The Daily Mirror has reported on a new publication from the Centre for Corporate Accountability, commissioned by UCATT. The findings, which are based upon HSE’s own figures, show significant reductions in levels of convictions following construction worker deaths. Whilst deaths of workers have risen in the last five years, in 2004, the last year for which figures are available, only eight of the 75 deaths - 11 per cent - resulted in convictions.

Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT and member of the Commission on Vulnerable Employment, said: “It’s profits before people. Behind every statistic there’s a family torn apart by grief. The failure to prosecute and achieve a conviction often has a devastating impact on families. They feel betrayed. Serious questions must be asked about why the HSE is spectacularly failing to prosecute more companies.”

The Commission will be giving consideration to the enforcement of health and safety standards for workers in the UK, and whether action could be taken to could better protect vulnerable workers from working in unsafe conditions.

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