The spotlight has once again been shone on the widespread standard of construction safety London, with construction union UCATT having called for a meeting with London Mayor Boris Johnson on whether he would support construction workers being directly employed – a move that it said would reduce deaths and injuries – as reported by QS Associates (http://www.qsassociates.co.uk).
In news that will be of interest to those seeking to comply with CDM regulations in London, UCATT cited the recent London Olympics – the first Games not to have involved any construction fatalities – as it stated that Mr Johnson had “refused to answer … directly” a question from a Labour member of the London Assembly, Fiona Twycross.
Ms Twycross had asked: “Does the Mayor agree that the fact construction workers were directly employed in delivering London 2012 contributed to making the 2012 sites safer for workers? If so, what will he do to ensure that lessons are learned about increased safety and included in the planning of future publically funded projects in London and promoted in privately funding schemes?”
Mr Johnson responded that “The ODA should be congratulated for its exemplary safety record during construction of the Olympic and Paralympic venues,” adding that he was “sure that many health and safety lessons will be learned by the UK construction industry, whether privately or publically funded projects. To this end, the ODA has developed a Learning Legacy project, with the aim to share the knowledge and lessons learned from the London 2012 construction project. This will hopefully raise the bar within the construction sector.”
This reply was not sufficient for UCATT, however, with Regional Secretary for London and the South East, Jerry Swain, claiming that “direct employment and proper engagement with trade unions about safety was the primary reason why London delivered a safe Olympics.” He added that sites where workers were directly employed were safer, and condemned Mr Johnson for trying “to ignore those lessons through misdirection and weasel words.”
UCATT added that sites where workers were, instead of “falsely self-employed”, in direct employment were safer on account of the better organisation of workers, as well as the greater likelihood of the proper observance of safety laws and of independent safety reps being present on sites.
The union said that it was now writing to Mr Johnson to seek a direct meeting about Construction safety, so that his support could be requested in ensuring that direct employment was specified by future London public sector contracts and that there was strong encouragement for the same model to be followed by private sector contracts.
UCATT’s pressure comes in the wake of several more construction fatalities in the capital in recent weeks, with the collapse of a building in Tottenham causing one fatality and a man also falling to his death in Putney.
QS Associates (http://www.qsassociates.co.uk) has long played a strong role of its own in ensuring construction workers’ safety in the capital, with its high standard of CDM support and easy access to seasoned CDM coordinators London.
