Eire's safety campaign boosted

by Anthony Garvey



A pay claim won by eight Irish bricklayers could have a major impact on the campaign to improve safety on Eire's booming construction sites.

The eight were laid off when the Health and Safety Authority shut down a Dublin site for safety reasons earlier this year after a worker had been seriously injured in a scaffolding accident. It was two weeks before HSA inspectors were satisfied that sufficient improvements had been made to allow work to resume on the site run by Heritage Properties.

After the laid-off bricklayers were forced on to social welfare, the Building and Allied Trades Union took their case to the Irish Labour Court, claiming compensation for loss of earnings.

In the first such decision of its kind, the Court has ruled that the contractor must pay them their full wages for the two weeks. It upheld the union's claim that if the company's management had taken action on site safety, following complaints by the workers' representative, then the closure ordered by the inspectors would not have been necessary.

Heritage Properties argued that it had no alternative but to lay off staff. However, in its decision, the Court ruled that "the circumstances in this case differ from those of a lay-off in the accepted use of the term."

It recommended that workers employed prior to the closure, those who resumed work on the reopening of the site and those who claimed unemployment should be paid compensation equal to what they would have earned in wages had the site not been closed.

Each bricklayer will now receive £1,500.

A spokesman for the Construction Industry Federation said members were "very surprised" by the Court ruling and acknowledged that, if applied generally, it would add significantly to costs.