The end of April is marked throughout the world using various awareness-raising campaigns that aim to promote new trends in the field of Health and Safety at work as well as raising awareness on the problem of injuries, diseases and deaths at the workplace.
In Kosovo’s daily newspapers these are mere everyday news. They are chronicles that provide chronical rather than analytical information. Headlines such as: ‘’Another worker dies while working in construction’’ are common. We lack news that give us details that accompany such events. Uncertainties as to who the victim worked for, whether he had a contract, whether he had health insurance, whether work conditions or safety were subject of inspection, the circumstances of his death, whether state institutions requested accountability, whether the family of the victim requested accountability, and many other questions in most cases remain unanswered. That is the reason why such questions are not reported. Moreover, these cases are not treated as part of a phenomenon, and as a result the phenomenon is not treated as a series of problems.
In order to start a comprehensive discussion on the background and subsequently the development of processes linked to deaths in workplaces, Kosovo Stability Initiative – IKS conducted this research dealing with fatal accidents at the workplace. The study aims to analyze what happens after these tragedies happen, respectively provide as much details on this growing problem; in order to see who is to blame, what were the sanctions, respectively whether the families of the victims were compensated.
To read the full report, click here: