Many lack HMS Safety cards in the construction industry

Workers at work.Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB scanpix

35 percent of workers in the construction industry also lack so-called HMS cards.

Safety cards are identification cards that provide information about who the workers on the jobs are, and who employs them.

During the first eight months of this year, Labour Inspection conducted audits at 2,500 businesses in the construction industry. They found that 35 percent of workers lacked the cards, according to the newspaper, Dagbladet.

This is a reduction from 38 percent in 2015, but still far too high according to the Minister of Labour, Anniken Hauglie.

‘It is disturbing that so many individuals do not have things in order. Some of them are sloppy, others are just hardcore criminals’, she said.

Employers who are careless about Safety Cards received orders from the Work Authority to rectify this.

‘We look at lack of Safety Cards as an indication of a lack of seriousness. If this is not put in place, we will go ahead to also include the checking of employment contracts’, said the regional director at the Labour Inspection in Oslo, Ørnulf Halmrast.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today