Construction union UCATT have given a warm welcome to a new report 'A Crisis for Enforcement' published by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.

The report found that in 2006-7 twice as many people died at work than were murdered. The report also found there were more serious injuries at work resulting in hospitalisation than injuries caused by violent crime.

It argues that policies such as light touch regulation have decriminalised death at work. Shockingly the report also found that a reduction in the capacity of the Health and Safety Executive meant that in many cases of serious injury and in some deaths, no proper investigation was ever conducted.

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Alan Ritchie, General Secretary of UCATT, said: "This report must serve as a grim wake up call for the HSE. Their obsession with the policies of self-regulation mean that many workers are needlessly killed at work every year. If they do not have sufficient resources to protect workers they should say so rather than spout the mantra that business must regulate itself.

"Sixty nine construction workers were killed at work last year. In the vast majority of cases their deaths were barely mentioned in the media. Too many people consider deaths on construction sites as almost an occupational hazard. Those attitudes must fundamentally change if the numbers of deaths and injuries are to be seriously reduced."

(CD/NS)