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Three companies have been fined a total of €21,000 after the Limassol District Court found they had breached workplace safety regulations in connection with a construction site accident that left a worker seriously injured.
The prosecutions were brought by the Department of Labour Inspection of the Ministry of Labour and Social Insurance following an investigation into the incident.
Each company received a €7,000 fine for offences under the Safety and Health at Work (Minimum Requirements for Temporary or Mobile Construction Sites) Regulations of 2015.
The companies convicted were EL & D Christou Electromechanical Services Ltd, BBF Construction CY Ltd and M. Varnavidis Contracting Ltd.
According to the Labour Inspection Department, the accident happened while ventilation ducts were being installed above an indoor swimming pool on the ground floor of a multi-storey building in Limassol.
Part of the scaffolding's working platform collapsed during the work, causing an employee of the electromechanical subcontractor to fall from a height of about three metres. The worker suffered a fracture to the second lumbar vertebra.
The court found that the companies had failed to ensure the scaffolding was properly designed, constructed, installed and maintained for safe use. They were also found to have failed to ensure the scaffolding was inspected by a competent person before it was put into service and while it remained in use.
The Department of Labour Inspection said the safety failures placed employees and other people at the worksite at risk, in addition to causing the worker's injuries.
EL & D Christou Electromechanical Services Ltd was prosecuted as the employer of the injured worker, while BBF Construction CY Ltd and M. Varnavidis Contracting Ltd were prosecuted in their roles as main contractors for the project.
The combined fines imposed by the court amounted to €21,000.
