Regulations drawn up 18 months ago to improve safety standards on building sites have still not been implemented, despite the continuing high rate of deaths in the industry.
Lobbying by professional bodies to have the regulations amended has been a factor in the delay in implementing them, The Irish Times has established.
The regulations would place increased responsibility for construction site safety on those involved in the planning and design of projects.
The urgent need for improvement in standards is underlined by the fact that nine people have been killed on construction sites already this year, compared to a total of 15 in 2004.
The industry's safety record was sharply criticised last week by the Health and Safety Authority when it announced that workplace fatalities overall were up 40 per cent this year.
A spokesman for the authority said the proposed safety regulations were sent to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment in late 2003.
Asked why they had not been implemented, a spokeswoman for the department said the regulations were with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel for formal drafting.
Advice had been received from the Attorney General that the regulations should not be implemented under existing legislation, but instead should await enactment of the new Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Bill. It was expected that the Bill would be enacted before the summer, she said.
Existing safety regulations have been in place for a decade but have little impact on the type of accidents occurring at sites, a HSA-commissioned study found last year.
It said prosecutions tended to focus on contractors rather than those involved in the pre-construction phase, and the lack of enforcement action against project designers was "striking".
The proposed new regulations would require clients - those behind projects - to appoint in writing a project supervisor for the design process.
A range of new responsibilities would also be placed on both the clients and supervisors. For example, design supervisors would be responsible for the safety of temporary constructions on sites, such as scaffolding.
This is one of the measures opposed by professional bodies including the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland, the Institution of Engineers of Ireland and the Society of Chartered Surveyors.
Representatives of the bodies are in discussion with the HSA about how the regulations would be implemented in practice.
In the event of a failure to find agreement, however, they have reserved the right to seek changes in the regulations from Minister of State for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen.
