It says depending who you believe, the green industries gold rush could result in anything from 400,000 to well over 1 million new “green collar” jobs in the UK. It warns, however, that far from being our economic and employment salvation, left to its own devices the green economy could deliver the same unhealthy mix of hire-and-fire, poison-and-pain jobs that remain a blight on the reputational landscape of the not-so-green economy.

“This isn’t paranoia. It’s already happening, and it is happening on a grand scale,” the report says. It points to recent fatalities, poisonings and occupational disease outbreaks in UK green firms to illustrate the point.

“Creating good green jobs is not something that will happen by accident,” it concludes. “Bad jobs are not a green solution for the UK. It will take a concerted union effort to make sure the green jobs agenda doesn’t save the environment but cost lives.”

The article highlights problems from traditional hazards like falls from heights and toxic chemicals, and from the use of novel substances and technologies where risks might not yet be fully apparent. A new ‘safe jobs, green jobs’ web resource provides pointers on how to avoid potential pitfalls.

 See the full feature: Green collared, Hazards magazine, number 107, summer 2009. Safe jobs, green jobs web resource • 15 August 2009

In 1994, Federal Prison Industries, trade-named UNICOR, started a computer and electronics recycling programme in Marianna, the first of its kind. There are now seven certified facilities in total. Created by executive order in 1934, UNICOR, a government-owned, for-profit company, uses prison labour to produce various goods and services nationwide.

At Marianna, inmates break down and retrieve salvageable computer parts. According to UNICOR’s website, the products are sold to public and private industries to “save precious resources.”

If recycled without proper safety measurements, electronic equipment can release a toxic dust containing dangerous substances such as lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic, according to government reports and surveys by Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC), a California-based research organisation that studies the environmental impacts of the technology industry.

Freda Cobb’s deteriorating health eventually forced her into retirement in 2004. Another plaintiff, Tanya Smith, has already died at just 36 years of age.

The lawsuit currently awaits action from US District Judge Richard Smoak. It has bounced back and forth between the filing law firm and the government’s requests for dismissal, according to Patrick Frank, an attorney representing the case.

Freda Cobb and her colleagues can’t wait for justice. “I’m praying this will finally make it to court,” she said. “People are dying more and more and we need some answers.”

News Herald. SVTC 2006 report on UNICOR’s prison recycling programme [pdf].