Bahrain construction deaths double in four years

Should death be an occupational hazard?

The Middle East's construction industry has taken a blow today as Bahrain's Labour Ministry reveals that deaths at construction sites have doubled in the past four years.

According to the report that was published by Gulf Daily News, 35 workers have died so far this year, compared to 18 in 2005. It also shows that figures are steadily going up with 36 killed last year, 29 in 2007 and 21 in 2006. Occupational health and safety head Abbas Salman Matooq commented that most of those killed had fallen from under construction buildings, been hit by falling debris or become trapped in machinery.

Middle Eastern developers are often criticised for hiring cheap and largely untrained labour from India and Pakistan and this report would appear to back such claims up as most of the fatalities came from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and India.

Matooq was damning of such companies saying that unless they stop flagrantly flouting safety rules, deaths will continue to increase.

"They hire cheap labour and purchase cheap equipment to cut costs," Matooq told the paper.

"Construction accident inspectors work hard to enforce construction safety laws by distributing safety brochures that are printed in several languages for the workers' safety. But we have noticed that no one follows these rules and that's the reason so many accidents happen."

The UAE was heavily criticised in 2006 by the Human Rights Watch for failing to stop companies abusing the rights of the region's half a million migrant workers during their construction boom. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum ordered the minister of labour, Dr. Ali bin Abdullah Al-Ka'abi, to enforce the country's labour laws and immediately institute a series of reforms based on Human Rights Watch's recommendations, but it seems that violations are still occurring.

On Saturday, a worker was killed and another seriously injured at two separate incidents. Indian Pokkillatha Ali Sulaiman, 51, fell to his death from the second floor of a building in Isa Town while cleaning the windows. Meanwhile, Bangladeshi Farooq Imam Kabeer sustained serious injuries after a jack fell on his head at a construction site in Shakhoora.

Despite regulations stating that companies who employ 100 workers or more must hire a safety office, inspections of construction sites over the course of the year revealed that this simply wasn't happening.

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