The Major Contractors Group is planning to review its safety objectives over the next six months.

John Spanswick, Bovis Lend Lease’s head of European operations and chairman of the MCG’s health and safety steering group, said the review would follow a meeting of the steering group in November.

It is thought that Spanswick is likely to use the review to urge MCG members to adopt changes to safety culture on their sites.

The MCG currently has a target reduction for site accidents of 10% year on year.

However, Spanswick told Building: “What I’d like to be able to state publicly is that the MCG does not find any accident acceptable.”

Any training introduced could be based on the incident and injury-free initiative that Bovis has implemented on its large sites. This initiative aims to reduce site deaths to as close as possible to zero and concentrates on changing workers’ site culture and behaviour.

Spanswick said: “I’ve suggested to the MCG that there is a need to tackle cultural issues.”

He added: “I am concerned about [the industry] buying in to these issues and we are going to talk about that [in November].”

The MCG is planning to announce its future approach to safety at the government’s health and safety summit next spring.

The move comes as the TUC called for the government to make good its manifesto pledge and introduce corporate manslaughter legislation.

The TUC said the legislation could be used to prosecute construction firms, and added that 1000 workers had died on British sites since 1992. This statistic includes 37 deaths in the past six months.

Frances O’Grady, TUC deputy general secretary, said: “Employers will only change their health and safety practices when they realise that they are likely to be punished if found guilty of causing the deaths of staff or members of the public.”