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Attention: industrial correspondents, health and safety media

TUC calls on Government and employers to eradicate building site deaths

Three construction workers die at work in Britain every fortnight, but the Government has yet to introduce corporate manslaughter legislation to punish negligent bosses.

With this in mind, the TUC plans to use next week’s European Health and Safety Week (18-22 October) to urge the Government and employers to act to cut the shocking number of deaths in the UK construction industry.

Since April 1992, over 1,000 workers have died in construction jobs in Britain. Between April 2003 and March 2004, 70 construction workers lost their lives, accounting for 30 per cent of all the deaths at work last year. In the last six months, from April to September 2004, 37 construction workers died on building sites across Britain.

The focus of European Health and Safety Week 2004 is "building in safety", which aims to make the construction industry a safer, healthier and more productive working environment. As well as introducing effective legislation on corporate manslaughter, the TUC believes that investment in employee skills is vital if the number of workplace building deaths is to be cut.

TUC Deputy General Secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: 'Construction deaths at work are running at an all time high (is this true???) Employers will only change their poor health and safety practices when they realize that they are likely to be punished if found guilty of causing the deaths of their staff or members of the public.

'A corporate manslaughter law would force employers to make safety a priority and the fear of penalty would make them train their employees properly. Thousands of British construction workers do not speak English as a first language and token gestures, such as safety leaflets and posters put up around building sites don’t even begin to address the problem.

'Unions are taking the lead in training construction workers in language skills so that they can better understand safety guidance at work, and union learning reps are being trained to spot the skills needs of their colleagues in an attempt to prevent accidents from happening. For their efforts to have even more impact, more employers need to take their training responsibilities seriously. The Government must publish its proposals for a new corporate manslaughter law before the beginning of the next session of Parliament if they are to prove that they are serious about delivering on this crucial issue.'

A list of all fatalities at work and the sector in which they occurred from April 2003 - March 2004 can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causinj/12mthftls.pdf

An analysis of fatal injuries to workers in construction can be found on page 8 of the Health and Safety Executive’s Statistics of Fatal Injuries Report 2003/2004 at http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/overall/fatl0304.pdf

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

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Contacts: Media enquiries: Ben Hurley T: 020 7467 1248; Pager: 07699 713182 ; E: bhurley@tuc.org.uk , Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248; Pager: 07699 744115; E: media@tuc.org.uk

Skills for Life media enquiries: Dan Ashley T: 020 7467 1372; M: 07880 504 846;
E: dashley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (600 words) issued 16 Oct 2004