UCATT are warning that government policies will make the industry more dangerous, as the publication of the latest statistics on deaths and injuries once again underline construction’s dangers.

Detailed figures published on November 2nd by the Health and Safety Executive confirm that fatalities rose by 20 per cent in 2010/11, with 50 workers being fatally injured.

George Guy, Acting General Secretary of UCATT, said: “These figures are a terrible indictment on the dangers faced by construction workers. This rise in deaths came at a time when workloads are low. As work levels increase and new workers enter the industry, I fear that death rates will rise.


Mr Guy, added: “This situation is made far worse as the Health and Safety Executive will increasingly struggle to ensure workers safety, as they are facing cuts in their budget of 35% by 2015. Even before these cuts were introduced most construction workers only ever saw an HSE inspector when a death or serious injury had already occurred.”

The HSE figures also reveal that construction workers are the profession most at risk of developing occupational cancer. Construction accounts for 56% of occupational cancer registrations in men. The great risk remains exposure to asbestos, which accounts for 71% of cases where workers have been exposed to a carcinogenic substance.

Mr Guy, further added: “The risk of being exposed to asbestos or other carcinogenic substances is not purely historic. Workers continue to be exposed to lethal substances, on a daily basis. Employers know the risks and there must be no excuses to workers being exposed to lethal substances.”

(GK)