Wood Scaffoldings Keep Collapsing

By DERESE NIGATU - FORTUNE STAFF REPORTER

31 August 2006

A construction accident occurred at the construction site of the six four-storey buildings on Fikre Mariam Aba Techan Street, in Yeka, being built for the Ethio International Footwear Plaster Cooperative Society on Tuesday August 22, 2006.

The wooden scaffolding that connected two of the buildings collapsed while more than 100 labourers were at work in the compound. Amare Tafesse, aged 48, was one of those caught in the accident. According to his co-workers, he was climbing up a ladder with four steps and while carrying cement to the upper stair the scaffolding fell away, taking down 22 workers, including Amare. Thirten of these workers were women, all between 18 and 28 years of age. This accident claimed Amare’s life on his first day at work.

According to his employer, Amare had come on Monday in search of a job at the construction site. He said, “He seemed like a hard working man so I couldn’t refuse to let him join us.” Amare was hired on Tuesday morning with a daily wage of 11 Br. His job included carrying cement and filling foundation works.

Emperor II Minilik Hospital reported that he died from a head injury as a result of the fall. He died two hours into his first day at work.

The other 21 victims of the accident suffered varying degrees of injury. Sinkinesh Takele, Seifu Amsalu and Sisay Mola, which were admitted to Zewditu Hospital, are all reported to be in critical condition. The injuries included femoral fractures, head injuries, back injuries, and mandibular fractures. Sisay, 18, who is a grade eight student at Yekatiti 12 School, fractured his chin. He had planned to work through his summer break until classes started in September.

This is not the first time scaffolding has failed, endangering workers’ lives. The building that was constructed by Garad Plc, on Africa Avenue in front of the Shoa Bakery, had a construction accident in which seven workers were injured when scaffolding collapsed at 1pm on Friday, May 20, 2006.

The accident that took place this past Tuesday occred during the construction of six buildings that will house a shoe factory by the end of 2006. The accident happened while the crew was working to finish the rear of a nearly completed four-storey building. According to an eyewitness, it took almost half an hour to get the 22 people out from under the pile of scaffolding.

The Yeka District Police is investigating the cause of the accident although it has declined to comment on the investigation. Though it has confirmed that the investigation will be completed within a week’s time and that the liable parties will be identified.

The scaffolding that collapsed was made of wood, which is the most common material used for this purpose in Addis; it is highly risky as it is susceptible to aging and natural flaws.

According to Birtukan Eshete, Team leader with Work Environment Monitoring and Training Division, under the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (MoLSA), there should be a standard promoting the safety of the construction workers. She told Fortune that the employers are meant to report immediately after an accident occurs, but that her division was not informed of the accident. “The absence of a standard directive for the construction industry has led to the death of numerous labourers.”

Although faced with great financial and legislative constraints, the group under MoLSA, offers consultancy services for organisations in particularly danger-prone industries. It also provides training for labour unions and supervisors and works for the implementation of article 177 in Labour Proclamation 42/85, which focuses on issues concerning the safety of workers.

According to labour investigators at MoLSA, 4,700 cases relating work injuries or deaths were filed in 2003/2004.

A source from the Ministry told Fortune that this figure could be misleading as the study on which it is based did not cover the entire country and most occupational hazard cases are settled discreetly within organisations.

The general manager of the Ethiopian Industrial Federation of Construction-related Trade Unions, Zegeye Hailesellasie, told Fortune that the labourers involved in construction work have not been organised under a federation and that their benefits are therefore compromised. He said that they have not received reports on the recent accident. He added, “If construction workers were organised, the Federation could ask the employers to act in accordance with industrial safety regulations and to provide the necessary safety equipment and insurance for their workers.”

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says that annually, workers around the world suffer approximately 270 million occupational accidents leading to absences from work for three days or more and fall victim to some 160 million work related diseases. The death toll reaches 2.2 million annually, of which 350,000 are from accidents and the rest from diseases. According to the ILO, these problems lead to a loss of four per cent of the world’s gross domestic product.

Occupational accidents don’t only occur in the construction industry, but also in factories and farms. Sources from MoLSA have so far received over 1,800 complaints from labour unions and sector associations as well as 328 questions from federal and regional investment offices.

An engineer from the Contractors Association also seems to be concerned about the situation. He told Fortune that there has to be a mechanism that at least decreases the number of the accidents on construction sites.

According to Birtukan, the labourers should be concerned about their safety in having, for example, belts on their waist and a helmet. She added that it is the employer’s responsibility to create a safe work environment for the employees.