The number of fatal accidents at work in Central Bohemia has increased. In Prague, on the contrary
Tragedy in Kladno region. During the truck race, a child ran into the track and succumbed to his injuries
The Labor Inspectorate recorded more fatal accidents than in Central Bohemia only in the South Moravian Region (12); job tragedies were also more frequent in the Ústí nad Labem region (10). On the contrary, Prague is at the opposite end of the imaginary ranking, when the Hradec Králové, Liberec and Vysočina regions also recorded three deaths. Only the Karlovy Vary region reported one fatal consequence of employment.
Accidents, recklessness, but also stupid jokes
Traffic accidents were the most significantly recorded in the sad statistics – in a total of 26 cases (which represents almost 30 percent). In Central Bohemia, cases where the driver of a van or truck does not brake when commuting to the convoy and crushes his own by the truck in front of him are more frequently repeated. Less often than on roads and highways, fatal accidents also occur on non-public roads – ie on company premises.
More often, tragedies were also repeated when moving or transporting heavy loads, materials and components – whether it was a pain associated with a fall, ejection, sliding, squeezing or overturning. Working in an unsecured excavation with a landslide can also be deadly. Tragic consequences have also been repeatedly associated with falls from a height or depth when working on buildings and structures. And Kolibač also drew attention to the category Dangerous substances and preparations, radioactive substances, biological substances.
According to him, it has long been the case that most work tragedies are associated with underestimating the risk or its poor estimation; there are about seven cases out of ten. “Another possible cause was the threat of other people: distraction at work, jokes, quarrels, etc.,” Kolibač reminded the warning facts. Only subsequently, missing or insufficient protective equipment and safeguards appear in the records of fatal accidents at work.
Death in loneliness and in front of colleagues
Specific cases show how little is enough to extinguish human life. For example, after a few days in the hospital, an electrician died in an accident when two more colleagues reconnected to the building’s switchboard: they moved cables and wiring from the original switchboard to the new one. In order not to leave the whole complex without electricity, only parts of them were switched off by circuit breakers – and the rest of the switchboard remained energized. It was enough for the tragedy when the worker assembling the disconnected elements crashed into the living part of the switchboard.
PHOTO: A drunk man climbed a construction crane. Firefighters had to take it off
In another way, the power of the electrical equipment manifested itself in the solid fuel boiler room, whose heater was to consume the rest of the fuel from the outdoor box during the night shift before the planned reconstruction, shut down the main boiler and start the boiler with its own storage tank. Unfortunately, while he was moving in the outdoor box, he was caught by a screw conveyor of a running fuel feeder. And it could only be stopped by the controller inside the boiler room…
Work in an unsecured excavation for a sewerage connection also resulted in a fatal accident. At a depth of three meters, I poured groundwater, which the workers drained. At a depth of about four meters, there were repeated leaks – and the attempt to continue pumping did not survive the employee, who was flooded by loose soil.
Development of the number of fatal accidents at work
Region | year 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
Central Bohemian Region | 17 | 10 | 15 | 21 | 12 | 9 | 11 |
Capital City of Prague | 8 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 3 |
Czech Republic | 131 | 104 | 95 | 123 | 95 | 108 | 88 |
Source: State Labor Inspection Authority