§ Mr. Andrew WelshTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps and what research his Department has undertaken to encourage safety in the building industry.
§ Mr. NichollsI have been asked to reply.
288WWe will shortly be making the wearing of safety helmets on construction sites compulsory. The Health and Safety Commission has recently published a consultative document setting out proposals for new regulations to strengthen the management of health and safety on construction sites and the Health and Safety Executive's inspectors will be paying more attention to the quality of site management and levels of training and supervision. For the last two years we have met the HSC's requests for resources in full which has allowed real growth in their activities. For example, this includes increasing the number of HSE inspectors devoted to construction by 10 per cent. since 1988 and sponsoring research within the HSE and externally.
Each year the HSE's research and laboratory services division (RLSD) devotes resources to research into safety topics of relevance to the building industry. Information on all such projects is included in the Health and Safety Executive's programme of research and related services, a copy of which is in the House of Commons Library. In addition to sponsoring research, the HSE also provides specialist input and advice to a number of construction-related research projects.