黑洞社区

This week the death of a worker on became the latest in a spate of deaths at sites across the capital including sites on Crossrail, the Docklands Light Railway and .

It led Richard Habgood, president of the Association for Project Safety, to warn that 鈥渢he situation would get worse鈥� in future, under plans to abolish the construction design and management co-ordinator role - the people that are paid to oversee health and safety practice - on sites.

Baroness Donaghy, author of an influential report on health and safety for the last Labour government, told the Observer newspaper last weekend that a lack of skills in the industry would lead to firms 鈥渃utting corners鈥� on health and safety as the industry grows rapidly. She fears too much knowledge had been lost as a part of staff cuts since the downturn in 2008.

Now, perhaps more than ever it is, imperative that firms and their staff keep a close eye on health and safety issues so that standards are not allowed to slip

On top of this the government is now in the midst of 鈥渟crapping or improving鈥� 89% of health and safety regulations in an effort to make it easier for firms to understand them and comply with them.

Regulatory simplicity is a laudable motive but achieving it is fraught with difficulty and will entail avoiding many unintended consequences.

All this adds up to a potentially dangerous cocktail.

Now, perhaps more than ever, it鈥檚 imperative that firms and their staff keep a close eye on health and safety issues so that standards are not allowed to slip in the rush for economic recovery.

Vern Pitt, senior reporter