Department Of Labour Probe into Construction Workers` Deaths

Two construction workers, both in their twenties, died when the sides of a trench they were working in collapsed on Monday, 8 August 2011. The accident happened at a construction site at Salt Rock at about 15:00 in the afternoon. Police said that the names of the victims could only be released once their next of kin had been notified.

Paramedics who arrived at the scene said that the men were submerged when the sides of the the trench they were digging collapsed. This is the latest in a series of fatal accidents that had occurred in the construction sector in the province recently, last month a worker was killed when a roof collapsed on a construction site near Pietermaritzburg.

The first body was only retrieved about an hour after the paramedics and police had arrived on the accident scene and the second body was only found at 19:00. Zet Luzipho, the provincial secretary of Cosatu said that the Trade Union Federation had dispatched a team of its officials to investigate the incident and it was ironic that the accident took place on the eve of  Women`s Day celebrations.

Jay Anand the provincial spokesperson for the Department of Labour said the Department only received the report of the accident from the police on Monday afternoon and on account of the public holiday could only send their officials to the site today. "We will undertake the preliminary investigation in line with the Occupational Health and Safety Act to determine the cause of the accident and who could be held accountable" he said.

Pieter Ruatenbach