Agency staff ‘forced to buy own safety gear’

Construction union UCATT is calling for HSE action to stop employment agencies from making building workers supply their own personal protective equipment (PPE).

Union officials have become increasingly alarmed that many agencies are either requiring workers to supply their own PPE or charging the worker if the agency supplies it.

UCATT executive council member Dennis Doody raised the concerns at the HSE’s Construction Industry Advisory Committee earlier this month.

He said: “This is against safety regulations and, given growing concerns about fake and counterfeit PPE being available in the construction industry, places already vulnerable workers at greater risk of injury.”

The union points out that, by law, PPE not only has to be supplied where there are risks that cannot be controlled in other ways but that “an employer cannot ask for money from an employee for PPE.” He added the matter was particularly important “given growing concerns about fake and counterfeit PPE.”

Tim Hadley of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation argued that self-employed workers “would be expected to provide their own PPE along with the tools of their trade.”