The head of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned of a possible 10-15% rise in fatal accidents in the construction industry this year.

Speaking at the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health conference Geoffrey Podger, the HSE鈥檚 chief executive, said: 鈥淥ur figures are provisional but we estimate a 10-15% rise in fatal accidents and a 2% rise in reported major injuries.鈥�

He went on to praise the industry鈥檚 efforts to improve its health and safety performance, citing the reduction in fatal injuries to three per 100,000 workers and last year鈥檚 鈥渂est ever鈥� figure of 59 deaths.

But this level may be impossible to sustain, he warned: 鈥淐ontinued vigilance is essential in this high risk industry. It will take a high level of commitment to maintain that performance, but we don鈥檛 see any sign of the commitment dropping.鈥�

John Carpenter, a health and safety consultant for the Institution of Civil , said the reasons behind the rise were unclear: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have enough data to make a judgment,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y guess is the organisational culture is at fault. If you don鈥檛 have a director who leads from the front, then you aren鈥檛 going to progress.鈥�

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