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Hossein Raeisi

Nowadays, with the rapid advancement of technology, humans’ tendency towards higher ranking, the need for more energy and the speed of machines on one hand, and the lack of sufficient and necessary education, lack of necessary support for the workforce on the other hand, and most importantly, the absence of necessary legal protections and guarantees, have increased the human losses and damages caused by work in Iran every year. (1)

Although it is possible to study the increase of these types of incidents from various angles, the role of criminal laws in preventing these incidents is not insignificant; therefore, it is appropriate to briefly take a critical look at some criminal laws in this area.

“Hedayat” was a copper mine worker. After six years of work, finally one spring day, one of the mine’s collapses spoke to him and after three days, his lifeless body was delivered to his family. According to Islamic law, the family’s share in losing their breadwinner is the full blood money of a Muslim man. In the event that the employer has liability insurance, the deceased’s blood money will be paid from it.

“Houshang”, a resident of one of the villages in Mazandaran province, along with a group of workers from his hometown, accepts a job offer in Bushehr province to earn a loaf of bread. Together with another group, they start erecting high voltage power lines. Without proper safety measures, they are in the process of closing the tower when Houshang falls and loses his life. Due to the fact that the contractor responsible for the tower construction is a third party, the family of this worker is forced to travel a long distance between Mazandaran and Bushehr to receive minimal compensation for this incident.

“Mohammad Nabi, a worker from Afghanistan, is another victim and example of someone who lost their life while digging a well due to a rock falling into the well. Apart from not having any safety equipment, he was not insured and the owner was also digging the well illegally. How can the children of this worker, who were waiting for their father, continue their lives now?!”

In multiple incidents similar to these, various workers lose their lives every year. Miners, workers in high-voltage power networks, and drilling rig workers are among the skilled workers who are often not provided with the minimum safety and health standards by their employers. Seasonal, migrant, and daily wage workers are also victims of these silent accidents, as they are never equipped with safety measures and ultimately do not receive any support after a potential accident. In the current legal system, Iranian courts have never sentenced employers to harsher punishments for not providing safety training to workers who have been involved in accidents due to their lack of knowledge. Essentially, there is no appropriate punishment for employers in cases of work-related accidents.

One of the problems in today’s work environments and the increasing risk for workers is the lack of support for seasonal workers, migrants both within the country and from Afghanistan, and occasional workers. In addition, the emergence of third-party contractors in contract work is a common practice where a company with influence uses its rent-seeking resources to win bids and contracts worth billions of dollars, and immediately hands over the contract to second and third-hand contractors without doing any work, making a considerable profit. Except for the main contractor who calculates and adds the cost of training and safety for workers to their bid price for the tender, the other contractors are not obliged to provide necessary and accurate conditions for protecting the lives of ordinary workers in the work environment. In these conditions, if a worker is involved in an accident, the responsible party is not clear; multiple employers in these types of contracts make it difficult for the worker and their family, and the responsibilities of the employer towards the worker in case of an accident will not be clearly

In various cases, although the employer is undoubtedly responsible for any incident that occurs during work, the enforcement of criminal laws will not have a significant deterrent effect on these types of accidents.

According to article 616 of the Islamic Penal Code, employers who are guilty in accidents resulting in death are subject to one year of imprisonment and payment of blood money. The amount of blood money for the year 1394 has been set at 165 million tomans. This amount must provide financial support for the worker’s family and children until they reach the legal age! The usual judicial procedure in Iran shows that courts usually convert prison sentences for employers into light fines. The punishment of blood money, if possible to collect at all, does not provide a deterrent effect for these types of accidents. In the case of disability of the worker due to the accident, they are considered to have fallen out of work in the most optimistic scenario and will receive at least the minimum wage and compensation for the injured member. The fate of disabled workers is very tragic.

As a result, it can be said that despite the existence of thousands of safety and health regulations for various occupations in the country, the traditional work environment and lack of strict enforcement of relevant laws and regulations on one hand, and the non-deterrent nature of the penalties in case of accidents on the other hand, have created the ground for the continuation of such incidents. From this perspective, it can be said that workers, especially those in hazardous environments, are always the most vulnerable and hardworking segment of society.

Note:

1- For further reading, see Behrami, Panteha, Increase in Work-Related Accidents in Iran, Euro News.