Bahrain construction deaths doubled last year

Labour Ministry has stepped up its safety campaign and inspections following the report.

The number of construction deaths in Bahrain more than doubled last year, according to an annual report released by the Labour Ministry.

The report stated a total of 103 workplace accidents were reported in 2008, in which 88 workers were killed, well in excess of the 37 deaths recorded in 2007.

The Labour Ministry’s head of occupational health and safety Ali Abdulla Makki said the figures were alarming and as a result they have ramped up their safety campaigns and inspections.

Of the workers killed in 2008 the report said 36 fell from buildings under construction, 24 were hit by falling construction material, 12 were trapped in machines and 16 in other worksite-related accidents.

Another 120 workers also suffered serious injuries at construction and industrial sites last year.

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“We have limited manpower and the efficiency of our team was very low last year,” Makki told Construction Week.

“For 2009 we have streamlined our operations with inspectors dedicated to certain aspects of safety and are carrying out more inspections, this should improve things.

“We are also being more vigilant in enforcing strict safety measures. If scaffolding is not erected by a specialist scaffolding team I will stop the job immediately.”

Makki said the ministry has also begun holding monthly safety workshops for companies with poor safety records.

Around 200 contractors attended January’s seminar on safety while working at height and a similar number attended February’s workshop on providing adequate labour accommodation.

In 2009 a total of six workers died on construction sites in Bahrain, three of them fell from scaffolding.

Buildsafe UAE, a construction stakeholders group dedicated to health and safety in the UAE, commended Bahrain’s Labour Ministry for publically releasing its accident statistics.

Chairman Grahame McCaig said accident figures help identify problem areas and was the first step towards improving construction site safety and education in the region. He urged the UAE municipalities to be more transparent with their accident figures.