Radical steps to reverse the "spiral of deaths" in the construction industry, including a penalty points system for builders who operate dangerous sites, were demanded yesterday by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions.
Delegates to the ICTU conference in Tralee also backed a call for the introduction of the crime of corporate manslaughter to deter builders from "cutting corners" on safety.
Mr Paddy O'Shaughnessy, general secretary of the Building and Allied Trades Union, said it seemed some people believed there was an acceptable level of fatalities on Irish building sites. In the last five years, 110 people had been killed on building sites, and a further nine had died so far this year, he said. This was a "shocking and avoidable" loss of life, particularly in view of the energy and resources that had been invested in safety in the building industry by unions, progressive employers and the Health and Safety Authority.
Most of this work would be to no avail unless it was backed up by law. "We want the law to act as a preventative measure before lives are lost, or at the risk of being lost. We want those employers and contractors who accumulate a certain level of penalty points to have all their sites closed down for a specified period of time, until all the safety defects have been rectified." The introduction of the crime of corporate manslaughter would make those responsible for the deaths of Irish building workers "accountable for their crimes", he said. "The reality of even one conviction for this crime would act as a powerful deterrent to others who might be tempted to put profit before the lives of those who work for them."
Mr Eric Fleming, secretary of SIPTU's Dublin construction branch and a long-time campaigner on the safety issue, claimed funding cutbacks were preventing the Health and Safety Authority from carrying out the functions required of it to protect building workers. The authority had cut the number of projected site inspections from 8,000 a year to 4,500.
There was a safety inspector for every 15,000 building workers in the Netherlands, he said, compared to one for every 25,000 in the UK and for 33,000 in the Republic. This sent "all the wrong signals" to building workers and was demoralising.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is due to address today's closing session of the conference, which will also mark the conclusion of Senator Joe O'Toole's two-year term as Congress president. He will be succeeded by Mr Brendan Mackin, an official with AMICUS.
