Specialists speak on alarming number of work deaths
By Tea Mariamidze
Thursday, July 9
The number of construction workers who died during performing their works is alarming.
According to the United Professional Unions, one of the main reasons is the absence of Labor Inspection in the country, which was abolished in 2006 and since then there has not been such kind of institution in the country.
The Head of the United Professional Unions Irakli Petriashvili says that the government is not willing to regulate labor rights. Moreover, there is no Labor Inspection and current labor legislation does not protect the rights of employees.
He says that “The government is doing nothing to prevent and eliminate such accidents.”
According to the data of United Professional Unions, in 2014 41 workers died and a further 66 were injured. During the first six months of 2015, 14 construction workers have died.
Expert in labor protection Nika Kakashvili says that the statistics are growing.
“Nowadays the labor monitoring is carried out by Tbilisi Municipal Service. Construction sites are only controlled superficially, that is why such accidents occur,” said Kakashvili.
According to the Public Defender’s Office the issue should be studied deeply.
The deputy Public Defender Paata Beltadze stated that “the concept of security with its aspects is not properly understood and observed in the country.”
In April 2015, a state program of monitoring labor safety was created. According to the monitoring group, it will check an enterprise only upon request, and in case of discovering certain violations, they will give it recommendations and references. Accordingly, the safety measures on constructions and other work places are not protected.
It should be noted that the sudden collapse of a building claimed the lives of 4 construction workers on 13 Apakidze street, on July 7, 2015.
When the building collapsed three workers were killed on the spot, one of them died later, in the hospital. His condition was critical from the beginning.
