Organised by the Occupational Health and Safety Institute of Near East University, the 118 participants of the “Scaffolding safety” educational program have been given their certificates at a ceremony.

According to the press info release issued by the Directorate of Press and Public Relations of Near East University, Vice Rectors and Academic Members of the Near East University; senior bureaucrats, including bureaucrats from the Ministry of Internal and Foreign Affairs, Head of Subcontractors Union and guests attended the certificate ceremony. It was further expressed that Head of Occupational Health and Safety Institute, Aziz Gürpınar; Head of Subcontractors Union, Osman Amca; and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Ministry of Internal and Foreign Affairs Adviser/Undersecretary İsmet Lisaniler had each made speeches at the certificate ceremony.

Gürpınar: “Almost half of occupational accidents are occurring at construction sites!”

In his speech, Head of Occupational Health and Safety Institute, Aziz Gürpınar emphasised the significance of occupational safety particularly at construction sites, and pointed out that almost half of occupational accidents occurred at construction sites in our country. Furthermore, he expressed that fatal occupational accidents involved falling from a distance and this is why they had chose to start focusing on occupational health and safety programs by focusing on scaffolding rules for safety. In this regard, the program that the participants had recently completed provided theoretical and practical information on safety rules at scaffolds, including various examples from all around the world. He ended his words by expressing that their absolute aim was to draw accidents at constructions sites to a minimum, and thus assure that the workers returned to their homes safely.

Amca: “Every piece of knowledge means the safety of another person…”

Head of Subcontractors Union Osman Amca stated that participating in this educational program was essential for them since they wanted to renew their prior knowledge and also be aware of further developments so as to play their part in the safety of their workers and provide better services to the community as a whole. Moreover, he said that every piece of knowledge was vital for the safety and well being of another person and that is why they were very grateful to the Near East University for facilitating such an important educational program. He ended his words by stating that they were the first union in the country to value work more then mere utterances and gave full support to the idea that the occupational accidents at the construction sites needed to be drawn down to a minimum.

Lisaniler: “There is a need to apply the awareness of safety to all fields of life…”

In his speech, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Ministry of Internal and Foreign Affairs Adviser/Undersecretary İsmet Lisaniler expressed that occupational health and safety were significant matters, that predicting certain risks to be encountered and therefore taking the necessary precautions had the potential to save lives. He also drew attention to draw back regarding the lack of inspection in our country and further expressed that there was a need to raise greater awareness on occupational health and safety. Moreover, he emphasised that the Ministry of Labour and all other establishments relative to the field needed to play their parts in raising this awareness.

In addition to the above, he stressed that although most universities did not make much contribution to this issue, the efforts and acts of Near East University (NEU) was exemplary to all other universities. He expressed appreciation to the NEU and thanked everyone involved for the education and training provided on scaffolding safety; emphasising that the program was rather applaudable.

It was revealed that the 118 participants of “Scaffolding Safety” program were presented their certificates subsequent to the aforementioned speeches, which was later followed by a reception.