Worker in Central Israel Run Over and Killed by Bulldozer at Construction Site
Government categorizes incident as traffic incident ■ 12 construction workers killed on the job in the first five months of 2020
A construction worker was killed at a construction site in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak on Tuesday after he was run over by a small bulldozer. The Magen David Adom emergency medical service reported that the man, who was about 30 years old, suffered very severe head injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police described the piece of construction equipment involved in the incident as a backhoe loader and said they had reported the incident to the Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services Ministry. Since the beginning of the year, 12 construction workers have been killed on the job in Israel. The Coalition Against Construction Site Accidents considers the man killed in the incident in Bnei Brak as the 13th such victim, but staff at the Labor Ministry said it is being considered a traffic accident.
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The Labor Ministry has reported that since January 1, a total of 17 people have been killed in Israel on the job, a figure that is not limited to construction sites. For its part, the work accident coalition said that by its count, 23 people have been killed in workplace accidents this year.
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“Nine workers have lost their lives at construction sites in recent months,” said Hadas Tagri, the director of the Coalition Against Construction Site Accidents, who added that despite the reduced scope of activity at construction sites due to the coronavirus pandemic, enforcement on the part of the Labor Ministry’s Safety and Operational Health Administration has been lax.
For their part, staff at the Kav LaOved workers’ rights organization said: “The tragic accident could have been prevented given a clear policy and rules for activity at construction sites and the danger posed by the large quantity of engineering equipment at the scene. The Labor and Social Affairs Ministry must act quickly to prevent such accidents.”