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Site safety crackdown to be launched after trial
00:00 04 Jun 1997
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The trial in Germany on 17 June of three men accused of the
manslaughter of British building worker Len Stacey in 1994 is set
to unleash a trade union-led crackdown on lax health and safety
provisions, CJ has learned.
Prior to the Stacey trial, German construction union IG-BAU will drive the crackdown when it publishes full details of workers who have died on building sites throughout Germany.
The data is to include those foreign workers claimed to have been transported to lonely roadsides and left to die (CJ 21 May).
Past figures from IG-BAU showed 153 construction-related roadside deaths in the first 10 months of 1996. The total number of foreign workers dying on German sites is estimated to be in the region of 500 per year throughout the 1990s.
In Britain the there are still serious safety problems. The Health and Safety Executive reported 80 deaths on construction sites for the year 1995/96.
In one case that bore a startling resemblance to the death of Len Stacey in Germany, a worker fell to his death due to the failure of a British contractor to provide adequate edge protection while a terraced house was being re-roofed.
The contractor was fined œ325 and ordered to pay œ200 costs under the Construction (Working Places) Regulations 1966. In Len Stacey's case he fell from a building due to the absence of a protective rail.
George Henderson of the T&G union said: "Bad employers who cut safety and rob workers are not good for the industry and a lot of the better employers are angry about the situation."
He added: "This approach leads to bad practice, health and safety cuts and ultimately the death of workers like Len Stacey."
Len Stacey's wife Denise, who will be fighting her husband's case in the Leipzig court, hopes that the death of her husband will result in a crackdown on laxed contractors across Europe.
"Someone has got to stop these abuses and hopefully Len's death could lead to some positive action." She added: "I've been given a life sentence, no one should forget that human life is more important than money."
Prior to the Stacey trial, German construction union IG-BAU will drive the crackdown when it publishes full details of workers who have died on building sites throughout Germany.
The data is to include those foreign workers claimed to have been transported to lonely roadsides and left to die (CJ 21 May).
Past figures from IG-BAU showed 153 construction-related roadside deaths in the first 10 months of 1996. The total number of foreign workers dying on German sites is estimated to be in the region of 500 per year throughout the 1990s.
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In Britain the there are still serious safety problems. The Health and Safety Executive reported 80 deaths on construction sites for the year 1995/96.
In one case that bore a startling resemblance to the death of Len Stacey in Germany, a worker fell to his death due to the failure of a British contractor to provide adequate edge protection while a terraced house was being re-roofed.
The contractor was fined œ325 and ordered to pay œ200 costs under the Construction (Working Places) Regulations 1966. In Len Stacey's case he fell from a building due to the absence of a protective rail.
George Henderson of the T&G union said: "Bad employers who cut safety and rob workers are not good for the industry and a lot of the better employers are angry about the situation."
He added: "This approach leads to bad practice, health and safety cuts and ultimately the death of workers like Len Stacey."
Len Stacey's wife Denise, who will be fighting her husband's case in the Leipzig court, hopes that the death of her husband will result in a crackdown on laxed contractors across Europe.
"Someone has got to stop these abuses and hopefully Len's death could lead to some positive action." She added: "I've been given a life sentence, no one should forget that human life is more important than money."
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