‘MAKE OUR SITES SAFER’
BUILDING CRACKDOWN: MORE THAN TWO-THIRDS FLOUTING RULES
EUROPEAN Union-standard safety training and equipment are to be provided on North Cyprus building sites, Cyprus Today can reveal — after a new crackdown found that more than twothirds were flouting health and safety rules.
New Labour and Social Security Minister Zeki Çeler set up a “Crisis Desk” last week to mastermind urgent checks countrywide, amid growing concern about safety on building sites, where more than 50 labourers have died since 2011.
A total of 520 members of the Cyprus Turkish Construction Contractors’ Union are currently working on 1,500 approved projects, in addition to others still ongoing from previous years — amounting to up to 25,000 new homes under way.
Forty-four of 65 building sites checked in the week to Thursday were ordered to shut down temporarily after being found to be in breach. Twenty-one construction firms also received warnings from the department.
A Crisis Desk meeting yesterday was attended by sector representatives including unions, experts and academics to discuss a strategic action plan in light of inspectors’ findings. It will meet again this week.
Contractors’ union head Cafer Gürcafer welcomed Mr Çeler’s initiative, saying they had been calling for safety improvements for years and describing it as a “good starting point”.
He said yesterday’s meeting had looked at the need for short- and longerterm measures, and “considerable change” was expected within six months to a year of such steps being taken.
While acknowledging the sector’s failings, however, he argued: “We can’t just talk about problems in the construction sector.
“It’s a wider problem involving all sectors due to an unsystematic structure here. It cannot be addressed through inspections alone . . . “What is crucial is the next step.” Mr Gürcafer said his union had begun moves to set up a “mobilisation service”, similar to those operating in the EU and Turkey, which would provide safety equipment and training on sites to ensure contractors abided by safety regulations enshrined in TRNC law since 2008 but rarely enforced.
“In Europe . . . there are firms providing essential equipment, such as hanging scaffolding and safety nets, and training for workers, and we have been calling for this in the TRNC for years.
“Ninety-five per cent of hanging scaffolding on [TRNC] construction sites does not meet EU standards and there are no proper safety nets.”
Mr Gürcafer said they had already consulted Turkish experts and were planning to set up a cooperative to both sell and lease safety equipment to building firms. They were currently in
talks with the Development Bank about finance for the scheme, which could cost larger outfits working on multi-storey blocks up to 400,000TL, and envisages credits to enable smaller firms to lease equipment.
Mr Gürcafer demanded heavy penalties against firms which did not comply with the 2008 legislation, saying there had been a failure to implement it properly up to now.
Labour Department head Yusuf Önderol agreed enforcement was vital, and warned that continuing site inspections were likely to bring more shutdowns. Hasan Felek, chairman of the Dev-İş trades union federation, welcomed the new crackdown, calling it a matter of urgency and underlining: “The union believes we can resolve 90 per cent of work safety problems at building sites by simply adhering to existing legislation.”