In the first six months of 2019 alone, 43 were killed in workplace accidents – construction industry and the commerce and services sector have shown the biggest rise in fatalities.
Forty-three workers were killed on the job in the first six months of the 2019, the highest number of fatalities for January-June in the past five years, according to a new report issued Sunday by Kav La’Oved (Workers Hotline).
The figure represents a 30 percent rise over the same period last year, and demonstrates that the Labor Ministry is far from meeting its goal of reducing work accidents by 10 percent this year.
From the data, based on reports from the Magen David Adom rescue service and the police, it emerges that since the beginning of the year there have been 195 work accidents in which 164 workers were injured. Last month 10 workers were killed and 34 injured. The construction industry leads in the number of fatalities, and is the scene of 60 percent of the country’s serious work accidents. The construction industry and the commerce and services sector have shown the biggest rise in fatalities; the latter saw a 26 percent rise over the first half of 2018 – 24 fatalities compared to 19 in 2019.
This article written by Lee Yaron based on report by Kav Laoved (Workers Hotline) appeared in Haaretz.
