one of the company policy to know the kind of people that work with us and everything necessary to know about them.”

Responding to The Guardian enquiries, the PR Manager, Olam International, Zoe Maddison, said: “We can confirm that a casual worker employed at an OK Foods facility by one of our contractors was taken to hospital with a health issue, unrelated to the workplace, and sadly passed away. This is an isolated incident and our thoughts and condolences are with her family.”