Apr 30 2007
"We take any death at work very seriously. We share UCATT's concern that there are too many deaths in the construction industry. Indeed after a period of much progress, there is a possible 20-25% rise in fatal accidents in the industry this year. HSE takes fatal accidents very seriously and our staff are very committed to their investigation and, where right, prosecution.
Nobody, least of all HSE, underestimates the devastation that the death of a loved one can cause; but that should not be the basis for bringing a prosecution. This is not a police state. We do not prosecute without proper justification - both evidential and public interest.
There are many reasons why a fatality might not always lead to a prosecution: for instance if during a long investigation a company goes into liquidation, there is no duty holder to prosecute; if a self-employed individual were to fall from a ladder whilst working on their own, there are often no witnesses.
We haven't had the opportunity to consider the report in detail, but it does seem that some of the statistics are inaccurate. For example, in 2002/3 the report says that there were 12 convictions. We are aware of around 30 such convictions for that year.
This issue is in danger of becoming a distraction from the real issue, which is that construction deaths are creeping up again. The question should be 'how are we all going to work together to stop this?'