Construction sites of death

• The prefect of Bucharest: "Construction workers are dying at a faster rate than American soldiers in Iraq"

• Criminal complaints have been filed, but the guilty are still at large

• Labor safety norms, disregarded completely • Prefect Atănăsoaei requests harsher laws

Eight construction workers have died on construction sites in the last ninety days. This type of incident occurred on Friday at noon, on a construction site in the 5th district. The Prefect of Bucharest, Mihai Cristian Atănăsoaei, said the following in an interview for BURSA: "This statistic is terrible, given that in the last month and a half we have lost as many workers as the number of American soldiers that died in Iraq over the same period. The worst thing is that people died on account of negligence and of disregard of labor safety measures, and no one is yet in jail".

He said that the State Inspectorate for Construction (ISC) has submitted a felony complaint against some of the developers, but the State Prosecutors are slow in investigating and building cases. The prefect added: "After the incidents on the construction sites Băneasa and Expoziţiei, we have created several teams that would inspect all the active construction sites in Bucharest. The results were outrageous. Neither the workers nor the developers were too affected by the fact that people died. Protective gear was not available or workers would refuse to wear it. Not even the minimum needed training and protection was provided. Just a few of the construction sites investigated by our teams were found to be in compliance with the existing regulations".

Even though the Prefecture has issued several fines, their amounts leave developers unimpressed. They pay up and the work goes on under the same conditions, Mihai Atănăsoaei says. Even when construction sites are temporarily suspended until they put their labor safety measures in order, developers simply ignore the decision.

As a result, the State Inspectorate for Construction drafted a bill which proposes harsher penalties, which the Prefecture of Bucharest intends to submit to the Government for approval. Mihai Atănăsoaei said: "I will request the urgent enactment of this law given the current state of construction in Bucharest and all over the country. We want harsher sanctions, larger fines and the ability to revoke developer licenses if they get sanctioned repeatedly on matters of labor safety".

When asked on what is the most likely factor behind the increase in the number of accidents, the prefect of Bucharest said that it is most likely the black market labor, which has increased to worrisome levels, as a result of the economic crisis. What"s more, unskilled workers disregard labor safety norms. Mihai Atănăsoaei said: "These last few years we used to have lots of accidents, as the construction industry saw a spectacular expansion. But this year, several unfortunate accidents received more media coverage than usual. In most cases, the general entrepreneurs are large, reputable companies that comply with the law. Subcontractors are small companies, which employ many unskilled workers, working for a minuscule profit and are mostly trying to make money off the books. Most irregularities were found with subcontractors".

The investigative body of the Prefect of Bucharest is investigating construction sites in Bucharest together with officials of the Territorial Labor Inspectorate, the State Inspectorate for Construction, officials of district mayoralties, Apa Nova and ENEL. So far over 40 construction sites received fines worth over 128,000 lei. The prefecture will continue with its unannounced investigations in the coming period.