SIDON, Lebanon: The safety of industrial workers has been called into question after the death of a 25-year-old car mechanic Tuesday in the southern city of Sidon. Firas Dahaweesh died due to injuries sustained after a manual car lifter collapsed and the vehicle he was working to fix fell on him. He was an employee of a garage in Sidon.
Workers in the garages described how the accident occurred.
They said Dahaweesh had asked the car owner to turn it on to make sure that it had been fixed.
Once the owner turned on the engine, the lift holding the car up collapsed and the car came crashing down on Dahaweesh.
His colleagues rushed to lift the car and move his body, which was taken to the nearest hospital, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
Acting on the decision of the public prosecutor, the security forces opened an investigation into the incident. The owner of the car was questioned and his car seized. The security forces also questioned the workers in the garage and its owner Rami Krayjeh.
Pity for the Dahaweesh’s death will not alleviate the causes for it, said Mohammad Khaled, who also works as a car mechanic.
“No one gives us attention except on Labor Day,” Khaled said. “We work in tough conditions that lack general safety standards.”
Dahaweesh’s death, as unfortunate as it might be, has helped to highlight issues related to the safety of industrial workers.
“For years we have been demanding that minimum requirements be met to ensure good conditions for workers and that changes to laws be made to provide workers with a degree of protection while working,” Abdul-Latif Teryaqi, the chairman of the Workers Union in south Lebanon told The Daily Star.
Teryaqi said that workers should be protected when they are injured in the workplace. The responsibility to provide such protection falls on employers, he said.
“Ninety-nine percent of the workers in the industrial zone in Sidon, Gazieh and the outskirts, aren’t covered by security care,” Teryaqi explained.
Security care refers to equipment that workers use to protect themselves in hazardous environments such as goggles, special boots, gloves and helmets. Ministries have also lagged in monitoring workplaces for safety.
“Tuesday’s incident was a cry for everyone on the need to start working seriously [to prevent such incidents from recurring],” Teryaqi said. “If the equipment that Dahaweesh was using was safe and under regular maintenance, it wouldn’t have fallen.”
This isn’t the first instance of a fatal workplace accident and it won’t be the last, he said, adding that such incidents were common in construction sites.
Teryaqi urged the Labor Ministry to take action and also called on workers to refuse to work in dangerous environments.
Samir doesn’t hesitate to obey his boss when he asks him to get under a car and fix it. Shocked by Dahaweesh’s death, he took precautions and made sure the lift used to raise the car was supported.
“Everything in Lebanon is illegal,” said Mustafa Danab, another worker. “Helmets, gloves and industrial goggles are things we only see in documentaries. I leave it to God.”
Adel Constantine, who has been a car mechanic for years, said each garage should be fully equipped.
In order to prevent the accident that took Dahaweesh’s life from recurring, the crawl space in which mechanics work underneath a car should be well lit and a fire extinguisher should always be present, Constantine said.
Constantine said that in such a scenario mechanics should have a bucket of water by their side at all times.
Sidon’s industrial zones and other repair shops dispersed around its suburbs lack sources of water to quell an emergency fire. Numerous fires have broke out in and around the area and workers have had no choice but to wait for firefighters to come to the scene. Small clinics should also be present in cases of emergency, Constantine said.
Some industrial workplaces do take precautions. Ibrahim Shami among them. Shami, who is also a car mechanic, said that he uses hydraulic lifters, considered a safer alternative. “Workers should wear anything that will protect them. It’s time to get rid of the chaos and recklessness in the industry.”
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