A new action plan on safety in the construction industry, which includes a number of specific deadlines, will be launched in early February by a safety committee composed of members of ICTU, the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) and the Health and Safety Authority.

The committee, set up in October 1999 in response to the high mortality rates in the construction industry, will set down a specific timetable for implementing recommendations made by the Strategic Review Committee for the Construction Industry, which reported in 1997. It has decided to implement recommendations for a new registration process for workers and contractors. This will involve new safety training courses, the completion of which will lead to the issuing of safety passports for construction workers.

Under the new plan, ICTU and the CIF have agreed to boost the presence of safety representatives on building sites and to implement greater co-ordination of construction safety plans.

According to the CIF, 18 people were killed in construction-related accidents in the workplace last year, down by four from the 1998 level.

Responding to concerns voiced about worker safety in light of the huge demands imposed by the National Development Plan, the director-general of the CIF, Mr Liam Kelleher, said he didn't accept that there would be a greater risk of accidents due to pressure of work.

He said: "It can be when you are working flat out that you go down a learning curve and are operating high production values and at highly paid levels that are among the safest working standards."