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TUC fortnightly Changing Times e-bulletin

Global: Dangers of mind-numbing jobs
Boring jobs turn our mind on to autopilot, say scientists - and this means we can seriously mess up some simple tasks. Monotonous duties switch our brain to “rest mode,” whether we like it or not, the researchers report in Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.
Tom Eichele and others. Prediction of human errors by maladaptive changes in event-related brain networks, PNAS, volume 105, number 16, pages 6173-6178, 22 April 2008 [abstract] • Risks 353
Hazards news, 26 April 2008

Britain: Depression hidden because of work stigma
A third of people with clinical depression say they have been turned down for jobs because of their mental health problems, a study has found. More than two-thirds (71 per cent) feared that disclosing their depression to colleagues would have a detrimental impact on their careers, according to the research by charity Depression Alliance.
Depression Alliance news release [pdf] • Risks 353
Hazards news, 26 April 2008

Britain: Payout deal for stressed teacher
A teacher who said his job ruined his health has been paid a “substantial” sum as compensation for his ordeal. NUT member Andrew Massey, 54, has been unable to work since going sick with stress from New College in Leicester.
BBC News Online • Leicester Mercury • Hazards suicide report • Risks 353
Hazards news, 26 April 2008

France: Stress crisis prompts national action
An apparent workplace stress crisis afflicting French workplaces had prompted the government to launch an evaluation of the extent of the problem and to plan a surveillance system for work-related suicides.
REHS news releases on the Peugeot report and the French government stress study • Hazards work-related suicides webpages • Risks 350
Hazards news, 5 April 2008

Britain: Government warning on driver fatigue
One in five of all crashes on major roads are caused by tired drivers but research shows many motorists are ignoring the simplest sign - the common yawn - that it's time for a break. A new government campaign featuring acting star Joseph Fiennes sets out to remind motorists of the dangers of driving when tired – and says it is a particular problem for working drivers.
DfT news release and driver fatigue campaign • Risks 349
Hazards news, 29 March 2008

USA: Long work hours create deadly risks
Prolonged work days that often extend late into the night may cause Americans to fall asleep or feel sleepy at work, drive drowsy and lose interest in sex, according to a Sleep in America poll released by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Darrel Drobnich, NSF acting chief executive officer, said: “The impact of not getting good sleep is far reaching and has Americans compromising their productivity, safety, health and relationships – both on the job and at home.”
National Sleep Foundation news release • Risks 346
Hazards news, 8 March 2008

Brazil: Injunction forces hours cut for truckers
A court in Brazil has ruled that companies should limit truckers’ working day to eight hours on safety grounds. The preliminary injunction, which was imposed by prosecutors in Cuiaba in Mato Grasso, applies to transport companies across Brazil and came in response to evidence that trucks are involved in 70 per cent of accidents on Mato Grasso highway and that over half (51 per cent) of truckers passing through Mato Grosso use or have used drugs to stay awake.
ITF news report • Risks 346
Hazards news, 8 March 2008

Britain: Capital drivers push bus firms for hours cut
London's 23,000 bus drivers are demanding a standard wage and safe driving hours across all the city's bus operators. Safety measures in the claim include a maximum of 4 hours and 30 minutes of continuous driving duty before a break, 7 hours and 36 minutes maximum time on duty per day, and a limit of 38 hours per week on duty.
Unite news release • Risks 346
Hazards news, 8 March 2008

Britain: Victory on offshore working time
Unions have hailed a “fantastic” tribunal ruling giving about 10,000 offshore workers two weeks' paid holidays. The decision, affecting drillers, caterers and subsea workers, follows a long-running battle over offshore workers’ rights under the Working Time Regulations.
Risks 345
Hazards news, 1 March 2008

Britain: Firms are not learning long hours lesson
The average British manager works the equivalent of 40 days a year in unpaid overtime, a survey has revealed. The Chartered Management Institute’s (CMI) survey of 1,511 managers found 89 per cent regularly worked more than their contracted hours, with the benefit to industry and commerce 184 million extra days of unpaid effort, but the downside lower morale, poor health and declining productivity.
CMI news release • Risks 344
Hazards news, 23 February 2008

Britain: TUC warning on driving hours review
The government must improve driving time rules for professional drivers, TUC has said. Commenting on the Department for Transport's review of the working time regulations for heavy goods vehicle (HGV) and coach drivers, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “This review has identified substantial abuse of the law,” adding: “This must be addressed as a matter of urgency in order to keep our roads safe.”
TUC news release • ITF news release • Risks 344
Hazards news, 23 February 2008

Britain: Go on, work your proper hours!
Nearly five million people are putting in an average of over seven hours unpaid overtime a week. If they worked all their unpaid overtime at the start of the year, 22 February would be the first day they’d get paid, which is why the TUC have named this date 'Work Your Proper Hours Day'.
TUC news release • Work Your Proper Hours Day, 22 February 2008 • Risks 343
Hazards news, 16 February 2008

Australia: Stress drives workers to road rage
Overworked and underpaid employees are being driven to road rage, according to research that suggests employers must take more responsibility for displays of aggression outside the workplace. The Work and Stress Research Group at the University of South Australia found “individuals who suffer a perceived imbalance between high effort and low reward in the workplace may develop increased over-commitment and general anger, which in turn increases the individual's tendency to experience frequent and intense anger in driving,” adding “driving anger increased with levels of ERI [effort reward imbalance].”
Benjamin L Hoggan and Maureen F Dollard. Effort–reward imbalance at work and driving anger in an Australian community sample: Is there a link between work stress and road rage?, Accident Analysis and Prevention, volume 39, pages 1286-1295, 2007 [abstract] • Risks 342
Hazards news, 9 February 2008

Europe: More hit by psychosocial risks
New forms of employment contracts, job insecurity, work intensification, high emotional demands, violence at work and a poor work-life balance are taking a heavy toll on an increasing number of Europe’s workers. The emerging psychosocial risks are spelled out in an expert forecast from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work’s (EU-OSHA) European Risk Observatory (ERO).
EU-OSHA news release and factsheet on emerging psychosocial risks • Expert forecast on emerging psychosocial risks related to occupational safety and health • Risks 341
Hazards news, 2 February 2008

Britain: Work stress causes heart disease
Stressed workers suffer a greatly increased risk of heart disease, a study of UK civil servants has found. Those under 50 who said their work was stressful were 68 per cent more likely to develop heart disease than the stress-free.
Tarani Chandola and others. Work stress and coronary heart disease: what are the mechanisms?, European Heart Journal, published online 23 January 2008. oi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehm584 • Risks 340
Hazards news, 26 January 2008

Britain: Shiftwork linked early retirement in women
Shiftwork may increase the risk of enforced early retirement among women, suggests new research. Researchers used information from just under 8,000 male and female employees, who were part of the Danish Work Environment Cohort Study, which began in 1990, and data from the national welfare register.
Finn Tüchsen, Karl Bang Christensen, Thomas Lund, and Helene Feveile, A 15 year prospective study of shift work and disability pension, Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Published Online First: 15 January 2008. doi:10.1136/oem.2007.036525 [Abstract] • Risks 339
Hazards news, 19 January 2008

Britain: Charity warning on bullying at work
Bullying in the workplace is “endemic” in the UK, affecting 80 per cent of employees, the Samaritans has warned. The findings are published as part of the charity's campaign to highlight the importance of mental health at work.
TUC bullying webpages • Risks 339
Hazards news, 19 January 2008

Australia: Action call on shiftwork cancer risk
One of Australia's biggest unions has called for a review of working hours after an International Agency for Research on Cancer study found people who work night shifts have a higher risk of contracting cancer. AWU national health and safety officer, Yossi Berger, said the “frightening report” had confirmed the union's worst fears, and added: “You can earn a lot more money working these shifts but you may find yourself using the money on a designer oxygen tent.”
AWU news release • IARC news release [pdf] • Global union zero cancer campaign • Risks 338
Hazards news,12 January 2008

Britain: Overworked probation officer 'forced out'
An overworked probation officer was forced to sell his house and car as he pursued a three-year legal battle to prove he was a victim of discrimination. Now an employment tribunal has ruled that Steven Collingwood, 38, of Carlisle, did suffer disability discrimination and harassment after a nervous breakdown was brought on by overwork in November 2004.
News and Star • Worked to death resources • Risks 338
Hazards news,12 January 2008

Britain: Mental health is a workplace issue
Stress is one of top workplace health problems – and it comes with a big cost. A new policy paper published by the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (SCMH) says mental ill health costs UK employers more than £25bn a year.
SCMH news release • Mental health at work: Developing the business case, Policy paper 8 [pdf]
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Tragedy highlights deadly teacher stress
Further evidence of the deadly stresses facing education staff has emerged after another teacher suicide. Keith Waller, 35, an experienced primary school teacher who was highly regarded by colleagues, pupils and parents took his own life, after complaining he felt “singled out” and placed under excessive scrutiny after the school received a poor Ofsted report in 2006.
East Anglian Daily Times • Daily Mail • Hazards guide to the deadly dangers of overwork, including work-related suicide
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Pilots welcome call for fatigue probe
A call for research into the long term effects of fatigue on air crew has been welcomed by pilots’ union BALPA.
BALPA news release • Science and Technology – First report, House of Lords Science and Technology Committee
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Ofsted inspection ‘led to death’
A head teacher killed himself, with the action “triggered” by fears over an Ofsted inspection of his primary school the following day, a coroner has ruled. Jed Holmes was off work with stress when he was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning at his flat; he died on the eve of an Ofsted inspection in July 2007 at Hampton Hargate Primary School, Peterborough.
BBC News Online • Hazards guide to the deadly dangers of overwork, including work-related suicide
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Japan: Court rules man was worked to death
A court in central Japan has ordered the government to pay compensation to a woman who argued that her 30-year-old husband died from overwork at Toyota Motor Corp, Japan's largest car maker. Hiroko Uchino filed the suit after a local Labour Ministry office rejected applications for workers’ compensation benefits she filed after the death of her husband, Kenichi, said Hiroko Tamaki, a lawyer for the plaintiff.
Japan Times • San Francisco Chronicle • More from Hazards on karoshi and karojisatsu
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Controversy over mental health measures
The government will treble the number of employment advisers in GP surgeries and pilot a new £8m advice and support service for smaller businesses as part of a new approach it says will help people with stress and other mental health conditions find and keep work. The drive to get people with mental health problems off benefits and into work has been criticised by mental health charity Mind.
DWP news release • Mind news release
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: Long hours working on the rise again
A culture of working long hours is on the rise once more in the UK after a decade of gradual decline, according to figures published this week by the TUC. More than one in eight of the British workforce now work more than 48 hours a week, the maximum allowed under the law unless workers agree to waive that limit - HSE’s enforcement database records just two successful prosecutions for breaches of the 1998 Working Time Regulations.
TUC news release • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: NHS workloads are stressing staff out
Overworked and overloaded health service workers are so stressed six out of 10 say they have considered packing in their jobs in the past year. A survey for health unions of just under 25,000 employees working throughout the NHS found that over half the staff questioned (57 per cent) were working more than their contracted hours and over four-fifths (84 per cent) said that their workload had increased in the last year.
TUC news release
Hazards news, 10 November 2007

Britain: Stress lays low Edinburgh’s home helpers
Scores of home helpers in Edinburgh have been signed off sick due to the stress of their jobs. An average of one in seven is absent on any given day, with stress singled out as the predominant cause.
The Scotsman
Hazards news, 3 November 2007

Global: Work stress linked to heart risk
People who go back to a stressful job after a heart attack are more prone to a second attack than those whose work is not stressful. Canadian researchers followed over 1,000 patients returning to work and found those with job strain were twice as likely to fall ill.
JAMA news release • Corine Aboa-Éboulé and others. Job strain and risk of acute recurrent coronary heart disease events, Journal of the American Medical Association, volume 298, number 14, pages 1652-1660, 2007 [abstract] • Hazards worked to death webpages
Hazards news, 13 October 2007

France: Survey confirms firm’s deadly stresses
A trade union survey has confirmed high levels of work-related stress at a French car factory that has been hit by a series of suicides. In recent months, five employees of the Peugeot Citroën factory in Mulhouse, in the east of France, have killed themselves.
ETUI-REHS news report • Hazards webpages on work and suicide
Hazards news, 6 October 2007

Britain: Stress at work resources
TUC’s Northern Region has made resources from its workplace stress seminar available online. It says powerpoint presentations on stress priorities for the public sector and a series of case studies “will be of interest to all trade union safety reps”, together with a workplace inspection tool.
Stress resources
Hazards news, 29 September 2007

Britain: Government action on schools bullying
Teaching unions have welcomed action by the government to tackle bullying in England’s schools. The package of measures includes an online cyberbullying campaign, new guidance and a short film to help schools tackle bullies who use the internet or mobile phones to bully other children or abuse their teachers.
DCSF news release • ATL news release • NASUWT news release • NUT news release
Hazards news, 29 September 2007

Global: Psychosocial risks and work-related stress
The World Health Organisation’s global occupational health network (GOHNET) has in its latest newsletter turned its attention to psychosocial risks and work-related stress. The document concentrates on countries in economic transition and newly industrialised and developing countries, but has a great deal of useful information for anyone interested in these topics anywhere.
WHO occupational health webpages • Addressing psychosocial risks and work-related stress in countries in economic transition, in newly industrialized countries, and in developing countries, GOHNET Newsletter [pdf]
Hazards news, 22 September 2007

Britain: Stress is top threat to workers
Stress is still seen as the biggest threat to the welfare of UK workers, according to research by health benefits provider HSA. More than four in 10 senior human resources professionals surveyed singled out stress as the main health concern of the workforce.
Personnel Today
Hazards news, 8 September 2007

USA: Work 'the biggest sleep robber'
Time spent at work is the single most important lifestyle factor that impacts on sleep, a new study has reported. US researchers found the more hours you work the less sleep you get.
American Academy of Sleep Medicine news release • Mathias Basner and others. American Time Use Survey: Sleep time and its relationship to waking activities, Sleep, volume 30, issue 9, pages 1,085-1,095, 2007 [abstract]
Hazards news, 8 September 2007

Britain: Talks start on lean working
Long-running industrial action by civil service union PCS over the deskilling of work in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is being suspended following the department’s agreement to hold what the union termed “meaningful talks.” PCS says industrial action being taken by members in processing offices in the dispute over new ‘Lean’ working systems will be suspended from 28 August up to 19 September.
PCS news release
Hazards news, 1 September 2007

Britain: Civil servants suffer from overwork
Excessive workloads are forcing over half of full-time civil servants to work excessive hours just to keep up, a study has found, with many now working while sick. Research for the union PCS found 45.8 per cent of workers surveyed put in between 40 and 48 hours and concluded 1 in 20 workers was breaking the working time regulations – introduced as a health and safety measure - by working over 49 hours per week.
PCS news release
Hazards news, 25 August 2007

Britain: Workers protest at damaging hours changes
Factory workers held a demonstration outside their workplace on 31 July, angered by plans to introduce “family unfriendly” and potentially unsafe shift patterns. Supported by members of Unite’s TGWU section, workers from the Hilton Food Group plc in Huntingdon protested outside of the premises against the plans to extend their shifts by five hours per day, because they believe the move would have a negative impact on their family life and on workplace safety. Unite news release • Peterborough Today
Hazards news, 11 August 2007

Global: Stressful jobs cause depression
Having a high pressure job doubles the risk of depression and anxiety in young adults, UK researchers have warned. A study of 972 32-year-olds found 45 per cent of new cases of depression and anxiety were attributable to stressful work.
Maria Melchior and others. Work stress precipitates depression and anxiety in young, working women and men, Psychological Medicine, volume 37, issue 8, pages 1119-1129, 2007
Hazards news, 4 August 2007

France: Renault could face courts over suicides
Car maker Renault could face prosecution for the suicides of three workers at its technical centre in Paris, after the French Work Inspectorate submitted the findings of its investigation to the public prosecutor. Three employees at the company's state-of-the-art Technocentre killed themselves between October 2006 and February 2007.
Personnel Today
Hazards news, 28 July 2007

Britain: Cyber-bullying ‘rife’ in UK business
One in five UK workers has been bullied by email, new research has found. An independent online survey of over 1,000 workers for the Unite-Amicus led Dignity at Work Partnership found a fifth of respondents have been bullied by email in their current or previous jobs, and 6.2 per cent have been bullied via a text message.
Unite Amicus news release and Dignity at work project
Hazards news, 28 July 2007

France: Second car firm linked to suicides
A second French car firm has had oppressive management practices linked to worker suicides. CGT trade union representatives at the Mulhouse site of Peugeot-Citroën in eastern France have denounced management's practice of sending “guilt-inducing” letters to workers on sick leave, a practice the union says is unacceptable, particularly in the light of the suicide of four workers at the site over the last two months.
ETUI-REHS news report
Hazards news, 30 June 2007

Britain: Hospital reforms drove manager to suicide
The NHS has been urged to consider the impact of reforms on staff, after a despairing hospital manager Morag Wilson, 32, threw herself to her death from a motorway bridge. An inquest heard that Ms Wilson, head of dietetics at the hospital, had been facing huge pressure at work because of government reforms under the Agenda for Change review.
The Guardian • Hazards worked to death webpages
Hazards news, 30 June 2007

Britain: Schools action call on high tech harassment
Teaching union NASUWT is calling on the government to take urgent action on “cyber-bullying” of teaching and other school staff. The union pressed its case at a meeting of the DfES Cyber Bullying Task Group.
NASUWT news release
Hazards news, 30 June 2007

Australia: Another suicide linked to top firm
The family and friends of Leon Dousset, a line technician at Australian communications giant Telstra who killed himself, believe increasing performance targets and plans to install satellite tracking in his work van drove him to suicide. The allegations follow the suicide of Telstra call centre worker Sally Sandic in January.
Daily Telegraph • Hazards worked to death webpages • Details of the Australian work suicides report
Hazards news, 23 June 2007

Britain: Harassed worker secures settlement
A building attendant who suffered from bullying and harassment at work has been awarded damages. Shaun Kernon, 38, will receive the undisclosed out-of-court settlement from his employer, Gateshead Council.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 23 June 2007

Britain: College survey spots bad management
A union survey has found the majority of staff at a UK university are suffering stress as a result of management bullying. Lecturers’ union UCU undertook the survey after Leeds Metropolitan University’s human resources department refused to investigate the problem.
UCU news release
Hazards news, 23 June 2007

Britain: National stress conference, 10 November, Birmingham
The UK National Work Stress Network's 2007 conference will be on the theme of 'Enforcing the stress management standards.'
National Work Stress Network conference
Hazards news , 16 June 2007

France: Renault suicides cause concern
Three suicides in six months at a French car multinational’s research centre have highlighted concerns about the intolerable workplace stress facing overworked staff. The latest suicide at Renault’s Technocentre followed two deaths in autumn 2006. Vincent Neveu, the CGT union official covering the group’s engineering and white collar workers, said: “One figure probably sums up the situation for staff at this plant better than anything: the management itself has said that every employee ‘donates’ an average of 40 days’ leave entitlement each year to the company as they are unable to meet their targets in the time available.”
ITUC spotlight interview • Hazards worked to death webpages
Hazards news, 9 June 2007

Britain: Staff mental illness 'increasing'
Mental illness is now the second largest reason for UK workers taking time off, a report suggests, headed only by musculoskeletal disorders. A study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found an increasing amount of sickness leave is due to depression or stress.
CIPD news release • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 9 June 2007

Britain: Work stress ‘harms nurses' sex lives’
Most nurses suffer stress-related ill-health and almost half feel their sex lives are damaged by the emotional stress of their job, a poll suggests. Nursing Times magazine surveyed almost 2,000 nurses, and found 70 per cent said they suffered from physical or mental health problems linked to work-related stress, 44 per cent said their sex life was suffering as a result and a quarter said they had started drinking more.
BBC News Online
Hazards news, 2 June 2007

Global: Workers are damaged by job cuts
Workplace restructuring and job losses have a serious effect on the health and well-being of workers, a top academic has concluded. In a paper for Australia’s National Research Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Regulation, Professor Michael Quinlan said international evidence has linked downsizing and organisational restructuring to poorer mental health outcomes, bullying, and other forms of occupational violence and concluded that regulators, employers and unions have failed to respond adequately to “substantial if not compelling evidence that downsizing and organisational restructuring pose a serious risk the physical and mental health and wellbeing of workers.”
• Michael Quinlan. Organisational restructuring/ downsizing, OHS regulation and worker health and wellbeing, National Research Centre for OHS Regulation, Working Paper 52, 2007 [pdf] • OHS Reps newsletter
Hazards news, 2 June 2007

Japan: Work stress payouts hit new record
A record 205 individuals qualified for workers' compensation insurance in the 2006 fiscal year after being diagnosed with depression and other psychological disorders brought about by work-related stress, Japan’s health ministry has said. The figure is 61 per cent up on the previous year.
International Herald Tribune • Hazards worked to death webpages
Hazards news, 26 May 2007

Britain: Safety officers back smarter working
Safety officers’ organisation IOSH has joined TUC, employers’ organisations, charities and firms in backing Work Wise UK, a five-year initiative aiming to bring about a fundamental change in working practices in the UK. IOSH said it is supporting Work Wise UK because of the occupational health benefits of the widespread adoption of these new smarter working practices.
IOSH news release • Work Wise UK webpage

Britain: Ministers warned of cyberbullying distress
A five day cyberbullying reporting scheme introduced by teaching union NASUWT has identified how it is taking a serious toll on teachers’ self-esteem and even health.
NASUWT news release
Hazards news, 26 May 2007

Britain: Working flat out and feeling fed up
Millions of UK workers are likely to be suffering from depression and panic attacks because they are so stressed out by their jobs. This is one of the key findings of the latest 24-7 survey - a national research project conducted by the Work Life Balance Centre and the universities of Keele, Coventry and Wolverhampton.
Risks 302, 21 April 2007

Australia: Suicide blamed on job burnout
The family of a young Australian call centre worker wants to sue telecommunications giant Telstra for allegedly contributing to her suicide. Sally Sandic, 21, took her life in January this year after months of mounting pressure on staff at a Telstra facility.
Risks 301, 7 April 2007 • Hazards worked to death webpages and details of the Australian work suicides report

Britain: Journalists hacked off by stressful work
Stress is one of the biggest health problems journalists face, their union NUJ has said. The union says there is a long list of reasons their members are hacked off, including long hours and shift work, lack of control, lack of job satisfaction, insecurity, fear of violence, bullying, bad relations with other work colleagues, low pay, boredom, isolation and problems with the working environment such as noise, overcrowding and poor facilities.
Risks 297, 10 March 2007

Britain: “Rock solid” RMT action on working hours
Signallers working for Network Rail in Scotland have demonstrated their anger over the company's failure to implement their 35-hour week agreement with a “rock-solid” strike, rail union RMT has said.
Risks 297, 10 March 2007

Britain: Sleeping lorry driver jailed for crash deaths
A lorry driver has been jailed after four people died in a motorway crash caused when he fell asleep at the wheel. German Andreas Klassen, 51, had contravened EU regulations on hauliers' working hours and pleaded guilty to four charges of causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for five years.
Risks 296, 3 March 2007

Britain: Oh so slow progress on long hours
Unpaid overtime is on the decline, but progress is so slow that it will take until 2030 to end regular unpaid overtime of more than 10 hours every week, according to a TUC analysis of official statistics. The new research, published on 23 February to mark the TUC’s Work Your Proper Hours Day 2007, the day when people who do unpaid overtime would on average get paid if they did all their unpaid work at the start of the year.
Risks 295, 24 February 2007

Britain: Drivers fined for not taking rest breaks
Four bus drivers have been fined for working too many hours and not having enough rest – despite being denied training on working hours rules and just sticking to the rosters set by their employer. Gloucester Magistrates heard the four had been given a rota which meant they took between four and five hours less than the required 36 hours off work.
Risks 293, 10 February 2007

Britain: Deaths report warns of trawler fatigue risks
A fishing boat probably grounded and sank off Skye with the loss of two crew members because one of them fell asleep in the wheelhouse. A Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report into the incident warned trawler crews of the dangers of tiredness, highlighting the importance of regular breaks.
Risks 292, 3 February 2007

Britain: Tribunal over-rules stress unfair dismissal decision
A worker who was fired after taking time off sick with work-related stress has seen an unfair dismissal ruling reversed at an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). This overturned an earlier unfair dismissal ruling against the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).
Risks 292, 3 February 2007

Britain: End dscrimination against the missing million
Trade unions have called on MPs to support a private members’ bill designed to stop the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of agency workers. The Temporary Agency Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) bill seeks to give agency workers the same rights as full-time and directly employed staff on key issues including basic wages and sick and holiday pay.
Risks 292, 3 February 2007

Britain: Cyber-bullying affecting 1 in 6 teachers
More than one in every six teachers is being bullied by mobile phone, email or over the internet, a new survey on cyber-bullying has revealed. The Teacher Support Network and teaching union ATL say the problem is becoming so serious that the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) will need to ensure effective implementation of anti-bullying policies covering cyber-bullying.
Risks 291, 27 January 2007

Britain: ‘Management culture' causing college stress
High levels of stress are widespread amongst staff throughout further and higher education and staff widely believe that management - far from addressing the issue - are contributing to the problem. A survey of 5,000 staff in England, Wales and Northern Ireland for the University and Colleges Union (UCU) and teaching union ATL found the main sources of work-related stress were clearly linked to targets and deadlines, long working hours, increased workloads and frequent changes of timetables or courses.
Risks 291, 27 January 2007

Global: Study highlights overwork risks at sea
Fatigue is endangering ships’ crews, vessels and the environment, researchers have concluded. A report from Cardiff University’s Centre for Occupational and Health Psychology presented at the 23 January meeting of the International Maritime Organisation’s training sub-committee in London, concludes there is overwhelming evidence of the existence of maritime fatigue, yet the industry has been reluctant to invest resources into monitoring or preventing it.
Risks 290, 20 January 2007

Global: Depression and drugs face job cut survivors
Workers who keep their jobs following a round of redundancies are almost as likely to end up on stress medication as their colleagues who are made redundant, according to new research. University College London researchers, writing in the February edition of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, said more help should be offered to “survivors”.
Risks 290, 20 January 2007

Britain: Unpaid hours cost workers £4,800 a year
Employees in the UK who do unpaid overtime do an average of seven hours six minutes extra work a week, and would take home an extra £4,800 a year if they were paid the average wage for those unpaid hours, according to new figures from TUC.
Risks 289, 13 January 2007 • Find out more about TUC's fourth Work Your Proper Hours Day, 23 February 2007

Britain: Teachers back NUT on workload action
Members of the teaching union NUT have responded positively to their union's campaign to tackle excessive workloads. A ballot of members showed “overwhelming majorities” in support of the NUT workload guidelines and possible school level action.
Risks 288, 23 December 2006

Britain: Bus drivers put industry on hours warning
Bus drivers have backed a call for a major cut in their driving hours. At the union TGWU’s passenger transport conference last month, the drivers supported a demand for the maximum driving time to be cut by an hour to four and a half hours in one continuous period.
Risks 286, 9 December 2006

Britain: Call to cut working hours at sea
Urgent action is needed to tackle excessive working hours at sea, maritime trade union Nautilus UK has said. The union was commenting after a survey of 1,800 seafarers found that almost half of respondents had a working week in excess of 85 hours; half of those who took part in the study also agreed their working hours were a danger to their personal safety.
Risks 286, 9 December 2006

Britain: Union exposes evidence of “doctored” DHL timesheets
Union officials have discovered drivers’ timesheets at distribution firm DHL Exel in Redditch have been deliberately changed by managers without the drivers' knowledge. TGWU said the changes were made in red ink by local managers to show the drivers as being on a "period of availability" instead of driving.
Risks 285, 2 December 2006

Britain: Increasing workloads stressing out lecturers
Disturbing levels of sleeplessness, anxiety and exhaustion are affecting lecturers in colleges and universities, according to a new union study. Provisional research findings released by college and lecturers’ union UCU reveal high levels of stress as workloads increase.
Risks 284, 25 November 2006

Britain: One in three journalists bullied at work
Almost one in three journalists complain of bullying in the workplace. The NUJ 2006 Membership Survey found in the newspaper sector, 40 per cent had been bullied, in TV and radio 21 per cent and a quarter in magazines and press and PR.
Risks 284, 25 November 2006

Britain: Support for Scotland’s seasonal shop shutdown
Retail union Usdaw has welcomed a report by MSPs backing a new bill that aims to stop large stores from opening their doors on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Thousands of Usdaw members have lobbied their MSPs to back the bill put forward by Labour backbencher Karen Whitefield.
Risks 283, 18 November 2006

Japan: Suzuki liable for overwork death
The family of a Suzuki Motor Corporation employee who killed himself in April 2002 due to work pressures and depression are to receive compensation for karoshi, death from overwork. A lawsuit brought by the family was settled on 30 October 2006 when it was determined Suzuki had not implemented appropriate policies to reduce employee workloads and so was liable.
Risks 282, 11 November 2006

Britain: Employers urged to tackle office bullies
Bullying is steadily increasing in UK workplaces, according to new TUC figures released on 7 November to coincide with National Ban Bullying at Work Day. Fifteen per cent of the union safety reps questioned in the latest TUC biennial survey of union safety reps said bullying was a major problem in their workplace, up from 12 per cent in 2004 and 10 per cent in 2002.
Risks 282, 11 November 2006

Europe: Union dismay as working time opt-out stays
Ministers from European Union (EU) countries have been unable to agree an end to the UK opt-out from Europe’s 48-hour working week ceiling. Commenting on the failure of the Social Affairs Council to resolve the issue, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “This was a missed opportunity to ensure that UK workers are properly protected against the dangers of overwork.”
Risks 282, 11 November 2006

Finland: Work strain causes burnout causes depression
Workers with high levels of job strain are at a massively increased risk of burnout, a study of Finnish workers has found. Researchers also found that job burnout was the most significant risk factor for depression among the study participants.
Risks 281, 4 November 2006

Britain: Union action on soaring lecturer stress
Lecturers’ union UCU is taking action to tackle workplace stress and nerve-fraying workloads, problems it says have made nearly half of lecturers ill. The new UCU-backed College and University Support Network (CUSN) will be the first dedicated national counselling telephone support line for university and college lecturers and their families.
Risks 281, 4 November 2006

Britain: Stress still the biggest problem at work
Stress is still the biggest problem facing UK workplaces, with excessive workloads, job cuts and rapid change the most common triggers for rising stress levels amongst employees, a TUC survey has found. Six out of 10 union safety reps (61 per cent) questioned by the TUC for its 2006 biennial safety reps’ survey reported stress to be their most pressing concern at work, up from the two previous surveys.
Risks 281, 4 November 2006

Britain: Union warns on sea fatigue dangers
Fatigue is now the number one health and safety issue in shipping - and regulators need to respond to the very real risks of a major disaster, maritime professionals’ union Nautilus UK has warned.
Risks 280, 28 October 2006

Britain: Humber pilots should be given a break
Marine pilots employed on the River Humber are not being given the breaks necessarily for safe working, their union has warned. TGWU is urging Associated British Ports (ABP) to remedy inadequate rest breaks and compensatory breaks for marine pilots working on the Humber, recognised as among the UK’s most dangerous waters.
Risks 280, 28 October 2006

Britain: Worn out doctors a road ‘accident danger’
One in six junior doctors has suffered a road accident in the past two years, many of whom were on the way home from hospital after long shift, according to new research. A survey by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) found 16 per cent of specialist medical registrars, doctors in training to become consultants, had been involved in a crash while commuting.
Risks 278, 14 October 2006

Global: Call centres campaign highlights stress
Unions around the world are taking part in an October call centres action month. The activities, coordinated by the UNI global union, aim to highlight the issues facing customer service workers, particularly stress.
Risks 277, 7 October 2006 • UNI Stop the BOSS campaign

Britain: More revenue staff join lean work-to-rule
A further 7,000 workers in Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have joined industrial action over the introduction of “lean” working methods. In a workplace ballot 85 per cent of PCS members in approximately 250 Distributed Processing Offices (DPOs) voted in favour of a ban on overtime and a work-to-rule in response to the introduction of the new ‘LEAN’ work system, which staff say has led to a culture of corporate bullying, deskilling and in some cases a risk of repetitive strain injury (RSI).
Risks 277, 7 October 2006

Britain: Is workplace stress a fad or just plain bad?
Workers are being asked about how modern work practices are affecting their health and well-being. Researchers conducting this year’s “24-7 survey” say they “hope employees in the UK will share their good and bad experiences in an attempt to discover more information about the true nature of modern working life”.
Risks 276, 30 September 2006

Britain: Depressing shifts to blame for disability
A North East factory worker who became depressed because of the wearing effect of alternating shifts was discriminated against by his employer, a tribunal has found. Craig Routledge, 41, became depressed after working alternate day and night shifts for TRW Systems in Washington.
Risks 276, 30 September 2006

Britain: Holiday joy beckons for 2m employees
Plans to increase holiday leave for around two million full time employees next year will bring huge benefits to workers and employers alike, the TUC has said. Its submission to the government's consultation on increasing the UK's statutory minimum annual leave says increasing the minimum amount of annual leave to 28 days for full-timers is a completely affordable move and the government should ignore employer claims that the proposed changes will prove too expensive.
Risks 275, 23 September 2006 • Hazards get-a-life webpages

USA: Air traffic controllers robbed of sleep
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has imposed new work rules on air traffic controllers, a move which unions say will leave a dwindling band of over-tired controllers monitoring US skies. The move was a “brazen, arrogant trampling of the collective bargaining process,” National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) president Pat Forrey said.
Risks 273, 9 September 2006

Britain: UK forced to tighten rules on work breaks
The TUC has welcomed a European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgment this week that said the UK government is breaking the law by not forcing employers to give their staff rest breaks.
Risks 273, 9 September 2006

Britain: Working time rules to cover offshore workersOffshore unions have welcomed a commitment from employment relations minister Jim Fitzpatrick to extend working time rules to cover all offshore workers.
Risks 272, 2 September 2006

USA: Blood pressure rises along with work hours
Workers who clocked more than 51 hours at the office each week were 29 per cent more likely to have high blood pressure than those who worked 39 hours or less, a new study has found. The study also found lower grade jobs were also linked to raised blood pressure.
Risks 272, 2 September 2006

Britain: Work pressure drove professor to kill herself
A university lecturer killed herself after she became unable to cope with the pressures of work. An inquest at West Sussex Coroners Court into the death of Diana Winstanley, 45, heard she hanged herself at her home on 5 July after struggling in a new post and becoming depressed.
Risks 272, 2 September 2006

China: Apple admits excessive iPod hours
Apple Computer has said a report of labour conditions at its iPod plant in China found workers did more than 60 hours a week a third of the time. Staff making the high priced, massively popular mp3 players also worked more than six consecutive days 25 per cent of the time, with Apple admitting the hours were “excessive” and said its supplier would now be enforcing a “normal” 60-hour week.
Risks, 271, 26 August 2006

Britain: Violence at work linked to clinical depression
Employees subjected to real or threatened violence at work run a major risk of becoming clinically depressed or suffering other stress related disorders, new research has concluded. A study in the September 2006 issue in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health found the magnitude of the risk was in direct proportion to the amount of workplace violence experienced.
Risks 269, 12 August 2006

Venezuela: Charlie Chaplin recruited for safety campaign
Charlie Chaplin's classic black-and-white movie Modern Times highlighted the exploitation and horrendous conditions faced by US factory workers during the Depression. Venezuela's leader Hugo Chavez believes it is as relevant today as it ever was – and the film has become a staple of safety training sessions as a result.
Risks 268, 5 August 2006

Britain: New HSE shiftwork guidance
Raising awareness of the health and safety risks of shiftwork and suggesting sensible measures employers, safety representatives and employees can use to reduce the negative impact of shiftwork is the aim of a new Health and Safety Executive publication, the safety watchdog says.
Risks 268, 5 August 2006

Britain: Bullied bank worker awarded £800,000
A City of London bank administrator who was subjected to what a judge described as “a deliberate and concerted campaign of bullying” by four women colleagues has been awarded £817,000 damages over the treatment she endured, which led to two nervous breakdowns.
Risks 268, 5 August 2006

Britain: Scots staff “back festive opening ban”
The majority of shopworkers in Scotland support a new bill which aims to ban large stores from opening on Christmas and New Year's Day, retail union Usdaw has said. The Christmas Day and New Year's Day (Scotland) Bill is currently being scrutinised by the Scottish Parliament's Justice 2 Committee.
Risks 268, 5 August 2006

Britain: Stressed out nurse awarded £140,000 payout
A member of health visitors’ union Amicus has been awarded £140,000 compensation after being exposed to a “health-endangering” workload. The High Court award was made after Melanie Garrod, 53, said she suffered two breakdowns when North Devon Primary Care Trust failed to bring in temporary staff to cover for colleagues on sickness or maternity leave.
Risks 268, 5 August 2006

Britain: Tax office turmoil after “robots” walk out
Civil service union PCS has said the “magnificent” support for a 24 hour strike should prove to management that workers will not accept a work reorganisation that would reduce them to “robots” at risk of repetitive strain injuries (RSI).
Risks 268, 5 August 2006

Britain: Amicus wins payout for bullied reverend
The Church of England has paid compensation running into tens of thousands of pounds to an evangelical clergyman who said he was abandoned by his bishop over a dispute with parishioners in the Algarve expatriate retirement belt. Clergy union Amicus said the Reverend Eric Britt faced a campaign of abuse and intimidation by one of his congregations in the Algarve and rather than supporting him, his bishop withdrew his licence.
Risks 267, 29 July 2006

Britain: Cyber-bullying rules “should protect staff”
Teaching union NASUWT says new government guidelines to help schools, parents and pupils tackle the issue of “cyber-bullying” should also protect teaching staff.
Risks 267, 29 July 2006

Britain: New guidance in managing shift work
UK safety watchdog HSE has produced a new guide on shift work and health and safety. The book draws on evidence available on the negative effect on workers' health from various shift patterns and gives advice on how these can be reduced and controlled.
Risks 266, 22 July 2006

Britain: Rotating shift work may increase heart risk
People who work rotating shifts may face a greater risk of developing heart disease than those who work fixed days or fixed nights only. The report, from Japan, showed that men who worked rotating shifts were 60 per cent more likely to have a disease of the heart and blood vessels than those who worked day shifts and were over twice as likely to die of heart disease.
Risks 266, 22 July 2006

Britain: Long hours may be worse for women
A University of Leeds, study has concluded long work hours may affect women worse than men. Research has found that women who work longer hours were more likely to smoke, take less exercise, and eat unhealthily, patterns not seen in men.
Risks 266, 22 July 2006

Britain: Landmark bullying case welcomed
A landmark decision by the House of Lords that will give extra protection to staff being bullied at work was welcomed by trade unions. In the case, brought by a health policy researcher working for Guys and St Thomas' NHS Trust, the court ruled that the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, originally introduced to deal with stalkers, also applies to harassment and bullying at work.
Risks 266, 22 July 2006

Britain: Union victory on Sunday opening
A campaign by retail union Usdaw to prevent an extension of Sunday trading hours has been successful. Trade and industry secretary Alistair Darling announced on 6 July that Sunday shopping hours for large stores will not be extended.
Risks 265, 15 July 2006

Britain: Chauffeurs driven into the ground
A new GMB survey of chauffeur drivers has found they are working dangerous long hours and are under constant pressure from well heeled bosses to work in excess of 70 hours per week.
Risks 265, 15 July 2006

Canada: Job stress raises blood pressure
Researchers have confirmed that chronic job stress can raise blood pressure, and that high job demands, tight deadlines and low support in the workplace appeared to be triggers, particularly in men.
Risks 264, 8 July 2006

Britain: Overloaded journalists set to strike
Overloaded journalists in South Yorkshire are to strike against poor pay and soaring workloads which are affecting workers’ health. A massive 85.7 per cent of NUJ members at Doncaster-based South Yorkshire Newspapers voted to strike after nine months of “futile” talks.
Risks 264, 8 July 2006

Britain: Post managers dangerously overloaded
Royal Mail postal managers are reaching breaking point as a result of increasing workloads and staff shortages and should not face further cutbacks, their union has warned.
Risks 264, 8 July 2006

Britain: Rail worker wins stress disability claim
A Heathrow Express worker fired after suffering stress-related illness as a result of a workplace ‘needlestick’ injury has won an unfair dismissal claim. An employment tribunal ruled RMT activist Sally Jenkins should be reinstated after Heathrow Express failed to consider reasonable adjustments to her role as a customer services representative to help her return to work from illness, in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act.
Risks 264, 8 July 2006

Britain: Suicide note blamed work pressure
An engineer who killed himself wrote in a suicide note saying “the pressure of work has turned my mind into a ticking time bomb,” an inquest has heard. Cardiff Coroner's Court heard how 28-year-old Wayne Williams hanged himself after a party to mark the end of a year-long contract in Singapore.
Risks 262, 24 June 2006

Britain: Company fined after fatigue crash death
A potato firm has been fined £30,000 after one of its workers crashed and died while driving home after a third consecutive shift of nearly 20 hours. The Produce Connection, of Chittering, Cambridgeshire, admitted failing to ensure the health of workers and the public.
Risks 262, 24 June 2006

Global: Union call for controls on precarious work
Working conditions are under constant threat as a result of the increasingly precarious nature of work, according to a report from the global metalworkers’ union federation IMF.
Risks 261, 17 June 2006

Britain: Staff still forced to work excessive hours
Too many employees are still being forced to work long hours without appropriate rest, despite the growing evidence that this is bad for health and safety, according to the safety professionals’ organisation IOSH.
Risks 261, 17 June 2006

Europe: EU working time law talks hit stalemate
Talks which could have resulted in the end of the UK’s opt out from the European Union's 48-hour working week have hit a stalemate
Risks 260, 10 June 2006

Britain: Senior judge treated for stress
Scotland's most senior judge is being treated for stress. Lord Hamilton is understood to be in the £1m Glasgow Priory Hospital, which has treated a number of high profile patients for conditions such as stress and alcohol or drug addiction.
Risks 259, 3 June 2006

Britain: Over 300 MPs back Save our Sundays campaign
Retail union Usdaw says more than 300 MPs are backing their case against any extension of Sunday trading hours. So far 273 MPs from across the political spectrum have signed an Early Day Motion, sponsored by Brian Jenkins MP, opposing any extension to the present six hour limit that large stores can open on Sundays.
Risks 259, 3 June 2006

Britain: Asda Wal-Mart faces dangerous workload attack
Asda Wal-Mart workers are being asked “to work themselves to death”, a union has charged. GMB says the company has a “job and finish” regime and high work targets that encourage unsafe work practices.
Risks 258, 27 May 2006

Britain: Union defends remains of the day of rest
Extending Sunday shopping hours would have a devastating impact on the family lives of Britain’s 3.1 million shopworkers, retail union Usdaw has told the new team of ministers at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Risks 256, 13 May 2006

Britain: TUC supports Work Wise UK
The TUC is backing Work Wise UK, a new three-year initiative to discourage overwork and encourage the widespread adoption of smarter working practices, such as flexible working, mobile working, remote working and working from home.
Work Wise UK website

Britain: Quitting head blames stress
NUT delegates have unanimously backed a motion urging the union to consider balloting for national strike action over workloads and calling for national union guidelines to curb excessive workloads.
Risks 253, 22 April 2006

Britain: Employer to blame for suicide
The firm that employed a man who killed himself years after suffering an injury at work is liable for his death, the Court of Appeal has ruled. Lord Justice Sedley said all the evidence suggested there was no other cause of Thomas Corr's suicide other than the injury he suffered at work, and he was previously a “rational man”.
Risks 251, 8 April 2006

Australia: Trucking firm fined for fatal fatigue smash
An Australian trucking company that admitted it placed lives at risk by allowing a fatigued driver to work has been fined Aus$130,000 (£53,000).
Risks 250, 1 April 2006

Britain: Euro MP starts campaign to cut long working hours
A report claiming Britain's long working hours lead to an unhealthy, unproductive workforce has been launched by Green MEP for London Jean Lambert. Mrs Lambert, vice-chair of the Green Party in the European Parliament and co-ordinator of the committee on employment and social affairs, called on the UK government to end the UK opt-out option from the working time directive’s 48 hour working week ceiling.
Risks 248, 18 March 2006

Britain: Government working on mental health problems
A new drive to help people with mental health problems get back into work has been launched by the government. It says the new guidance is for commissioners of services designed to better re-integrate into society people that have suffered with mental health problems.
Risks 247, 11 March 2006

Britain: £138,000 payout over stress case
A tax office worker whose job overload led to severe stress and depression is to receive £138,000 in compensation. PCS member Stephen Mellor, 58, from Malvern, took several months off from his post as a senior manager at a VAT office in Droitwich suffering from stress but was given even more stressful work on his return.
Risks 247, 11 March 2006

Britain: Union campaign staff working overtime
TUC’s Work Your Better Hours Day activities last week not only commanded the airwaves, they caught the imagination of union campaign staff.
Risks 246, 4 March 2006

Britain: Speed up means workers pay the Asda price
Supermarket giant ASDA hopes to up the workrate so high at its Wigan warehouse that workers could be shifting by hand over 10 tons each working day. The workers’ union, GMB, says the introduction of a radio frequency voice picking system would increase the daily “pick rate” from 1,100 to 1,400 boxes per person.
Risks 245, 25 February 2006

Britain: Nearly half the workforce wants fewer hours
A stunning 45 per cent of people at work want to work fewer hours, and more than two million people – 1 in 10 employees - would downshift by giving up pay for a better work-life balance, according to new figures from the TUC.
Risks 245, 25 February 2006

Britain: Suspended school worker kills himself
A school worker was found dead in a fume-filled car the day after being suspended from work, an inquest has heard. Support worker David Baines, 57, who worked at St Christopher's School, Wrexham, with children with special needs, did not know why he had been suspended and was worried he was being accused of abuse.
Risks 244, 18 February 2006

Britain: Are you a 'desk junkie'?
Are you over work or overworked? Using a new TUC online resource you can check out whether you have your working hours in check, or whether you are a bleary-eyed overworker. free time on 24 February.
Risks 244, 18 February 2006

Europe: EU backs new hours rules for working drivers
The European Parliament has approved a law designed to tighten up on the number of hours coach and lorry drivers spend behind the wheel. European drivers’ unions say the new provisions are welcome but do not go far enough.
Risks 243, 11 February 2006

Britain: Suicide verdict on bullied factory worker
A father of four killed himself after being bullied by his managers for two years, an inquest has heard. Anthony McDermott, 50, who left a letter explaining his factory floor ordeal before hanging himself, said he found a bullying campaign “soul destroying and demeaning”.
Risks 243, 11 February 2006

Britain: Put your foot down and your feet up
TUC says Work Your Proper Hours Day 2006 promises to be even bigger and better than last year. The event, on Friday 24 February, marks the day the average worker would start earning if they did all their free overtime for 2006 at the start of the year.
Risks 242, 4 February 2006

Britain: Work stress gets everywhere, study shows
Work as a librarian is more stressful than fighting fires or tackling criminals, new research suggests. Researchers examined perceived levels of stress and found one in three workers across occupations suffer from poor psychological health. They concluded all organisations need to take stress seriously.
Risks 240, 21 January 2006

Britain: Five million work a day a week unpaid
Nearly five million employees worked on average an extra day a week in unpaid overtime in 2005 according to a TUC analysis of official figures. If each employee worked all their unpaid overtime at the beginning of the year, the TUC estimates they would have worked for free and would not start to get paid until Friday 24 February 2006 – this year’s ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day'.
Risks 238, 7 January 2006

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