Workers at the Freeport Container Port claim the company's own documented safety procedures were not followed prior to last week's deadly tornado strike.

In the wake of the dramatic weather event and its tragic consequences at the Port, questions have been asked about to what extent the deaths of three workers and the injury of four others could have been avoided.

Now some employees are speaking out, claiming they believe the deaths and injuries sustained by their colleagues may well have never happened if senior staff at the FCP had ensured established procedures were followed and shut down the operation.

The Ministry of Labour is on the ground in Grand Bahama interviewing workers to ascertain if all relevant health and safety regulations were complied with, and gathering information on what safety procedures are standard in the industry worldwide to determine whether the FCP acted appropriately in the circumstances.

Michael Young, 43, Cleveland Lowe, 49, and Shawn Saunders, 23, died while carrying out maintenance work on gantry crane number 10, when the tornado hit the port at around 11.30am on Monday, March 29.

Meanwhile FCP employees Glen Bodie, Rommel McIntosh, Sammy Swann, and Samantha Rolle, remain in hospital being treated for injuries sustained.

Focus initially centred on the issue of whether the closure of the Grand Bahama International Airport's weather office, whose workforce had been reduced to only two staff, including a single weather observer effective December 31, 2010, played into the fact that the Freeport Container Port did not take precautionary action ahead of the tornado.

The FCP employs about 700 workers in Freeport. It is capable of handling over 1.5 million TEUs (Twenty foot Equivalent Unit containers) annually, however since the incident operations have ceased at the port.

Some employees of the FCP have claimed that the fact that the company continued to have workers operating as the severe weather bore down was in contravention of the safety procedures outlined in the FCP company handbook. They also allege that senior staff at the port advised them to keep on working even after some raised concerns earlier that morning about the severity of the weather conditions.

"When there is thunder and lightning, they usually stop operation but they didn't stop operation that day," said an employee who was working on the dock last Monday when the tornado struck.

"They don't care about us, all they care about is moving boxes (containers)," another employee told The Tribune. "We were always saying that something bad was going to have to happen before they take us seriously."

The company handbook, seen by The Tribune, under the section "High Wind Procedures" outlines that during "worsening weather conditions" certain steps should be taken, such as ensuring that the boom of all cranes are not in use, cranes are "grouped together" so as to act as a windshield for each other, and are "pinned down using storm anchors."

Meanwhile, during "red light conditions", which is when wind speeds reach beyond the maximum operating speed for that particular piece of the plant, operations should cease, in recognition of the fact that "the safety of personnel is paramount".

While the tornado itself manifested quickly and was over with little warning, employees noted that weather conditions had been worsening since earlier that morning and tornadic activity was already being reported in nearby south Florida.

Last week the Ministry of Labour launched an investigation into whether "all the relevant health and safety regulations were complied with" at the FCP, according to Minister of Labour Dion Foulkes. Click here to read more on this story from The Tribune