As reported, on February 1, 2016, one person died when working on the construction of a multistory building on Kavtaradze Street, Tbilisi. I offer my condolences to the family of the deceased and to the entire society. Even more unfortunate is the fact that despite many such cases, the state still does not take steps to create an effective labor inspection, which, first of all, would serve prevention of similar facts and would save lives and health of many people working in danger conditions.

According to the data provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 111 people were injured and 23 died while performing labour duties in 2013; 72 people were injured and 46 died in 2014. The Public Defender requested the data of 2015 and information about the responses to similar cases from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Typically, like in this situation, law enforcement agencies start an investigation, though the public is not informed about the final results. It should be noted that only criminal action is not enough, because in this case the state is looking for the fatal outcome.

Once again I call on the Parliament and the Government of Georgia to establish an effective labor inspection. Until this body is not created, the mentioned agencies share responsibility for each similar case. We also call on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to present information about the results of the investigation into the cases of workers that have been killed or injured when performing their duties in the past years, in order to avoid the impression that the investigation is only formal and not oriented to real results.