(Wednesday 22 April 2009)
STUC Congress demanded a new culture of transparency in health and safety on Tuesday to address the high level of fatalities in Scottish workplaces.
Construction union delegate Harry Frew said: "In the last five years, 148 workers including 35 self-employed have died as a result of workplace accidents, yet not one director has been successfully prosecuted."
Mr Frew called for dramatically increased funding of the HSE so it can inspect and prosecute companies that break health and safety laws and a greater emphasis upon worker involvement in health and safety, including a strengthening of the role of safety representatives and ring-fenced funding for workplace safety advisers.
Speaking to a motion condemning the Scottish government's civil justice reform agenda, Unite union delegate Hugh Scullion added: "This is a crossroads moment for our justice system. The Scottish government is taking steps towards making citizens pay directly for the court they use.
"The Civil Court review taking place under Lord Justice Gill is a 150-page document. You'd imagine there would be some mention of trade unions in it. There was one reference - and it got it wrong.
"Despite the new law on corporate manslaughter introduced in Westminster, the law needs to go further to make sure company directors are fully responsible for the health and safety of workers."
In Scotland, you are more likely to die or be injured at work than elsewhere and, when that does happen, compensation is lower than elsewhere. That is just wrong."
Public-sector union UNISON delegate Dave Watson said: "This is not just a technical argument - it is a fundamental attack on the legal systems we use to protect our members. Making the public pay full cost is treating justice like a commercial operation rather than a public service."
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