A major new safety plan for the construction industry is to be launched today by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern. Eighteen workers died in the sector last year and over 2,000 were injured.
The plan makes it compulsory to appoint a safety representative on all building sites employing more than 20 people. Health and Safety Authority (HSA) inspectors are to double inspections on building sites by 2001 and provide regular reports for site representatives and safety officers.
Smaller sites will be targeted in a joint campaign involving the Construction Industry Federation (CIF), trade unions and the HSA. A joint safety council is to be appointed for the industry.
This follows three months of intensive negotiations between the CIF, the HSA, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, FAS and senior Government officials. It is understood there had been resistance from some employers and, at one stage, the Minister of State for Labour Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt, threatened to introduce legislation unilaterally.
Last year fatalities in the building industry fell to 18, compared with 22 in 1998, but the accident rate per 100,000 workers was 1,619, compared with an average of 936 per 100,000 for the workforce as a whole.
Yesterday Mr Kitt described the Construction Safety Partnership Plan as "a ground-breaking measure that has brought everyone on board".
He added that the 1989 Health and Safety at Work Act would be updated and new regulations introduced to underpin the plan.
A mandatory one-day safety course is to be given to all 160,000 construction workers under the FAS Safe Path Scheme. There will be courses for managers and mandatory certification for semi-skilled workers such as scaffolders, roofers, crane and machine operators. The problem of dermatitis in the cement industry is also to be examined.
SIPTU construction branch secretary Mr Eric Fleming said last night: "All we ever wanted was joint ownership of safety with employers. In the past they felt they knew best and that was what was killing people." He praised Mr Kitt for "living up to his commitments".