At least twice as many workers retire prematurely on health grounds from the construction industry than other sectors of the economy. The real figure is probably much higher because building workers operating in the black economy are not recorded.
A new report on "Patterns of Ill-health in Irish Construction Workers" by Dr Harold Bremmer, published yesterday, says the mean retirement age for building workers through ill health is 56.2 years. The study, which is the first comprehensive health survey of any sector of the workforce, shows a potential 977 working years were lost through premature retirement on health grounds between 1972 and 1996.
Welcoming the publication of the study by the Construction Employees' Health Trust, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, said it would be used as "a template" for studies of other groups. The most worrying statistic that had emerged from the work of the trust, through its one-to-one health screening of workers on sites, was that 44 per cent of construction workers smoked. This compared with 30 per cent in the average population.
Mr Martin defended the extra duty on cigarettes and said that far from reducing it to curb inflation, as some commentators suggested, cigarettes should be taken out of the basket of prices used to calculate cost of living increases.
The study shows that cardiovascular disease accounts for 22,406 days a year in lost production, while bronchitis, emphysema and asthma account for 15,481. Infectious diseases account for the loss of 67,194 days. But the average number of days taken off by workers with infectious diseases is only 17, compared with 39 for those with cardiovascular complaints and 23 for those with bronchitis and linked disorders.
The rate of early retirement for health reasons has declined significantly in recent years, probably reflecting the increasingly young workforce. From a high of 14 per cent in 1986 it had fallen to 4.31 by 1995.
The general secretary of the Building and Allied Trades Union, Mr Paddy O'Shaughnessy, said the report documented what everyone in the industry already knew, that the average building worker's life begins to end from 45 on.