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TriojailedforCSCS cardforgeries
Three people were jailed for forging Construction Skills Certification
Scheme (CSCS) cards in a case heard at Luton Crown Court in September.
The fraud was perpetrated in order to enable “illegal immigrants” to
secure work.
According to a report in Construction News, the unnamed individuals
were each given prison sentences of between three and a half and five and
a half years.
With enthusiastic UCATT backing, the CSCS was set up in 1995 to help
the construction industry to improve quality and reduce accidents. CSCS
cards are increasingly demanded as proof of occupational competence by
contractors, public and private clients and others and now cover hundreds
of trades and occupations in construction.
By the end of September, a total of over 1,480,000 CSCS cards had been
issued.
The fraud was detected in a joint investigation involving the CSCS, HM
Revenue & Customs and the police.
According to the report, the forged CSCS cards were said to be of a high
quality and used the name and the CSCS number of a genuine cardholder.
The only change on the card was the photograph, which made the forged
cards difficult to detect.
Scamsshowconstruction
firms‘can’tbetrusted’
News that 103 construction companies
have been fined £129.5m for
bid-rigging brought a warning from
UCATT that the industry could not
be left to police itself. The penalties
were imposed by the Office of Fair
Trading (OFT) in September following
an investigation into tendering
scams that pushed up the cost of
building schools and hospitals.
The offences cover 199 public sector
tenders from 2000 to 2006, in
which firms artificially inflated their
bills by amounts of up to £200m.
Commenting on the OFT’s move,
UCATT General Secretary Alan
Ritchie said it showed that the construction
industry could not be
trusted to behave.
He asked: “If companies are prepared
to corrupt the bidding process
for public sector contracts, what else
are they prepared to sanction in the
quest for profits? It is essential that
other enforcement bodies, including
the HM Revenue & Customs
and the Health and Safety Executive,
take a much keener interest in
what is happening in the industry.”
The biggest single fine was
£17.9m. But the penalties were
lower than expected, as the OFT has
the power to fine companies up to
10 per cent of their annual turnover.
Balfour Beatty’s £5.2m fine, for
example, amounted to just 0.2 per
cent of its average turnover during
the period in question.
Donaghyto
address
safety
conference
UCATT welcomed the three-year
prison sentence handed out at
the Old Bailey in July to two contractors
for the manslaughter of
Adam Gosling (left). He was just
15 when he was killed on 27 April
2007 when a wall he was demolishing
collapsed on top of him.
He and his 18-year-old brother had been left
to work unsupervised on the site of a five-bedroom
house in Hadley Wood, north London.
Colin Holtom, 64, of Latchingdon, Essex, initially
denied the charge of manslaughter by
gross negligence in an appearance at the Old
Bailey last August, but later changed his plea.
Also jailed was Darren Fowler of Upminster, who
had subcontracted the work to Holtom.
The court heard that Gosling was earning £25
a day as a labourer.
UCATT said the case illustrated everything
that was wrong with the casualised construction
industry. The union pointed out that currently
Rita Donaghy, author of the
hard-hitting report, “One Death
Too Many”, is the main speaker
at this annual conference of the
UCATT-backed Construction
Safety Campaign (CSC).
The former chair of the conciliation
service Acas was commissioned
last year by the Government
to produce a report on
workplace deaths in construction.
Her 96-page report was
well received by UCATT. But
construction bosses immediately
rejected key findings as soon as
it was published in July. Among
its recommendations are that
the powers of the Gangmasters
Licensing Authority should be
widened to cover construction,
that construction workers
should become union members
and that there should be a fulltime
minister for construction.
UCATThails‘rare’prisonsentence
fordeathof15-year-old
8●UCATTBuildingWorker●Autumn2009
just 30 per cent of cases following the death of a
worker result in a conviction – and conviction
rates are falling. Even if there is a conviction,
fines are often just a few thousand pounds. The
Gosling case was therefore exceptional.
UCATT added: “It is vital that we do not forget
how rare manslaughter convictions are following
the death of a worker. It would be a grave
injustice if anyone should suggest that this verdict
was a reason why new statutory duties on
safety for directors should not be introduced.”
Simon Hester, the Health and Safety Executive’s
investigating inspector in the case, said:
“The management and set-up of this small construction
project was appalling. Adam Gosling
should never have been there at all as 15-yearolds
have been banned from working on construction
sites since 1920. There was a complete
disregard for basic health and safety requirements
– inadequate personal protective equipment,
no risk assessments, no training, and minimal
supervision.”
The Government has not yet
issued a formal response to the
report. This is expected shortly
after Parliament returns in October
following the summer recess.
● The conference and CSC
annual general meeting take
place on Saturday 14 November
at St Aloysius Social Club,
Phoenix Road, London NW1 1TA,
from 11am to 3pm; more details
from: 07747-795 954.
Workers’MemorialDay
couldbemadeofficial
The Government has launched a consultation
into how it might support Workers’
Memorial Day, when those who lose their
lives at work are remembered.
In an announcement in July, Work and
Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed
the consultation would look at
how the day – always held on 28 April –
could be officially recognised in the UK.
Following its inception in Canada in
1984, Workers’ Memorial Day is already
recognised as a national day in many
countries around the world including
Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Portugal, Spain
and the US.
The Day was brought to the UK in 1992
by the Hazards Campaign, which has been
campaigning for its recognition. In 2001,
the United Nations’ International Labour
Organisation recognised it and announced
28 April as an International Day of Action
for Safety and Health at Work.