BATU calls for tough legislation on building site safety

The general secretary of the Building and Allied Trades Union has called on the Government to introduce legislation which ensures that builders who breach safety legislation are harshly punished.

Paddy O'Shaughnessy told the Irish Congress of Trade Unions' annual conference that the Government had broken promises to implement such legislation.

BATU is calling for the introduction of a corporate manslaughter offence for cases where a worker dies due to the negligence of his or her employers.

110 construction workers have died in work-related accidents in Ireland in the past five years, nine of them this year alone.