Firms with poor health and safety records should be excluded from tendering for contracts with public bodies until they have implemented proper safety procedures, Minister for Labour, Trade and Consumer Affairs, Mr Tom Kitt warned yesterday.
Mr Kitt told the ICTU National Building Conference that just as state bodies can only do business with firms whose tax affairs are in order, all Government Departments have been asked to do business only with firms with a safety statement.
"I would like the Health and Safety Authority to examine ways in which state bodies could scrutinise the safety records of firms tendering for business so that they could then make an informed decision when spending public monies," he said.
Mr Kitt also strongly criticised building firms which do not provide proper safety procedures and which fail to prevent occupational diseases. Rigorous enforcement measures are only part of the solution, he said adding that the tri-partite approach between the Government and the social partners provided a good model for trying to improve safety in the industry.
He said the State had a major role to play in highlighting the safety regulations as well as in providing proper legislation and he congratulated the HSA, FAS, the Construction Industry Federation and local authorities on their Safe Site training project.
Ms Mary Buckley, HSA chairwoman, welcomed Mr Kitt's comments and promised to ensure the taxpayers' money does not go to firms which put lives at risk.
"We will not tolerate our building sites of the 20th century resembling the `dark satanic mills' of the 17th and 18th centuries," she said, adding that official figures suggest building workers were 27 per cent more likely to be injured in 1997 than in 1994.
"Our workers are suffering the same injuries as those who built the pyramids, ranging from terrifyingly simple falls to insidious diseases that build up over years," she said. She pointed out that the construction industry takes up one third of the HSA's inspections. The HSA had used its power to close sites in order to save lives once in 1996, twice in 1997 and once so far this year, she said.