Following the death of a building worker in Iskele who fell from scaffolding 21 metres to his death, the President of the Association of Occupational Health and Safety Experts (İSG-BİR) Güvenç Yüksel said that construction workers in developing countries are ten times more likely to have industrial accidents, Yeniduzen reported.
First expressing his regret about the accident, he stressed that employees and employers should take the necessary measures for their own occupational health, business and life safety without waiting for the state, analyse the hazards in the workplaces with the support of OHS experts, prepare a risk assessment report and train employees.
“Employees should be given training to understand the risks. In this regard, the preventive approach should be taken as the basis instead of the prescriptive approach by the state”, he said.
Yüksel said that in North Cyprus no health checks were made on construction workers to see if they are at risk because of ongoing medical conditions.
According to the International Labour Organisation, (ILO) construction workers in developed countries are at risk of being injured 3-4 times more than workers working in other sectors.
However, construction workers in developing countries such as North Cyprus, are ten times more likely to have accidents, Yüksel said.
Statistics collected by the Association of Occupational Health and Safety show that 85 percent of people who fall an average of 3.4 meters while working, die. In light of this data, it is high time for construction workers, employers and the state to take crucial security measures regarding working conditions in construction in the TRNC. There are frequent and dire consequences because of a lack of precaution and planning made by those three groups.
Inspections are made but only after an accident has occurred, he pointed out.
“The most effective preventative measure is employee training. Protecting, training and preventing accidents is easier, cheaper and more humane than compensating for accidental damage”, said Yüksel.
