Yet  Another construction fatality hits Scotland

UCATT Regional Secretary Harry Frew was shocked and saddened to hear of a young worker killed on a major construction site at the Earlsburn windfarm near Stirling. A 19 year old man died after falling 100ft while working inside a turbine.

Mr Frew said: " UCATT sends its deepest condolences to the family of the young man. It is especially tragic when someone so young is killed in this way. This tragedy underlines the unacceptable level of deaths on the construction industry. Health and safety must become the number one priority”.

" We will await the results of the HSE investigation but it is clear from the recent fatality figures that the construction injury is just as dangerous as at the time of the major health and safety summits called by the government in 2001 and 2004.  UCATT will continue to pursue health and safety legislation that brings about a culture change in this industry."

He stressed: " This only adds to the figures of workplace fatalities which is spiralling out of control this year. Last year construction deaths leapt by 25%."

Last year 79 people were killed on construction sites and the HSE acknowledge that at least 70 per cent of those deaths are caused by management failures to take adequate health and safety measures.

"The continued scale of fatalities reinforces our demand for Corporate Killing legislation, " said Mr Frew.

A UCATT commissioned report has revealed that convictions of companies responsible for the death of construction workers have fallen by nearly three-quarters. The reports findings come at a time when construction deaths are rising.

The report Levels of Convictions and Sentencing Following Prosecutions Arising from Deaths of Workers and Members of the Public in the Construction Sector undertaken by the Centre for Corporate Accountability on behalf of construction union UCATT, has been published to coincide with Workers Memorial Day (April 28). It reveals that in a six-year period from 1998 to 2004 Health and Safety Executive prosecutions in construction deaths plummeted from 42 per cent to just 11 per cent. The study covered the deaths of 504 construction workers. It often takes over three years following the death of a construction worker before a company is brought to trial and convicted. 

For more information contact H Frew 0141 420 2880