DEADLY BUSINESS NEWS

Britain: Electric shock director turns on HSE
A director of a company prosecuted after pleading guilty to criminal safety offences has claimed the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) only took the case to recoup is costs. Derek Offord, 45, suffered serious burns to his left arm and knee and open wounds to his forearm and left palm after receiving an electric shock while working at coating and treatment firm Tecvac Ltd’s factory in Swavesey, near Cambridge.
HSE news release and electricity webpages • SHP Online • Hazards magazine • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Waste giant Veolia burned agency worker
Serial safety offending waste management firm Veolia Environmental Services has been fined after an agency worker was seriously burned by hot ash at an incineration depot in Deptford, London. The Eastern European employee sustained 17 per cent burns to his body whilst cleaning ash from a filtration hopper at the Veolia plant on 29 December 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Global brick maker fined after worker crushed
The world’s largest brick manufacturer has been fined £20,000 after a worker suffered serious injuries when he was crushed on a conveyor belt at its Worcestershire factory. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Wienerberger Ltd, which had global revenues of £1.65bn in 2011, following the incident on 19 October 2009 at the company's site at Hartlebury, near Kidderminster.
HSE news release • Kidderminster Shuttle • Wienerberger 2011 annual report • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Roofing boss tagged for dumping asbestos
The boss of a roofing firm has been electronically tagged after flytipping asbestos. Wallace Sharpless, who runs Advanced Roofcare in Gillingham, attempted to dump the hazardous material at two scrapyards on an industrial estate but both refused to take the asbestos.
Medway Council news release • Kent Courier • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Farm firm partner fined after quad bike injuries
A partner in a Derbyshire farm business has been fined after an employee suffered life-changing injuries when his quad bike overturned. The 42-year-old employee of JD and RL Spalton, who has asked not to be named, was driving the all terrain vehicle (ATV) along a track at Lodge Hill Farm, Barton Blount, on 9 June 2010.
HSE news release • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Contractor fined after demolition tragedy
A building contractor has been fined after a worker was killed by a falling piece of masonry dislodged by his own son during a poorly planned demolition job. Agency workers Jamie Ford, 24, and his father, Stephen Ford, 50, were working under the control of contractor Do It Al to demolish a barn at Dunbury Farmhouse in Winterbourne Houghton near Blandford in November 2008.
HSE news release and demolition webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Worker hurt by Crazy Frog
A fairground ride operator has been convicted of a criminal safety offence after a worker was thrown from a ride during the 2010 May Bank Holiday fair in Barnard Castle. Martin Brown, now 19, was working for Elliot Crow, of ride owners Alan Crow Amusements, as a ride attendant on the Crazy Frog Ride.
HSE news release • Northern Echo • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Asia: Warning over epidemic of workplace deaths
Asia is facing an onslaught of fatal occupational diseases, but this suffering is ignored, unreported and uncompensated, according to a new report by a labour rights group. Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC) says unsafe workplaces are creating untold numbers of “invisible victims of development.”
AMRC news release and report webpage, draft report, postcards and videos • AFL-CIO now blog • The Guardian • CNN • South China Morning Post • Check out what happened worldwide on 28 April • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Global: Top asbestos industry lobby group folds
The organisation that has for decades spearheaded the asbestos industry’s global sales drive has folded. The closure of the Quebec-based Chrysotile Institute has been welcomed by unions and asbestos campaigners.
CLC statement • International Ban Asbestos Secretariat • Chrysotile Institute notice of intention to surrender its charter, Canada Gazette • Montreal Gazette • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Global: Italian widows highlight worker suicides
The grieving wives and family members of more than 25 businessmen who have taken their own lives because of financial woes linked to Italy's economic crisis took to the streets of Bologna on 4 May. The organisers of the march, including the Italian Women's Union, believe there has been too little dialogue and not enough state support for families that have fallen into despair over unemployment, bankruptcies and loan defaults.
ILO news release and full report, World of Work Report 2012: Better Jobs for a Better Economy • TUC Touchstone blog • The Guardian • BBC News Online • Hazards occupational suicide webpages • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

USA: Obama drops child farm labour rules
The Obama administration has scrapped a plan that would prevent some children from working in dangerous farm jobs. The move has provoked a furious response from safety and child welfare advocates, who claim the president caved in to election-year pressure from the farming lobby and Republicans.
Child Labor Coalition news release • CPR blog • Washington Post • Daily Kos • Star Tribune • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Tanker drivers say safety is the top priority
An erosion of safety standards is the number 1 concern for tanker drivers, their union has said. Conditions for drivers - who on average carry 36,000 to 42,000 litres of flammable liquid on board a tanker every time they make a journey - have been eroded for years, Unite says. 
Morning Star • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Tube train narrowly escapes disaster
Tube union RMT has demanded an independent investigation into London Underground maintenance and staffing cuts. The call came after photographic evidence emerged suggesting that a train that hit the buckled lining of a Bakerloo Line tunnel during rush hour on Thursday 26 April came within inches of being “ripped open like a sardine can with potentially lethal consequences.”
RMT news release • Daily Mirror • The Guardian • London Evening Standard • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Bad stats and policies add up to deadly workplaces
A government safety strategy ‘built on myth and dogma’ is making the UK’s workplaces more deadly, unions have warned.
Unite news release • UNISON news release • UNISON Scotland news release • PCS news release • NASUWT news release • CWU news release • TUC 28 April Workers’ Memorial Day events listing • ITUC/Hazards Workers' Memorial Day webpages, including a worldwide list of events and resources and the ITUC/Hazards 28 April facebook page • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Unions condemn ‘dangerous’ low risk line
The official decision to abandon official spot-check inspections in ‘low risk’ sectors including docks, agriculture, quarries and retail ignores the real dangers of the jobs and is driven by government-imposed cuts in the safety enforcement budget. Safety campaigners, speaking out on the 28 April, Workers’ Memorial Day, warned the hands-off policy sends a signal to businesses they need not be so concerned about the safety of their staff.
Usdaw news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • The Independent • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

Britain: Hull ship’s crew ‘has had enough’
The crew of tanker anchored outside Hull has called for union help after being left without adequate food and water. The owners of the Liberian registered tanker Leon had refused to take on food at the port, claiming UK prices were too high.
ITF news release • Nautilus news release • Risks 554
Hazards news, 5 May 2012

India: Many confirmed dead in blanket factory collapse
At least 23 workers are now believed to have died in a factory collapse in Jalandhar, India. The majority of those killed in the 15 April tragedy were migrant workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Police have arrested the factory owner, Shital Vij, who has been charged with ‘culpable homicide not amounting to murder’, press reports say.
DNA India • India Express • Risks 553
Hazards news, 28 April 2012

USA: Government contracts go to deadly firms
Throughout the United States, government agencies at the state, local and federal levels routinely award construction contracts to companies known to be unsafe, according to the independent watchdog Public Citizen. Its report, ‘Contract killers,’ highlights cases where companies with suspect safety records win government contracts around the country, often with disastrous consequences.
Contract killers: Government agencies award taxpayer dollars to contractors that disregard worker health and safety, Public Citizen, 2012 [pdf] • The Pump Handle • Risks 553
Hazards news, 28 April 2012

Canada: Action call after sawmill deaths
The United Steelworkers (USW) is calling for urgent action after workers were killed at two sawmills in British Columbia (BC), Canada. USW, which represents the sawmill workers, also is urging provincial authorities to make public information it hopes could prevent further tragedies.
USW news release • CBC News • Vancouver Sun • Risks 553
Hazards news, 28 April 2012

Britain: How did growing mushrooms get so dangerous?
A mushroom grower has been prosecuted after placing its poorly trained migrant workforce at deadly risks. Suffolk Mushrooms Limited, which had spent over £1m on a factory refurbishment, didn’t spend a few hundred pounds to keep its employees safe and housed the 37 migrant workers from Eastern Europe in a disused office block with a potentially unsafe gas boiler.
HSE news release • Risks 553
Hazards news, 28 April 2012

Britain: Drycleaning chain fined for safety failings
A chain of drycleaners in Bedford has been fined after putting workers' lives at risk from a gas boiler a safety inspector described as ‘a disgrace’. Bedford Magistrates' Court heard inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) discovered the gas-fired steam boiler was severely corroded, the flue was cracked and damaged, several burners were not working properly and there was a high risk that workers and members of the public were being exposed to toxic carbon monoxide emissions.
HSE news release • Risks 553
Hazards news, 28 April 2012

Britain: Egg firm shells out after fingers are cut off
Egg company Bumble Hole Foods Ltd has been fined after a worker severed two fingers while cleaning a drain on a production line. Redditch Magistrates' Court was told Bumble Hole Foods Ltd were aware of the risks following a similar incident in 2008.
HSE news release • Bromsgrove Advertiser • Risks 553
Hazards news, 28 April 2012

Britain: Top Tories were behind safety bashing headlines
A series of headlines ridiculing workplace safety rules, some taken up by ministers to justify the government’s deregulatory plans, were part of a strategy cooked up by Tory high command to try and to spin the government out of trouble. Conservative ministers have been ordered by Downing Street to come up with eye-catching right-wing initiatives to deflect media attention from the government's Budget woes.
The Independent • Risks 553
Hazards news, 28 April 2012

Britain: Trustee fined after death of worker
A trustee of an estate Trust has been fined after an employee was crushed to death when a tractor overturned and landed on him. Christopher Fox, 60, from Osberton near Worksop, was killed instantly when the tractor overturned during a tree felling operation. HSE news release • Risks 552
Hazards news, 21 April 2012

Britain: Director fined after scaffold collapse
A former scaffolding company director has been fined after two employees were injured in a scaffold collapse. Robert Leslie Butler, 46, a director of the now defunct company RB & Son Scaffolding Limited at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty to criminal safety offences and was fined £3,000 by Nottingham magistrates and ordered to pay costs of £2,000.
HSE news release and HSE falls webpages • Risks 552
Hazards news, 21 April 2012

Europe: Industry opposes strain injury rules
Employers’ lobby groups from across Europe are opposing rules to reduce workplace risks from work-related musculoskeletal disorders (MSD). In a letter to Antonio Tajani, vice-president of the European Commission’s Industry Committee, and László Andor, the Social Affairs Commissioner, nine European employers’ associations say the European legislative initiative is “neither necessary nor desirable”.
ETUI news report • Joint Employers' letter on MSD [pdf] • Risks 552Hazards news, 21 April 2012

Finland: Workplace injuries up again
Workplace injuries in Finland are following ‘a fairly alarming’ upward trend, latest figures show. Raili Perimäki, occupational safety expert with the union SAK, said the worsening statistics show those responsible for occupational safety should be required by law to undertake training in occupational safety and there must be more resources for safety inspection.
Trade Union News from Finland • Risks 552
Hazards news, 21 April 2012

South Africa: Anglo American blamed for dust disease
A South African miner who believes he contracted tuberculosis as a result of digging gold on behalf of Anglo American this week used the mining giant’s annual meeting to demand compensation. Daniel Seabata Thakamakau, 66, represents more than 1,200 former miners, many with silicosis and tuberculosis, who are suing Anglo American in a mass tort action.
Leigh Day & Co news release • ACTSA news release • Unite news item [pdf] • The Guardian • Risks 552
Hazards news, 21 April 2012

USA: Concern after oil worker is boiled to death
California's largest oil company failed to warn employees of the dangers in an oil field where a worker was sucked underground and boiled to death last year, state authorities found - and then they fined the firm $350. The small regulatory penalty has angered union leaders and reignited a debate over the risks of the extraction technique that led to the worker's death.
Los Angeles Times • Risks 552
Hazards news, 21 April 2012

Britain: Tube bosses taking ‘cavalier risks’
London Underground (LUL) bosses faced with a self-inflicted Olympics station-staffing crisis are taking “cavalier risks” with passenger and staff safety, the rail union RMT has warned.
RMT news release • Risks 552
Hazards news, 21 April 2012

Britain: RMT fears over Tube strike plans
Rail union RMT is demanding safety assurances from Transport for London (TfL) after the company said it aims to run services during next week’s strike action regardless of whether essential maintenance and repairs work has been being carried out. The safety-critical Emergency Response Unit will be joining the strike action, the union said, heightening its concerns.
RMT news release • Risks 552
Hazards news, 21 April 2012

Britain: TUC cops safety minister in high heels scandal
Health and safety minister Chris Grayling has been criticised for intending to use a story invented last week by the Daily Mail to justify an attack on workplace safety rules.
Stronger Unions • Policy Exchange conference, 18 April and YouTube clip of Chris Grayling’s speech • National Hairdressers’ Federation news release • Daily Mail • Risks 552
Hazards news, 21 April 2012

Britain: Bird-brained Daily Mail tells another hair-raising lie
If you want facts served along with your news and you are a Daily Mail reader, you’ll have been left sadly wanting over the last few days. The paper condemned a supposed ban on high heels for hairdressers in “nanny state proposals being drawn up in Brussels” - but the European Commission has no intention to regulate on high heels and the paper’s claims are based on a scaremongering press release from the National Hairdressers’ Federation, an industry lobby group.
HSE statement • London Fire Brigade statement • National Hairdressers’ Federation news release • Daily Mail getting it wrong on seagulls and high heels • Risks 552
Hazards news, 21 April 2012

Bangladesh: Dangerous work campaigner is brutally killed
A Bangladeshi union rights activist and former garment worker was tortured and murdered last week in the country’s capital Dhaka, according to authorities. Aminul Islam's body was dumped outside of the city and was found by local police on 5 April. ILRF news release • Worker Rights Consortium memo regarding the murder • ABC News • ACTION: Sign up to the ILRF letter to the prime minister of Bangladesh calling for a thorough and impartial investigation • Risks 551
Hazards news, 14 April 2012

India: Taking education into the stone quarries
A union-backed mobile school is providing education for children in India who might otherwise be employed in some of the most hazardous industries around. The school-on-wheels is based in Jodhpur in the Western State of Rajasthan, and will serve families working in the stone quarrying industry.
BWI news release • Risks 551
Hazards news, 14 April 2012

USA: Amazon warehouse jobs push workers to the limit
Claims by web retail giant Amazon that it has an industry beating safety record have been called into question. A former warehouse safety official said in-house medical staff were asked to treat wounds, when possible, with bandages rather than refer workers to a doctor for stitches, a treatment that could require federal reports.
The Seattle Times • Risks 551
Hazards news, 14 April 2012

USA: Regulatory axe aims to speed up chicken plants
A plan to privatise meat inspection in the US linked to a government assault on regulation has been criticised widely for putting public health at risk. But the “despicable plan” will have other casualties, primarily workers in the already notoriously hazardous sector, according to law professor Rena Steinzor, president of the Center for Progressive Reform.
CPR blog • Working in These Times • USDA proposal • Risks 551
Hazards news, 14 April 2012

Britain: Another seven figure fine for Network Rail
Network Rail has been fined £4m over the Grayrigg crash in Cumbria in which an 84-year-old woman died and 88 people were injured. Margaret Masson died after the Virgin train derailed on the West Coast Main Line in February 2007, after going over a “degraded” set of points.
ORR news release • Network Rail statement • ASLEF news release • RMT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 551
Hazards news, 14 April 2012

Britain: Firm fined after driver impaled on steel tube
A Darlington engineering firm has faced a criminal prosecution after a delivery driver was seriously injured when a 6cm diameter steel bar passed through his chest. Jason Ripley, 42, was delivering timber to Henry Williams Group Limited, which pleaded guilty to a criminal breach of safety law was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,424.80.
HSE news release • Report in The Sun, 16 November 2009 • Risks 551
Hazards news, 14 April 2012

Britain: Daily Mail’s insane crowing on gull rescue
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) myth busting challenge panel launched this month to counter the ‘health and safety gone mad’ stories that appear routinely in the press has had an inauspicious start. The Daily Mail, which has a history of running myth-propagating stories about health and safety ‘jobsworths’ and killjoys, wanted HSE’s view on an incident when 25 firefighters called by RSPCA to rescue a gull decided it wasn’t a justified use of resources, but stuck around in case a member of the public got in to difficulty in their own rescue bid.
DWP news release • HSE Myth Busters Challenge Panel • Morning Star • Daily Mail and related story • Risks 551
Hazards news, 14 April 2012

Britain: HSE confirms docks rules are for the chop
A union prediction that essential safety rules protecting dockworkers were to be targeted as part of the government’s drive to cull or revise 84 per cent of workplace safety regulations has been confirmed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The Docks Regulations 1988 are included in the latest list of regulations HSE has lined up for the axe, despite a union warning that this will lead to the removal of safeguards in an industry with a fatality rate at least five times and possibly over 20 times the national average.
Proposals to remove fourteen legislative measures, CD239. Consultation closes 4 July 2012 • Risks 551
Hazards news, 14 April 2012

Britain: Teachers blast ‘reckless’ safety cuts
The government’s ‘reckless’ and ‘simplistic’ attitude to health and safety threatens to put the lives of children and adults in schools and colleges at risk, a teaching union has warned. Delegates at April annual conference of NASUWT condemned the removal of ‘vital’ health and safety protections in the workplace.
NASUWT news release • Risks 551
Hazards news, 14 April 2012

Britain: Action call after another rail runaway
Rail union RMT has renewed its call for secondary protection to prevent rail runaways after another potentially fatal incident late last month. A road-rail dumper truck ran free for a quarter of a mile before hitting buffers at Bradford Interchange station on 25 March.
RMT news release • RAIB investigation notice • ITV News • Risks 551
Hazards news, 14 April 2012

Britain: Lift firm fined after Heathrow death
Lift manufacturer Schindler Ltd has been fined £300,000 for criminal safety failings after an employee was crushed to death while installing a passenger lift at Heathrow Airport. Lift engineer Kevin Dawson, 45, was helping with the construction of Terminal 5A at London Heathrow when the incident occurred on 27 October 2007.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Schindler Ltd safety webpages • Risks 550
Hazards news, 7 April 2012

Britain: Cleaning firm fined over porter's death
A national cleaning company has been fined £175,000 after a hospital porter was killed by an industrial waste compactor in Bolton. ISS Mediclean Ltd employee Peter Bonomy's neck was broken when the lid on the large metal container slammed down on him at the Royal Bolton Hospital in Farnworth in 2006.
HSE news release • Manchester Evening News • Risks 550
Hazards news, 7 April 2012

Britain: Health screening firm left workers at risk
A health screening company has been fined after using unqualified staff to assess the health of workers from dozens of firms across the UK. Audio Medical Services Ltd (AMS) carried out tests for 59 companies over a period of at least four years - but failed to provide employers with information to prevent workers' health deteriorating and did not refer employees to occupational health professionals when required.
HSE news release and vibration webpages • Risks 550
Hazards news, 7 April 2012

Global: Apple hit by China Foxconn factory report
An independent investigation has found “significant issues” including concerns about safety, excessive hours and low pay at Chinese plants making Apple iPhones and iPads. The independent report, however, has been criticised by campaigners for going easy on Apple and ducking issues like subcontractor Foxconn’s notoriously ‘militaristic’ management style.
FLA news release • SACOM news release • SumOfUs.org news release • San Jose Mercury • BBC News Online • New York Times • Al Jazeera • Risks 550
Hazards news, 7 April 2012

Russia: Migrant workers die in blaze
At least 17 migrant workers have been killed by a fire that swept through a market warehouse in southern Moscow. The victims are believed to be market traders from former Soviet states who were staying in a metal storage warehouse at a construction materials market which “was not meant for people to live in,” Sergei Gorbunov of the fire department said.
Itar-Tass report • BBC News Online • Risks 550
Hazards news, 7 April 2012

USA: Bad work is more costly than you think
A study that revealed the annual “economic burden” of occupational injury and illness in the US is at least $250 billion underestimates the true costs, government workplace health researchers have revealed. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) experts, writing on the agency’s blog, note “the national investment in addressing occupational illness and injuries is far less than for many other diseases with lower economic burden even though occupational illnesses and injuries are eminently preventable.”
NIOSH blog • JP Leigh. Economic burden of occupational injury and illness in the United States, Milbank Quarterly, volume 89, number 4, pages 728-772, December 2011 [pdf] • Hazards ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ webpages • Risks 550
Hazards news, 7 April 2012

Britain: CWU fury over broken danger dogs promise
Postal union CWU has reacted angrily after the government broke its promise “yet again” to strengthen the law on dangerous dogs. The government had said an announcement would be made before the Easter recess but parliament broke up on 27 March and nothing had been debated.
Morning Star • Risks 550
Hazards news, 7 April 2012

Britain: Unite acts on safety problems in fuel industry
A 'turn and burn' culture is forcing fuel drivers to deliver faster for less, raising fears about public safety, Unite’s Len McCluskey has warned. And he added this is why the union has been forced to consider industrial action.
Unite news release and You Tube ‘enough is enough’ clip • Guardian article and Len McCluskey comment piece • Left Foot Forward • Risks 550
Hazards news, 7 April 2012

Britain: Government criticised for petrol panic
Panic-buying of fuel and mixed messages over the safe storage of petrol have exposed the irrational decision to close the government agency that specialised in public information, the union PCS has said. And firefighters’ union FBU has warned a minister’s advice that householders should keep jerry cans of petrol in the garage is “wrong” and “massively dangerous.”
PCS news release • FBU news releases from 30 March and 28 March • Huffington Post • ITV News • Risks 550
Hazards news, 7 April 2012

Global: Workers best at monitoring supply chains
High tech giant Apple must give workers a voice in their future and demand more information about the factories where its components are made, labour and consumer groups have said. In a joint statement issued on 22 March, unions and NGOs called on Apple to rely on workers themselves to monitor the labour conditions in the manufacture of its products, not a top-down auditing approach.
IMF news release and ‘Give Apple workers a voice in their future’ joint statement [pdf] • Risks 549
Hazards news, 31 March 2012

Australia: ‘Red tape ideologues’ must be challenged
The safety profession must challenge the ‘entrenched ideologies’ of conservatives baying for deregulation of workplace health and safety, an Australian expert has said. Kevin Jones, writing in his ‘Safety at work’ blog, says the country’s conservative political parties persist with the “ideological fantasy” that occupational health and safety laws impede growth by disrupting work and adding unnecessary operational costs.
Safety at work blog. TJ Larsson. Safety management systems – Culture, cognition or cash?, Safety Science Monitor, volume 14, Issue 2, 2010 • Risks 549
Hazards news, 31 March 2012

Britain: Deadly print firm ignored warnings
Wyndeham Peterborough, one of the UK's leading printing groups, has been fined £112,500 at Peterborough Crown Court after maintenance engineer Ian Ebbs was crushed to death in a printing press. Earlier incidents that should have alerted the company to the danger had not been acted on, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) discovered.
HSE news release • Risks 549
Hazards news, 31 March 2012

Britain: Shipbuilding firm sentenced over welder death
A Merseyside shipbuilding firm has been fined £120,000 over the death of a welder who became trapped while driving a forklift truck. Robert Dunroe suffered mortal injuries while using the truck to transport heavy welding equipment at Cammell Laird in Birkenhead on 18 August 2010, dying four days later. His employer, Cammell Laird Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found he had not been trained to drive a forklift.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • Risks 549
Hazards news, 31 March 2012

Britain: Leisure park worker trapped in trench collapse
A worker at a Devon holiday park suffered serious injuries when a trench he was working in collapsed on top of him. Grzegorz Waluszkowski, 40, was helping to lay a drainage pipe at the park on Lady's Mile Farm in Dawlish on 23 July 2010, when the wall of the two metre deep trench caved in.
HSE news release and excavations webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 549
Hazards news, 31 March 2012

Global: Call for action on safety for journalists
The UK government must do more to encourage the international community to take sanctions against regimes which perpetrate acts of violence against journalists, the union NUJ has said. The call came ahead of a Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) meeting that agreed to start a process “toward the creation of a free and safe environment for journalists and media workers in both conflict and non-conflict situations, with a view to strengthening peace, democracy and development worldwide”. 
UNESCO news release and Decision on the Safety of Journalists and the Issue of Impunity [pdf] • NUJ news release • House of Commons debate on safety of journalists abroad, 21 March 2012 • Risks 549
Hazards news, 31 March 2012

Britain: Government silent on safety law cull targets
The government has confirmed a Budget commitment to cull or revise 84 per cent of the UK’s health and safety laws, but can’t or won’t say which laws are in its sights. A Treasury spokesperson confirmed “167 of the 199 health and safety regulations considered as part of the Red Tape Challenge” will either be withdrawn or improved but would not give a more detailed breakdown.
SHP Online • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 549
Hazards news, 31 March 2012

Britain: Warning on the UK’s dangerous role in Europe
A senior member of the European Parliament has warned that the UK government is bidding to undermine UK workplace safety law in Europe as well as at home. Glenis Willmott, a UK MEP and Labour’s leader in Europe, said “it is a critical time for health and safety.”
Glenis Willmott blog • UCATT news release • Risks 549
Hazards news, 31 March 2012

Britain: Unions call for dock safety action
The UK government must undertake an ‘urgent rethink’ of its hands-off policy on safety enforcement in Britain’s deadly docks, UK and international union bodies have said. The unions were commenting on the ‘grave loophole’ after a safety report this month challenged the official classification of the ports industry in the UK as ‘low risk’, pointing to a death rate five or more times the national occupational average.
ITF news release and Hazards ‘Safety in the dock’ report • Risks 549
Hazards news, 31 March 2012

Vietnam: Steel firm accused of fatal blast cover-up
A major steel firm in Vietnam has been accused by officials of failing to report an explosion that killed two workers and injured six others. An official from the Hanoi Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs said the site of the incident at the Vietnam-Korea Steel and Iron Corporation located had been disturbed and that two bodies had been buried in the two days before the tragedy was reported.
Thanh Nien News • Risks 548
Hazards news, 24 March 2012

Britain: Surveyor died because of Costain’s failures
Leading construction company Costain Ltd has been fined £250,000 for safety failings after a surveyor was killed by a reversing lorry during work to widen the M25 near Dartford. Employee Richard Caddock, 38, was talking on a mobile phone and could not hear the approaching truck above the noise of nearby motorway traffic, when he was hit from behind on 8 April 2008.
HSE news release • Risks 548
Hazards news, 24 March 2012

Britain: Worker crushed to death in front of his son
A firm specialising in the manufacture of wooden doors and windows has been fined £26,000 for criminal safety failings after a worker was crushed to death by a stack of boards. Andrzej Rokita, a 55-year-old Polish national, had been with MM Contracting Ltd for only 10 days when he attempted to help his son, also an employee, to remove a large board from the middle of a pile stacked upright against a wall in the workshop.
HSE news release • Risks 548
Hazards news, 24 March 2012

Britain: Scrapping unfair dismissal ‘will horrify employees’
Government plans to scrap protection from unfair dismissal are a charter for nasty bosses, the TUC has indicated. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said “while this proposal does nothing for growth, it does show the kind of economy those close to the prime minister want to create - one in which nasty bosses are given full license to undermine those trying to maintain decent standards.”
BIS news release and call for evidence • TUC news release • CIPD news release • BBC News Online • Risks 548
Hazards news, 24 March 2012

Britain: Network Rail guilty of ‘corporate blindness’
Unions have said the prosecution of Network Rail after two girls were killed on an Essex level crossing has exposed the extent of the criminal culpability of those running the company. The rail infrastructure giant was fined £1m plus costs of £60,015 last week in a case brought by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).
ORR news release • TSSA news release • ASLEF news release • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 548
Hazards news, 24 March 2012

Britain: Insurers turn a blind eye to work’s real harm
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has called “for action to free businesses from the fear of the UK’s compensation culture and overzealous interpretations of health and safety rules that could hold back Britain’s economic recovery.” ABI, though, makes no mention of life-threatening and disabling occupational diseases, instead focusing on “‘slip and trip’ style liability claims.”
ABI news release • Risks 548
Hazards news, 24 March 2012

Britain: Warning on ‘deplorable’ seafarer ransom ban
Seafarers will pay with their lives if governments outlaw the payment of ransoms to pirates, the union Nautilus International has warned. General secretary Mark Dickinson has written to David Cameron expressing concern about the prime minister’s plans for an international taskforce to discourage the payment of ransoms.
Nautilus International news release • The Guardian • London Conference on Somalia including David Cameron’s speech • Risks 548
Hazards news, 24 March 2012

Britain: Rich make a killing, others will be killed
The TUC has condemned this week’s Budget as a series of measures “for the rich by the rich” incorporating a “regurgitated mish-mash” of pro-business moves that tell employers safety is unimportant and can be ignored. It added the Budget focus on safety deregulation “shows very clearly exactly why the TUC is organising a Day of Action on 28 April to defend health and safety.”
Budget 2012 Statement • TUC news release • CBI news release • Personnel Today • BBC News Online • Defend health and safety: Day of Action, 28 April 2012, TUC bulletin number 4. TUC Workers’ Memorial Day webpages and infographic • Risks 548
Hazards news, 24 March 2012

Turkey: Union condemns site safety after deadly fire
At least 11 workers died after fire swept through a tent at a building site in the Turkish city of Istanbul. The Turkish Union of Road, Construction and Building Workers (YOL-İŞ) blamed subcontracting and the anti-union climate in the Turkish construction industry as the main reasons behind the tragedy.
BWI news release • Washington Post • BBC News Online • Risks 547
Hazards news, 17 March 2012

Australia: Workers bear the cost of hazardous work
It is workers, not employers, who overwhelmingly bear the costs of workplace injuries and diseases, an official Australian report has shown. The report by Safe Work Australia revealed threequarters of the costs of workplace injuries and diseases is borne by the injured workers themselves, with just 5 per cent borne by employers.
ACTU news release and Safe at work webpage • Department for Education, Employment and Work Relations news release • Safe Work Australia Report • Herald Sun • More from around the world on the real cost of workplace deaths, injuries and ill-health • Risks 547
Hazards news, 17 March 2012

Britain: Report finds hidden docks deaths
Docks union Unite has condemned a ‘ludicrous’ government strategy that labels docks a ‘low risk workplace’ and that will seek to to scrap dock safety regulations. The union was speaking out after a ‘Safety in the dock’ report in the new issue of Hazards magazine revealed that far from being low risk – and so not subject to preventive Health and Safety (HSE)  inspections - the dock industry has a fatality rate at least five times and possibly over 20 times the national average.
Safety in the dock, Hazards magazine, number 117, 2012. Morning Star • Risks 547
Hazards news, 17 March 2012

Britain: Deadly docks anger of bereaved mum
A grieving mum whose young son was killed in a horrific dockwork incident has said she is “appalled” at the government’s ‘low risk’ designation for the industry and plans to remove docks-specific safety laws.
Labournet • Simon Jones Memorial Campaign and facebook news release • Risks 547
Hazards news, 17 March 2012

Britain: Campaigners to remember dead dock worker
Agency worker Tim Elton, who died aged 28 at Immingham Dock on 27 January 2012 and who is one of the deaths listed in research by Hazards magazine that uncovered five dock work deaths since 23 October 2011, will be commemorated in 28 April Workers’ Memorial Day events in Immingham, Grimsby and Cleethorpes.
Grimsby Telegraph • Safety in the dock, Hazards magazine, number 117, 2012
Hazards news, 17 March 2012

Britain: Anger over Battersea crane deaths verdict
The families of two men killed in a London crane collapse could seek a judicial review of the coroner’s court ruling after a narrative verdict was returned. Although the verdict was highly critical of the crane operator, Falcon Cranes, the families of Michael Alexa and Jonathan Cloake had hoped for an unlawful killing verdict.
Construction Enquirer • Wandsworth Guardian • Surrey Advertiser • Risks 547
Hazards news, 17 March 2012

Britain: Food giant Nestle fined after machine death horror
A Halifax man was killed at a Nestle factory in the town because the company failed to implement basic safety measures, Bradford Crown Court has been told. Father of three Nazar Hussain died at food giant Nestle's Albion Mill plant in December 2008 after a colleague re-started a conveyor-type machine, known as a depalletiser, unaware that Mr Hussain was inside.
HSE news release • Yorkshire Post • Risks 547
Hazards news, 17 March 2012

Britain: Countryside firm sentenced over death strimmer
A countryside management firm has been sentenced over the death of father-of-four Tony Robinson, 37, who was struck by a piece of metal that flew off a strimmer at high speed. Allen Shute, the investigating inspector at HSE, said: “The chain attachment has since been banned across Europe, and I would urge anyone who still has one to dispose of it immediately.”
HSE news release • North West Evening Mail • Risks 547
Hazards news, 17 March 2012

USA: Jail for death mine security chief
The former director of security at a Massey Energy mine in West Virginia has been sentenced to three years in prison for lying to federal agents and destroying documents sought by investigators looking into a deadly blast that killed 29 in 2010. Hughie Elbert Stover was also handed two years of probation and a $20,000 fine after he was convicted of two felonies, making a false statement and obstructing a government probe of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster.
US Attorney’s Office news release • The Charleston Gazette • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 546
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Britain: Why won’t HSE treat cancer seriously?
The UK is ignoring an occupational cancer epidemic and needs to put far greater efforts into preventing work-related cancer deaths, a top workplace health researcher has said. Simon Pickvance, who based at Sheffield University where he is investigating occupational bladder cancer risks, believes this cancer illustrates a flaw in HSE’s figures that systematically disappears real cancers from the statistics, by dismissing or ignoring risks by job, by industry or by substance.
This man knows all about cancer, Hazards, Number 117, 2012. Alliance for Cancer Prevention blog • Occupational cancer – a workplace guide, TUC, February 2012 • Risks 546
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Britain: Train victim's son 'disgusted' by knighthood
The son of a Glasgow woman killed in a train crash in Grayrigg, Cumbria, says he is “disgusted” Network Rail's former boss was given a knighthood on the same day the firm admitted its criminal safety failings had led to the tragedy.
ASLEF news release • BBC News Online • Scottish Daily Record • Scotsman • Risks 546
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Britain: PM’s approach to health and safety ‘not helpful’
The man who was charged with reviewing workplace health and safety regulation for the government says he never described safety as a “burden” and instead believes his review showed that it “is not the case” that health and safety holds back business. Professor Ragnar Löfstedt said his mandate was “clearly a deregulatory one” but his overall conclusions were that there is no need for a major overhaul of the system and that bad health and safety practice is already a considerable burden on business and society.
IOSH news release • SHP Online and video of Professor Lofstedt's speech • Risks 546
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Britain: Gangmasters watchdog told to cut 'red tape'
Ministers are moving to ease regulation and oversight of gangmasters. Reacting to industry complaints about the “burden of administration and inspection” from the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA), the government has said it will instruct the GLA to “minimise disruption” when conducting spot checks or planned visits to interview workers, and was considering extending a trial of “lighter-touch” regulation. The Guardian • 21 February House of Commons debate on the Gangmasters Licensing Authority • Risks 546
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Britain: Sock firm hit by asbestos fine
A sock company in Carmarthenshire has been fined £25,000 after being found guilty of failing to protect its employees from asbestos. Corgi Hosiery Ltd, which makes socks for Prince Charles, hired unqualified contractors to carry out work on the roof of its Ammanford factory.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 546
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Britain: Film company fined after cameraman hurt on set
A production company has been fined after a cameraman fell more than three metres from the set of a forthcoming major film. The 62-year-old, whose name has not been released, was working on the set of 47 Ronin at Shepperton Studios, Middlesex, when he fell through an opening in the floor.
HSE news release • Risks 546
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Britain: Demolition worker turned into fireball
A contractor has been convicted of a criminal safety breach after a demolition worker was engulfed in flames when he cut through a live 11,000 volt cable at an electricity substation in Worcester. Birmingham firm DSM Demolition Ltd and Halesowen-based Gould Singleton Architects Ltd (GSA), which pleaded guilty, were sentenced on 2 March 2012 following the incident on 14 July 2006.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 546
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Britain: Ministers told to act on shipping
Unions and MPs are putting urgent training and safety issues in the maritime industry back on the agenda “big time”. They are worried that the lack of provision for training, education and safety for shipping workers will result in a huge crisis in recruitment.
Nautilus UK news release • Morning Star • Risks 546
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Britain: Court decision puts journalists in danger
A legal appeal against a court ruling forcing journalists, media organisations and broadcasters to submit all their footage to the police, has been submitted by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). The union says the appeal against the production order raises fundamental issues about the ability of the press to report matters of public interest impartially and without fear of intimidation.
NUJ news release • Risks 546
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Britain: Security services linked to blacklist of site reps
The police or security services supplied information to a blacklist funded by the country's major construction firms that has kept thousands of people out of work over the past three decades. It says the connection was made by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which believes records that could only have come from the police or MI5 were included in a vast database of files held on 3,200 victims, most targeted for their trade union - and particularly safety - activities.
The Observer • Blacklist blog • Risks 546 •
Hazards news, 10 March 2012

Egypt: Refinery blames former minister for deadly blast
An Egyptian petroleum company’s top legal adviser has blamed the country’s former finance minister for a deadly refinery blast. Araby Abdel Hamid, head of the legal department at the Suez Company for Petroleum Manufacturing, has said he holds Youssef Boutros-Ghali responsible for the 22 February explosion in which five workers were killed, because the minister refused to allow investment in new equipment.
Egypt Independent and related story • Egypt.com • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Global: Apple supplier challenged on ‘fair labour’ claims
Claims that a major supplier to hi-tech giant Apple is having its labour practices subject to effective external scrutiny have been dismissed by labour rights organisation as “a PR stunt.” In an open letter to Apple shareholders, the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF), GoodElectronics and makeITfair are critical of the investigations by the Fair Labour Association (FLA) at Apple supplier Foxconn.
IMF news release • Good Electronics • FLA news release and earlier release on Apple joining FLA • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Guatemala: More murders of banana union members
The murder of union members in Guatemala’s banana industry is continuing. The US Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP) reports the most recent casualty, Miguel Angel González Ramírez, a member of the Izabal banana workers’ union, was shot on 5 February while he was holding his young son.
USLEAP news release and action call – you can send a protest letter online • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Israel: Foreign site workers at greater risk of deaths
Half the 315 construction workers killed on Israeli construction sites over the past decade were West Bank Palestinians or foreign nationals, an official study for an Israeli parliament committee has concluded. The Knesset Research and Information Centre report found although half of all site victims over the past decade were West Bank Palestinians or foreign nationals, these groups represent only 15 per cent to 30 per cent of construction workers.
Haaretz • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Britain: Trailer firm fined £100,000 over driver's death
A worker died when a six-metre steel machine landed on top of him after it was dislodged from overhead brackets at a factory in East Yorkshire. Ronald Wood, 59, was struck on the head by the steel vacuum lifter, which weighed two-thirds of a tonne, when it was knocked from its mountings by a trailer being towed out of the Montracon factory.
HSE news release • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Britain: Lathe crushes young worker's leg
A Fife engineering company has been fined £10,000 after a lathe weighing more than a tonne toppled onto a worker’s leg. AG Brown Ltd employee Craig Stewart, 21, was working with a colleague to move a 1.2 tonne lathe from a workshop in Glenrothes to one of the metal fabrication company’s other workshops in the town.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Britain: Engineering worker suffered high voltage burns
An employee of an Oxfordshire-based engineering company sustained life-threatening burns after striking a high voltage electric cable during construction work on the new Crossrail railway. Fugro Engineering Services Ltd employee Samuel Langley was using a hydraulic breaker to create an inspection pit for a borehole when he struck a high voltage electric cable.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • London Evening Standard • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Britain: Gust blows worker off shipping container
A food manufacturing firm has been fined after a worker was blown off the top of a shipping container while moving corrugated metal sheets. Barry Walton, 64, an employee of Vion Foods UK Ltd, fell more than two-and-a-half metres to the ground, breaking his ribs and damaging muscles in his leg and shoulder.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Britain: Deregulation savings are a government 'fantasy'
Government claims that slashing red tape will save businesses millions have been challenged by trade unions and health and safety campaigners. Business and enterprise minister Mark Prisk claimed the "one-in, one-out" regulations rule and the government's Red Tape Challenge will save businesses more than £4 million in the first half of this year.
BIS news release and one-in-one-out policy • Morning Star • HSE Red Tape Challenge webpages • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Britain: Tube boobs lead to violence against staff
Blatantly misleading service announcements from London Underground (LUL) are leading directly to assaults and threats against staff, the union RMT has said. The union said the “catalogue of abuse” of the announcements system has been raised by RMT reps at a senior level meeting with LUL managers.
RMT news release • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Britain: Driverless trains plan dismissed as ‘tosh’
A pledge by Boris Johnson to introduce driverless trains on the London Underground network has been rubbished by unions, with RMT describing the plan as “lethal and unworkable.” Kicking off his bid for re-election as London mayor, Boris Johnson vowed to introduce driverless trains within two years.
ASLEF news release • London Evening Standard • The Telegraph • The Guardian • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Britain: Tube driver’s vigilance saved child’s life
An incident on London Underground’s Jubilee line on the evening of Sunday 26 February – where only a driver’s vigilance saved a child - has underlined how the Mayor of London’s “obsession” with driverless trains is “irresponsible, callous and opportunist,” according to ASLEF general secretary Mick Whelan.
ASLEF news release • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Britain: Grayrigg ‘more like history than justice’
Train drivers’ union ASLEF has criticised the five year gap between the Grayrigg disaster and Network Rail facing a court for related criminal safety offences.
ASLEF news release • The Independent • Risks 545
Hazards news, 3 March 2012

Central America: Work link in killer kidney disease outbreak
An outbreak of kidney disease that has killed thousands of workers in Central America has been linked by experts to workplace hazards. Chronic dehydration and arduous work appears to a possible trigger for the chronic kidney disease, which is normally caused by diabetes and high blood pressure, maladies absent in most of the patients in Central America.
Seattle PI • Daily Mail • Risks 543
Hazards news, 18 February 2012

Global: Monsanto guilty of poisoning French farmer
A French court has found the US biotech giant Monsanto responsible for the poisoning of a farmer who inhaled a powerful weedkiller. Monsanto says it will appeal against this week’s verdict by a court in Lyon. Grain farmer Paul Francois, 47, suffered from dizziness, memory loss, stammering, headaches, muscular aches and other problems after examining a sprayer in 2004 which contained Lasso, a product which remained on the market in France until 2007, despite earlier bans in Britain, Belgium and Canada. France 24 • RFI • The Guardian • BBC News Online • Daily Mirror • Risks 543
Hazards news, 18 February 2012

Italy: Big jail terms for asbestos killings
Two former executives of a Swiss building products conglomerate have been convicted in Italy of causing the asbestos-related deaths of more than 3,000 people. The defendants, the former owner of the Eternit conglomerate Stephan Schmidheiny and Belgian baron Louis de Cartier de Marchienne, a major shareholder in the firm, were each sentenced in Turin to 16 years in prison on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.
International Ban Asbestos Secretariat blog • iWatch News • CNN • Euronews • BBC News Online • Swissinfo • Risks 543
Hazards news, 18 February 2012

Britain: Director convicted after gas explosion
The managing director of a St Helens gas supply firm has been convicted of a criminal safety breach after he and an employee suffered multiple burns in an explosion where the fact no-one died “was simply down to luck”. Liverpool Crown Court heard that John Webster, 55, and another worker, who has asked not to be named, had been attempting to remove the valve on an LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinder at North West Gases Ltd on 10 April 2008.
HSE news release and gas safety webpages • Risks 543
Hazards news, 18 February 2012

Britain: Site firm fined after worker badly injured
A construction company working in one of the London’s most expensive postcodes has been fined £30,000 after a Romanian worker suffered life-changing injuries when he fell seven metres from an unguarded roof. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted R&G Construction Ltd as a result of the incident on 7 March 2011.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 543
Hazards news, 18 February 2012

Britain: Injury victims left out as PM does insurers’ bidding
Victims of negligent employers have been left in the cold by the prime minister, who has held a Downing Street ‘summit’ with insurance industry top brass and employers’ organisations to discuss cutting the compensation bill. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson asked why no representatives of the victims of poor workplace conditions had been invited to the summit, adding: “Clearly they seem to have been written out of this process which is all about helping increase the profits of the insurance industry and stop people with legitimate claims from getting the compensation they should be entitled to.”
Downing Street statement on insurance summit • The Telegraph • Risks 543
Hazards news, 18 February 2012

Britain: Downing Street freezes out grieving families
The prime minister continues to make damaging policy about health and safety at work based on a business wishlist and not the ‘massive costs and burdens on families of people killed by negligence’, Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) has said. FACK’s Hilda Palmer said: “Cameron failed to reply to a letter we sent him expressing concern at his new year's resolution to 'kill off health and safety culture‚' yet holds a summit with the insurance companies and only hears the side of the story he wants to.”
FACK news release and We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Morning Star • Risks 543
Hazards news, 18 February 2012

Britain: North Sea union probe uncovers ‘exploitation’
A union investigation of working conditions in the North Sea oil and gas sector has found evidence of the ‘exploitation and humiliation’ of Romanian workers in the port of Hartlepool. The Offshore Task Force Group convened by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) says it plans to ask the UK government’s Low Pay Unit and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate the alleged abuses, which include workers ‘so frightened’ they are working for food only.
ITF news release • Risks 543
Hazards news, 18 February 2012

Britain: RMT demands action on Tebay deaths anniversary
Rail union RMT has marked the eighth anniversary of the disaster near Tebay in Cumbria, where four rail workers were killed by a runaway wagon, with a renewed call for action to stop a repeat of the safety failure. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “RMT members up and down the country are rightly angry and disgusted that a secondary protection system, which has been the subject of countless meetings, still hasn’t been introduced eight years on.”
RMT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 543
Hazards news, 18 February 2012

Canada: Horrific crash kills 10 farm workers
Ten migrant farm workers in Ontario, Canada, have been killed when the van transporting them collided with a flatbed truck. The tragedy, which occurred early evening on 6 February, has led to renewed calls from agricultural workers’ organisations for improved safety in the industry. 
UFCW Canada news release • Globe and Mail • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

USA: Truck drivers shut port over safety
Trucker drivers working for the major haulage contractors at the port of Seattle turned off the engines, got out of their cabs, and stopped hauling to draw attention to their serious safety concerns. As a result of this action by the Clean and Safe Ports campaign, commerce at the major trading hub slowed to a trickle.
Clean and Safe Ports news release and website • Change to Win reports • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

USA: Social network pics used against sick workers
When your job harms you it may not be good enough just to be sick; you may have to demonstrate you are perpetually miserable as well. US workers are discovering that any suggestion of enjoyment posted on social networking sites, could see the injured party’s workers’ compensation payouts stopped.
MSNBC’s The Bottom Line • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

Britain: Tour bus crushed a mechanic
A major London tour bus operator has been fined after a mechanic suffered serious injuries while working underneath one of its vehicles. Westminster Magistrates' Court heard the 58-year-old employee of The Original London Sightseeing Tour Limited was working underneath the vehicle when the axle dropped onto the mechanic breaking his pelvis and several ribs.
HSE news release • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

Britain: Worker died in unguarded machine
Railcare Limited has been fined £133,000 for criminal health and safety failings after an employee died from head injuries while carrying out maintenance work. John Smith, 53, died as a result of the injuries sustained whilst working at an axle lathe that had an unguarded chuck.
COPFS news release • BBC News Online • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

Britain: Arm skinned and broken at fencing firm
An international fencing manufacturer has been fined after a worker suffered severe injuries to his left arm at a production plant in Sheffield. Sheffield Magistrates' Court heard how on 7 August 2009 the Betafence Ltd employee suffered a dislocated elbow, compound fractures to his lower arm, and had parts of his skin ripped off as he tried to re-thread some wire through a machine block.
HSE news release • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

Britain: Two injured in eight metre fall
Construction contractor Chalcroft Ltd has been prosecuted after two workers fell eight metres from a temporary structure at a factory building job in Coleford. Cheltenham Magistrates Court heard that Spencer Gosney and Matthew Brewer had been subcontracted to build a concrete core as part of a new GlaxoSmithKline factory when the formwork on which they were standing collapsed.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

Britain: Farmworker suffers smashed face in fall
A farmworker suffered severe facial injuries after falling 16ft through a shed roof in Cornwall. Bodmin Magistrates' Court heard self-employed worker James Best, 24, was asked to help remove fibre cement roof sheets from a shed at Park Farm, Washaway, near Bodmin when he fell 16ft on to the concrete floor below.
HSE news release • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

Britain: ‘Disgusted’ fiancée expected jail for site death
A grieving woman has said she is ‘disgusted’ no-one is facing a jail term after her partner was killed on a London construction site. Craig Page died in what the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) described as an ‘entirely avoidable’ incident where a crane carrying three times its maximum load toppled over, smashing its boom into the father-of-one.
HSE news release • Ham and High • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

Britain: Bill targets deadly ‘phoenix firms’
Construction union UCATT has welcomed a parliamentary Bill designed to stop negligent bosses dodging punishment when their workers are killed or maimed. Liverpool MP and UCATT member Luciana Berger presented her 10 minute rule Bill demanding new powers to stop guilty companies avoiding punishment by going into administration.
UCATT news release • Morning Star and related article on Noel Corbin’s death • Liverpool Echo • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

Britain: Network Rail bonus decision ‘too late’
Rail union TSSA has said a decision by Network Rail bosses to donate their six figure annual bonuses to improving safety at level crossings is welcome but comes too late for some victims of the company’s negligence.
TSSA news release • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

Europe: Unions campaign against exploitation at sea
Seafarers from across Europe descended on Aberdeen to pay their respects to fallen colleagues and to demand an end to the exploitation of crews servicing oil and gas fields in the North Sea. Maritime union members from Britain, Norway and Denmark joined a sombre ceremony at the city's seafarers memorial before touring the harbour to talk to workers.
ITF news release • Nautilus news release • Morning Star • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

Britain: Manslaughter probe over Chevron refinery deaths
Police investigating the devastating Pembroke Refinery explosion that killed four people last year are considering bringing manslaughter charges and have interviewed two refinery employees under caution. The move follows a painstaking investigation by Dyfed Powys Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the 2 June 2011 blast that ripped through a storage tank at the then Chevron refinery, now operated by Valero Energy Limited.
Dyfed Powys Police news release • Western Telegraph • BBC News Online • Risks 542
Hazards news, 11 February 2012

USA: Action on deadly silica hits a brick wall
Progress on a new safer official US workplace exposure limit for deadly silica dust has been frustrated by the business lobby for over a decade. But a bid by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to finally introduce stricter controls on silica has hit a second brick wall – a review process run by the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that has stalled the ready-to-go standard since 14 February last year.
National Council for Occupational Safety and Health silica campaign and letter to President Obama [pdf] • Union of Concerned Scientists news release • NPR Morning Edition • Huffington Post • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 541
Hazards news, 4 February 2012

Global: Apple bruised by worker abuse revelations
Apple’s public image has been dented by revelations about working conditions in the factories of some of its network of Chinese suppliers. A steady stream of critical articles, highlighting dust explosions, labour abuses, long hours and mass poisonings of workers at Chinese subcontractors have been bad enough PR, culminating in a front page feature in the New York Times, headlined: ‘In China, human costs are built into an iPad.’
New York Times and related article • Los Angeles Times • The Observer • The Pump Handle • International Campaign for Responsible Technology • Risks 541
Hazards news, 4 February 2012

Britain: Scaffolder survives seven metre fall
A construction firm has been prosecuted after a scaffolder suffered multiple injuries when he fell seven metres through a roof. Fred Lewis Scaffold Company Ltd pleaded guilty to a criminal safety breach and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £19,000 costs.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Staffordshire Sentinel • Risks 541
Hazards news, 4 February 2012

Britain: Three firms fined after worker falls from roof
Three Dundee companies have been fined a total of £336,000 after a 23 year old Christopher Carson fell six and a half metres through a roof light onto a concrete floor. Robert AS Crockett and Partners Ltd was fined £66,000; Electroguard Security Systems and Dundee Cold Stores were each fined £135,000.
HSE news release • Daily Record • The Courier • Risks 541
Hazards news, 4 February 2012

Britain: Firm guilty after worker’s head is crushed
Construction worker Steven Allen, 23, died from massive crush injuries when his head became trapped in the jaws of a grab machine being wrongly used to move a pallet of cement bags. JN Bentley was fined £106,250 and ordered to pay costs of £90,000.
HSE news release • Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) news release • Telegraph and Argus • Construction Enquirer • Morning Star • Risks 541
Hazards news, 4 February 2012

Britain: Young driver crushed by one tonne pallet
Hampshire lift manufacturer Wessex Lift Co Ltd has been fined after a driver was killed while making a delivery to the firm. Father-of-one Adam Millichip, 27, was delivering sheet metal to the firm on 16 November 2007 when he was hit by a one tonne pallet, being moved by a forklift, which crushed him against his lorry.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 541
Hazards news, 4 February 2012

Britain: Health and safety goes south-west
The South West TUC has called on the government to abandon its dangerous workplace safety plans. There has been a downward trend in workplace injuries in the region but, with eight people in the region killed in the course of their work last year, the TUC’s regional centre says David Cameron is wrong to halve the number of health and safety regulations.
TUC news release • South West TUC health and safety conference, 8 February, Bristol and the new manual for union reps • Risks 541
Hazards news, 4 February 2012

USA: Study reveals massive costs of bad work
The cost of workplace injuries and illnesses is soaring in the US, and now runs to US$250 billion (£160bn) a year, a study has found. The total, which outstrips the direct and indirect costs of all cancers, coronary heart disease and diabetes, demonstrates the need for a greater emphasis on prevention, according to author J Paul Leigh.
JP Leigh. Economic burden of occupational injury and illness in the United States, Milbank Quarterly, volume 89, number 4, pages 728-772, December 2011 [pdf] • The Pump Handle • EHS Today • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

USA: Union demands action on refinery safety
Workers at US oil refineries took their safety campaign to the streets on 21 January. A United Steelworkers (USW) union National Day of Action for Safe Refineries and Good Jobs saw members in refinery communities visit petrol stations and distribute leaflets to drivers highlighting the importance of refinery safety.
USW news release and Safe refineries and good jobs campaign • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Britain: London Olympics facing sweatshop allegations
The London 2012 Organising Committee (Locog) is probing claims over poor pay and working conditions at a Chinese factory where toy Games mascots are being made.
SACOM news report and full criticism of Locog • The Sun • BBC News Online • Huffington Post UK • Morning Star • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Britain: Woman blows up factory that killed her dad
A woman whose father was scalded to death at a Norfolk soup factory in 1995 said she had gained “closure” after being given the opportunity to blow it up. Sarah Griffiths, 41, triggered the demolition of the former Campbell's factory tower in King's Lynn on 15 January.
Lynn News • BBC News Online • Houston Chronicle • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Britain: Assaults at work increased last year
Physical assaults at work increased last year but threats of violence fell, official statistics have revealed. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report, based on British Crime Survey (BCS) and RIDDOR reports, reveals there were an estimated 341,000 physical assaults to British workers during the 12 months prior to the interviews, up 10 per cent from the previous year.
Violence at work: Violence at work statistics from the 2010/11 British Crime Survey & RIDDOR, HSE, January 2012 [pdf] • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Britain: Driver left in a coma after digger horror
A worker suffered severe injuries when his excavator struck a bridge on the M1 motorway in the East Midlands. Simon Foulke, a maintenance fitter with engineering contractor Van Elle Ltd, was driving a wheeled excavator during widening work on the motorway between Junctions 25 and 28 when its boom hit a bridge.
HSE news release • Mansfield Chad • Construction Enquirer • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Britain: Molten metal sprayed on a second worker
An aluminium casting company has been fined £6,000 after a man was burned by molten metal at its Worcester factory in a repeat of an earlier incident. Asim Qureshi, 41, was operating a die cast machine at JVM Castings Ltd when molten metal sprayed from the back of the machine on 27 July 2010.
HSE news release • Worcester Standard • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Britain: Severed finger rap for bubble wrap giant
A multinational manufacturer has been prosecuted after a worker lost three fingers in a bubble wrap making machine. Milton Keynes Magistrates' Court heard Daniel Winters, 29, was cleaning debris from the machine at Sansetsu (UK) Limited’s Milton Keynes factory, when his right hand became caught on an “in-running nip” and was trapped between two powered rollers.
HSE news release • Milton Keynes Today • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Britain: Government is ‘peddling myths’ and misusing Löfstedt
The expert who carried a government commissioned review of workplace safety regulation has raised concerns about his report being ‘misused’ for political purposes. Professor Ragnar Löfstedt told a forum in London on 17 January he was not in favour of “radical” reform, contradicting David Cameron's attack earlier this month on the 'monster' of health and safety.
 Prospect news release • Law Society Gazette • House of Commons debate on health and safety regulation, 23 January 2012, Hansard report • Proposals to revoke seven Statutory Instruments, Consultative document CD238, responses by 12 March 2012 • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Britain: HSE ‘challenge panel’ to target safety myths
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to invite the public to tell it about claims and decisions that bring health and safety into disrepute, so that a new dedicated challenge panel can quickly disprove them. The new panel comes hot on the heels of the ‘Independent Regulatory Challenge Panel’, imposed on HSE by the government as a means for businesses to challenge decisions by safety regulators.
SHP Online • Where’s that watchdog?, Hazards magazine and ‘Who you gonna call?’ contact list for HSE offices • HSE’s contact webpage • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Global: Union urges investigation before cruiseship blame
Serious safety failings could be obscured in the rush to blame the captain and crew for the Costa Concordia cruiseship sinking, the union Nautilus International has warned. Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson said “there is a danger that just blaming individuals will obscure the serious and profound safety lessons that may need to be learned, as well as the matter of justice and a right to a fair trial.”
Nautilus news release • Corriere della Sera • The Guardian • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Britain: Obeying safety rules is a responsibility, not a burden
Health and safety regulation is not the burden on business the prime minister suggests, but something any responsible business should embrace, the TUC has asserted. “Regulation should not be seen as a burden on business, a TUC briefing says, adding: “It is a responsibility, just as paying taxes is a responsibility, and no business should be able to operate unless it can do so safety.”
Defending regulation, TUC Day of Action to defend health and safety bulletin No.1.  TUC Workers’ Memorial Day webpages • ITUC/Hazards International Workers’ Memorial Day webpages • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Britain: Enforcement works, non-enforcement kills
A drastic cut in the UK’s already under par workplace safety enforcement activity will lead to more death and injuries, the TUC has warned. The union body notes: “Good employers have always supported both regulation and enforcement because it means that their competitors cannot take short-cuts with people's safety and undercut them,” concluding: “It is only unscrupulous or incompetent employers who fear consistent and fair regulation of health and safety.”
The need for enforcement, TUC Day of Action to defend health and safety bulletin No.2. We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 540
Hazards news, 28 January 2011

Global: Apple supplier audit reveals abuses
Electronic gizmo giant Apple, the company that brought us the Apple Mac, i-phone and i-pad, seems to be adding a far more candid appraisal of problems in its global supply chain to its business portfolio. In January, the firm published its previously closely guarded list of 156 suppliers, after a succession of reports had highlighted safety, labour and environmental abuses in some of the firms.
Apple Supplier Responsibility 2012 Progress Report and Supplier Responsibility website • Financial Post • This American Life • International Campaign for Responsible Technology • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Korea: Speed-up led worker to set himself on fire
A South Korean Hyundai Motor worker set himself alight after management responded to his request to slow the pace of production by stepping up discipline. The 44-year-old trade unionist, Shin Sung-hun, is in critical condition after his 8 January protest at the engine plant in Ulsan.
Labor Notes • Economic Times • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Britain: Unions welcome Grayrigg rail death prosecution
Unions have welcomed a decision by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) to prosecute Network Rail over the rail crash at Grayrigg in which one passenger died. Margaret Masson, 84, from Glasgow, died after the Virgin train derailed on the West Coast Main Line in Cumbria in February 2007.
ORR news release • ASLEF news release • TSSA news release • BBC News Online • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Britain: Suspended sentence after fall death
A man has been given a suspended prison sentence after worker Robert Jozwiak, 44, was killed when he fell through a roof at a disused factory unit in Leicester. Musa Suleman was given a 12 month prison sentence suspended for two years and was also ordered to pay compensation of £13,800 to Mr Jozwiak's family and full costs of £17,337.
HSE news release and Shattered lives webpages • Leicester Mercury • Daily Mirror • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Britain: Businessman fined £112k over roof fall death
A Liverpool businessman has been fined £112,000 after a labourer died following a fall from the roof of an industrial unit, just months after another worker was injured in a fall at the same site. John McCleary fell 15 feet while fitting roof panels at the construction site in Toxteth being managed by Taj ul Malook Mann, who failed to report the incident to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Britain: Steel beam crushing death was preventable
Specialist crane supplier JH Carruthers Ltd has been fined £180,000 after a worker was killed when a large steel beam fell on him at an incinerator in Slough, Berkshire. Colin Dickson, 38, of Motherwell, Lanarkshire, died when the temporary suspension points on a suspended beam he was under failed at the Lakeside Energy from Waste installation in Colnbrook.
HSE news release • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Britain: Horrific death of plastics technician was avoidable
An experienced technician at a plastic products factory in Cornwall was killed after he was crushed between the plates on a machine used to make plastic lids. Shaun O'Dwyer, 54, died in the incident on 30 May 2008 at the Curver UK Ltd factory.
HSE news release and guide on safety at injection moulding machines [pdf] • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Britain: Social care firm fined for violence risks
A social care organisation has been fined for exposing workers to the risk of violence and aggression. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation at Dimensions (UK) Ltd, a not-for-profit organisation that provides support services for people with learning disabilities, after a support worker was kicked in the eye by a client on 31 December 2009.
HSE news release and health and social care webpages • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Britain: Safety fraudsters given jail terms
Health and safety fraudsters are facing lengthy jail terms after being caught in two separate scams. Gurpreet Singh and Parampreet Singh took health and safety tests on behalf of other construction workers to obtain skills cards and eight people were sentenced, five given jail terms, for fraud after more than £500,000 was claimed from two colleges for safety training that did not take place.
Construction Enquirer • BBC News Online • CITB-ConstructionSkills health and safety test • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Britain: Cruiseliner tragedy should be a wake-up call
Maritime unions have blamed inadequate safety measures for Europe's worst maritime disaster in a generation. Nautilus International said the 14 January wreck of the massive Costa Concordia cruiseliner should be a wake-up call to the entire industry.
Nautilus UK news release • ITF news release • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Britain: TUC says stand up for safety
The TUC is gearing up for the biggest ever national workplace health and safety event on 28 April. It has designated Workers’ Memorial Day 2012 a ‘Day of activity to defend health and safety’, which is facing an unprecedented attack.
TUC Workers’ Memorial Day 2012 webpage, leaflet [pdf] and poster [pdf] • TUC call for action • Hazards 'remember the dead, fight like hell for the living' images and WMD artwork gallery • Risks 539
Hazards news, 21 January 2012

Global: Conflict and downturn encourage child labour
Worsening global security and the economic downturn has led to a marked increase in child labour worldwide, a study has found. Research by the risk analysis firm Maplecroft concluded 76 countries now pose ‘extreme’ child labour ‘complicity risks’ for companies operating worldwide.
Maplecroft news release • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

USA: Official probe into enforcement opt-outs
A US scheme that allows “model” firms to opt-out of official workplace safety inspections is the subject of a top level investigation. A federal task force is conducting a “top-to-bottom review” of the controversial Voluntary Protection Programme (VPP), a top Department of Labor official has confirmed.
CPI news release • In These Times • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

USA: Arrest warrant on professor after lab death
A university chemistry professor could face a jail term on charges relating to the horrific death of a UCLA laboratory research assistant. Sheri Sangji, 23, suffered severe burns on 29 December 2008 while working with tert-butyllithium (tBuLi), a substance that will spontaneously ignite when exposed to air, dying from her injuries on 16 January 2009.
LA Times • UCLA statement and 6 January 2012 message to staff from the UCLA chancellor • The Pump Handle • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Britain: Palletways fined after neck broken fiasco
A logistics firm has been fined after a forklift driver broke his neck and was then walked around the workplace in search of a first aider, who eventually drove him to the wrong hospital. Palletways (UK) Ltd employee Barry Hill, 60, suffered the injury when a computer cabinet he was loading onto a trailer fell on him.
HSE news release and guide, Rider-operated lift trucks: Operator training [pdf] • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Britain: Gas exposed Palletways workers hospitalised
A total of 23 workers at Palletways warehouse in Livingston, Scotland, were hospitalised with breathing difficulties after a container of denatonium benzoate - which is used to make inedible liquids, such as anti-freeze, bitter – leaked after being punctured by a forklift.
BBC News Online
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Britain: Metal firm worker crushed by 1.5 tonne weight
Palletways (UK) Ltd’s has been prosecuted for safety failings after a maintenance engineer was crushed by a 1.5 tonne weight that landed on his back. The worker suffered a broken shoulder, two cracked ribs and the tops of three vertebrae were snapped off when he was trapped between the counterweight of a large zinc galvanizing machine and a junction box.
HSE news release • The Star • BBC News Online • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Britain: Chocolate giant fined over broken finger
High street chocolate chain Thorntons has been fined after a worker broke her finger while operating a wrapping machine. Ellen Yardley, 37, was attempted to clean part of a foil wrapping machine that had become covered in caramel when the cloth she was using became tangled in rotating parts and her right hand was dragged into the machine.
HSE news release • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Britain: Cameron is ‘irresponsible and dangerous’
The prime minister’s “repeated attacks” on workplace health and safety measures “are irresponsible and dangerous,” the union representing Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors has warned. Commenting after David Cameron’s 5 January resolution to a business audience that his government would ‘kill off’ health and safety, Prospect said two recent reviews commissioned by the government had concluded the existing system worked.
Unite news release and Left Foot Forward blog • Prospect news release • ASLEF news release • BFAWU news release • Morning Star • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Britain: Scaffolding industry backs tighter safety regulation
The scaffolding industry is calling for tighter safety regulations. In a move which calls into question government claims that industry sees safety regulations as a “burden”, the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) wants an amendment to the Work at Height Regulations to require licensing of scaffolders.
NASC news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Britain: Poorly trained scaffolder suffered devastating injuries
A poorly trained and supervised scaffolder from Manchester will never walk again after being crushed by metal tubes that fell from a crane. David Collins, a 31-year-old father of two who worked for Bury firm Spectra Scaffolding, suffered severe injuries to his head, back and leg and is now paraplegic.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Britain: Men arrested on suspicion of manslaughter
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter following a death at a Holmfirth construction site. Mark James Taylor, 36, from Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, is thought to have been killed while using a Green Piling Ltd pile-driving machine on the construction site on 18 April 2011.
Huddersfield Daily Examiner • Construction Enquirer • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Britain: Health and safety culture? I wish…
David Cameron’s resolution last week “to kill off the health and safety culture for good” has drawn fresh criticism from unions, safety bodies and corporate killing campaigners. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said the prime minister’s comments “represent probably the biggest verbal assault on health and safety by a senior politician for many years, which is saying something, given that only last summer the PM was blaming the English riots on our health and safety culture.”
Strongerunions blog • FACK news release and ‘Sod you’ postcard to David Cameron and Nick Clegg • London Evening Standard. The Guardian. HR Magazine• The TUC is organising a day of action to defend health and safety on 28 April, International Workers Memorial Day – watch this space • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Britain: Nuke firm ignored safety warnings
Managers at a major nuclear firm had dismissed safety concerns raised by workers moments before the dangerous job led to a worker suffering a serious injury. The GMB member from Cumbria broke her right ankle after she was ordered to move heavy archive boxes down a flight of three narrow steps at Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Seascale in February 2010.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 538
Hazards news, 14 January 2012

Global: Call for action on media killings
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has urged the United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon to take drastic action against the governments of the most dangerous countries for media. The call came as the global union body revealed 106 journalists and media personnel were killed at work in 2011.
IFJ news release • NUJ news release • INSI • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Russia: 53 oil workers die as oil rig capsizes
The sinking of an oil rig on 18 December in icy seas off the Russian coast claimed 53 lives, officials have confirmed. A total of 67 people were on board when the Kolskaya rig capsized under tow in icy seas off the country’s east coast. Russian media have questioned why so many people had been on the rig, when regulations stipulated that only the captain and a small crew were allowed to be there while it was being towed. ICEM news report • BBC News Online • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Britain: Government accused of mine rescue ‘complacency’
A Labour MP has accused the government of “serious complacency and a total lack of understanding of mining”. Shadow Welsh secretary Peter Hain accused Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, of a “disgraceful” government response to his call for state aid for mining rescue services after four men died in the flooded Gleision valley colliery on 14 September 2011.
The Guardian • BBC News Online • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Britain: Global firm fined over factory worker's death
A global manufacturer has been fined £180,000 after a worker was killed at an Andrex factory in Barrow-in-Furness. Christopher Massey was struck by a piece of machinery while working on a night shift at the Kimberly-Clark plant on 8 November 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Britain: HSE warning on hiring self-employed workers
Firms hiring self-employed contractors must be vigilant as they may not have the competence to do the job, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned. The warning came after Roger Jary, a 79-year-old self-employed maintenance contractor, died while carrying out minor repairs on a rented bungalow for an estate agent.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Britain: Workers buried in giant cement mixer
One worker died and another suffered severe shock after being buried under tons of limestone dust in a giant cement mixer. Hanson Quarry Products Europe Ltd and Robert Alan Taylor, who was then trading as Quarry Maintenance Service Engineers, were both prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Taunton Crown Court. 
HSE news release • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Britain: Steel giant prosecuted after workers are crushed
A global steel firm has been fined after two workers suffered major injuries when a warehouse door, weighing over 300 kilograms, collapsed on them. The employees at Corus, now Tata Steel UK Ltd, were trying to repair a roller shutter door at its plant in Workington when the door and a supporting pillar gave way.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Britain: Farmers fined after worker is run over by tractor
Three farming brothers have been fined after a farmworker was severely injured when he was run over by a tractor with a faulty handbrake. Derek Benney, Richard Benney and Roger Benney, of FH Benney and Sons, were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at Higher Nansloe Farm near Helston in September 2010.
HSE news release and agricultural maintenance webpages • Western Morning News • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Global: Workers’ Memorial Day 2012
It’s time to start preparing for Workers’ Memorial Day, Saturday 28 April. In December, TUC called on “unions, trades councils, and others to make 28 April 2012 a 'Day of activity to defend health and safety'”. Now, Hazards magazine has produced a series of new ‘remember the dead, fight like hell for the living’ images for union reps to use in the campaign.
Hazards ‘remember the dead, fight like hell for the living’ images and WMD artwork gallery • TUC call for action • TUC Workers' Memorial Day webpages • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Britain: Union safe case gets a promising reception
MPs have heard that work is set to get more dangerous as government cuts in the official safety watchdog’s resources continue. The warning came at a reception in parliament in December 2011, organised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors’ union Prospect.
Prospect news release • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Britain: You want the truth, prime minister?
The TUC has said the prime minister’s resolution “to kill of the health and safety culture for good” exposes how he is more interested in listening to unfounded business grumbles than evidence that millions are hurting and tens of thousands die each year because their workplaces were not safe enough.
TUC news release • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

Britain: TUC slams Cameron move ‘to kill off safety’
A claim by the prime minister that UK businesses are in a “stranglehold” of health and safety ‘red tape’ and compensation claims has been dismissed as “out of touch” by the TUC. David Cameron, speaking to a business audience on 5 January, said the government was “waging war against the excessive health and safety culture that has become an albatross around the neck of British businesses.”
Prime Minister’s Office news release • BBC video clip of David Cameron’s comments on the safety ‘monster’ • London Evening Standard • Maidenhead Advertiser • Risks 537
Hazards news, 7 January 2012

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