Why Israel’s Construction-Site Safety Bill Comes at the Right Time

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation decided to back a bill that would increase construction-site safety in Israel. The bill, which was backed earlier in the month, is an attempt to lower work-related deaths in the country.

Israel’s construction industry has been free flowing, and when a safety issues occur, no one has been held fully responsible.

Construction supervisors are often responsible for keeping the project on pace, yet there’s also the responsibility of the actual construction process. The lack of an official safety officer has led to the death of 13 people since the start of 2018.

The requirements of a safety officer, which will be on the site daily, have yet to be announced.

And if you go back to March, you’ll remember that the public has been kept in the dark about the safety violations that are occurring in the construction industry. The Labor Ministry found that there were 700 safety violations leading to severe injury or even fatal accidents between 2012 and 2016.

State authorities also withheld information from the public about serious safety issues, and even steps against violating contractors were never followed.

New legislation will help reduce these grave safety violations, and it comes at the perfect time, too.

A major project in Judea and Samaria will be taking place, and the project will include 2,500 new housing units. The units are approved for immediate constructions, and there are plans to add an additional 1,400 units among 30 communities. The units will have everything from custom kitchen cabinets to higher affordability.

The project fulfills the government’s promise of promoting construction in the area. Thousands of additional housing units will be up for approval in the coming months that will add to the development of Judea and Samaria.

The announcement of a planned 3,900 units in the biblical heartland was made on Thursday by Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman. Official authorization must be given prior to the start of the projects.

All of the necessary steps in the planning of the construction project has taken place for 2,500 of the units. The remaining 1,400 homes will have to go through the regular stages of the approval process before they can be constructed.

Construction has also been started in Amichai as well as the authorization of a project in Havat Gilad.

The new safety legislation, which is not yet in effect, will help provide peace of mind to many of the construction workers and their families during the construction process. An on-site safety manager will be able to reduce the risks of injury or death in the workplace, and with the promotion of construction intensifying, it’s very important that these safety measures will be in place.

I know that accidents will still occur, and there will be more deaths, but lowering these risks and occurrences means that construction crews can perform their job confidently.

Hopefully, state authorities have realized the error of their ways and will also begin taking action against contractors that have had several repeated safety violations with little more than a warning from the government.