Work accident news
14/05/2007
Trade union wants more convictions following construction accidents
A top union has claimed that not enough is being done to prevent construction accidents in the UK after it was revealed that prosecutions of firms who have killed workers have fallen by 75%.
The Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT) blamed the Health and Safety Executive for the lack of successful prosecutions and their General Secretary said, "The failure of the HSE to prosecute companies who kill their workers is profoundly shocking.
"The HSE is clearly failing to follow their own rules and guidelines on prosecutions. Serious questions must be asked about why the HSE is so spectacularly failing to prosecute more companies."
The statistics, which came to light in a report by the Centre for Corporate Accountability, show that prosecutions following fatal construction accidents fell from 42% to just 11% of cases between 1998 and 2004.
A direct result of this is that site bosses have less incentive to ensure the health and wellbeing of their staff, thus not protecting them from the dangers of serious personal injury and possible death caused by work accidents.
It could be because of this that trade unions expect the number of deaths on building sites to rise by 25% during 2007. The HSE agree that a rise in fatal construction accidents is likely but insist that it shouldn't be more than 15%.
A spokesman from YouClaim, the no win, no fee personal injury compensation claim experts, commented on this prediction and said, "Any rise in fatal accidents at work is too much. More effort needs to be made by the authorities and by construction bosses to ensure that their employees are properly protected at all times."
UCATT insist that the Health and Safety Executive should be prosecuting in three times as many cases of fatal work accidents than they currently are but the HSE's Chief Executive refuted this.
He said, "Nobody, least of all HSE, underestimates the devastation that the death of a loved one can cause; but that should not be the basis for bringing a prosecution. This is not a police state. We do not prosecute without proper justification both evidential and public interest."
The arguments surrounding the issue of failing to pursue cases following deadly construction accidents are sure to continue for the foreseeable future and so are the no win, no fee personal injury compensation claims that are inextricably linked to all accidents at work.
