제 목 : Heavy Accident Toll on "World's Biggest Construction Site"
일 자 : 1996년 11월
제공처 : Safety & Health
Safety on Berlin's vast number of building projects, from apartment
renovation to huge office complexes, appears to be largely out of
control, according to safety researcher Eberhard Goebel from
Berlin's Free Unrversity.The city claims to be the world's biggest
construction site.
"Sometimes there are lO different companies from all parts of
Europe working on one project. They may each have different safety
cultures and languages," says Goebel. "The labor inspectorate is
completely overwhelmed."
If regulations were properly followed by management, accident
rates could be halved, says Eginhard Wonneberger, head of the city's
labor inspectorate. The inspectorate claims that poor organization
along with a large number of foreign subcontractors, too much overtime,
and time and price pressures act together to produce 11,000 accidents
a year. Unreported incidents could push up this figure substantially,
he says. In l995, 22 deaths were recorded, a 30-percent rise on l994.
Rainer Egerman from Germany's Construction Cooperative, which
handles workers-compensation insurance for the building industry,
says poor coordination of interlinked phases of construction
and inexperienced personnel are the chief causes of injuries
and deaths.
With building activity on almost every block in the eastern part
of the city, the public is also exposed to hazards. Pedestrians
have been struck by objects falling from cranes and injured
when loads placed against fencing collapsed onto sidewalks.
Cranes regularly move load over busy streets and even occupied
school buildings. A woman was killed afrer being struck by a falling
girder as she emerged from an underground railway station l00
meters from Berlin's luxury hotel area. The street should have been
cordoned off, says Wonneberger.
However, with only 25 officers, Wonneberger admits the department
has little time to carry out inspections and spends most of its
time processing applications for building permits.
The current rate of building activity in Berlin should last another
two years, says Goebel.
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