Since the beginning of the year, 20 workers have been killed on construction sites in Israel. The Ministry of Labor has set a goal to reduce the number of victims by 10%, it wishes to halt construction sites after serious accidents, and to transparently publish data on the fines paid by developers and impose safer working conditions to prevent falls.
The latest to join the list of those killed on construction sites is Maharan Miari, 25, from Kfar Mekhel in Upper Galilee, who fell yesterday from the sixth floor of a construction site in Kiryat Ata. Miari’s death brought the number of fatal accidents to 20 out of 99 recorded accidents on construction sites in the first half of the year. Eighty-eight other workers, moderately injured and hurt, were treated by Mada.
According to data from Kav LaOved, which tracks workplace accidents, the highest number of deaths has been recorded on the sites of the giants Donna and Solel Boneh – 2 employees each since the beginning of the year. In the case of Solel Boneh, workers were killed on the site for the construction of the red line of the light rail in Petach Tikvah and the project led by the company in Jerusalem. In the case of the company Donna, one worker was killed on the company’s site in Ashkelon and the other on the company’s site in Harish last week. In both cases, Donna was both a manager and a contractor.
Kav LaOved also reports that 47% of deaths this year are Palestinian residents of the territories and 32% are Israeli workers of Arab origin. An examination of the circumstances of the accidents and their handling indicates that all the factors that should address the issue, particularly the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, are too slow and too late and cannot manage the failures that cause the deaths of dozens of construction workers each year.
Thus, for example, Kav LaOved’s data shows that 70% of accidents and 68% of fatal accidents on construction sites are falls from height. Despite this, and despite already noting that a large number of sites operate with non-standard scaffolding, Israeli law requires that the property owner sell the property or use scaffolding that meets European standards. On the other hand, contractors are not required to do so.
2019 is expected to be the most significant year in terms of construction, and the state plans a drastic plan to limit often fatal workplace accidents.
