Experts inspect safety norms, work conditions at Georgian mines
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A state monitoring group is inspecting the mines and the conditions miners have to work in at two mine towns in the west of Georgia.
Experts from the Economy Ministry and Health Ministry traveled to the towns of Tkibuli and Chiatura today to check the mines upon the decision by both ministries signed on May 11.
The decision came after four people were killed in a mining incident in Tkibuli on May 9.
The miners died after a rope broke and a coal lift fell from a height of 350 metres in the Mindeli coal mine in Tkibuli.
"The monitoring group consists of relevant specialists from both ministries; there are experts from the Economy Ministry’s Technical and Construction Monitoring Agency and the Health Ministry’s Department for Labour Conditions Inspection”, a statement by the Economy Ministry read.
Monitoring will be conducted in two directions: whether or not the mines work safely with no technical errors, and whether or not the workers’ rights are protected.
An investigation into the May 9 accident was launched under Article 240 of the Georgian Criminal Code envisaging a "breach of safety regulations during mining, construction or other works that result in death”.
Four miners have been killed after a rope broke and a coal lift with four men inside fell from a height of 350 metres in the Mindeli coal mine in the town of Tkibuli in the west of Georgia.
The government of Georgia has declared April 6 as a mourning day after an accident in a mine in west Georgia claiming six lives and injuring three.One of the three mine workers injured in today’s accident has told Georgian Economy Minister Dimitri Kumsishvili that he has never witnessed anything of the sort before - he said that the reason behind the accident early this morning was a coal mine bump.
The President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has offered his deep condolences to President Giorgi Margvelashvili and the Georgian population over the tragic accident at the Mindeli coal mine in western Georgia that has claimed the lives of six and injured three.
Two miners have died at an open extraction coal quarry in Tkibuli town this morning. The bodies are already being examined to identify the circumstances of death.
Miners to continue receiving wages
A technical study inspecting the safety norms of mines in Georgia has been launched, the results of which will be announced in December 2018, says the Economy Minister Giorgi Kobulia.
The Georgian Health and Labour Ministry has inspected 84 companies since August this year and revealed safety-related and other types of violations in 81 of them.
Several of fifteen miners of the Georgian Manganese in Georgia's western town of Chiatura have sewn their mouths in protest as the company refuses to fulfil their demands regarding increased salaries.