Five 'responsible for death of construction worker on Palm Jumeirah'

A Bangladeshi man was killed after a 24kg metal bar fell on his head

DUBAI// Five men have gone on trial accused of being responsible for the death of a construction worker on Dubai's Jumeirah Palm.

Dubai Court of Misdemeanours heard the Bangladeshi, 34, was killed a 24kg metal bar fell on his head on July 21 last year, on a worksite described as lacking in a wide range of safety precautions.

He was working on a building under construction near at 6.45am when the piece of scaffolding plunged from the third-and struck him.

“His colleagues carried him to the break room then one of them came to me on the seventh floor and informed me,” said one of the defendants, a Filipino a safety officer aged 26.

He said police were called and about 20 minutes later an ambulance arrived. Paramedics failed to resuscitate him and he was pronounced dead on arrival at Rashid Hospital.

Two other defendants, an Afghani, 29 and a Pakistani 28, both safety officers, testified that they were responsible for inspection and risk control as well as providing safety awareness among workers.

“I was in-charge of floors four, five and six but then I was assigned some where else,” said the Pakistani defendant.

An Indian eyewitness, a supervisor, told prosecutors that when the dead worker was working on the first floor, there were other works being done on the floors above him.

"But we were not informed of the works which is the responsibility of two of the charged safety officers,” the supervisor said.

A Dubai Municipality report stated that the site lacked all safety precautions.

Safety nets that would prevent falling objects from hurting personnel were not in place, there was a lack of warning signs and lack of adequate safety training for construction workers.

The three safety officers, an Afghan supervisor, 26 and a Pakistani construction manager, 26 are all charged with accidentally causing the death of a the man by violating safety rules and regulations and by failing to provide necessary training and protection.

They await verdict from the court.