Plan aims to cut deaths on building sites

A new safety plan for the construction industry is to be published within three months by a new tripartite body, announced yesterday, bringing together interest groups from the sector.

The Construction Safety Partnership, comprising the Construction Industry Federation, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and the Health and Safety Authority, will make proposals on how to cut fatalities at building sites, which have reached 13 so far this year.

The body has already agreed a safety representative programme which will initially target medium- to large-scale sites. Two full-time independent safety officers have been appointed who will recruit and train safety representatives as well as brief site management.

A further scheme whereby construction workers will be obliged to carry a safety pass to gain access to sites is also due to be introduced in the coming months.

Mr Peter McCabe, the CIF's director of safety, environment and training services, stressed the projects had been planned for a number of months and were not merely a reaction to the recent criticism over safety. "This is not the beginning of something. It's part of an ongoing process involving a range of bodies," he said.

The partnership will hold its first meeting on November 1st.

An agreement formally establishing the partnership was signed yesterday by Mr Liam Kelleher, director-general of the CIF, Mr Peter Cassells, general secretary of the ICTU, and Mr Frank Cunneen, chairman of the HSA.

Mr Tom Kitt, the Minister of State with responsibility for lab our, trade and consumer affairs, greeted the move as "a mature acknowledgment by both sides of their moral and legal obligations".

Mr Andrew McGuinness, chairman of the Dublin Alliance of General Construction Operatives, also welcomed the initiative, but said more radical measures were needed. The number of building site deaths increased from 13 in 1996 to 29 last year.