CYPRUS: Security is a Right for All, Not a Privilege for a Few

Two new work accidents at construction sites have been added to the long and sad list of victims of employer arbitrariness and state indifference.

Once again, workers paid the price of profitability with their lives.

These accidents are the result of inadequate training of employees on Occupational Safety and Health issues, the absence of controls and the disregard for basic protection rules.

On construction sites, where risks are heightened and daily, the existence and adherence to safety procedures is not a luxury. It is a prerequisite for life.

Employers have enormous responsibilities. It is not enough to hire staff, but they must ensure that every worker is properly trained, that there is access to the necessary personal protective equipment, and that professional qualification and training standards are implemented.

These standards – which link skills to safe practice – are not just bureaucratic tools. They are shields to protect workers’ lives.

The state is not innocent. Control mechanisms are under-functioning, inspections are not satisfactory, and lenient sanctions do not prevent violations of regulations.

At the same time, in workplaces where there is no union coverage and workers are not organized in unions, accidents are more frequent, as there is no one to advocate, report and demand the implementation of legislation.

The union presence on every construction site is crucial. It is the one that can push for training, for decent working conditions, for the implementation of professional qualification standards, for inspections. It is the one that can give a voice to workers before the silence of the dead speaks.

We cannot get used to death at work. Workers’ lives are not statistics. They are families, they are dreams, they are people.

We demand: Mandatory training on Health and Safety issues, implementation of qualification standards, strengthening of controls, union presence in every workplace.

So that the workers return home alive.

The Builders’ Union PEO is no longer expressing simple concern. We express our anguish over the dimensions that the phenomenon of occupational accidents, especially fatal accidents, is now taking in the sectors represented by the Union.

We express our sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the deceased colleagues and hope that they will be the last victims of this unacceptable situation.

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE PEO BUILDING ASSOCIATION