Director of company sentenced to detention for death of 16-year-old worker

After the tragical death of an underage construction worker, the Head of GVK Hospitality construction company, Shishu Pal Burdak, who had employed the juvenile, was arrested. After the death of the worker, it was noted that the safety norms were not observed at the construction site, as a result of which, the construction process had been suspended.

Shishu Pal Burdak says that he is not guilty and notes that he did not have any information regarding “how workers got into the construction site when I had no agreement on the works.”

“I have not committed any offense, I do not know how they entered the site and there was no permit,” the director of the company said.The worker, born in 2003, was only 16 years old. On July 16, he fell in the lift shaft and died at the scene.

The situation of safety at work remains a major challenge in the country. Improvement of the alarming situation is significantly hindered by the restrictions imposed for labor inspectors on the one hand, which will be lifted only from September 2019, and by the lack of human and financial resources of the Labor Conditions Inspection Department on the other hand.

According to the Public Defender, regrettably, timely detection, effective response and prevention of cases of involvement of children in the worst and hazardous forms of labor is still an unresolved problem. At the same time, the state does not have an effective mechanism for monitoring child’s labor rights. As a result, detection of cases of involvement of children in the worst and hazardous forms of labor remains beyond the effective control of the state.

As the report of Public defender reads, Despite the fact that according to the International Labor Organization’s Conventionconcerning theProhibition and ImmediateAction for the Eliminationof the Worst Forms ofChild Labor, a priority action plan and effective mechanism should be developed at the national level for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor, the above has not been implemented in Georgia.

“It remains a systemic problem that, due to extreme poverty, family negligence and improper social conditions, children have to perform work that is inadequate for their age or psycho-physical development. This trend is absolutely alarming and requires attention and immediate measures by the responsible authorities,” reads the statement of Public Defender.

The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili also issued a special statement regarding the incident, as she said, “this year, 21 people died in the workplace, the majority of accidents come from the construction sector, the statistics and the deaths of people are unacceptable in this country!”

Investigation is underway under Article 240 (2) of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which implies violation of safety rules in mining, construction or other works.