b"Since Nattas inception in 1972, the construction industry has come on leaps and bounds! Over the years, building has adapted to suit the needs of both the public and private sectors. As we celebrate our 50 thyear of trading, Natta will be looking into how construction has changed each decade. Starting off in the 1970s, the construction industry started to see big changes. Health and Safety began to make much more of an appearance on construction sites. In 1974, HSE recorded 166 fatal accidents in the construction sector, accounting for a quarter of all deaths at work. That year, the UK Government also passed the Health and Safety Work Act. This imposed a lot more duties on employers with local authority inspectors now able to issue improvement notices. The number of subcontractors used also began to soar after the Department of Environment increased the percentage of contract work from 58% to 62%. This saw greater use of subcontractors by a lot of larger firms and an inevitable fall of full-time employees. Despite this, the industry saw a great increase in productivity. Between 1973 and 1979, there was an average rise of 1.7% per year. Construction MachineryConstruction machinery was constantly improving at the time with many companies increasing productivity and introducing new plant. Caterpillar was at the forefront of the US market but saw a great expansion in the 70s with larger sales outside of the US for the first time ever. Their first Hydraulic Excavator, the 225, was officially launched in 1972 following their prototype model in 1970. This 200 series continued to develop and improve throughout the decade with the 235 in 1973 and the 245 a year later in 1974.In 1977, JCB introduced 520 Telescopic Handler. This launch took the industry by storm and led to the development of the Loadall range which remains one of JCB's most successful products. They later introduced the 525 Telescopic Handler in 1979 with both two and four-wheeled versions of the machine and a range of attachments. This boosted the versatility of the plant even further. To keep up with the increased manufacturing of plant, JCB opened a number of new factories in the 70s including a U.S base in 1970 and a second UK factory in Wrexham in 1977. They also branched out to manufacture in India with factories opening in New Delhi, Pune and Jaipur."