Work has restarted on Haiti cleanup following fatality. But workers are still at risk.
When news of the tragic and devastating Haiti earthquake made the news on 12 January, governments, celebrities and citizens leapt to the aid of one of the world’s poorest nations sending financial and humanitarian aid valued at billions of dollars.
But 12 weeks on and local and volunteer demolition workers remain at risk without hard hats and protective workwear. The lack of proper safety equipment was brought into stark focus last week with the death of one demolition worker, and the injury of another. And now, just a few days later, another man has been seriously injured having fallen from a roof after suffering a seizure.
All demolition work was basically halted in Jacmel last week after one man was killed and another injured while working for one of the many non-government organizations that employ people in town to tear down damaged buildings. At a meeting the morning after the death, several groups met with city and federal officials to discuss how to make demolition work safer.
Wearing green t-shirts, locals and volunteers have been doing everything from garbage collection to street sweeping and heavy duty rubble clearing over the past few days. But many of these workers have complained that they are being mistreated. Holding out hole-filled gloves, some of the men said they were lucky to be issued gloves at all. Many split pairs with their friends, each wearing one to pad whichever hand bore the brunt of their shoveling work. There aren’t enough hard hats to go around, they said, nor are there work boots. Many of the workers had on sneakers or Crocs while they were clearing the lot.
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