FIFA & H+S: Bow Your Greedy Heads in Shame

[Waterbaby]

"Qatar World Cup bosses offer no explanation for British worker's death"

Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor - Saturday 11 November 2017 05.00 GMT

"A 10-month effort to find out how a Briton was killed while building Qatar’s Khalifa stadium for the World Cup has been met with a wall of silence from the Qatari authorities and multinational building contractors, leaving his relatives distraught and angry.

Zac Cox died in January after he fell 40 metres when his safety equipment failed. His family have been told that a report containing vital information about the circumstances of his death exists, but it has not been passed on to them or the British coroner investigating his death."

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/ ... WEML6619I2

"ILO drops Qatar migrant workers complaint after reforms" - BBC News 08 November 2017

The International Labour Organization has closed a case against Qatar over its treatment of migrant workers, which had overshadowed preparations for the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

The UN agency said reforms agreed by the emirate meant some two million workers now enjoyed better protection .

They include setting a minimum wage and allowing workers to leave the country without their employers' permission.

https://www-bbc-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.or ... t-41919692

WB

[Alexis]

This is just awful WB!

[ddlh]

I do not think you can justly blame FIFA - they are the client - it is the PC you need to target!

Any construction project will potentially - unfortunately - suffer fatalities. In my own locality - Aberdeenshire - we have various recent road construction projects going on. A small bridge over the river Don - 1 fatality. The western Peripheral Bypass has also been plagued with incidents including 1 fatality. Any construction - operation - activity - has the potential for fatality if not managed properly!

I started in heavy industry in 1972 and we killed 10 people a year back then. We were on a par with the mining community. As the Health and Safety at work Act - and supporting legislation came on board - including safety reps etc. We became safer - only killing 2 or 3 per year. And this in the UK!
The industry I worked in is no longer in this country of cut backs - but we still have workplace fatalities in UK industry.

I have since moved my skills to the UK oil and gas and chemical industry and while I do what I can - I still expect a major catastrophe in the North sea as we are still trying to manage 40 - 50 year old production wells with aging production platforms. Most platform s were constructed with a 25 year design life and you will be lucky to find any original steel on an offshore platform nowadays.
But my fear is people are becoming complacent - management are happy that they do not have to spend more money on safety precautions. But in my view we are being so very lucky so far.

Companies are losing the experienced guys through penny pinching ( cost cutting) and will soon not have the experience required to deal with the "once in a twenty year" occurrence!

The fact they are trying to take the 225 helicopters back into service are an indication of their disregard to safety. I for one will never fly in a North Sea helicopter again!

Getting back to the OP - we are still allowing people in the UK to die at work - over 100 a year. So please lets not criticise when we dont have our own house in order!

Happy to discuss in open or closed forum!

Dave

[MatMan]

Thanks for the info, this is very eye opening!

I find it hard to believe that this is being allowed to happen. When the Qatar tournament was announced many people said "but what about the poor players, having to play football in that heat" but really they should have been concerned about the construction workers.

Sadly, I feel that people won't learn from this

[Messy]

In the UK and parts of Europe, (maybe not Qatar), when a large company or organisation requests tenders for contracts, they will insist on the potential contractor supplying a whole host of peripheral information to be considered to determine of the contractor is fit and proper

This will inevitably mean policies from environmental & sustainanilty to modern slavery. Health and occupational safety are always included. The policies are examined and audited. I have been involved in auditing fire safety policies in the past.

FIFA and similar NGOs must use a similar approach and if they dont, you have to ask yourself why not? It surely cannot be for money saving reasons could it?

As for not commenting on ovetseas H&S matters until we get our house in order - I cannot accept that point of view. That could be read as ignoring the plight of others in less developed parts of the world and concentrating on our own. That doesn't fit comfortably with me. Why not do both simultaneously?

[Waterbaby]

18 November 2021

"ILO publishes report on work-related deaths and injuries in Qatar.Publication of the report follows growing calls for greater transparency and accountability on work-related deaths in Qatar, particularly those relating to World Cup infrastructure projects"

https://www.ilo.org/beirut/projects/qat ... /index.htm


WB

[Alexis]

Bumping this one back again.

Thank you Waterbaby.