A few private firms set an example for building industry

The construction industry is increasingly in the dock over its high levels of accidents and fatalities, poor safety practices and contractors' alleged denial of employment rights and avoidance of PRSI payments by regarding de facto employees as subcontractors.

Mr Fergus Whelan, industrial officer with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions with special responsibility for health and safety in the construction sector, told Health Matters the "spurious practice" of pretending certain categories of construction workers are self-employed is "ludicrous" and has "serious implications for health and safety". Given their "security of employment is nil, if ordered to do something on a dangerous scaffold they'll do it. Nobody's going to pay them sick pay, so they'll come in injured. And they'll work long, excessive hours".

Moreover, if they are injured "they feel they can't claim off the main contractor - but they're wrong about that", he says.

But the dodgy safety practices in the industry start long before engaging businessmen as bricklayers. Even at the preliminary, or tendering, stage some contractors write "allowed for" under various headings instead of factoring in specific health and safety costs.

But industry sources are quick to point out most clients are not willing to pay extra for health and safety. In particular, they claim local authorities often seem to be unaware of their obligations as clients under the building regulations and feel constrained to always procure the cheapest job - even if, at that price, health and safety cannot be prioritised.

Certainly, it is a few private firms rather than local authorities who seem to earn the plaudits as responsible clients in health and safety circles.

For instance, Mr Vincent McGauran, senior inspector with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA), applauds the safety regime at semiconductor company Intel: "You cannot enter an Intel site until you've done about a week's induction. You can't be there without your personal protective equipment. If you're found on-site without it during the day, you're sent back for an induction course." Intel insists that anyone working at height must be fully trained and wear protective equipment.

Workers must wear a double lanyard - the string that ties the harness to a single point - so at all times the worker is fully protected, he says.

"They hire in a machine just because you have to work at a level something equivalent to the ceiling in your room. They will go to that sort of expense, whereas most other people will say `Stand up on a chair or on a barrel'," he says. Another company which has earned a reputation as a responsible client which takes health and safety seriously is Marks & Spencer. Mr Len Costello, of Construction Services at Marks & Spencer, has been invited by the HSA to speak at conferences in Ireland on construction safety.

Mr Costello insists on a full-time health and safety manager and a full-time mechanical and electrical manager on every site. And resources like good site lighting standards, a cleaning gang and scaffolding, stepladders and access towers must be priced by the main contractor. "They cannot be delegated to the sub-contractors - or his bid goes in the bin," he says.

"We don't always take the lowest price - probably in a third of cases we don't." But in the long run it doesn't cost them more because they get better quality buildings, he says.

The multiplicity of subcontractors on almost any site makes communication a problem. Marks & Spencer solves this by not relying on sub-contractors to get the message across about safety to their operatives. Instead, Marks & Spencer makes the main contractor responsible for ensuring that safe working methods are agreed with each sub-contractor. Mr Maurice Murphy, full-time health and safety officer with contractor P.J. Hegarty & Sons at Marks & Spencer's new store at Liffey Valley, gives an example of one safety management tool it uses, Safe Plans of Action (SPAs), which it developed while working with Intel.

All sub-contractors and each of their operatives have to write down the hazards of the specific job, record the safe system of work and list the resources needed to do it safely. The sub-contractor and each operative working on that job signs the SPA, which is pinned to a safety notice board on site.

Compulsory site induction also ensures that everyone knows the site-specific hazards, emergency procedures and the health and safety rules concerning working above two metres. "That's before people step a foot on the job," says Mr Murphy.