Donaghy report into construction industry deaths welcomed by unions

A government-commissioned report on deaths in the construction industry was published today, making a series of recommendations for improving safety.

The report, by Rita Donaghy, former head of the conciliation service Acas, called for the Gangmasters Licensing Act to cover the construction industry and for the introduction of statutory directors' duties which would make company bosses directly responsible if a worker was killed as a result of safety breaches.

Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "I am very grateful to Rita Donaghy for her thorough work, involving wide consultations with stakeholders.

"Despite the welcome recent fall in construction fatalities, any death or major injury is a tragedy for individuals, their families and their colleagues, and more work is needed to bring the number of accidents down.

"The report makes a number of recommendations which Government departments will now consider, alongside the current and future safety challenges posed by the construction industry."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber commented: "This is a strong endorsement of the arguments that the TUC and unions have been making for many years.

"There is an undeniable case for a change in the law to ensure that directors ensure good health and safety practice through a framework of planning, delivery, monitoring and reviewing.

"Extending the remit of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to include construction and revising building regulations so that health and safety is considered in building control, will help make construction sites safer places to work.

"The level of fatalities in this sector is totally unacceptable and we hope that the Government will act quickly to fully implement the recommendations contained in this report and so prevent more needless deaths."

According to Unite, the report's recommendations mean that the time has now come for the Government to act. 

Jack Dromey, Unite deputy general secretary, said: "Rogue gangmasters put life and limb at risk, flout employment rights and rip off the taxpayer.  Rogues also undermine reputable employers.
 
"Extending the remit of the Gangmasters Licensing Agency will make building sites safer, protect building workers and benefit the public purse by ending tax dodging."
 
Unite, together with the construction union Ucatt, has been campaigning for an extension of the Gangmasters Act, passed in 2004, into the building trade, hospitality and social care, all industries with high concentrations of labour providers.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of construction union Ucatt, said: "This is a hard hitting report which makes a series of vital recommendations which when implemented will have the effect of improving construction safety overnight and cutting deaths and accidents. The Government must adopt the report's recommendations in full."

Ucatt said there had been a dramatic increase in the use of employment agency/gangmaster activity in the industry in recent years, which it complained had further casualised construction and weakened safety provisions.

"By extending the Gangmasters Act tens of thousands of construction workers will be given greater protection overnight. Companies which do not meet health and safety criteria will be barred from supplying labour. Cowboy companies which kill workers will be barred from the industry."

Ucatt said the introduction of directors' duties would mean that if a worker was killed and it was discovered that a company had disregarded health and safety legislation there would be a possibility of an individual director receiving a custodial sentence.

Mr Ritchie added: "Good companies have nothing to fear, but the first time that a rogue boss is led away in handcuffs after killing a worker will be the day when all company bosses will take safety issues seriously."