Frantic Olympic building race costs lives

BY Justin Moran

At least 18 Greek construction workers have been killed on construction sites in the rush to get Athens ready for the Olympic Games, according to the Athens Labour Centre.

Poorly equipped Greek construction workers have borne the brunt of intense international pressure to get Athens ready in time for the Olympics, resulting in minimal supervision, inadequate safety standards and cost-cutting contractors. The organisers of the Games admit they have no idea how many workers have died during construction.

The General Secretary of the Greek Construction Workers' Union, George Theodorou, told a BBC journalist that the actual death toll might be closer to 40, when supporting infrastructure such as new roads and rail lines are taken into account.

"Men are being forced to work long shifts, up to 14 hours a day every day, in very hot temperatures and under constant pressure to complete construction work in time for the Olympics," he said. "Most have no hard hats or safety boots and if they complain, they're sacked."

The death toll is far greater than in any other city that recently played host to the Olympics, with one person having died during construction in Sydney in 2000 and two in Barcelona in 1992.

Construction for the games has been hampered by huge cost overruns, estimated to be in the region of $1.2 billion, and by lengthy delays. In 2000, three years after Athens was informed it would be the host for the next Games, the International Olympics Committee seriously considered moving the games to another venue because construction had barely started.

Since then, over 30,000 construction workers, most of them from outside Greece and many of them illegal workers, were pushed to the limits to ensure that the city was ready in time. Foreign labourers, without permits or insurance, can earn as little as €20 a day for ten-hour shifts.

The profusion of illegal workers means that the death toll could be significantly higher and certainly there is a wealth of anecdotal evidence to indicate that illegals are not reporting report workplace injuries, even severe ones resulting in amputation.

With the attention of the world's media on Athens from the end of this week, it remains to be seen how many will point to the human cost of the Games and the lives lost in the rush to finish on time.