A vigil will take place next week outside an inquest into the death of man who was working on a Bradford building site.

Steven Allen, 23, of Keighley, died in hospital from injuries he suffered during the construction of a waste recycling site off Midland Road, Manningham, in March 2007.

The Health and Safety Executive investigated the incident and its report will be heard at the inquest next Monday and Tuesday.

His mother Judith Allen, of Keighley, is due to join occupational health workers and members of campaign group Families Against Corporate Killing at the vigil – being held to highlight a national increase in construction site fatalities.

That rise is also now the subject of a Government-ordered inquiry.

Jane Howie, of Bradford Area Safety Reps Association, said: “The Health and Safety Executive needs more resources to enforce better safety.

“Bradford Area Safety Reps Association will be joining FACK in a vigil outside the inquest into the death of Steven Allen.

“BASRA hopes the Government’s inquiry into construction safety helps to properly resource the Health and Safety Executive.”

Earlier this week Bradford MP Terry Rooney chaired a meeting of the Work and Pensions Select Committee to hear how the Government inquiry was progressing.

A report highlighted concerns of a correlation between the reduction in inspections and the increase of fatalities in the construction industry.

The committee called for the establishment of the inquiry into the cause of the rise, which saw an increase of 28 per cent in fatal injuries in 2006/07 as against 2005/06.

Speaking after the meeting Mr Rooney said: “The inquiry needs to investigate deaths in the construction industry to see whether lessons can be learned. It must also be bold enough to propose new legislation and penalties if necessary.

“In the last five years the number of HSE inspectors has been reduced by a third. A law is only as good as its enforcement – if there is not enough enforcement some firms will take advantage.”

Mr Rooney said a major concern about the inquiry was the fact the HSE was to pick the cases under investigation. He said: “We have said this is totally unacceptable. It is like a defendant in a court case saying what evidence the prosecution is allowed to use. The inquiry should pick a further ten or 20 at random.

“At the very least if the HSE is allowed to select all the cases there has to be, at the very least, the suspicion that it would select cases where it has done everything right.”