Five die in 16 days

A TOTAL of five people have lost their lives in work accidents in just over two weeks, according to official figures that were released yesterday.

According to the figures released for the period between 2004-2006, last year was the worst regarding deaths from work accidents. 2006 saw 18 deaths at work, while there were 54 deaths in the entire period.

The statistics also show that there were more than 8,500 accidents at the workplace during the entire three-year period.

Labour Minister Antonis Vassiliou however claimed yesterday that these figures for Cyprus were not alarming.

“These accidents is definitely something that can be described as upsetting and worrying for us, but we are not panicking because we are not above the average figures for the European Union,” he said.

A Europe-wide campaign, which is set to focus specifically on smaller businesses, has been launched. The campaign is set to centre on the twelve newest member states of the bloc as well as raising awareness in Turkey and Croatia.

The Labour Minister is optimistic that Cyprus will succeed in fulfilling the targets set out by the campaign.

“I am confident that we will not only reach the target for reducing accidents at the workplace by 25 per cent by 2012, but we will surpass it,” he added.

According to Vassiliou, the Labour Ministry has already begun a strategic programme to educate more than 2,000 workers in the construction industry.

In the last year, the construction industry has received modern equipment worth a total of around two million pounds.

Today has been designated by the European Union as Health and Safety at the Workplace Day.

A 32-year-old foreigner working in a factory in Famagusta was injured on the foot yesterday and taken to the Larnaca General Hospital. His condition is said to be serious.

Last week, two workers died in a freak accident in a Nicosia school after a hole they had just drilled collapsed and buried them alive.
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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.