Expert urges more action on preventing fatal accidents on building sites
A HEALTH and safety expert has called for more to be done to prevent fatal accidents on building sites after a labourer died following a fall in Karaoğlanoğlu last Saturday.
Musa Düşkün, 40, was working on a site belonging to the Kaya hotels group when he plunged four metres at around 5pm, police said.
He suffered serious injuries in the fall and was rushed to Girne State Hospital. He was then transferred to Lefkoşa State Hospital but could not be saved, becoming the first workrelated fatality of 2018.
Tezel Baykent, head of the Work Health and Safety Experts’ Union, said he had been “deeply saddened” by Mr Düşkün’s death.
In a written statement condemning the incident, Mr Baykent said “98 per cent” of workplace accidents could be prevented through “simple measures, checks and inspections”.
He said a total of 1,243 accidents at work had happened in the TRNC between 2011 and 2016, resulting in the deaths of 44 people, 13 of which occurred in 2015.
A further seven workplace deaths were recorded in 2017, with the latest fatality bringing the total since the start of 2011 to 52.
Mr Baykent called for “risk assessment reports” to be made commonplace and for those working at height to receive “education” about the dangers they face.
“Unfortunately, we have once again seen with this death the need for measures to be taken and the need for the workers to be trained, especially in the construction sector,” he said.
He said studies carried out by the International Labour Organisation cited construction as “one of the most dangerous sectors” to work in, a view that was “underlined by the data from our own construction sector”.
Mr Baykent said government, employers and workers needed to take steps to reduce the risks.
“We are seeing the sad results of the failure of these three actors to take the necessary measures,” he added.