16 workers died in jobs in 2020, the most dangerous construction sector

During 2020, 16 workers died in their jobs. The construction sector remains the most dangerous. While inspection of all workshops is impossible because of limited number of job inspectors.

Job Security Chief Inspector Agim Milaku says of KosovoPress, that the situation in the private sector is not satisfactory and that the labour inspectorate is struggling to change this situation, as there are a small number of inspectors on the ground who are also struggling to monitor law enforcement by employers.

The situation is generally not satisfying, so are we. It's just as it is at the moment, we've enjoyed the difficulty of changing this situation because we have a small number of inspectors in the field that had the largest number of inspections, to increase the supervision of law enforcement, so that we let both sides know about the work process. The employers and employees that need to be respected should create sound reports, regular working relations should be established through the linking of labour contracts, through inspections of legal provisions where the rights and obligations of the working parties” are defined, he said.

According to him, the largest number of employees continue to be in the construction sector, but the sector also remains with the largest number of accidents.

During 2020 alone, according to Milak at their workplaces, 16 workers died. But not all because of poor work conditions.

“The construction sector where the largest sector of employed workers is, the sector that is presenting greater problems, we have the largest number of accidents, even accidents where workers suffer repairable, irreparable and even death injuries. Unfortunately, we're always trying to reduce to the maximum zero accidents we're trying to get from...06:00 in 2020 they lost their lives instead of labor 16 workers, but they weren't all because of working conditions and the exercise of work, 2 were due to natural death having had a heart attack, 3 of them have been at private homes that are often impossible even to control because they have family connections and family relationships, and 11 have been the loss of life due to the exercise of activity in the subject of a certain worker, he says.

Millaku says that they always try to improve the safety of workers by training them, but also by instructing them to raise awareness of workers at the workplace.

We try to always improve the safety of the workers in the workplace, elevating the conditions, distorting the circumstances but also training the workers by guiding them on the dangers... So let's raise the awareness of the workers at the workplace so they can take care of themselves first, for others around”, he said.

We remember that Kosovo still remains the only country in the region without health insurance, which makes the lives of workers who are forced to spend large sums of money for injuries at workplaces.