Construction deaths staggering in Serbia

Construction deaths staggering in Serbia

Capital Investments Minister Velimir Ilić said that the workers themselves do not pay enough attention to their safety.

While the police and researchers are still looking in to who is responsible for the tragedy in New Belgrade, where four workers died, the union of construction workers is asking the state to take measures promptly in order to prevent such disasters from reoccurring.

The union blames the employers for much of the accidents, stating that many cut expenses by not providing hardhats for all workers, protective gloves, and other equipment that is necessary for the workers to remain safe.

The result of all this, according to union president Ranko Drljević, is the 78 workers who have died in the last year.

“The main reason behind the deaths of our workers is that they are working illegally, off the books, and that the owners and directors are racing to make as much profit as possible.” Drljević said.

However, Minister Ilić said that the workers are most frequently to blame for the safety problems. He said that it is very hard to get the construction workers to wear their hardhats at all times while on the job.

“I cannot understand that a worker can be sitting on a crane and be using it to travel from floor to floor. If the workers get inside the basket and want to get down so that they can drink a beer, have breakfast, the inspector cannot do anything because not every crane can have an inspector.” Ilić said.

He added that the construction inspectors are on the field every day and that several construction companies have complained that inspectors never visit their sites. Construction inspector Miroljub Todorović said that the problems come after the inspection files complaints against a construction company.

“The charges that I filed as a construction inspector in January of 2004 have yet to be discussed by judges. There are always reasons for not looking at this, and it is not just one case. And then my colleagues justifiably ask me whether we should be filing complaints at all.” Todorović said.

Work Inspection earlier announced that more inspectors will be working on construction sites in order to prevent accidents like the one in New Belgrade from occurring again.