Builders want manslaughter charge to tackle workplace deaths

Construction workers want employers to be charged with manslaughter in cases where negligence causes death on a building site.

The Building and Allied Trades Union wants the Government to recognise ‘Corporate Manslaughter' as a crime.

The union claims 75% of deaths on site are caused by managerial negligence.

Some 110 people have died on building sites in the past five years.

General secretary of the union, Paddy O'Shaughnessy, said the new law is necessary, because sufficient safety measures are not being taken on a voluntary basis.