Reasons to be cheerful, parts one and two

THERE’S both good and bad to be taken from the current crackdown on unsafe building sites.

The good news is that under a ministerial “new broom”, the government is seen to be taking seriously the very grave safety failings within the TRNC construction industry that have seen more than 50 workers killed over the past seven years.

What is less a cause for celebration is the sheer numbers of building sites being shut down, after inspection, for health and safety breaches — making it glaringly obvious that such a vital aspect of the industry has been allowed to go unregulated, and existing safety legislation flouted, for so long.

That more than two-thirds of building sites have failed the health and safety test is an indictment of the system up to now. No wonder so many have died.

The phrase “life is cheap” was never truer.

The other place in North Cyprus where life is apparently “cheap” is on the country’s roads — scene of 37 fatalities last year alone.

A government plan to introduce tachographs in lorries, buses and even hire cars is a welcome step towards improved safety which, if policed, might help to pinpoint the unsafe drivers or the companies guilty of putting already-tired workers behind the wheel, possibly before they are involved in an accident that could cost their own life or those of others.

This is not everything, of course. Far from it. Though HGV smashes are often headlinegrabbing, the vast majority of deaths come in far “lower-key” incidents involving vehicles which would not be affected by this measure. Other causes of crashes and road fatalities — licensing and training issues, speeding, mobile phone use, seatbelt non-use and sheer carelessness — are also crying out to be tackled head-on.

However if the new determination to address some of these longstanding stains on the country’s reputation continues, we may yet have reasons to be cautiously cheerful.