Construction worker dies at Rehovot building site

A construction worker died in a building-site accident in Rehovot on Thursday, bringing the number of people killed in such incidents since the beginning of the year to 33.

The 34-year-old Eritrean national fell into a sewer pit at about 6 p.m. Paramedics administered first aid and rushed him to the city’s Kaplan Hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to the Haaretz daily.

Both the Ministry of Labor and police have opened investigations into the incident.

Since the beginning of the week, another 10 workers were injured in construction sites across the country, according to the Group Against Building Accidents.

In February 2016 a worker was seriously injured at the same site in Rehovot, and in February of this year Liu Peizi, a 40-year-old worker from China, died on a construction site of the same building company in Beersheba.

Hadas Tagari, head of the Group Against Building Accidents told Haaretz, “The lawlessness of the contracting and construction companies on building sites takes the lives of dozens and injures thousands each year continues uninterrupted, due to the helplessness of the government authorities in supervising, enforcing and punishing the behavior.”

The rate of worker deaths in Israel is among the highest in the West and double the European Union average, according to the findings of an Economy Ministry and National Insurance Institute report published in May 2016.

Last September, six construction workers were killed when a four-story parking garage being built in the northern Tel Aviv neighborhood of Ramat Hahayal collapsed.

Following the fatal accident, lawmakers renewed calls to improve safety standards on construction sites and set up a parliamentary inquiry into construction workers’ deaths.

While accidents on building sites are common in Israel, most of those employed in construction in the country are Palestinian or foreign workers and the issue is rarely at the center of the public consciousness.

Only half of all deaths at construction sites between 2011 and 2015 were investigated, according to research carried out by the Knesset Research and Information Center, and in over 50 percent of those cases probes were closed due to inconclusive evidence, Israel Radio reported in September.

According to the report, the low rate of investigations stems from a lack of coordination between the three responsible authorities: the Safety Administration, the State Prosecution and the police. In a number of cases included in the report, some of the bodies were only informed of an accident six months after it took place.