THE whistleblower sacked after exposing the Berkeley project as a "death trap" believes revelations about his dismissal are an attempt by authorities to draw attention away from the central issue ? the safety of students.

And Gabriel Martel has provided this newspaper with documentary evidence to back up his claim that he was fired only after consistently raising alarm over safety issues ? and questioning the work of electrical contractor Telford Electric.

Mr. Martel was employed by Somers Construction last September and worked on the site until the first week of February. Three weeks before his dismissal, he handed over a photo essay cataloguing thousands of potential hazards on the site to his employer.

But it was an incident on February 1 which eventually led to Mr. Martel's dismissal. The has obtained a copy of an e-mail which he sent to senior Somers Construction staff after a strip light came crashing down from the ceiling of the school's atrium. The heavy fixture nearly injured a worker after landing on his foot and prompted Mr. Martel to call for a thorough investigation.

In an e-mail sent just hours after the incident Mr. Martel wrote: "This morning another light fixture fell to the ground in the atrium as a result of a minor impact when moving scaffolding. The first light fixture in the atrium to fall was a result of an impact with a scissor lift and didn't raise any alarms.

"The second light fixture falling due to simply being touched by a scaffolding did raise alarms. On examination it was found that the anchoring was superficial at best and totally inadequate for a 40- pound fixture."

After explaining in detail how the fixture had not been properly secured, and with photographic evidence backing up his claim, Mr. Martel concluded: "It is my recommendation that a memo be sent immediately to the Works Department stressing our concern that these fixtures were not properly installed and may pose a safety hazard to maintenance and students.

"It is further recommended that the remaining fixtures all be subjected to a pull out test to ensure a reasonable embedment has been achieved."

Mr. Martel was summoned to a meeting with senior Somers management days after sending his e-mail. He claims the meeting had been called by Tim Telford, the electrician whose work he called into question. It was during that meeting that Mr. Martel was branded a liar and fired after his "version" of events did not match video evidence.

Mr. Martel maintains that Telford Electric, which was handpicked by the Ministry of Works & Engineering to work on the project, is being protected and that he was removed after singling out the electrician for incompetence. Mr. Martel believes the contractor is responsible for "95 per cent" of the thousands of faults that he recorded.

Somers Construction has since claimed Mr. Martel was fired after "being caught in an untruth" and therefore has no credibility, a claim Mr. Martel describes as "the biggest red herring of the whole mess".

This week Mr. Martel told the : "It's a great thing that they have hung all their hopes on the so-called lie over the light fixture incident.

"I sent the e-mail regarding the fallen light fixture but instead of verifying the mechanics of what I said they wanted to argue how I had said it as to what I had actually witnessed as opposed to what had occurred.

"Normally, in our industry we concern ourselves with due diligence with any safety issues. Falling fixtures is right up there with weak floors.

"The electrical contractor ordered a meeting with David Butterfield and various Somers personnel and myself. The electrician conducting this little investigation ? Tim Telford ? asked me what I had seen and I told him that I saw the men move the scaffolding from my right to my left. He then started calling me a bold face liar and he had the video to prove it.

"Now please understand that during this entire witch hunt, no one actually discussed the actual incident nor did they talk to the two workers. No one asked me where I was when I witnessed the scaffolding being moved, and no one asked the workers where I was when the scaffolding was moved.

"I had to take a call on my cell phone outside, on the opposite side of the main entry glass wall. These idiots assumed that I lied when I saw the scaffolding moving the opposite way that they saw it on the camera which was stationed inside the building.

"You have to appreciate how angry I was with this whole fiasco, engineered by the electrical contractor in order not be held responsible for the lights falling in the first place. One of my men could have been seriously injured and not one of them gave a damn about his safety or the safety of any future workers or students that would walk or work under those lights."

As of press time last night nobody from Somers Construction had responded to questions concerning the incident. The company was also asked why Mr. Martel was given a month's salary after his contract was terminated and why it took the company five days to respond to Mr. Martel's original allegations in last Friday's .

This newspaper also asked what Somers officials did after receiving Mr. Martel's dossier of code violations in January and also quizzed the company about its relationship with Telford Electric. None of our inquiries were answered by press time last night.