The Construction Confederation and the trade unions are calling for increased safety on construction sites. They do this following an investigation by ‘VTM NIEUWS’ and ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’, which shows that the main contractor of the collapsed school in the Nieuw Zuid district of Antwerp lied to the city about the number of subcontractors. “We are calling for the introduction of a construction badge, more inspections and strengthened labor auditors.”
“Every industrial accident is one too many, there can be no doubt about that,” said spokesman Niko Demeester, managing director of the Construction Confederation. The sector federation is asking to increase safety on construction sites: for example, it advocates the introduction of the construction badge, a visual identification means that can be used to check everyone on the construction site. The confederation also calls for more inspections and strengthened labor auditors.
Furthermore, according to the confederation, there is limited reporting of accidents at work. “Figures from the Federal Agency for Occupational Risks (FEDRIS) show that the number of work-related accidents in construction has fallen sharply over the past five years. Accidents involving the self-employed and seconded persons are not represented in these figures, but the Construction Confederation is requesting that these accidents be registered, so that a complete and correct picture of the safety situation is possible.”
Nevertheless, a number of initiatives have already been taken to improve safety, emphasizes Demeester. “Such as the limitation of the number of subcontractors, but also the recently approved basic safety training for workers working on construction sites, which will also be applied in the autumn to the self-employed and seconded.” This basic training should make newcomers in the construction aware of all risks with which they may be confronted on a construction site, according to the confederation: “In fact, our local confederations already organize safety training courses in the most diverse languages.”
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The construction sector in Belgium will continue to rot if the illegal and even mala fide practices that are increasingly appearing in various harrowing files are not stopped.
The unions are also sounding the alarm. “The construction sector in Belgium will continue to rot if the illegal and even mala fide practices that are increasingly appearing in various harrowing files are not stopped. It is high time that the rules of the game changed”, says Patrick Vandenberghe, chairman of ACV Construction – Industry & Energy (ACVBIE).
The ACVBIE also wants the inspection services and labor auditors to be strengthened and increased control on the shipyards. “We are therefore arguing for attendance registration on the construction sites, everyone must be registered for every minute and the registration must be digital and controlled,” says Vandenberghe. “There should also be stricter controls on posting regulations. Finally, there must also be a stop to third-country nationals – the world circus of cheap labor must end – and false self-employed and false partners must be tackled.”
“Structural problem in the construction sector”
“This file shows that there is a structural problem in the construction sector”, adds Maartje De Schutter. She is secretary of the ABVV in Antwerp. “What is now emerging about the shipyard at Nieuw Zuid is not an exceptional phenomenon and unfortunately happens much more often. In that context, it suffices to refer to a file that has also dominated current affairs, in which it emerged that there was human trafficking on the Borealis site.” According to the ABVV, it often concerns foreign companies that are more fraudulent, but they are so deeply hidden in the chain that it is easy for the client or main contractor to say that they are not aware of those facts.
The ABVV therefore advocates further tackling the chain of subcontractors. “For example, we are thinking of shared responsibility over the entire subcontracting chain, both for the past and the present. That is not the case at the moment. When the problems are at the bottom of the chain, we can usually only go up one step to pinpoint the culprits.”
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We have already pointed out on several occasions that there are abuses at the city yards, but the ultimate responsibility is still being placed entirely in the hands of an external party.
The ABVV also finds it remarkable that problems often arise at Antwerp city yards, but that the city does not change its attitude. “We have already pointed out on several occasions that there are abuses at the city yards, but the ultimate responsibility continues to be placed in the hands of an external party. So as far as we are concerned: given the abuses that exist, the city should know better and we hope that it will take its responsibility in the future and monitor the construction sites more closely.”
Main contractor lied to the city of Antwerp: not 27, but 249 subcontractors on the site of the collapsed Nieuw Zuid school (+)
RECONSTRUCTION. The drama of New South: “First a bang, then a rumble. And then everything collapsed” (+)
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