Major firms angry after safety summit exclusion

Major contractors are mystified why they have been snubbed by next month's government safety summit.

CJ understands the biggest players in construction have been told they are not invited to the meeting organised by work and pensions secretary Peter Hain for 17 September in London.

The summit is aimed at smaller firms working in the housing and refurbishment sectors, following a 28% increase in construction fatalities this year to 77.

But major contractors believe their expertise would be invaluable in helping to reduce accidents.

One senior director at a major firm said: "It's a complete mystery why we are not being invited to this summit and it's a real missed chance.

"Over the years we have tried to lead by example and show our subcontractors and their subcontractors the right way to do things, so it's strange that the government doesn't want our input on this.

"This has the air of something that has been hastily arranged in the light of the bad accident figures and hasn't been thought through properly.

"They are playing around with words by calling it a forum, but what's needed is a proper summit with all sides of the industry involved to redouble the safety effort.

"That coupled with the news that construction minister Stephen Timms isn't even going makes you worry about the whole focus of the event."

Large housebuilders are also upset that they are being highlighted as a dangerous sector of the industry.

One executive at a major housebuilder said: "It seems the distinction is being drawn between the problems on small sites and large well-run general construction sites, but housebuilding is all being lumped in as one.

"Our sites are run extremely professionally and we are a world away from the one-off developer putting up a few flats on a spare plot of land."

A Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) spokesman said: "The major contractors were not invited because we will be concentrating on housebuilding and refurbishment and want a smaller focus group.

"Of course major contractors have a role to play and we may be doing something with them in the future. They are also welcome to come along as observers to the forum."

The forum was originally announced by Peter Hain on 25 July, one day before it was confirmed in official Health & Safety Executive (HSE) figures that construction deaths had hit their highest total for five years.

But it was dealt an early blow when CJ revealed two weeks ago that newly appointed construction minister Stephen Timms would not attend the event.

The news that major contractors were not invited comes despite Hain's initial announcement that "clients, contractors, trade unions, designers, suppliers and others" would be invited.