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According to recent research by the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (UCATT), the majority of deaths of construction workers in the UK take place in small or medium scale construction firms with less than 50 workers.

Although these small construction companies account for only a third of the overall construction industry, the number of deaths amongst their employees was almost half the number of total construction workers’ deaths in the UK last year. UCATT is therefore urging for more inspectors to be dedicated for undertaking regular checks on these small and medium-sized construction companies. The Union plans to adopt a no-tolerance policy, so that the safety of the workers is ensured.

According to Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, small companies are rarely inspected even though they take safety issues very lightly. He suggested that companies should have a Director specifically employed to maintain safety standards, who could be imprisoned if a serious negligence of health and safety guidelines causes an employee’s death.

The Union has asked the public to observe a silence of two-minutes at noon on International Workers’ Memorial Day, in memory of those who have died at work.

Speaking on the Day’s importance, Jerry Swain, Regional Secretary of UCATT’s London and South East Region, said that almost everyone who works in the construction industry has friends or relatives who have died or have been injured at work. International Workers’ Memorial Day is meant both for remembering such people, and for demanding better safety measures, as almost every mishap that takes place could have been avoided, he said.

Employers need to keep themselves up to date with health and safety developments to avoid potential legal action from employers by taking a health and safety courses such as the nebosh course from Workplace Law Training.