WE’RE “SO GOOD”! Hazards has won a top UK journalism award. At a 23 January 2007 ceremony held at Bafta in London, the Hazards editorial team received The Work Foundation’s Workworld Media Award 2006 for online journalism. The judges said Hazards “is so good that it not only renders the material detailed and probing, but also lively and gutsy as well."
The Work Foundation press release

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ARCHIVED NEWS - January - December 2007

More recent news

Risks * Number 337 * 22 December 2007

Britain: Don’t criminalise seafarers, says union
A union has warned against “a knee-jerk reaction” blaming seafarers for maritime tragedies, when lack of resources, understaffing and poor regulation and poor equipment could be the root causes.
Nautilus news release • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

USA: Chemicals linked to nurse ill-health
A national survey of US nurses’ exposures to chemicals, pharmaceuticals and radiation at work suggests there are links between serious health problems such as cancer, asthma, miscarriages and children’s birth defects and the duration and intensity of these exposures. The survey, released online last week by the Environmental Working Group and several other US academic, advocacy and nursing organisations, found nurses confront daily low-level but repeated exposures to mixtures of hazardous materials.
EWG news release • Nurses’ health: A survey on health and chemical exposures
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: Union challenges M&S on migrant workers
Migrant workers at a factory supplying meat to Marks & Spencer are suffering exploitation in a drive to maximise profits, according to a union report. Unite says that Polish staff at a factory in south Wales providing M&S with red meat are employed on “zero hours” contracts with no guaranteed number of hours, and suffer “harsh and divisive” conditions.
Unite news release • Tell M&S to stop the exploitation
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Police control suffers from low staffing
Workers in police control centres and the public are being put at risk as a result of staff shortages. A study for UNISON, the union that represents civilian staff in the police, concluded it could be only a matter of time before the chronic understaffing and high pressure environment combine with dire consequences.
UNISON news release
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Pakistan: Cotton pickers suffer pesticide poisoning
Pakistan's cotton-picking women are suffering pesticide poisoning symptoms ranging from mild headaches and skin allergies to cancer, a study has shown. The research by the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), found that blood samples of only 10 per cent of the female cotton pickers were clear of pesticides after the harvesting season.
Dawn • SDPI Research and News Bulletin, volume 14, number 3, 2007
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Another Corus worker gets deafness payout
A factory foreman who was exposed to excessive noise at work which left him with severe hearing difficulties has been awarded undisclosed compensation by his former employer, Corus. GMB member Martin Bourne, 70, was employed as a mechanical foreman at the Corus UK Llanwern Works in Newport, Gwent.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Cash van fines put guards in danger
Security guards’ union GMB is calling for cash vans to be exempted from parking rules to reduce the risks of violent robberies. The union says cash vehicles get 10,000 parking fines in London’s metropolitan police area in a single year, when they park the vehicle near to delivery points to reduce the risk of attack.
GMB news release
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Global: Multinationals, toxic toys and toxic work
A spate of recalls of “toxic toys” exported from China has given lots of emphasis to the risk to consumers, but is ignoring the toxic risk at the companies exploiting cheap labour in the country and supplying brand name multinationals. Anita Chan and Jonathan Unger of the Australian National University’s Contemporary China Centre commented: “No mention has been made of the many hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers who labour under dangerous conditions, making toys and many hundreds of other kinds of export products.”
YaleGlobal Online • Australian National University Contemporary China Centre
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: Child’s heartache over dad’s death
The heartbroken daughter of a casual labourer who fell to his death after his boss cut corners to save cash has said all she wants for Christmas is her father back. Iris Savage told Derby’s Evening Telegraph newspaper the death of her son, Nathan had left his seven-year-old daughter, Connie, devastated.
Evening Telegraph • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Australia: Firefighters welcome cancer action
A firefighters’ union in Australia has welcomed an official investigation of the cancer risks linked to the job. The government in Australia Capital Territory (ACT) – Australia has a state as well as federal government system - is to set up a working group to investigate possible links between escalating cancer rates among firefighters and their workplace.
Canberra Times • US firefighters' union IAFF webpages on presumption laws in the US and Canada • Global union zero occupational cancer campaign
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Hats off for safety sanity clause
Workplace campaigners have delivered a seasonal message to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) wishing the watchdog a merry Christmas and a well resourced new year. Santa hat clad revellers assembled last week outside HSE’s London HQ.
Battersea Crane Disaster Action Group news release • FACK news release
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Young workers told to ‘speak out’
Students taking on seasonal jobs over the Christmas break have been warned to speak out against safety shy bosses, following a 50 per cent increase in young worker deaths over the past year. Denise Kitchener, chief executive of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) said students should “speak up and stay safe,” so that deaths and injuries can be avoided.
APIL news release [pdf]
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Don't let seasonal stress strike your staff
Employers are being encouraged to keep an eye out for the signs of stress in their staff during the busy pre-Christmas and New Year periods. Safety professionals’ organisation IOSH says those working in shops, pubs and restaurants particularly are likely to be under greater pressure from the late pre-Christmas shopping rush and New Year’s sales.
IOSH news release
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Fine after guard is crushed to death
A South Yorkshire haulage firm has been fined £20,000 after safety breaches led to the death of a security guard on its premises more than two years ago. Insurers for E Pawson and Son Ltd are also expected to make a substantial compensation payout to the widow of nightwatchman John Cavill, aged 54, of Maltby, who was crushed to death when a heavy metal gate at the company's staff car park fell off its runners.
Sheffield Star
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Global: BP exhausts $1.6bn Texas claims fund
London-based oil multinational BP has said it has spent all of its $1.6 billion (about £0.8bn) fund for paying claims over the refinery explosion in Texas and faces unknown costs for the remaining claims. The company had already increased the size of the fund twice as more claims were filed and settled.
International Herald Tribune • More on BP’s safety record
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Britain: Top asbestos campaign relaunches
A campaign group set up in memory of a Leeds mother who died of an asbestos-related cancer has won charitable status. The June Hancock Mesothelioma Research Fund has now officially relaunched itself as an independent charity.
June Hancock Mesothelioma Research Fund news release and mesothelioma charter and website • Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

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

Risks 337, 22 December 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Thailand: Migrant project reveals work dangers
Making Migrant Safety at Work Matter (MMSAWM) foundation volunteers have produced safety materials in the Shan and Burmese languages for agricultural and construction workers, to be distributed to workers at outreach sessions where interviews and bodymapping sessions are conducted.
Bangkok Post and related story • Bodymapping resources
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Train driver manslaughter rap quashed
The Court of Appeal has quashed a train driver’s 17-year-old conviction for manslaughter. ASLEF member Bob Morgan was convicted on two counts of manslaughter on 3 September 1990; the union said the original conviction had not taken into proper account that the signal was defective and had been passed at danger on four previous occasions by different drivers.
ASLEF news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Thailand: Migrant project reveals work dangers
Making Migrant Safety at Work Matter (MMSAWM) foundation volunteers have produced safety materials in the Shan and Burmese languages for agricultural and construction workers, to be distributed to workers at outreach sessions where interviews and bodymapping sessions are conducted.
Bangkok Post and related story • Bodymapping resources
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Pilots call for air rage summit
The government should convene a high level summit to address the growing air rage problem, pilots’ union BALPA has said. The number of incidents on British planes increased by more than 60 per cent last year.
BALPA news release • DfT news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Union fears after new crane incident
Construction union UCATT is calling for an urgent inquiry following another dangerous incident involving a construction site crane. The 11 December incident occurred in Forest Hill, south London, when the jib of the crane collapsed, knocking over several concrete pillars.
UCATT news release • BCDAG news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Payout for security officer injured in burglary
A University of Manchester security guard who suffered a broken collar bone and finger during a burglary in a campus launderette, has received a compensation payout of over £13,000. UNISON member Gerard Darlington, 48, was working the night shift when a report came in that there were noises heard in the launderette.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

South Africa: Strike puts mine safety on agenda
A national strike by South Africa’s mineworkers has focused the attention of government and mining firms on workplace safety. Over 200,000 miners are believed to have been involved in the action.
Mining Weekly • Business Report and related item on South Africa’s inadequate workplace compensation system
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Hub floors cement mill worker
A Unite member received compensation of £50,000 when he was struck on the leg by a coupling hub. The 53-year-old member, identified as Mr Earney, was employed as a mechanical craft worker for Blue Circle Industries plc at their factory premises in Westbury, Wiltshire.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Vibration permanently harms man’s hands
A 24-year-old crack tester from Doncaster who says he was forced out of his job after vibrating tools permanently damaged his hands has received a £30,000 compensation settlement. Unite member Dean Grice was employed by MSI Forks Ltd, a firm making forks for forklift trucks, and developed vibration white finger and carpal tunnel syndrome.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Dawson’s driver develops diesel dermatitis
A delivery driver who developed irritant contact dermatitis when diesel splashed on his hand is to receive £1,800 compensation. Dawson Holdings plc employee William Smith, 54, was filling his work van with diesel using a hand held nozzle, when diesel blew back from the tank of the van and went directly onto his hands.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 15 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

Italy: Steel deaths prompt strike and safety call
Thousands of metalworkers downed tools and took to the streets of Turin on 10 December to protest against work-related injuries, after four workers died in a fire at a steel mill. The tragedy, at a plant owned by German multinational ThyssenKrupp, caused an outcry in Italy, which has a fatality rate above the European Union average.
Yahoo Finance • IMF news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Work lung cancer risks are not declining
If you thought workplace exposure to the dust, fumes and chemicals that cause lung cancer was a think of the past you’d be wrong. An international study “suggests that exposure to occupational lung carcinogens is still a problem, with such exposures producing moderate to large increases in risk.”
F Veglia, P Vineis, K Overvad and others. Occupational exposures, environmental tobacco smoke, and lung cancer, Epidemiology, volume 18, number 6, pages 769-775, 2007 [abstract] • Global trade union occupational cancer/zero cancer campaign
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: More time plea for compensation cases
The Scottish Law Commission is calling for people who are injured in accidents to be given more time to claim compensation. The commission recommended a five-year window of opportunity instead of the current three-year limit in place throughout the UK.
Scottish Law Commission news release [pdf] and report 207 [pdf] • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: ICL blast inquiry details announced
The details of a joint public inquiry into the ICL Stockline factory blast in Glasgow have been announced by the Scottish and UK governments. It will look into the circumstances leading up to the blast in 2004, consider health and safety issues and make recommendations.
Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service announcement • BBC News Online • Hazards updates on the ILC/Stockline blast
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Scots get better protected emergency staff
Health service union UNISON has welcomed the extension of Scotland’s Emergency Workers Act to cover doctors, midwives and nurses in the community, but said it is disappointed the opportunity had not been taken to cover other public sector and NHS staff.
UNISON Scotland news release • Scottish government news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Britain: Firm pays for ignoring falls warnings
A Liverpool construction company has been fined for failing to implement safe systems for working at height despite repeated official warnings. Maghull Construction Company Ltd was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £1,908 costs after pleading guilty at Southport Magistrates court to breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
HSE news release and falls webpages
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

China: Mine explosion kills 105
Chinese officials say 105 miners are now known to have died in an explosion in a coal mine in Shanxi province in northern China on 6 December. State media said the managers of the mine have been arrested for causing the tragedy by mining a coal seam that had not been authorised for production.
China government news release • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Risks 336, 15 December 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: RMT angered by runaways exclusion
Rail union RMT is seeking urgent talks with Network Rail after discovering it had been excluded from discussions on how to protect track workers against runaway vehicles. RMT expressed “anger and astonishment” at the failure to consult the union and its safety reps.
RMT news release
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

USA: Refinery blast risk is industry wide
A survey by the United Steelworkers (USW) union has found the conditions that led to the March 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas City refinery are widespread throughout the refining sector and that the industry is failing to learn from explosions and near-misses. The union’s report, ‘Beyond Texas City: The state of process safety in the unionised US oil refining industry’, is based on the results of a 64-item survey sent to local unions at 71 USW-represented refineries nine months following the Texas City explosion.
USW news release • Beyond Texas City – full report [pdf]
More from Hazards on BP’s safety record
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Unions make unsafe employers pay
Trade union legal services continues to provide crucial support for injured workers.
Pattinson and Brewer news releases on lorry driver, home carer and panel beater settlements Thompsons Solicitors news releases on tomato slip and hernia settlements
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Ergo cabs follow union campaign
Rail firm Freightliner is improving train cabs after a campaign by drivers’ union ASLEF. Union general secretary Keith Norman says the company’s production director has given an assurance the company is “more than happy to involve ASLEF as much as possible in the ergonomics of any new cab design.”
ASLEF news release and Squash campaign
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

USA: Illness lays low 11 at pork plant
Eleven workers at a pork processing plant in Austin, Minnesota, fell ill between last December and July with a neurological disorder whose cause remains unknown, state health officials have said. The condition afflicting five of the workers at Quality Pork Processors Inc has been identified as a rare disease called chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy or CIDP, which normally strikes fewer than two people per 100,000 - in this instance, it may have struck 11 out of about 100 people in a particular part of the plant, state officials said.
Minnesota Department of Health news release, webpage and factsheet [pdf]
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: FBU demands action on firework ‘bombs’
Firefighters’ union FBU has called for an overhaul of the regulations that cover the import, manufacture, transport and storage of fireworks in the UK. The union was speaking out on the first anniversary of the deaths of two firefighters in an explosion at Marlie Farm in East Sussex on 3 December 2006.
FBU news release • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Unions welcomes pleural plaques move
Construction union UCATT have given a “cautious welcome” to the UK government’s commitment to examine a recent decision of the Law Lords that asbestos campaigners have labelled a “travesty of justice” and “a disgrace”.
UCATT news release • Oldham Chronicle
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

South Africa: Massive strike for mine safety
South Africa’s mining sector was hit on 4 December by its biggest strike in two decades, as over half all the country’s miners stayed home to protest at poor safety conditions. National Union of Mineworkers spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka told a 40,000-strong gathering of protesters that marched through central Johannesburg: “If the big companies do not do anything to improve safety, we will be back on the streets again; we will stop the mines with a two- or three-month strike.”
IRIN news • NUM news release
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Scots to put right pleural plaques snub
Scottish ministers are to overturn a House of Lords ruling preventing workers suing employers over asbestos-related pleural plaques. The ruling prevented compensation claims for pleural plaques, a scarring of the lungs, arguing that it was technically not a disease.
Scottish government news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Pattinson and Brewer news release • ABI news release • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 8 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: No one is safe from asbestos
A hairdresser and a theatre worker are among the latest victims of asbestos. Carol Heaton, 60, died from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma after working in a hair salon for 33 years and theatre worker Gloria Dawson, 69, was killed by a crumbling fire safety stage curtain.
Daily Mail • The Times
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Asbestos case settled in four months
Former shipyard worker Charles Cochran, 67, has been awarded more than £150,000 in compensation after developing the asbestos cancer mesothelioma. This case was settled just four months after the claim was made.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Amazon lied about drug test
Internet giant Amazon wrongly branded a worker a druggie and fired him, an employment tribunal has heard. Khalid Elkhader was awarded £3,453 in compensation after managers at the firm’s west of Scotland facility told him he had tested positive for amphetamine and fired him – however, he was told a second negative test was positive.
Greenock Telegraph • Impaired thinking: The case for workplace drug and alcohol testing has no substance, Hazards magazine, number 100, 2007
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: HSE accused of inspection-by-phone
An inspection foreman has accused the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) of ignoring serious safety problems after it refused to visit a dangerous workplace and took “telephone action” instead. The source told trade paper Contract Journal that HSE ignored his plea for a personal visit after he raised serious concerns over health and safety standards at the structural steel firm where he had worked.
Contract Journal • Just who does HSE protect? Hazards magazine, number 100, 2007
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Offshore safety on a 'knife-edge'
Safety is on a “knife-edge” in some parts of the North Sea oil industry, MPs have been warned. The admission from Health and Safety Executive (HSE) chief executive Geoffrey Podger followed two platform fires and a damning report on offshore safety standards in November 2007.
BBC News Online
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Boss jailed after death cover-up attempt
Company boss Steven Christopher Smith from north Wales has been jailed for two and a half years for manslaughter and perverting the course of justice after the death of employee Paul Christopher Alker, 33, in a workplace fall. Smith did not provide the right harnesses, but after Mr Alker plunged to his death, he went out and bought the safety equipment, put them on the roof, and blamed Mr Alker for not using it.
HSE news release • Daily Post
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Canada: Asbestos epidemic ‘made in Canada’
A prominent Canadian politician has said the country deserves international derision for imposing a made-in-Canada asbestos disease epidemic on the rest of the world. In an opinion piece in the National Post, Pat Martin, an MP with the New Democratic Party, said the Canadian government’s backing for the industry was “corporate welfare for corporate serial killers.”
National Post • NDP news release
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Safety warning after fall fine
Construction firms have warned that satisfactory edge protection must be in place to prevent falls from height following the prosecution of a Merseyside company after a site worker suffered serious injury. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) issued the advice as Copelare Ltd was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,783 at Bootle Magistrates' Court after it admitted safety breaches.
HSE news release • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Britain: Firm fined after horror accident
A company has been fined £50,000 after an employee fell into a skip of broken glass and a 12-stone glass pane dropped on him in a carbon copy of an earlier incident. Ricky Waters, 38, suffered a depressed skull fracture and was in a coma for six days following the incident at the Vizor Tempered Glass works in Port Talbot.
HSE news release • Evening Post.
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Global: Shiftwork linked to cancer
Shiftwork has been recognised officially as a “probable” cause of cancer. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), the cancer arm of the World Health Organisation, has said it will classify overnight shift work as a probable carcinogen after evidence was considered by a meeting of experts; IARC experts also ranked occupational exposure as a painter as carcinogenic to humans and as a firefighter as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
IARC news release [pdf] • Kurt Staif and others. Carcinogenicity of shift-work, painting, and fire-fighting The Lancet Oncology, volume 8, number 12, pages 1065-1066, December 2007 • Findings to be published by IARC next year, Shift-work, painting and fire-fighting, IARC monograph, volume 98 • Global union zero cancer campaign
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Risks 335, 8 December 2007

 

Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Global: Repeat after me – strain injuries hurt
Strain injuries are commonly reported as the top cause of work-related injury, disability and lost time. They are easily prevented - and there has never been a better time to take action.
Hazards strains resources • ‘Repeat after me’ poster • Email the Hazards Campaign for poster order details
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: TUC says sort out work hazards not workers
Many employers have a healthier appetite for addressing their employees’ diet, exercise and smoking habits than addressing the work-related causes of ill-health, the TUC has said. In a TUC submission to Dame Carol Black’s review of the health of the working age population, the TUC says employers’ attempts to encourage healthy living are most effective when they look at how work can contribute to or cause lifestyle problems and warns against employers moralising over lifestyle issues, like drug and alcohol use.
TUC news release and full response to the consultation • More on the union approach to work and health issues
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

USA: Hilton caused housekeeper strains
California’s workplace safety regulator has charged that the duties performed by housekeepers at a hotel - scrubbing, bed making, vacuuming - violate the state's repetitive strain injury rules. A citation issued to Hilton Los Angeles Airport hotel (LAX Hilton) “confirmed what workers have been telling their physicians and management at the LAX Hilton, that this work and the workload are causing them pain and injury,” said Pamela Vossenas, senior health and safety representative for the hotel division of Unite Here.
LA Union news release • LA Times
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

South Africa: Mines safety strike to go ahead
South African mine workers are set to proceed with a one-day nationwide strike on 4 December in protest at poor safety in the country's mines. About 240,000 workers may take part in the strike, the first countrywide walkout by miners.
NUM statement • Mail and Guardian • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: Dirty ambulances spread deadly infections
Dirty ambulances could help the spread of MRSA and other superbugs, health service UNISON has warned. Ambulance crews report they don't get time to check the vehicles, let alone clean them, said UNISON, adding the vehicles are never deep cleaned.
UNISON news release • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: UNISON lays down the law on violence
UNISON has issued new guidelines showing how workers can use the law to prevent assaults, convict offenders and sue employers for compensation. UNISON in Scotland has identified a number of legal avenues workers can use: Pursuing criminal prosecutions against assailants - for assault or for harassment; suing employers or assailants for civil damages; and using health and safety legislation to make employers carry out proper risk assessments and take measures to prevent attacks.
UNISON news release • Assaults on staff: Legal action against violent service users, UNISON Scotland briefing 169, November 2007.
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: Site unions warns of bogus self-employed dangers
Construction unions have warned the government about the dangers of bogus self-employment. Workers miss out on holiday and sick pay, industrial injury and disease benefits and other employment rights.
UCATT news release
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: Rail union warns against dangerous cutbacks
Network Rail’s renewals contracts should be brought back in-house, a move rail union RMT says could deliver efficiency savings without undermining growth or compromising safety. Simply squeezing budgets will only undermine safety as well as growth, RMT said.
RMT news release • Network Rail news release
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

China: Brutal attack on workers’ adviser
A worker from an employment advice centre in Shenzen, China, has been brutally attacked. Global union federation ITUC has written to the Shenzhen authorities to protest at the stabbing of Huang Qingnan, a worker from a local labour advice and support centre.
ITUC news release
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: TUC scathing on new safety laws review
The TUC has said the government should stop pandering to negligent law-shy employers, and instead put its focus on protecting vulnerable workers from illness and injury. The comments came after Chancellor Alistair Darling this week launched a “major review” of safety laws, “focusing on small and low risk businesses.”
BERR news release and Improving outcomes from health and safety: A call for evidence [pdf] • Alistair Darling’s speech to the CBI conference
Hazards news, 1 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: Study exposes cancer control complacency
A disastrous failure by chemical firms and the Health and Safety Executive to control one of the best known workplace carcinogens has been revealed by an HSE survey. HSE assessed occupational exposures to the industrial chemical MbOCA, which can cause bladder cancer and which has been linked to other cancers, and found controls and personal protective equipment (PPE) were inadequate, training was poor and exposure levels were unacceptable.
HSE publication alert • A survey of occupational exposure to MbOCA in the polyurethane elastomer industry in Great Britain 2005-2006, HSE [pdf] • Global union occupational cancer/zero cancer campaign
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Australia: Federal court supports role of unions
Australia’s Federal Court has supported the role of unions, declaring construction union CFMEU a “competent administrative authority” with a right of access to workplaces to undertake safety probes. The court also found it unlawful for a person to be sacked for reasons including complaining to the union.
SafetyNet Journal, number 128 • Read the judgment online Claveria v Pilkington Australia Ltd [2007] FCA 1692 • Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: CCA slams ‘meaningless’ enforcement review
The Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA) is calling on the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) to undertake a new review of the circumstances when its inspectors should prosecute. It says the conclusions of the Health and Safety Executive’s review of its prosecution policy are “meaningless” as crucial evidence has been overlooked.
CCA news release and background papers
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Australia: Death of Bernie Banton, asbestos hero
Bernie Banton, an Australian factory worker who became a nationwide symbol for labour rights in Australia, died on 27 November after suffering with asbestosis for years and more recently developing the asbestos cancer mesothelioma. Mr Banton, who was 61, fought until the very end, managing this month to give court evidence in a landmark compensation case from his hospital bed, as well as delivering a petition to the government in the run-up to last Saturday’s federal election pressing for and winning improved drug treatments for mesothelioma sufferers.
ACTU condolence book • The James Hardie scandal
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: Fine for amusement park death
The former operators of an amusement park have been fined £95,000 and ordered to pay costs of £50,000 over the death of a maintenance worker. Pleasureland Ltd had pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety laws after the work fatality in the Southport park in 2004.
HSE news release • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: Schools safety probe after lathe injury
A safety review has started at all secondary schools in the in Scotland’s Borders area after a teenage girl became entangled in a lathe. Nadine Craig, a 14-year-old pupil at Galashiels Academy, required hospital treatment for the neck injuries she received when her scarf was caught in the machine and will be scarred for life as a result.
Daily Record • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Britain: Guilty verdict on teen scaffolder death
Site supervisor David Swindells Jr has been found guilty of safety offences that contributed to the death of a teenage scaffolder. Steven Burke died aged 17 in January 2003 when a sub-standard scaffold collapsed - his employer 3D Scaffolding Ltd, main contractor Mowlem plc and RAM Services Ltd had earlier pleaded guilty to related safety offences.
FACK news release • Hazards young workers’ webpages
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Global: New biological threats at work
Workers in every type of work could be at risk from biological agents, a new report has warned. The European Risk Observatory (ERO) report, backed up by a practical factsheet, says despite existing laws covering the issue, knowledge is still limited and in many workplaces biological risks are poorly assessed and prevented.
European Agency news release and factsheet on emerging biological risks [pdf] • Expert forecast on emerging biological risks related to occupational safety and health [pdf] • Read more
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

Risks 334, 1 December 2007

Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Call for tough action on safety ‘crime wave’
There must be tougher enforcement action to tackle a workplace health and safety “crime wave”, the TUC has said. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Evidence shows the most effective way to change behaviour is strong enforcement action, supported by advice and guidance.”
TUC news release • CCA news release • FACK news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Ukraine: A hundred feared dead in mine blast
At least 90 miners died in an 18 November blast at a mine in Ukraine, making it the worst mining accident in the nation's history, officials say. The explosion, caused by a build-up of methane gas, occurred more than 1,000m (3,280ft) below ground in the Zasiadko coalmine, in Donetsk, East Ukraine.
ITUC news release • BBC News Online and related photographs
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Migrant worker misery is a pub grub ingredient
Food and snacks eaten in pubs, canteens and on trains across the country could have been prepared by migrant workers working in “Dickensian sweatshop conditions”, a union is warning clients and customers. Unite is concerned that young Polish workers, some of whom are members of Unite, employed by salad and vegetable preparation company Just Prepared are forced to work all day in sodden clothing, cannot access toilets during a shift without permission and at times work up to 16 hours a day.
Unite news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

New Zealand: Worker participation key to improvements
“Involving workers in managing health and safety at work is a key to improving our record in this area,” NZCTU secretary Carol Beaumont has said. Her comments followed the release of the New Zealand government’s Workplace Health and Safety Strategy second progress report.
NZCTU news release • NZ Department of Labour news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Launch of cyberspace solution to cyberbullies
A teaching union has kicked off a major UK-wide campaign to combat ‘cyberbullying’ of teachers. NASUWT has create a new online resource where teachers can support the campaign and tell their cyberbullying story
NASUWT news release • Stop Cyberbullying webpages
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Contractor threat to shipyard safety
Contractors working at A&P Falmouth are undermining health and safety and long standing agreements at the shipyard, the union GMB has said. It is particularly concerned migrant workers employed by contractors at the Cornish workplace could be vulnerable to health and safety risks.
GMB news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Lack of safety at ports puts lives at risk
Government ministers have received a broadside from a working tugman over their failure to give sufficient priority to health and safety in UK ports and harbours. Speaking at the 1st Annual UK Ports and Shipping Conference, Unite member Richard Crease said the union had serious concerns about safety.
Unite news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Port worker receives asbestos settlement
A retired Port of London Authority (PLA) worker has received £23,500 compensation after being diagnosed with asbestos-related pleural thickening. Unite secured the compensation for Terence O’Connell, 84, who worked for the PLA from 1937 until 1975, save for the wartime years when he served in the RAF.
Pattinson & Brewer news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Drivers get slip up payouts
A bus driver and a lorry driver, both members of the union Unite, have received compensation after slipping at work. London bus driver Stephen Jacobs received £6,000 compensation after falling on a wet floor after leaving a toilet at a terminus and Simon Omer, an HGV driver with supermarket chain Sainsbury’s received £5,250 after slipping and injuring his left knee.
Pattinson & Brewer news releases on the Jacobs and the Omer cases
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Six figure payout for job ending injury
A Merseyside man whose life has been seriously impaired as a result of a serious back injury at work has received a 250,000 payout from Glen Dimplex Cooking. The 61-year-old Unite member from Prescot, worked as a facilities engineer for the firm and sustained a serious back injury when he fell down a damp sloping grass verge whilst reading meters at one of the firm’s factory buildings.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: 'Tougher' work tests for disabled
New incapacity benefit tests planned for next year mean fewer sick and disabled people will qualify as being unable to work. The new work capability assessment, which will cover the entire UK, is being introduced alongside the employment support allowance - which will replace incapacity benefits for new claimants from next autumn.
DWP news release • Transformation of the Personal Capability Assessment - Technical Working Group's Phase 2 Evaluation Report
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Canada: Asbestos exports on the increase
A major sales drive by Canada’s asbestos industry has seen asbestos exports to some developing nations increase dramatically. Seventy-five per cent of Canadian asbestos exports go to Asian countries, the analysis shows; the top five regional markets are India – which imported C$25,196,357 (£12,420,000) worth of Canadian asbestos between January and August 2007, followed by Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Bangladesh.
Canadian asbestos: The naked truth, IBAS, November 2007 • New International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) website
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Concerns about new work capability tests
Disability, work policy and union organisations have warned changes next year to the incapacity benefit system risk penalising and harassing the sick and those with disabilities. The TUC said returning the sick to work required cooperation, not coercion.
Mind news release • Disability Alliance news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Corporate killers must face mega-fines
Companies whose neglect results in deaths should face fines running to hundreds of millions of pounds, government law advisers have said. A corporate accountability group, however, has said the Sentencing Advisory Panel (SAP) proposed penalties are still “simply too low.”
CCA news release • Sentencing guidelines news release [pdf] • Sentencing guidelines website
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Wimpey fined £300,000 over trench tragedy
George Wimpey (North East) Ltd has been fined £300,000 after a trench collapse in which Neil Dunstan, 41, employed by a sub-contractor was crushed to death. George Wimpey’s parent company, Taylor Wimpey – Britain’s largest house builder - had a revenue of £2,671.9 million in the first six months of 2007; its first half profits before tax were £140.9 million.
HSE news release • Taylor Wimpey Interim Results Statement 2007 • Northern Echo
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Inspector unearths more dust disease
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Andrea Robbins has unearthed a second case of a stonemason suffering a potentially fatal dust disease. Silica dust levels had previously been found to be over 100 times than the current legal exposure limit.
HSE news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Oil firms ‘must improve safety’
North Sea oil companies have been told that more must be done to improve their offshore safety record. The instruction follows a three-year investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release and related reports • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Migrant workers killed in van smash
Three migrant workers were killed and another eight workers hospitalised in a head-on crash at Croft, near Skegness, at about 7am on Tuesday 13 November. The tragedy evoked memories a Valentine's Day 2006 car crash in which five migrant workers from Grantham, Lincolnshire, were killed.
Lincolnshire Echo
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Cancer resource on YouTube
Top UK toxicologist Professor Vyvyan Howard has taken awareness raising on occupational and environmental cancer out to the YouTube generation. Two video clips warn that what you breathe, swallow and touch at work and where you live can seriously affect your chances of developing cancer – and this risk has increased dramatically as a consequence of industrialisation.
The rise in cancer - Part 1 • The rise in cancer - Part 2 • Global union zero cancer campaign
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Risks 333, 24 November 2007

Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: What you don’t know is killing us
The government’s “work is good for you” push is missing one inconvenient truth – a combination of job insecurity, punitive sick leave policies, a failure to recognise the extent of the country’s work-related health crisis and a lack of official health and safety enforcement means for many work is bad and getting worse.
Dame blast – To Hain and Black: What you don’t know is killing us, Hazards magazine, October-December 2007 • Hazards work and health webpages • Working for Health news release
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Global: It’s about Hazards, geddit?
The latest issue of Hazards, the union safety reps’ quarterly, is out now. It investigates how your safety is being threatened at work by a lack of enforcement, and how your health isn’t been given the priority it deserves, and there’s also advice on why drug and alcohol tests are a bad habit employers should in general give up, as well as lots of news and resources.
Hazards magazine • Contents page • Subscription details
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Vehicles at work can hurt you
Whether you work in them, on them or by them, contact with vehicles at work can really hurt you, a series of union compensation cases show.
GMB news release • Pattinson & Brewer Solicitors news releases on the Russell Williams and Sekou Hamidou Dembele settlements • Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Serious slip up at dangerous food factory
A GMB member has been awarded compensation after being injured at a London food factory. Production worker Dinsuta Kanji received almost £13,000 compensation after being injured at Katsouris Fresh Foods, owned by the giant Icelandic Bakkavör Group - the firm has faced serious criticism of its safety standards after a series of recent injuries.
Pattinson & Brewer news release
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Mexico: Toxic dust ‘feet high’ in strike mine
Mexico's largest copper mine is awash with “serious health and safety violations”, and needs a “massive cleanup operation” before striking miners can return, a team of top safety experts has found. The team found dangerous levels of mineral dust and acid mist at Grupo Mexico’s Cananea copper mine in Sonora, 30 miles south of the Arizona border.
USW news release • Miami Herald • Health and safety report from Cananea, Mexico, Copper Mine, MHSSN, November 2007 [pdf] • MHSSN website
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Increasing concern over offshore employers
An offshore union leader has called for oil giant Shell to quit the North Sea. Unite regional officer Graham Tran made the demand after a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation upheld concerns raised by offshore unions over safety on Shell platforms.
Press and Journal
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Teacher’s testimony to asbestos dangers
A teacher who has developed the asbestos cancer mesothelioma as a result of exposures in a school has issued an online video warning about the dangers of the deadly fibre. Elizabeth Bradford was informed after an inspection by her local authority employer she had been exposed to asbestos, but it was white asbestos so there wasn’t a problem.
ATL YouTube video clip • Also on YouTube: Mesothelioma: The human face of an epidemic • Other safety related videos on YouTube
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Cancer payouts offer little comfort
The widow of a Unite member has been awarded a substantial compensation payment after her husband died of an asbestos cancer caused by exposures at work. David Hines from Birkenhead was 73 when he died just two months after he was diagnosed with mesothelioma.
Thompsons Solicitors news release
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Cancer payout for asbestos hug woman
A Devon woman who developed an incurable asbestos-related cancer from hugging her father as a child has settled a damages claim. The Ministry of Defence (MoD), which owned Devonport Dockyard when Debbie Brewer's father worked there in the 1960s, settled with a six-figure sum.
BBC News Online • Daily Mail
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Global: ‘Obligation to act’ on work cancers
Urgent action must be taken to address the toll of workplace and environmental cancers, a new report has concluded. Researchers from the Lowell Center for Sustainable Development in the USA who reviewed new evidence on cancer risks, said their findings “demonstrate why environmental and occupational cancers should be given serious consideration by policymakers, individuals, and institutions concerned with cancer prevention.”
Environmental and occupational causes of cancer: New Evidence, 2005-2007, Lowell Center for Sustainable Production, 2007, executive summary and full report [pdf] • Toxic Burdens Blog
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Impaired thinking on work drugs tests
Britain’s employers have a big drug and alcohol problem – they are wasting millions on testing and firing workers. A new report in the trade union health and safety journal Hazards says employer support and a healthier working environment would provide a cheaper and more effective resolution to ‘impairment’ problems.
Impaired thinking: The case for workplace drug and alcohol tests has no substance, Hazards, number 100, October-December 2007 • Hazards drug and alcohol and workplace testing webpages
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: UK gripped by ‘no compensation’ culture
The number of workplace personal injury claims are low and falling fast, new research for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has found. The study by researchers from the University of Warwick’s School of Law has undermined the popular view that UK citizens are engaging in a spiralling ‘compensation culture’ with ever increasing claims against allegedly negligent companies and organisations.
University of Warwick news release • A survey of changes in the volume and composition of claims for damages for occupational injury or ill health resulting from the Management of Health and Safety at Work and Fire Precautions (Workplace) (Amendment) Regulations 2003, RR593, HSE, 2007 [pdf]
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Workers need mental health support
Family doctors need to do more to help people with mental health problems make a productive return to work, a new report has concluded.
CIPD news release
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Courts protect wonga much better than workers
The courts disqualify company directors risking cash hundreds of times more often than directors risking people’s health and safety, a major study has found. Research for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published this week reported that since the introduction of a director disqualification act in the mid-80s only a handful of directors have been disqualified for breaching health and safety laws compared to over 1,500 each year for breaches of financial rules.
University of Warwick news release • A survey of the use and effectiveness of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 as a legal sanction against directors convicted of health and safety offences, RR597, HSE, 2007, summary page and full report [pdf]
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Family hits out after death fine
The family of a man crushed to death in an industrial incident has expressed disappointment with the £30,000 fine levied on the company. Michael Joyce, 51, was killed after climbing inside a machine during his shift at the Freudenberg Technical Products plant in North Tyneside, on 15 October 2005.
News Guardian
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Britain: Port fined over youngster's death
A port authority has been fined a total of £100,000 over the death of a boy aged six, crushed by a giant paper roll. Harry Palmer died when the unsecured reel of newsprint fell on him from a forklift at Tilbury Docks in Essex.
HSE news release • BBC News Online
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Global: Unions and enforcement are the safe option
Rigorous enforcement backed up by active unions is the best way to deliver safety at work, a new World Health Organisation report has concluded. ‘Employment conditions and health inequalities’ says contrary to the current fashion for deregulation, regulations are not the problem.
Employment conditions and health inequalities: Final report, WHO, 2007 [pdf] • The report is a contribution to the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Australia: Union treatment on return to work
An Australian union body has created its own dedicated unit to help injured workers back to work. The Victorian Trades Hall Council’s (VTHC) Return to Work Unit was created “to challenge the barriers that stop injured workers returning to full and meaningful employment.”
VTHC news release • OHS Reps website
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Australia: Campaigner wins asbestos drug fight
Thousands of victims of asbestos cancer in Australia will be able to get an expensive palliative care drug at next to no cost by January or even sooner. Both major political parties promised to subsidise the drug Alimta for sufferers of the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma after the government's drug advisory body recommended that it be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which means it is available with most costs borne by the government.
The Age • The Daily Telegraph
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

UAE: Seven die in Dubai bridge collapse
A bridge under construction in Dubai has collapsed, killing seven workers and injuring 15, police have said. The bridge was being built in Dubai Marina, a new development in the United Arab Emirates city which is a regional business and tourism hub.
BBC News Online • Al Jazeera
Hazards news, 17 November 2007

Risks 322, 17 November 2007

Hazards news, 10 November 2007

Britain: RMT demands action on rail runaways
Urgent action to stop the succession of runaways on Britain’s railways has been demanded by Britain’s biggest rail union. RMT said there have been 12runaways recorded since four rail workers were killed by a runaway trailer at Tebay in Cumbria on 15 February 2004.
RMT news release
Hazards news, 10 November 2007

Global: IUF calls for action on lung destroyer
A global union body is demanding urgent control measures on the food flavouring diacetyl, a widely used chemical that can destroy workers’ lungs. IUF, the international federation for foodworkers’ unions, says the ingredient in artificial butter flavours has been shown to cause disabling and sometimes fatal illnesses in exposed workers.
IUF news release • Food Navigator
Hazards news, 10 November 2007

Sweden: Warning on ‘large risks with tiny particles’
Firms developing nanotechnologies must take a precautionary approach to the sector to prevent environment and health risks, the Swedish chemicals inspectorate said in a report released on 31 October. “Companies should apply special precautions in the development and use of nanomaterials,” Kemi said, because of the “rapid development in this area and the great lack of knowledge about risks.”
Kemi news release and report [pdf] • Hazards nanotechnology news and resources
Hazards news, 10 November 2007

Britain: Banish the office bullies says TUC
The TUC is urging employers to protect their staff from victimisation and harassment. To coincide with National Ban Bullying at Work Day, 7 November, the TUC ha