Trade Union: 24 Georgian Workers Have Lost their Lives So Far in 2018

Two workers died last week at workplaces in Chiatura and Gudauri while performing their duties. The Georgian Trade Union says according to statistical data, 24 workers died in the country and 18 more were severely injured and taken to hospitals in 2018.

Deputy Chair of the Trade Union Tamaz Dolaberidze says the statistics are not complete, adding some cases are not even known to the public.

“The problem regarding labor safety needs to be solved as the situation is worsening by the day,” he stated.

32-year-old Khvicha Gvelesiani died in Darkvetli village, Chiatura municipality, while working in a sand quarry. He was trying to cut the cliff with a tractor when the sand mass fell on him. By the time the vehicle was dug out, he was already dead. He had been working at the site for just two weeks.

The works at the sand quarry are being carried out on the order of Darkevti 2008 LTD, which has assured that safety norms were observed at the site.

The second worker to lose his life last week was Khvicha Tabatadze, 36, who died in Gudauri while dismantling a metal crane. The pieces of the construction fell on the worker and he died immediately. He was working on a project initiated by company ‘Peri,’ hired by the municipality within the frames of a development project. The project was financed with GEL 29 million from the state budget.

Tabatadze’s family claims that safety norms were not observed at the site.

David Tabatadze, father of the deceased man, says his son was not a professional but was asked to take apart the crane.

“They knew my son did not know how to do this. They should have brought a specialist instead,” the man stressed.

Georgian Parliament adopted a law on Labor Safety, with the third and final reading on March 7, but it has yet to take effect.

In the new version of the labor safety law, sanctions for the breach of safety norms have been tightened, and fines were increased from 100 to 50,000 GEL.

However, the requirements of the law will only cover 11 areas of severe, harmful and dangerous jobs. Human rights defenders say the law is discriminatory as it does not cover all jobs.

According to the new law, the sanctions on breach of labor safety can be one of three types: Non-existent, substantial and critical.

The sanctions on all three types of violations will be based on how much annual turnover the enterprise has.

The law also reads that the monitoring service representatives will not be able to enter the enterprise without the permission of a judge, unless there was an accident or a planned inspection.

However, in case of repeated inspection, the supervision service will no longer need the Court’s permission.

The non-governmental sector imposes responsibility for all dead workers on the state and demands immediate activation of the new Labor Safety Code.

Deputy Chair of the NGO Georgian Young lawyers’ Association, Nana Kurdovanidze says the recent incidents show the state does not have an effective mechanism for controlling labor conditions.

“The employees also do not provide minimum standards of safety at workplaces,” she added.

NGO Human Rights and Monitoring Center – EMC Social Programs Director, Lia Ghvinianidze says that the “weak labor policy promotes such cases in the country.”

The Interior Ministry has launched investigations into both recent cases with regards to breach of safety norms.

By Thea Morrison