Hain Pledges To Reduce Workplace Deaths

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Peter Hain today called for government and industry to work together to reduce fatalities in the construction industry.

At today's Trades Union Congress Hain committed to produce a concrete action plan at a forum next Monday which brings together employers, trade unions and other organisations.

Peter Hain said: "On Monday I have called the construction industry, the Health and Safety Commission and the main trade unions to a special forum. This will not be a talking shop. It must deliver an urgent action plan to reverse the macabre toll of rising death and injury in construction.

"Figures out today from the HSE show that nearly one in three construction refurbishment sites inspected put the lives of workers at risk - this is completely unacceptable. The HSE closed down 244 of the sites immediately. But safety should never have been compromised in the first place. I will not tolerate a continued increase in construction deaths."

At Congress, Hain reiterated the Government's commitment to full employment and eradicating child poverty in this generation; to provide support and work opportunities through the reforms set out in the 'In Work Better Off' Green Paper, and to help lift families and individuals out of poverty and into a better life.

Peter Hain said: "For the first time, we can talk about 'full employment in our generation', not as it once would have been - an impossibly naive aspiration - but as a real, achievable goal at the heart of our anti-poverty policy. And if 'full employment' is an ambitious target, then we are right to be ambitious."

Source: GNN

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