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Hazards news, 17 December 2005

Britain: Is your boss more bah humbug than seasonal star?
Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and griping and can be found in the UK's offices and factories, according to the TUC.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

USA: BP’s deadly crimes could go to trial
A BP report into the March fire that killed 15 at its Texas City refinery has acknowledged there were serious lapses in management’s safety approach. In a separate move, the government safety watchdog OSHA has said it is referring the case to the Department of Justice (DoJ), which will decide whether to bring a criminal prosecution against BP or BP bosses.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: TUC backs more penalties for dangerous firms
The TUC has welcomed a Health and Safety Commission (HSC) consultation on possible new penalties for workplace health and safety offences. A TUC response to the consultation notes: “The current regime is often viewed as having little preventive impact due to the both the falling level of enforcement activity and the low levels of fines imposed by the courts.”
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Trinidad: Unions threaten a national strike for safety law
Unions in Trinidad and Tobago are warning a national strike is a real possibility if the government fails to enact a safety law already agreed by both parliament and the president. The warning came from the country’s most powerful unions after their members marched through the streets of Port of Spain calling on the government to implement the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: Union shops enforcement sell out
An attempt by official safety enforcers to introduce self-regulation is the retail sector has been criticised as “misguided” by shopworkers’ union Usdaw. It says major retail chains, including Asda, IKEA, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, have all been fined for criminal breaches of safety law at the same time that the government is piloting a reduction in inspections.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Global: Shipbreaking yards may have killed thousands
Thousands of workers involved in the shipbreaking industry could have died over the past two decades due to accidents or exposure to toxic waste on the ships, according to a new report. ‘End of life - The human cost of breaking ships’, published this week by Greenpeace and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), says steps must be taken to ensure that established safety guidelines are observed.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: Post union hits out at “barmy” first aid plan
Postal workers’ union CWU has strongly condemned a Royal Mail proposal to outsource first aid training. The union’s national health and safety officer Dave Joyce said the plan was “barmy”.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Global: Cost cutting ups dangers in garment trade
A fire in Delhi that has claimed the lives of 12 garment factory workers, including a 10-year-old child, is the latest example of deadly cost cutting measures in the sector, a global union federation has warned. ITGLWF general secretary Neil Kearney said: “The World Trade Organisation must begin to look at the social dimension of trade in the textile and clothing sector with a view to ensuring that backstreet manufacturers don’t have access to international markets”.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: Amicus backs sacked sick Nissan worker
Nissan’s use of private detectives to snoop on workers taking sick leave has been condemned by a union. Amicus reps at the company’s Washington car plant were speaking out at an unfair dismissal tribunal in Newcastle brought on behalf of sacked paint shop team leader Brian Murphy.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Europe: Experts forecast changes in occupational risks
Changes in society, work organisation and production methods are leading to new types and new combinations of occupational risks which demand new solutions, a European Agency survey has concluded.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: Inquest finds KFC worker “died after bullying”
An inquest has decided that a teenager took her own life after being bullied by fellow workers at a KFC restaurant. The hearing was told Hannah Kirkham, 18, was attacked and humiliated.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: Non-union workplaces clueless on consultation
An investigation by Health and Safety Executive (HSE) boffins into workforce participation in non-union workplaces has found most are clueless when it comes to consultation rules and there is very limited participation from the workforce as a whole.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Europe: Ministers agree diluted chemicals law
European Union ministers have approved the landmark REACH law to control the use of chemicals, after two years of discussion and intense lobbying. The ministers' version of the law, however, does not force firms to replace dangerous chemicals with safer alternatives, unlike the text passed last month by the European Parliament.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: MPs raise concerns about asbestos law changes
Dozens of MPs have joined legal and safety campaigners to raise concerns about proposed changes to asbestos safety regulations which “could put workers, home owners and families at risk”. As of 14 December, 70 MPs had signed an Early Day Motion (EDM) critical of Health and Safety Commission proposals and calling for more research.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: Asbestos killed youngest mesothelioma victim
An inquest has found that a 32-year-old father of three was killed as a result of childhood exposure to asbestos in the home.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: Sufferers win drugs for asbestos cancer
A high profile campaign in north-east of England has won asbestos cancer victims the right to a life-extending treatment on the NHS. Mesothelioma sufferers from the region had faced paying £24,000 to a private hospital to get the Alimta drug treatment, or travelling down to Liverpool or London, where the drug is already available.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: Asbestos campaigner received top honour
A woman whose search for the true cause of her husband’s death has helped protect thousands of workers’ health and ensured adequate compensation for victims of asbestos-related disease, has had her work honoured. Nancy Tait MBE, the founder of the Occupational and Environmental Diseases Association (OEDA), is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Institution of Occupational Safety and Health/Sypol Lifetime Achievement Award.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

USA: Night work linked to premature births
Working nights while pregnant increases the risk of giving birth prematurely by up to 50 per cent, according to a new study. Working nightshifts in the first three months was linked to a doubling in a woman's risk of early labour.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

Britain: Lawyers and insurers clash on compensation
Insurance industry proposals to speed up and reform the personal injury system could result in more profits for insurers and lower payouts for claimants, lawyers have warned.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 10 December 2005

Britain: HSC to call for explicit safety duties on directors
Company directors should be subject to explicit new legal safety duties, the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has decided. A 6 December meeting of HSC, the body that advises the government on health and safety, backed the position argued by unions and safety campaigners and will now be recommending there are positive legal duties on directors to ensure their organisations comply with safety law.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

USA: Call for nanotechnology safety controls
Amid growing evidence that some of the tiniest materials ever engineered pose potentially big health, safety and environmental risks, momentum is building in the US Congress, environmental circles and in the industry itself to beef up federal oversight of the new nanomaterials, which are already showing up in dozens of consumer products.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: No-one to be charged over 31 Paddington rail deaths
No individuals will face charges over the 1999 Ladbroke Grove rail crash which claimed 31 lives. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said there was “insufficient evidence” to provide a realistic prospect of conviction of any individuals.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Malaysia: Massive under-reporting of workplace illness
The majority of cases of occupational disease are being missed in Malaysia, a survey has found. The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) investigated patient admissions over 24 hours in a health clinic serving a large worker population from the Penang free trade zone.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Pakistan: Safety dominates journalists’ working lives in Asia
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has declared safety the top priority for journalists working in Asia following the shooting of journalist Nasir Afridi in Pakistan. The death of Afridi brings the global death toll of journalists and media workers during 2005 to 105, and the total for Asia to 43, with 25 of these occurring in South Asia.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: TGWU demands killing law after rail bosses let off
The failure to prosecute rail executives over the Ladbroke Grove rail crash, which killed 31 people, has highlighted the need for a new Corporate Manslaughter Bill according to the union TGWU.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Europe: Year-long campaign to protect young workers
A European Union-wide campaign will start next year to highlight the safety of young people at work. The European Agency, which is behind the initiative, says official Eurostat data shows the risk of work accidents is at least 50 per cent higher among those aged 18-24 years than in any other age category.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: Abused jobcentre staff fight for their jobs
Workers at jobcentres across the country are being balloted for strike action in response to staffing cuts which their union says are already leading to increasing assaults and spiralling stress.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

China: Deadly coal mine disasters continue
The death toll from the 27 November colliery blast in China’s Heilongjiang province has risen to 171. At least two officials connected with the mine have been arrested for dereliction of duty, with confirmation of the death toll coming as a spate of new disasters hit the country’s notoriously hazardous coal mines.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: Minister to involve workers in avian flu plan
Government minister Ben Bradshaw has agreed that poultry workers at the sharp end of the food processing industry are ideally placed to keep tabs on whether or not avian flu has come through the system. At a meeting with food and agriculture union TGWU, the Defra minister agreed to invite TGWU reps on to the stakeholders' Avian Influenza Group.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Europe: On-call is working time says European Court
On-call time must be included in working time calculations, according to a European Court of Justice ruling. In a case brought by French unions, the court ruled that night duty carried out by a teacher in an establishment for people with disabilities must be taken into account in its entirety when ascertaining whether the rules of Community law laid down to protect workers – in particular the maximum permitted weekly working time – have been complied with.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: Concern at “reckless endangerment” of RAC staff
The union Amicus has reacted angrily to a news report suggesting an agreement has been reached between the police and RAC which would see RAC employees acting as look-outs in crime riddled areas.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: Compensation for minor injuries nurse
A nurse at Newquay's minor injuries unit has been awarded compensation after slipping on a wet floor and breaking her knee. Alison Romback, who was working at the unit in June 2005 when the accident happened, received an undisclosed sum.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: Committee recommendations would hurt claimants
The TUC is warning that the recommendations of a top Commons committee would have a damaging impact on workplace compensation claimants and on prevention.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: Retail giants fined for safety offences
Sainsbury’s and IKEA have joined the list of major retail chains prosecuted this year for criminal breaches of safety law. The government is currently piloting a self-regulation approach in the retail sector, where top companies in the scheme are not visited by official safety enforcement officers.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: Employers’ solicitors compromise tragedy investigations
Investigations by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into work-related deaths and injuries are being compromised by the presence of employer solicitors at interviews of employees by HSE inspectors, the Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA) has told the Law Society.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: Company fined after teenager loses foot
A company making concrete weights in north Wales has been fined £10,000 after a court heard how a worker had his foot amputated after an accident, Lee Small, 17, was injured when his heel became stuck on a concrete mixer track after he slipped off a moving table.

Britain: No job is safe from asbestos risk
The true extend of Britain’s asbestos disease epidemic is becoming fully apparent as more and more workers with incidental exposure to asbestos are being struck by asbestos cancers. Latest reports include a teacher and a shopfitter killed by the deadly fibre.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

Britain: Partial smoking ban an “utter waste of money”
Safety enforcers and a major brewer have added to the criticism of the government’s proposed partial smoking ban in pubs and clubs.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005

 

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news , 3 December 2005

Britain: Health and safety is better organised
TUC’s new organising strategy for health and safety has won backing from top union leaders.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Britain: Usdaw calls for extended supermarket security
Extra security is needed to protect supermarket workers now new licensing laws have come into effect, retail union Usdaw has said.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Poland/Britain: Polish PM urged to tackle bad employers
TGWU has urged the Polish prime minister to raise with Tony Blair the miserable treatment experienced by thousands of Polish workers in the UK.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Britain: Falls not treated with sufficient gravity
Falls from height are the top cause of death in Britain’s workplaces and are a top prevention priority for the Health and Safety Executive. But despite 53 people dying in workplace falls in 2004/5, the courts do not seem to regard these preventable deaths as serious crimes.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Denmark: Too much standing can land you in hospital
Prolonged standing at work is responsible for the development of serious varicose veins, a new study has found. The authors says the study “suggests that standing or walking at work should be limited and alternate with other positions such as sitting, preferably with the legs in an elevated position.”
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Britain: Partial plan to stub out smoking under fire
Tony Blair is facing a revolt by Labour backbenchers over plans to allow smoking to continue in some pubs in England. Some 81 MPs - including 50 Labour backbenchers - have signed a parliamentary motion calling for a “total ban on smoking in pubs, restaurants and public buildings”.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Britain: TUC to HSE – inspect, enforce and regulate
The TUC says the Health and Safety Executive’s “simplification” response to the government’s “better regulation” drive should concentrate on making the safety system more effective rather than just attempting to reduce regulatory burdens on business.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Britain: HSE big cheese arrives from food body
Geoffrey Podger has taken up his post as the new Health and Safety Executive (HSE) chief executive.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

USA: Job exposure to common pesticide linked to cancer
Workplace exposure to the common pesticide diazinon appears to increase the risk of lung cancer and possibly other cancers, according to a major study.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Germany: Loud noises 'bad for the heart'
Living or working in a noisy environment could increase a person's risk of a heart attack, a new study has concluded. Writing in the European Heart Journal, researchers say the risk appeared to be related to how loud rather than how annoying the noise was, so current noise safety levels may need to be stricter.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Global: Occupational medicine faces twin attack
The scientific integrity of occupational medicine is being increasingly undermined as a result of pressure from governments and industry, a new report has concluded.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Britain: Abattoir asbestos killed man
A Merseyside man died as a result of asbestos exposure in an abattoir. Liverpool's Coroner's Court ruled last week that John Jackson, 78, had died of the asbestos cancer mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos from lagged pipes in the building he rented for a pet food business in the 40s, 50s and 60s.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

China: At least 146 die in mine blast
A blast which ripped through a colliery in north-east China is now known to have claimed 146 lives. Officials say the expect the death toll to rise to 151.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

Global: Canadian union threatens James Hardie ban
A Canadian construction union leader is threatening to ban James Hardie products ahead of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver unless the company settles an agreement to compensate victims of asbestos-related diseases.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

USA: Deadly BP buries more bad news
In the US the day before a national holiday is known by the media as “take out the trash day”, a good day to bury bad news. BP, mired in controversy over its recent safety record, chose last weekend’s Thanksgiving break, the biggest holiday in the US calendar, to release two highly critical reports.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

USA: Injured someone? Call a spin doctor
Killing and maiming people at work can be bad news. Faced with the prospect of “reputational damage”, companies are turning to a quick and easy solution – the public relations (PR) expert.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news , 26 November 2005

Britain: Cancer chemicals killing tens of thousands, says TUC
Britain is facing an occupational cancer epidemic that could be killing up to 24,000 people every year, four times official estimates, according to an authoritative new TUC report. The report by Hazards, the TUC-backed health and safety magazine, concludes that the incidence of occupational cancer in the UK is much higher, and suggests that it is between 12,000 and 24,000 deaths a year.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005 • Hazards cancer guide

South Africa: No worker is safe, says asbestos expert
Workers exposed to chrysotile (white) asbestos are developing deadly diseases, discrediting industry “safe use” claims, a South African asbestos industry expert has said.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Employers failing tackle the UK’s long hours culture
Government claims that Britain's long hours culture is being transformed by new rights to request flexible work patterns have been challenged in a new TUC report.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Scottish report backs jail terms for work killers
Unions have welcomed the report of an official expert committee convened by the Scotland’s justice minister which has recommended jail terms for killer employers.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Global: Unions call for action after China bird flu death
Global foodworkers’ union IUF is demanding urgent action after government officials in China confirmed the first death from bird flu of a commercial poultry worker. IUF said: “This death must serve as a warning to the World Health Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), whose current efforts to avert a global pandemic in humans do not recognise H5N1 as an occupational hazard and ignore the core issue of agricultural workers' health and safety rights in arresting the spread of the virus.”
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Minister pledges to deliver law on work manslaughter
Plans to make it easier to prosecute companies in England and Wales after fatal accidents will “absolutely” be implemented before the end of this parliament, the minister responsible has told the Financial Times.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Jailed quarry boss ignored safety
A quarry owner who ignored Health and Safety Executive (HSE) orders to stop work posing an immediate risk has been jailed for nine months. Mark Broadbent, 35, from Earthstrip Plant in Wymondham showed “contempt” for HSE prohibition notices and put “profit over safety”, Norwich Crown Court was told.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Boss guilty of worker’s death
A construction boss has been convicted of manslaughter after his “total contempt” for worker safety led to the death of an employee. Wayne Davies, 36, who ran Knighton-based A&E Buildings, who employed 40-year-old Mark Jones to help erect steel-framed barns, had ignored safety concerns expressed by Mr Jones's wife about his working conditions.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Balfour fined £60k for roadworker death
Balfour Beatty Civil Engineering has been fined a total of £60,000 and ordered to pay £45,000 costs at Wolverhampton Crown Court, after pleading guilty to breaches of health and safety legislation. The case brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) followed its investigation into the death of employee Stephen Haywood.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Britain’s continuing asbestos cancer crisis
Two things are certain in occupational health and safety – asbestos is a potent workplace killer and negligent employers will make sure it remains so.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Europe: Euro MPs back major chemicals law
The European Parliament has approved far-reaching legislation which will lead to the safety testing of thousands of chemicals used in common industrial use. The law, called Reach - Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals - would create one database including all chemicals used in the EU.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Unhappy workers 'risk becoming ill'
Workers who are unhappy in their jobs are more likely to become ill, according to research. A study of 250,000 employees by Lancaster University and Manchester Business School found that job satisfaction influenced mental health in particular.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Worker Safety Adviser funds up for grabs
A £1 million fund to encourage greater worker involvement in health and safety in small businesses is accepting applications. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) operates the Worker Safety Adviser (WSA) Challenge Fund - worker Safety Advisers are a watered-down and extremely rare version of the national system of roving union safety reps unions have been seeking for over a decade.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Canada: Dangerous global toy trade exposed
Toys sold in rich nations are being made by exploited workers in dangerous, sweatshop conditions, Canada’s national union federation has said. A Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) brochure, ‘Toys made in sweat and pain,’ exposes the “appalling” labour practices in the toy industry, particularly in China where 75 per cent of the world’s toys are manufactured.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: First prosecution by NHS security
The new NHS Security Management Service, the company set up to protect NHS staff and patients, has successfully prosecuted a man who hit two members of staff at a Birmingham hospital. Prosecutors had earlier refused to take action in the case.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: Seven figure payouts for injured workers
Two workers who sustained devastating injuries in workplace incidents have been awarded seven figure payouts at the High Court.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: New national centre on workplace health opens
A new national centre of excellence to promote health in the workplace was launched in Buxton this week. The Centre for Workplace Health aims to develop simple, practical solutions to workplace health problems through academic research and will provide a range of training and occupational health services designed to minimise ill health and injury in the workplace.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

Britain: TUC Compensation Bill briefing
The TUC has published an online briefing on the government’s planned Compensation Bill, which seeks to restrict the activities and claims farmers and proposes weakening rules on negligence.
Risks 234, 26 November 2005

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 19 November 2005

Britain: What would you do to dangerous bosses?
The Health and Safety Executive wants your views on new approaches to workplace safety enforcement and penalties. A consultation is asking whether alternative penalties, such as administrative fines, restorative justice, conditional cautioning and enforceable undertakings, could have a role to play.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

USA: Cheap masks won’t offer flu protections
A US government’s strategy to combat a flu pandemic will fail because the cheap disposable face masks recommended for health staff are not up to the job, unions and public health experts have warned. They say normal surgical masks, which cost only a few pence, lack federal approval as a shield against particles the size of viruses.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Britain: Accidents plummet in paper firm
A paper company working with print union Amicus has achieved a massive cut in workplace accidents. Amicus says an effective employer and trade union partnership had reduced accident rates by 63 per cent and improved health and safety at St Regis mills.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Global: Note to UK - workplace smoking bans work
Bans on smoking in public places have been highly successful in Ireland and New Zealand, according to reports in the 12 November issue of the British Medical Journal.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Britain: Scots slam shameful safety stats
Scotland’s unions have reacted with dismay to new official figures showing the country has Great Britain’s highest work fatality rate. Health and Safety Executive statistics released earlier this month showed fatalities in Scotland rose from 15 in 2003/4 to 36 in 2004/5, an increase of 140 per cent, adding that HSE enforcement figures show there are fewer convictions, lower fines, and fewer enforcement notices issued in Scotland.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

China: Chemical plant explosion kills at least five
At least five people died after seven explosions rocked a chemical plant in north-east China's Jilin province on 13 November.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Britain: Past asbestos exposures killing thousands
Britain’s biggest industrial killer is still claiming thousands of lives every year – and the toll is still rising.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Canada: Healthcare unions push for safety needles law
Healthcare workers in Ontario, Canada, have launched a province-wide print, radio and outdoor advertising campaign to push the Ontario government to make safety-engineered medical sharps mandatory. Research cited by the unions shows in facilities where safety needles are in use, up to 90 per cent of sharps injuries are prevented.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Britain: Asbestos crimes leave a new generation at risk
Criminal neglect of safety laws is placing a new generation of workers at risk of asbestos disease.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Australia: Asbestos giant Hardie faces fresh boycott threat
Australian unions have warned James Hardie, the company that prompted a damaging global campaign after it tried to evade asbestos compensation payouts, it will face another round of boycotts if it doesn’t deliver on its promises to dying Australians.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Britain: Insurers bid to stop asbestos payouts
Thousands of people who were exposed to asbestos at work could lose the right to compensation if three senior judges overturn a ruling in a test case before the appeal court this week. At stake is more than £1bn in compensation for pleural plaques over the next few decades which insurers argue they should not be obliged to pay.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Global: New epidemics at work
A retreat from regulation and enforcement, combined with the impact of globalisation, is leading to new problems and new epidemics, according to a new book. ‘Occupational health and safety: International influences and the “new” epidemics’ exposes how hard won regulations are being undermined by deregulation and how the export of hazardous work is creating a new degeneration of workplace disease victims in developing nations.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Britain: Workplace asbestos exposure linked to colon cancer
Men who've been exposed to asbestos run a greater risk of developing colorectal cancer. Writing in the American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers say men in the asbestos-exposed group were 36 per cent more likely to develop colorectal cancer than were men in the heavy-smoker but not asbestos-exposed cohort.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Britain: Football club fined £4,000 over death of teen player
Falkirk Football Club has been fined £4,000 following the death of an apprentice player, Craig Gowans, 17, who was electrocuted when training equipment he was carrying touched an overhead power cable.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Britain: Firm fined £40,000 over worker death
Belle Car Transporters and Specialist Services has been fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 costs for breaching health and safety regulations after a worker died when he was crushed by a car transporter.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Britain: The road is Britain’s most dangerous workplace
Britain’s roads are the country’s most dangerous workplace as under-pressure workers, struggling to meet deadlines and suffering fatigue from long hours, become a danger to themselves and others. New research suggests millions of Britons who drive regularly for their work are “crash magnets” who are much more likely than other road users to cause accidents.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

Global: Worker safety under siege
If you thought financial risks to shareholders seemed these days to be a bigger concern worldwide than safety risks to workers, you’d be right. ‘Worker safety under siege: Labor, capital, and the politics of workplace safety in a deregulated world’, a new US book, shows how the important safety laws and preventive approaches developing in the 1970s are now under threat worldwide.
Risks 233, 19 November 2005

 

LATEST NEWS

Hazards news, 12 November 2005

Britain: Only a new law will stop the work bullies
An estimated two million people have been bullied at work in the past six months, a TUC survey suggests. About 75 per cent of the bullying was perpetrated by managers or supervisors, TUC found, and is now calling for a new law to protect workers from bullying bosses.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

USA: Union glee as court ends protection racket
The US Supreme Court has ruled that companies must pay plant workers for the time it takes to change into protective clothing and safety gear and walk to their work stations. The move, which considered a worker challenge to practices at the meat processing giant IBP, was welcomed by foodworkers’ union UFCW, which has advocated for decades that all required time in the workplace is paid time.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: AA wrong on pee and tea breaks
Call centre workers employed by the car recovery giant AA say the firm must come clean on toilet and other breaks. Paul Maloney, GMB senior organiser said: Adults in the AA call centres have to put up their hands like schoolchildren to get time to get a drink of water or to visit the toilet.”
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: Call for action on asbestos cancer
A new “Action Mesothelioma Charter” from the British Lung Foundation (BLF) is calling for urgent measures to give more rights to people with the fatal asbestos cancer mesothelioma and for the government to make the issue a top public health priority. The organisation says every five hours someone in the UK dies from mesothelioma.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: Teachers secure payouts after violent attacks
A teacher who was hit on the head when a child from another school hurled a brick has been awarded a £130,000 payout after a five year fight by her union NASUWT. The unnamed former head of religious education was left unable to work and still has blackouts.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

China: Officials order bosses down mines
China's authorities have ordered that coal miners should always be accompanied underground by at least one manager, the Beijing News has reported. The move is part of a renewed effort to improve standards in China's mining industry, which has the world's worst safety record.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: Fears over call centre acoustic shock
A union has expressed concern about the safety of call centre workers in Aberdeen after complaints about bursts of noise in their headsets. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said 45 out of 160 operators suffered “acoustic shocks” over two days.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: Amicus targets the “silent” asbestos epidemic
Private sector union Amicus is stepping up its campaign to compensation asbestos disease victims and says it has seen a marked upturn in calls from affected workers.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: Workplace toll shows “more needs to be done” says HSC
Latest official accident and ill-health figures show some improvements but still leave cause for concern, officials have said. The Health and Safety Executive says its figures for 2004/05 show progress on occupational ill-health and the number of RIDDOR reportable injuries, but adds fatal and major injuries remain a concern.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: Campaign rubbishes official work disease figures
Official UK statistics on work-related ill-health are missing the overwhelming majority of cases, safety campaigners have warned. The Hazards Campaign, an informal coalition of unions and other safety organisations and activists, raised its concerns at a protest outside a Health and Safety Commission open meeting
Risks 232, 12 November 2005 • A job to die for?

Britain: Public at risk from new asbestos rules
A planned relaxation in the law protecting the public from asbestos, announced by the government, will see families and workers facing an increased risk of asbestos-related illness, contractors, unions and experts have warned.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: What would you give your right arm for?
Workers are still being maimed on the cheap by negligent employers, recent court cases suggest.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: No manslaughter charges after Corus death blast
Police have said they will not be bringing manslaughter charges against any individuals in respect of the Corus blast furnace explosion. Three men died and a further dozen suffered horrendous injuries in the disaster at the Port Talbot works in November 2001
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: Scots workplace mental illness toll revealed
Mental illness is the most common cause of absence from work, according to new research for the Scottish Executive. The See Me campaign found a third of employees off work due to mental illness gave a different reason for their absence, with some using faked sick notes rather than admit to depression or stress.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: Want to be a better campaigner?
Are you doing a great job out there campaigning for safer workplaces, but would like to have new skills so you can do the job that bit better? A new charity, the Sheila McKechnie Foundation, has opened nominations for its inaugural awards scheme, offering training fellowships to emerging campaigners.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Britain: TUC on smoking and the Health Bill
A TUC parliamentary briefing on smoking and the government’s planned public health measures says the union body strongly opposes the current proposal to exempt bars that do not sell food and private members’ clubs from the smoke-free provisions of the Health Bill.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

Trinidad: Teen death proves urgent need for new law
The death at work of 17-year-old Dinesh Rampersad, buried alive under tonnes of cement at a Trinidad Cement Ltd (TCL) plant, proves how desperately Trinidad needs a promised safety law, unions have said.
Risks 232, 12 November 2005

 

LATEST NEWS

Hazards news, 5 November 2005

Britain: Ownership, leadership, partnership – and protest
A Health and Safety Commission open meeting in London on 8 November will give the public an opportunity to quiz top safety officials on Britain’s safety policies and practice. The Hazards Campaign will protest outside the meeting, saying safety is now a poor second to business friendly initiatives under the HSC’s strategy, and want more worker involvement, greater employer accountability, an increase in safety inspections and stricter safety enforcement.
Hazards Campaign news release

Britain: 24 February 2006 is Work Your Proper Hours Day
The TUC's award-winning 'Work Your Proper Hours Day' will take place on Friday 24 February next year. This is when the TUC estimates that people who do unpaid overtime will stop working for free in 2006 and start to get paid.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

USA: BP could have prevented deadly blast
The 23 March explosion at the BP Amoco Texas City Refinery that killed 15 workers and injured 170 could have been prevented if the refinery had taken basic safety measures and heeded past safety warnings, an official report has concluded. An independent panel into the blast convened by BP will be headed by former secretary of state James Baker, who ran election campaigns for three Republican presidents and whose law firm and institute have had recent financial links to BP.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Safety call after teacher payouts
Teachers' union NASUWT is calling for a review of health and safety rules in schools after winning hundreds of thousands of pounds in compensation for members injured or made ill at work.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

USA: Ford in “incredibly stupid” toilet crackdown
You know things are tense at work when management starts timing rest room breaks. But Ford Motor Co is doing just that.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Amicus launches massive attack on bullies
Bullying in the workplace is a growing drain on the economy, according to the union Amicus. The problem costs up to £1.3m a year in sick leave, lost productivity, people leaving their job and the cost of replacing them, the union said.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Global: Union warns of workplace avian flu risks
Avian flu is a serious occupational health and safety issue, global food and agriculture union federation IUF has warned. IUF says fears of a global pandemic of avian influenza (H5N1) “have again highlighted the indissoluble link between public health, food safety, trade union rights and health and safety at the workplace.”
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Another level crossing, another worker dead
A farm worker has been killed when his tractor was hit by a train, prompting renewed calls from a rail union for urgent action on level crossing safety. Father-of-two David Muffett died on 19 October when a train smashed into his tractor on a Norfolk level crossing.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Canada: Firefighters win fight for cancer compensation
Firefighters in British Columbia (BC), Canada with certain kinds of work-related cancer will find it easier to get official compensation, thanks to rule changes agreed by the provincial government. The new law, which was introduced after a lengthy campaign by firefighters’ unions, will recognise leukaemia, brain cancer and five other kinds of cancer as occupational hazards for long-time firefighters.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Laxer rail accident inquiry rules invite cover-ups
Back door relaxation of rules that require independently led inquiries into serious rail accidents will open the way to a cover-up culture, rail union RMT has warned. The union says it has learned that independently led formal inquiries into serious incidents will be waived by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) if the employers directly involved agree that one should not be held.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Hutton chosen to replace Blunkett
John Hutton has been named as the new work and pensions secretary following the resignation of David Blunkett. The appointment comes ahead of a Green Paper on incapacity benefit, intended to get up to one million of the 2.7m claimants back to work.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

USA: Journal reveals corporate safety corruption
Big business is involved in a deadly campaign to maximise profits at the expense of workers’ health, according to papers in the latest issue of the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (IJOEH). A special issue on the “corporate corruption of science” details how safety standards have been derailed by industry domination of occupational health research and corporate lobbying.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Britain’s remorseless asbestos epidemic
The asbestos cancer mesothelioma is killing five people every day in the UK – and the daily toll is rising.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Firm pays £30,000 for ignoring asthma risks
A Gloucester company that put its workers at risk of contracting occupational asthma has been ordered to pay fines and costs of more than £30,000. Gloucester Magistrates' Court heard that Thermo Radiometrie Ltd had allowed its employees to work with rosin solder flux, a substance which has been known for decades to cause asthma.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Chemical fumes to be reduced in paints
Levels of organic solvents in paints are to be strictly curtailed. The move, which is in response to a European paints directive and follows years of union campaigning for safer paints, applies to paints and varnishes used by professionals as well as do-it-yourself decorators, and includes emulsions for walls and gloss paint for wood.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Stress rife in NHS, bosses say
Most NHS employers think up to half of their staff may be suffering from workplace stress, a report has concluded. A survey for NHS Employers found that 62 per cent of health service organisations estimated that half their workforce might be under stress.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

France: Daily grind wears out joints
Wear and tear caused by heavy jobs can cause permanent damage to the joints, a study has found. French researchers found certain jobs were linked to a greatly increased risk of osteoarthritis in the knees, hips and hands.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Sweden: Heavy work makes you sick
Workers performing jobs that require heavy work are far more likely to take long-term sick leave, a Swedish study has found.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Britain: Fall case highlights ladder dangers
A Grimsby man has received £4,650 in an out-of-court settlement from his employer after falling from a ladder and suffering a serious back injury. The settlement comes as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prepares to highlight the dangers of ladder work in National Ladder Week, 14-18 November.
Risks 231, 5 November 2005

Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Britain: No place for “cancer rooms” in pubs
The TUC has welcomed indications from the Cabinet this week that the government will agree to ban smoking in all pubs - whether or not they serve food - but is calling on ministers not to attempt a new compromise such as allowing pubs to have “cancer rooms” where drinks are not served but patrons can light up.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

USA: IBM rejects genetic screening at work
IBM, the world's largest computer maker, has pledged not to use genetic data to screen employees and applicants in what it said was the first such move by a major corporation.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Global: Union says fatigue is a silent assassin
Professional drivers from across southern England converged on Dover on 14 October to drive home the message that fatigue kills. The action, part of an international week of action by transport workers, was organised by the Transport and General Workers’ Union to reinforce the union’s message that long hours means tired drivers and tired drivers are more of a killer on the roads than drunk drivers.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Britain: Firms fined £13.5m over Hatfield crash
Balfour Beatty and Network Rail have been fined a total of £13.5m for safety offences related to the Hatfield rail disaster in 2000. Passing sentence on 7 October, Mr Justice Mackay described Balfour Beatty's breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act as “one of the worst examples of sustained industrial negligence.”
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

USA: Seven figure payout to carpenter with asbestosis
A San Francisco jury has awarded over $2.8 million (£1.6m) in damages to a carpenter with asbestosis, a disabling scarring of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Japan: Asbestos deaths doubled in last decade
Deaths from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma almost doubled to a record 953 in 2004 from 500 in 1995, according to latest Japanese government statistics. The statistics highlight an enormous discrepancy between the number of cases and the relatively small number receiving compensation.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Britain: Large fines don’t add up to real justice
Unions and campaigners have reacted with dismay to the “paltry” fines for the Hatfield train disaster.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

India: Seven labourers killed as brick kiln collapses
The manager of an Indian brick kiln has been arrested after the structure collapsed, killing seven workers. Three others were injured, one critically, when a pillar, which was supporting a layer of bricks at the kiln in Guptipara, collapsed.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Britain: Gas blast family want corporate crime law
A couple who lost their daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren in the Larkhall gas explosion are backing calls for a change in the law. Transco was fined a record £15m in August for breaching health and safety laws
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Britain: Welfare reforms must help, not penalise
Unions have warned the government that welfare reforms flagged up this week must provide genuine support to help people into work and not be a “crackdown” on benefits claimants. Work and pensions secretary David Blunkett said he wanted to liberate benefits claimants from dependence, saying where people “reassociate with the world of work, suddenly they come alive again”.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Australia: Reducing union site access is deadly
The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has warned that federal government plans to restrict union access to construction sites could result in more deaths. Official studies in Australia have also confirmed a marked union safety effect.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Britain: Asbestos victims robbed of compensation
Asbestos cancer victims of Turner and Newall (T&N), once the world’s largest asbestos company, are to be paid less than a quarter of the compensation they are due. Federal Mogul, the US owners of the company, is responsible for hundreds of cases of cancer linked to asbestos but will pay out just 24p for every pound to which victims are entitled.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Australia: Asbestos, cancer and caring
Lorraine Kember watched her husband, Brian, deteriorate over two years from a healthy, active man in his early 50s, to being pain wracked and feeble, destined to die aged 54 from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma. In ‘Lean on me: Cancer through a carer’s eyes’ she chronicles their life together and how both she and Brian dealt with his illness, caused by exposure as a child to asbestos dumped around the town of Wittenoom, Australia.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Britain: Mesothelioma continues its deadly course
The asbestos cancer mesothelioma is claiming 40 lives a week in the UK and the deaths show no sign of abating.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005

Britain: £12,500 fine after worker disfigured by burns
A steel firm has been fined £12,500 after a worker suffered extensive burns when he fell through a poorly-welded safety gate and landed on hot metal. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Alpha Steel’s behaviour “fell well short” of legally required safety standards.
Risks 228, 15 October 2005