August 6, 2004—The Chartered Institute of Building has leant its support to a recent report by the House of Commons Work and Pension Committee that says the number of field health & safety inspectors should increase by 100%.
Recent figures show that from April 2002 April 2003 there were 226 work-related deaths with an alarming 28,426 major injuries reported, CIOB says.
Committee chairman Sir Archy Kirkwood summed up the problems this way: “The HSE is under-resourced.”
Michael Brown CIOB Deputy Chief Executive commented: “Too many of our workforce are not protected from the dangerous conditions that can be found within [the construction] industry where proper health and safety procedures are not applied. We want to see the HSE receive the necessary funds from government to inspect those workplaces that are the very source of the problem, and to take on offending employers in court.”
Reprinted with permission; copyright 2004 i-FM
