TO MISQUOTE General Tommy Franks, the maritime industry does not do body counts. At least not on an international basis.

There are individual country statistics of course, but it does not take a mathematician to work out that these are hardly comprehensive. Nor does it take a unionist to get angry over the increase in deaths being reported in shipyards.

The statistics may be a little sporadic, particularly in Asia, but at a time when the shipbuilding and repair sectors are enjoying high profits from the booming industry, workers should not be dying from an increasing number of industrial accidents due to the insufficient health and safety standards.

It would be wrong to pre-judge the outcome of the various investigations into the events at the Perama shiprepair zone in Greece last week, which left eight men dead, but the calls for greater controls over safety in the zone must not be ignored. Nor should the problem be exaggerated. Shipyards are dangerous places, but no more so than a comparable construction site.

Governments clearly have a role to play here and it is heartening to note that Singapore’s recent crackdown, after two confined-space accidents last month, is being taken seriously.

If, as the unions suggest, a big increase in the use of untrained labour and subcontracting is behind the rise in fatalities then this must be tackled at a local level, by the highest authority, immediately. Health and safety standards are not the issue here — enforcement and consistency is the key.