Workers many times “sent out to die”

  • 2014-01-08
  • From wire report

VILNIUS - According to the data at the State Labor Inspectorate (VDI), 58 people died and 137 suffered severe injuries on the job last year, reports ELTA. As many as 13 people died in December alone.
According to the data, most of the fatalities and severe injuries occurred during construction or repair work, servicing or repairing electrical equipment or electricity networks, repairing machinery or carrying out storage, loading and unloading work.

VDI inspectors who investigate accidents at work say that most of the accidents could have been avoided if work was adequately organized and carried out, if equipment met health and safety requirements, if internal health and safety control was properly organized and if the workers carried out all compulsory safety requirements.
The fact that intoxication was determined in 17 percent of all fatality cases and around 10 percent of severe injury cases also suggests that internal procedures were negligent.

VDI is still concerned by the fact that personnel are allowed to work without ascertaining that tasks can be carried out safely - this is tantamount to sending people out to die.
From 1992-2012, more than 64,000 people were killed or injured at work in Lithuania. Most high risk sectors for many years remain construction and transportation, as well as the agriculture, wood processing, food and building material industries.