Discovery of construction site death traps are no surprise, major rethink needed in safety inspection

News that the Health and Safety Executive have closed 10 out of 11 construction sites it visited in a recent blitz in Aberdeen is no surprise to construction union UCATT.

The high level of unsafe sites is replicated throughout Britain. While UCATT welcomes the HSE’s decision to target construction sites this month, it believes that it is only a sticking plaster in ensuring that construction bosses take safety seriously.

Harry Frew, UCATT’s Scottish Regional Secretary, said: “It is appalling that 10 out 11 sites have had to close but I’m also sorry to say that it is of no great shock to our union. Time and again the HSE announce that they are going to conduct a blitz of construction sites. Each time many sites are temporarily shutdown. But in the long term safety does not improve.”

UCATT believes that additional resources need to be spent on inspecting construction sites on a year round basis. When sites are found to be unsafe and are breaking health and safety laws a much higher number of prosecutions are need to take place. It is only by creating clear deterrents that construction bosses will be forced to make sites safer.

Mr Frew, added: “The HSE needs to stop giving construction bosses who are willing to play fast and loss with the lives of their workers, little more than a slapped wrist. If health and safety laws are broken, prosecutions must follow and those responsible removed from positions of authority.”