Veteran Safety Expert in Bauxite Industry to Receive National Honour

If ever there was proof that it’s not how you start but how you finish, Reginald Thorpe, embodies it.

Mr. Thorpe, who tragically lost his primary caregivers early in life, transformed adversity into achievement, rising from a humble start as a truck driver to become a pioneering safety expert in Jamaica’s bauxite industry.

His near four-decade career has now earned him recognition with a 2025 National Honour from the Government.

On National Heroes Day, Monday, October 20, the Clarendon native, who has spent most of his life in the garden parish of St. Ann, will receive the Badge of Honour for Long and Faithful Service for his 37 years of service in the field of health and safety in the bauxite industry.

This honour will be formally bestowed during the Investiture Ceremony at King’s House.

“I must say categorically, I am, indeed, first of all thankful to God because I am a firm believer in God. Secondly, I am humbled by the fact that the Government can recognise the contribution that I have given over these years. For me to be singled out to receive this award, I am very much honoured. I am very grateful, and I will receive it with much dignity and pride,” Mr. Thorpe tells JIS News.

He says he is looking forward to sharing the moment with his wife, Jessica, two sons and twin daughters.

“All of them will be sharing this moment with me. They are all happy and they are all proud of me,” he states passionately.

Recalling his journey to receiving the prestigious National Honour, Mr. Thorpe tells JIS News that he moved from Clarendon to Brown’s Town, St. Ann, after losing both his grandfather and mother at six years old.

He moved in with his grandfather’s brother and later attended Brown’s Town Secondary School, before matriculating to Brown’s Town Community College, where he pursued studies in agriculture.

Shortly after graduating from college, Mr. Thorpe secured a teaching position at Hillcrest Children’s Home in Brown’s Town.

He spent a year at the institution before transitioning to Kaiser Bauxite Company, now known as Discovery Bauxite.

“I applied for a position as a heavy-duty mechanic, because I had some experience. But then when I went for the second interview, I was told that there was no vacancy at the time for a mechanic. However, based on my résumé, they realised that I had an open general driver’s licence, and I had experience in driving trucks. So I was offered the position of a truck driver,” Mr. Thorpe shares.

He explains that he worked as a driver for several years before transitioning to operating the bauxite train, transporting material from the mines to the port.

Mr. Thorpe’s move to the Safety Department in 2003, where he served as a Safety Officer, followed his involvement in reviewing the company’s Job Safety Procedures.

“When I turned in those reviews, the General Manager looked at me and said, ‘I don’t think you are serving much purpose here [as a train driver]. You need to go to the Safety Department’. So I was quickly rushed off to the Safety Department,” Mr. Thorpe further shares.

During his tenure as a Safety Officer, he served on the All-Bauxite Safety Council, a forum where representatives from bauxite companies exchanged insights and collaborated on best practices in occupational safety.

In 2004, Mr. Thorpe was awarded the prestigious J.J. Gagnon Trophy for his outstanding contribution to promoting safety in the bauxite and alumina industry.

“Some years after, and this was like about 2006 to be exact, I was selected to go to Japan to be trained and certified as a technical trainer. So that was where all my technical competencies came into being,” he tells JIS News.

Mr. Thorpe now serves as a Technical Trainer with responsibility for mobile equipment, a role that involves training and supervising both heavy-duty and light-duty mobile equipment operators, which is essential to the safe operations of Discovery Bauxite.

Outside of the bauxite industry, Mr. Thorpe serves as a Justice of the Peace (JP) and a committed community builder, actively implementing community-based projects.

“For example, every Labour Day (May 23), I would be instrumental in painting pedestrian crossings, installing safety mirrors in communities or in towns to ensure safety. I would also be involved in going into schools and doing safety talks for the students,” he tells JIS News.

Mr. Thorpe affirms that leadership and leading by example are guiding principles by which he lives his life.

He also emphasises the importance of remaining level-headed and humble in every interaction.

“‘If you do not understand my silence, you will never understand my words’ was one of the things I used as my philosophy throughout life to guide me… in the sense that I am not the type of person who reacts emotionally on a lot of things. I shy away from quarrels; I do not fight; I try to remain as humble as I can throughout my life,” the safety expert says.

Mr. Thorpe’s life journey – defined by perseverance and unwavering commitment – will be fittingly honoured with the Badge of Honour, a testament to the power of humility and steady service in earning national recognition.