148. Memorandum submitted by the Union
of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians
The Union of Construction, Allied Trades and
Technicians (UCATT) represents 125,000 members employed in the
construction industry throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic
of Ireland.
There are 2.2 million people working in the
construction industry.
The construction industry currently accounts
for approximately 9% of GDP.
UCATT have long campaigned for safe sites and
have consistently raised the issue of the disproportionate high
level of fatalities, injuries and ill health, which affects construction
workers.
Since the beginning of April 2005 there have
been 37 fatalities amongst construction workers—an increase
of at least three on the same period last year (2004).
This additional evidence to the Home Affairs
Committee is focussed on highlighting the lessons that can be
learnt from the Hatfield Rail Crash judgement and specifically
the failure to obtain a successful prosecution of any individuals
as an aid to determining what provisions should be included in
the final legislation.
1. The Hatfield rail crash in October 2000
caused four deaths and more than one hundred injuries. The crash
was caused when a rail shattered while a London to Leeds express
train was travelling over it at 115 mph. The rail that caused
the derailment had been identified 21 months before the disaster
as suffering from a form of metal fatigue commonly found where
the track curves.
2. Balfour Beatty were the contractors responsible
for track maintenance but their maintenance had been totally inadequate
for months. This was something that Balfour Beatty and Railtrack
were fully aware of.
3. Railtrack were the privatised infrastructure
company that owned the track but they appeared to be unable to
cope with the volume of maintenance work that was needed and this
led to a backlog of repair work. There have been allegations that
Railtrack was run by accountants and not engineers. In 1999 the
railway Safety Statistics Bulletin reported that there was an
alarming increase in the number of broken rails. Railtrack had
forecast 600 in 1998-99 but the actual number of breakages was
937.
4. The CPS brought charges of corporate
manslaughter against Balfour Beatty, manslaughter charges against
five employees of Balfour Beatty and Railtrack and health and
safety offences. During the course of the seven-month trial at
the Old Bailey, which concluded this month, Mr Justice Mackay
dismissed corporate manslaughter charges against Balfour Beatty
in July and the five employees were cleared of the charges against
them this month. Network Rail (the successor of Railtrack) and
Balfour Beatty have been found guilty of health and safety offences
and will be sentenced on 3 October. There is no provision for
any penalty other than a fine under the current legislation.
5. This case has provided clear evidence
that the current law is failing workers and members of the public
alike. Mr Justice Mackay made it clear that he was left with no
alternative but to dismiss the charges of corporate manslaughter
and said "This case continues to underline a long and pressing
need for the long-delayed reform of the law in this area of unlawful
killing." Yet the legislation as it is currently drafted
is only expected to result in an additional five prosecutions
each year.
6. Balfour Beatty admitted it had breached
safety standards but only after it had been cleared of corporate
manslaughter. Network Rail continued to deny any breach of health
and safety laws but has now been found guilty.
7. The failure to bring successful corporate
or manslaughter prosecutions against the companies or individual
senior managers, in this case, underlines the failure of the current
law and yet the draft legislation that is being considered will
do little or nothing to change this situation.
8. UCATT reiterates the recommendations
it made in its earlier submission, namely:
— It is not enough to simply target
companies and some Crown bodies. The Bill should include individual
liability which can be achieved by:
(a) Introducing legally binding health
and safety duties on company Directors and their Crown body equivalents
(b) Allowing individuals to be prosecuted
for, and convicted of, aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring
the offence of corporate manslaughter. However, UCATT repeat our
assertion that it should only be senior managers to which this
should apply.
— The Bill should be amended so that
work-related fatalities caused by every level of management are
admissible for use in the consideration of corporate liability
for manslaughter. In terms of the multiple sub-contracting that
takes place on construction sites then this should reflect the
practice that decisions about the overall standards on the site
lie with the principal contractor and it is they who should be
held accountable whether or not they actually employ any staff.
This should not prevent senior managers of sub-contractors being
held accountable in addition to the principal contractor.
— The "profit from failure"
test must be removed from the Draft Bill.
— The "public policy" test
must be removed from the Draft Bill.
— Crown Immunity must be removed for
health and safety offences.
— The Draft Bill must be amended so
that all employing organisations come within its scope. This will
require:
(a) Crown and Parliamentary immunity
to be removed in such a way so that it ensures that all Crown
bodies, including Parliament, government departments, government
agencies, the prison service, regulatory agencies and the civil
service are liable to prosecution for the offence of manslaughter;
and
(b) The extension of liability for the
offence of manslaughter to unincorporated bodies.
— The scope of the Draft Bill must
be widened so that companies that cause deaths abroad are liable
to prosecution for corporate manslaughter.
— In order to encourage proactive health
and safety management, provide a credible deterrent against negligence
and deliver justice for victims, an innovative range of penalties,
including custodial sentences, must supplement the fines system
proposed.
— The pre-legislative scrutiny of the
Draft Bill must begin as a matter of urgency and a final Corporate
Manslaughter Bill should be introduced into parliament at the
very earliest opportunity.
9. This quote from Maureen Kavanagh who runs
the Safe Trains Action Group and reported in the Independent on
7 September 2005, articulates the spirit of what UCATT believes
this legislation should achieve—"It is not about holding
up people as scapegoats, it is about people doing the job they
are supposed to do, having a duty of care and being accountable".
| 
