Labour Ministry says fire at old building will not cause major disruptions

The Labour and Social Security Ministry says it is not likely that there will be more than a week delay in operations at its East Street location in Kingston following a fire at an old building on the property on Monday night.

Farm workers and other participants in the overseas employment programme are usually processed at the location.

Permanent Secretary in the Labour Ministry Colette Roberts Risden told The Gleaner that the heritage building which has been vacant for more than 20 years was destroyed.

However, there was only damage to the exterior of the adjacent medical building.

A car that was parked outside the building was not affected.

The medical building is used to accommodate farm workers being processed for overseas travel.

The Labour Ministry is now gearing up to conduct clean up activities to ensure that the medical building can be fully utilised.

Roberts Risden was unable to immediately project the cost of the damage.

Twenty-eight firefighters from four units responded to Monday night's blaze.

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