Fifteen workers died this year at the workplace, hundreds hurt

15 workers died this year at the workplace. They were mostly construction workers. And there are hundreds of other workers who daily get injuries at work. Even the police have opened hundreds of cases for failing to put measures or protective equipment in the workplace. KMDLNj requires increased numbers of inspectors.

Only in the first six months of this year's workplace injuries have 15 people died.

The chief coach of the Private Sector Workers Union, Yusuf Azemi, has said of Express, that in addition to cases of fatality, there are hundreds more cases of injuries.

Azem even said that there are cases when private company workers pressure injured workers not to report cases to the police.

There can never be an exact figure because there are general injuries, maybe hundreds of injuries per day. Mostly the injuries, company owners pressure workers not to claim to have been injured in their jobs but elsewhere. As far as death cases are concerned, this year is the largest number since we have statistics, we're talking about the six-month period. If we can say now about July, we have 15 cases of deaths in their jobs. As of last year, 2022 and 2021 were not the priority builder, but this year mainly about 70% of these workers died in the construction worker”, he told Express.

The Express that has tried two days to contact officials of the Labour Market Inspectorate on this issue, but has not returned answers.

Sector Builder Most Uncertain for Workers

From the Council for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms has told Gazeta Express that the most endangered workers in the workplace are the builders.

According to information, and according to reports, the most endangered are the workers who are engaged in the builder who face many problems. Unfortunately, construction has been and continues to lead the cases of injuries and deaths in the workplace. Here, there are no other sectors exempted, but the construction worker”, the organisation said.

This is because the work environment does not agree with the rules of commitment of a worker at work.

The work environment in general does not match the needs and rules of engagement of a worker at work. Here we refer to all conditions ranging from those with basics as a lack of security conditions (in construction and similar sectors), lack of meeting and maintaining the contract and obligations that come out, and the ease of leaving without warning or opportunity for workers to have where to complain and get quick answers as well as to compensate for the damages suffered to”, are now stated for Express.

Number of Inspectors Required

To avoid cases of injuries and deaths in the workplace is urging increased field inspectors.

From KMDLNj, they told Express there should be even higher penalties.

“Institutions should be aware to take concrete measures and not to deal with consequences but to prevent. The number of job inspectors and the number of inspections must initially increase, there must be higher fines so that it can create the effect of prevention for businesses that can deal with the same situation, there should be a database for all cases of injuries and nature of injuries, and we've proposed that the sectors that are more important than the number of injuries in the workplace, create a special fund to compensate for the injured, and families of those who lose their lives in the workplace, and we've proposed that this be done by the fine fund or punishment that becomes a sense of business, I have a sense of employment and promotional rights of business, and that is to provide access to the countries's rights of business and to take advantage of justice, and to deal with the more and to deal with the situation.

Hundreds of job safety cases open in police

The Kosovo police have confirmed to Express that concerning criminal work “Nothing, damage or removal of protective equipment and the risk of workplace security”, 39 cases have opened in the first three months of this year.

Meanwhile, for 2022, police for this crime have opened 177 cases.

Asked what the number of people who died as a result of poor security conditions at the workplace, Kosovo police gave no answers.

What does the Penal Code say about workplace security?

Not offering safety at the workplace is also sanctioned by the Law.

According to Article 367 of the Kosovo Penal Code, anyone who eliminates damages or removes protective equipment from any country and endangers people's lives or causes rich damage is sentenced to jail for (1) to eight years.

On the other hand, anyone who is responsible for safety and health at the workplace and who does not install protective equipment does not maintain them in a regular position to work, does not ensure their use when necessary or does not comply with provisions or technical regulations on workplace safety measures, and thereby endangers people's lives or causes considerable property damage, is sentenced to six months (6) to five years.