16-year-old dies while working on construction in Tbilisi
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Thursday, July 18
16-year-old Giorgi Beshkenadze, who worked on the construction in the Isani district in Tbilisi, fell into an elevator shaft and died on Tuesday.
Reportedly, safety norms were not observed at the construction site, as a result of which, the construction process has been suspended.
The deceased was from the Kakheti region of Georgia. His elder brother and father died several years ago.
Local authorities told the media that the boy has mother, with whom he lived, and the local municipality and the Red Cross were supporting the family financially.
Relatives said that the family did not have enough income, and the boy had no other choice but to work.
Georgian Public Defender Nino Lomjaria stated that the situation of safety at work remains a “major challenge in the country.”
“Improvement of the alarming situation is significantly hindered by the restrictions imposed for labour inspectors on the one hand, which will be lifted only from September 2019, and by the lack of human and financial resources of the Labour Conditions Inspection Department on the other hand.
“Due to the above factors, workplaces cannot be inspected sufficiently often and appropriately so that to ensure effective enforcement of labour safety norms. As a result, like the last case, a lot of workplaces are left beyond monitoring, and the requirements of the Georgian legislation are significantly violated,” Lomjaria said.
She urged the authorities to timely and efficiently study the case and to inform the public of the results.
“In addition, we address the government of Georgia, the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia to take immediate steps to eliminate the worst forms of child labour and to prevent children from performing harmful work,” Lomjaria said.
Tbilisi Mayor’s Office says that the construction works at the site were renewed before, after a six-year-delay, and the safety norms were met after an initial warning.
However, the Mayor’s Office also says that the violation of safety norms is likely to cause the fatality.
They say that they have demanded the working agreement signed between the deceased individual and the construction company which has not been presented so far.
Between 2010 and 2017, 359 people were killed and 984 injured in workplace accidents.
59 people died, and 199 were injured in 2018 at work, the Georgian Interior Ministry statistics read.
