In a keynote address to the Construction Safety Summit Conference the Deputy Prime Minister called for construction firms to sign up to new safety plans and targets. These aim to reduce construction-related deaths and serious injuries by 40% over the next four years and by 60% by 2010, and to cut the number of days lost due to injuries and ill health by 20% and 50% over the same periods. Additional measures proposed at the conference include achieving registration of all construction workers, increasing the number of safety representatives, improving training for 1.5m workers, publication of health and safety performance on government contracts, zero tolerance of bad safety practice, a commitment to health and safety under the Clients' Charter and the targeting of high risk activities within the construction process. The conference was organised in response to the rise in the number of fatalities reported by the HSE details of which are available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/ops_unit/fatal00.htm