The incident in Pascani, where three workers died after the wall of a quarry collapsed, is a consequence of the fact that the State Labor Inspectorate as from this April cannot perform occupational safety and health inspections. Such an opinion was stated in the program “Emphasis on today” on TVR Moldova channel, IPN reports.

Elena Carchilan, head of the Labor Inspectorate of the Trade Unions Confederation, said that the inspection duty of the Inspectorate was transferred to ten agencies that deal with occupational health. “In this case, the work accident will be examined by the Technical Surveillance Agency,” stated Elena Carchilan.

Alina Turcan, lawyer of the Penal Reform Institute, said that both the person responsible for labor protection and security at the company and the company director could be held accountable for violation of the labor protection rules. “Even if the employer hires a person to deal with labor security and protection, this is not freed from the obligation to ensure and monitor the observance of security rules. The prosecutors will determine who is to blame for this incident,” stated Alina Turcan.

Alexandru Leu, rescuer of the Search and Rescue Detachment No. 1, who took part in the operation to unblock the workers, said that two bodies were found at a distance of 4 km from the entrance to the quarry. “We found the persons and took them out of the debris, but it was evident that they were dead. We could do nothing,” stated the rescuer.

On November 20, a wall of the quarry in Pascani village of Criuleni district collapsed and crashed three workers. Two men died on the spot, while the third in the hospital.