HONOLULU -- The state labor director Thursday begged the construction industry for help to stop a rash of industrial accidents, which have killed at least three people this year.

"That’s just unacceptable," said Jaoquin Diaz, of Hawaiian Dredging and Construction. "We are tired of hearing this news."

The state predicted there will be 20 serious accidents by the end of this fiscal year in June, an all-time record.

Some at Thursday's meeting of the state advisory committee on occupational safety and health said layoffs and vacancies among state safety inspectors is part of the problem.

Last week, KITV documented workers in Iwilei ignoring safety rules on scaffolds and a forklift. Former OSHA chief Jennifer Shishido said it's easy to find similar violations. “You can drive on any street and you’re going to see these small companies taking chances all over the place and they also believe that the chance of inspection is nil so they are willing to take the risk,” Shishido said.

Shishido was replaced as head of HIOSH, but still works for the department, as head of the Elevator Inspection Branch. She remains involved in construction safety, however. She said with few inspectors on the street, companies are taking advantage of the lack of enforcement.

"I had a contractor tell me personally, 'why bother, you guys never come around,'" Shishido said.

The safety agency has only a handful of inspectors due to lay-offs and a hiring freeze.

The union for the safety inspectors, HGEA, has filed a grievance against the Lingle administration. The union said because many of the jobs were partially federally funded, the layoff didn't save significant money and violates the union contract. Union leader Randy Perreira said they believe the reason the program was gutted was to take pressure off small business.

Labor Director Darwin Ching denied that. He plans to address the growing accident rate with public service announcement on the Internet and the radio. He told the industry leaders there won’t be enough restore inspectors.

"We need you as the partners to step up and help us,” Ching said. “It’s just like the police. You can put 10,000 police on the road but that's not going to stop every crime."