NGO urges gov’t to introduce higher safety standards for consumer sector employees following recent fatality

The Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) urges the government to introduce higher standards for consumer sector employees following the recent death of a Spar supermarket consultant who was attacked by a consumer. 

A confrontation between the employee and a customer took place on December 2019, on M. Kostava Street of Tbilisi. The injured employee died in hospital from a head injury on January 21.

EMC recommends the labor inspectorate check the working conditions and safety standards of the supermarket Spar, and also to determine whether the absence of a security service is linked to the accident.

This case shows that the employer is obliged to ensure a safe working environment and minimize any danger which may be risky for the employee in the process of working… This should be provided by the state with appropriate law and effective institutions”, states EMC.

EMC conducted a study of labor rights in Georgia in 2017, including safety of employees in supermarkets, which shows that in certain places of employment the interviewees think that the malfunction of security systems in supermarket chains and the abolition of security positions is unacceptable.

The interviewees consider that working under surveillance cameras is an insufficient guarantee for night-shift employees in case of an attack. In addition, in the work space employees are not allowed to carry phones due to which in case of emergency they have to remotely communicate only with the security service of the company. The above-mentioned fact excludes the possibility of calling the patrol police without the involvement of the security service”, reads the study.

EMC calls on the Labor Inspection Department to check the security of supermarket chains and take appropriate measures to eliminate these problems.

 In addition, the organization also calls on the Parliament of Georgia to change the Labor Code to protect workers from exploitative and dangerous labor and to strengthen the Labor Inspection Department by mobilizing appropriate resources.