The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy informs that teams from the State Labor Inspectorate carried out 97 inspection supervisions in the period June 29 – July 1, 2017, during the heat wave, in the area of safety and health at work throughout the entire territory of Republic of Macedonia.

Following the inspection supervisions that were conducted in the construction activity, textile factories, waste storage and agriculture, 37 legal entities were banned from working, and the other legal entities that were controlled were reminded of the obligation to respect the respective recommendations.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Policy opened a telephone line for reporting violations to the recommendations for working outdoors during the hottest days. Violations to the recommendations can be reported on the following telephone number: 075 402 856.

Last week, at a session of the Government, a decision was passed for the state bodies and public enterprises and institutions to also respect the recommendations. Pregnant women and those chronically ill aged over 60 years, should be released from work, whereas construction workers should not be working outdoors between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm, are some of the recommendations of the Ministry of Health, which the Government adopted because of the heat wave that has affected Macedonia.

Several violations have been noted across the country after the Government came out with the recommendations.

A citizen journalist, collaborator of CIVIL Media, on Friday around 11:00 am, noticed construction workers on the field, despite the recommendations of the competent institutions for workers not to be working outdoors in the midst of the scorching hot weather from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Three construction workers from the Skopje firm “Sintek-Engineering” suffered serious injuries falling from a scaffold set at a height of around 5-6 meters high, on the highway Skopje – Kumanovo, near the interchange in the village of Miladinovci.