Stoppage order on firm amid worker’s death

DOLE 7 Director Exequiel Sarcauga shares to reporters findings on the construction site accident in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City (CDN PHOTO/ VICTOR ANTHONY SILVA)

DOLE 7 Director Exequiel Sarcauga shares to reporters findings on the construction site accident in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City (CDN PHOTO/ VICTOR ANTHONY SILVA)

The Department of Labor and Employment in Central Visayas (DOLE-7) is set to issue an order to stop the ongoing construction of a residential condominium project in Barangay Labangon, Cebu City, after a worker died on Wednesday when its retaining wall and steel piles fell on him.

Exequiel Sarcauga, DOLE-7 director, said that based on their investigation, J.E. Abraham Lee Construction and Development, which is undertaking the Casa Mira Towers, committed four serious lapses.

These include the lack of safety and health program for its workers, the victim’s non-coverage of social benefits, absence of certification for equipment operators, and the lack of testing certificate for its backhoe.

Sarcauga said they planned to serve the stoppage order on Thursday afternoon.

Both, the contractor J.E. Abraham Lee Construction and Development, and developer, AB Soberano International Corp. and Cebu Landmasters Inc. will be called for a mandatory conference to correct the lapses.

In the meantime, the labor official said the work on the project will have to be suspended.

John Eric Llera, 20, was welding a large steel beam along the perimeter of an excavation when the wall collapsed and crushed him to death around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday

The economic residential condominium project is contained in an area of 3,681 square meters and aims the construction of two towers.

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