Speaking at the launch of the week’s events at Lord’s Media Centre in London, he said the industry needed to improve site conditions and health and safety if it was to attract new recruits.
He said: “There is no more crucial challenge to the future of this industry than how it addresses the three Rs: respect, recruitment, retention, in that order. No business will be able to recruit and retain the talent that is essential for success unless it demonstrates, day in, day out, that it values its staff, their health, their safety, their personal development, their diversity.”
Raynsford also spelled out to industry leaders what Respect for People stood for. He said its aim was to “improve the working environment and site conditions; to transform the industry’s record on health and safety; to raise the standards of training, not just in craft skills but in process management and people skills, not just for entrants, but for supervisors and managers.”
George Brumwell, general secretary of construction union UCATT, said he welcomed his comments but noted that the initiative had failed to have any impact on site conditions or the way in which the industry treated construction workers.
He said: “I applaud everything the minister has said but if contractors really want to be serious about the initiative, they should accept our millennium pay claim.
“Craftsmen should be paid a rate of £10 an hour and all building workers should have a contributory pension scheme. That would show we respect our workforce. Employers are dragging their heels on both issues.”
In a wide-ranging speech, Raynsford praised the industry for the way it had embraced the agenda for change outlined by Sir John Egan in Rethinking Construction.
He said: “I also believe that as this is increasingly appreciated in the wider world … I am particularly keen that negative perceptions, particularly in the City, should not be allowed to spread unchecked.”
