Call for enough funds to allow more safety inspections of building sites

The Health and Safety Authority needs to be given sufficient re sources to carry out more regular inspections of building sites and close them, if necessary, for breaches of safety standards, according to a trade union official.

The head of SIPTU's construction branch, Mr Eric Fleming, said yesterday that prison sentences should also be handed down to who flouted the safety code in view of the "horrendous" death toll on sites so far this year.

He was speaking outside Wheat field Prison, in Clondalkin, Dublin, shortly after five workers employed by John Sisk, one of Ire land's largest building contractors, were injured when a pre-cast concrete roof deck on which they were working collapsed.

Mr Fleming, who is a member of the Health and Safety Authority's board, also suggested that there should be a levy of 0.3 per cent on all construction contracts to create a fund which would permit "this multi-million-pound industry to be properly policed".

"Five people were nearly killed here today," he said, noting that it was a public contract for the Department of Justice. "There are umpteen public contracts awarded every year, and it's the public sector that should be setting the standard on safety."

Mr Fleming said 16 building workers had been killed so far this year in site accidents, compared to 14 for all of 1997. "We're looking at a horrendous projection for the end of this year, so it's more urgent than ever to tackle this problem."

He said SIPTU had sought a meeting with the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, who has overall responsibility for the building industry, to discuss the issue. It was also seeking a formal session with the Construction Industry Federation.

Mr Dempsey told The Irish Times yesterday that he had been "endeavouring to get the CIF to ensure that their member-firms take safety on site seriously", and he expressed concern that "the message does not seem to be getting through to some builders".

He agreed that some of the deaths and injuries on building sites could be attributed to the current boom in construction. However, it seemed to him that there was also a major problem caused by building workers taking a "macho approach" in ignoring safety rules.

Mr Dempsey said the Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, had announced the establishment within the HSA of a specific unit devoted to the construction industry. This would help to overcome any lack of consciousness about site safety.

In a statement last night, Mr Kitt said negotiations aimed at providing more resources for the HSA would be accelerated.

Mr Peter McCabe, the CIF's director of business development and safety services, said that with 130,000 people now employed in the industry, double the figure for 1992, there was a need to look at registration and qualification for contractors. Long before the most recent spate of accidents, he said, the CIF had been running safety courses and services for the industry, including safety packages and guidance documents for contractors as well as a promotional video, to be introduced this autumn.

However, he disputed SIPTU's contention that 16 building workers had died in accidents so far this year. "A considerable number of them were not construction workers as such, but fellows involved in building maintenance and other activities," he said.

"There is too much of amateur construction and DIY stuff going on," Mr McCabe said. "The problem is that almost anyone can be a builder or designer, and that's what's wrong. Other countries would not tolerate that, and it really needs to be sorted out."

He also denied that the CIF had not met SIPTU officials to talk about site safety. He said they met in the context of social partnership and of the Health and Safety Authority, "where we're represented and so are they, so it's not true that we haven't been talking".