Unite hits out at housebuilders’ ‘dangerous’ return to sites

Construction union Unite has said it is increasingly concerned that the safety of residential construction workers is being put at risk by the desire of housebuilders to return to site.

In a statement the union said it was concerned that social distancing will be a major challenge on many house building sites due to the “highly casual manner” in which they are organised, with many self-employed workers and various trades frequently entering and leaving sites, diluting safety messages.

In the last week a number of the UK’s biggest housebuilders have announced they are returning to site, including Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon, Vistry and Redrow.

The union called on the house building sector to work with it to uphold maximum safety protection and keep up to 250,000 workers employed by the industry and their families safe as sites begin to re-open.

All the housebuilders to return to site so far have claimed they have re-organised working practices on site during the lockdown in order to make safe working possible while maintaining social distancing.

However, Unite claims that official government-industry guidance on safe construction site working, published by the Construction Leadership Council, has been weakened and puts workers in danger.

Unite national officer Jerry Swain said house builders were re-opening their sites based on “watered down and frankly dangerous guidance” which was “putting the desire to build houses before the health of workers.”

He said: “Given the nature of house building it will be highly challenging to ensure social distancing and strict cleaning regimes on these sites. Unite urges house builders to disregard the CLC guidance on social distancing but to work with us to ensure that there are no exceptions to the two-metre rule.”

Yesterday Redrow, the latest to announce a return to site, said it had developed “rigorous social distancing protocols” supported by “strict arrangements to ensure they are consistently applied”. It added: “In particular, we will have an e-learning module for all Redrow employees, induction videos for contractors, appointed covid supervisors for each site and enhanced signage and PPE.”

Last week, construction industry body Build UK urged the government to declare construction staff essential workers amid reports they were facing abuse on public transport and online for returning to work despite lockdown measures.