Further concerns about roof safety at stadiums being built for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar have been raised following an investigation into the death of a British worker in January.
A report from the organizers of the tournament into the fatal accident involving the 40-year-old Briton, who fell from a suspended platform on the construction site for the Khalifa International Stadium, claimed “the team had raised concerns with the method of installation of the raised catwalk system”.
It added that “corrective and preventative” measures have now been put in place.
Belgian construction company Besix, the main contractor at the Stadium, and Qatari company Midmac have renovated the facility.
The Khalifa International Stadium, a multi-purpose venue in Qatar’s capital Doha and the home of the national football team, has been increased in size from a current capacity of 40,000 to more than 68,000 and is set to be used up to the quarter-final stage in 2022.
It is also due to host the International Association of Athletics Federations World Championships in 2019.
It was officially reopened in May.
The death of the man at the venue was the second fatality at a venue construction site for the tournament, which the Gulf nation were controversially awarded in December 2010.
Anil Kumar Pasman, a 29-year-old Nepalese laborer, died after being struck by a truck at Al Wakrah Stadium in October.
The build-up to the event in 2022 has been littered with claims by Amnesty International that FIFA and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy have persistently done little to address “rampant migrant labor abuse”.
FIFA claim construction is “advancing rapidly” at all other Qatar 2022 World Cup stadiums, with the Al Wakrah Stadium the next venue expected to be completed next year.
A total of seven more venues are “currently in different stages of construction”, including the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor City, where 70 percent of precast elements have been finished.
A total of 94 percent of the foundations are also in place at the Al Rayyan Stadium, FIFA said.
“We are moving ahead rapidly with construction across all of our stadium and infrastructure sites for the tournament,” Supreme Committee competition venues executive director Ghanim Al Kuwari said.
“The recent opening of Khalifa International Stadium signified a major milestone and the first venue to be completed, and we are now seeing continuous construction advances across the other seven stadium sites currently underway across the country.”
The news comes amid the deepening crisis in the region after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were among countries to sever diplomatic ties with Qatar.
It saw them initiate a blockade, cutting air, land and sea links with Qatar, plunging the region into disarray.
They claim it was because Qatar has been supporting terrorism, accusations which have been denied by Qatari officials.
The four countries have since made a list of demands, such as closing the Government-funded Al Jazeera TV, reducing its ties with Iran and closing a Turkish military base.
These must be met in order for the current sanctions to be lifted but Qatar claim they are unrealistic demands.
“The US secretary of state recently called upon the blockading nations to produce a list of grievances that was reasonable and actionable,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told Al Jazeera.
“The British Foreign Secretary asked that the demands be ‘measured and realistic’.
“This list does not satisfy that criteria.”
By Liam Morgan
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz.