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Dozens of dead, only 5 investigators: the workers will continue to pay with their lives for the chaos in the construction industry - voila! news

2022-08-24T10:38:21.573Z


The fatal work accident in the Carmel Castle once again emphasizes the authorities' turning a blind eye to the safety failures in the industry. The enforcement does not catch up with the tremendous pace of construction and does not deter the contractors looking to "cut corners" at the expense of the workers' lives. And if this is the case - the result accordingly: the bodies of the workers will continue to pile up


Dozens of dead, only 5 investigators: the workers will continue to pay with their lives for the chaos in the construction industry

The fatal work accident in the Carmel Castle once again emphasizes the authorities' turning a blind eye to the safety failures in the industry.

The enforcement does not catch up with the tremendous pace of construction and does not deter the contractors looking to "cut corners" at the expense of the workers' lives.

And if this is the case - the result accordingly: the bodies of the workers will continue to pile up

Yoav Itiel

08/24/2022

Wednesday, August 24, 2022, 12:53 Updated: 12:54

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On video: the scene of the fatal construction accident in the Carmel Castle (photo: Yoav Itiel)

The fatal accident that happened this week at the construction site in Tirat Carmel, in which two workers were killed and three were injured, only emphasizes what the authorities have known for a long time - the chaos in the construction industry which is so dangerous and the turning a blind eye to the safety failures that are crying out from all sides.



Despite efforts made in recent years, the rate of fatalities remains without significant change and is only one indicator of the unsafe condition in the industry.

"The State of Israel is abandoning the construction workers", received the State Comptroller Matanahu Engelman in May 2022, after checking the safety of the workers at the construction sites and finding a series of deficiencies.

He called, among other things, for increased enforcement.

But while the construction boom continues, the manpower allocated by the state to the subject is scarce, and the results accordingly.

Enforcement does not slow down the pace of construction and does not deter contractors who seek to "cut corners" at the expense of workers' lives.



The International Labor Organization identifies the construction industry as one of the most dangerous industries for its workers.

Indeed, according to the State Comptroller's report from May 2022, it appears that in Israel, in each of the years 2020 and 2021, 32 workers were killed in work accidents in the construction industry, and in the years 2017-2020 the proportion of workers killed in work accidents in the construction sector was greater than their proportion in the industries, services and trade and agriculture. The data shows that in an international comparison, the rate of fatalities in work accidents in the construction industry in each of the years 2011-2018 was in Israel greater - in some years more than twice - than the average in the 28 countries of the European Union.



This audit shows that despite the steps taken, there are gaps in the supervision and enforcement system: there is not effective enough enforcement of the criminal safety offenses in the construction industry, and the actions of the Safety Administration regarding the analysis of the data and the drawing of lessons following work accidents need improvement and expansion.

The Safety Administration was not assigned all of the positions for the field of safety supervision in the construction industry, in accordance with the budget summary on the matter, and not all of the positions assigned to it in the standard were filled.

The scene of the accident at the Carmel Castle, this week (photo: official website, no)

The State Comptroller warns that as of October 2021, a dedicated unit for criminal investigations did not operate in the Safety Administration, despite the need raised by the professionals for its activity, and the criminal investigation duties were given to inspectors, in addition to the supervisory duties they perform.

In the years 2021-2018, the results of 26 investigations carried out by the Safety Administration were transferred to the claims unit for the purpose of filing indictments - 13 investigations in 2018, one investigation in 2019, two investigations in 2020 and ten investigations in 2021. The State Comptroller believes that due to the inactivity of a dedicated investigation unit As mentioned, the enforcement against those who committed safety offenses was compromised.



On the other hand, the Safety Administration is proud to note an increase of more than 5% in inspection visits compared to the corresponding period last year.

However, at the same time, it is noted that in the last year there has been a 40% increase in construction starts, so the increase in supervision does not catch up with the rate of growth in the industry.

The Safety Administration data for the number of fatal accidents in the first half of 2022 indicate 12 deaths compared to 13 deaths in the corresponding period last year.

And unfortunately, in the two months that have passed since then, the number has almost doubled.



Eng. Hezi Shortzman, chief labor inspector in the safety administration in the labor branch, established at the beginning of 2020 an investigation system that currently includes ten investigative inspectors under a chief investigator at the administration's headquarters.

Those inspectors are involved in both supervision and the promotion of indictments according to the procedures of the Ministry of Justice.

Since the beginning of 2020, 35 investigations have been carried out that led to the submission of 26 indictments to the Ministry's claims unit.



At the same time, three senior investigators of the Safety Administration were transferred to the Peles police unit to investigate fatal accidents in the construction industry and to investigate cases of forgery of documents, false identities of crane operators, etc.

Schwarzman also emphasizes that while his organization documents fatal accidents (and as the review article states, not accidents that end in a different way, not even in near death), the indictments for the occurrence of fatal accidents are the responsibility of the Israel Police and are not related to the administration's indictments.



"Cooperation with other regulators is necessary in the fight against construction accidents," he wants to emphasize.

The Safety Administration sees the indictments as a very important target in addition to the financial sanctions and safety orders that are imposed daily by the supervisors.

However, despite the emphasis placed in the unit on financial sanctions and said to be its most deterrent tool, it appears that out of the 80 million shekels of financial sanctions imposed on contractors, only 16 million shekels, approximately 20%, were collected.

"The collection process dictated to us is a cumbersome and exhausting bureaucratic process," explains an official in the unit.

More in Walla!

The only one who has not seen is still in custody: new details about the fatal accident at the construction site in the Carmel Castle

To the full article

Data on the condition of construction workers - State Comptroller (photo: official website, none)

In the meantime, the Israel Police established the "Fells" unit within the Yalakh, the national unit for the fight against economic crime in Israel.

This is the unit to which the investigation of the disaster at the Carmel Castle was assigned.

"Fells" operates throughout the year in integrated enforcement with the Ministry of Economy, but concentrates on investigating the most serious work accidents and handling complex work accident cases against entrepreneurs and companies in the field of safety and construction.

"The Israel Police will continue to professionally and thoroughly investigate any suspicion of committing criminal offenses in the context of work accidents with casualties and in general", they promise to Walla!

in the "Fells" unit, and mention that "the unit also investigates exposure cases against perpetrators of crime in the field of construction, all with the aim of preventing injury to human life and uncovering serious hazards at the various sites."



It should be noted that this is of course in addition to the cases that are investigated in all the police districts, accompanied by the "Fles" unit, but in total, since the establishment of the unit, about a thousand people involved in 60 investigative cases of work accidents and exposure cases have been investigated, in which 33 serious indictments have been filed for a long list of offenses the kisses to the field.

Bottom line - this is a drop in the ocean considering the appalling industry figures.

no wonder.

The "Fles" unit has only five full-time researchers.

As mentioned, three of them came from the Safety Administration.

In a week like the week following the accident at Carmel Castle, all five investigators are busy around the clock investigating this accident, which is by no means the last.

An hour and a half after the fatal accident in the Carmel Castle, another fatal work accident already occurred at a construction site in the settlement of Gadish, in which a worker was killed.

A construction site in Kiryat Ono where a worker was killed (photo: MDA, documentation of MDA operations)

"The two horrific fatal accidents in which 3 workers were killed this week are another link in the neglect of worker safety, since the beginning of the year 44 of them have been killed in work accidents, 21 of them at the construction sites," says Dr. Hadas Tagari, founder and director of the Group to Combat Construction and Industrial Accidents.

who reports with regret, "We are witnessing a significant decrease in the number of safety inspectors in the safety directorate, which has decreased in the last two years from 90 to 70, and despite repeated promises and vacant standards, nothing has been done to correct it. The police and the prosecutor's office are also not handling the investigation and prosecution of those responsible as required, especially in the northern region , where about a third of the fatal work accidents have occurred in recent years, but only a few indictments have been filed."

Only 5 indictments for causing death by negligence per year

Bottom line, 15 investigators are assigned to the State of Israel to investigate accidents at 15,000 construction sites, an impossible task.

It is no wonder that statistics provided at the beginning of the year to the sub-committee on accidents in the construction industry, at the request of the committee's chairman, MK Osama Saadi (the joint list), show that in 2021 the prosecutor's office filed only 23 indictments for the offenses of negligent death and negligent injury in work accidents.

Six indictments were filed in the Central District Attorney's Office, five indictments were filed in the South District Attorney's Office.

Six indictments were filed at the Jerusalem District Attorney's Office.

Six indictments were filed in the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office and according to this data from the Attorney's Office, no indictments were filed in the North and Haifa District Attorney's Offices in 2021. One case ended in a conditional settlement.



Of these cases, only 7, in the whole country, were filed in 2021 for causing death by negligence in the construction industry: one of them for an accident that happened four years earlier, in 2017, three for accidents in 2018, one for an accident in 2019 and two for accidents in 2020.



In 2020, 5 indictments for causing death by negligence were filed throughout the country.

In 2019, 8 indictments were filed for causing death by negligence.

In 2018, 45 indictments were filed for causing death by negligence and in 2017 only one indictment for this offense.



"The workers pay with their lives, a difficult and important report has been published, weeks and months have passed, and the recommendations still mostly remain on paper," said the determined MK Osama Saadi at the end of a discussion held for his committee in the State Audit Committee room, defiantly, because due to this politics it did not convene to discuss the auditor's report , when it was published. The same things can be said today.



Unfortunately, experts in the field say that the outlook for the foreseeable future is not rosy.

The construction boom in Israel is expected to continue.

The buildings are taller and more complex, they are built in denser urban areas and the economic pressures to populate them quickly are greater.

The work on them is more dangerous and the accidents are more deadly.

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Source: walla

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