Court reports would suggest that little has changed in the building trade since The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists' depiction of grasping, ruthless Edwardian builders holding nothing but contempt for their workers. One judge last year even called an employer "a recidivist criminal" for flouting the safety laws.

But there is a wider variety of financial and social ingredients making up the Irish construction industry during this period of economic boom the trouble is that for some people, this cocktail has proved just as lethal.

A scan through the list of building site accidents over the past few years reveals an array of gruesome ways to die: immersed in caustic soda, crushed by crane, impaled on bar, trapped by bulldozer, crushed by manhole ring, buried alive in trench, hit on head by galvinised steel, electrocuted.

Last year, there were 13 construction-site deaths in the State. While this rate was unacceptable to the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) and the wider industry, they could take a sliver of comfort from comparative statistics.

They could note, for example, that more people 15 in 1997 died in farm accidents than on building sites. Or that although the number of construction fatalities was rising, so was the number working in the sector, and the Irish death-per-1,000 workers rate was still at around the European average.

But by last weekend, when news emerged of another double tragedy in Co Tipperary, it was obvious that 1998 would bear the worst death rate to date. Just more than half way through the year, the toll, at 13, had equalled that of 1997.

All of these deaths have been or are still the subject of an HSA inquiry. Depending on the outcome, the HSA itself has the power to take a prosecution against those responsible for the building sites in question. The authority could not say this week if any of this year's deaths would lead to a court case.

The agency even according to Mr Tom Kitt, the Minister of State responsible is under-resourced. It has a staff of 119, including around 55 inspectors, and has to monitor every industry in the State. These levels have risen from a staff of 60 when the HSA was formed in 1989, but the workload on the inspectors has also soared.

In 1996, the last year for which figures are available, the HSA carried out 11,500 workplace inspections, issued 1,779 improvement notices to employers, 381 prohibition notices and took 35 prosecutions.

So far, no one has been sent to jail for ignoring safety laws. The maxiumum punishment in the District Court, where the HSA's prosecutions have so far taken place, is £1,500. The average fine for infractions in 1996 was £726. The authority is contemplating a number of prosecutions in the Circuit Court, where the fines are unlimited and prison is an option for the judge.

One recent case involving Zoe Developments resulted in the company's managing director, Mr Liam Carroll, paying out £100,000, but in the form of a donation to the poor box rather than a fine.

The HSA's staffing problems come against a background of a rapidly expanding building industry. In 1993, the number of construction workers stood at 89,000. By 1996, the numbers had reached 103,000; they are now at more than 121,000. Turnover has risen at similar levels; from £1.4 billion in 1993 to £2.2 billion in 1996, and probably close to £2.5 billion today.

While many building companies abide by the health and safety regulations, some regard the rules as mere guidelines, to be overlooked in the interests of speed or cost reduction.

"Some companies are in it not for the long haul, but for the short hop," said the HSA's Mr John Moran. "They just don't care."

Others cut corners only occasionally. One builder who spoke to The Irish Times on condition of anonymity explained that there is constant temptation: "You're digging a pipe, and being paid by the foot. You can do it by the book, which will mean either digging a deep ditch and shoring the sides with wood, or digging it at a wider angle and clearing away the soil. That will take you three hours to lay 10 metres. Or you can just dig it deep with a JCB, lay the pipe, pour in the cement. You're finished after 20 minutes."

The second method is illegal if the soil collapses, anyone in the ditch will be buried alive.

Other accidents are caused by poor scaffolding. For example, builders who remove a handrail to load material often omit to replace it. One false step from then on, and there is nothing to prevent a drop.

More are caused by a foolhardy attitude towards safety common held by far too many employees in the sector.

"That fellow hammering the steel nails?" the same builder said this week. "I gave him goggles an hour ago, before he started, in case he gets a spark in his eye. He has them off already."

There is a lax safety culture on Irish building sites, he said, and workers ignore rules designed to protect them. In addition, many find some protective equipment, such as hard hats or harnesses, can be annoying to wear on hot days.

"Men are men, they're not children," the builder said. "You get a fellow of 45, maybe an excellent worker. He's been on sites for 25 years, never wore a helmet. You can tell him again and again to wear the helmet, but if he doesn't, are you seriously supposed to sack him?

"Then, especially with subcontractors paid by the piece, no one wants to know about anything that could slow them down. Everything's in a hurry."

But a HSA officer regarded such views as tantamount to a cop-out.

"Yes, the individuals have a responsibility, but there are very few incidents that a determined site management could not have prevented," said Mr Robert Roe, a HSA inspector. "The problem is that employers will take sanctions over certain issues persistently turning up late, turning up with drink taken but will not take action for not adhering to safety regulations."

Mr Aidan Burke of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) agreed: "Our advice to our members is that if a life is being put at risk and that includes the life of the person in question then the tendency should be towards radical action."

He also pointed to new regulations that demand advance planning by managers. The CIF believes that mapping out how each procedure will be executed on each particular site would reduce the number of accidents to a trickle.

But SIPTU's Mr Eric Fleming told The Irish Times some of the CIF's members do systematically lay off certain workers any health and safety officer who takes on the task with too much rigour.

"The 1989 regulations say you can elect a H&S representative, and the company has to do what he says. They do it. Then they say `We'll get the little so-and-so' and at the end of the job he doesn't get taken on again."

While Mr Fleming is angry at what he sees as foot-dragging by CIF members on some safety initiatives, he said he was saddened by the lack of resources and sometimes the apparent lack of will - at the HSA. The State-financed body needed far more full-time construction industry inspectors than it had, he added, and these should be more willing to seek High Court injunctions to shut down sites they find in breach of the regulations.

HSA officers themselves stop short of criticising the Department of Finance for not releasing the funds to bolster the agency, but admit that in Britain, where the death rate is significantly lower than here, the equivalent authority has twice as many inspectors per construction worker.

With economic growth still soaring, building sites will remain just as crowded. And without a fundamental change in attitudes towards safety brought about by either the carrot or the stick there will be many more funerals to attend.