Two more killed in side accidents

A 15-year-old apprentice died on a London construction site last week, as Health & Safety Executive (HSE) chief executive Geoffrey Podger warned fatalities may have risen by as much as 10% to 15% in 2006/07.

Adam Gosling was killed last Monday on a site in Hadley Wood after helping to demolish a brick wall. It is understood to have fallen on him, crushing him against a concrete shed. His death was one of two recorded last week.

Metropolitan Police could not provide information on the company the teenager was working for.

In Scotland on Wednesday, 50-year-old James Kelly died after falling from scaffolding while working on a sports extension to the Glasgow Academy.

Kelly was working for Stirling-based subcontractor Stirling Stone. The main contractor was Stirling-based Robertson Construction Central.

Last week the HSE was attacked by trade union UCATT for failing to prosecute companies for deaths on site. General secretary Alan Ritchie said: "Serious questions must be asked about why the HSE is so spectacularly failing to follow its own rules."

Podger reacted angrily to the suggestion, saying: "This is not a police state. We do not prosecute without proper justification."

In 2006/07 there were 79 fatal incidents in construction, according to preliminary figures, which include members of the public. The confirmed total for 2005/06 was 59 deaths.