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The industry will be asked to tackle the 鈥渢icking time bomb鈥� of poor occupational health under a new drive spearheaded by the Construction Clients Group (CCG).

The group, which is part of Constructing Excellence and represents top clients including Land Securities, Royal Mail, M&S and Crossrail, is highlighting the fact that construction is the industrial sector with the largest occupational cancer burden, equating to more than 40% of all occupational cancer deaths and cancer registrations.

Exposure to asbestos and silica, coal tars, diesel fumes and the chemicals found in some paints can all cause cancer and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates more than 5,000 occupational cancer cases arise annually in construction as a result of past exposures.

While the construction industry accounts for less than 10% of the UK鈥檚 working population, 56% of occupational cancer registrations are construction related, while in 2010/11 98% of construction work related deaths were caused by ill health contracted whilst working in the construction sector.

The need to tackle the issue was raised by the government鈥檚 chief construction adviser Peter Hansford in his speech at the Government Construction Summit last week.

CCG director Gren Tipper said that a 鈥渃all-to-arms鈥� on construction safety by former deputy prime minister John Prescott in 2002 had led to a significant fall in accidents but had not focused sufficiently on occupational health.

鈥淲e want to resurrect the drive to improve health,鈥� he said.

鈥淎lthough the biggest contractors have made strides on this in recent years, the supply chain below struggles with this.

鈥淭he figures on occupational cancers are phenomenally high but people lose sight of this.

鈥淎sbestos is in the past but we don鈥檛 know what tomorrow鈥檚 asbestos will be.鈥�

The CCG will now undertake a 鈥渕apping exercise鈥� to establish a clearer picture of the problem and how it is already being addressed.

In a separate announcement, the HSE said the number of workers killed in UK construction has fallen sharply with 39 fatal injuries recorded in the year to March 2013 compared with 48 the previous year.