JEDDAH, 12 January 2003 — More than 600 workers die or suffer serious injuries every year on the Kingdom’s construction sites, according to a senior project engineer. And there is no mechanism for the enforcement of construction site safety standards by any government agency.

“Engineers are trained in site safety and there are guidelines in place that are set by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO),” the project engineer told Arab News. “They are supposed to be adhered to, and most insurance companies demand this. However, they aren’t enforced in Saudi Arabia.”

Site safety and security is generally left to the individual contractor, he explained.

“Safety costs money,” another construction site manager at a building site in Al-Andalus Street said. “Sometimes we cut corners. Safety equipment is expensive. Safety shoes, goggles, harnesses and hard hats are therefore often done away with. In a competitive industry like ours, contractors are trying to complete each project as cheaply and as quickly as possible. Only major companies such as Saudi Aramco and the Saudi Binladen Group can afford to take on the added cost. For smaller companies like ours, it can be a budget breaker and might even cause us to lose a contract.”

Civil Defense authorities inspect buildings after they are finished. They get involved during the actual construction only if there is an accident. If there are three accidents at a single construction site, the contractor is fined.

“Even then I have seen officials bribed to turn a blind eye,” the construction site manager added. “If a worker is killed, the contractor pays both the family and the authorities an agreed sum, and the matter is swept under the carpet.”

Last month, Arab News reported on the death of a Bangladeshi worker at a construction site in Al-Ruwais district of Jeddah. While working on a water pipe restoration project, Shukun Mia, 28, drowned when a ditch he was digging caved in, trapping him under three feet of water. Civil Defense authorities ordered the arrest of the project manager and fellow workers, pending the outcome of an investigation.

The leading organization within the Kingdom that strictly enforces safety standards is Saudi Aramco, which has procedures that match those in Western countries.

Nabil Hamdan, performance and cost control manager at Arabian Bemco Contracting Company Ltd., a subsidiary of the Saudi Binladen Group, told Arab News that standards in place at his company also parallel those in effect at Saudi Aramco.

“Today we sent 10 people to the Saudi Red Crescent Society to get trained in First Aid. This is just one of several training requirements and qualifications any project supervisor must undergo. Another is the required presence of an ambulance and a nurse at a site that employs over 50 workers. Our insurance requires that we follow standards set by the ISO.”

Elsewhere, it is a story of dangerous lapses. At the construction site at Al-Andalus Street, for instance, this reporter was struck on the head by a jutting plank of wood. And at another, this time at Al-Basateen Center on Tahlia Street, he was able to enter the building site unchallenged and climb five floors. There was electrical wiring, power equipment and overhanging scaffolding everywhere.

At the top, workers were teetering just inches from the edge of the building on a thin plank of wood, despite the fact that they were carrying heavy building materials. None were wearing safety harnesses, shoes or goggles.