Britain: Offshore deaths rise due to 'cost-cutting'
Deaths and major injuries in the offshore oil and gas industry doubled last year because of cost-cutting, unions have said. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) demanded urgent improvements in safety after revealing that 17 deaths and 50 major injuries occurred in the sector over 12 months. HSE news release and offshore statistics • Morning Star • STV News • BBC News Online • Risks 471 Hazards news,
28 August 2010
Britain: Firms fined £125,000 after fall injury
Two construction firms have been fined a total of £125,000 after a worker fell more than 60ft (20m) from a hospital building site in Newcastle. Laing O'Rourke Construction and Expanded Structures, both based in Kent, admitted health and safety breaches at Newcastle Crown Court. HSE news release and falls webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 471 Hazards news,
28 August 2010
Britain: Steel cable shoots through shin
A Workington company has been fined £15,000 after a steel cable shot through a worker’s leg, leaving him with a hole through his shin. ACP (Concrete) Ltd, which produces concrete panels, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident, which left worker Jamie Graham, 25, in a hip-to-toe full leg cast for six weeks and on crutches for another four months. HSE news release • Risks 471 Hazards news,
28 August 2010
Britain: Onion firm fined after serious ladder injury
A Spalding onion packing firm has been fined after a worker broke his shoulder falling from a ladder. Moulton Bulb Company Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,188. HSE news release and shattered lives campaign • Risks 471 Hazards news,
28 August 2010
Chile: Miners safe, but rescue could take months
The 33 Chilean miners trapped deep underground for over three weeks have been told they may not be rescued for several months. ICEM, the global union federation for the mining sector, cautioned that the rescue of the miners is far from assured. BBC News Online • ICEM news report • AWU solidarity message • Risks 471 Hazards news,
28 August 2010
Egypt: Safety protesters face military trial
Eight civilian warplane factory workers have appeared before a military court in Egypt after protesting about poor safety conditions, a spokesperson for the Center for Trade Union and Workers' Services (CTUWS) has said. The legal team defending the Helwan Engineering Industries Company workers was denied the right to receive a photocopy of the investigations report. Daily News Egypt • Al-Masry Al-Youm • Risks 471 Hazards news,
28 August 2010
Britain: Health and safety gone mad?
An online briefing from the Institute of Employment Rights spells out why decent health and safety regulation and enforcement is a lifesaving necessity. The briefing comes as a Hazards Campaign ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ initiative is attracting increasing support from unions and safety activists.
Health and safety gone mad? An Institute of Employment Rights (IER) briefing, August 2010 [pdf] • We didn’t vote to die at work webpage and facebook group • Risks 470 Hazards news, 21 August 2010
Asia: Deaths undermine ‘social responsibility’ claims
The cancer and suicide scandals that have hit microelectronics firms operating in Asia have cast doubt on the supply chain oversight employed by multinationals. The high profile ‘corporate social responsibility (CSR)’ policies of companies such as Apple and Samsung are not delivering in many of the Asian factories actually producing the goods, says global safety campaigner Garrett Brown. OHS Online • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • FairWarning • Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network • Risks 470 Hazards news, 21 August 2010
China: Province shuts all fireworks factories
All nine fireworks factories in Heilongjiang province in northeast China were ordered to shutdown on 19 August, days after a blast at one killed 20 people. The factories have been told to dismantle their production facilities by the end of the month, according to a statement on the website of the Heilongjiang Work Safety Administration. Xinhua • Fox News • Risks 470 Hazards news, 21 August 2010
Britain: Fine just £8,000 after devastating injuries
A construction company has been fined £8,000 after a young worker was seriously injured when he fell from a building's roof. Delme L James Ltd employee Gwyndaf Davies was 21 when he suffered multiple spine and facial fractures and a brain injury and was in hospital for nine months. was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). HSE news release and falls webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 470 Hazards news, 21 August 2010
Britain: Five foot fall hurts steeplejack’s foot
A Stoke-on-Trent steeplejack firm has been fined after one of its workers fell a short distance from scaffolding, suffering foot injuries that left him in plaster for four months. Rafferty Chimneys Engineering Ltd was operating at a site in Tunstall when Kevin Ford fell 1.5m (five feet) to the ground, causing a serious injury to his heel. HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 470 Hazards news, 21 August 2010
Britain: Appeal court backs risky work fines
Big fines for unsafe firms are justified even if they are caught breaking the law before any injury occurs, a Court of Appeal ruling has established. In a case involving the retailer New Look, the Court of Appeal agreed with the sentencing judge that a court does not have to wait until death or serious injury has occurred to express its displeasure at wholesale breaches of the defendant’s responsibilities. London Fire Brigade news release • Shoosmiths Solicitors news release • Environmental Health News • Risks 470 Hazards news, 21 August 2010
Britain: Would you laugh at a plane crash?
The boss of a health and safety company has hit back at those who deride the topic as a joke or pointless bureaucracy. Karen Baxter, managing director of the workplace risk specialists Sypol, said people who make jokes about “elf and safety” at work wouldn’t take the same attitude towards an air accident. Sypol online article • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Britain: We still didn’t vote to die at work
As the coalition government continues with a succession of initiatives to reduce ‘red tape’ on business, the ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ campaign to counter any moves to deregulate health and safety is growing in strength. New resources on the Hazards magazine website are intended to complement the existing Hazards Campaign ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ initiative, which includes a well-received facebook group, campaign materials and very snazzy t-shirts.
We didn’t vote to die at work – facebook group and Hazards webpages • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Global: Microelectronics investors demand better standards
A coalition of over 40 European, Australian and US investment groups has condemned abusive workplace conditions in the global electronics supply chain and is demanding improvements. The group, led by Boston Common Asset Management, LLC, Trillium Asset Management Corporation, As You Sow and Domini Social Investments LLC, have told the electronics manufacturers in their portfolios they most ensure better working standards in their supply chain. ICCR news release and full statement • Good Electronics news release and resources • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Global: Top retailers in new sweatshop scandal
Gap, Next and Marks & Spencer have all launched their own inquiries into abuses of working regulations at their Indian suppliers. The retail multinationals have also pledged to end the practice of excessive overtime, which is in breach of the industry's ethical trading initiative (ETI) and Indian labour law. The Observer • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
USA: Metropolis faces deadly work peril
Union members at America’s only uranium conversion plant, in Metropolis, Illinois, say work-related cancers are a central reason the union is refusing to accept the plant operator’s plan to reduce pensions for newly hired workers and health benefits for retirees. On 28 June, Honeywell locked out its 220 union employees after contract negotiations stalled, accusing the union of refusing to give the company 24 hours’ notice of a strike. New York Times • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
USA: Labour shortages increase offshore risks
The US offshore oil industry is struggling to address the pervasive problem of undertrained and overstretched workers on deepwater rigs like the one used in the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. As the number of huge, high-tech drilling rigs has soared in recent years, finding and keeping experienced staff has become a growing challenge for the offshore industry. Wall Street Journal • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Britain: Director fined over high lead levels
An employer has been fined after routinely exposed workers to excessive levels of lead at a Norfolk sheet metal manufacturing company. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution, told Hazards magazine that airborne levels of lead Anglia Lead Ltd exceeded official limits on “various occasions” investigated by the watchdog and blood tests showed a number of workers were “significantly exposed.” HSE news release and lead webpages • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Britain: Quarry firm fined after machine plunge
A quarry operator has been fined £30,000 after a trainee driver was injured when a 30-tonne wheel loader vehicle overturned and slid almost 16ft down a sand stockpile. Humberside Aggregates and Excavations Ltd of North Cave, East Yorkshire, was also ordered to pay £10,590 in costs after pleading guilty to three separate breaches of Quarries Regulations 1999. HSE news release • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Britain: Firm fined £200,000 over vineyard death
A distribution company has been fined £200,000 for safety breaches linked to the death of a Cornish vineyard owner when a delivery of empty wine bottles fell from a lorry tail lift. The Gregory Distribution Ltd vehicle was being driven by an agency driver who had not been give specific safety advice before setting off. HSE news release and haulage webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Britain: Maintenance job leads to a broken back
A Staffordshire company has been fined £8,000 after a worker fell more than two metres from a scaffold tower, fracturing one vertebra, crushing another and leaving him immobilised for more than six weeks. Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court heard that Barry Derbyshire, 61, who was working for Klarius UK Ltd, had been stooping down to try and locate an oil leak when he stood up and possibly overbalanced, falling off the edge. HSE news release and falls webpages • The Sentinel • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Britain: Jam costs cake worker two fingers
One of the UK's leading food manufacturers has been fined after a worker had two fingers sliced off in one of its mixing machines. McVities Cake Company, part of United Biscuits (UK) Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation into the incident on 9 April 2009 at a cake baking site in Halifax. HSE news release • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Britain: Deregulation’s deadly reality gulf
A ‘deregulatory blitzkrieg’ by the coalition government could create the conditions linked to incidents like the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster engulfing BP. According to Hazards magazine: “Hand-wringing by prime minister David Cameron over the ‘sadness’ of the Gulf disaster is a seriously unsatisfactory alternative to protecting lives, livelihoods and the environment.” Abuse of power • Hazards magazine, number 111, 2010 • BIS news release • FPB news release • The Independent • BBC News Online • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Britain: Call to fire ‘abysmal’ leader of safety watchdog HSE
The leader of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has not defended effectively the watchdog’s role and resources and should go, two top safety scholars have said. Dave Whyte said “it is difficult to imagine how the chief of any other public authority could defend such an abysmal record without being thrown out of office.” Interview with Dave Whyte and Steve Tombs, Hazards Online, 9 August 2010 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Britain: Tube bosses are ‘dicing with death’
Rail union RMT an industrial action ballot of all Tube fleet maintenance staff after London Underground (LU) said it intended to slash the frequency of train safety inspections. “The inspections, of braking systems and other equipment that it is crucial to staff and passenger safety, are being cut in frequency as a blatant cost saving measure which is just part of the overall cuts drive being bulldozed through by Transport for London (TfL),” the union warned. RMT news release • Morning Star • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
Britain: London fires fuel Tube job cuts concerns
RMT general secretary Bob Crow has warned the two recent fires on the Tube system “show that it is trained staff at station level who are critical when it comes to spotting potential danger - yet these are the very staff that Transport for London are looking to axe in a cull of 800 Tube station posts.” In results announced on 11 August, RMT members voted by 76 per cent for strike action and by 88 per cent for action short of a strike in opposition to the job cuts. RMT news release • and news release on the ballot results • Morning Star • Risks 469 Hazards news,
14 August 2010
China: Work death payouts increased
China's basic work-related death compensation award is to nearly double next year to 343,500 yuan (£31,800), state authorities have announced. The State Administration of Work Safety says when funeral expenses and monthly pension payments to the relatives of the deceased are included, the total payment will average around 618,000 yuan (£57,350). China Labour Bulletin • Risks 468 Hazards news,
7 August 2010
Britain: Companies should come clean on safety
Firms should be required by law to report their health and safety performance and any related enforcement action, the TUC has said. The union body was commenting as the government announced a consultation on ‘narrative reporting’ requirements on business. BIS news release and The future of narrative reporting - a consultation, BIS, August 2010 [pdf] Closing date for comments: 19 October 2010 • Risks 468 Hazards news,
7 August 2010
Britain: Rail dangers persist, warns coroner
The coroner at the inquest into the deaths of seven people at Potters Bar eight years ago has warned of ongoing concerns about safety on the country's rail network. An inquest jury last week blamed points failure for the disaster. BBC News Online • The Independent • The Guardian • Risks 468 Hazards news,
7 August 2010
Britain: Unions call for urgent rail safety moves
Unions have called for sweeping improvements in railway safety, with one warning of possible industrial action if problems are not remedied. The comments came after an inquest into the Potters Bar rail disaster warned of ongoing safety concerns. RMT news release and related commentary • TSSA news release • ASLEF news release • Risks 468 Hazards news,
7 August 2010
Britain: Brothers fined over skull crush horror
Two brothers have been fined a total of £13,000 after a worker was left with a caved-in head and permanent brain damage when he fell through an industrial roof in Carlisle. Alan Hind was helping to demolish the building when he fell six metres to the concrete floor below. HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Daily Mail • Risks 468 Hazards news,
7 August 2010
Britain: Architects and site firm fined for death
An architects’ practice and a construction company involved in a Somerset development have been fined a total of £195,000 following a site fatality. Express Park Construction Company Limited (EPCC) and Oxford Architects Partnership pleaded guilty to safety offences. HSE news release and construction design and management webpages • Risks 468 Hazards news,
7 August 2010
Australia: Too many fatalities on the waterfront
Workplace safety on Australia’s waterfront must be overhauled to stem the mounting death toll among stevedoring workers, unions have warned. Three deaths and a spate of serious injuries and near misses in a little over six months is not good enough and suggests that waterfront deregulation has had a detrimental impact on safety, said Ged Kearney, the new president of national union confederation ACTU. ACTU news release • MUA news release • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
China: Electronics industry labour abuse revealed
Workers in China’s burgeoning electronics sector are enduring poor labour and safety standards in the country’s deregulated Special Economic Zones (SEZs), a new report suggests. The labour standards report released by risk intelligence and rating firm Maplecroft, says with increasing unionisation, worker protests and management initiative, wages and working conditions are being addressed, with some positive results albeit with cost implications for business. Maplecroft news release • BBC News Online • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Mexico: Copper mine dangers resurface
In the rush to get copper production from the Cananea mine back on world markets at time of major shortages of the metal, Grupo México is disregarding the safety of contract workers. The charge comes from ICEM, the global federation for mine and chemical unions, which says there has been an undocumented rash of on-the-job accidents and injuries in the six weeks since federal police opened the mine in Sonora State for the company. ICEM news report • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
USA: BP’s clean up safety claims queried
BP monitoring figures that show even the oil clean-up workers in the riskiest jobs in the Gulf of Mexico are generally having minimal exposures to hazardous chemicals have been queried by experts. Eileen Senn, an occupational hygienist and long-time workplace safety official, pointed to 10 separate shortcomings in the quality of the company's data release, which OSHA said concentrated on workers with the heaviest potential exposures, including the move to sample for 11 chemicals when many more substances are potentially present in Gulf air. New York Times • Labor Notes • Sciencecorps on the Gulf oil spill hazards • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Britain: Call for full inquiry into death of a cadet
A seafarers’ union is calling for an urgent inquiry into the death of a cadet on a British-registered ship. Nautilus International is calling for the UK government to ensure there is a “full and transparent” inquiry into the death of a South African cadet on the containership Safmarine Kariba and subsequent allegations of rape and harassment. Nautilus news release • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Britain: Oil giant Total must be probed
Multinational Total should face an independent probe into serious safety lapses, the union GMB has said. The union says it is demanding a “full independent safety investigation” into the oil giant’s safety record following the death on 29 June of 24-year-old Rob Greenacre at Lindsay Oil Refinery and the £6.2 million fines and costs penalty on the company on 16 July after it admitting failing to protect workers and the public at the Buncefield oil depot site that exploded in 2005. GMB news release • Grimsby Telegraph • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Britain: Most rigs are working beyond design life
More than half of the UK’s offshore oil and gas installations “have exceeded their original design life or soon will,” the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned. The watchdog said a new inspection programme of installations on the UK continental shelf is underway “to ensure that ageing infrastructure does not adversely affect safety.” HSE news release • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Britain: BP’s Tony Hayward gets his life back
He’s the casualty of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe least likely to elicit sympathy. BP announced this week that beleaguered chief executive Tony Hayward will go, but will at 53 qualify immediately for a £600,000 annual pension, a £1.045m pay off in lieu of notice, a multi-million portfolio of company shares, and a place on the board of BP’s Russian offshoot as a consolation prize. BP news release • Robert Peston’s BBC blog • The Guardian • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Britain: Brum car worker injured by robot
A Birmingham automotive firm has been fined after lax safety controls led to an employee being struck by a manufacturing robot running on auto, leaving his voice box damaged and almost paralysing him down one side of his body. Dura Automotive Body and Glass Systems UK was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £20,000 costs in a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution. HSE news release • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Britain: Firm fined after trainee’s quarry plant plunge
A quarry operator has been fined £30,000 after a 30-tonne wheel loader vehicle driven by a trainee overturned and slid almost 16ft down a sand stockpile. Humberside Aggregates and Excavations Ltd was also ordered to pay £10,590 in costs after pleading guilty to three separate breaches of the Quarries Regulations 1999. HSE news release and quarries webpages • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Britain: Worker loses leg in paving machine
A Somerset construction firm has been fined £10,000 after a worker's foot was crushed under a paving machine, leading to the amputation of his lower leg. Taunton Magistrates Court heard that Alan Seviour, who worked for John Wainwright & Co Ltd as a delivery driver, was carrying out relief road work on 29 August 2008. HSE news release • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Britain: Site firm ‘ignored’ falls warnings
A major construction company that ignored a series of warnings has been fined for failing to protect its workers from falls on a site in South Wales. Gee Construction Ltd, the principal contractor on the site in Caerphilly, firm pleaded guilty to a breach of the work at height regulations and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,514.25. HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Britain: RMT concern at ‘rigged’ rail injury figures
Rail union RMT is demanding an urgent government investigation into allegations Network Rail has “rigged” injury figures to hit performance targets. The union says it fears a culture of non-recording of incidents is rife at Network Rail (NR) and is directly linked to the senior management bonus culture. ORR news release and The ORR Health and Safety Report • RMT news release • Rail magazine • Risks 367 Hazards news,
31 July 2010
Britain: Face the FACKS – the human face of workplace killing
“Face the FACK - The human face of workplace killing” is a new DVD from Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK). The resource, which was premiered at this month’s National Hazards Conference, features personal accounts from family members bereaved by work. FACK resources • Face the FACK - The human face of workplace killing, £10 including post and packing, cheques payable to ‘GMHC’, from: FACK, c/o Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester M16 7WD. Telephone: 0161 636 7557 • Risks 466 Hazards news,
24 July 2010
Global: True cost of asbestos is exposed
A global network of lobbying groups is ensuring asbestos, banned or restricted in more than 50 countries, continues to be using in developing nations. A four-continent investigation by the US-based Center for Public Integrity (CPI) reports that many scientists fear the continued use of asbestos could significantly prolong a global epidemic of asbestos-related illnesses. Dangers in the dust – a Center for Public Integrity investigation • BBC News Online • Toronto Star • Montreal Gazette • Vancouver Sun • Risks 466 Hazards news,
24 July 2010
Britain: Oil giants fined for Buncefield blast
Five companies responsible for the 2005 Buncefield oil depot explosion were last week ordered to pay fines totalling more than £9 million. Sentencing the firms at St Albans Crown Court, Judge Sir David Calvert-Smith said: “Had the explosion happened during a working day, the loss of life may have been measured in tens or even hundreds.” HSE news release • Environment Agency news release • Risks 466 Hazards news,
24 July 2010
Britain: Court rejects fatality fine appeal
A company fined £100,000 after a worker was crushed to death has failed in a court appeal against the penalty. London-based Marble City Ltd and directors Gavin and Jamie Waldron were all fined in April after 51-year-old Ronald Douglas was crushed by six tonnes of stone slabs he was helping unload from a lorry. Local London • Risks 466 Hazards news,
24 July 2010
Britain: Frozen food firm fined for finger
A Lincolnshire-based international frozen vegetable supplier has been fined after a man's finger was amputated when his hand was crushed at work. The incident occurred at Pinguin Food Ltd's site in Boston on 10 February 2009 when the worker tried to straighten some boxes on an automatic palletising machine. HSE news release and safe guarding leaflet [pdf] • Risks 466 Hazards news,
24 July 2010
Britain: Pneumatic power press cuts off fingers
A Telford packaging firm company has been fined after an employee lost three fingers while working with machinery. Telford Magistrates Court heard how on 22 September 2008 the I2R Packaging Solutions employee was helping another worker remove aluminium foil from a 130-tonne power press, which had become jammed while making foil food cartons. HSE news release • Packaging News • Risks 466 Hazards news,
24 July 2010
Britain: Engineering firm fined after hand severed
A court has heard how a worker had his hand torn off while working for a Peterlee company. The Conder Solutions Limited employee was working on a metalworking lathe, Peterlees Magistrates' Court heard. HSE news release • Risks 466 Hazards news,
24 July 2010
Britain: Pirelli fined over forklift truck injury
Tyre manufacturer Pirelli has been fined £9,000 after a worker suffered a broken leg when he was hit by a forklift truck. Allan Miller, a 62-year-old contractor, was walking through an area in the curing department at the company's Carlisle factory when he was struck from behind by a pallet being carried on a forklift truck. HSE news release • Risks 466 Hazards news,
24 July 2010
Britain: RMT warns of ‘great danger’ on railways
Transport union RMT is warning of a “great danger” on the railways if government cuts to the transport budget go ahead. Commenting as Network Rail’s annual meeting kicked off this week in Manchester, the rail union warned that cuts of between 25 and 40 per cent planned by the government would have a “catastrophic” and “lethal” impact on rail infrastructure and operations. RMT news releases on the Network Rail AGM and the Potters Bar inquest • Potters Bar inquest website • Risks 466 Hazards news,
24 July 2010
USA: ‘Appalling conditions’ on tobacco farms
Tobacco farm workers in the US are enduring deadly conditions, global farm unions’ federation IUF has revealed. Reynolds American Incorporated (RAI), in which British American Tobacco (BAT) holds a 42 per cent share, sources most of its tobacco leaf from the company's home state of North Carolina. IUF news release • Tell BAT to stop the abuse • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
USA: Campaign wins ban on deadly floor coating
A landmark bill banning the commercial use and sale of a wood floor finishing product linked to fires that left three floor finishers dead has taken effect in Massachusetts. The new law, which was introduced at the urging of an industry-union-community taskforce, targets “lacquer sealer”, a floor finishing product containing nitrocellulose and synthetic resins that can burst into flames at the slightest trigger.
MassCOSH news release, factsheet and report • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Britain: TUC calls for 3R’s – rules, resources and rights
Securing safe and healthy workplaces requires good regulations, proper enforcement and decent rights, TUC has told a government-commissioned enquiry. The TUC comments to Lord Young’s review, which is expected to report in the coming weeks, notes that the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) fatalities figure represents on “a tiny proportion” of those killed by work. TUC news release • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Britain: There is no compensation culture
There has been a dramatic decline in compensation claims for work-related injury and ill-health, union legal advisers have told a government-commissioned enquiry. They say the government’s own Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) statistics which show employer liability claims have fallen 69 per cent from 2000/01 to 2009/10 – from 219,183 in 2000/1 to 78,744 in 2009/10. Thompsons Solicitors submission • Prospect news release • Risks 465Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Britain: Coalition not serious on safety
The health and safety of Britain’s workforce is not being taken seriously by the coalition government, Unite has said. Joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, accused former Tory cabinet minister Lord Young, who is heading a government review, of being “offensive”. Unite news release • Daily Mirror • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Britain: Deregulation is already bad for you
The UK’s workplace safety standards have been undermined by changes in the official approach to health and safety regulation over the past decade, a new report has found. Academics from the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University found the policy changes have affected the ability of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to enforce effectively health and safety law. University of Liverpool news release • Regulatory Surrender: death, injury and the non-enforcement of law, Institute of Employment Rights, July 2010. Purchase details from IER, The People's Centre, 50-54 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool L3 5SD, or call 0151 702 6925 or email IER • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Britain: We didn’t vote to die at work
The Hazards Campaign has launched a national ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ campaign. The initiative, which was premiered at this month’s National Hazards Conference in Keele, has already attracted wide support from unions and safety reps.
Join the ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ Facebook group. If you want to get hold of campaign resources, contact the Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester, M16 7WD, or email or phone 0161 636 7557. T-shirts cost £6 (that includes postage) and are available in small, medium, large, XL, XXL and XXXL (send a cheque made out to ‘Hazards Campaign’) • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Who pays BP’s disaster bill? You do
If you thought the multi-billion dollar costs of destroying refineries and oil rigs (and killing workers, ruining livelihoods and wrecking the environment in the process), might have a chastening effect on BP, you might need to think again. BP is forecast to pay about $10bn less tax over the next four years as it meets the costs of its huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, hitting the revenues of Britain and the US that receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the company each year. Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Britain: Lab staff exposed to deadly bacteria
The Health Protection Agency has been fined £25,000 for a spillage of the deadly bacterium E.coli 0157 at its centre in Colindale, north London. Three employees were put at risk of contamination although nobody was infected, the Old Bailey heard. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Britain: Cleaner killed at plastics firm
A Rochdale plastics manufacturer has been fined £140,000 after a Portuguese cleaner was crushed to death by a pallet of bags weighing nearly one and a half tonnes. TS (UK) Ltd was prosecuted for failing to ensure the safety of its employees and not having a worker trained in first aid on duty. HSE news release • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Britain: Farm worker crushed in his cab
Farming and haulage company Pearn Wyatt & Son has been fined £21,000 with £54,000 costs after a 24-year-old agriculture worker was crushed to death on a farm in Norfolk. Sam Foley had been using a tractor to tow manure to a field at Grange Farm, in Snetterton, on 8 July 2007. HSE news release • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Britain: Roofing firm fined £2,000 after teen’s plunge
A roofing company has been prosecuted after a teenage worker fell three metres through a fragile roof, breaking his arm. Apprentice Shaun Jacob, 18, was removing the ridge from a metal sheet roof when a sheet he was standing on buckled and he fell to the ground. HSE news release • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
Britain: Cactus sap put worker in hospital
A worker was hospitalised and suffered long-term eye damage after being squirted with cactus juice. Carl Woodbridge, a technician working for Ambius, a subsidiary of Rentokil Initial UK Ltd, was working at a Milton Keynes shopping centre in October 2008, to carry out pruning on several large cacti, one of which had become unstable. Milton Keynes Council news release • Risks 465 Hazards news,
17 July 2010
China: Steelworkers killed in bus fire
A shuttle bus carrying steel factory workers in eastern China burst into flame, killing 24 of those on board. The tragedy happened in Wuxi, in Jiangsu province near Shanghai, on a bus from the Wuxi Xuefeng Steel Company. Shanghai Daily • BBC News Online • Risks 464 Hazards news,
10 July 2010
USA: Cheap masks won’t protect Gulf workers
Masks issued to workers in the Gulf of Mexico cleaning up the BP oil spill are not offering the necessary protection, an expert has warned. Industrial hygienist Eileen Senn, writing in The Pump Handle blog, reports the $5 officially recommended masks are “not approved for organic vapours” meaning “this dust mask presumably will remove only small amounts of hydrocarbon vapours, so workers may still be exposed to them.” The Pump Handle • Risks 464 Hazards news,
10 July 2010
Britain: Construction bosses fined after death
Two directors of PIB (UK) Ltd and their company have been fined after a member of the public died on one of their construction sites. John Blankson, 55, and Steven Moore, 44, pleaded guilty to safety charges and were fined, and Moore was also disqualified from being a director for five years. HSE news release • Risks 464 Hazards news,
10 July 2010
Britain: Global firms fined for crushing death
Two global companies have been ordered to pay a total of £160,000 in fines after a man was crushed to death by a rolling lorry. Logistics company Exel Europe Ltd and Imperial Tobacco Ltd both pleaded guilty to criminal safety breaches relating to the death of 42 year-old Exel heavy goods driver Gary Brooks. HSE news release • Risks 464 Hazards news,
10 July 2010
Britain: Comet fined after fatal roof fall
Electrical chain Comet has been fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £24,446 legal costs after the death of a roof worker at a Wrexham store. Comet had previously admitted failing to ensure the safety of Paul Alker, who fell through a skylight in 2007 and whose boss, Steven Smith of Wrexham Roofing Services, was earlier jailed for two years in 2007 after being convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Daily News • Risks 464 Hazards news,
10 July 2010
Britain: HSE work death figure falls again
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures on the number of people killed at work in Britain fell last year to a record low. The HSE provisional data, which exclude work-related road, marine and air accident deaths and the entire occupational disease death toll, show that 151 workers were killed between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 compared to 178 deaths in the previous year and an average number over the last five years of 220 deaths per year. HSE news release, statistics webpage and latest fatality figures • TUC news release • Risks 464 Hazards news,
10 July 2010
Britain: Deaths down in construction
There has been a marked decrease in construction fatalities in Britain, the new Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show. In 2009/10 there were 41 deaths in the construction sector, down from 52 fatalities in the sector the year before. UCATT news release • Risks 464 Hazards news,
10 July 2010
Britain: Deaths up in agriculture
There has been a sharp upturn in the number of workers killed in agriculture. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) fatality figures for the period from 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 show 38 agriculture workers were killed at work. HSE says this marks a return to average levels of previous years, in contrast to the record low in 2008/09 when 25 workers died. HSE news release • Risks 464 Hazards news,
10 July 2010
Britain: HSE statistics omit most deaths - official
Unions and campaigners have warned that official workplace death figures only show a small part of the real toll – a point also recognised in an official probe. The UK Statistics Authority checked HSE’s figures against a code of practice for official statistics and indicated they do not make the grade, concluding “HSE does not produce an overall figure for work-related fatalities in Great Britain” and recommends HSE “investigate the feasibility of producing statistics on the total number of work-related injuries and fatalities.” UNISON news release • Hazards Campaign news release • BIS news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Your Freedom • Assessments of compliance with Code of Practice for official statistics - 'Statistics on Health and Safety at Work (produced by the Health and Safety Executive), Report Number 42, UK Statistics Authority, 27 May 2010 [pdf] • Risks 464 Hazards news,
10 July 2010
Britain: Total safety queried after refinery death
Safety standards at the oil giant Total, found guilty of safety breaches last month related to the Buncefield oil depot explosion, have been questioned by unions after the death of a worker at a Lincolnshire refinery. Unite member Robert Greenacre, 24, died after a fire and explosion at Total’s Lindsey plant on 29 June. Unite news release • GMB news release • Morning Star • Grimsby Telegraph • Risks 464 Hazards news,
10 July 2010
Ireland: Voluntary fails, inspection succeeds
A dramatic decline in workplace fatalities and injuries has been delivered in Ireland after its safety agency boosted the number of official workplace inspections. A previous policy, where the watchdog introduced a US-style voluntary programme, was abandoned after it was followed by a marked upturn in workplace deaths. HSA news release • RTÉ News • Risks 463 Hazards news,
3 June 2010
USA: Sometimes deadly behaviour does not pay
Employers and corrupt public officials frequently get away with deadly behaviour – but not always. A contractor is now under house arrest and a crane inspector who accepted bribes is serving jail time after being linked to deadly workplace incidents in the US. In These Times • New York Times • Risks 463 Hazards news,
3 June 2010
Britain: BP’s unsafe UK record exposed
The troubled oil giant BP has been caught breaking health and safety regulations 54 times over the past five years in the UK, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) records. The official action against the British multinational relates to a series of maintenance and operating lapses which put workers and the environment at risk from major leaks, fires and accidents in the North Sea and elsewhere. Sunday Herald • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 463 Hazards news,
3 June 2010
Britain: Government to adopt BP business model
John Browne, Tony Hayward’s predecessor as chief executive of BP, has been appointed by the UK government to oversee moves to make Whitehall “more businesslike.” Lord Browne was the architect of the much criticised BP cost- and safety-cutting strategy implicated in the Texas City refinery disaster, which killed 15, and a sequence of other safety and environmental crimes. Cabinet Office news release • Green jobs, safety jobs blog • BBC News Online • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 463 Hazards news,
3 June 2010
Britain: Man killed in oil refinery blast
A worker has been found dead after a fire and explosion at an oil refinery in North East Lincolnshire. The man, whose name was not released in the immediate aftermath of the blast, was working near a crude oil distillation which exploded at Total’s Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Killingholme on 29 June.
BBC News Online on the 29 June and 19 June fatalities at the Total refinery site • Hartlepool Mail • Peterlee Mail • Risks 463 Hazards news,
3 June 2010
Britain: Company fined £280,000 after horror death
A brick firm worker who had only been on site for two weeks was killed when his head was crushed between concrete blocks and a metal platform. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted brick manufacturing company Hanson Building Products Ltd, after the death of Peter Clarke, 57, at the company's distribution plant in Coleshill on 26 April 2008. HSE news release • Coventry Telegraph • Risks 463 Hazards news,
3 June 2010
Britain: Warning on government safety review
A government review of health and safety must not be allowed to undermine essential workplace protection, unions and campaigners have warned. David Cameron last month formalised a government call for Lord Young to review health and safety regulation, a process started pre-election by the Conservatives and which has already faced strong criticism from unions. FACK letter to Lord Young • Morning Star • Daily Telegraph • Risks 463 Hazards news,
3 June 2010
Britain: Enforcement bad on safety, terrible on health
Enforcement action by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has plummeted on almost all major indicators, the watchdog’s board has been told. The report to the HSE board suggests prosecutions on health issues are especially rare – an HSE guesstimate indicates they are outnumbered 7-to-1 by safety prosecutions - despite work-related diseases outnumbering officially reported workplace injuries by five to one. Review of enforcement by FOD, paper to the HSE board, 30 June 2010 [pdf] • Risks 463 Hazards news,
3 June 2010
China: Illegal coal mine kills 47
A coal mine in central China's Henan Province where an underground explosion killed 47 people on 21 June was operating illegally, officials said. The operation license of Xingdong No. 2 Mine in Weidong District, Pingdingshan City, expired on 6 June, and the district government cut its electricity supply on 7 June, according to local officials. Xinhua • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
India: Panel reconsiders Bhopal leak action
Cabinet ministers are recommending that India's government revisit its response to the 1984 toxic gas leak in Bhopal. The fact that the Bhopal tragedy is back in the news at the same time as the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has added to the sense that victims of the 1984 disaster have been terribly let down. The Guardian • BBC News Online • The Hindu • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
USA: BP disaster victims could lose out
Thanks to a 90-year-old legal loophole, the families of the 11 workers killed on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig may be denied full compensation for the loss of their loved ones. Under the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), unlike occupational fatalities on land – where the worker's family can sue for both pecuniary (lost wages) and non-pecuniary damages (recompense for the loss of a loved one) - the families of the victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster are only able to recoup lost wages. In These Times • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
USA: Probe to fine ‘root causes’ of BP well disaster
The Chemical Safety Board (CSB), the organisation that investigated BP’s Texas City disaster and pinned much of the blame on the company’s London-based global board, is to investigate the “root causes” of the latest industrial catastrophe blighting BP’s record.
CSB investigation announcement [pdf] • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
USA: Work safety laws are top public issue
Health and safety regulations are the most important workplace issue for the public, new US research has found. A national poll on by the Public Welfare Foundation and researchers at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center found a massive 85 per cent say workplace safety regulations are “very important”, heading the poll.
Public Welfare Foundation news release • full report and audio release • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
Britain: Oil giants guilty in Buncefield blast
A company controlled by Total and Chevron has been found guilty of grave safety failures that led to the Buncefield oil depot explosion. Hertfordshire Oil Storage Limited (HOSL), which was owned by the oil giants, failed to prevent major accidents and limit their effects, a court has found. HSE/Environment Agency joint statement • HSE Buncefield webpages • The Guardian • Buncefield Investigation website • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
Britain: Campaign leads to fewer quarry injuries
Reportable injuries in the quarry sector are down 76 per cent since the 'Hard Target' initiative was launched in 2000, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said, with reportable injuries down from over 500 to below 200 a year. HSE news release and campaign details • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
Britain: Worker loses leg under waste recycling truck
A Cheshire recycling company has been fined £10,000 after a worker lost part of his leg when he was crushed by an 18-tonne truck. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted WSR Recycling Ltd after the incident, which led to the worker’s left leg being amputated below the knee. HSE news release and waste webpages • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
Britain: Council fined after school death fall
A council has been fined £56,000 after an electrician was killed when a work platform collapsed in a school gym hall. Robert McGill suffered severe brain injuries in the 6 April 2009 incident at Kilmarnock Academy, and died later in hospital. HSE news release and falls webpages • BBC News Online • Glasgow Evening Times • Scotsman • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
Britain: Father fined after son’s fall
A sawmill and the father of an injured worker have been fined after the roofing contractor fell through a skylight and suffered serious head injuries. Woodgate Sawmills Limited, and Stanley John Frederick Stephens of The Longhope Welding Company were prosecuted after Robert Stephens, 40, fell through a fragile skylight on 1 June 2007 while working on the roof of a sawmill building in Coleford. HSE news release • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
Britain: ‘Lethal’ plan for driverless Tube trains
Tube union RMT has condemned ‘lethal and unworkable’ plans hatched by Conservatives on the London Assembly to move the entire London Underground train system to driverless operation. RMT news release • BBC News Online report, including the Tory memo [pdf] • Personnel Today • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
Britain: Tory review wrong from the start
The outcome of a government health and safety review, which seems to have been pre-ordained by the time David Cameron kicked off the process last week, has been strongly criticised by the TUC. Five days after the prime minister announcing Lord Young was to undertake the review, the former Tory employment and trade secretary was telling the Times “People occasionally get killed, it’s unfortunate but it’s part of life” and declaring health and safety regulations protecting office workers were “nonsense”. BBC News Online • Scotsman • IOSH news release • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
Britain: Don't play politics with safety
David Cameron should not play politics with workplace health and safety, a union expert has warned. Roger Kline, from the children’s services union Aspect, notes: “In the year when the cost of cutting corners on health and safety killed oil rig workers, polluted an ocean and threatens the very existence of BP, our prime minister, (without a dissenting squeak from his coalition partners) claims we need to end the ‘compensation culture’ in health and safety.” The Big Picture, Community Care blog • Risks 462 Hazards news,
26 June 2010
USA: Oil companies all fail the safety test
Members of the US Congress tore into the big energy corporations on 15 June for filing almost identical and identically flawed Gulf of Mexico oil spill response plans. The verbal assault by committee members undermined attempts by the oil giants to suggest that their working practices differ from those of BP; and that the catastrophe, which killed 11 workers, would not have happened if the well had been theirs. Green jobs blog • Risks 461 Hazards news,
19 June 2010
USA: Corporate greed causes work deaths
As oil mucked the Gulf of Mexico and families mourned 11 dead rig workers, BP officials proclaimed that the corporation’s priority always was safety. This mirrored the tack taken by Massey Energy, whose officials also declared safety was paramount after an explosion in the corporation’s Upper Big Branch mine killed 29 workers. Campaign for America’s Future • Risks 461 Hazards news,
19 June 2010
USA: 'Nailed' – an enforcement blog with teeth
Many followers of health and safety will be used to official enforcement and compensation agencies adopting one of two voices – a serious and measured tone when things go wrong or enthusiastically extolling the virtues of partnership and cooperation in better times. But in the US, Washington State’s Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has launched a blog that is altogether more pithy. Nailed blog • Washington State Department of Labor & Industries news release • Risks 461 Hazards news,
19 June 2010
Britain: Bakery bosses exposed workers to flour, power
The directors of a Bedford based DG Bakery Ltd have been fined after a series of health and safety breaches exposed staff to serious danger - including electrocution and exposure to flour dust. HSE news release • Risks 461 Hazards news,
19 June 2010
Britain: Manager fined after teen trainee is injured
The manager of a Fareham diving company has been fined £2,500 for health and safety breaches that led to teenage trainee Jonathan Holmes breaking his ankle at work. Andrew William Steel Baillie, general manager of Sub Surface Engineering Ltd, pleaded guilty to the charges brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). HSE news release • Portsmouth News • Risks 461 Hazards news,
19 June 2010
Britain: Review must debunk ‘burdens’ myth
Unions and campaigners have warned that essential regulation and enforcement of health and safety must not be abandoned by the government. Hilda Palmer of the Hazards Campaign said: “There is a lack of evidence or fact to support the need or value of cutting regulation of health and safety, a lack of balance in failing to mention the burden on workers hurt or made ill, and on the families of those killed, and a failure to mention the massive cost of up to £30 billion per year of bad health and safety, the majority of which employers externalise onto all of us.” Prospect news release • NASUWT news release • HSE news release and facts about HSE’s role webpages • Risks 461 Hazards news,
19 June 2010
Britain: Controversial MP is new safety minister
A member of parliament referred to in the press as a Conservative Party ‘attack dog’ and who before becoming an MP worked for a union-busting PR firm that creates front organisations for polluting industries is the new health and safety minister. Chris Grayling, who was shadow Home Secretary before the election, is now minister of state at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). Green jobs blog • Risks 461 Hazards news,
19 June 2010
Global: Union work gets more deadly
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of trade unionists murdered, with new figures revealing there were 101 killings in 2009 – up 30 per cent over the previous year. The latest Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights, published by global union confederation ITUC, also reveals growing pressure on fundamental workers’ rights around the world as the impact of the global economic crisis on employment deepened. ITUC news release and survey, video and multimedia resources • Risks 460 Hazards news,
12 June 2010
Mexico: States forces back ‘homicide’ mine
Unions have condemned an assault by heavily armed federal riot police on striking mineworkers at the Cananea copper mine near the US border. On Sunday 6 June at about 10pm, hundreds of police surrounded the mine, which has been occupied by the miners, and used tear gas to dislodge the workers. IMF news release • USW news release • Risks 460 Hazards news,
12 June 2010
Britain: Security firm fined for poisoning
Glasgow-based Alpha Group Security Ltd has been fined £7,000 following the poisoning death of a construction site security guard. Thomas Fraser, 37, died of carbon monoxide poisoning at an on-site flat used as a base for employees. HSE news release • Risks 460 Hazards news,
12 June 2010
Britain: Out of control lift kills lift engineer
A defunct Kent-based lift company has been ordered to pay £45,000 in fines and costs following the crushing death of a self-employed lift engineer. J Brown Services Ltd was prosecuted following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after 35-year-old Andy Bates died while completing the installation of a new lift at a site near Oxford Street in Central London. HSE news release • Risks 460 Hazards news,
12 June 2010
Britain: Firm guilty after young worker’s death
Flowserve (GB) Ltd has been fined £150,000 following the death of a 21-year-old employee. The prosecution at Lewes Crown Court related to the 7 May 2008 death of Philip Locke, who received fatal injuries when carrying out a pressure test on a high pressure valve. HSE news release • Risks 460 Hazards news,
12 June 2010
Global: Olympic suppliers ‘degrade’ workers
Appalling and degrading conditions are being endured by millions of workers producing sportswear and Olympic branded merchandise, unions and campaigners have warned. The TUC, along with Labour Behind the Label, unions and human rights campaign groups, is part of the Playfair 2012 campaign calling on the organisers of London 2012 and the Olympic movement to ensure that workers’ rights are respected. TUC news release • Labour Behind the Label • Playfair 2012 • Risks 460 Hazards news, 12 June 2010
Britain: Derailment shows why guards are essential
Rail union RMT has again demanded Scotrail call an immediate halt to plans to extend Driver Only Operation (DOO) on its services after eight people needed hospital treatment as a result of a train derailment on Sunday 6 June. RMT news release • Scotsman • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Risks 460 Hazards news, 12 June 2010
Britain: Unite safety alert after Corus death
The union Unite is calling on all safety reps to make sure employers take all the necessary steps to prevent fatalities after a member was killed at work. The call for vigilance follows the 23 April death of an electrician working for Corus at their Scunthorpe Concast Plant. Unite news release • Scunthorpe Telegraph • Risks 460 Hazards news, 12 June 2010
Global: UCATT slams Australian ‘show trial’
UCATT has said called on the Australian authorities to abandon the ‘show trial’ of an Australian union rep who stood up for safety. The UK construction union has sent a message of solidarity to its Australian sister union CFMEU and construction worker Ark Tribe, who refused to answer to an anti-union “interrogation squad”. UCATT news release • CFMEU news release • Rights on site • Find out more about Ark Tribe’s case • Risks 460 Hazards news, 12 June 2010
USA: Rig spill clean up makes workers sick
A chemical dispersant being used to fight the gulf oil spill is making workers sick, recent reports suggest. The disaster, where BP has failed repeatedly to stem the oil gusher and which started with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers, has led to an increasing clamour for criminal charges to be levelled at BP, the company that owns the well. Green jobs, safe jobs blog • New York Times • Minnesota Independent • Working In These Times • Truthout • Nola.com • BBC News Online • The Guardian • Fairwarning • Risks 459 Hazards news,
5 June 2010
Britain: Fingers chopped off at plastics firm
A plastics recycling factory in St Helens has been fined £15,000 after a worker had parts of two fingers cut off by blades on a high-speed fan. The Roydon Granulation Ltd employee, who has asked not to be named, suffered serious injuries to four fingers on his left hand including the partial amputation of two. HSE news release • Risks 459 Hazards news,
5 June 2010
Britain: Premier league club fails on safety
Premier League football club Aston Villa has been fined after a worker was badly injured in a fall through a roof during the redevelopment of its training ground. The club, its contractor and Mechanical Cleansing Services’ director, Damon Roe, all admitted health and safety offences. HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • BBC News Online • Risks 459 Hazards news,
5 June 2010
Britain: High voltage shock for stationery worker
A London stationery manufacturer has been fined after admitting removing safety guards and exposing a worker to a high voltage shock that left him permanently disabled. The man was investigating a fault on a plastic welding machine at Chart Design Ltd in Wembley in June 2007 when his fingers came into proximity with components carrying several thousand volts. HSE news release • Risks 459 Hazards news,
5 June 2010
Britain: Tory ‘attack dog’ is safety minister
Chris Grayling, a member of parliament referred to in the press as a Conservative Party ‘attack dog’ and who before becoming an MP worked for a union-busting PR firm that creates front organisations for polluting industries is the new health and safety minister. Green jobs blog Hazards news,
5 June 2010
Britain: Site death fine increased eight-fold
A building firm has had a fine following the death of a worker increased eight-fold by appeal court judges in Scotland. Discovery Homes (Scotland) Ltd was originally fined £5,000 after admitting a criminal safety breach linked to the death of bricklayer Andrezej Freitag, 55. Scottish Appeal Court judgment • STV News • Risks 459 Hazards news,
5 June 2010
USA: Call for mine manslaughter charges
US legislators and trade unionists last week grilled the owner of a mine where 29 workers died in a blast last month, slamming the “alarming record” of serious safety violations at the Massey Energy mine in West Virginia. Highway billboards calling for a manslaughter prosecution of Massey Energy are appearing around West Virginia and read: “29 Coal Miners Dead, Prosecute Massey for Manslaughter.” Prosecute Massey for Manslaughter website • Morning Star • USW blog • Counterpunch • Pittsburgh Tribune-Review • Fairwarning.org • Truthdig • New York Times • Risks 458 Hazards news,
29 May 2010
Britain: Freight firm fined after crushing death
A Leeds freight company has been fined after a 59-year-old worker was crushed to death by a case of glass. Alan Fletcher tried to stop the two-tonne case from falling as it was unloaded at Roadways Container Logistics, Leeds Crown Court heard, fining the firm £250,000 plus £100,000 costs. HSE news release and Fletcher family statement • BBC News Online • Risks 458 Hazards news,
29 May 2010
Britain: Waste giant fined after landfill death
A major UK waste management and recycling company has been fined after a driver was killed at a Northamptonshire landfill site. Sita UK Limited was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the death of bin driver Gary Carter, 32, at the Cranford landfill site on 4 January 2007. HSE news release • Risks 458 Hazards news,
29 May 2010
Britain: Contractor guilty after wall crushed worker
Contractor Keith Gardner, trading as KP Gardner Builders, was fined £7,000 last week for breaching health and safety law after a builder broke his back and ribs when a wall fell on him at a London construction site. Jason Lunnon, 41, was seriously injured when he was struck by the falling concrete blocks on the site in Newham. HSE news release • Risks 458 Hazards news,
29 May 2010
Britain: Council fined after dumper truck injury
Bridgend County Borough Council has been fined after an incident that saw a driver injured when his dumper truck overturned. Council employee Mark Morgan was driving the one tonne vehicle through woodland on 25 September 2008 when the truck began to slide. HSE news release and risk management webpages • Risks 458 Hazards news,
29 May 2010
Britain: Seven-metre fall stops man working
Construction firm Hartog Hutton Ltd and building owner Fluorocarbon Company Ltd have each been fined after a builder suffered fractured vertebrae when he fell from a factory roof in Hertfordshire. Danny Langdon, 63, injured his spine in the seven metre fall on Christmas Eve 2008 and has been off work since. HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Risks 458 Hazards news,
29 May 2010
Britain: Firm broke chemicals laws before blaze
The boss of a chemical company that suffered a serious blaze leading to a multi-agency major incident response has claimed the factory had never before had problems with health and safety. However, official papers show Huddersfield-based Grosvenor Chemicals attracted a series of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) improvement notices last year for a catalogue of breaches of safety laws, including regulations covering dangerous, explosive and hazardous substances – and there had been a death at the site. Environmental Agency news release • Kirklees Council news release • Huddersfield Daily Examiner and related report • Risks 458 Hazards news,
29 May 2010
Global: Will BP’s ‘disaster-prone’ board face jail?
Directors of BP’s London-based global board seem to be above justice when it comes to the firm's serial workplace safety and environmental crimes, claims a new report. Campaigning magazine Hazards, which has been monitoring the multinational’s safety performance for years, says if more attention had been paid to BP’s deadly workplace safety record the risks would have been “shockingly apparent”. ITUC/Hazards green jobs blog and BP webpages • The Daily Beast • Greenpeace BP logo competition • CBS News • Risks 458 Hazards news,
29 May 2010
Britain: Business wrong again on regulation
A business group has published updated estimates of the cost to business of regulations without addressing concerns raised last year that the figures were “rigged”. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) ‘Business Burdens 2010’ estimates these safety regulations lead to a combined recurring annual cost to business of £374 million – but deliberately omits from the calculation the savings accrued from preventive action required by regulation – including the savings made by business from operating safely. BCC news release and Burdens barometer 2010 [pdf] • Who pays?, Hazards magazine, number 106, 2009 • Risks 458 Hazards news,
29 May 2010
Britain: Raleigh fined over worker’s death
Bicycle company Raleigh has been fined £72,000 after the death of a forklift truck driver at its Nottingham depot. John Whittington, 59, was hit by a falling girder when part of his forklift truck, which had its forks raised, struck a door frame at the Eastwood site in September 2007. Nottingham Post • BBC News Online • Risks 457 Hazards news,
22 May 2010
Britain: Worker crushed in building collapse
Two firms have been fined a total of £7,000 after part of an office block under construction collapsed, seriously injuring one worker. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the building’s designer, Peter Wallace of the Wallace Partnership, and the principal contractor, Jack Smith (Builders) Ltd, following the collapse in Kirkham. HSE news release • Risks 457 Hazards news,
22 May 2010
Britain: Firms fined after site fall
Businesses are being urged to take proper precautions when their staff work at height after a West Yorkshire worker sustained serious back injuries when he plunged more than three metres from a terrace retaining wall on a construction site. There were no guardrails in place to prevent Graham Parkin falling from height as he accessed a work area. HSE news release • Ilkley Gazette • Risks 457 Hazards news,
22 May 2010
Britain: Confectioner fined after 1 tonne blow
A Telford confectionery company has been prosecuted after a worker’s head was hit with a one tonne force. Magna Specialist Confectioners Ltd (MSC) was fined a total of £75,000 and ordered to pay costs of £37,500 by Shrewsbury Crown Court. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 457 Hazards news,
22 May 2010
Britain: College fined after window cleaner falls
Lincoln College has been fined £1,500 after a window cleaner fell four metres, suffering broken ribs and a serious back injury. James Theaker, 50, from Lincoln, was employed by A Nicoll & Son Ltd, when he was contracted to clean windows at Lincoln College on 4 November 2008. HSE news release • Risks 457 Hazards news,
22 May 2010
Britain: Action needed on commercial fishing deaths
Britain’s top marine accident investigator has criticised lax attitudes to safety after the deaths of three fishermen in a two week period. The death rate among fishermen was “consistent and disproportionate,” the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said. MAIB triple investigation report and 2009 Safety Digest [pdf] • Press and Journal • BBC News Online • Risks 457 Hazards news,
22 May 2010
Britain: Fishing boat firm fined following fall
A Scarborough fishing boat operator has been fined after an electrician suffered serious injuries when he fell from a ladder while aboard the company’s boat. Contractor Philip Parcell, 53, from Newby, broke his back in three places, fractured his skull in two places and sustained nerve damage to the left side of his face after plummeting between decks of the Our Julia when it was moored in Scarborough harbour on 16 July last year. HSE news release • Risks 457 Hazards news,
22 May 2010
USA: More regulation is the solution
Whether the problem is blood spilled in the workplace or oil spilled in the oceans, a series of recent disasters show why more regulation of profit-hungry industries is needed, a US union leader has said. “Twenty-nine dead coal miners in West Virginia, seven dead workers at an oil refinery in Washington State and 11 dead on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig followed by an ecological calamity, all in the span of a month, illustrate in blood the need for more regulation and stiffer enforcement,” said Leo W Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers (USW). AFL-CIO Now blog • In These Times • Risks 456 Hazards news,
15 May 2010
Britain: We didn’t vote to die at work
In a pointed reminder to the new Conservatives and Lib Dem coalition government, a stark poster from Hazards magazine warns: ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’. This “fighting for your life’ edition is intended to provide unions and campaigners with the ammunition they need to defend workplace health and safety standards. Hazards magazine, issue 110, April-June 2010 • Contents list and We didn’t vote to die at work poster Hazards news,
15 May 2010
Russia: Ninety feared dead in mine blasts
It is feared 90 workers have died in a tragedy at a Siberian coal mine, after a methane gas blast. Russian rescue on 13 May suspended the search for 24 men still missing after the mine disaster that killed at least 66 because of fears of new underground blasts, the emergencies ministry said. ITAR-TASS news report • BBC News Online • Business Week • Risks 456 Hazards news, 15 May 2010
Britain: Managing director gets four year ban
A managing director has been disqualified from running a firm for four years after a 23-year old worker from Kettering fell more than nine metres, leaving him paralysed from the chest down. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted SDI Group UK Ltd, Construction Ltd and Richard Mark Berwick, the managing director of RM Berwick Steel Erection Services Ltd, after the incident on 8 February 2007 in Glossop, Derbyshire. HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 456 Hazards news,
15 May 2010
Britain: Coroner calls for better falls standard
The death of a young roofer whose fatal fall was a result of “inadequate” planning and site supervision has prompted a coroner to call on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the industry’s trade body to introduce improved standards. Daniel Hollington, 21, plummeted to his death on 30 October 2007 after falling through a warehouse skylight and landing on the concrete floor 40 feet below. Thurrock Gazette • Risks 456 Hazards news,
15 May 2010
Britain: Firm fined after teen has leg crushed
A Wolverhampton manufacturer has been fined £8,000 after a teenage employee was trapped under a load of steel, breaking his leg. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Dranson Ltd after 17-year-old Jamie Meredith was left pinned to the floor in agony after approximately 700 kg of steel fell off a trolley he was pushing. HSE news release • Risks 456 Hazards news,
15 May 2010
Britain: HSE inspections down to once in a lifetime
A decade ago, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) could be expected to turn up at the average UK workplace once every few years. But unpublished official figures obtained by the trade union safety magazine Hazards show workplaces are now lucky to see the pared back watchdog once in a working lifetime and also show HSE enforcement “has crashed”. Once in a lifetime - HSE inspection and enforcement drops off the chart, Hazards magazine, number 110, April-June 2010 Hazards news,
15 May 2010
USA: Union called in at anti-union deaths mine
Three weeks after the 29 non-union miners died at Massey Energy’s, Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, the colliery did what other non-union miners have done in recent times when company negligence has caused a disaster. They called in the union participate in the investigation - in the past 15 months in the US, 53 miners have perished; 52 of them worked at non-union operations. ICEM news report • Washington Times • Risks 445 Hazards news,
8 May 2010
USA: Retailer discouraged accident reports
Californian supermarket chain Raley's Inc has agreed to pay a $550,000 settlement to resolve an unlawful business practices case after pressuring workers out of reporting injuries and claiming compensation. An investigation found Raley's managers routinely attempted to dissuade injured employees from filing compensation claims, suggesting that injured employees use their own health insurance for work-related injuries instead of reporting accidents and injuries as required by state workers' compensation law. Sacramento Bee • Sacramento Business Journal • Risks 445 Hazards news,
8 May 2010
Britain: Right-leaning lobby ignorant on safety
A leading professional body has joined unions and campaigners in criticising a report by a Tory-linked think tank that calls for health and safety deregulation. The report, ‘Health and safety: reducing the burden,’ produced by the right-leaning Policy Exchange, “is marred by a number of conceptual weaknesses,” according to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). IOSH news release • Risks 445 Hazards news,
8 May 2010
Britain: Food firm fined for finger loss
A specialist bread manufacturer has been fined after a worker was injured by a dough mixing machine and had his finger amputated. Thambirasaiyah Roy, 39, was using a spiral mixing machine to make dough in October 2006, at the company's factory in Hendon. HSE news release • Risks 445 Hazards news,
8 May 2010
Britain: Steel beams fall on site worker
A Hertfordshire company has been fined after a worker was seriously hurt when he was struck by steel beams falling from a tower crane. Stephen James, 58, was working as a slinger, a person directing crane drivers, for John Doyle Construction Ltd at a residential development in September 2007. HSE news release • Risks 445 Hazards news,
8 May 2010
Britain: Water firms fined after roof fall
A water services company and its sub-contractor have been fined after a technician fell through the roof of a pumping station in Cambridgeshire, fracturing his back. Technician Matthew Morgan, sub-contracted to Anglian Water Services, fell through an unmarked fragile roof light while taking a reading from a rain gauge on top of a pumping station in Willingham, near Cambridge. HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Risks 445 Hazards news,
8 May 2010
Britain: ‘Just’ jail term for teen’s site death
A builder whose negligence led to the death of a 15-year-old boy has failed in a challenge against his jail term at London's Court of Appeal. Colin Holtom admitted the manslaughter of Adam Gosling at the Old Bailey in July 2009 and was sentenced to three years in prison, with appeal court judges agreeing that although long, the sentence was “justifiably severe.” Essex Chronicle • Risks 454 Hazards news,
1 May 2010
Britain: Big bonuses for death pit bosses
Directors of the UK’s largest coal producer, which last year killed two mine workers, have received five figure bonuses to top up their six figure salaries. However, the bonuses would have been higher still if health and safety targets had been met.
UK Coal preliminary financial results for year ended December 2009 [pdf] and Financial results presentation [pdf] • Risks 454 Hazards news,
1 May 2010
Global: BP accused over rig safety
Oil giant BP is facing accusations that it lobbied against new offshore safety rules and breached “numerous regulations” at a rig that exploded on 20 April, where 11 workers are missing presumed dead. Huffington Post • The Guardian • Risks 454 Hazards news,
1 May 2010
Britain: Confectionery giant fined for machine death
The UK's largest confectionery firm has been convicted of two criminal safety breaches and fined £300,000 after an employee was crushed to death in one of its sweet-making machines. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Tangerine Confectionery Limited following the death of employee Martin Pejril at its Poole factory. HSE news release • Bournemouth Echo • Risks 454 Hazards news,
1 May 2010
[deadly bus] Britain: Family farm fined for crushing death
A family farm in Scotland has been fined £20,000 after a farmworker was crushed to death by a one tonne concrete panel. On 3 June 2008, Colin Hill was helping to build a perimeter wall on an open hay shed at Hamilton Farmers (East Lothian), when the pre-cast concrete panel toppled over and crushed him. HSE news release • Risks 454 Hazards news,
1 May 2010
Britain: Tories face protests over safety axe plans
Tory plans to cut safety laws and to allow firms to opt for self-regulation have prompted angry protests from construction union UCATT. On 27 April, a union organised demonstration was led by someone in full Grim Reaper regalia, carrying a “thanks for the business Dave” placard; other placards warned “Danger – Tory safety policy: Profit before workers’ lives.”
UCATT news releases on theMillbank and John Penrose protests • Morning Star • Hazards Campaign news release and manifesto for workplace safety [pdf] • Risks 454 Hazards news,
1 May 2010
Korea: Samsung PR push won’t cure cancer woes
Electronics giant Samsung has started a public relations charm offence in a bid to escape a cancer scandal linked to its Korean factories. On 15 April, the company invited reporters to a chip plant south of Seoul to demonstrate its manufacturing process and emphasise its commitment to safety. Washington Post • USA Today • Global Unions cancer campaign • Risks 453 Hazards news,
24 April 2010
Five-year ban for unsafe director
A director of a fuel tank manufacturing business has been banned from directing any company for five years after breaching a raft of health and safety regulations. Brian Nixon, the managing director of Transtore (UK) Ltd was also fined £17,000. HSE news release • Risks 453 Hazards news, 24 April 2010
Britain: Directors fined after slabs kill man
Two directors of a marble and granite manufacturing company have been fined after a worker died and two others were injured when six tonnes of stone slabs fell on them. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Marble City Ltd (MCL) and company directors Gavin and Jamie Waldron following the incident on 20 March 2008 outside the company's site in Wandsworth, London. HSE news release • Risks 453 Hazards news, 24 April 2010
Britain: Scottish courts to probe company finances
Scottish companies found guilty of causing workplace deaths will no longer be able to dodge hefty fines by pleading poverty. Courts in the country will soon be able to order background checks on convicted companies’ accounts. Bill Wilson MSP news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 453 Hazards news, 24 April 2010
Britain: Biffa fined for another waste death
The boss of Britain's biggest waste disposal firm quit shortly after a fourth preventable death at its dumps in six years. Biffa Waste Services Ltd received its safety biggest fine yet on 19 April, after admitting safety failings that led to the death of Dennis Krauesslar, 59. HSE news release • Daily Mirror blog • BBC News Online • Newbury Today • Morning Star • Risks 453 Hazards news, 24 April 2010
Britain: Biffa condemned for lack of care
Safety campaigners have joined the family of Dennis Krauesslar, killed as a result of criminal safety breaches at a Biffa waste site, in condemning the company for its lack of care. The firm received a six figure fine after pleading guilty to two safety charges. Thompsons Solicitors news release • Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 453 Hazards news, 24 April 2010
Britain: ‘Best recycler’ fined £200,000 for death
A global metals and electronics recycling company has been fined after a lorry driver died when a crushed car fell from a scrapheap. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Sims Group UK Ltd, part of the world’s biggest metal recycling company, after truck driver Adrian Turner was crushed by a metal bale which rolled off the heap at the firm’s yard in Newport, south Wales. HSE news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • BBC News Online • Risks 453 Hazards news, 24 April 2010
Britain: Rail firm ‘gloats’ over dangerous jobs cull
Network Rail’s ‘gloating’ over its cull of frontline maintenance jobs has been condemned by rail union RMT. The union has demanded a reversal of cuts in what it says are safety critical jobs. RMT news release • Risks 453 Hazards news,
24 April 2010
Korea: Samsung worker dies – activists arrested
On 2 April, following a funeral ceremony for Park Ji-yeon – a 23-year-old Samsung worker who succumbed to occupational cancer - Health And Rights of People in the Semiconductor industry (SHARPS), a coalition of trade unions and campaign groups, organised a press conference at Samsung headquarters in Seoul, calling the company to account for semiconductor related cancer deaths; the police broke up the press conference and detained seven activists without charge until 5 April. IMF news release • Huffington Post • Sign the SHARPS petition • See the SHARPS video • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
USA: Work deaths need not dent your profits
The money men on Wall Street really do not concern themselves with anything other than the bottom line, recent disasters suggest. Just days after 29 workers died at the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch coalmine in West Virginia, Standard and Poor’s Equity Research – a respected adviser to stockbrokers and other financial market players – upgraded the stock of the serial safety offender to “buy” as the mine disaster was “immaterial” to the company’s profitability. Fox Business News • Firedoglake blog • Huffington Post • Business Week • USW blog • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: HGV driver receives compensation for RSI
An HGV driver has received £13,500 in compensation after developing a repetitive strain injury (RSI) doing her job for a blue chip company. The GMB member from Leicestershire, whose name has not been released, has been left with a seriously strained elbow after being forced to attach brakes on her truck twice a day. Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: What will the election bring?
The election manifestos of the major political parties contain precious little on workplace health and safety - and what’s there is less than reassuring, safety campaigners have said. Hazards Campaign news release • UCATT news release • GMB news release• Labour manifesto [pdf] • Conservative manifesto [pdf] • Liberal Democrat manifesto [pdf] • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: Corus in the dock again after crushing death
Corus UK has been fined £240,000 after a young lorry driver was crushed to death at its site in Staffordshire – the steel multinational’s fourth appearance in the dock on safety charges in just six weeks. The latest prosecution came after 22-year-old Ross Beddow was crushed to death when three tonnes of steel plates fell on him at the firm’s base in Wombourne. HSE news release • More on Corus’ safety record • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: Corus effect shows need for director rules
Leaders of the main political parties are being asked to state where they stand on employers who kill and injure their workers - especially notorious repeat offenders. The Hazards Campaign question - “When will senior directors of companies such as Corus be held personally accountable for their serial killing and injuring workers?” – follows the fourth Corus safety fine in six weeks, the latest after the death of lorry driver Ross Beddow. Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: Plant hire firm fined after fall death
Ashtead Plant Hire Co Ltd, trading as APlant, has been fined £200,000 for health and safety failings that led to employee Phillip Pearce falling five metres to his death. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) showed that the company failed to follow its own health and safety guidelines for work at height. HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: Poor planning led to fatal hangar fall
A Gateshead building firm has been fined £100,000 after one of its employees fell to his death while dismantling a hangar roof at Bristol International Airport. Rubb Buildings Limited was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after 30-year-old Steven Watson fell through the roof while dismantling the disused Brymon hangar on 16 December 2006. HSE news release • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: Fine for security guard gassing death
Clyde Valley Housing Association Limited has been fined £70,000 after a security guard died from carbon monoxide poisoning on a construction site in Burbank, Hamilton, Scotland. Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that on 6 February 2008 the security guard was overcome with fumes from a petrol generator used inside the site office. HSE news release • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: Bakery fined for failing to protect worker
A speciality bread manufacturer has been fined after a worker become entangled in a bagel forming machine and broke his wrist. Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard the Country Style Foods employee was experienced, and familiar with the type of machine he was using, the HSE investigation found the machine itself was new to the plant and no formal training or written instructions had been completed governing its safe use. HSE news release • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: Defective cut-out caused cut on finger
A Lincolnshire pet food firm has been prosecuted after one of its machines damaged a worker’s hand. Fold Hill Foods Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined £1,250 and ordered to pay costs of £1,545. HSE news release and food manufacturing webpages Hazards news,
17 April 2010
Britain: Union probe into firefighter deaths
Firefighters’ union FBU has said it is starting its own inquiry into the deaths of two firefighters, killed tackling a 6 April blaze at a block of flats. James Shears, 35, and Alan Bannon, 38, died from exposure to excessive heat while fighting the fire at the 15-storey Shirley Towers in Southampton. FBU news release • BBC News Online • Risks 452 Hazards news,
17 April 2010
USA: Killing people at work is not fine
US unions and the US Chemical Safety Board have condemned the oil industry’s cavalier approach to safety after another workplace tragedy. The United Steelworkers (USW) said it was “incredible” that the response of oil industry trade associations to the Tesoro refinery explosion and fire on 2 April that killed five workers was to brag about their safety record. USW news release and Oil bargaining website • CSB news release • ICEM news report • Seattle Times • Risks 451 Hazards news, 10 April 2010
USA: Deadly mine had poor safety record
A huge explosion on 5 April has killed at least 25 miners in the worst mining disaster in the United States in more than a quarter of a century. Early reports have highlighted a poor safety record at the Upper Big Branch mine, and have criticised a policy operated by mine owner Massey Energy that puts production ahead of safety. AFL-CIO statement • National COSH news release • UMW news release • Democracy Now • New York Times • The Guardian • West Virginia Gazette • Risks 451 Hazards news, 10 April 2010
USA: Verdict highlights deadly biotech risks
A federal court’s decision to make a $1m plus payout to a sick biotech worker highlights the dangers faced by those employed in cutting edge industries. Becky McClain was awarded $1.37 million by a US District Court last week after saying her serious health problems stemmed from being infected by an experimental virus while working at Pfizer Inc’s Groton laboratories. The Day • New York Times • Risks 451 Hazards news, 10 April 2010
Britain: Waste company fine after near fatal fall
A West Midlands waste management firm has been fined £12,000 after a guard rail gave way and a new worker fell nearly three metres, narrowly missing a crushing machine. AB Waste Management Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. HSE news release • Risks 451 Hazards news,
10 April 2010
Britain: Coffee break saves a worker’s life
Rubber manufacturer Moseley Rubber Company Ltd has been fined £10,000 after a Manchester worker narrowly escaped death in a factory explosion. Dave Lomas, 56, was returning from a coffee break when he saw a five-foot iron girder fly through the factory, smashing his workstation into pieces. HSE news release • Risks 451 Hazards news,
10 April 2010
Britain: Machinery firm fine £3,000 for repeat offences
A Cornish firm that continued to use dangerous machinery after a series of warnings from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £3,419.50 costs. Specialist boring equipment manufacturer Rigibore Ltd pleaded guilty at Camborne Magistrates’ Court to breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. HSE news release • Risks 451 Hazards news,
10 April 2010
Britain: Watchdog ‘interventions’ at major waste firms
Major waste and recycling firms are to be the target of “central interventions” by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in a bid to address the sector’s appalling health and safety record. HSE says “the accident rate is still high (typically 4 times the all industry average for all injuries to workers and typically 9 times the all industry average for fatal injuries to workers).” Central interventions by lead inspectors to national waste management and recycling companies, HSE Sector Information Minute (SIM) • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 451 Hazards news,
10 April 2010
Britain: Dramatic rise in dangerous sites
There has been a 20 per cent increase in the number of construction sites requiring enforcement action after HSE inspection blitzes. Nearly one in four of the construction sites visited by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) during March 2010 failed safety checks, compared to one in five in an equivalent blitz last year. HSE news release and equivalent 2009 HSE release • Risks 451 Hazards news,
10 April 2010
Britain: Directors’ duties on the back burner
The government has said it will not act on two key recommendations of a report into fatalities in the construction industry. The 30 March DWP response to Rita Donaghy’s report into construction deaths, published a week before parliament was dissolved ahead of the general election, accepted 23 of the 28 recommendations of the report, but only said it “would look further” at the report’s call for statutory safety duties on company directors and at the extension of gangmaster licensing to the construction industry. DWP news release and full response to Rita Donaghy’s report • UCATT news release • One Death is too many – Inquiry into the underlying causes of construction fatal accidents, the Donaghy report, 8 July 2009 • TUC directors' duties briefing document • Risks 451 Hazards news,
10 April 2010
Britain: TV footage helps convict fall death firm
Footage filmed for a TV documentary about medics has been used to help secure a safety conviction relating to the death of 25-year-old construction worker Balwinder Kumar. London firm Regentford Ltd was fined £250,000 after being convicted of safety offences, following an eight day trial at Croydon Crown Court. HSE news release and scaffolding guide • Risks 451 Hazards news,
10 April 2010
Britain: Steel giant Corus gets its third fine in a month
Corus ended March as it began – in the dock for safety offences. On 31 March, the steel giant was fined £10,000 following an explosion in a 75-metre-tall steel chimney in Scunthorpe, the firm’s third prosecution of the month. HSE news release • More on Corus and safety • Risks 451 Hazards news,
10 April 2010
Britain: Court blocks rail safety strike
Rail union leaders are set to reballot thousands of rail workers over industrial action in a row over safety, jobs and working practices. More than 5,000 signal workers and 12,000 maintenance staff across the rail network were due to stage four days of industrial action this week, but the action was halted at the high court, which backed a Network Rail call for an injunction. RMT news release • TSSA news release • Morning Star • Stronger Unions blog • Herald • Risks 451 Hazards news,
10 April 2010
Britain: Serious injury on fan mended with string
A scaffolder lost his leg after falling onto an industrial fan which had not been properly repaired. Unite member Terry Ledger, 43, was dismantling scaffolding at Coryton Oil Refinery in Essex when he fell through wire caging used to protect the fan, which had been damaged in an earlier accident but had only been repaired using a piece of string. Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 451 Hazards news,
10 April 2010
Mexico: Tense standoff at danger mine
Tensions remain high at Mexico's Cananea mine where 1,300 miners have occupied a Grupo Mexico copper mine defending their right to strike for health and safety standards on the job. The striking members of the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) at the Cananea copper mine in Sonora, Mexico, blocked the federal highway between Cananea and Agua Prieta on 16 and 17 March, demanding that the government step in to help broker a peaceful resolution. IMF news release • Support Cananea miners and their families • Working In These Times • Risks 450 Hazards news,
3 April 2010
Global: Would you fly BP Airlines?
The fifth anniversary of the BP Texas City refinery explosion, which killed 15 contract workers and injured over 170 others, fell on 23 March. However, both US regulators and unions have questioned the company’s commitment to improved standards, with John Bresland, chair of the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), saying:“If the airline industry was having the same number of accidents as the refinery industry, I don’t think too many people would be flying.” USW Tony Mazzocchi Center news release • OSHA news release • CSB news release • Houston Chronicle • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 450 Hazards news,
3 April 2010
Britain: Firm to blame for worker’s brain damage
The mother of a Derbyshire man who was left blinded and with serious brain injuries when he was hit on the head by a five and a half tonne metal sheet has expressed her relief at the High Court’s decision to hold his employer 100 per cent liable. However, despite the judge finding the company was responsible for serious and numerous breaches of safety legislation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had earlier decided it would not pursue a prosecution. Irwin Mitchell news release • Sheffield Telegraph • BBC News Online • Risks 450 Hazards news,
3 April 2010
Recycling firm fined after arson attack
A York hazardous waste recycling company has been fined £40,000 and £6,110 costs for failing to safeguard flammable liquid that was used in an arson attack on the business. BCB Environmental Management Limited pleaded guilty at Harrogate Magistrates Court to breaches of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR) after illegally processing drums of volatile chemicals close to unprotected electrical equipment and forklift trucks. HSE news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • York Press • Risks 450 Hazards news,
3 April 2010
Britain: Factory fined £100,000 after worker's death
The brother of a dead factory worker has spoken out after a company was prosecuted for his death. Hydro Aluminium Extrusion Ltd, of Caerphilly, which specialises in supplying aluminium extrusion and fabricated products - was fined a total of £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £13,375 at Durham Crown Court after 38-year-old Jens Hinrichs was struck by a rail track mounted shuttle car and killed. HSE news release • Sunderland Echo • Risks 450 Hazards news,
3 April 2010
Britain: Site boss guilty after worker drowns
A West Kent construction employer has been found guilty of health and safety breaches following the drowning death of an employee. At Maidstone Crown Court, Edward James Day (trading as E J Construction) of Longfield Road, Longfield, Kent, was fined £20,000 on charges relating to the death of Mark Wilkin. HSE news release • Risks 450 Hazards news,
3 April 2010
Britain: Tory safety axeman falls short on facts
A Tory appointed health and safety troubleshooter has shown a troubling disregard for the facts, safety professionals organisation IOSH has indicated. Commenting on a speech by Lord Young, IOSH chief executive Rob Strange said “despite meeting him twice to brief him for his review, he quite clearly hasn’t taken in some of the facts.” IOSH news release • Risks 450 Hazards news,
3 April 2010
Bangladesh: Fire victims need proper compensation
Garment employers must develop a compensation scheme that meets the needs of the victims of a Dhaka sweater factory fire, the global union federation for the sector has said. The call from the ITGLWF comes in the wake of the 25 February fire at the Garib & Garib Sweater factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which left 22 workers dead and another 50 injured. ITGLWF news release • Risks 449 Hazards news,
27 March 2010
Britain: Wrong-thinking by right-leaning thinktank
A report on workplace safety calling on regulators to go easy on directors, for a “consideration” of safety deregulation and for some businesses to be exempted entirely from controls has been denounced by TUC as out of touch with reality. The author the Policy Exchange report, Corin Taylor, is currently a senior policy adviser at the Institute of Directors and was until recently research director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance. TUC news release • Policy Exchange news release and report, Health and safety - Reducing the burden [pdf] • FACK news release • Risks 449 Hazards news, 27 March 2010
Britain: Inspectors denounce Tory ‘lunacy’ on safety
Plans by the Conservative party to allow firms to evade safety inspection by trained Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors are “sheer lunacy”, the safety inspectors’ union has warned. Prospect negotiator Mike Macdonald said: “Plans to side-step HSE inspectors amount to plans to side-step safety.” Prospect news release • Risks 449 Hazards news, 27 March 2010
Britain: Deadly sites expose ‘fatally flawed’ Tory plans
Construction union UCATT is calling on the Conservatives to rethink their plans to “privatise” safety enforcement, after an official inspection blitz of sites in Greater Manchester revealed over a quarter were unsafe. UCATT news release • HSE news release • Risks 449 Hazards news, 27 March 2010
Britain: STUC welcomes action on workplace gas safety
The UK government has announced measures to boost safety following a factory blast in Glasgow which killed nine workers and serious injured 30 over five years ago. The action comes in the official response to a report into the explosion at the ICL Plastics factory in May 2004. STUC news release • DWP news release and response to the ICL inquiry report [pdf] • STV • BBC News Online • ICL Stockline campaign website • Risks 449 Hazards news, 27 March 2010
Britain: Network Rail fails on safety again
Rail unions have reissued a call for Network Rail to halt a job cuts programme, including the loss of hundreds of safety critical maintenance jobs, after it emerged the company has been again hit with an official health and safety improvement notice covering safety failings across the South East. TSSA news release • RMT news release • The Independent • Risks 449 Hazards news, 27 March 2010
Britain: Directors fined £1,000 for brain damage fall
Two directors of a decorating firm have been fined just £1,000 each for safety offences that left a worker brain damaged. Self-employed Trevor Dawson from Ravensthorpe, West Yorkshire, was working as a painter on a student accommodation refurbishment when the incident happened on 15 August 2007. HSE news release • Risks 449 Hazards news, 27 March 2010
Britain: No prosecution after laundry tragedy
A firm that failed to guard a machine or post warning signs about serious safety risks will not be prosecuted after a novice worker died after being trapped in the machine. Hafiz Abdul Shakoor fell into a coma and died 12 days after suffering a heart attack when he became caught between metal bars in a laundry loading area. Birmingham Mail • Risks 449 Hazards news, 27 March 2010
Britain: Scots work killers could suffer share hit
A proposal in Scotland to allow courts to force companies guilty of serious safety crimes to issue new shares has passed its latest hurdle in the Scottish parliament. Dr Bill Wilson, the SNP member of the Scottish parliament for West of Scotland, said: “With more than eighteen signatures from MSPs and sufficient cross-party support I now have the right to introduce my Criminal Sentencing (Equity Fines) Bill.” Bill Wilson MSP news release • Criminal Sentencing (Equity Fines) Bill [pdf] • Risks 449 Hazards news, 27 March 2010
Honduras: Drive-by killers target journalists
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed fresh concern over the media crisis in Honduras following three murders in two weeks targeting media. The killings of Joseph Hernández Ochoa, a former TV presenter on 1 March, David Meza Montesinos, a radio reporter who died on 11 March and fellow reporter Nahum Palacios Arteaga murdered three days later were carried out in drive-by shootings. IFJ news release • Risks 448 Hazards news,
20 March 2010
Britain: Corus gets second safety fine this month
Steel giant Corus has found itself facing the courts on safety charges for the second time in a fortnight. In the latest case, the multinational was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £9,908.50 costs at Sheffield Crown Court after a worker escaped with minor injuries after the crane he was operating overturned. HSE news release • More on the Corus safety record • Risks 448 Hazards news, 20 March 2010
Britain: Hammer firm hit with fine
A Solihull hammer manufacturer has been fined after an employee suffered severe injuries when his hand was caught in an industrial drill. Solihull magistrates heard Aaron Watts was working at the Shirley based Thor Hammer Company when the glove on his right hand became entangled in one of the rotating spindles of an unguarded pedestal drill. HSE news release • Birmingham Post • Risks 448 Hazards news, 20 March 2010
Britain: A quarter of sites fail safety inspections
More than a quarter of the construction sites visited in Greater Manchester during an inspection blitz last week failed safety inspections. HSE news release • Risks 448 Hazards news, 20 March 2010
Britain: Royal Mail ‘got off light’ after work death
Royal Mail got away with a “paltry fine” following the horrific death of a member of staff. Commenting on the £90,000 fine, CWU national health and safety officer Dave Joyce said: “When you consider the Postal Regulator fined Royal Mail £11.5 million a few years ago for not delivering enough letters on time, this fine is paltry on an organisation with a £9,560 million turnover and fines like this are no deterrent or incentive to improve safety management and place little value on a lost life.” CWU news release • Risks 448 Hazards news,
20 March 2010
Britain: Tory safety opt-out will be a ‘scoundrels’ charter’
Campaigners and unions have dismissed Tory plans to “privatise” safety enforcement as a “scoundrels’ charter.” Under Tory proposals firmed up this week by shadow business spokesperson John Penrose, certain businesses would be allowed to carry out their own safety audits and refuse access to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors. UCATT news release • Morning Star • Risks 448 Hazards news,
20 March 2010
Britain: Roads continue to kill off the record
Road safety campaigners and industry representatives have challenged the government to start official reporting of work related road crashes. The call came after road safety minister Paul Clark told a road safety conference this month: “Work related driving remains a great concern to all of us involved in road safety because around 75 per cent of all work-related deaths are out on the road.” Paul Clark’s speech to the Brake Fleet Safety Forum conference • Brake • Risks 447 Hazards news,
13 March 2010
Royal Mail fined over employee death
Royal Mail has been fined following the death of an employee who was crushed by a reversing HGV. Yard shunter Colin Smith, 57, was fatally injured in September 2006 at Royal Mail’s Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC). HSE news release • Risks 447 Hazards news,
13 March 2010
Turkey: ‘Obvious negligence’ in deadly mine blast
A gas explosion on 23 February that killed 13 workers in a Turkish mine was the result of “obvious negligence”, according to a top union official. Tayfun Görgün, president of the mining union DEV MADEN-SEN, said there were clear faults with the mine's ventilation, early warning system and auditing. Bianet • Risks 446 Hazards news,
6 March 2010
Bangladesh: Anger as garment workers perish At least 21 workers have been killed in a fire at the Garib & Garib Sweater Factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh. Patrick Itschert, general secretary of ITGLWF, the global union federation for the sector, said: “This tragedy, which echoes so many others in Bangladesh’s garment sector, is a brutal reminder of the grossly inadequate safety measures in place in Bangladesh’s garment factories.” ITGLWF news release • Morning Star • Risks 446 Hazards news,
6 March 2010
Britain: Campaigners welcome new cranes law
Unions and campaigners have welcomed confirmation that a crane safety law will come into effect next month. Liliana Alexa, the Battersea resident who spearheaded the campaign for a law and whose son Michael Alexa, 23, was killed by a crane collapse whilst cleaning his car, welcomed the new measures. GMB news release • BCDAG news release • Risks 446 Hazards news,
6 March 2010
Steel giant Corus gets away with a £5,000 fine
Steel giant Corus has been fined £5,000 after a worker was seriously injured while clearing a jam in the production line at a factory in Skinningrove, East Cleveland. The fine will not make a significant dent in the company coffers: the firm’s website notes: “Corus is Europe's second largest steel producer with annual revenues of around £12 billion and a crude steel production of over 20 million tonnes.” HSE news release • More on the Corus safety record • Risks 446 Hazards news,
6 March 2010
Britain: Council fined after road worker dies
Rotherham Council has been fined £75,000 after employee Gordon Duffield was killed by a reversing truck. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also prosecuted contractor Brocklebank & Company (Demolition) Limited over the incident during a council road surfacing operation. HSE news release • Risks 446 Hazards news,
6 March 2010
Britain: Watchdog confirms RMT rail safety fears
Rail union RMT has demanded an immediate halt to plans to axe up to 1,500 safety-critical Network Rail maintenance jobs after an official probe called for “a significant change in attitudes and behaviours throughout” the company. The call, in a letter from Bill Emery, the chief executive of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), to Network Rail boss Iain Coucher, came as a damning report from ORR identified major safety concerns related to implementation of Network Rail’s maintenance restructuring. ORR news release and letter to Iain Coucher, Network Rail [pdf] • RMT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 446 Hazards news,
6 March 2010
RMT demands action against Network Rail
RMT has demanded urgent legal action against Network Rail after an improvement notice served on the company highlighted “systemic” failings in its track-work safety regime. The improvement notice, issued by railways inspector Liesel von Metz on 23 February, concerns lines between Cardiff Central and the Valleys and fleshes out a prohibition notice served earlier in the month. RMT news release • Risks 446 Hazards news,
6 March 2010
Mexico: Widows seek justice for 65 mine deaths
Families of coal miners killed four years ago in an explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine in Coahuila, Mexico, have filed a US-union backed legal case in US federal court seeking damages from Grupo Mexico Inc. The lawsuit was filed by the United Steelworkers union (USW) on behalf of three widows whose husbands were among 65 coal miners killed in the disaster. USW news release • IMF news report • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette • Arizona Star • Risks 445 Hazards news,
27 February 2010
Britain: Tower crane registration scheme becomes law
A new law to improve the safety of tower cranes on construction sites was laid before parliament this week, paving the way for the start of a statutory registration scheme. The regulations, developed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a high profile campaign by safety activists and unions, will come into force on 6 April. DWP news release • Risks 445 Hazards news,
27 February 2010
Britain: Hole in ship was plugged with a rag
The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency has detained a 2,000 ton ship using a rag to plug a hole in its cracked hull. The Russian registered cargo vessel Baltiyskiy 110 has been issued with a Detention Notice due to failure to comply with merchant legislation in Fowey, Cornwall. MCA news release • Risks 445 Hazards news,
27 February 2010
Britain: Work killers could be forced to advertise crimes
Companies convicted of corporate manslaughter could be forced to take out adverts publicising their conviction as a result of new measures, the justice ministry has said. Courts will now be able to hand out publicity orders to firms and public bodies where gross corporate health and safety failures caused a person's death. Ministry of Justice news release • Risks 445 Hazards news, 27 February 2010
Britain: Serial offender trumpets safety ‘milestone’
A company that says it is the UK’s leading waste and recycling firm and that parades its environmental and safety credentials has been a serial safety offender over the last five years. Health and safety magazine Hazards charges that while no mention of a conviction in February relating to an employee’s death appears on the Veolia ES website, “the company is less reticent when it comes to boasting about its safety successes.” Hazards ‘green jobs, safe job’ blog Hazards news, 27 February 2010
Britain: Boss fined for unsafe work on roof
A roofing firm boss has been fined £4,950 after putting himself and two of his employees at risk of falling more than seven metres from a building. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Dean Paul Shaw, 44, trading as Streamline Guttering and Cladding, of Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, for allowing work to take place on a roof without adequate safety equipment to stop him or his workers falling. HSE news release and Shattered Lives campaign website • Risks 445 Hazards news, 27 February 2010
Britain: Property developer faces the courts
A Bradford property developer has been fined £10,000 for serious safety failings that endangered the lives of workers on a refurbishment project in Hull. HQ Leisure Limited pleaded guilty at Hull Magistrates Court to one breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, two breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and three breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. HSE news release • Risks 445 Hazards news, 27 February 2010
Belgium: Train staff strike after fatal crash
Train workers in southern Belgium went on spontaneous strike in protest against what they believe were dangerous working practices immediately after two commuters crashed at Halle, just outside Brussels, killing 18 people. The strike was widely followed and led to widespread disruption to train services in southern Belgium. Risks 444 Hazards news,
20 February 2010
Britain: Serial offender fined after recycling bin death
A company that says it is the UK’s leading waste and recycling firm and that parades its environmental and safety credentials has been fined £130,000 after a worker was killed when a 1,100-litre recycling bin fell on his head. Green jobs, safe jobs blog Hazards news,
20 February 2010
Britain: Construction firm fined after worker run over
Construction giant Carillion has been fined £185,000 after an Oldham worker suffered life-threatening injuries when he was run over by a reversing truck at the Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale in 2008. A Ford Transit truck was reversing on the construction site when it hit Michael Gresty who was helping to build a new track around a large pond. Press notice • Risks 444 Hazards news,
20 February 2010
Britain: TUC criticises low fines despite new laws
The TUC has expressed concern that courts are continuing to impose ridiculously low fines on employers who are found guilty of health and safety offences despite recent laws that aimed to increase penalties. The health and safety at work offences act, which came into effect last year removed the limit on most offences by allowing them to be tried in higher courts and at the same time raised the maximum fine which could be imposed in the lower courts to £20,000. HSE press notice • HSE press notice • Risks 444 Hazards news,
20 February 2010
[deadly bus] Britain: Safety campaigners back TUC on sentencing
Safety campaigners have backed the TUC's call for greater penalties against companies that kill workers, following the publication of government sentencing guidelines. IOSH press release • FACK release • Risks 444 Hazards news,
20 February 2010
Britain: Rail firm issued prohibition notice over staff cuts
Network has been served a Prohibition Notice by the Office of Rail Regulation over a shortage of lookouts to ensure safe track working in South Wales. The notice states that the inspector is 'of the opinion that there is an immediate risk of harm to the trackworkers undertaking foot patrols on the railway line between Cardiff Central and Aberdare, Rhymney, Treherbert and Merthyr Tydfil.” RMT release • Risks 444 Hazards news,
20 February 2010
Britain: Rail unions to ballot on safety fears
Two rail unions are to ballot their members for industrial action over the threat from Network Rail to axe up to 1500 safety-critical maintenance jobs. The two unions, TSSA and RMT have repeatedly raised concerns over the effect that these cuts will have on the safety of the national rail network. TSSA release • RMT release • Risks 444 Hazards news,
20 February 2010
USA: Long hours linked to deadly gas explosion
Workers in a Connecticut power plant that was rocked by an explosion which killed five people last week were often working more than 80 hours a week, reports say. It is also alleged that workers at the Kleen Energy Systems plant smelled gas less than an hour beforehand and were told to open doors wider for air. Risks 443 Hazards news,
13 February 2010
Britain: Guideline on Corporate Manslaughter published
The Sentencing Guidelines Council have published guidance for courts in dealing with companies and organisations that cause death through a gross breach of care or where breach of health and safety requirements are a significant cause of the death. The council guidelines, effective from 15 February 2010, state fines for companies and organisations found guilty of corporate manslaughter may be millions of pounds and should seldom be below £500,000. Risks 443 Hazards news,
13 February 2010
Britain: Company fined after bowling alley death
A leisure company, Mitchells and Butler Retail Ltd, which ran the former Hollywood Bowl site in East London, has been fined £40,000 after pleading guilty to a health and safety breach in a prosecution brought by Newham Council. Ferdinand de la Cruz was crushed to death by a ten-pin bowling machine he was cleaning because the company had not provided adequate protection - namely a guard that would have prevented the awful accident. Risks 443 Hazards news,
13 February 2010
Britain: Verdict of unlawful killing reinstated
An inquest has heard that a pit worker died from a gas leak because his employer did not enforce its health and safety policy. Richard Clarkson, 26, died in 2004 in an argon gas-filled pit at Bodycote Ltd metal parts factory in Hereford and his colleague, Stuart Jordan, who tried to help him also died. Risks 443 Hazards news,
13 February 2010
Britain: Stonemasons suffer long-term lung damage
A York-based company of stonemasons William Anelay Limited, of York, was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £6,000 by York Crown Court after pleading guilty of breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The court heard that two employees, who had been working for the company as stonemasons for many years, fell ill after being exposed to uncontrolled levels of respirable crystalline silica, which is caused primarily by dry stone carving without extraction ventilation or use of protective equipment. Risks 443 Hazards news,
13 February 2010
Britain: Company fined for poisoning its workers
A recycling company and its director have been fined a total of £145,000 for exposing workers to toxic mercury fumes at a site in Huddersfield. Electrical Waste Recycling Group Ltd recycles electrical equipment, including fluorescent light tubes containing mercury and TV sets and monitors containing lead at a plant in School Lane, Kirkheaton. Green jobs, safe jobs blog Hazards news,
13 February 2010
Europe: Construction unions reject deregulation
The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) has denounced European Commission (EC) proposals for health and safety deregulation. The EC’s October 2009 action programme, which forms part of a European Union “Better Regulation” push, calls for certain firms to be exempted from core health and safety requirements. ETUI-HESA news briefing • Risks 442 Hazards news,
6 February 2010
Britain: Risk assessment may have stopped knife death
A simple risk assessment may have averted an incident when a mental health worker was stabbed to death, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said. Mental health charity Mental Health Matters was fined £30,000 and ordered to page £20,000 costs after admitting failing to protect employee Ashleigh Ewing, 22, who was stabbed to death by a paranoid schizophrenic. HSE news release • BBC News Online • The Journal • Risks 442 Hazards news,
6 February 2010
Britain: Fined £7,500 after builder’s death
A Bolton housebuilding company has been fined £7,500 after one of its workers fell to his death. DC Kennedy Homes Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after Ian Smith, 64, was killed when he fell from an unstable ladder. HSE news release and Shattered Lives campaign • Risks 442 Hazards news,
6 February 2010
Britain: Call for vigilance after bridge deaths
Construction union UCATT is calling for increased vigilance and is demanding companies do not take a complacent attitude to safety, after two bridge workers in Scotland were killed within hours of each other. Both men were undertaking painting and blasting duties and both deaths occurred on rail bridges. UCATT news release • ORR statement • BBC News Online • Risks 442 Hazards news,
6 February 2010
Britain: Firefighters 'arrest' over warehouse deaths
Firefighters’ union FBU has expressed concern after being told three managers were to be arrested in relation to the deaths of four firefighters in a 2007 warehouse blaze. FBU news release • BBC News Online • Risks 442 Hazards news,
6 February 2010
Britain: Company finez for Heathrow crush death
A major airport services company has been fined £90,000 following the death of an employee crushed by an electric vehicle at Heathrow airport. Maintenance engineer Mohammed Taj, 52, died in March 2008, when the “tug” used for pulling baggage and other supplies to planes, fell on his head. HSE news release • Hillingdon Times • Risks 441 Hazards news,
30 January 2010
Britain: Massive cement explosion injures worker
A Scottish oil service firm has been fined £14,000 after an explosion sent five tonnes of cement powder into the atmosphere, injuring a worker. Peterhead-based Cebo UK pleaded guilty to two failures to comply with its pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit when the case was heard at Peterhead Sheriff Court. SEPA news release • Press and Journal • Risks 441 Hazards news,
30 January 2010
Britain: Confused recycling sector is still deadly
If you work in waste and recycling, you might not be reassured to hear it has a work fatality rate nine times the national average. And you might be even more alarmed when you hear some privatisation-happy local authorities are clueless when it comes to their legal responsibility to keep you safe. HSE news release and new waste sector resources • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 441 Hazards news,
30 January 2010
Global: NHS supplies made in very unhealthy conditions
Doctors are calling for action to eliminate child labour and dangerous working conditions in the production of NHS supplies. The BMA’s Medical Fair and Ethical Trade group this week launched an information campaign telling doctors about the labour abuses evident in the production of NHS medical supplies. BMA news release • Fair Medical Trade website, facebook group and leaflet [pdf] • Risks 441 Hazards news,
30 January 2010
Britain: RMT dossier exposes rail safety failures
RMT has warned that a safety crisis on the rails could get dramatically worse if Network Rail is allowed to proceed with plans to shed 1,500 safety critical maintenance posts. On 27 January, the union handed a damning dossier to MPs, outlining reports of a “serious deterioration in safety” alongside damaging maintenance cuts. RMT news release • Risks 441 Hazards news,
30 January 2010
Britain: Shock global safety ranking for the UK
The UK does not make Europe’s top 20 for occupational health and safety performance and only just scrapes into the top 30 worldwide, according to a new ranking topped by Denmark. The Health and Safety Risk Index (HSRI) ranks the UK the 30 safest nation; among the 30 OECD nations, the UK is ranked at a lowly 20th – although some other major OECD nations have worse still rankings, including the USA, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Maplecroft news release • Risks 440 Hazards news,
23 January 2010
Britain: BAE fined over woman’s blast death
Defence company BAE has been fined £80,000 over the death of a worker who was killed in a blast at its explosives factory in Lancashire. Lynda Wilkins was working with lead styphnate, a sensitive primary explosive, in March 2005 when she was killed at the Chorley site. HSE news release • Lancashire Evening Post • BBC News Online • Risks 440
Hazards news,
23 January 2010
Britain: Young worker crushed to death
A construction company has been fined after a young employee had his head crushed at a site in Gloucestershire. Macob Administration Limited, based in Bridgend, Wales, was charged by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after 23-year-old Lance Taylor was killed on a Gloucester construction site on 11 February 2005. HSE news release • Risks 440 Hazards news,
23 January 2010
USA: Better enforcement equals fewer mine deaths
Mining deaths in the US fell to an all-time low last year, and two of the key reasons, said the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), are stronger enforcement of mine safety laws and the tougher mine safety rules passed in 2006 after a series of explosions, fires and other deadly incidents. MSHA figures show 18 coal miners were killed in 2009 and 16 workers in metal/nonmetal mines were killed - a drop from 2008’s total of 53 deaths. MSHA news release • AFL-CIO Now Blog • Charleston Gazette • Risks 43 Hazards news,
16 January 2010
Bangladesh: Eight workers die in shipyard blast
Bangladesh’s notoriously deadly shipbreaking yards have claimed eight more lives. The workers at the Rahim Steel and Shipbreaking Yard were burned to death on 26 December, when the ship they were dismantling exploded.
NLC’s 11 January 2010 shipbreaking report [pdf] and shipbreaking webpages • USW news release • Risks 439 Hazards news,
16 January 2010
Britain: Shock at work deaths penalty proposals
Not linking fines with turnover is a “gross undermining” of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (CMCHA), trade union law firm Thompsons Solicitors has warned. It says one of the main reasons behind the legislation was public disquiet at large companies who had killed workers receiving minimal or no sentences – but the new proposals fail to address this concern. Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 439 Hazards news,
16 January 2010
Global: Another deadly year for journalists
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is demanding more action from governments and the United Nations to protect media workers. The call came as IFJ announced a grim total of 137 journalists and media personnel had been killed during 2009. IFJ news release • INSI news release • Risks 438 Hazards news,
9 January 2009
Britain: Fire union warning after deaths verdict
The government must learn the lessons of a tragedy that claimed the lives of two firefighters, the union FBU has warned. The call came after a fireworks factory owner and his son were convicted in December 2009 of the manslaughter of two firefighters. FBU news release • Risks 438 Hazards news,
9 January 2009
Britain: ‘Lamentable’ Shell fined after worker is paralysed
Oil giant Shell and two of its contractors have been fined after “lamentable failings” led to a “totally avoidable” refinery incident that left a worker paralysed from the waist down. Shell UK Oil Products Ltd, Dalprop Ltd and Hertel UK Ltd were fined at Warrington Crown Court on 4 January for safety offences related to the 9 February 2007 incident at Shell’s Stanlow complex near Ellesmere Port. HSE news release and video interview with Stephen and Jayne Rizzotti • Liverpool Daily Post • Wall Street Journal • The Times • Personnel Today • Risks 438 Hazards news,
9 January 2009
Britain: Bus company fined for death of driver
A bus company has been fined £400,000 after a driver was crushed to death between two seven-tonne London buses. Robert Cherry, 59, died from massive pelvic injuries at Uxbridge Bus Garage - a depot belonging Centrewest London, part of the First UK group – on 18 May 2004. HSE news release • Uxbridge Gazette • Risks 438 Hazards news,
9 January 2009
Turkey: Coal mine blast kills nineteen
Nineteen miners have been killed in a suspected methane gas explosion at a coal mine in western Turkey. The 10 December explosion happened at a depth of more than 200m (700 feet), causing a shaft to collapse and starting a fire. ICEM news briefing • Today’s Zaman • BBC News Online • Risks 437 Hazards news,
19 December 2009
Britain: Company ignored asbestos warnings
A company has been fined for failing to carry out proper risk assessments for the presence of asbestos before a major office refurbishment in Merthyr Tydfil. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says Waxport Ltd put employees and contractors at risk when work started on the refurbishment without an asbestos survey. HSE news release and Hidden killer campaign • Local London • Risks 437 Hazards news,
19 December 2009
Britain: Six figure payout for injury HSE wouldn’t probe
An electrical engineer who had his left leg amputated below the knee after falling from a ladder in Rotherham has been awarded £450,000 in compensation. Keith Waring fell 13ft off the ladder on to a block paved patio, seriously injuring his left ankle- the case led to criticism of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) role, after Hazards revealed HSE had been informed of the September 2002 incident, but had refused to investigate because it was not considered serious enough. Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Yorkshire Post • Sheffield Star • Risks 437 Hazards news,
19 December 2009
Britain: Firm’s ‘relaxed attitude’ led to death
An organic farm owned by the wife of the multi-millionaire owner of JCB and top Tory backer Sir Anthony Bamford was ordered to pay more than £90,000 last week after one of its employees died because of a relaxed attitude to safety. Gardener Tony Cripps, 57, was crushed under a JCB while he tried to collect elderflower from the Daylesford Organic farm shop to make lemonade for the owner Carole Bamford. HSE news release • BBC News Online • The Telegraph • The Independent • Risks 437 Hazards news,
19 December 2009
Britain: Manslaughter verdicts on firefighter deaths
A fireworks factory owner and his son have been convicted of the manslaughter of two firefighters killed in an explosion at the East Sussex site. Alfa Fireworks owner Martin Winter, 52, and his son Nathan, 25, were “grossly negligent”, Lewes crown court heard, and were sentenced to seven and five years in jail respectively. BBC News Online • The Telegraph • The Guardian • Sussex Express • Daily Mirror • Risks 437 Hazards news,
19 December 2009
Britain: £150,000 fine for Preston chemical fire
An international waste management company has been fined £150,000 for health and safety breaches following a major chemical fire in Preston which closed two motorways. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Veolia ES Cleanaway (UK) Ltd after carrying out a joint 15-month investigation with the Environment Agency and Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service. HSE news release and fire and explosion webpages • Central Radio • Risks 437 Hazards news,
19 December 2009
Britain: Injury exposed catalogue of offences
A printing company and two of its directors have been prosecuted after an investigation into a worker's injury exposed a series of health and safety breaches at its Bedfordshire site. The legal action against Flitwick firm Colpac Ltd and two of its directors, Terry Langton and Stephen Burton, was brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). HSE news release and print industry webpage • Risks 437 Hazards news,
19 December 2009
Britain: Union calls for urgent work death inquiry
Construction union UCATT has called for an urgent inquiry following the death of a worker in Hull last week. Raymond Jessop 53, died on 8 December after falling from a ladder while painting a council property in the city. UCATT news release • Risks 437 Hazards news,
19 December 2009
Britain: Directors’ duties are overdue, says TUC
The TUC says the case for legally-binding safety duties on company directors is watertight, adding they would be “the biggest driver yet in changing boardroom attitudes towards health and safety.” The union body says the current law “means that if a board of directors refuses to have any involvement in health and safety, however bad the record of the company, there is almost nothing that can be done to force them to take responsibility beyond disqualification (which is almost never done).” TUC directors’ duties briefing document • Risks 437 Hazards news,
19 December 2009
USA: Worker killed at enforcement opt-out site
A worker was killed last week at a US plant exempted from safety inspections by the official safety watchdog because it has opted in to a ‘Voluntary Protection Programme (VPP).” Tommy Manis, 40, was killed and two other workers were injured at Valero Energy’s Texas City refinery. The Pump Handle • Houston Chronicle • Risks 436 Hazards news,
12 December 2009
Britain: Sellafield fined after radiation exposures
The company that runs the Sellafield decommissioning operation has been fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £26,100 in costs after two contract workers inhaled radioactive material. The prosecution followed an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into an incident on 11 July 2007 at the Sellafield Nuclear Licensed Site in Cumbria. HSE news release • Construction News • Risks 436 Hazards news,
12 December 2009
Britain: Vehicle repair firm fined after death
A commercial vehicle repair centre in Kettering has been fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £25,000 costs after an employee was crushed to death underneath a 24-tonne lorry. FW Abbott Ltd pleaded guilty at Northampton Crown Court to health and safety breaches which led to the death of Martin John Carswell, 47. HSE news release and motor vehicle repair webpages • Risks 436 Hazards news,
12 December 2009
Australia: Deaths go through the roof
A series of deaths in young workers installing insulation to make homes “greener” has led to a government clampdown on dangerous contractors. The Australian government’s Energy Efficient Homes Package has been dogged by safety concerns since the rebate began in July, with accusations of inexperienced and unscrupulous operators rushing to cash in on the scheme. ACTU news release • Green jobs blog • Risk 435 Hazards news,
5 December 2009
Britain: Firm fined after lung disease outbreak
A Yorkshire company has been fined £20,000 after an outbreak of lung disease caused by metalworking fluids. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors described the case as “shocking”, after Barnsley Magistrates Court heard the entire 380-strong workforce at Koyo Bearings (Europe) Ltd was exposed to a hazardous mist during everyday operations. HSE news release • Yorkshire Post • Risk 435 Hazards news,
5 December 2009
Britain: Government lab done for cancer risks
A government-run laboratory exposed workers to chemicals known to cause cancer without using any of the accepted health and safety controls. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) in Suffolk accepted a Crown Censure for health and safety breaches, the equivalent of a prosecution for a government body.
HSE news release [pdf] • Cefas news release • Lowestoft Journal • BBC News Online • Risk 435 Hazards news,
5 December 2009
Britain: Scots criminals can’t plead poverty
Employers convicted of criminal offences in Scotland could soon be subject to full financial background inquiries to ensure they are punished correctly for serious offences. The new measures are part of the Criminal Sentencing (Equity Fines) Member’s Bill proposed by MSP Dr Bill Wilson, which has now received the backing of the Scottish government and might now be incorporated in the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill. Construction News • Proposed Criminal Sentencing (Equity Fines) Bill and Scottish Parliament Justice Committee report on the bill • Risk 435 Hazards news,
5 December 2009
Britain: Campaigners win a cranes register
Construction union UCATT have welcomed confirmation from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that it intends to introduce a new statutory crane register from April 2010. The decision was made at November’s HSE board meeting. HSE news release • UCATT news release • Risk 435 Hazards news,
5 December 2009
Britain: Cameron’s myth-fuelled attack on safety
David Cameron has been accused by the TUC of creating a Conservative policy on health and safety that “seems to consist of little more than a medley of Daily Mail headlines.” A speech by the Conservative leader called for an end to the UK's “over-the-top” health and safety culture, saying it had created a “stultifying blanket of bureaucracy, suspicion and fear.”
David Cameron’s speech to Policy Exchange [pdf] • TUC news release and Stronger Unions blog • The Guardian • The Times • BBC News Online • The Express • The Telegraph • Risk 435 Hazards news,
5 December 2009
Britain: STUC issues Cameron a safety challenge
The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) has challenged Conservative leader David Cameron to visit Scotland and meet families who have lost a loved one as a result of a neglect for health and safety in the workplace. Grahame Smith, STUC general secretary said the Tory leader’s speech to the Policy Exchange, calling for curbs on safety regulation, was “deeply offensive” to the injured and bereaved, adding: “We would say to David Cameron if you want to learn about the true consequences of health and safety failures read Hazards magazine and come to Scotland and meet families who have lost loved ones due to health and safety failures by employers.” STUC news release • Hazards deadly business special investigation • Risk 435 Hazards news,
5 December 2009
Britain: Unions berate ‘confused’ Conservatives
Unions and campaigners have accused the Tories of being “confused” on health and safety and having a poor understanding on the issues. Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) spokesperson Hilda Palmer said: “Cameron is completely bankrupt and his comments are absolute populist nonsense,” adding: “All the models the Tories are proposing come from America where they have been shown to have failed.” Prospect news release • UCATT news release • FACK news release • Morning Star • Risk 435 Hazards news,
5 December 2009
Britain: Rail luxury for chiefs, dole for workers
Rail union RMT has blasted senior Network Rail chiefs “for holding meetings in the five star opulence of London’s Langham Hotel while multi-billion pound cuts have left 1,500 essential safety maintenance staff facing the sack.” The Network Rail board met at the luxury hotel on 2 December and RMT believes the job cuts package was one of the items under discussion - members, carrying banners emblazoned with the unequivocal message ‘Cuts cost lives – safety first’, lobbied meeting. RMT news release • Risk 435 Hazards news.
5 December 2009
Philippines: Fears for media staff after massacre
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has pledged its full support to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) in an urgent campaign on news safety as reports emerged that an estimated 20 media workers died in a 23 November massacre of journalists and political campaigners in the Philippines. Press reports say 57 people were killed in the atrocity. IFJ news release • International News Safety Institute (INSI) safety appeal to aid journalists in the Philippines • BBC News Online • ABC News • Risks 434 Hazards news, 21 November 2009
China: Over 100 dead in mine blast
A total of 104 coal miners have been confirmed dead in China's worst mining disaster for almost two years. China Labour Bulletin, a Hong Kong-based organisation supporting workers' rights, said the Xinxing deaths showed that nationalising mines was not enough, adding more effective safety measures were needed, including giving a voice to workers, whose safety concerns are often overruled by their bosses. The Guardian and related video clip • China Labour Bulletin and related blog entry • New York Times • Risks 434 Hazards news,
28 November 2009
Britain: Firms fined after fatal scaffold collapse
Two construction firms involved in a major scaffolding collapse have been fined for their role in the incident, which left one man dead and two others seriously injured. Principal contractor McAleer & Rushe Limited was fined £90,000 and ordered to pay costs of £42,000 and cladding contractor Lee Smith Carpentry Limited was fined £36,000 and ordered to pay costs of £28,000. HSE news release • Video interviews with Mark Robinson and Ivan Penkov • Risks 434 Hazards news,
28 November 2009
Global: Paper deaths prompt transatlantic campaign
An increase in workplace fatalities and serious injuries in the paper industry may have been brought on by employers trying to increase profit margins at the expense of health and safety, unions in North America and the UK have warned. In January, Workers Uniting will offer a freephone number for members to report unsafe work practices, which will be then be reported to the health and safety authorities in both the US and the UK. Unite news release • USW news release • Risks 434 Hazards news,
28 November 2009
Global: Concrete action need on media murders
There must be sustained and concrete international action to address the murder of journalists in peacetime and in war, an international forum has agreed. In a declaration adopted unanimously at the fourth World Electronic Media Forum (WEMF 4) in Mexico City, broadcasters noted: “Most journalists are killed not in war zones but in their own countries as they try to shine the light of the truth into the darkest recesses of their societies.” INSI news release • Risks 433 Hazards news,
21 November 2009
USA: Workers dare not report injuries
More than two-thirds of injured or sick workers in the US fear employer discipline or even losing their jobs if their injuries are reported, a study from the official Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found. The GAO survey of more than 1,000 occupational health practitioners found a third of these health professionals reported being pressured by employers to provide insufficient treatments to workers to hide or downplay work-related injuries or illnesses. Workplace safety and health: Enhancing OSHA's records audit process could improve the accuracy of worker injury and illness data, GAO report, published online 16 November 2009 [pdf] • New York Times • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 433 Hazards news,
21 November 2009
Bangladesh: Workers killed in peaceful protest
Global union confederation ITUC and the UK’s TUC have strongly denounced the killing of three workers on 21 October in Tongi, near Bangladesh’s Dhaka airport. The police opened fire against the workers, while they were protesting against dismissals at the gate of the factory. ITUC news release • TUC letterRisks 433 Hazards news, 21 November 2009
USA: Sixteen deaths per day
Every day in the US, 16 workers go to work and don’t come home. It’s an old story, that needs new approaches to ram the home the message that workplace deaths are unacceptable – and now a new video from Brave New Films shines a spotlight on the weak deterrence and penalties provided by workplace safety laws. Sixteen deaths per day, YouTube clip • AFL-CIO blog • Risks 433 Hazards news,
21 November 2009
Britain: Reports slam ‘collapse of enforcement’
Britain’s health and safety enforcement regime is in serious decline, two new reports suggest. The inspection trend, with Health and Safety Executive field inspector numbers and inspections undertaken dipping markedly in recent years, has fallen dramatically and taken enforcement action down with it in what criminal law experts have described as the “collapse of enforcement”.
Steve Tombs and David Whyte. A deadly consensus: Worker safety and regulatory degradation under New Labour, British Journal of Criminology, 2009; doi: 10.1093/bjc/azp063 [abstract][full paper pdf] • Escaping scrutiny, Hazards magazine, Number 108, October-December 2009 • The new issue of Hazards magazine is out now • Risks 433 Thinking Allowed BBC Radio 4 programme examining white collar crime and punishment. The 11 November issue deals with workplace safety crimes. Hazards news,
21 November 2009
Britain: Liability insurance dodger fined £1,000
A Cambridgeshire retailer has been fined £1,000 for failing to have compulsory insurance to protect his employees. The case prompted the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to remind all employers about the need for insurance and warn that it will take action against those who fail to protect their staff – uninsured staff could find they are not eligible for compensation or benefit payouts if they suffer work-related injury or ill-health. HSE news release • Risks 433 Hazards news,
21 November 2009
Britain: Director fined for serial safety crimes
Paul Richard Llewellyn James, a businessman from Northamptonshire, has been fined £60,000 after ordering a worker to clean a moving machine that trapped and mangled his arm, leading to its amputation. The injured worker’s replacement also suffered arm injuries in a near identical incident 14 months later. , 58, pleaded guilty to two criminal safety offences. HSE news release • Northampton Chronicle • BBC News Online • Risks 433 Hazards news,
21 November 2009
Britain: Ship repair firm fined over death
Ship repair company A&P Falmouth has been ordered to pay more than £105,000 in fines and costs for safety breaches after a man was crushed to death. John Datson, 51, died in August 2006 at Falmouth Docks after being struck by a crane platform while he was standing between it and the base of the crane. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 433 Hazards news,
21 November 2009
Britain: Firefighters welcome Buncefield guilty plea
Firefighters have welcomed the guilty plea by oil giant Total UK to safety and environmental charges relating to the Buncefield oil depot explosion in December 2005. Their union FBU has warned, however, that cutbacks could affect the ability of firefighters to respond to future incidents. FBU news release • Buncefield investigation webpage • The Ecologist • BBC News Online • Risks 433 Hazards news,
21 November 2009
Britain: Action call on self-employed site deaths
Construction union UCATT has called for action by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after an analysis of the watchdog’s statistics revealed a sharp rise in fatalities in self-employed site workers. The union says figures supplied by HSE show the number of self-employed site workers killed increased from 19 to 20, in contrast to a sharp drop in the number of fatalities to employees in the industry, down from 53 to 33. UCATT news release • HSE construction injury statistics • Risks 433 Hazards news,
21 November 2009
Britain: Pet food firm fined £100,000 for death
A pet food manufacturer has been fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £28,380.91 costs at Northampton Crown Court after one of its workers was crushed to death. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Butcher's Pet Care Ltd over the incident in November 2003, in which John O'Connor, 38, was crushed in a canning machine. HSE news release • Risks 432 Hazards news,
14 November 2009
Britain: £10 padlock could have stopped death
A Kent rice manufacturing company has been fined £140,000 for health and safety breaches after one of its employees died when his leg became entangled in a machine. Veetee Rice Ltd employee Balwinder Singh Aulkh’s leg became trapped in an unguarded underfloor screw conveyor - a piece of machinery used to take rice from the silo; the court heard a cheap padlock could have blocked access and prevented the tragedy. HSE news release • Risks 432 Hazards news,
14 November 2009
Australia: Low pay causes lorry deaths
Australian lorry drivers and members of the public are being put in deadly peril because irresponsible firms are refusing to accept the need for a “safe rate” for professional drivers. Tony Sheldon, national secretary of the transport union TWU, said drivers were frustrated little action had been taken since a report into the industry released 12 months ago showed that transport clients were forcing unsafe driving practices through low rates of pay. TWU news release • Australasian Transport News • Risks 432 Hazards news,
14 November 2009
Britain: Asbestos victims lose out, bankers cash in
Construction union UCATT has said it is disappointed that the government has “once again been able to find billions of pounds to bail out the banks but seems unable to find just a few million pounds to compensate pleural plaques victims.” The union was speaking out after the 3 November announcement that the government was to make available a further £33.5 billion bailout for the disastrously mis-managed Royal Bank of Scotland. UCATT news release • Morning Star • Risks 432 Hazards news,
14 November 2009
Britain: HSE pulls director leadership case histories
The Health and Safety Executive has removed a “directors’ leadership” case history on BP from its website, after the watchdog was criticised for providing an undeserved public relations push for “a serial safety offender.” The criticism of BP came in a 2 November letter sent by campaigning magazine Hazards to HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger in the wake of a record US safety fine on BP for failing to remedy hundreds of problems at its Texas City refinery. Letter from Hazards to HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger • HSE director leadership case histories • Risks 432 Hazards news, 14 November 2009
Britain: HSE withdraws lead safety advice
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has withdrawn advice on the dangers of working with lead after an investigation found it greatly under-estimated health risks that could be affecting over 100,000 workers. The HSE move came after a report by academics at Stirling University, published in Hazards magazine, said the official health and safety warnings about the dangers of lead were so complacent the watchdog was guilty of “extreme recklessness” with workers’ health. Dangerous lead, Hazards magazine, October-December 2009 • Channel 4 News report and video clip • The Guardian • HSE statement • Green jobs blog • Risks 432 Hazards news, 14 November 2009
Britain: Train drivers say rail chief must go
Train drivers’ union ASLEF has said the top boss of Network Rail should be fired after an investigation revealed serious management failings contributed to a level crossing incident in which three people died. The union made the call for the dismissal of Network Rail chief Iain Coucher after an enquiry found the company’s ‘gross incompetence’ had contributed to the three deaths at the Halkirk level crossing in Caithness last month. ASLEF news release • Risks 432 Hazards news,
14 November 2009
Britain: Government told to act on fatalities report
The government should swiftly implement the recommendations of a report into construction site fatalities, the union UCATT has said. The union is concerned the delay could mean any recommendations requiring primary legislation will not be including in the Queen’s Speech on 18 November. UCATT news release • Risks 432 Hazards news,
14 November 2009
Mexico: Oil industry deaths and corruption exposed
Mexico’s offshore industry is riddled with repression and corruption that is costing workers’ lives, a report has charged. The report from global union federation ITF was launched at a major safety and industrial relations conference held in Mexico City. ITF news release • Risks 431 Hazards news, 7 November 2009
USA: BP hit with largest ever safety fine
British multinational BP has been hit with the USA’s largest ever safety fine. US labor secretary Hilda Solis announced on 30 October that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had levied the largest fine in its history - $87.4 million [over £53m] - against BP for failing to correct safety problems identified after a 2005 explosion that killed 15 workers at its Texas City refinery. OSHA/Department of Labor news release and BP prosecution webpage • New York Times • AFL-CIO blog • BBC News Online • Risks 431 Hazards news,
7 November 2009
Britain: Director fined after asbestos exposures
Two businesses and a company director have been fined after workers in Manchester were exposed to potentially deadly asbestos fibres. Recon Packaging Ltd pleaded guilty to breaches of the control of asbestos regulations; Industrial & Commercial Building Services Ltd (ICBS) and its managing director, Kevin Bennett, pleaded guilty to a breach of workplace safety law and of the Asbestos Licensing Regulations 1983. HSE news release and asbestos webpages • Risks 431 Hazards news,
7 November 2009
Britain: Manslaughter fines could be smaller
A proposal that fines for corporate manslaughter should be related to a firm’s turnover has been rejected by the Sentencing Guidelines Council (SGC). Guidelines put out to consultation by SGC say while corporate manslaughter fines will not be linked to either profit or turnover, they should “seldom” be below £500,000 and adds fines may be accompanied by a publicity order, remedial order, or both. Sentencing Guidelines Council news release [pdf], letter to consultees [pdf], advice [pdf] and consultation document on the guidelines [pdf] • The deadline for responses is 5 January 2010 • SHP Online • Personnel Today • Risks 431 Hazards news,
7 November 2009
Britain: Some businesses not keen on Tory plans
Conservative plans to pare back health and safety regulation may be less popular than the party hopes. A Tory Green Paper says an “earned autonomy” system would allow firms to arrange their own independent safety audits, with qualifying firms given the right to refuse entry to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors. Construction News • Risks 431 Hazards news,
7 November 2009
Australia: Don’t cave in to business on safety!
Unions in Australia are concerned time is running out in their battle to persuade politicians not to cave in to a big business bid to slash regulation at the expense of workers’ health and safety. Jeff Lawrence, secretary of the national union federation ACTU, said draft laws circulated in September would put workers at risk from lower safety standards. ACTU news release • Risks 430 Hazards news, 31 October 2009
Britain: Over £1m in fines after rail deaths
Carillion and Network Rail have been fined £1.1m and ordered to pay £100,000 costs between them, following the deaths of two rail workers. David Pennington, 46, and Martin Oakes, 38, were hit by a reversing road rail vehicle (RRV) while laying new track over night near Hednesford, Staffordshire in September 2004. Contract Journal • Express and Star • Risks 430 Hazards news,
31 October 2009
Britain: Directors fined after explosion death
A North Devon crop spraying manufacturing company and two of its directors are facing a fines and costs bill totalling £152,165 following the death of employee Anthony Reed, 40, in an explosion. At Exeter Crown Court, RJ Bateman Engineering was fined £65,000 for safety offences and ordered to pay costs of £67,165 and the directors of the family-owned firm, father-and-son Richard and Jason Bateman, were each fined £10,000. HSE news release • North Devon Gazette • Risks 430 Hazards news,
31 October 2009
Britain: UK Coal closes mine after death
Britain's biggest coal producer, UK Coal, has suspended production at one of its sites following the death of a worker. The company said investigations were continuing into the incident – one of series of fatalities that has hit the firm - and the colliery in Kellingley, north Yorkshire, would remain closed for the next fortnight. The Guardian • The Scotsman • Risks 430 Hazards news,
31 October 2009
Britain: Worker gets 3,300-volt electric shock
A Scottish company has been fined £1,500 for breaching health and safety law after a worker was burned by live power cables. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Grangemouth-based refinery and petrochemical company Ineos Manufacturing Scotland Ltd for failing to ensure a safe system of work was in place before undertaking excavation work near live electrical cables. HSE news release • Risks 430 Hazards news,
31 October 2009
Britain: Broken back highlights demolition dangers
A Norwich employer has been fined £7,500 after a worker broke his spine in a fall at the former RAF Watton site in Norfolk. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Tim Philpott, trading as Philpott Demolition and Recycling, for his role in the incident on 20 April 2007. HSE news release and falls webpages • Norfolk Eastern Daily Press • Risks 430 Hazards news,
31 October 2009
Britain: Work fatalities at a record low
Workplace fatalities fell to a record low last year, according to latest Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures. Fatal injuries at work fell from 233 in 2007/08 to 180 in 2008/09 and reported major injuries at work fell to 28,692 in 2008/09 (94.8 per 100,000) compared with 29,389 in 2007/08 (96.5 per 100,000). HSE news release • Health and safety: Statistics 2008/09, National Statistics, 28 October 2009 • Risks 430 Hazards news,
31 October 2009
USA: Watchdog recognises it’s all about workers
At a quick glance the change isn’t too dramatic. But the simple revisions to the website of US government health and safety watchdog OSHA represent a fundamental shift in the constituency it wants to be seen to serve - below a simple headline plumb centre on the site – ‘Worker fatalities’ – is a regularly updated, rolling list of single sentence summaries describing how individual workers died that week. OSHA website and fatalities updates • The Pump Handle • Risks 429 Hazards news,
24 October 2009
Britain: Store fined for horrific facial injuries A supermarket giant has been fined after one of its staff lost half his face in an accident as he arrived for work. Morrisons was fined £172,000 for health and safety offences and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £16,681 following a hearing at Chester Crown Court. The Sentinel • Risks 429 Hazards news,
24 October 2009
Britain: Power cables cause massive burns A scaffolder suffered burns to 52 per cent of his body and had to have his heart re-started when a pole he was carrying hit a 66,000 volt overhead power line. Manor Homes (Midlands) Ltd and G Wright Scaffolding of Redditch were both fined after pleading guilty to safety charges following the incident in November 2007. HSE news release • Contract Journal • Risks 429 Hazards news,
24 October 2009
Britain: Tories promise to ‘tame’ HSE A Conservative government would allow firms to opt-out from Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspections, with qualifying firms allowed to bar the watchdog from their premises. Instead the Conservative Party is recommending an audit system modelled on the financial sector controls that gave us Enron, Madoff and that nearly brought the entire banking system to its knees – and cut ‘sunset’ HSE entirely. Regulation in the post-bureaucratic age, Conservative Party [pdf] • Risks 429 Hazards news,
24 October 2009
Britain: Unions slam ‘disastrous’ Tory plans Unions have said Conservative Party plans to allow firms to opt-out from official health and safety oversight will be “disastrous” for health and safety. Sarah Page, national safety officer of HSE inspectors’ union Prospect, said: “Is Ken Clarke seriously saying that employers in these industries should regulate their own health and safety arrangements and close the door to our protectors?” Unite news release • Environmental Health News • Contract Journal • Construction News • Risks 429 Hazards news, 24 October 2009
Britain: Regulation is popular and lifesaving Nearly two-thirds of people in Britain agree they benefit from regulation in their everyday lives and 70 per cent think the benefits of regulation outweigh the burdens, according to a new report from the Department for Business (BIS). ‘Better regulation, better benefits: getting the balance right’ says “70-85 per cent agreed ‘overall the benefits outweigh the burdens’ for environmental standards on air/water, food hygiene, health and safety and smokefree law.” BIS news release • Better regulation, better benefits: Getting the balance right, BIS, October 2009[pdf] • TUC Touchstone blog • Risks 429 Hazards news,
24 October 2009
Britain: Women fall victim to deadly asbestos
The deaths of a garment worker and a school cleaner from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma highlights how it’s not just men in traditional dusty jobs that are at risk from the fatal fibre.
Thompsons Solicitors news releases on the school cleaner and garment worker deaths • Risks 428 Hazards news,
17 October 2009
Britain: Sugar giant fined after worker drowns
Tate and Lyle has been fined £270,000 after a contractor was killed on one of its ships in the Thames. Keith Webb, 53, drowned when his bulldozer crashed into the river while unloading raw sugar from a vessel at the company's riverside wharf in Newham, London. HSE news release • East London Advertiser • Risks 428 Hazards news,
17 October 2009
Britain: Pupil loses eight fingers in art horror
A Lincolnshire school’s governing body has been fined £16,500 after a 16-year-old girl lost most of her fingers when she put her hands in a bucket of plaster of Paris during a school art lesson. The teenager was attempting to make a sculpture of her own hands during an art and design class on 31 January 2007, Boston magistrates court was told. HSE news release • Daily Mirror • The Guardian • The Independent • Risks 428 Hazards news,
17 October 2009
Britain: Hand nailed to pallet prompts prosecution
A Herefordshire builders' merchant has been prosecuted after a worker had his hand pulled in to a machine and nailed to a pallet. Pontrilas Timber and Builders' Merchants Ltd of Pontrilas, Herefordshire, was fined £3,500 and ordered to pay £8,973 costs at Hereford Magistrates Court. HSE news release • Building • Construction News • Risks 428 Hazards news,
17 October 2009
Britain: Firm lands in court after scaffold fall
A safety warning has been issued to construction companies after a Liverpool worker was seriously injured in a fall from unstable scaffolding. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted John Doyle Construction Ltd following the incident at the Hilton Hotel construction site in central Liverpool in July 2007. HSE news release • Building • Risks 428 Hazards news,
17 October 2009
Britain: Firm exposed workers to asthma risk
A Gateshead company has been fined after exposing its workers to hazardous soldering fumes. Turbo Power Systems Ltd was fined £3,000 last week at Gateshead Magistrates’ Court and ordered to pay £3,000 costs after it pleaded guilty to three breaches of health and safety legislation. HSE news release • Risks 428 Hazards news,
17 October 2009
Britain: Women fall victim to deadly asbestos
The deaths of a garment worker and a school cleaner from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma highlights how it’s not just men in traditional dusty jobs that are at risk from the fatal fibre.
Thompsons Solicitors news releases on the school cleaner and garment worker deaths • Risks 428 Hazards news,
17 October 2009
Britain: Director fined after pet food firm death
The operations director of a pet food firm where a worker was crushed to death has been fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £4,000 costs for criminal safety breaches related to the death. Philip Thompson, 50, was responsible for protecting workers' safety at Butcher's Pet Care in Crick when engineer John O'Connor, 38, was crushed in a canning machine. HSE news release • Northampton Chronicle and Echo and related article • Risks 428 Hazards news,
17 October 2009
Britain: Chemical firm fined after repeat injury
A Welsh chemical company has been fined £26,000 after two workers suffered serious hand injuries in near identical incidents in less than a month. Magistrates heard the two men needed skin grafts after being injured by a bagging machine at the Warwick International site at Mostyn. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 427 Hazards news,
10 October 2009
Britain: Director guilty after roof fall
A Lancashire company and its director have been convicted of safety offences after a worker fell seven metres through a fragile roof. Burnley-based Webber Trading Ltd was fined £6,000 and £2,838.20 costs at Gateshead Magistrates Court last week after pleading guilty to two safety charges; Jeffrey Robinson, director of Webber Trading Ltd, who was present on the roof directing the work at the time of the incident, was fined £1,000 after also pleading guilty to two criminal safety breaches. HSE news release • Risks 427 Hazards news,
10 October 2009
Britain: Worker crushed by one tonne plate
A Kent firm has been fined £150,000 after a vehicle spray painter was crushed to death. North Kent Shotblasting Ltd was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court last week following the death of Nigel Harrison on 20 October 2006. The firm was also ordered to pay £24,000 costs. HSE news release • Local London • Risks 427 Hazards news,
10 October 2009
Britain: Firms fined for ‘unpardonable’ asbestos job
Two companies have been prosecuted after workers and members of the public were exposed to “unacceptable” levels of asbestos during a removal project. HSE inspector Sarah Snelling the actions of a roofing company were “unpardonable” and added: “A&T Roofing Ltd’s cavalier attitude towards the removal of the asbestos has put the future health of their employees, their employees’ families and members of the public in general at serious risk.” HSE news release • Daily Mirror • Local London • Risks 427 Hazards news,
10 October 2009
Britain: Business wants inspection tip-offs
The business lobby is using the economic downturn to push for a removal of safety “burdens” – and is calling for appointment-only inspections by workplace regulators. In a new policy paper launched ahead of the Conservative Party conference, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) singles out health and safety as “the biggest burden on small businesses in terms of time.” FSB news release • Regulatory Reform – a route to economic recovery, FSB Policy paper, October 2009 [pdf] • For reports on HSE inspection and enforcement trends, see the Hazards ‘deadly business’ webpages • Risks 427 Hazards news,
10 October 2009
Britain: Anger at site deaths inaction
Safety campaigners have reacted angrily at news the government will hold further talks with industry before announcing its response to the Donaghy report into construction fatalities. Trade journal Construction News revealed last week that work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper wants to hold further talks with the industry before implementing any recommendations from the government-commissioned report. Hazards Campaign news release • Construction News and earlier related report Hazards news,
10 October 2009
USA: Work exposures rise as inspections fall
The US official health and safety regulator OSHA is doing fewer health inspections despite more workplace exposures to toxic and hazardous substances, according to an analysis by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). It says while workplace exposures are linked to the premature deaths of 10 times more workers than all workplace accidents combined, OSHA now spends less than 5 per cent of its limited resources on workplace health protection. PEER news release • Risks 426 Hazards news,
4 October 2009
India: Dozens die in chimney collapse
Dozens of workers have died after a giant chimney collapsed in bad weather at a partially built power plant in central India. The 23 September tragedy occurred at the Bharat Aluminium Co (Balco) power plant, part-owned by the British mining company Vedanta, in the central state of Chhattisgarh. Vedanta statement • The Times • Times of India • Risks 426 Hazards news, 4 October 2009
Global: BP ‘failed’ to make safety changes
London-based multinational BP’s claims to have long since addressed the safety malaise in its refineries have been discredited after the latest intervention by the US safety regulator. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) told BP last month it had failed to make agreed-upon safety improvements at its Texas City refinery following the March 2005 explosions that killed 15 workers. Galveston Daily News • Risks 426 Hazards news,
4 October 2009
Britain: Presenteeism harms employee health
UK workers are so terrified of losing their jobs in this recession they are working while sick, a new study has found. According to those surveyed as part of Simplyhealth's Bothered Britain Report, 43 per cent of people living in Britain haven't taken any days off in the last 12 months, up from 36 per cent in 2008. Simplyhealth news release and Bothered Britain report • Personnel Today • Risks 426 Hazards news,
4 October 2009
Britain: Take notice of dermatitis risks or pay
An NHS Trust has been fined for ignoring official notices calling requiring it to sort out dermatitis risks in a hospital. The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust was fined £6,500 and ordered to pay £4,500 in court costs after pleading guilty to two health and safety charges at Harlow Magistrates’ Court for failing to remedy risks posed by latex exposure and for not reporting a case of latex dermatitis. HSE news release • Harlow Herald • Risks 426 Hazards news,
4 October 2009
Britain: Worker crushed then blamed in laundry horror
A giant laundry business who blamed workers for a highly dangerous incident that left employee Joseph Pathmananthan, 61, in a coma has been fined. OCS group was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £33,059 at Southwark Crown Court last week after admitting a criminal safety breach. HSE news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Wandsworth Guardian • Risks 426 Hazards news, 4 October 2009
Britain: Fine for death in meat blender
A company has been fined £160,000 after a worker was fatally injured while cleaning a blending machine at a meat processing plant in Milton Keynes. Lynda Trebilcock, 53, was killed at the Delico plant in May 2007 when a door without a working interlock slammed shut on her head. HSE news release • MK News • BBC News Online • Risks 426 Hazards news, 4 October 2009
Britain: Recycling firm fined after lorry fatality
The death of a man who was run over by a skip lorry has led to a waste and recycling company being fined. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the prosecution against Shanley and Sons Ltd, who were fined £80,000 and ordered to pay costs of £25,000 last week at a hearing in Swindon Crown Court. HSE news release and waste industry webpages • Risks 426 Hazards news, 4 October 2009
Britain: Take notice of dermatitis risks or pay
An NHS Trust has been fined for ignoring official notices calling requiring it to sort out dermatitis risks in a hospital. The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust was fined £6,500 and ordered to pay £4,500 in court costs after pleading guilty to two health and safety charges at Harlow Magistrates’ Court for failing to remedy risks posed by latex exposure and for not reporting a case of latex dermatitis. HSE news release • Harlow Herald • Risks 426 Hazards news, 4 October 2009
Britain: HSE warning after crane collapse fine
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned tower crane suppliers to make sure staff are adequately trained when carrying out high risk operations. The warning followed the prosecution of Select Plant Hire Company Ltd at the Old Bailey, where the firm was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £33,196.45. HSE news release • The Argus • Risks 425 Hazards news, 26 September 2009
Britain: Firm fined £80,000 for fall driver death
Mobile Mini UK Ltd, the UK wing of an American company that supplies temporary buildings and storage cabins, has been fined £80,000 after one of its lorry drivers died falling from a cabin he was delivering. Keith Boulton, 58, died in January last year after the incident at a construction site in West Bromwich. HSE news release • Express and Star • Risks 425 Hazards news, 26 September 2009
Britain: Asbestos death toll ‘under-estimated’
The Health and Safety Executive’s estimate of 4,000 asbestos related deaths a year falls well short of the real toll, campaigners and health experts have said. Consultant thoracic surgeon, John Edwards, commended the HSE campaign and said the safety watchdog’s figures are “an under-estimate, if anything” and Laurie Kazan-Allen, coordinator of the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS), said: “When mesothelioma and asbestosis deaths are added to fatalities caused by cancers of the lung, larynx, ovary and stomach – other cancers now linked to asbestos exposure – the huge price paid for the country’s failure to act on the asbestos danger becomes apparent.” IBAS statement • The Guardian • Marketing Week • SHP Online • Risks 425 Hazards news, 26 September 2009
Britain: Peat firm fined after agency worker death
Horticulture firm Humax Horticulture Ltd has been fined £23,300 following the death of an agency worker in southern Scotland. Colin McCourt, 55, of Annan, died when a tip bucket he was welding moved and crushed him. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 425 Hazards news, 26 September 2009
Australia: Bereaved families back strong laws
Family members of people who have died at work have joined with unions to lobby Australia’s federal government over new health and safety laws. In a letter to the deputy prime minister, Julia Gillard, leaders of victim support groups in Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia warn of the “devastating effects” workplace deaths have on communities. ACTU news release and letter from victims’ groups [pdf] • Sydney Morning Herald • Risks 425 Hazards news, 26 September 2009
Sweden: Worker-blaming firm faces labour court
A firm that fired a worker after an incident where a colleague broke his legs was in fact to blame for injury, the official inspectorate has said. The Swedish Work Environment Authority (SWEA) has filed a complaint against Mondi about health and safety practices following the injury at the firm's Dynäs mill in Väja, Sweden. RISI Pulp & Paper News Service • Risks 424 Hazards news,
19 September 2009
Australia: Big business would hurt workers
Big business is backing changes to national workplace health and safety laws that would put workers at risk of injury or illness, Australian unions have warned. Jeff Lawrence, secretary of the national union federation ACTU, said it was unacceptable for the changes to health and safety laws to lead to increased profits for businesses at the expense of workers’ safety. ACTU news release and radio advert • Courier Mail • Sydney Morning Herald • Risks 424 Hazards news,
19 September 2009
Britain: Crush death leads to £7,500 fine
A Northampton company found guilty of criminal safety breaches after an employee was crushed to death has been fined £7,500. Trackline (International) Ltd was also ordered to pay £6,690 costs at Lincoln Crown Court after Shaun Porter, 31, died when his forklift truck was obstructed in its path, toppled over and crushed him. HSE news release • Rutland and Stamford Mercury • Northampton Chronicle and Echo • Risks 424 Hazards news, 19 September 2009
Britain: New call for safety duties on directors
Company directors have failed to respond to a series of pleas to voluntarily take health and safety seriously in the boardroom, so they should be required by law to do so. The latest call for statutory duties on directors comes as part of a new campaign from safety magazines Health and Safety at Work and Health and Safety Bulletin (HSB). HS@W article • Sign up to the HS@W/HSB petition calling for statutory directors’ duties • Risks 424 Hazards news,
19 September 2009
Britain: HSE warning on offshore ‘complacency’
The new head of the Health and Safety Executive’s offshore division has put tackling industry complacency at the top of his priority list. However, there are worrying signs some of the progress welcomed by HSE may already have been reversed. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 424 Hazards news,
19 September 2009
Britain: Worker suffers waste site shock
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning employers to be wary of operating machinery near overhead power cables after a Staffordshire man suffered serious burns when he was hit by an electrical charge. John Rowland Fallows, the owner of the site and who trades as Fallows Recycling Services, this week pleaded guilty at Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court a breach of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. HSE news release • Construction News • The Sentinel • Risks 423 Hazards news,
12 September 2009
Britain: Safety breaches cost worker his leg
A Wolverhampton company has been fined £14,000 after a worker was seriously injured when his legs were crushed by a load that fell from a forklift. KJ Plant Developments Ltd was also ordered to pay £6,015 costs after pleading guilty to breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. HSE news release • Risks 423 Hazards news,
12 September 2009
Britain: Bupa fined for safety training failures
Bupa Care Homes has been ordered to pay £15,000 for ‘miserably failing’ a severely disabled Wakefield grandmother who died days after breaking both legs while in the firm’s care. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who brought the prosecution, said the fine should serve as a warning to care home operators that they must have the correct training and patient handling procedures. HSE news release • Yorkshire Evening Post • Risks 423 Hazards news,
12 September 2009
Britain: Fines for unlicensed asbestos removal
Three contractors who carried out unlicensed asbestos removal at Kelford School in Rotherham in 2006 have been fined. Mansell Build Ltd (previously Birse Build Ltd) of Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, was fined £12,500 and ordered to pay £12,500 costs. Andrew Brightmore, a former manager of ARB Agriplant Ltd, was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £500 costs and Gary Cusack was fined £500 and ordered to pay £250 costs. HSE news release and hidden killer campaign webpages • Risks 423 Hazards news,
12 September 2009
Britain: Work experience shouldn’t hurt you
Schools are being told to make sure full health and safety checks are carried out before pupils head out on work experience, following the prosecution of a Stafford company after a teenager on placement suffered burns. Deansfield High School in Wolverhampton employed Making Learning Work Ltd to locate extended work experience placements for 32 pupils, at a cost of £650 each. HSE news release • Risks 423 Hazards news ,
12 September 2009
Australia: Massive rallies for stronger laws
A strong turnout at rallies and events around Australia sends a powerful message that workers will not back down in their push for stronger national health and safety laws, unions have said. Workers concerned about the weakening of workplace safety standards under a proposed new national law were joined by relatives bereaved as a result of work-related illness and accidents. ACTU rally news release, survey news release and Don’t risk second rate safety campaign • VTHC news release • Queensland Business Review Hazards news, 5 September 2009
Britain: Poor protection leads to turkey firm fine A food firm has fined after an agency worker who had not been provided with a protective apron accidentally stabbed himself with a knife – the fourth stabbing incident at the firm. Robert Bogdan, from Hungary, suffered a 4 inch-deep stab wound while working on the turkey processing line at Cranberry Foods in Scropton in August 2008. HSE news release • Burton Mail Hazards news, 5 September 2009
Britain: Firm fined after worker’s foot is crushed A Staffordshire company has been fined after a worker lost a toe and had his foot crushed when a piece of machinery fell on him. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Hotchkiss Ltd, a ducting manufacturing company, over the incident in Wombourne on 16 July last year. HSE news release Hazards news, 5 September 2009
Britain: Energy giant fined after work death
A major energy company has been fined £160,000 after a worker died in a fall from scaffold. EDF Energy Contracting Ltd pleaded guilty at Chichester Crown Court to breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. HSE news release • Construction News • The Argus Hazards news, 5 September 2009
Britain: Directors told to pay asbestos compensation Company directors who pocketed the assets when they closed a company have been ordered to pay an asbestos disease settlement from their own pockets. The former bosses of Stalybridge engineering firm Vernon & Roberts will have to hand over £60,000 to the widow of Frederick Hughes, who died of mesothelioma in 2001 after being exposed to asbestos working for the firm in the 1960s. Manchester Evening News Hazards news, 5 September 2009
Britain: HSE blast response ‘too little, too late’
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector whose unheeded warning could have averted the ICL Stockline factory disaster has criticised the UK's workplace safety watchdog for its “slack” response to the tragedy. Alan Tyldesley criticised his former bosses at HSE after they announced the safety watchdog’s official response to the tragedy. HSE has set a target of 2015 - 11 years after the tragedy - to fix gas pipes across the country. Sunday Herald Hazards news, 5 September 2009
Britain: UCATT concern over site death
Construction union UCATT has made an urgent approach to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a worker died on an Aberdeen construction site with a history of safety problems. Malcolm Doughty, 63, died on 1 September after he fell from scaffolding while working on the former Grampian Hotel Site in the city. UCATT news release • BBC News Online Hazards news, 5 September 2009
Australia: Ex-Hardie directors get business ban
The fines and bans handed down to former executives and directors of Australian asbestos giant James Hardie are not enough considering the extent of their immoral and illegal behaviour and the harm the company’s deadly asbestos products have caused, unions have said. ACTU news release • Unions NSW news release • News.com.au • The Australian • Perth Now • Risks 421 Hazards news, 29 August 2009
Britain: Scrapyard boss on manslaughter charges
A scrapyard manager has appeared in court charged with manslaughter following the death of a worker. Robert Owen Roberts, 55, appeared at Flintshire Magistrates Court at Mold on 25 August charged with unlawfully killing Mark Wright, who was working at Deeside Metal in Saltney when he died in April 2005. Flintshire Chronicle • Risks 421 Hazards news, 29 August 2009
Britain: Machine death sparks road work alert
An investigation into a fatal incident involving a top cutting machine, which is used to prepare trenches in roads, has prompted a safety alert from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). On 30 July, Stuart Meakin, 28, was killed when he became entangled in the rotating drum of a top cutting machine. HSE news release • Risks 421 Hazards news, 29 August 2009
Britain: Third serious incident at power station
A Nottinghamshire power station where a union had raised concerns about safety management has experienced a third serious safety incident in less than four months. This week a man had to be airlifted to hospital after his legs were crushed at Staythorpe power station near Newark. BBC News Online • Building • Risks 421 Hazards news, 29 August 2009
Russia: Power station tragedy kills dozens
A total of 76 workers are thought to have died as a result of a 17 August explosion at Russia’s biggest hydroelectric power station. Initial reports said 12 people had been confirmed dead and 64 were missing after the explosion at the Sayano-Shushenskaya plant in southern Siberia. The Times • BBC News Online • Risks 420 Hazards news,
22 August 2009
Australia: Stats prove case for strong law
Australia is falling well short of national targets to reduce workplace deaths and injuries - and proposed new national occupational health and safety (OHS) laws could put Australian workers further at risk, unions have warned. ACTU news release • VTHC news release • Risks 420 Hazards news,
22 August 2009
Britain: Building firm fined over fall West country building firm F Dewey Limited has been prosecuted after an employee fell through the asbestos roof of a building he was trying to demolish. Magistrates in Devizes heard that plumber Peter Flippance sustained a broken hip and wrist after falling through the roof at the site in Pewsey in April last year. Wiltshire Times • Risks 420 Hazards news,
22 August 2009
Britain: Farm worker survives five metre fall
Employers are being warned to take correct precautions when their staff work at height, after a farm employee sustained serious injuries when he fell nearly 5 metres through a roof. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Francis Caley, of Manor Farm, Sproatley Road, Hull for safety offences relating to the incident in May 2008. HSE news release • HSE falls webpages • Risks 420 Hazards news,
22 August 2009
Britain: Tanker fall death ‘preventable’
The death of a Scottish tanker driver could have been prevented if a second guardrail had been fitted to his vehicle, a sheriff has ruled. James Hutchinson, 57, died after falling from his tanker at a farm in Leuchars, Fife, in February 2007. BBC News Online • Risks 420 Hazards news,
22 August 2009
New Zealand: Minister snubs unions on work deaths
Unions in New Zealand are outraged that they were not invited to take part in an investigation into workplace deaths. Labour minister Kate Wilkinson called the 12 August meeting of corporate chief executives to discuss ways to reduce injuries at work. NZ Department of Labour news release • RMT/MUNZ news release [pdf] • NDU news release • TVNZ • Risks 419 Hazards news,
15 August 2009
Britain: Centre for Corporate Accountability to close
The Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA) is to cease all operations from 28 August. CCA, which has undertaken widely reported research on health and safety penalties, regulation and enforcement, has not been able to secure the necessary funds to continue. The centre also offered a support service for those bereaved by workplace incidents, which is also to be discontinued.
Other sources of corporate accountability information: TUC corporate responsibility webpages • Hazards magazine deadly business webpages • Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) • Risks 419 Hazards news,
15 August 2009
Global: Union Carbide repeats Bhopal excuses
Union Carbide is defending its former chief executive, now wanted for arrest in India, saying managers couldn't have foreseen a gas leak at the chemical company's Bhopal plant 25 years ago. The move came after an Indian court issued a warrant for Warren Anderson and ordered India's government to press Washington for his extradition. FACK news release • KVOA.com • San Francisco Chronicle • New York Times • Daily News • Risks 418 Hazards news,
8 August 2009
USA: Union tires of deadly oil industry attitude
US union the United Steelworkers (USW) has pulled out of talks with the American Petroleum Institute and other oil industry representatives over plans to develop a set of worker fatigue and safety standards in the wake of the deadly 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City refinery. The union said the industry excluded environmental and public interest groups from the discussions and did not give equal weight to input from workers in crafting the standards. USW news release • Risks 418 Hazards news,
8 August 2009
Britain: Waste firm fined after worker is killed
A waste firm has been fined £60,000 after the death of a 78-year-old worker at its site in Tadley. At Winchester Crown Court, Judge David Griffiths imposed a £90,000 fine on John Stacey and Sons – reducing it to £60,000 because the company pleaded guilty. HSE news release • Basingstoke Gazette • Risks 418 Hazards news,
8 August 2009
Britain: Crane firm turns up to receive deaths fine
A second crane hire company has been fined on charges relating to the death of two workers who fell to their deaths when a crane collapsed. Gary Miles, 37, and Steven Boatman, 45, died in 2005 as the 118ft (36m) tower crane was being dismantled in Durrington, West Sussex. HSE news release • Earlier HSE news release and BBC News Online coverage • Risks 418 Hazards news,
8 August 2009
Britain: Rib crushing giant hardly touched by fine
A multinational industrial firm has received a small fine after a worker was badly injured in an unguarded machine. Calder Industrial Materials Ltd, which manufactures lead products, was fined £4,500 and ordered to pay full costs of £1,050 at Chester Magistrates Court. HSE news release • Risks 418 Hazards news,
8 August 2009
Britain: Firm fined over worker's lost finger
A Teesside firm has been fined £5,000 after a worker lost a finger and had another crushed in an horrific accident. TC Industries of Europe admitted at East Langbaurgh Magistrates’ Court failing to ensure the safety of its employees. HSE news release • Evening Gazette • Risks 418 Hazards news,
8 August 2009
Britain: Bury worker loses three fingers
A Bury firm with a turnover of over £80 million has been fined £50,000 after a young worker lost three fingers in a “totally avoidable” incident. Tetrosyl Ltd pleaded guilty last week to two offences under health and safety legislation at Manchester Crown Court. HSE news release • Risks 418 Hazards news,
8 August 2009
Britain: Hidden deaths mar offshore ‘zero fatalities’ figure
New official statistics show no worker fatalities were recorded offshore last year. However, offshore unions have said repeatedly that the failure to include offshore and marine transport fatalities and injuries in HSE’s offshore statistics – and there are a lot of them - creates a false impression of the real risks faced by offshore workers. HSE news release and offshore statistics • Press and Journal • BBC News Online • STV • The Scotsman • Risks 418 Hazards news,
8 August 2009
Italy: Bosses face trial over asbestos deaths
An Italian judge last week ordered top bosses of a construction multinational to stand trial on charges relating to thousands of asbestos-related deaths. Prosecutors say Stephan Schmidheiny of Switzerland and Jean-Louis de Cartier of Belgium were key shareholders in Eternit, a Swiss construction company. Asbestos in the dock campaign and news release • Business Week • MSNBC News • Risks 417 Hazards news,
1 August 2009
Korea: Five killed in steel frame collapse
Five workers were killed and eight were injured last week when a heavy steel frame collapsed at a light rail transit construction site in Korea. The tragedy took place when a launching girder, a 30 metre-long and six metre-wide construction machine connecting the bridge deck, fell. Korea Times • NDTTV • Risks 417 Hazards news,
1 August 2009
South Africa: Mine deaths ‘a national disgrace’
The number of deaths in South African mines was a national disgrace, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has said. “Urgent action is needed to put an end to this carnage,” Vavi told a memorial service for nine mineworkers who died in July at Impala Platinum's Rustenburg mine. Iol.co.za • SABC News • Risks 417 Hazards news,
1 August 2009
Britain: Fall bounce worker ‘lucky to be alive’
A worker is lucky to be alive after falling through a roof and landing on pallets, then bouncing off these onto the floor. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Tower Roofing Ltd following the incident at Magnesium Elektron Ltd’s premises in Swinton. HSE news release and roofwork webpage • Contract Journal • Risks 417 Hazards news,
1 August 2009
Shop death fall due to bad lights
A Glasgow shopworker would not have died if Debenhams had cared as much about its staff as it did about its shoppers, a grieving relative has charged. Marie O'Neill, 38, fell to her death in an unlit stairwell while working at Debenhams in Argyle Street, Glasgow, last February. Glasgow Evening Times • BBC News Online • Risks 417 Hazards news,
1 August 2009
Britain: Contractor fined for roof fall death
A construction contractor has been fined £25,000 after a worker died falling through a roof at a DIY superstore in Wigan. David Battisson from CRN Contracts Ltd in Birkenhead was working on the roof of The Range store when he fell ten metres to the floor through a PVC light. HSE news release and falls webpages • Contract Journal • Construction News • Risks 417 Hazards news,
1 August 2009
Britain: Multinational failed to learn deaths lesson
A firm has been fined £533,000 following the deaths of two workers five years ago. Richard Clarkson, 29, and Stuart Jordan, 50, who worked at a Bodycote HIP Ltd metal refining plant in Hereford, died in 2004 after an argon gas leak – the firm had failed to learn the lessons of a double fatality at one of its US plants, where workers were also asphyxiated by argon gas. HSE news release and confined space webpages • BBC News Online • Birmingham Post • Risks 417 Hazards news,
1 August 2009
Britain: Scallop boat workers lost at sea
Three crew members died when their Cumbrian scallop dredger capsized off the coast of Scotland. Skipper Tony Hayton, 45, Peter Hilton and Thomas Sanderson, both 52, all from Maryport, died when the Aquila overturned. The Sun • BBC News Online • Risks 416 Hazards news,
25 July 2009
Britain: Chance to avoid Puma crash missed
A chance to prevent the North Sea helicopter crash in which 16 offshore workers died was missed, experts investigating the incident have revealed. Two crew and 14 passengers died when the Bond Super Puma crashed off the Aberdeenshire coast on 1 April. AAIB special bulletin, 16 July 2009 • BBC News Online • Risks 416 Hazards news,
25 July 2009
Britain: Official apology for blast factory failings
In the wake of Lord Gill’s report into the fatal ICL Stockline factory blast, both the UK government and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have expressed “regret” at the disaster, with HSE also issuing a rare apology. DWP news release • HSE news release • Sunday Times • Risks 416 Hazards news,
25 July 2009
Britain: Families call for HSE reform
The “toothless” Health and Safety Executive must be given more resources and powers and should stop going easy on dangerous employers, families bereaved by the ICL Stockline disaster have said. STUC health and safety officer Ian Tasker, speaking on behalf of five of the bereaved the families, said: “This report reinforces our case that we have made all along - that 'soft touch' regulation simply does not work.”
ICL Support Group statement [pdf] • STUC news release • Stirling University OEHRG news release • FACK news release • Risks 416 Hazards news,
25 July 2009
Britain: Boss gets three years for teen’s death
Building firm boss Colin Holtom has been jailed for three years for the manslaughter of 15-year-old construction worker Adam Gosling. Contractor Darren Fowler, who had subcontracted the work to Mr Holtom, was sentenced to 12 months in jail after admitted breaking health and safety law and running a company while disqualified from being a director. HSE news release • Construction News • Enfield Independent • BBC News Online • Morning Star • Risks 416 Hazards news,
25 July 2009
India: Six killed on Metro construction job
Six workers have been killed and dozens are thought to have been injured in a serious accident on the Delhi Metro construction site. The 12 July tragedy occurred when a pre-fabricated concrete segment of viaduct weighing 1,000 tonnes gave away, taking with it a launching girder. BWI news release and update • New York Times • BBC News Online • Risks 415 Hazards news,
18 July 2009
South Africa: Dangerous construction companies will pay
Construction companies that do not comply with safety and health laws will be prosecuted, South Africa’s labour department has warned. The department's drive comes after labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana stated workers’ rights are human rights and that employers should not put profit above safety. SA Labour Department news release • SABC News • Weekend Post • Bush Radio News • Risks 415 Hazards news.
18 July 2009
Britain: MPs back directors’ duties and big fines
Dangerous companies should face more prosecutions and tougher penalties, a top parliamentary committee has concluded. The latest report from the Work and Pensions Select Committee also calls on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to explain the dramatic drop off in prosecutions for safety offences, down by 40 per cent in four years, from 1,720 offences prosecuted in 2003/04 to 1,028 in 2007/08. Work and Pensions Select Committee news release • Workplace health and safety: follow-up report, (HC 635-I), Work and Pensions Committee, 12 July 2009 • Risks 415 Hazards news,
18 July 2009
Britain: Campaigners say government must act
Two reports in a week calling for action to rein in Britain’s deadliest bosses must be acted on urgently by government, unions and campaigners have said. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber welcomed this week’s Work and Pensions Committee report, which comes on the heels of the Donaghy report into construction fatalities, and called for prompt action by the government. TUC news release • Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 415 Hazards news,
18 July 2009
Britain: Unions back construction deaths report
Unless the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is provided additional resources, the recommendations of an official inquiry into construction fatalities will be “meaningless”, the inspectors’ union has warned. Prospect is calling on government to heed the findings of the Donaghy Inquiry. Prospect news release • GMB news release • Risks 415 Hazards news,
18 July 2009
Britain: Lobbyist defends deadly construction practice
The “disgraceful and outrageous” comments on safety made by a construction industry leader have been condemned by the chair of a government committee and trade unions. UK Contractors Group director Stephen Ratcliffe dismissed an official inquiry’s call for a crackdown on illegal employment in construction, saying the industry could regulate itself. UCATT news release • Morning Star • Construction News • Risks 415 Hazards news,
18 July 2009
Britain: Builder guilty of teen’s work death
A builder has admitted the manslaughter of a 15-year-old boy who was crushed to death as he was left unsupervised to prop up a falling wall. Essex teenager Adam Gosling died from head injuries while working on a five-bedroom house in Hadley Wood, north London, in April 2007. HSE news release • FACK news release • Risks 415 Hazards news,
18 July 2009
Britain: Concrete contractor fined over Wembley death
Construction firm PC Harrington (PCH) has been given 12 months to pay a £150,000 fine for the death of a carpenter on the Wembley Stadium construction site. The concrete firm was handed down the fine and ordered to pay £25,203 in costs at the Old Bailey last week in relation to the 2004 death of employee Patrick O’Sullivan. HSE news release • Contract Journal • Construction News • The Independent • Risks 415 Hazards news,
18 July 2009
Britain: HSE says offshore challenges remain
The safety of the UK's offshore installations is improving but the “challenges are ongoing,” the Health and Safety Executive has said. The HSE progress report comes 18 months after a critical report that followed a major three-year investigation into safety on more than 100 offshore installations. Offshore KP3 report - review of industry’s progress • BBC News Online • Risks 415 Hazards news,
18 July 2009
Britain: Scotland’s work prosecutors start work
Specialist prosecutors are now leading the investigation and prosecution of dangerous workplace incidents across Scotland, the solicitor general has said. The prosecutors will adopt an approach similar to the specialist units for investigating sexual offences and environmental crime. Crown Office news release • BBC News Online • Risks 414 Hazards news,
11 July 2009
Britain: Maltings firm fined after forks fall
A Berwick maltings firm has been fined £10,000 after an employee suffered serious injuries in a fall from the forks of a forklift truck. Simpsons Malt Limited was also ordered to pay £5,883.75 in costs after it pleaded guilty to a breach of health and safety legislation. HSE news release • The Journal • Risks 414 Hazards news,
11 July 2009
Britain: £150k fine for driver’s death
A company has been fined £150,000 and ordered to pay costs of more than £24,000 after one of its forklift truck drivers was crushed to death. MB Plastics Ltd pleaded guilty to an offence under health and safety legislation at Manchester Crown Court and
Birse Integrated Solutions Ltd, principal contractors for the project at the Davyhulme Waste Water Treatment Works where the incident happened on 18 September 2003, also pleaded guilty and was fined £50,000 as well as being ordered to pay costs of more than £41,000. HSE news release • This is Cheshire • Building • Risks 414 Hazards news,
11 July 2009
Britain: Meat plant pays £30,000 for fingers
A Scottish meat processing plant has been fined for criminal safety offences after a worker lost three fingers. The court heard that a year before the incident, Belcher Food products Ltd commissioned an electrical inspection of their premises which identified 866 faults with the electrics and wiring system, of which nearly 200 were rated as most urgent – neither these nor recommendations from the Health and Safety Executive were acted on by the firm. HSE news release • Risks 414 Hazards magazine,
11 July 2009
Britain: Damning inquest on office worker death
An office manager was killed when a huge pane of glass weighing 1.8 tonnes fell on top of him. An inquest into the death of Alan Fletcher returned a narrative verdict, saying inadequate safety procedures, lack of training and failure to monitor company policy had played a part in the 59-year-old’s death. Yorkshire Evening Post • Risks 414 Hazards news,
11 July 2009
Britain: Government must act on deaths report
Campaigners and unions have said the government must act promptly to implement the recommendations of the Donaghy inquiry into construction industry fatalities. Hazards Campaign spokesperson Mick Holder said: “We now need a properly resourced Health and Safety Executive (HSE)... capable of making these good ideas workable ideas and for government to stop their obsession with pandering to irresponsible elements in business that believe operating safely is a ‘burden’.” UCATT news webpage • Hazards Campaign news release • Construction News • The Guardian • Risks 414 Hazards news,
11 July 2009
Britain: Boss to face scrapyard death charges
A scrapyard general manager is to face a manslaughter charge over the death of an employee four years ago. Deeside Metal boss Robert Owen Roberts is to appear at Flintshire Magistrates Court in Mold on 25 August to face charges of manslaughter and a breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 relating to the horrific fireball death of 37-year-old Mark Wright. Flintshire Chronicle • FACK • Risks 412 Hazards news,
4 July 2009
Britain: Director fined over bus driver death
The former managing director of a Sussex bus firm has been fined £5,000 for health and safety failures that led to the death of one of his drivers. Roy Trundell, 62, died after he was crushed between two vehicles on 4 September 2006 at the depot he worked from in Eastbourne. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Eastbourne Herald • Risks 412 Hazards news,
4 July 2009
Britain: What does the ICL blast report really say? A report of the independent inquiry into Glasgow’s deadly ICL plastics explosion has been handed to ministers of the UK and Scottish governments. However, campaigners have expressed concern that comments on the report’s findings from work and pensions secretary Yvette Cooper and Scottish justice minister Kenny MacAskill were made this week while Lord Gill’s report remains under wraps. DWP news release • FACK news release • ICL disaster campaign webpage • Risks 412 Hazards news, 4 July 2009
Britain: Business wants less time on safety compliance
A business lobby group thinks it is not worth spending 15 minutes a day of a single manager’s time on health and safety. The Forum of Private Business (FSB) ‘Referendum survey’ ranks health and safety second on its regulatory burdens list after “employment red tape” and wants the time small businesses spend “complying with regulations” to be slashed. FSB news release and related safety news release • Who pays?, Hazards magazine, Number 106, 2009 • Risks 412 Hazards news,
4 July 2009
USA: Voluntary safety approaches failed - report
An investigation by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has confirmed what union and other workplace safety advocates have charged for years - the Bush administration’s reliance on voluntary policing by employers of their safety and health actions did not improve worker safety and let some dangerous employers escape scrutiny. AFL-CIO Now • GAO report [pdf] • Risks 412 Hazards news,
27 June 2009
Britain: Director in court on manslaughter charges A company director appeared in court on 23 June facing charges under corporate manslaughter legislation after one of his employees was buried under tonnes of soil when a trench collapsed. Peter Eaton and his company, Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd, are being jointly charged in the UK's first prosecution under the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter Act. Stroud Life • Risks 412 Hazards news,
27 June 2009
Britain: Crane hire firm fined over deaths A crane hire company has been fined after two workers fell to their deaths when a crane collapsed; Gary Miles, 37, and Steven Boatman, 45, died in 2005 as the 118ft (36m) tower crane was being dismantled in Durrington, West Sussex. They were working for Eurolift (Tower Cranes) Ltd, which was taken over by WD Bennett Plant & Services Ltd in 2003. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 412 Hazards news, 27 June 2009
Firm ignored HSE for eight years An aerospace engineering company routinely ignored health and safety rules for eight years, despite having a series of warnings from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). HSE finally saw Crest Engineering Company Ltd in court this month after finding safety guards missing or not in use on several milling machines, used to shape metal. HSE news release • Risks 412 Hazards news, 27 June 2009
Britain: Firm fined for migrant’s shredder horror A firm that makes bedding for pets has been fined after a Polish worker was serious injured in a shredder. Snowflake Animal Bedding Ltd, which is based in Ashton-under-Lyne, was fined £13,300 and ordered to pay full costs of £8,655.16p at Boston Magistrates’ Court. HSE news release and migrant workers and forklifts webpages • Risks 412 Hazards news, 27 June 2009
Britain: Rail unions dismayed at fatal crashes snub Rail unions have criticised a government decision not to hold a public inquiry into two fatal rail smashes. Instead, two “independent inquests” are to be held into rail accidents at Potters Bar in Hertfordshire and Grayrigg in Cumbria, the government said. Ministerial statement • ASLEF news release • TSSA news release • BBC News Online • Risks 412 Hazards news, 27 June 2009
Britain: Tender pressure puts safety at risk Construction quality and safety standards are at risk as firms are being forced to cut costs to win competitive tenders, a leading industry body has warned. The findings come from a new survey of the sector published by the Scottish Building Federation (SBF), with the group warning that the cost pressure could lead to the possibility of “shoddy work” and “unscrupulous” behaviour by firms desperate to win work. Construction News • Risks 412 Hazards news, 27 June 2009
Britain: Nuclear problems linked to HSE staffing Britain’s nuclear safety watchdog does not have sufficient experienced staff to police the industry, its top official has admitted in a secret report. The report, obtained by the Observer, written by the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) chief nuclear inspector, Mike Weightman, discloses that between 2001 and 2008 there were 1,767 safety incidents across Britain's nuclear plants. The Observer • Risks 412 Hazards news, 27 June 2009
Britain: Caution urged after big fall in fatalities
The TUC has welcomed provisional figures showing workplace fatalities at an all time low, but has warned against complacency and has called on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to maintain a focus on enforcing safety laws. Provisional data published by HSE show that 180 workers were killed between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2009 - a rate of 0.6 per 100,000 employees. HSE news release and provisional fatalities figures 2008/09 • TUC news release • Risks 412 Hazards news,
27 June 2009
Spain: Government to punish 'barbaric bakery'
A Spanish bakery accused of barbaric behaviour towards an illegal worker will face “the full weight of the law,” the government has vowed. The statement came amid shock over the case of a Bolivian worker whose arm was cut off in an accident at work; the union CC.OO says he was dumped 100 metres from the hospital entrance and the severed limb was thrown in a rubbish bin. BBC News Online • Think Spain • Risks 411 Hazards news,
20 June 2009
Italy: Deaths reignite workplace safety anger
The deaths of two Italian workers this week after entering a water purification system has reignited anger over the country’s appalling workplace safety record. Cesare Damiano, work spokesperson for the opposition Democratic Party, called for a “culture of safety involving prevention, rules and restrictions.” Life in Italy • Risks 411 Hazards news,
20 June 2009
Britain: Stockline blast victim gets £250k payout
A survivor of the Stockline disaster has been awarded £250,000 damages. An explosion at the Glasgow plastics factory five years ago - which caused the building to collapse - killed nine people and left 30 injured; spray painter Gordon Bell, 48, was trapped under the rubble for 15 minutes before managing to claw his way free. Scotsman • BBC News Online • Daily Record • ICL/Stockline campaign website • Risks 411 Hazards news,
20 June 2009
Britain: No HSE prosecution after nuke near disaster
Questions have been raised about a decision by the Health and Safety Executive’s nuclear arm not to prosecute a nuclear power firm that narrowly and seemingly by chance averted a nuclear disaster. An official interim report suggested that lack of staff resources at the NII was a factor in the decision not to prosecute. Lowestoft Journal • The Guardian • Where is the justice?, Hazards magazine, number 104, October-December 2008 • Risks 411 Hazards news,
20 June 2009
Britain: Firm fined after engineer is electrocuted
A Hatfield firm has been fined £35,000 after 30-year-old Ricky Cronin was electrocuted. SF (UK) Ltd, the engineering arm of British Gas, was also ordered to pay £65,000 costs at St Albans Crown Court. HSE news release and electricity at work and risk assessment webpages • Welwyn and Hatfield Times • Risks 411 Hazards news,
20 June 2009
Britain: HSE wrong on bogus employment deaths
Construction union UCATT has accused the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of failing to track accurately the deadly impact of bogus self-employment in the sector. It said the watchdog’s failure became apparent during an evidence session of the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee last week. UCATT news release • Risks 411 Hazards news,
20 June 2009
Britain: Shame of site firm’s double conviction
Construction firm Bouygues UK has said the two safety convictions it received in court over the past week – including one for the death of a worker – were “deeply regrettable”.
HSE news releases on the 8 June 2009 and 3 June 2009 fines • Construction News • Risks 410 Hazards news,
13 June 2009
Heat exhaustion killed silo worker
The parents of Scunthorpe worker Paul Sharp, who collapsed and died while working in a fat silo, have told of their heartache after their son’s death. Gainsborough-based Silocheck Limited was fined £30,000 at Swindon Crown Court last week after admitting breaching two counts of the Confined Spaces Regulations 1997. HSE news release • Scunthorpe Telegraph • Risks 410 Hazards news,
13 June 2009
Britain: A dead rabbit gets swifter, better justice
Safety campaigners have reacted furiously after the death of a rabbit was treated more seriously by the courts than the death of a construction worker. Discovery Homes (Scotland) Ltd was fined £5,000 and the firm’s director Richard Pratt £4,000 on 8 June after the death of employee Andrezej Freitag; on the same day Steven Appleton was jailed for causing unnecessary suffering to a rabbit at Magistrates Court in Caerphilly after he stamped it to death, receiving a six month custodial sentence. FACK news release and website • The death at work of Gordon Field, Sharon Norman’s father [pdf] • Contract Journal • BBC News Online • Risks 410 Hazards news,
13 June 2009
Britain: Director fined over shaft death
A construction company and one of its directors have been fined after a Polish worker died in Dundee. Andrezej Freitag, 53, fell down an exhaust shaft at flats being built in the city in May 2008. Kinross-based Discovery Homes (Scotland) Ltd pleaded guilty at Dundee Sheriff Court to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act and was fined £5,000; company director Richard Pratt also pleaded guilty to breaching section 37(1) of the same Act and was fined £4,000 - only the second successful prosecution of a company director in Scotland in six years for a breach of health and safety legislation. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 410 Hazards news,
13 June 2009
Britain: Campaigners blast 'damp squib' strategy
The Health and Safety Executive’s new five-year strategy has been described as a “damp squib” by campaigners. Hilda Palmer of the Hazards Campaign criticised the strategy, which urges employers to sign up to a voluntary safety “pledge”, for failing to call for either statutory directors’ duties or new rights for safety reps. Hazards Campaign news release • FACK news release • Construction News • SHP Online • Building • HSE ‘Be part of the solution’ strategy and pledge • Risks 410 Hazards news,
13 June 2009
Britain: Concern at power station safety failings
A large steel beam was dropped by a crane near workers at Staythorpe power station – the second serious crane incident on the site in three weeks. In the 1 June “serious health and safety incident” a 5 tonne steel beam fell near workers. GMB news release • Nottingham Evening Post • Risks 410 Hazards news,
13 June 2009
USA: They want more than blood
American Red Cross blood transfusion centres have been picketed across the US in response to plans to boost profits by jeopardising the safety of the blood supply and mistreating workers. The union-backed protesters are concerned that blood safety will suffer because the Red Cross national office is insisting that workers take pay cuts and that qualified nurses be replaced with unlicensed supervisors. Union gal blog • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 409 Hazards news,
6 June 2009
Britain: Firm fined £280,000 for fatal breaches
A shipping firm was fined £280,000 last week for safety breaches which a judge said probably contributed to the deaths of three workers. Finlay MacFadyen, 48, died on board the Viking Islay in September 2007 as he tried to save two colleagues from an oxygen-starved compartment. Nautilus news release • Press and Journal • BBC News Online • Yorkshire Post • Risks 409 Hazards news,
6 June 2009
Britain: Shell fined record sum over fire safety
Shell International was fined £300,000 this week over deficiencies in fire safety at the Shell Centre in central London, London Fire Brigade (LFB) said. The company was also ordered to pay £45,000 in costs after it pleaded guilty at Inner London crown court to three breaches of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (RRO). London Fire Brigade news release • The Guardian • Risks 409 Hazards news,
6 June 2009
Britain: Injury fine for serial offender
A West Midlands flooring firm has been prosecuted and fined for a third time for failing to guard moving machinery parts. The latest court appearance for The Amtico Company Ltd came after employee Ian Burridge’s hand was crushed between heated high-speed rollers in September 2007. HSE news release and 'Using work equipment safely' guidance [pdf] • Coventry Telegraph • Risks 409 Hazards news,
6 June 2009
Europe: Backdoor attempt to undo regulation
Health and safety legislation across the European Union is being threatened by an unaccountable “high level group” created by the European Commission with a deregulation brief. The ETUC’s health and safety research arm, HESA, says the Stoiber group is “taking positions that far exceed its remit limited to administrative burdens”, and instead is trying to attack legislation and its application, including REACH, drivers’ hours rules and working time regulations. Community bureaucracy and “better regulation”… pot – kettle?, special report on better legislation, HESA newsletter, number 39, 2009 and [pdf] • Risks 409 Hazards news,
6 June 2009
Britain: Work’s a lot worse than you think
Workers massively under-estimate the risk of suffering a serious workplace injury, new research has found. Survey results released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to coincide with the launch of its new strategy reveal almost half of Britain’s workers know someone who has been injured at work but, on average, employees think that just 3,000 people were killed or seriously injured at work last year – 45 times lower than the number reported each year to HSE. HSE news release and Be Part of the Solution strategy and pledge • Risks 409 Hazards news,
6 June 2009
USA/Iraq: KBR gets bonuses for deadly work
The US Department of Defense paid former Halliburton subsidiary KBR more than $80 million (£50m) in bonuses for contracts to install electrical wiring in Iraq. The award payments were for work that resulted in the electrocution deaths of US soldiers, according to Department of Defense documents revealed last week in a US Senate hearing. The Nation • Risks 408 Hazards news,
30 May 2009
Britain: Untrained worker trapped by dumper
Employers are being warned to make sure staff are properly trained to use heavy workplace vehicles, after an Ascot company was prosecuted for a criminal safety breach. Ascot-based Shorts Group Ltd was fined at Maidenhead Magistrates Court following the incident on 21 May 2008 when a demolition labourer was injured. HSE news release and HSE Construction Information Sheet 52 - Safe use of site dumpers [pdf] • Maidenhead Advertiser • Risks 408 Hazards news,
30 May 2009
Britain: Firm fined for forklift folly
A chance sighting of unsafe work practices has landed a Macclesfield company with a £6,000 fine. Eazyfone Ltd was also ordered at Macclesfield Magistrates' Court to pay £2,285 costs after pleading guilty to a criminal breach of safety law. HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Risks 408 Hazards news,
30 May 2009
Britain: Sellafield workers exposed to radiation
Nuclear company Sellafield Limited is to be prosecuted for alleged breaches of health and safety law after two site workers were exposed to airborne radioactive contamination. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said two employees of a site contractor had been exposed to the radiation during the decontamination of an area of concrete floor in July 2007. HSE news release • Construction News • Risks 408 Hazards news,
30 May 2009
Britain: Digger death company closed down
A haulage firm responsible for an incident that led to a woman's death has been put out of business by the Traffic Commissioner. A public inquiry in March heard 28 prohibitions had been issued against Munro & Sons (Highland) Ltd for safety breaches since 2005. BBC News Online • Scotsman • Press and Journal • Risks 408 Hazards news,
30 May 2009
Britain: £10k fine for untrained worker injury
Havering Council has been told to pay almost £20,000 in fines and costs after an untrained temporary worker was injured when he severed a main power cable. The StreetCare employee struck the 11,000 volt cable while using a hydraulic breaker. HSE news release • Romford Recorder • Contract Journal • Construction News • Risks 408 Hazards news,
30 May 2009
Britain: Polish worker electrocuted on farm
A fruit farmer has been fined less than £10,000 after a Polish berry picker was killed by an 11,000 volt shock from an overhead cable. Farmer Peter Thomson had been warned about the danger just two weeks before the tragedy, but took no action. HSE news release and electricity webpages • BBC News Online • Daily Record • Risks 408 Hazards news,
30 May 2009
Britain: Polish workers 'exploited' by gangmaster
A gangmaster has been stripped of his licence after a seven week investigation identified a catalogue of safety and employment abuses. Jagjit Singh, who ran Saphire Trading in Southampton, is said to have created an “atmosphere of fear and intimidation in the workplace.” GLA news release • BBC News Online • Risks 408 Hazards news, 30 May 2009
Australia: Go-ahead for national safety law
Australia is to move to a national system of workplace safety laws after state and territory governments agreed to harmonise their laws in a move designed to reduce business red tape. Unions have criticised the changes, with Jeff Lawrence, secretary of the national union federation ACTU, saying they would “significantly undermine protections” for many workers. The Age • Sydney Morning Herald • The Australian • Risks 407 Hazards news,
23 May 2009
Britain: Fine after worker loses leg
Agricultural contractor Pete Mellor Ltd has been fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,564 after a worker’s leg had to be amputated as a result of being crushed by a falling weight. HSE news release • Burton Mail • Derby Evening Telegraph • Risks 407 Hazards news,
23 May 2009
Britain: Who’d have thought rotating blades were dangerous?
A metal recycling firm has been fined after an employee working on a machine with inadequately guarded rotating blades suffered a severe hand injury. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted JBM International Ltd for its failure to make a suitable risk assessment of the dangers posed by the rotary valves of the dust extraction unit. HSE news release and risk assessment webpages • Risks 407 Hazards news,
23 May 2009
USA: WR Grace escapes justice on asbestos crimes
A federal jury in Montana has acquitted chemical giant WR Grace and Company and three of its former executives of knowingly exposing mine workers and residents of Libby, Montana, to asbestos and then covering up their actions. The verdict has was greeted with disappointment in Libby, where residents had already seen to their increasing dismay a hostile judge repeatedly attack prosecutors and rule inadmissible key evidence of WR Grace’s culpability. Andrew Schneider Investigates • Democracy Now! • The Pump Handle • Risks 406 Hazards news, 6 May 2009
Australia: Unions push for tougher laws
Tougher national health and safety laws are needed urgently to tackle the terrible toll of death, disease and injury facing Australian workers, unions have warned. Families of victims of workplace tragedies and unions this week launched a hard-hitting new advertising campaign that aims to lift health and safety standards and improve legislative protections for workers. ACTU news release, action campaign and factsheet [pdf] • VTHC news release • ABC News • The Australian • Risks 406 Hazards news,
16 May 2009
China: Bosses cover up mine deaths
Seven people died of gas poisoning in a central China coal mine earlier this month, but the management attempted to conceal most of the deaths. A local government investigation found that five bodies had been removed to other places and one who died in a hospital went unreported, reported the city government of Dengfeng, where the incident took place. Xinhua China Daily • Risks 406 Hazards new,
16 May 2009
Britain: HSE action on one in five sites
One in five construction sites failed health and safety checks during the latest national inspection blitz carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). HSE took enforcement action on 348 of the 1,759 sites visited - the equivalent of almost 20 per cent of all sites visited - and inspectors issued nearly 500 enforcement notices. Contract Journal • Construction News • New Civil Engineer • Building • Risks 406 Hazards news,
16 May 2009
Britain: Worker paralysed in site fall
A Surrey construction firm has been fined £15,000 after a worker was paralysed in a fall of over three metres. Fine Construction UK Ltd was prosecuted at City of London Magistrates Court. HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Construction News • Risks 406 Hazards news,
16 May 2009
Britain: Tesco fined £20,000 for worker's injury
Tesco has been fined £20,000 after a 17-year-old worker severed her Achilles tendon at a Cambridgeshire store. South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) prosecuted Tesco Stores plc for a safety breach after employee Rachel Harris severed her Achilles tendon at the Fulbourn Tesco store in June 2007. SCDC news release • Cambridge News • Risks 406 Hazards news, 16 May 2009
Britain: Company fined for crush death
A paper firm has been ordered to payout £125,000 in fines and costs after a worker was crushed to death. Avery Dennison Materials UK Ltd was sentenced last week at Aylesbury Crown Court. HSE news release • Risks 406 Hazards news,
16 May 2009
Britain: Families remember ICL blast victims
Families who lost loved ones in a Glasgow factory disaster gathered this week for an emotional church service to mark the fifth anniversary of the tragedy. Nine people died and 33 others were injured, many of them pulled from the rubble, in the 11 May 2004 blast at the ICL/Stockline Plastics factory in Maryhill. Patricia Ferguson MSP and Ann McKechin MP joint statement • Evening Times • ICL/Stockline campaign website • Risks 406 Hazards news,
16 May 2009
Britain: Two suffocated on fish farm barge Two men have died after suffocating in a fish farm barge. Maarten Pieter Den Heijer, 30, and 45-year-old Robert MacDonald died on Loch Creran, a sea loch north of Oban, on 11 May; a third man, aged 42, survived after being airlifted to hospital. Strathclyde Police news release • BBC News Online and earlier report • The Herald • Risks 406 Hazards news,
16 May 2009
Britain: Death case may affect site fatalities probe
The chair of the government convened inquiry into construction industry fatalities has indicated the prosecution last week of a construction giant could influence her findings, a trade journal has reported. Rita Donaghy was present at last week’s Old Bailey judgment against Laing O’Rourke, when the firm was fined £135,000 and told it should be “thoroughly ashamed” over a workplace fatality. HSE news release • Laing O’Rourke annual review [pdf] • Construction News • Building • Dartford Times • FACK • Risks 406 Hazards news,
16 May 2009
South Africa: Mine deaths continue to rise
The number of miners killed in South African mines is rising again, a union has warned. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) says that the official death count is over 60 so far this year. ICEM news report • Risks 405 Hazards news,
9 May 2009
Britain: ‘Green’ lightbulbs poison workers
Workers in China could pay a high price for the production of “green” lightbulbs in cost-cutting factories. Large numbers of Chinese workers have been poisoned by mercury, which forms part of the compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Sunday Times • Risks 405 Hazards news,
9 May 2009
Britain: Factory fined over two finger loss
Oldham firm Ribble Packaging Ltd has been fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,769.50 after an employee of the corrugated cardboard factory lost the tops of two fingers. HSE news release • Risks 405 Hazards news,
9 May 2009
Britain: HSE issues fragile roof warning
A construction company has been fined £6,600 after a self-employed worker was lucky to survive a fall through a fragile roof during replacement of leaking roof lights. Keen Construction Ltd was also ordered to pay costs of £3,625. HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 405 Hazards news,
9 May 2009
Britain: HSE warning on deadly balers
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned farmers of the dangers of working with baling machinery following inquests on two Staffordshire farmers who died while carrying out contract work. HSE news release • The Sentinel • Risks 405 Hazards news,
9 May 2009
Britain: Why was no-one held responsible?
A sister has criticised enforcement authorities for failing to bring anyone to justice after the death of her brother on a construction site. Anthony Lockey died on 20 June 2007 when a reversing dumper truck filled with cement fell into the trench where he was working. Guardian • HSE statement • Risks 405 Hazards news,
9 May 2009
Britain: Review condemns ‘woeful’ enforcement
A review of workplace health and safety enforcement has criticised a continuing pattern of “woeful” sentencing which is failing to discourage safety offenders. Howard Fidderman, author of ‘Deterrent, what deterrent?’, said HSE has “already gone soft”, adding: “The statistics do not lie: it is inspecting fewer premises, investigating fewer accidents, serving fewer enforcement notices, taking fewer prosecutions and securing grossly inadequate penalties.”
Howard Fidderman. Deterrent, what deterrent?, Health and Safety Bulletin, number 377, pages 5-18, 2009 • Risks 405 Hazards news,
9 May 2009
Britain: Company fined after fall
Two companies have been after a self-employed roofer fell and injured himself due to shoddy scaffolding in 2007. At Sheffield Crown Court Pinnacle Scaffolding Ltd of Stockton on Tees, Cleveland, were fined £27,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,000, while L J McLaren Engineering Ltd of Wooler, Northumberland, were fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £3,000. HSE news release • Risks 404 Hazards news,
2 May 2009
Britain: Director fined for health and safety death
A north-west company director has been fined after the death of an employee. George Robertson Graham, the senior partner at Carlisle company Auto Recoveries was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £20,000 in costs by Carlisle Crown Court. News and Star • Risks 404 Hazards news,
2 May 2009
Britain: First charges under corporate manslaughter law
For the first time charges have been brought under of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. The Crown Prosecution Service authorised a charge of corporate manslaughter against Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings Ltd and Peter Eaton, a director of the company has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter and with an offence contrary to Section 37, Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. CPS news release • Risks 404 Hazards news,
2 May 2009
Britain: Who pays for employers failures?
A new report has shown that those responsible for occupational injuries and diseases only pay a tiny fraction of the cost. 'Who pays? You do', by Stirling University's Professor Rory O'Neill, concludes that thousands of lives each year could be saved if businesses were prevented from 'cost shifting' onto individuals and society the real bill for work-related ill-health. Hazards news release • Hazards report • Risks 404
Hazards news,
2 May 2009
Britain: Enforcement notices issued on fire service
The HSE has issued two safety improvement notices on Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service after an inspection by the Health and Safety Executive. The service has been told it must improve its training four years after two of its men died fighting a tower block fire in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. FBU Release • Risks 404 Hazards news,
2 May 2009
USA: Blast ‘could have eclipsed’ Bhopal
A US chemical plant explosion could have surpassed the 1984 Bhopal disaster, according to a report released this week by congressional investigators. The 28 August 2008 explosion at the Bayer CropScience Institute plant, in which two workers died, turned a 2.5-ton chemical vessel into a “dangerous projectile” that could have destroyed a nearby tank of the deadly Bhopal chemical methyl isocyanate (MIC), according to the report by House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee staff. CSB news release • Charleston Gazette • Committee report [pdf] • Risks 403 Hazards news,
25 April 2009
Mexico: Court sides with danger mine owners
A Mexican arbitration board ruled that Grupo Mexico can shut its largest mine and fire striking workers, saying they had damaged equipment. However independent experts from the US, who carried out a detailed health and safety audit at the Cananea mine, had earlier found safety and equipment standards were appalling and that this was the fault of management at the mine, not the workers. USW news release • IMF news release • Risks 403 Hazards news,
25 April 2009
Britain: HSE tells the hole truth
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning employers of the dangers of leaving holes in walkways. The watchdog is also stressing the need for inadequate hazard warning signs, after a man was seriously injured at Drax Power Station. HSE news release and shattered lives campaign • Risks 403
Hazards news,
25 April 2009
Britain: Worker crushed by toppled crusher
A Cardiff worker was lucky to survive after being crushed by an 800kg machine. Pullman Design and Fabrication Ltd, pleaded guilty to a safety offence and was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £27,500 costs at Cardiff Crown Court. HSE news release • Wales Online • Risks 403 Hazards news, 25 April 2009
Britain: Director told staff to rip out asbestos
Staff at a Telford firm were ordered by their boss to rip out asbestos with a crowbar and clean up with a vacuum cleaner. Roger Lavender, 37, the managing director of Secal Laser Ltd, was fined £6,666 and ordered to pay £11,039.88 in court costs and a £15 surcharge after admitting a safety offence. HSE news release • Shropshire Star • Risks 402 Hazards news,
18 April 2009
Britain: Firm fined £2,000 after serious injury
A lift manufacturing and maintenance company has been told to pay up £10,000 for breaking health and safety rules after an employee was seriously injured. The UK Lift Company was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £8,000 costs at Lincoln Magistrates' Court for failing to ensure the safety of its employees while working at height. HSE news release • Northampton Chronicle and Echo • Risks 402
Hazards news,
18 April 2009
Britain: HSE had never visited blast death factory
A pie factory that was destroyed in an explosion, killing one worker, had never been inspected by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). David Cole, 37, from Halifax, died when the blast at Andrew Jones Pies brought down part of the roof and started a fire on 10 April. BBC News Online • Daily Mirror • Yorkshire Evening Post • Risks 402 Hazards news,
18 April 2009
Britain: Two serious injuries lead to two small fines
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is reminding employers of their safety duties following two incidents in Mansfield where employees at the same company suffered serious injuries within weeks of each other. SDC Trailers Ltd was fined £3,300 and SDC Parts and Services Ltd was fined £2,600, with both also ordered to pay costs of £1,824.60. HSE news release • Risks 402 Hazards news,
18 April 2009
Britain: Fine after man caught in machinery
A timber firm has been fined £4,000 plus costs of £2,497 after a man was dragged into machinery, suffering serious leg injuries, while clambering over it to replace a part. The common practice at FW Mason and Sons Ltd was only stopped following the injury to Paul Huckle, whose trouser leg caught on a rotating gear, pulling him into the machine. Nottingham Evening Post • Risks 402 Hazards news,
18 April 2009
Britain: HSE to publish some deaths information
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will now report work-related deaths on a monthly basis. The move, with will see HSE list work deaths once the related inquest has commenced, follows a Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA) complaint to the Information Commissioner, who ruled last year that HSE must make this information available. HSE operational note • HSE Freedom of Information webpages • Risks 402 Hazards news,
18 April 2009
Britain: Council fined after waste collector dies
A Scottish council has been fined after a waste collector was killed at work. Stephen Welsh, 35, an East Dunbartonshire Council employee, who was struck and fatally injured by a reversing waste recycling lorry. HSE news release • Risks 402 Hazards news,
18 April 2009
Britain: Unions call for helicopter safety action
Unions have demanded urgent action to improve helicopter safety. BALPA news release •
