Construction union UCATT has warned that a new report into the lessons learned from constructing the Olympics has ignored the key safety factor.

The report argues that the key to a low accident rate on the Olympic Park was due to strong leadership and worker involvement.

However UCATT believes that the key to delivering a safe construction environment was the agreement reached in 2007 between the unions and the Olympic Delivery Association that only directly employed workers should be employed on the Olympic Park. By ensuring regularised employment and basic employment rights, workers, supported by union representatives, had the confidence to raise safety concerns without the fear of being sacked.

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The level of success of how direct employment rules reduced accidents is demonstrated by comparing the accident rates between the Olympic Park and the Olympic Village. While their were strict rules which were enforced on workers having to be directly employed on the Olympic Park, no such rules existed on the Olympic Village, creating a far more casualised working environment.

Accident rates on the Olympic Village were consistently higher than on the Olympic Park. In the final three months of 2010 when work was nearly at is peak the accident frequency rate on the Village reached 0.24 million man hours compared to a rate of 0.11 on the Olympic Park. Making accident rates on the Village 66% higher than on the Park.

The higher accident rates on the Village were despite it being a relatively straightforward housing project, compared to the unique construction nature of the Olympic Park.

George Guy, Acting General Secretary of UCATT, said: "It is vital to understand why the Olympic Park achieved a very low accident rate. If the construction industry really wants to learn the lessons from the Olympics it is that sites where workers are directly employed are far safer, especially when this is combined with strong union involvement from an early stage."

(CD/GK)