HSE cutbacks could spell disaster for UK construction and demolition.
The construction industry is sitting on a “ticking timebomb”, with inexperienced workers being recruited to work on London’s major building sites at a time when safety standards are being run down, according to a former government adviser on the sector.
Baroness Donaghy, who wrote a landmark report, One Death Too Many, for the last Labour government, said there is a severe risk of a rise in deaths and serious injuries as building activity picks up during the recovery. Since 2001, 760 workers have died in industrial accidents on UK building sites.
The number of site-related deaths in London, where growth in construction is strongest, has doubled recently.
Donaghy said she was appalled by a 35% cut in the budget of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in 2011, after she had called in her March 2010 report for more funding to allow it to function properly as a regulator. The report was widely accepted by the Labour government, but has since been ignored by the coalition.
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