Best way to stop workers' deaths

Solicitor Advocate Frank Maguire of Thompsons spelled out a three-point action plan to curb Scotland’s ‘shameful toll’ of workplace deaths.

Speaking at a rally in George Square Glasgow to mark International Workers Memorial Day Mr Maguire, a leading campaigner for the rights of shipyard workers exposed to asbestos and others killed at work said:

“Remembrance is the right and proper thing to do, but the best tribute to the victims of industrial deaths is to take steps to end this shameful toll of needless killings.

“It is appalling that about 3 workers in Scotland leave for work every month and do not return because they have been killed while doing their jobs.

“Equally unacceptable are the deaths of hundreds of Scots a year from industrial diseases like mesothelioma caused by exposure to deadly asbestos dust while at work, not just in shipyards, but in industry generally.

He outlined three key steps to cut the toll

“We need tough new and effective laws which criminalise reckless behaviour by employers, and expose them to a conviction for Corporate Culpable Homicide

‘We need a better-resourced Health and Safety inspectorate to police the legislation we do have to safeguard workers.

“And employees should have the legal right to raise court actions to prevent potentially fatal accidents, not just the right to sue after someone is killed.”

Mr Maguire is currently representing the families of two workers killed recently when a giant earth moving truck crushed their car at an opencast mine in Ayrshire.

He added: ‘How many other workplaces carry the same risks of potentially fatal accidents, because we do not have these laws.