Another Grim Year Construction Deaths

The death toll from construction deaths has this year already exceeded 50 with over three months until end of the recording year.

Last year 77 construction workers were killed at work a 30 per cent increase on the previous year. As of December 18, 51 construction workers had been killed this year.

It has been hoped that this year might see a sizeable decrease in construction deaths. However a surge in deaths in late November to mid-December when eight workers were killed in a four-week period has dented these hopes.

It is now feared that 2007/8 will have a similar death toll to 2006/7, when a greater number of construction workers were killed in the second six months rather than the first. In previous years the opposite had been the case.

It is thought that this change in the death toll could be due to greater demands on workers to carry out exposed work at heights, during the winter months. Traditionally construction companies have attempted to limit this work, during the colder months, when such work is inevitably riskier.

Alan Ritchie general secretary of construction union UCATT, said: “Once again far too many construction workers are dying. The vast majority of these deaths are preventable and are caused by lax safety and careless bosses.”

Earlier this year UCATT scored a notable victory when for the first time the Health and Safety Executive accepted that the informal economy (the bogus self-employed), was a significant factor in deaths and injuries on construction sites.

The Framework for Action agreed at the Safety Forum in September, called by Peter Hain, noted that the informal economy was a significant factor in site safety.

Mr Hain the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, who has responsibility for the HSE, called the Safety Forum after becoming alarmed at the surge in construction deaths. Mr Hain was especially concerned with the high number of deaths in the house building and maintenance sectors, both of which have very high numbers of fatalities.

UCATT also believes that the fall in inspections and prosecutions being undertaken by the HSE is also a significant factor in the rise of construction deaths.