One Death is Too Many

By Steve Murphy and Len McCluskey

Construction workers are becoming increasingly worried about workplace safety and the public should be too. Since the Conservative-led Government took power in May 2010 there have been constant attacks on our safety laws.

It is because of these persistent attacks that UCATT and Unite have organised the Save Our Safety a lobby of Parliament today.

In 2011/12, 49 construction workers were killed at work, while a further 2,000 suffered major injuries. These figures were when the industry was still mired in a recession. When the industry was booming, on average six construction workers were being killed a month.

Instead of having a Government that supports strong health and safety regulations we have one which makes a mockery of laws designed to keep workers safe. With the industry still suffering we fear that the government is sending the wrong message to employers – that health and safety is not a priority. Too make matters worse too many employers are prepared to victimise union activists for raising legitimate concerns about health and safety.

Today’s lobby is a rare opportunity for construction workers to meet their MPs and describe what workplace safety is really like, dispelling many of the myths perpetuated by the Right-wing press.

Even before the Government’s frenzied attack on safety laws and the Health and Safety Executive, most construction workers were only likely to see a HSE inspector on their site if a major accident occurred.

By the end of this Parliament the HSE will have seen its budget slashed by 35%.

The HSE has also ended unannounced inspections in most sectors, meaning that employers no longer fear the sudden knock on the door by an inspector. Construction inspections still continue but are now generally confined to small sites.

The removal of unannounced inspections will inevitably lead to a slide in safety standards, if employers don’t think they will be inspected, standards will slip, accidents will increase and workers will be injured.

Alongside the direct cuts in the HSE’s budget we have also seen two high profile reports into health and safety, which the Government has used to cut safety laws and regulations.

These reports have resulted in a weakening of the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) regulations which are designed to ensure that workplace injuries are properly recorded. As well as the scrapping of vital safety regulations including the Construction (Head Protection) Regulations and The Tower Crane Register.

In a further attack on workplace safety, as part of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act, the Government has undermined the entire basis of how compensation is claimed following an industrial accident. It is no longer sufficient to prove that an employer has breached the Health and Safety at Work Act, now to receive compensation the worker must prove that the employer was negligent. Injured workers never able to go work again, may not be able to claim a penny in compensation.

The Government has not finished its attacks on safety, they have recently announced a major review of the role and functions of the HSE. This is clearly designed as a further attack on safety in general and the HSE in particular.
Most construction workers will know of a friend or a colleague who has been killed or injured at work.

Every construction death is an individual tragedy, a father, son or brother who went to work one day and never came home. The cuts in our safety laws and the slashing of the HSE’s budget will increase deaths and injuries.

That is why today’s lobby is so important, the Government and MPs must not be allowed to pretend that they did not know what effect their cuts will have on dangerous industries such as construction.

UCATT and Unite believe passionately that One Death is Too Many, unless the Conservative-led Government reverses its cuts and invests in safety; it will be all too apparent that they take a different view.

Don’t let this attack on health and safety become the next scandal to hit the construction industry.

Steve Murphy General Secretary of construction union UCATT and Len McCluskey General Secretary of Unite