06 June 2007, 16:37
Builders work at their own risk in the capital of Chechnya
The workers engaged in construction and restoration works in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, are actually not protected by the law.
"I find the situation at the construction sites in Grozny to be catastrophic," Ismail Tazuev, 45, a city resident and construction engineer, told in his talk with the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "I've never seen a builder in Grozny wearing a protective helmet. Many works are conducted at the height of five-twelve floors but the scaffolds have no handrails. Moreover, even the workers employed on the roofs of multi-storey buildings have no safety belts. The result is a high level of traumatism and even deaths of people at construction sites."
There is no precise statistics on casualties and victims among the workers employed in Grozny. However, according to one of the doctors of the 9th Clinical Hospital of Grozny, the periodicity they take in the workers employed at Grozny construction sites is frightening.
"The fact is that the Republic has a huge deficit of workplaces," Mr. Tazuev thinks. "People are ready to take any job to earn at least a little. At employment, no contracts are ever signed with the workers, and no insurance policies against accidents are ever concluded. Consequently, the whole responsibility for what happens is on the victim, and the employer responds for nothing."
Author: Sultan Abubakarov, CK correspondent
