7 building site deaths in 3 months

A LACK  of safety inspectors is a contributing factor  to the high number of deaths in Panama’s construction industry, with seven workers killed in three months.

The latest   was on Friday morning   March 11  in the Alta Plaza shopping center in Condado del Rey,  El Dorado when a young man, working for an air conditioning contractor fell from a scaffold, according to the National Front for the Defense of Economic and Social Rights (Frenadeso).

One of the problems facing the construction sector in Panama is the lack of occupational safety officers and managers on  projects.

Figures from the Ministry of Labor and Workforce Development (Mitradel) show that the country has only 137 officers and 86 inspectors to monitor security,  a total of  223 officials.

Mitradel general secretary, Samuel Rivera admits that with the number of buildings under construction in the country, sometimes there is only one  to monitor three projects, when ideally there should be one for each reports La Prensa.