The Labour Inspection Department of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance has promoted the prosecution of employers who violated the provisions of the Legislation on Occupational Safety and Health.
As a result of the prosecution, the Famagusta District Court sentenced an employer (subcontractor) engaged, inter alia, in coating works, to 12 months imprisonment with a three-year suspension, for the following breaches of the Occupational Safety and Health (Minimum Standards for Temporary or Mobile Workplaces) Regulations and the Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance Laws, which caused the fatal injury of his employee:
(a) Failure to take the necessary measures to safely perform work at height, such as using safety belts with safety harnesses of sufficient strength with an anti-fall mechanism and/or energy absorbing device, causing his employee, who was on a scaffolding work platform, to fall from a height of approximately 12 metres and suffer fatal injuries.
(b) Failure to insure with any insurer against his liability for accident or occupational disease to any of his employees.
The Court also fined a whole project contractor €2,000 and sentenced him to eight months' imprisonment for the following breaches of the Occupational Safety and Health (Minimum Standards for Temporary or Mobile Worksites) Regulations:
(a) Failure to ensure that a subcontractor who undertook, among other things, work to repair balconies and cracks and paint the external masonry of a block of flats (a) installed solid handrails or used other equivalent means to prevent persons from falling; and (b) took the necessary steps to carry out work safely at height, resulting in an employee of the subcontractor, who was on a scaffolding work platform, falling from a height of approximately 12 metres and being fatally injured.
Failure to ensure that a safety and health plan was prepared prior to the commencement of site operations.
[C] Failure to appoint a coordinator for safety and health matters during the execution of the project and assign him relevant duties by written agreement prior to the commencement of the execution of the said project.
(d) Failure to place or post a sign with the names and contact details of the design and execution coordinators in a prominent place on the site prior to and throughout the execution of the work.
(ΕΠ/ΣΧ)
Contents of this article including associated images are owned by PIO
Views & opinions expressed are those of the author and/or PIO
Source
