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: 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 has produced a guide to help union safety
reps work with employers to create a new workplace culture where
bullying, intimidation and harassment is a thing of the past for
business.” TUC
news release • TUC
Bullying at work guidance for safety reps Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: NHS workloads are stressing
staff out
Overworked and overloaded health service workers are so stressed
six out of 10 say they have considered packing in their jobs in
the past year. A survey for health unions of just under 25,000
employees working throughout the NHS found that over half the
staff questioned (57 per cent) were working more than their contracted
hours and over four-fifths (84 per cent) said that their workload
had increased in the last year. TUC
news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: UNISON calls for NHS assaults
register
Health service union UNISON wants a national system to record
all assaults on NHS staff. Karen Jennings, head of health for
UNISON, said: “If a national system for recording all assaults
on NHS staff was implemented, the results, though shocking, would
reveal the full extent of the problem.” UNISON
news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Unions condemn ‘Dickensian’
health board
A health board in Scotland that discussed issuing sick staff final
written warnings has been condemned by unions. UNISON’s
Matt McLaughlin said the NHS Glasgow and Clyde approach was “disgraceful”,
adding: “It is clear from these proposals staff who are
injured at work or are terminally ill will be given final written
warnings and could be sacked.” UNISON
Scotland news release • STUC
news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Your money or your life
The government is giving a greater priority to enforcing financial
regulations than ensuring the safety of UK workers, the union
representing Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors has
warned. Responding to official HSE fatality statistics, Prospect
said it is unacceptable that the organisation responsible for
enforcing health and safety law has been facing year-on-year real
term cuts and dwindling staff numbers while the Financial Services
Authority (FSA) has seen a rise in both funding and staff over
the same period. Prospect
news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Union delivers knock out
service
A worker knocked out by a flying crate has been awarded £9,500
compensation. Unite member Roger Loughran, 37, was employed as
a sweeper/driver by Onyx. He was loading bread crates, which were
left on a pavement, on to an open caged lorry when he was hit
in the face by a crate thrown by his work colleague. Pattinson
& Brewer Solicitors news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
South Africa: Mines safety strike
moves closer
A general safety strike across South Africa’s mining industry
is still on the cards this month, according to the National Union
of Mineworkers (NUM). The 300,000-member union has rejected a
mediated offer put forward by the Chamber of Mines to conduct
only shift strikes and says it intends to proceed with a one day
all out strike. NUM
news release • ICEM
alert Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Rigger gets broken wrist
payout
A ship’s rigger from Plymouth has been awarded £12,000
damages after breaking his wrist helping HMS Somerset to dock.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Devonport Royal Dockyard Ltd
agreed the payment to Unite member Kevin Renyard, 44. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Settlement For severed finger
A Kent warehouse worker has received over £4,000 compensation
after losing the tip of his finger in an incident at work. Unite
member Keith Deehy was working for MBL Thamesmead when as he attempted
to close the roller shutter door of a vehicle it moved forward,
trapping his fingers and slicing off the top of his left middle
finger. Pattinson
& Brewer Solicitors news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Injured bus driver walks
away with ten grand
A bus driver from Walthamstow has secured £10,000 compensation
following injuries sustained in a road traffic accident. Unite
member Cenk Suleyman Ahmet was driving his double decker bus when
a driver approaching from the opposite direction, lost control
of his car and smashed into the bus. Pattinson
& Brewer Solicitors news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: FBU warning over firefighter
training
Inadequate training in basic firefighting skills has resulted
in a sharp increase in fatalities, firefighters’ union FBU
has said. The warning came in the wake of the Atherstone warehouse
fire that claimed the lives of four firefighters – this
brings to seven the number of firefighters who have perished in
the space of 11 months. FBU
news release • The
Guardian • BBC
News Online • The
Observer Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Outrage at ‘paltry’
bakery death fines
Campaigners have denounced “paltry” fines totalling
£33,500 imposed on two companies after the death of an agency
worker. Father-of-four Graham Meldrum, 40, died after being hit
by a faulty tail-lift on his truck at the former Allied Bakery
plant in Maryhill, Glasgow. STUC
news release • FACK
news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Widow ‘disgusted’
by inquest verdict
The widow of a worker killed by a falling platform at Wembley
Stadium has said she is “disgusted” by a verdict of
accidental death at his inquest. Carpenter Patrick O'Sullivan,
54, died after a platform landed on him from more than 300ft while
he was working on the construction of the new Wembley Stadium
in January 2004. Harrow
Times Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Another tragedy at deadly
Corus plant
A 46-year-old contract worker has died in an incident at Corus's
Port Talbot works. Robert Gillard was operating a tipper truck
when the vehicle overturned; he was employed by international
contractor Multiserv. BBC
News Online • More
on Corus’ safety record Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Vicious mail van jacker jailed
A man who carried out a string of vicious assaults and ‘van
jackings’ on Royal Mail delivery vans along the east Kent
coast has been jailed. Paul Andrew Walker was sentenced to five
years for two of the three offences with the third to lie on file.
CWU
news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Company fined £20,000
for asbestos breach
Bedford magistrates have fined Galamast Ltd £20,000 for
exposing workers to asbestos. The prosecution comes as new figures
show record numbers are dying of asbestos cancers. HSE
news release• Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Nicaragua/USA: US payout awarded over
pesticide
A US jury has awarded a total of $3.3m (£1.58m) to six workers
who claim they were left sterile by a pesticide used at a banana
plantation in Nicaragua. The workers accused Dole and Standard
Fruit Co and Dow Chemical Co of concealing the dangers posed by
the pesticide, used in the 1970s. BBC
News Online Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain: Directors must be made to
be safe
Boardrooms must be compelled to take workplace health and safety
seriously, a new union-backed report has concluded. ‘Bringing
justice to the boardroom’, prepared for construction union
UCATT by the Centre for Corporate Accountability, says there has
been a “complete failure” of the voluntary approach
to reducing injuries and fatalities in the workplace. UCATT
news release and full report • CCA
news release and background
materials Hazards news, 3 November 2007
USA: Families demand work deaths justice
Widows, parents, children and other family members of victims
of workplace fatalities and occupational diseases in the USA are
demanding a ‘Family Bill of Rights’. It outlines 10
simple rights that should be afforded those left behind when a
worker dies on the job, including: Information on the role of
official agencies in investigating the death; notifying family
members of all meetings, hearings and other communication between
investigators and the employer and allowing participation in such
events; allowing family members the right to view all physical
evidence gathered as part of the accident investigation, and ensuring
that the evidence is secured from employer tampering; and involving
family members in the investigation process, such as allowing
them an opportunity to offer names of individuals who may have
useful evidence for the investigators.
Family Bill of Rights news release [pdf]
• The Family Bill of Rights can be downloaded from the USMWF
and Defending Science [pdf]
websites Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Directors publish voluntary
code
Company directors have published their own voluntary guidelines
to good boardroom safety practice. The Institute of Directors
(IoD) says the new guidance will remind directors it is their
responsibility to lead on health and safety and establish policies
and practices that make it an integral part of their culture and
values. HSE
news release and new
director leadership webpages Hazards news, 3 November 2007
France: Action call on work-related
cancers
The authorities in the French district of Seine-Saint-Denis, north-east
of Paris, have issued a call for national action on work-related
cancers. The petition’s sponsors, which includes unions
and high profile officials of public, health, research and safety
bodies, claim that a manual worker between the ages of 45 and
54 is at four times greater risk of dying from cancer than a same-age
top manager. ETUI-REHS
summary • Full
background and petition document (in French) • Global
union zero cancer campaign Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Unions want more than guidance
Unions have welcomed new guidance from the Institute of Directors
(IoD), but have said there should also be legal safety duties
on directors. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson welcomed thte
guide, but said “we need a clear legal duty on directors”
and Tony Woodley, Unite joint general secretary, said: “Government
is right to say there is an obligation on employers but instead
of that being moral and ethical, in other words voluntary, it
should be compulsory and enshrined in law.” Unite
news release Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Global: Tell Canada to stop deadly
asbestos exports
A major petition to Canadian premier Stephen Harper by campaign
organisation RightsOnCanada is calling for an end to Canadian
support for asbestos exports and is attracting thousands of signatures.
Two of the country’s leading asbestos exporters this week
combined their marketing efforts to “maximise our sales
and minimise our costs,” said Simon Dupéré,
president of LAB Chrysotile, which operates two mines in Thetford,
Quebec. Sign
the RightsOnCanada petition for an end to Canada’s promotion
of asbestos trade Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain:
TUC dismay at rise in workplace ill-health
The TUC has expressed dismay at new official figures showing a
dramatic rise in work-related ill-health. Commenting on statistics
released this week by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) which
showed a 10 per cent upturn in health problems related to work,
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the figures were “very
disappointing.” TUC
news release • HSC/E
stats news release • HSE news
release and statistics
webpages Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Usdaw pledges to protect
shopworkers
Retail union Usdaw has pledged to protect its members from violence
after the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported a 50 per cent
increase in violence against shopworkers. The BRC’s annual
crime survey also revealed recorded threats of violence against
staff have more than doubled, the number of threats of violence
has increased by one third in the past year, and the number of
incidents per 100 stores has shot up by 18 per cent. Usdaw
news release • BRC
news release Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Metal firm pays for deafness
A worker who suffered serious hearing loss as a result of exposure
to noise in a metal extrusion firm has received a compensation
payout. GMB member Stuart Capell, aged 61, brought his claim after
realising that his hearing had become impaired after working at
Alcoa Extruded Products (UK) Ltd, of Banbury and received a £3,500
settlement. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Stress lays low Edinburgh’s
home helpers
Scores of home helpers in Edinburgh have been signed off sick
due to the stress of their jobs. An average of one in seven is
absent on any given day, with stress singled out as the predominant
cause. The
Scotsman Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Get TUC certified online!
Experienced union health and safety reps can sign up online for
TUC’s premier safety qualification, the TUC occupational
health certificate. TUC says the certificate course “will
help health and safety reps become better reps by building health
and safety organisation in the workplace; tackling welfare and
environmental issues; deepening and extending the capacities of
learners enabling them to access union health and safety posts
or higher education opportunities and by developing personal/study
skills, the ability to work collectively and generally improve
the confidence of learners to study at a higher level.”
Check
out the TUC website for further details Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Canada: Asbestos pushers face new
attack
Canada’s promotion of asbestos trade in the developing world
is turning into a major national controversy. National press coverage
has revealed the real-life circumstances of asbestos use in India,
Canada’s biggest asbestos client. Global
and Mail • Asbestos
abuse photofile Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain:
Workplace health project a costly flop
A multi-million pound government funded project designed to provide
advice on workplace health issues to small and medium-sized firms
is failing dramatically in achieving this goal, with almost 9
out of 10 calls received not workplace health-related. An Institution
for Employment Studies evaluation of Workplace Health Connect’s
(WHC) first 16 months in operation has found “the data demonstrates
that the adviceline is primarily of interest to employers as a
source of advice about safety related matters, although about
11 per cent of callers did ring with a specific health enquiry.”
Workplace Health Connect: July Progress report, HSE, published
online 30 October 2007 [pdf]
• Workplace
Health Connect • Hazards magazine work
and health webpages Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Australia: Minister apologises to
asbestos campaigner
Australia’s federal health minister Tony Abbott has phoned
anti-asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton to apologise for accusing
him of conducting a political stunt and suggesting he is “not
necessarily pure of heart”. Mr Banton, who has suffered
for years from asbestosis and was this year diagnosed with the
asbestos cancer mesothelioma, led a group this week trying to
present a petition to Mr Abbott calling for government subsidies
on a drug, Alimta, that treats the condition. ABC
News and TV
interview with Tony Abbott • CFMEU
news release • Sky
News coverage of the Abbott insult and apology Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Study shows safety specialists
cut accidents
The more firms invest in safety specialists, the safer they get,
new research suggests. The research commissioned by safety professionals’
organisation IOSH and carried out by Glasgow Caledonian University
researchers also found organisations where health and safety personnel
vet sub-contractors have an accident rate almost 60 per cent lower
than in those that don't. IOSH
news release•
Glasgow
Caledonian University RISC project • Hazardsunion
effect webpages Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Refinery blows one day after
HSE visit
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has started an investigation
into a fire at an oil refinery that saw flames shoot 100ft (30m)
into the air. HSE inspectors had been at the site on Tuesday,
the day before the fire, carrying out routine checks. BBC
News Online Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Global: BP gets record fine and probation
The US Department of Justice has fined UK-based oil multinational
BP a total of $373m (£182m), for breaking environmental
and safety rules and committing fraud. The fines include $50m
relating to the Texas refinery explosion in 2005 that killed 15
people and injured 180 more, with this penalty also including
three years probation. BP
news release • EPA
news release • The
Pump Handle • More
on BP’s safety record Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Six figure payout for devastating
injuries
A painter and decorator has received a settlement worth up to
£5m after safety failings led to an incident that left him
with brain damage. The High Court in London heard how Alan Miah,
45, from Luton, was left seriously injured after he fell through
scaffolding in October 2003. BBC
News Online Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Firms fined for asbestos
exposure email gaffe
Three Aberdeen firms were fined a total of £5,000 for causing
workers to be exposed to potentially life-threatening asbestos.
North Offshore, Jenkins and Marr and Universal Sodexho (Scotland)
admitted their part in the mistake which happened during renovations
of a sports club in the city. Press
and Journal Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: Butcher fined again for teen
mincer horror
A butcher's shop and its manager have been fined for an accident
in which 15-year-old Sam Ashworth lost part of his arm in a mincing
machine. The prosecution followed earlier fines for child labour
offences. BBC
News Online • Hazardsyoung
workers webpages Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Afghanistan: Women workers face deadly
risks
Women working in four wool and fur factories in Afghanistan as
dying as a result of the harsh, dusty work. Over 1,500 women work
in the factories in Herat city, where they separate fur from goats’
hair and weave sheep’s wool without protective gloves or
masks. IRIN
news Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain: New TUC website to support
Polish workers
The TUC has launched a new Polish language website to support
the increasing number of Polish workers in the UK. The website
- www.pracawbrytanii.org
- run by the TUC in partnership with Citizens Advice and Solidarnosc,
explains the rights workers can expect at work, including health
and safety, working time, holiday entitlement and sick pay. TUC
news release • TUC
website for Polish workers Hazards news, 27 October 2007
USA:
Beware of ‘good news’ on work injuries
Did incidents of workplace illness and injury in the US decline
last year? The US national union federation AFL-CIO says the figures
are misleading – they are flawed because they are based
on employer reports and come as a consequence of a change in the
reporting rules. AFL-CIO
Now Blog • The
Pump Handle Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain: Grass cutting caused vibration
injury
A council gardener has developed debilitating vibration white
finger (VWF) as a result of cutting grass with strimmers and mowers.
GMB member Robert Llewellyn received £3,000 compensation
from Cardiff County Council. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 27 October 2007
South Africa: Mining union moves for
safety strike
South Africa’s main mining union is moving towards a national
safety strike. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) petitioned
South Africa’s Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and
Arbitration (CCMA) to conduct a one-day strike. NUM
news release • ICEM
news release Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain: Minister backs union strains
campaign
Health and safety minister Lord McKenzie has added his weight
to a union bad backs prevention initiative. The minister joined
trade union safety representatives and experts from the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) on a London unionlearn course, to mark
the start of European Health and Safety Week. HSE
news release Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Italy: DHL forced to negotiate after
strike
Managers at DHL’s air cargo fleet operations in Italy have
promised to enter into talks with unions over safety after their
hand was forced by strike action. Workers at DHL’s Bergamo
hub went on strike on 10 October prompted by managers’ refusals
to discuss safety concerns following an accident that seriously
injured a worker; he was crushed by a 2000 kilogramme pallet that
fell from a forklift truck.
ITF news release Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain: Workplace visit leads to
costly slip up
A Birmingham woman who injured her back and knee after slipping
on vomit on the floor of a college nursery has received damages
of £8,500. The woman was on maternity leave from Birmingham’s
City College and was visiting her manager to finalise her return
to work. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Europe: Union dismay at EMF law delay
A European law intended to protect workers from possible health
risks caused by electromagnetic fields, is to be delayed for four
years. The TUC believes the MRI issue could have been dealt with
without shelving what was intended solely as a workplace health
and safety measure - electromagnetic radiation has been linked
to high rates of breast cancer in flight attendants and to cancers
and other health effects in other groups of workers, including
railway staff and microchip workers. The
Guardian • BBC
News Online • Trade
union cancer campaign Hazards news, 27 October 2007
China: Dozens die in shoe factory
fire
A fire erupted at an unlicensed shoe factory in Fujian province,
China, on 21 October, killing 37 people in the latest industrial
tragedy to hit the world's fourth largest economy, officials and
state media said. None of the 56 workers escaped unhurt; some
of the survivors are in a critical condition. China
Daily • The
Guardian • Special
Salt Lake Tribune series on health and safety in China, by
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Loretta Tofani Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain: Hospital trust fined for
asbestos blunders
A South London NHS trust has been fined after failing to take
proper precautions to manage asbestos in their buildings, resulting
in workers being exposed to asbestos dust. St George’s Healthcare
NHS Trust was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,432
at the City of London Magistrates’ Court, after it pleaded
guilty of breaching the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations
2002. HSE
news release Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain: Contractors warned on asbestos
risks
A Preston building contractor has been fined after safety lapses
led to two workers from another company being exposed to asbestos.
Mustaq Bargit, trading as M and B Builders, was fined £10,000
and ordered to pay costs of £5,137.73 after being found
guilty at Preston Magistrates Court of safety offences. He had
allowed work on a construction site to take place without an asbestos
survey being completed. HSE
news release Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Australia:
Neglected toll of workplace cancers
There is no mention of cancer caused by occupational exposure
in Australia’s national cancer prevention plan - it is instead
focused on smoking, obesity and melanoma. Labouring under the
misapprehension that occupational cancer in a modern economy is
rare, or that occupational health and safety regulations protect
those exposed, governments have taken a hands-off approach as
1.5 million Australian workers are exposed to cancer-causing agents
every year. Sydney
Morning Herald • ACTU
zero cancer campaign • Global
trade union occupational cancer/zero cancer campaign •
Hazards
work cancer prevention kit Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain: Planes boycott by airline
staff
Some crew at a leading budget airline are refusing to fly part
of the company's fleet, saying poor air quality is putting them
and passengers at risk. Flybe staff raised the concerns about
the company's British Aerospace 146 fleet. BBC
News Online • Metro
• Toxic
Free Airlines • Aerotoxic
Association Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain: Firm fined after worker is
paralysed
FGF Limited has been fined £40,000 after an accident in
Leeds left one of its warehouse employees paralysed. Kelly Cookes,
32, was crushed when a pallet of insulation material fell on him,
leaving him with spinal injuries and no movement from the waist
down, unable to live his life independently. Yorkshire
Post Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain: Call for Scottish action
on work deaths
Campaign organisation Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK)
is to push for corporate safety crimes measures in Scotland that
go beyond those in the UK-wide Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate
Homicide Act, due to take effect in April next year. It says the
exclusion of explicit directors’ duties from this law was
“a huge disappointment”. FACK
news release • FACK
website Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain:
HSE faces nuclear inspector shortage
The government is so short of nuclear inspectors that the programme
of new reactors being planned may have to be put on hold, leaked
papers show. The business secretary, John Hutton, has warned Gordon
Brown that the government has only five inspectors working on
the design assessments of the three types of reactors being considered
for Britain, with an additional 35 inspectors are needed to be
in place within 16 months. The
Guardian • Hazards
enforcement webpages Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain: Rail union blast after detonator
discovery
Four detonators in an open metal box labelled “explosives”
were housed in a Tube station storage room normally used for keeping
liquids, rail union TSSA has said. The detonators were discovered
during a safety inspection by TSSA safety reps. TSSA
news release • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Europe: ETUC goes on the strains offensive
Unions in Europe are being urged to join “a massive offensive”
against workplace strain injuries. John Monks, ETUC general secretary,
said: “We want to launch a mass trade union offensive focused
on work organisation to stem these rapidly-spreading work-related
illnesses.”
ETUC news release [pdf]
• Conference
papers Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain: Manslaughter charge over
teen death
The father of a teenager who fell to his death within a week of
starting work has welcomed a decision by the Crown Prosecution
Service to prosecute his employer for manslaughter and has thanked
his union GMB for its backing. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain: Payouts only ease financial
misery
Construction union UCATT has secured six figure payouts on behalf
of the families of two workers killed at work, but says cash is
no real recompense and can only ease the financial misery. In
May 2002 the two steeplejacks, Paul Wakefield and Craig Whelan,
were killed in a chimney fireball at the Metal Box plant in Bolton.
UCATT
news release Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Canada:
Dangerous bosses better off after fines
Unsafe employers in Ontario are making money by exploiting weaknesses
in a system supposed to penalise those with bad health and safety
records, union research has revealed. An Ontario Federation of
Labour (OFL) report criticises the Workplace Safety and Insurance
Board (WSIB) ‘experience rating’ system that adjusts
insurance premium rates based on an employer’s claims history.
OFL
news release • The perils of experience rating:
Exposed! [pdf] Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain: Viking Islay families fund
launched
Seafarers’ union Nautilus UK has launched a fund to provide
support to the families of three seafarers who died onboard a
standby vessel in the North Sea. The union says the initiative
is in response to inquiries from members who said they would like
to make donations to the families of Robert Ebertowski, Findlay
Macfayden and Robert O'Brien, who were killed whilst trying to
secure the anchor in a storage area onboard the emergency response
and rescue vessel Viking Islay. Nautilus
UK news release Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain: Firefighters are hurt then
robbed of payouts
Firefighters’ union FBU has warned it could take action
as a result of pension scheme changes that have seen injured and
sick firefighters pushed out of a job then denied an ill-health
pension. It says recent changes to the Firefighters Pension Scheme
(FPS) have already seen three firefighters in London lose out,
one after developing work-related hearing loss. FBU
news release Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Brazil:
Union leader murdered after safety probe
A leading Brazilian construction union leader was followed and
murdered after investigating poor safety standards on a site.
Aparecido Galvão, known as ‘China’, was president
of construction union CONTICOM and had previously received threats
from contractors. BWI
statement Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain: Asbestos payout after dad’s
death
The two daughters of a York man who died of the asbestos cancer
mesothelioma are to receive compensation. CWU member Leslie Kenneth
Bailey died on 23 March 2003, aged 48, having been diagnosed with
malignant mesothelioma in November 2002. Pattinson
& Brewer news release Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain: Assaults on public service
staff increase
Assaults on Scotland's health and local government staff over
the last year have increased and require a better co-ordinated
response, public sector union UNISON has said. The union used
freedom of information requests to obtain figures from Scotland's
local authorities and health boards that show that the level of
violent attacks increased in the last year by over 2,000, bringing
the figure to 25,157 compared with last year’s total of
23,272. UNISON
Scotland news release • UNISON
news release Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain:
How unhealthy are the nation’s workers?
The government has launched what it claims is the first ever review
of the health of the working-age population. Dame Carol Black,
the government’s national director for health and work,
launched the “call for evidence”; the intention is
to identify the action “government, business and the medical
profession should take to improve the health of working age people
and help more people who develop health problems to remain in
or quickly return to work.” DWP
news release • Call
for evidence: deadline for responses 7 November 2007 Why bad
work is not a good idea. Safety reps’ guide to occupational
health services Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Global:
ILO SafeWork’s online bookshelf
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has revised its online
health and safety resources to make them easier to access. The
SafeWork Bookshelf is a collection of key occupational health
and safety documents. ILO
SafeWork Bookshelf Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain:
Business says business is bad to workers
A top business organisation has urged companies to put the health
of the nation’s workforce on to the boardroom agenda, after
its research revealed “apathy” on the issue was damaging
both workers’ health and productivity. Business in the Community
(BITC) said its research has revealed that a third of workers
(31 per cent) feel their health is neglected at work, while six
in 10 (62 per cent) “don’t believe bosses consider
staff as assets worth investing in.” BITC
news release Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain:
‘Work while you’re sick’ is hurting firms
Pressure to stagger into work when sick is hurting workers and
damaging productivity, commitment levels and motivation, according
to research from the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). Its
‘Quality of Working Life’ found 1 in 3 managers believe
a culture of not taking time off work for sickness exists in their
organisation. CMI
news release • Quality
of Working Life report, executive summary Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain:
Health workers may be due extra payouts
The British Medical Association (BMA) says an NHS work-related
injury and ill-health compensation scheme has been under-paying
some claimants. It is advising any member who has received compensation
for an injury at work since 1972 to check they are receiving their
full entitlement. BMA
news release • Guide
to the NHS Industry Benefits Scheme [pdf] Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain: HSE warning after vehicle
death
A major transport firm has received a six-figure fine after the
death of Derek Howe, 56, a Wirral lorry driver. TNT Logistics
UK Ltd was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay costs of £28,184.75
after pleading guilty at Manchester Crown Court to workplace safety
offences. HSE
news release and revamped
workplace transport webpages Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain:
Site employers quibble but don’t act
The construction group given responsibility by ministers to lead
a site safety drive after fatalities took a dramatic upturn has
admitted it cannot tackle the problem until it gets its own house
in order. Work and pensions secretary Peter Hain has charged the
health and safety task group of the construction industry’s
Strategic Forum, composed of the major players in the industry,
to come up with ideas to improve safety practices in the sector
by the end of 2007. Hazards
magazine news report Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Britain:
Losing the workplace cancer fight
Britain is seriously underestimating the risk of contracting cancer
at work, according to new research. A new study by Stirling University
has found the figure could be four times higher than the official
estimate and says HSE's recommendations for action range “from
complacent to non-existent.” Stirling
University/Hazards magazine news release • Rory O’Neill,
Simon Pickvance and Andrew Watterson. Burying the evidence:
How Great Britain is prolonging the occupational cancer epidemic,
International
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health (IJOEH),
volume 13, number 4, pages 432-440, October-December 2007 •
Hazards cancer
webpages and work
cancer prevention kit Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Mum wants action not compensation
The daughter and girlfriend of a steeplejack killed by a fireball
as he worked demolishing a 60-metre high chimney have received
£335,000 compensation in a UCATT-backed case. Father-of-one
Craig Whelan – whose mother, Linda, is a founder member
of Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) - was just 23 when
he died while working on the chimney at Carnaud Metal Box Plc's
Bolton factory in May 2002. FACK
news release Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Global link up to improve
shipbreaking
A delegation of Indian trade union officials arrived in Tyneside
this week to meet with union leaders and visit A&P Tyne, a
union organised shipbuilding and shipbreaking yard. The fact finding
visit, arranged by the GMB’s northern region, is part of
an international campaign to improve shipbreaking standards in
India. Thompsons
Solicitors news release • IMF
shipbreaking campaign • Hazards
shipbreaking webpages Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Attacked healthcare assistant
gets payout
A healthcare assistant injured trying to assist a colleague who
was being attacked by a patient, has received almost £5,000
in compensation. The unnamed UNISON member, aged 53, received
the payout from Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust as a result of the
thumb injury sustained in the incident at Kings Park Community
Hospital. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Golf clubbed worker get crime
payout
A council driver has received an £8,575 criminal injuries
payout after being attacked with a golf club. The award made to
Calderdale council worker William Roberts, a member of the union
Unite, was almost seven times the amount originally offered by
the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). John
Pickering and Partners news release Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Global: Mobile phones linked to brain
cancer
New research suggests mobile phone usage for more than a decade
greatly increases the risk of cancer. The study found that long-term
users – and the phones have become a required tool for many
workers - had double the chance of getting a malignant tumour
on the side of the brain where they held the handset.
Lennart Hardell and others. Long-term use of cellular phones
and brain tumours: increased risk associated with use for equal
to or greater than 10 years, Occupational and Environmental
Medicine, volume 64, pages 626-632, 2007 [abstract] Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Global: Work stress linked to heart
risk
People who go back to a stressful job after a heart attack are
more prone to a second attack than those whose work is not stressful.
Canadian researchers followed over 1,000 patients returning to
work and found those with job strain were twice as likely to fall
ill. JAMA
news release • Corine Aboa-Éboulé and
others. Job strain and risk of acute recurrent coronary heart
disease events, Journal of the American Medical Association,
volume 298, number 14, pages 1652-1660, 2007 [abstract]
• Hazards
worked to death webpages Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Stonemason develops deadly
silica disease
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned quarrying companies
and stonemasons of the risk from the potentially fatal disease
silicosis, if adequate measures to monitor and prevent exposure
to respirable crystalline silica (RCS) are not in place. The alert
came after a quarry owner was fined for breaches of the COSHH
chemical control regulations and the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases
and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) – he had
failed to notify the HSE of a reportable work disease, silicosis.
HSE
news release Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Director gets small fine
after fall death
A company director has escaped with a small fine after admitting
safety offences linked to the death of worker George Taylor, 29.
RTAL Ltd was fined £25,000 with £5,000 costs and managing
director Terry Green was fined £2,500 and costs of £500,
at Basildon Crown Court. HSE
news release Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Research proves health and
safety pays
A positive approach to health and safety not only helps businesses
attract quality employees, but also boosts sales and workforce
commitment. The research by the Institute for Employment Studies
and The Work Foundation for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
looked into UK business attitudes, intentions and performance
and their health and safety strategies. Work
and Enterprise Panel 2: Business survey, RR589, HSE •
Full report [pdf] Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Hospitality staff get flak
from smokers
One in 10 hospitality workers has suffered violence or verbal
abuse from customers flouting the smoking ban. A survey of more
than 5,000 hospitality workers, by recruitment website Caterer.com,
revealed workers had been hit, spat at, strangled and sexually
abused. Personnel
Today Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Seafarer’s overalls
caused wife’s cancer
A former seafarer whose wife died as a result of washing his asbestos
covered work overalls has received an out-of-court settlement
of £62,500 from British Rail. David Parker, who was employed
by British Rail Ferries on the SS Sarnia ship in 1966,took home
asbestos fibres on his clothing. Swindon
Advertiser Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Bullying at work guide for
safety reps
The TUC has published online guidance for safety representatives
on dealing with bullying at work. The new resource includes background
on the issue, an outline of the law covering bullying, advice
for safety reps on negotiating a policy and a sample survey form. Bullying
at work: Guidance for safety representatives Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Euroweek resources for safety
reps
The Health and Safety Executive has produced a new Euroweek resources
webpage aimed specifically at safety reps. The Europe-wide event
will run from 22-26 October and this year is on the theme of musculoskeletal
disorders. HSE
Euroweek musculoskeletal disorder resources for safety reps
• More
on workplace mapping techniques Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Global: Garment giant signs global
union deal
A groundbreaking international framework agreement designed to
promote decent work in the textiles, garments and footwear industries
has been signed in Inditex SA., the world’s second largest
clothing retailer and the sector’s global trade union, ITGLWF.
The agreement requires both sides to collaborate to ensure the
sustainable and long-term observance of all international labour
standards throughout the Inditex supply chain, including guaranteeing
satisfactory safety, health, working hours and environmental standards.
ITBLWF
news release and full
text of the agreement • Listing
of global framework agreements Hazards news, 13 October 2007
USA: Senate passes asbestos ban
After seven years of stalling the ‘Ban Asbestos in America
Act’ has been passed by the US Senate, bring a formal ban
on asbestos a major step closer. Senator
Patty Murray’s news release • Asbestos Disease
Awareness Organisation (ADAO) news release [pdf] Hazards news, 13 October 2007
USA:
Work linked to deadly autoimmune diseases
Occupational exposures in farming and industry may be linked to
higher death rates from systemic autoimmune diseases, a new study
has found. The conditions involve the immune system attacking
the body's own tissues, damaging organs. Science Daily.
LS Gold and others. Systemic autoimmune disease mortality
and occupational exposures, Arthritis & Rheumatism, volume
56, issue 10, pages 3189–3201, 2007 [abstract]
• More
on the diseases linked to work, including
the Hazards detective Hazards news, 13 October 2007
USA: Five die in tunnel blaze
Five workers who died after becoming trapped by a tunnel fire
at a hydroelectric power plant tried to fight the blaze, but the
fire extinguishers were the wrong type, one of the widows has
said. The workers died last week in an Xcel Energy plant in Georgetown,
Colorado.
Chemical Safety Board news release • The
Pump Handle Hazards news, 13 October 2007
Britain: Shopworkers call for attack
on violence
Retailers and shopworkers are calling on the government to insist
local authorities and police forces make retail crime a higher
priority. The move comes as new figures reveal an increase in
threats and acts of violence against shop staff. Usdaw
news release • BRC
news release Hazards news, 6 October 2007
North America:
Cut lumber not safety
On 29 September 2007, the United Steelworkers union (USW) organised
a North America-wide “Cut lumber, not safety” day
of action at Home Depot stores in 150 cities. The action was in
support of more than 7,000 forestry workers in British Columbia
(BC), Canada, on strike against companies including Western Forest
Products, Interfor and Weyerhaeuser since 21 July USW
news release • BWI
news release Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Scots need protection from
cash van attacks
Scottish authorities must act to protect security workers transporting
cash, the union GMB has said. The union’s Scottish security
branch adds that the sentences for “career criminals”
who attack GMB members employed moving cash around the country
are too lenient, and that official action to tackle the problem
in Scotland falls short of that elsewhere in the UK. GMB
news release Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Ireland:
Watchdog to pursue 'trouble free' firms
Just because a firm does not report any accidents, doesn’t
mean accidents are not occurring there, Ireland’s safety
watchdog has said. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) says
companies with a history of not reporting or under-reporting workplace
accidents are about to come under additional scrutiny, in marked
contrast with the approach taken by Britain’s Health and
Safety Executive. HSA
news release Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: New move to resurrect roving
safety reps
Construction unions and contractors are calling for roving safety
reps to be brought back in a bid to cut death and accident rates
on sites. They claim the reps – which operated on sites
in a now defunct government backed worker safety adviser (WSA)
scheme - are the best way to spread the safety message among small
contractors. Contract
Journal • Hazards
roving reps news updates Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Dangerous directors must
be ‘personally liable’
Safety duties on company directors are the key to reducing serious
injuries and fatalities in the workplace, the union Unite has
said. Speaking at the Labour Party conference, Unite assistant
general secretary Tony Burke said: “We want to see included
in the corporate manslaughter law a secondary duty on directors
and senior managers, which means if they are directly responsible
for corporate manslaughter they too can be held liable, and if
necessary put behind bars.” Unite
news release • Hazard deadly business news
and resources Hazards news, 6 October 2007
France:
Survey confirms firm’s deadly stresses
A trade union survey has confirmed high levels of work-related
stress at a French car factory that has been hit by a series of
suicides. In recent months, five employees of the Peugeot Citroën
factory in Mulhouse, in the east of France, have killed themselves.
ETUI-REHS
news report • Hazards
webpages on work and suicide Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Worker floored by rubber
door
A hospital clerical officer who was injured when a large, heavy
door fell on top of her has been awarded damages of £5,350.
UNISON member Amy Whitcombe, 26, was working at the Princess of
Wales Hospital in Bridgend when the incident occurred. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Relatives step up asbestos
fight
A campaign set up in memory of Prospect member Roger Lowe is drawing
attention to the deadly dangers posed by asbestos exposure. The
daughters and wife of the dockyard electrical fitter, who died
aged 68 from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma in December
2005, have founded a support group in his name. Prospect
news release • Roger
Lowe Campaign Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Europe:
Getting to grips with strain injuries
Three simple letters - MSD – identify the leading cause
of occupational illness in Europe, according the European trade
union safety thinktank, REHS. Its new guide to musculoskeletal
disorders – MSDs – provides a “summary of the
current scientific knowledge of this complex group of pathologies,
examines the connection between MSD and changes in the organisation
of work and proposes ideas for a necessary trade union mobilisation
against this exploding health problem.” Musculoskeletal disorders. An ill-understood pandemic.Further
details and online order form Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Factory blast inquiry will
probe regulators
A public inquiry into the Stockline factory blast in Glasgow is
to be set up jointly by the Scottish and UK governments, it has
been announced. Secretary of state for work and pensions Peter
Hain said the ICL/Stockline families group had “made it
clear to me that they want to see the role that the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) played in regulating these premises prior
to the incident is fully investigated”, adding that “I
fully support them on this point.” Crown
Office and Procurator Fiscal Service news release •
DWP
news release • ICL/Stockline
campaign website Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: ICL inquiry welcomed by campaigners
Unions, safety experts and the ICL/Stockline families group have
welcomed the news there will be a full public inquiry into the
blast. STUC general secretary Grahame Smith said: “Clearly,
we need to await the publication of the full remit of the inquiry
but as the families have said to Peter Hain, they need to know
why their loved ones died, why certain actions were not taken
to properly assess the condition of the buried pipework, and did
the Health and Safety Executive’s enforcement strategy and
lack of resources prevent adequate inspection of this company
and also many other small businesses where workers may be at risk.”
STUC news release • Universities
of Strathclyde and Stirling expert group news release •
Statement
from the ICL/Stockline families Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: New HSC chair wants boardroom
action
The new chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has called
for more board level engagement and ownership on health and safety
issues. Judith Hackitt - who has previously served time as a HSC
commissioner - has held top posts in chemical industry lobby groups,
including a stint as director general of the Chemical Industries
Association. HSE
news release and Judith
Hackitt profile Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Firm fined £100,000
after site death
Civil engineering and piling firm Dawson-Wam has been fined £100,000
after an employee died dismantling a piling rig. John Walsh was
killed in September 2002 when the auger drive unit of the rig
flew off its stand and struck him. Contract
Journal Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Small fine for acid rotted
ladder fall
A company has been fined £7,000 after its safety lapses
led to employee Gary Jaundrill being seriously injured and left
unable to work. Gazelle Steam Cleaning Services Ltd of Hutton,
Lancashire pleaded guilty at Macclesfield Magistrates' Court to
breaches of safety law and was ordered to pay the fine and £14,257
costs. HSE
news release Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Job dream fades as teen loses
fingers
Car-mad Sheffield teen Wade Savage may have to abandon his hopes
of becoming a mechanic after losing three fingers whilst working
at a holiday job. The 16-year-old was injured at Holdsworth Packaging
Ltd, where his work involved running general errands and assembling
cardboard boxes and where his hand was dragged into a machine.
Sheffield
Star • Hazards
young workers webpages Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: HSE warning after Romanian
loses leg
Employers must ensure all workers including migrants are informed
about safety procedures, the UK safety watchdog has said. The
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) warning came after a Romanian
worker, Nicolai Danut-Puiu, 38, lost his right leg at London recycling
firm, Ethos Recycling Limited. HSE
news release • Hazards
migrant workers webpages Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Global:
Global asbestos ban plan
Top international agencies are pushing forward with a plan for
a worldwide asbestos ban. The International Labour Organisation
(ILO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have prepared an
‘Outline for the development of national programmes for
elimination of asbestos-related diseases,’ which ILO says
“is a tool for increasing policy coherence for reducing
and finally phasing out the use of asbestos and asbestos-containing
materials.” ILO
publication alert • Outline for the development of national
programmes for elimination of asbestos-related diseases [pdf]
• ILO 2006 resolution on asbestos [pdf]
• WHO
position paper on elimination of asbestos related diseases[pdf] Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Pizza chef stabbed to death
A murder investigation has been launched after a pizza chef was
stabbed to death with his own kitchen knife in Clapham, south
London. In the UK, murders while working are not included in workplace
fatality figures, which also exclude deaths in road traffic accidents
while working and work deaths investigated by other enforcement
authorities, including the Civil Aviation Authority and the Marine
Standards Agency. This
is local London • US
NIOSH guidance on occupational violence Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Liverpool council workers
poorly protected
Workers at Liverpool City Council are not being provided the legally
required level of occupational health support, the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) has said. HSE has issued the local authority
with an improvement notice requiring it to improve occupational
health services for its 19,000 staff or face legal action. Liverpool
Daily Post • Hazards
guide to occupational health services Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: Smoke clears for bar staff
England’s smoking ban has led to healthier workplaces in
the hospitality industry, according to new research. In the first
report into the impact of the English ban, which was introduced
in July, scientists discovered firm evidence of its benefits. CRUK
news release • BBC
News Online • Hazards
smoking news and resources Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain: HSE union calls for ICL disaster
inquiry
The union representing staff in the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) has called for a public inquiry into the ICL/Stockline factory
explosion in Glasgow in May 2004 that killed nine workers and
seriously injured 40. Prospect
news release • BBC
News Online • ICL/Stockline
disaster website Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Vietnam: Dozens killed in bridge collapse
A section of a bridge under construction in southern Vietnam collapsed
on 26 September, killing dozens of workers. Casualty figures are
uncertain, but some reports say up to 60 workers died and 150
were injured. The
Age • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Wide support for ICL/Stockline
inquiry
Unions and health and safety experts have backed a call by HSE
union Prospect for a full inquiry into the ILC/Stockline disaster.
STUC
news release • Statement
from the authors of the ICL/Disaster report Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Iraq:
Campaign aims to protect journalists
The global union for journalists and news safety leaders have
welcomed the launch of an Iraq-based campaign aiming to stem the
tide of violence against news media which has claimed the lives
of 226 journalists and media staff since the invasion of Iraq
in 2003. IFJ
news release • Iraqi
Media Safety Group Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: MPs back airport safety campaign
Local members of parliament have pledged their support for a union
safety campaign at Heathrow airport after it was revealed there
has been a sharp rise in injuries to workers handling heavy luggage.
Baggage handlers’ union Unite says there has been a 17 per
cent year on year increase in related injuries and wants the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) to take action to protect workers.
Unite
news release Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Six figure payout for dental
nurse allergy
A dental nurse who had to pack in work after developing occupational
dermatitis has received a £200,000 payout. The 50-year-old
UNISON member, who has not been named, worked for the Central
Manchester Primary Care Trust and developed the debilitating skin
condition as a result of using latex gloves between 1980 and 2004.
Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Collapsing cab seat compo
payout
London Underground is to pay damages to a train driver who was
injured when his cab seat collapsed. Train drivers’ union
ASLEF secured the compensation for the unnamed member. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 29 September 2007
India:
Deadly neglect in a Bangalore factory
An Indian garment worker who fell ill at work and had to wait
hours for permission to leave her workplace, died in hospital
later that day, the global union representing workers in the sector
has revealed. It says the tragedy bears a striking resemblance
to a incident that occurred at the same factory just three months
ago, in which a pregnant worker lost her baby after she gave birth
unassisted outside the factory gates after being denied assistance
when she went into labour during her shift. ITGLWF
news release Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Airline cabins to be tested
for fumes
Pilots’ union BALPA has welcomed a government decision to
test the cabins of commercial jets for toxic fumes. The move comes
after a government-backed report called for an investigation into
whether pilots are being disorientated by poor quality air.
Statement from BALPA to the Committee on Toxicity [pdf]
• Committee on Toxicity update paper [pdf]
and webpages Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Three more die offshore
Three more workers have died in offshore, but none of these fatalities
will be included in the Health and Safety Executive’s occupational
fatality figures. The men died after an incident on a gas rig
standby vessel in the North Sea, Vroon Offshore Services, operators
of the Viking Islay, said. BBC
News Online and follow
up story Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Call to treat site deaths
as real crimes
Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) has called for the real
possibility of jail terms for employers after serious safety crimes
lead to a workplace death. The campaign group was commenting after
a site foreman and building company director from A & A Building
Services were fined a total of £20,000 on charges relating
to the death of worker Alex Hayden, 28, who was crushed by a truck.
Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK)
news release and website
• HSE
news release • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Six figure fine after “avoidable”
death
A company has received a six figure fine after 20-year-old worker
Joshua Beswick was killed in a “totally avoidable”
incident at a building materials yard. Merseyside firm Grundy
and Co Excavations Ltd was fined £100,000 and ordered to
pay £9,034 costs at Warrington Crown Court after pleading
guilty to safety offences. HSE
news release Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain:
Small fines for workplace crimes
Large fines for safety offences remain the exception, as recent
cases illustrate. Carole Ann Hible, trading as removal company
'Specialised Movers', received fines totalling £9,000 with
£4,335 costs after the death of an employee, with Market
Drayton Magistrates giving credit for her prompt guilty plea and
dealt with the case themselves, rather than in Crown Court where
higher penalties are available. HSE
news release Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Australia: Unions call for strong
nano rules
Australia’s top union body has added its voice to that of
other campaigners concerned about the risks posed by the unregulated
development of a massive nanotechnology industry. ACTU national
safety officer Steve Mullins said: “By signing this declaration,
the ACTU is sending the clear message that profit at the expense
of workers lives will not be tolerated.”
ACTU news release [pdf]
and briefing
• ICTA Principles for Nanotechnologies [pdf]
• Hazards nanotechnology news
and resources Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Minister backs jail for health
worker abuse
The government is injecting £97 million into hospital security,
to help protect staff from intimidation and violence. The money,
which will be spread over four years, will ensure better security
in hospitals, including improved training for staff to deal with
aggressive behaviour. DH
news release • UNISON
news release Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Government action on schools
bullying
Teaching unions have welcomed action by the government to tackle
bullying in England’s schools. The package of measures includes
an online cyberbullying campaign, new guidance and a short film
to help schools tackle bullies who use the internet or mobile
phones to bully other children or abuse their teachers. DCSF
news release • ATL
news release • NASUWT
news release • NUT
news release Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Stress at work resources
TUC’s Northern Region has made resources from its workplace
stress seminar available online. It says powerpoint presentations
on stress priorities for the public sector and a series of case
studies “will be of interest to all trade union safety reps”,
together with a workplace inspection tool. Stress
resources Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Health and safety and disability
equality
The Health and Safety Executive says it new ‘health and
safety for disabled people and their employers’ web resource
“promotes good practice in disability equality at work and
health and safety risk assessment.” HSE says the microsite
provides: An introduction to disability discrimination and health
and safety law; advice for people doing health and safety risk
assessments; advice for disabled people; and links to further
sources of information, including grants. HSE
safety and disability equality microsite Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain: Protect the health of health
workers
The government must do more to protect the health of the nation’s
health workers, delegates to TUC have agreed. A Society of Radiographers
(SOR) resolution carried at TUC’s annual congress expressed
“concern the negative effect that constant organisational
change, the threat of redundancy, vacancy freezes and working
in a target-driven environment is having on the health and welfare
of NHS employees.” SOR
news release • Unite
news release Hazards news, 22 September 2007
USA:
Industry obstructs cancer progress
Documents linking industrial chemicals to cancer are being kept
from the public gaze as a result of industry lobbying, a new report
has claimed. OMB Watch says its report, ‘An attack on cancer
research’, shows how industry has “repeatedly misused
the Data Quality Act (DQA) to suppress important cancer-related
information.” OMB
Watch news release • An attack on cancer research: Industry's
obstruction of the National Toxicology Program [pdf]
• Hazards occupational
cancer webpages and Work
cancer prevention kit Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain: Call for more physios to
help workers
Workplace strain injury victims are being let down by a shortage
of physiotherapists – yet most physio graduates are out
of work. Physio’s union CSP says just 24 per cent of physio
graduates who could be treating patients have a job. CSP
news release Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Global: Steel giant signs on to safety
programme
The world’s largest steel company Arcelor Mittal and trade
unions representing its employees from over 20 countries have
announced a new and innovative approach to health and safety concerns
in the company. Meeting in Montreal at the International Metalworkers’
Federation’s (IMF) first world conference of Arcelor Mittal
and its trade unions, the company and the unions committed themselves
to a joint programme of education and training to raise health
and safety standards throughout the company. IMF
news release • USW
news release Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain: Finger injury leads to payout
A poorly training packaging worker who suffered a serious finger
injury has been awarded a £5,500 payout in a union backed
case. Unite member Ian Brown, 25, suffered the injury when his
finger became trapped in a machine that had no protective guard
in place. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Canada:
Woodworkers in major safety strike
Woodworkers in Canada are entering the third month of a safety
strike and are seeking support from around the world. Over 7,000
loggers, sawmill workers and other employees of companies in the
rugged coastal forest sector of British Columbia went out on strike
on 21 July over safety, shift scheduling and hours of work and
contracting out.
Support the safety strike! BWI
alert – including a click-and-sent campaign letter to Home
Depot Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain: Photographer sues Met over
demo assault
A press photographer who was assaulted by police while covering
an anti-war protest outside parliament is pressing charges against
the Metropolitan Police. Acting on behalf of the photojournalist
and NUJ member Marc Vallée, law firm Hickman & Rose
has served papers on police commissioner Sir Ian Blair for “battery”
and breaches of the Human Rights Act, relating to freedom of expression
and assembly. NUJ
news page • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Australia: Work rights attack is hurting
safety
There has been an alarming growth in the number of workers whose
health and safety rights are at risk as a result of reforms introduced
by the Australian federal government, unions have warned. National
union federation ACTU says the Howard government’s poorly
resourced workers’ compensation and inspection scheme, Comcare,
it being pushed as a cut price, second class alternative to much
more comprehensive state-based systems. ACTU
news release Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain: Murders of trade unionists
up 25 per cent
The number of trade unionists worldwide murdered for defending
workers’ rights increased by 25 per cent last year. In 2006,
144 trade unionists were murdered, while more than 800 suffered
beatings or torture, according to a worldwide survey by the International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). TUC
news release • ITUC
news release • Annual
Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Global:
Psychosocial risks and work-related stress
The World Health Organisation’s global occupational health
network (GOHNET) has in its latest newsletter turned its attention
to psychosocial risks and work-related stress. The document concentrates
on countries in economic transition and newly industrialised and
developing countries, but has a great deal of useful information
for anyone interested in these topics anywhere. WHO
occupational health webpages • Addressing psychosocial
risks and work-related stress in countries in economic transition,
in newly industrialized countries, and in developing countries,
GOHNET Newsletter [pdf] Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain:
CBI wants GP visits off the clock
Family doctors are costing business a billion pounds a year because
it is so hard to see them outside normal working hours, employers
have said – a claim which has been challenged forcefully
by the British Medical Association. The Confederation of British
Industry (CBI) said millions of staff were forced to take time
off work to visit GPs because they could not get evening or weekend
appointments. CBI
news release • BMA
news release Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Global:
Safety goes down the YouTube
Once upon a time safety information came in warning signs and
“don’t do that” blame-the-worker posters, and
then came magazines, posters and websites. Now, with the emergence
of VideoOSH, health and safety has joined the YouTube generation.
VideoOSH
and full
playlist Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain: Hain vows to stop site deaths
surge
An action plan to cut workplace deaths and improve health and
safety standards has been agreed by representatives of the construction
industry and the trade unions. Secretary of state for work and
pensions Peter Hain convened the forum, which agreed measures
including encouraging worker involvement, ensuring all projects
include trades union and worker representatives and to take steps
to drive out the informal economy in the sector. DWP
news release • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Global:
Mum’s job can affect the fetus
Workplace exposures in pregnancy can affect the health of the
fetus with workers in blue collar jobs at greatest risk, researchers
have found. The authors say the evidence suggests workplace exposures
may have negative effects on fetal development, but add more research
needs to be conducted on the reasons why the risk is elevated
in particular occupations.
Parvez Ahmed and Jouni JK Jaakkola. Maternal occupation and
adverse pregnancy outcomes: a Finnish population-based study,
Occupational Medicine, volume 57, Number 6, pages 417-423, 2007
[abstract]
• OHS
reps, issue 123, 13 September 2007 Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain: Recognition of union role
welcomed
Unions and safety campaigners have welcomed a commitment at the
construction safety forum to greater worker involvement. GMB national
health and safety officer, John McClean, said: “The DWP
are again to look at the role of worker safety advisers, effectively
roving safety reps, to evaluate how they can help in delivering
peer to peer safety information and improving health and safety
culture across the UK's building sites.” BBC
News Online • UCATT
news release Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Global:
Pesticides cause asthma in farmers
Exposure to several commonly used pesticides dramatically increases
the risk of asthma in farmers, new research suggests. This finding
stems from a study of nearly 20,000 farmers, which was presented
at the European Respiratory Society annual congress in Stockholm.
Pesticides associated With atopic and non-atopic asthma among
farmers in the Agricultural Health Study [abstract];
ERS congress presentation, 16 September 2007 • Daily
Mail Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain: Firms fined after worker's
death
Two Wiltshire companies have been fined after admitting safety
breaches which resulted in the death of a worker. TH White Installations
of Devizes and RF Stratton and Company, owners of Manor Farm,
Kingston Deverill, Wiltshire, were each fined £35,000 and
£8,000 costs. Bath
Chronicle • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 22 September 2007
USA: BP faces court over Texas blast
Executives of UK-based oil giant BP have given evidence in a state
court in Galveston, Texas, about the March 2005 blast in which
15 workers died and dozens were injured. However, former global
BP boss Lord Browne will not be required to give evidence, after
the company agreed to settle compensation cases with four injured
workers USW
news release • International
Herald Tribune • More
on BP’s safety record • See
excerpts of the trial online Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain:
Woman tells of asbestos disease nightmares
A 55-year-old woman from Retford, whose father and two brothers
died from asbestos related diseases, is taking legal action after
discovering she has the illness pleural plaques, associated with
asbestos exposure. Valerie Pask, 55, was diagnosed with the condition
in April 2006. Irwin
Mitchell news release • The
Mirror Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain:
Firms urged to give substance misuse support
Firms must do more to help staff struggling with drink and drug
misuse problems, a new report has recommended. Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development (CIPD) employer relations adviser,
Ben Willmott, said the firms that helped their staff had a good
success rate in getting them back to work - with 60 per cent staying
with the company after overcoming problems, but only half of the
employers quizzed gave access to counselling for workers fighting
dependencies on drink or drugs, with just 38 per cent offering
coordinated rehabilitation. CIPD
Managing drugs and alcohol misuse at work • People
Management magazine • Hazards
drugs and alcohol news and resources Hazards news, 22 September 2007
Britain:
Obstructed safety rep gets payout
A union safety rep on London’s Tube system who was prevented
from fulfilling his health and safety role by London Underground
has won thousands of pounds in compensation at an employment tribunal.
London Underground was found to have “wilfully and deliberately”
flouted health and safety law by refusing to allow Paul McCarthy,
47, to inspect four tube lines. ASLEF
news release Hazards news, 15 September 2007
South
Africa: Mining union may strike over deaths
South Africa's biggest mining union has said it may strike to
force mining companies to focus on the safety of workers, following
a spate of recent deaths at mines. Some 200 miners are killed
in accidents at South African mines every year, the National Union
of Mineworkers (NUM) general secretary Frans Baleni said. Reuters
Africa Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: Rig redundancies a safety
critical threat
Safety practices at the oil giant Shell’s North Sea operations
should be investigated by the authorities, offshore union Unite
has said. It has called on the UK’s Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) to probe safety standards at five North Sea energy platforms
operated by Royal Dutch Shell. ICEM
In-brief • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Somalia:
Unions campaign for media safety
Violence in Somalia has been escalating, the International Federation
of Journalists (IFJ) has said, warning this has put enormous pressure
on journalists reporting on the conflict for both Somali news
organisations and international media. “Journalists themselves
have become targets,” said IFJ general secretary Aidan White
in a letter to Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations. IFJ
news release Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: Genetic testing “must
be regulated”
Genetic testing by employers must be regulated, unions say. Gill
Dolbear, vice-president of radiographers’ union SOR told
delegates to TUC’s congress: “Without realistic and
enforceable controls, employers and insurers will rely on self-regulation.”
SOR
news release • Hazards
genetic screening web resources Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Global:
Corporations not that socially responsible
Fifteen years after blistering anti-sweatshop campaigns against
transnational corporations like Nike sparked the booming corporate
social responsibility (CSR) industry, there have been small improvements
in workplace health and safety in factories in the developing
world. But, according to a report by global safety rights expert
Garrett Brown, even the “modest gains” have been “undermined
by fatal flaws caused by conflicting demands of transnationals
on their global supply chains.” Occupational
Hazards • Maquiladora
Health and Safety Support Network Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain:
Site unions call for gangmaster controls
The government must extend the Gangmasters Licensing Act (GLA)
to the construction industry, delegates to the TUC congress have
decided. Construction unions say since the GLA came into force
in 2006 there has been a stream of rogue gangmasters who have
moved from agriculture into the construction industry. Unite
news release • TUC
and Hazards
migrant worker webpages Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: Prime minister makes safety
commitment
A number of workplace safety concerns will be addressed, prime
minister Gordon Brown has told unions. Speaking at this week’s
TUC Congress in Brighton, the prime minister said: “No employer
should be allowed to impose unsafe or unacceptable conditions,”
adding “the price of a job should never be a substandard
wage or a dangerous workplace.” Full
text of prime minister Gordon Brown’s speech to the TUC
• Watch
Gordon Brown’s speech on Congress TV Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: Campaign tells Hain to act
on site deaths
Cabinet minister Peter Hain has called for government and industry
to work together to reduce fatalities in the construction industry.
However, the Construction Safety Campaign is to protest outside
a 17 September construction safety forum called b Hain to make
known its “disgust at the government's killer cuts agenda.”
DWP
news release • Hazards
health and safety enforcement news and resources Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: Firms fined after site worker
is paralysed
Two construction companies have been fined over £180,000
for serious health and safety offences, following an incident
which left a worker a paraplegic. Exeter firm Rokbuild Ltd was
fined £175,000 plus £26,733 costs at Winchester Crown
Court and RB Contractors of Winchester was fined £5,000
and £1,000 costs at the same hearing. HSE
news release Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: Three gassed trying to keep
warm
Three men found dead in a storage container at a Kennet Island
development could have been gassed to death in just 18 minutes,
an inquest heard. Tilers Kirpal Singh, 30, his cousin Manjit Singh,
35, and 21-year-old Gurdeep Singh Deo had all inhaled fatal levels
of carbon monoxide from a petrol-run generator being used inside
the container to fuel two lamps, probably for heat and light.
Reading
Chronicle Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: First minister supports a
Stockline inquiry
Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond has given his support
for the “fullest possible” inquiry into the circumstances
of Scotland's worst industrial accident in a generation. He said:
“I think given the nature of the criminal proceedings, which
was a successful prosecution, but obviously meant that some of
the evidence was not required to surface in the course of the
proceedings, all are agreed that an inquiry in public is necessary.”
Scottish
parliament debate on ‘Stockline Factory (Judicial Public
Inquiry) • The
Herald • ICL/Stockline report
and news updates Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain:
Back to work push could be “dangerous”
Unions and health campaigners have warned that pushing injured
workers back into work too soon or without the necessary support
could exacerbate their problems. The warning comes after a new
report said people with conditions such as back pain and arthritis
need to stay in work as much as possible. The
Work Foundation news release • BBC
News Online • GMHC
news release [word] Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain:
Docs pressed to send sick to work
The government has given another push to its contentious “work
is good for you” campaign. Unions and health campaigners
have warned that pressure on GPs to get patients back into work
fails to take into account that it is good work and not just any
work that can be good for you. DWP
news release • Why
bad work is not a good idea • Safety
reps’ guide to occupational health services Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: Injured jockey gets £85k
compensation
Jockey Andrew Ball has won an £85,000 payout for an injury
sustained when he was kicked y a horse and that put an end to
his career. Wiltshire
Gazette and Herald • Hazards
compensation webpages Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: Scots smoke ban has 'improved
health'
A report that compared the exposure of barworkers to second-hand
smoke before and after Scotland’s March 2006 ban has found
a dramatic reduction in their exposures. The paper reports that
the salivary concentration of cotinine, a metabolite of nicotine,
fell in non-smoking bar workers by 89 per cent, and even in smokers
it fell by 12 per cent. IOM
news release • Sean Semple and others. Bar workers’
exposure to second-hand smoke: The effect of Scottish smoke-free
legislation on occupational exposure, Annals
of Occupational Hygiene, advance publication, 12 September
2007 • Hazards smoking webpages Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: Safety professionals need
to be regulated
The UK’s health and safety profession should be officially
regulated, according to the Institution of Occupational Safety
and Health (IOSH). It said regulating the profession was important
for raising standards and helping eliminate some of the “crazy”
stories that appear in the media. IOSH
news release and Get the best campaign guide [pdf] Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Britain: Farm workers get new qualification
A groundbreaking set of health and safety qualifications has been
designed for agricultural and horticultural workers, union reps,
supervisors and managers. Members can sign up for them through
agricultural and other colleges from this month, but study at
home with materials and online back-up. Landworker,
August/Sept 2007 • More
details on the Health and Safety Practices website Hazards news, 15 September 2007
Risks, Number 323, 15 September 2007
EARLIER NEWS
Hazards
news, 8 September 2007
USA: Committee maps out deadly work
causes
A top US government committee has called for a national commitment
to stop occupational injuries and ill-health. US Representative
George Miller, chair of the House Education and Labor Committee
marked Labor Day, 3 September, with the launch of a new interactive
online map that enables people to learn about many of the workplace
fatalities that have occurred in their own communities this year. US
House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Labor
news release. Interactive map of work fatalities Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: Union ups school asbestos
campaign
Teaching union ATL is ramping up its awareness campaign on the
dangers posed by asbestos in school buildings. The union says
over 400 ATL members have so far signed its asbestos register,
to indicate they may have been exposed at work, and the number
on the register “is growing daily”. ATL
news report
Mesothelioma: The human face of an asbestos epidemic, YouTube
video
Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: Trained union reps make work
work
Better trained, more effective union reps are good for workplaces,
the TUC has said, as the government prepares to give its response
to a consultation on facilities time for workplace reps. Personnel
Today • Hazards
briefing on union safety rep training Hazards news, 8 September 2007
USA: Mine tragedy was ‘an unnatural
disaster’
The coal mine collapse last month that killed six miners and three
more workers involved in a rescue attempt was ‘an unnatural
disaster’, a US commentator has said. The Mountain Eagle’s
Tom Bethell, in a 29 August editorial, said: “Robert Murray,
a mine owner obviously in need of clinical help, insisted from
day one that the August 6 cave-in at his Crandall Canyon Mine
in Utah was a natural disaster, triggered by an earthquake that
no one could have anticipated.” The
Pump Handle • Federal Register, volume 68, page 53041,
9 September 2003 [pdf]
• AFL-CIO
Now update on Senate hearings into the Crandall mine disaster Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: Study reveals exploitation
of migrant workers
Thousands of Polish and Lithuanian workers are being exploited
at work in the UK, a new report commissioned by the TUC has revealed.
Since 2004 when 10 new states joined the EU, more than 475,000
Polish and Lithuanian workers have come to work in the UK. TUC
news release • Living and working in the
UK: Your rights[pdf]
• EU members? Migrant workers' challenges and opportunities
to trade unions: A Polish and Lithuanian case study[pdf]
• Hazards
vulnerable workers webpages Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: GMB to refuse refuse overload
Spiralling workloads and safety problems in Islington’s
domestic refuse and recycling programmes will not be tolerated,
the union GMB has said. The union says contractor Accord is attempting
to impose changes on domestic refuse crews, changes staff believe
will lead to a worse service for residents, increased workloads
and a “detrimental impact on health and safety.” GMB
news release Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: Blast report slams ICL and
official oversight
The disaster at a Glasgow plastics factory was caused by years
of neglect by the company that ran it and by the government safety
watchdog meant to regulate it, according to a research report.
Eight experts from four universities have condemned ICL Plastics
and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to prevent
the gas explosion on 11 May 2004, which killed nine workers.
Universities of Strathclyde and Stirling news
release and ICL/Stockline
disaster website Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: Mother in legal action over
inquiry delay
A grieving mother is taking legal action against Scotland’s
Lord Advocate over delays in mounting an inquiry into her partner's
death two years ago. Karen Thomson, 46, has been fighting for
more than two years to learn the facts surrounding the death of
her partner of eight years, Graham Meldrum. The
Herald Hazards news, 8 September 2007
USA: Massive asthma rate in Ground
Zero rescuers
A new health peril is hitting the estimated 40,000 rescue and
recovery workers who dug through the deadly rubble and toxic debris
at Ground Zero of New York’s World Trade Center. A survey
has found they are developing asthma at 12 times the normal rate
for adults. New
York City Department of Health news release • AFL-CIO
Now Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain:
Inspection cuts could cost lives
Proposals to limit on-the-spot safety inspections could result
in increased workplace deaths and injuries, the Institution of
Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has warned. Safety professionals’
organisation IOSH warns that a draft code of practice for regulators
proposes that random inspection should only be a small element
of a regulator’s programme, used to test its processes,
and recommends that regulators “allow or even encourage
economic progress and only intervene when there is a clear case
for protection.” IOSH
news release • Code of Practice for Regulators –
A Consultation, Cabinet Office: draft code [pdf] Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: Rail firm admits Grayrigg
crash blame
The faulty points that caused a fatal crash in Cumbria should
have been inspected five days earlier, a rail industry report
has revealed. An 84-year-old woman was killed and 22 people injured
when the London to Glasgow Virgin Pendolino plunged off the track
at Grayrigg in February. Network
Rail news release and report summary [pdf] Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: Developers fined over dumper
truck death
A construction company has been ordered to pay £43,715 in
fines and costs after one of its employees died on a Salisbury
building site in 2003. Castleway Developments Ltd admitted at
Salisbury Crown Court to failing to ensure the safety of its employees,
after 62-year-old George Rogers was killed when he was catapulted
from a dumper truck, which then ran over his body. Salisbury
Journal Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Australia: Ex-James Hardie boss in
criminal probe
The former managing director of James Hardie, Peter Macdonald,
has been revealed as the target of a criminal investigation over
compensation to asbestos victims. He is first to be named as being
investigated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission
since it flagged a criminal investigation in February into the
scandal that cost Mr Macdonald his job. Sydney
Morning Herald • ASIC
James Hardie webpage Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: HSE warns HGV operators after
injury fine
Heavy goods vehicles operators risk a fine if they don’t
take safety seriously, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has
said. The warning came after Tow Law-based WE & I Wright Limited
was prosecuted and fined £4,000 with £2,500 costs
following an investigation into a serious injury sustained by
an employee who was crushed between reversing heavy goods vehicles. HSE
news release and workplace
transport webpages Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: Bosses want ‘business
focused’ sick policing
Employers want their occupational health advisers to be more “business
focused” and proactive in managing sickness absence, according
to new research for the publication Employment Review. When 57
employers – with a combined workforce of 260,000 employees
– were asked about issues that arise when using their organisation's
occupational health teams, 26 per cent said occupational health
advisers should be more business focused; they said they should
avoid one-sided consultations giving only the employee's view. Personnel
Today Hazards news, 8 September 2007
USA: Work 'the biggest sleep robber'
Time spent at work is the single most important lifestyle factor
that impacts on sleep, a new study has reported. US researchers
found the more hours you work the less sleep you get. American
Academy of Sleep Medicine news release • Mathias Basner
and others. American Time Use Survey: Sleep time and its relationship
to waking activities, Sleep, volume 30, issue 9, pages 1,085-1,095,
2007 [abstract] Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: Stress is top threat to workers
Stress is still seen as the biggest threat to the welfare of UK
workers, according to research by health benefits provider HSA.
More than four in 10 senior human resources professionals surveyed
singled out stress as the main health concern of the workforce. Personnel
Today Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain: Baggage handling firm picks
up a fine
A firm that last year failed in an employment tribunal bid to
wriggle out of an improvement notice issued because of inadequate
airport manual handling measures has now been fined for ignoring
a Health and Safety Executive manual handling notice. Manchester
Airport ground handling company Menzies Aviation (UK) Ltd pleaded
guilty to safety offences and to failing to comply with an improvement
notice. HSE
news release • HSE
back pain webpages Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain:
Safety reps mean action at work
Union safety reps make workplace safety campaigns effective, research
for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has found. The study
looked at the involvement of safety reps in HSE’s better
backs campaign, examining the impact of the training and support
provided by Unite’s Amicus section. Hazards
news report, 1 September 2007 • Hazards
safety reps’ webpage • Hazards
union effect webpage Hazards news, 1 September 2007
USA: Tragedies spur calls for a union
voice
Non-union workers at the Utah mine where six miners died in a
6 August collapse and three workers were killed on 16 August in
the abortive rescue efforts have asked mining union UMWA to be
their representative in discussions with the company and the US
Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). In a highly contentious
move, however, the official mines safety watchdog has turned down
the request. UMWA
news release • ICEM
In-Brief Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Action call as transport
violence spikes
Rail union RMT has call for more staff and zero tolerance of violent
crime as official figures this week revealed assaults on staff
on Britain's rail and Tube networks rose in 2006/07 by eight per
cent to 3,026 offences. RMT news release and One
strike vote news release • BTP
news release Hazards news, 1 September 2007
South Africa: Threats to inspectors
must end
Construction industry employers must allow labour inspectors onto
their construction sites to carry out inspections or face “the
full might of the law”, South Africa’s labour minister
has said. Membathisi Mdladlana called on employers to cooperate
after an inspector was threatened with death by an employer after
issuing a notice to stop dangerous work at a construction site. BuaNews Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: NUT lessons on school asbestos
Schools should conduct thorough asbestos surveys and headteachers,
governors and premises staff must have better knowledge of asbestos
management, teaching union NUT has said. The union’s briefing,
prepared after teachers and staff were placed at risk when asbestos
was disturbed at a Derby school and the city’s council was
prosecuted successfully in May, says visual inspections of schools
for a potential asbestos risk are not enough. NUT
health and safety briefings webpage • NUT briefing:
Asbestos – lessons to be learned report [word] Hazards news, 1 September 2007
China: ‘Comfort money’
after 181 miners die
The families of 181 miners presumed dead after two pits were flooded
on 17 August have each received 2,000 yuan (£132) in “comfort
money” from local officials. A team of officials paid 2,000
yuan to each bereaved family plus an additional 200 yuan (£13)
to each individual family member. Hong
Kong Standard • China
Labour Bulletin Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Bus drivers relieved at more
toilets
Bus drivers are relieved authorities have agreed to speed-up the
introduction of toilets along London's bus routes. Unite organiser,
Peter Kavanagh, said “significant extra resource”
had been agreed to combat what was “a very serious problem.”
This
is local London • TUC/Hazards
toilet breaks campaign Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Canada: Safety needles to become mandatory
It’s been a few years since the Service Employees International
Union began a national safer needles campaign in Canada to help
ensure the safety of its members, but the efforts of the union
are paying off. After years of pressuring Ontario’s provincial
government to implement a policy requiring the use of safety needles
in all of its hospitals, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long
Term Care has said safety needles will be mandatory in Ontario
hospitals by 1 September 2008. SEIU
news release and Safer
Needles Now campaign webpages Hazards
needlesticks webpages Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Talks start on lean working
Long-running industrial action by civil service union PCS over
the deskilling of work in HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is being
suspended following the department’s agreement to hold what
the union termed “meaningful talks.” PCS says industrial
action being taken by members in processing offices in the dispute
over new ‘Lean’ working systems will be suspended
from 28 August up to 19 September. PCS
news release Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: ICL fined £400,000
over factory explosion
Two companies have been fined a total of £400,000 over the
explosion that destroyed the Stockline factory in Glasgow and
killed nine workers and injured 40 others. ICL Plastics and ICL
Tech had pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety legislation,
admitting four offences that led to the explosion at their factory
on 11 May 2004. Hazards
ICL/Stockline disaster webpages Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Call for tougher laws after
fatal blast
Demands for tougher laws to enable company directors to be prosecuted
following fatal accidents resurfaced in the aftermath of the ICL/Stockline
trial. Trade unions and families of workers killed said the penalties
were insufficient and called for a public inquiry. STUC
news release • FACK
news release. Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Rewards for failure debate
dogs ex-BP boss
Disgraced former BP chief executive Lord Browne topped the executive
pension league in 2006 with a retirement package worth more than
£1m a year. He has also joined Riverstone Holdings, a US
private equity firm that invests in energy businesses, as a managing
partner based in London but operating globally. The
Guardian • Financial
Times • Find
out more on BP’s safety record Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Corporate code is ‘a
criminals’ charter’
Moves to slash red tape could weaken the Health and Safety Executive's
authority to inspect premises and tackle careless employers, ministers
have been warned. A draft Code of Practice for Regulators, which
will apply to the Health and Safety Commission and Executive and
will have the force of law, needs significant changes to avoid
being a ‘Charter for corporate criminals,’ the Centre
for Corporate Accountability (CCA) has told the Cabinet Office’s
Better Regulation Executive. CCA
news release • A Code of Practice for Regulators –
A Consultation, Cabinet Office: draft code [pdf]
and Better
Regulation Executive webpages Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Site firms angry after safety
summit bar
Major construction contractors say they are mystified as to why
they have been excluded from this month's government-convened
site safety summit. Trade paper Contract Journal says the biggest
players in construction have been told they are not invited to
the meeting organised by work and pensions secretary Peter Hain
for 17 September in London. Contract
Journal and related
editorial Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Australia: ‘Enslaved’
migrants pay with their lives
Conditions in remote Australian workplaces, where two foreigners
died within three days in June, are so harsh that a leading immigration
expert says they are “akin to slavery.” An investigation
has exposed blatant breaches of the 457 skilled visa scheme and
uncovered details of the deaths of the two workers in the Northern
Territory and Queensland, and of a third man north of Perth. The
Age news item and in-depth
report • Sydney
Morning Herald news report and ‘Dead
men working’ special video report Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Dangerous demolition firms
warned on risks
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned demolition companies
they must investigate risks prior to starting work or they could
invite tragedy and an appearance before the courts. The HSE statement
came after Central Demolition Limited of Bonnybridge, Scotland,
was fined £50,000 after pleading guilty to safety offences
relating to an incident in which employee Gideon Irvine, 44, died.
HSE
news release Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Poor safety systems cause
vehicle falls
Failings in safety management are responsible for most falls from
vehicles at work, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) boffins have
found. The Health and Safety Laboratory reviewed over 250 falls
from vehicles reported under the official reporting system RIDDOR
over the last five years.
Analysis of RIDDOR data 2000 to 2005 – Falls from vehicles,
HSL/2007/39 [pdf]
• Usdaw
briefing on the research and summary
of the main findings Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Council apologises for asbestos
failings
A County Durham council has been ordered to pay almost £26,000
for failing to warn staff that asbestos was present in one of
its leisure centres. Wear Valley District Council allowed staff
to work at Bishop Auckland's Woodhouse Centre, despite being alerted
to the presence of asbestos. HSE
news release • Northern
Echo and related
editorial Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Asbestos blamed for man’s
death
A carpenter’s death was caused by his working exposure to
asbestos - even though no asbestos could be found in his lungs,
a Gloucester inquest has ruled. Coroner Alan Crickmore recorded
a verdict that Gerard Thorley died aged 69 from an industrial
disease. Gloucester
Citizen Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain:
TUC fringe on work and health, 10 September, Brighton
Radiographers’ union SOR has organised a fringe meeting
at this month’s TUC Congress in Brighton on the theme ‘Health,
work and well-being: Is the government doing enough?’ Speakers
include union national safety officers Kim Sunley of SOR and John
McClean of GMB, RCN nurse adviser Sharon Horan and Jane Ingham
of RCN’s Society of Occupational Health Nurses Forum.
SOR fringe meeting, 12.45pm-2.00pm, Monday 10 September, Keats
and Shelley Room, Library Terrace, Thistle Hotel, Kings Road,
Brighton. SOR fringe meeting flyer [pdf] Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain: Bus workers demand respect
and toilets
London’s bus workers took to the streets of the capital
on 23 August to demand proper toilet facilities on bus routes
and at their workplaces – and immediately won support from
the mayor of London. The workers, members of Unite, are threatening
a full strike ballot if Transport for London (TfL) and London’s
local authorities don’t unblock planning obstacles and speed
up action to provide facilities. Unite
news release • BBC
News Online • TUC/Hazards
toilet breaks campaign Hazards news, 25 August 2007
UK ‘lags behind’ on cancer
deaths
Cancer survival rates in the UK are trailing behind much of the
continent and in some cases struggling to stay ahead of eastern
European countries despite significantly more funding. A damning
online editorial published alongside the findings in the Lancet
Oncology medical journal suggests the cancer plans introduced
in England in 2000 and Scotland in 2001 are not working and that
remedying the problem would take a fundamental overhaul of NHS
services. BBC
News Online • Franco Berrino and others. Survival
for eight major cancers and all cancers combined for European
adults diagnosed in 1995–99: results of the EUROCARE-4 study,
Lancet
Oncology Online, published online 21 August 2007. DOI:10.1016/S1470-2045(07)70245-0
• Hazardsoccupational
cancer webpages and new Work
cancer prevention kit Hazards news, 25 August 2007
USA: Cintas
faces record fine after dryer death
US official safety watchdog OSHA has proposed fining work uniform
supplier Cintas Corp. $2.78 million (£1.4m) after a worker
in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was trapped in an operating industrial dryer
and died of trauma and heat injuries. Eleazar Torres Gomez, 46,
was killed in March when he fell into the dryer while clearing
a jam of wet laundry on a conveyor that carries laundry from the
washer into the dryer. OSHA
news release • UNITE
HERE news release and Uniform
justice! campaign Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Company films toilets on
the job
The union UNITE has told a firm it must remove CCTV cameras after
they were discovered filming workers in the factory's toilet blocks.
ThyssenKrupp Automotive (TKA) Tallent Chassis, in Newton Aycliffe,
County Durham, was accused of a “horrendous breach of employee
privacy.” Northern
Echo • Hazardsworkplace
privacy webpages and
toilet breaks webpages Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Saudi Arabia: Migrant domestics killed
by employers
The killing of two Indonesian domestic workers by their employers
in Saudi Arabia highlights the Saudi government’s ongoing
failure to hold employers accountable for serious abuses, campaign
group Human Rights Watch has said. The brutal beatings by these
employers also left two other Indonesian domestic workers critically
injured. Human
Rights Watch news release Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain:
Tube workers win on ill-health pensions
London Underground union RMT has won an agreement that guarantees
pension rights of Tube employees forced to leave their job through
ill-health. The deal, which involves companies covered by the
Transport for London (TfL) Pension Fund, came after RMT members
last month voted by a 15-to-1 margin to strike against moves that
would have dramatically affected qualification for ill-health
pensions. RMT
news release Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Mexico: Strike at deathtrap copper
pit
Deep drifts of powdery rock dust blocking exit routes, exposed
wiring and missing machine covers and fire extinguishers are some
of the sights that greet visitors to Mexico's largest copper mine.
About 3,000 miners at the Cananea copper pit, who laid down their
tools on 30 July in a strike partly over safety conditions, accuse
mine owner Grupo Mexico of not investing in maintenance despite
sky-high copper prices. International
Herald Tribune Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Second underground strike
in safety row
Staff on the Bakerloo Tube Line have gone on strike for the second
time in a row over safety. In July services were disrupted when
members of rail union RMT took part in the first 24-hour walk
out. RMT is protesting at changes it says will leave staff working
alone and vulnerable to assault as they move passengers from trains
at stations north of Queen's Park. RMT
news release Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Civil servants suffer from
overwork
Excessive workloads are forcing over half of full-time civil servants
to work excessive hours just to keep up, a study has found, with
many now working while sick. Research for the union PCS found
45.8 per cent of workers surveyed put in between 40 and 48 hours
and concluded 1 in 20 workers was breaking the working time regulations
– introduced as a health and safety measure - by working
over 49 hours per week. PCS
news release Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Site deaths head for six-year
high
Deaths on construction sites this year could top last year’s
five year high, new figures suggest. Construction union UCATT
said so far this year 29 site deaths have been reported - at the
current rate, moving into the more dangerous winter months, the
final death count risks topping last year's figure of 77. UCATT
news release • Contract
Journal Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Tory plan for red tape 'tax
cut'
Tory leader David Cameron is looking at plans to cut £14bn
in red tape and regulation for UK businesses – and some
safety measures are in the firing line. The plans have been put
forward by John Redwood - one of the most senior figures on the
Tory right and chair of the party’s Economic Competitiveness
Policy Group - who called them “a tax cut by any other name.”
TUC
news release • Conservative
Party Freeing Britain to compete webpages and Economic Competitive
Policy Group full report [pdf] Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Safety warning on Tory’s
red tape cuts
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has called
on the Conservatives to “completely re-think” before
considering sweeping cuts to ‘red tape’, a move IOSH
says could reduce competitiveness and end up costing lives. The
safety professionals’ organisation said that it believes
repealing the Working Time Regulations could lead to “a
UK where worker-exploitation becomes rife.” IOSH
news release Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Stockline firms admit safety
charges
The operators of a Glasgow plastics factory where nine people
died in an explosion three years ago have pleaded guilty to health
and safety charges. ICL Tech Ltd and ICL Plastics admitted four
charges at the High Court in Glasgow last week. STUC
news release • FACK
news release • UNITE
news release • BBC News Online on the guilty
plea and the families’
statement Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Campaign pushes for crane
deaths justice
An official safety investigation into a crane collapse which killed
two almost a year ago should report soon so bereaved families
can pursue justice, campaigners have said. BCDAG
news release • Ceremonies to remember Michael Alexa
and Jonathan Cloke will be held at the crane collapse site on
Thessaly Rd on the first anniversary of the tragedy, 26 September,
from 7.30am-8am and 5.30pm–6pm Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Corus fined £125k for
latest safety breach
Steel giant Corus has been fined £125,000 after steelworker
David Jones suffered near fatal injuries when he fell into a pit
containing hot toxic chemicals. He suffered horrendous burns when
he fell feet first into an interceptor pit at Scunthorpe's Corus
works on 26 March 2005. HSE
news release • Find
out more about the Corus prosecution record Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Europe:
ETUC strains conference, 9-10 October, Brussels
More than one in three European workers suffers from work-related
musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), and the situation appears to
be getting worse. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)
has decided to take action by hosting a joint ‘On the offensive
against MSDs’ conference with its health and safety research
arm, ETUI-REHS, in Brussels on 9 and 10 October 2007.
ETUC/ETUI-REHS MSD
conference, 9-10 October 2007, Brussels, Belgium Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Dairy fined £5,000
for broken arm
A dairy foods company has been fined £5,000 and ordered
to pay £3,599 costs after pleading guilty to breaching health
and safety regulations, following an accident that left an employee
off work for nearly a year. David Pennycook, 50, suffered two
breaks and severe muscle and ligament damage to his left arm at
Dairy Crest in Dagenham, London, in October 2005, after a milk
bottle filling machine started while his arm was inside an open
hatch. HSE
news release Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain:
Asbestos dumper gets his assets frozen
A Bradford man jailed in March for illegally dumping asbestos
and excavation waste has had his assets frozen in the first case
of its kind. The Assets Recovery Agency (ARA), working with the
Environment Agency (EA), obtained restraint orders to freeze properties
belonging to 60-year-old William Reidy and related to the illegal
activities of his demolition business Space Making Development.
Assets
Recovery Agency news release • Telegraph
and Argus Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain: Musicians
make a noise on noise
Musicians are being urged to speak up to protect their hearing.
The Musicians’ Union (MU) is urging its union reps and members
to comment on a new guide on noise control in the music and entertainment
industry, which from April 2008 will be subject to the Noise at
Work Regulations 2006. MU
news release • Sound
Advice consultation webpage Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Zambia: Workplace
safety is ‘critical’
Success in any business largely depends on a safe and healthy
workforce, an editorial in the 12 August issue of the Times of
Zambia concludes. It says the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions
(ZCTU) is “dismayed that most employers in Zambia do not
pay attention to healthy and safety of employees” because
they “consider this to be a cost.” Times
of Zambia Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Britain: Attacked nurse gets £21,500
compensation
A staff nurse at Broadmoor Hospital has received a £21,500
payout following two assaults by a patient. Trade union UNISON
secured the compensation for Lucia Johnson, after she was assaulted
in December 2002 and July 2003. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 18 August 2007
USA: Latest disaster exposes lax mine
safety
Former US mine safety officials believe the work methods used
at a Utah mine where six miners have been trapped underground
for over a week were so dangerous that they question why federal
regulators approved them. The prospects for six coal miners, trapped
underground since the 6 August cave-in, look increasingly slim.
Salt
Lake City Tribune and story
update • The
Militant.
More on the union
safety effect Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Britain: Unions fears on workplace
violence
Assaults on workers dealing with the public have reached record
levels, unions are warning. They say anyone who serves the public
seems to be vulnerable to outbursts of anger. The
Guardian • Usdaw
Freedom from fear campaign Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Britain: Tesco pays out to injured
employees
Supermarket giant Tesco has had its safety approach called into
question after two workers were compensated for workplace injury.
The Unite members worked at a Tesco Distribution Centre in Purfleet,
Essex. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Sweden:
Criticism of new drive to slash sick leave
New official guidelines aimed at reducing sick leave in Sweden
have come under heavy criticism from a top government psychiatrist.
Jörgen Herlofson, who devised the criteria by which burnout
is defined by Sweden's National Board of Health and Welfare, said
stress-related illnesses were not being taken seriously.
TT/The Local on the sick
leave changes and the related
criticism • Hazards sickness
absence webpages Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Somalia: IFJ condemns ‘savage’
killing of journalists
The International Federation of Journalist (IFJ) has demanded
urgent international action to confront the targeting and killing
of journalists in Somalia following a brutal double attack in
which one media chief was shot dead and another killed only hours
later in a car bombing while returning from the funeral of the
first victim. IFJ
news release
Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Britain: Abusive gangmaster's licence
is revoked
A firm that failed to pay migrant agricultural workers for 35
days has had its licence revoked by the Gangmasters Licensing
Authority (GLA). The GLA said 40 Bulgarian workers had to scavenge
for food in the fields where they worked because Cornwall-based
Baltic Work Team Ltd had not paid them, placing the workers health
and welfare at risk. GLA news release [pdf]
• Unite
news release • TUC
news release Hazards vulnerable
workers webpages Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Canada:
Union bounty on violent thug
A Canadian union has posted a Can$2,000 (£940) reward for
information leading to the conviction of a man who carried out
a vicious assault on a transport worker. CAW, the union representing
TransLink transit operators in Vancouver, says the bus driver
was attacked on 26 July. CAW
news release Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Britain: Cancer increase highlights
work risks
A study by Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and the UK Association of
Cancer Registries (UKACR) has identified increases in a range
of cancers. The most common cancers identified in the new CRUK
figures have strong occupational links. Cancer
Research UK cancer statistics • Hazardsoccupational
cancer webpages and Work
cancer prevention kit Hazards news, 18 August 2007
China:
Many workers dead after bridge collapse
Dozens of people were killed and dozens injured when a bridge
collapsed this week while under construction in the town of Fenghuang,
in China's Hunan province. There were 123 workers on the bridge
removing scaffolding at the time of the incident, according to
the Chinese news agency Xinhua. Xinhua
• BBC
News Online Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Britain: Safety call for motorway
workers
Eighty per cent of roadworkers have been verbally or physically
abused by motorists, according to a new survey. The RAC Foundation
research found 40 per cent of workers are abused on either a daily
or weekly basis, and almost 80 per cent of ‘near misses’
recorded at roadworks in the last 12 months were due to poor driver
behaviour. RAC
Foundation news release • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Britain: Campaign welcomes progress
on crane safety
The Battersea Crane Disaster Action Group has welcomed progress
made at the industry-led Strategic Forum for Construction crane
safety summit in London and have called for good intentions to
be translated into real action. Group member Julia Brandreth,
who represented BCDAG at the summit, said. “One key area
we raised at the meeting is that there should be no victimisation
of workers who raise legitimate health and safety concerns or
refuse to operate hazardous equipment.” BCDAG
news release Hazards news, 18 August 2007
USA: Extra screen breaks are healthy
and productive
More frequent breaks from screen-based work reduce fatigue and
increase productivity, US government researchers have found. A
team from the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and
Health (NIOSH) concluded: “These results provide further
converging evidence that supplementary breaks reliably minimise
discomfort and eyestrain without impairing productivity.”
Traci Galinsky and others. Supplementary breaks and stretching
exercises for data entry operators: A follow-up field study,
American Journal of Industrial Medicine, volume 50, issue 7, pages
519–527, 2007 [abstract] Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Britain: Young farmworker killed by
power lines
Young workers are continuing to face deadly risks while working.
Farmworker Edward Andrew Pybus, 21, died after being electrocuted
when the combine harvester he was driving clipped power lines.
Northern
Echo • Hazards
young workers’ webpages Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Asia:
Asbestos plague reaches Asia
As asbestos markets shrink in Europe, the cancer-causing product
is finding new markets in developing countries. A new report,
‘Killing the future: Asbestos use in Asia’, warns
that although major international agencies agree that exposure
to asbestos is deadly, the consumption of white asbestos (chrysotile)
is increasing throughout Asia. IBAS news release [pdf]
• Killing the future: Asbestos
use in Asia, IBAS, 2007 [pdf]
• Further
information Hazards news, 18 August 2007
Britain:
Hazards says union organisation is the solution
The latest issue of the award-winning Hazards magazine
– the only union-supported magazine written especially for
union reps and health and safety activists – is out now.
It points to new evidence showing the “union effect”
on safety is even more pronounced that previously thought - making
the case for wide-ranging new rights for union safety reps clearer
still. A factsheet on unions and occupational health services
gives safety reps pointers on the cover you should have by law,
and how to make OHS work for workers. A photofile on Palestine
reveals how workplace health and safety is suffering as a consequence
of the Israeli occupation and an economic crisis. Hazards, Number
99, July/September 2007 •
See covers of recent issues • Subscribe
online or contact the subscription hotline by email or phone
on 0114 201 4265 Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain:
Unite calls for more honest offshore statistics
Health and safety statistics for the offshore oil and gas sector
from all sources should be combined and released “in a more
open, honest fashion” as the current system is obscuring
most fatalities, offshore union Unite has said. The union say
HSE statistics show just two fatalities in the sector in 2006/07,
but the 11 deaths reported to other UK agencies go unmentioned.
Unite
news release • HSE
news release • Offshore
safety statistics bulletin 2006/07 Hazards news, 11 August 2007
USA:
Authorities accept firefighter heart risks
Firefighters are dying heart attacks and other cardiovascular
conditions caused by their work and that could be prevented, the
US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
has concluded. A new alert from the official US workplace health
research body says sudden cardiac death represents the most common
cause of on-duty firefighter fatalities, killing about 45 firefighters
each year. NIOSH
news release • NIOSH
Alert: Preventing firefighter fatalities due to heart attacks
and other sudden cardiovascular events Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain: TUC wants a crackdown on
rogue agencies
Rogue employment agencies are ignoring safety, minimum wage and
employment laws without much fear of getting caught, the TUC has
warned. It is calling on the government to look at new ways of
finally bringing rogue employment agencies to task. TUC
news release • BERR
employment agency standards webpages
Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain: Poor staffing led to immigration
centre problems
The union GMB has warned that understaffing in Britain’s
immigration centres is contributing to disturbances and escapes
of detainees, putting staff, detainees and the public at risk. GMB
news release • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 11 August 2007
USA: Boss
used homeless to remove asbestos
A US contractor who hired homeless men to remove asbestos without
proper protective gear has been sentenced to 21 months in prison.
John Edward Callahan, 56, had pleaded guilty earlier this year
to a Clean Air Act violation – but because he doesn’t
have the resources was not fined or required to pay for medical
monitoring and treatment of the men he'd exposed to asbestos.
Roanoke
Times Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain: Workers protest at damaging
hours changes
Factory workers held a demonstration outside their workplace on
31 July, angered by plans to introduce “family unfriendly”
and potentially unsafe shift patterns. Supported by members of
Unite’s TGWU section, workers from the Hilton Food Group
plc in Huntingdon protested outside of the premises against the
plans to extend their shifts by five hours per day, because they
believe the move would have a negative impact on their family
life and on workplace safety. Unite
news release • Peterborough
Today Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain: Probe call into 'plane poisoning'
A union is demanding an investigation into suspected toxic gas
poisoning of an airline cabin crew. Two Flybe crew members reportedly
collapsed and became violently ill on a flight between Birmingham
and George Best Belfast City Airport. BBC
News Online • Toxic
Free Airlines • Aerotoxic
Association Hazards news, 11 August 2007
USA:
Two jailed after fatal site plunge
A Brooklyn judge has sentenced the two owners of a construction
company to the maximum penalty of six months in prison for causing
the death of a worker who was not equipped with a safety harness
when he fell from a scaffold. The federal Occupational Safety
and Health Administration (OSHA) had cited the firm as recently
as March 2007 for defective scaffolding at another New York work
site - and that the defendants have ignored the $34,000 (£17,000)
fine. NY
Daily News Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain: Safety dangers in ticket
office cull
A cull of ticket offices by London Underground is to be more extensive
than first thought, leading to increasing passenger frustration
and more stress and assault problems for staff and service users.
RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “For our members they
mean more lone working, more ticket disputes, more assaults and
more stress.” RMT
news release Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Somalia: Under-fire journalists get
safety training
Somali journalists are learning how to survive the job in a politically
unstable and dangerous conflict zone. The International News Safety
Institute (INSI) and the National Union of Somali Journalists
(NUSOJ) coordinated the safety training workshop - the first-ever
for Somali journalists.
INSI Somali training briefing [pdf]•
INSI
website
Britain:
Campaigners push for crane safety
Safety campaigners are calling for sweeping new measures to address
the problems that have led to a spate of crane tragedies. The
Battersea Crane Disaster Action Group (BCDAG) joined key industry
figures at a 9 August Construction Confederation/Strategic Forum
crane “summit” in central London, where it launched
its own crane safety manifesto. BCDAG
news release and Crane
Safety Manifesto • FACK
news release Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain:
Cost-cutting accident boss jailed
A “cunning” businessman whose cost-cutting and “callous”
disregard for safety led to a near fatal accident involving one
of his workers has been jailed for six months and ordered to pay
£90,000 compensation to the victim. Shah Nawaz Pola had
denied being responsible for a Bradford building site where Slovakian
worker Dusan Dudi suffered what were thought to be non-survivable
injuries when he was struck by a concrete lintel. Yorkshire
Post • Telegraph
and Argus Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain: Frozen food firm’s
double injury fine
A major frozen food firm in Wales with a turnover of £23m
has been ordered to pay £33,000 in fines and costs after
two forklift truck drivers were badly injured in separate incidents.
Wrexham-based Pann Krisp said it had “learned lessons”
after it admitted two breaches of safety rules relating to the
July 2005 injuries. HSE
new release • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain: Make the punishment fit the
crime
Safety professionals’ organisation IOSH has said last week’s
£121.5 million fine for British Airways for illegally fixing
fuel surcharges provides a stark contrast to the fines handed
out by the courts for health and safety offences. The combined
fines total for all safety convictions secured by HSE in 2005/06
was less than a fifth the fine incurred by BA for the single breach
of financial rules. IOSH
news release Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain: Cameraman's death was 'unlawful'
A coroner has recorded a verdict of unlawful killing on a television
cameraman killed in Iraq. Paul Douglas, 48, was killed when a
car bomb exploded at a checkpoint near the centre of Baghdad on
29 May 2006. BBC
News Online Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain: Hain announces construction
summit date
Peter Hain, secretary of state for work and pensions, has announced
the date of the safety forum on construction fatalities as 17
September. The forum was arranged following a 28 per cent rise
in construction deaths last year, with deaths rising from 60 to
77 according to figures from the Health and Safety Executive.
Contract
Journal Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain:
Official guide says “stop if hazardous”
A new HSE construction “task card” advises site staff
to “Think First, Act Safe, Stop if Hazardous and Keep Safe.”
It is rare for HSE to be so explicit on the stop work issue, although
section 7 of the Health and Safety at Work Act places a clear
legal duty on workers to take care not to put themselves at risk,
and the Employment Rights Act makes in an offence for an employer
to victimise a worker for leaving or refusing to return to the
job where there is a serious and imminent danger.
HSE webpage on Achieving
Behavioural Change (ABC) and the Task Card [pdf]
• Hazards
magazine victimisation webpages Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Australia:
Court backs union safety notice
A state government department in Victoria, Australia, that ignored
an improvement notice issued by a union safety rep has been successfully
prosecuted. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development
had ignored a Provisional Improvement Notice (PIN) issued by the
safety rep. More
•
VTHC news release • Hazardssafety
notices and safety
reps webpages Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain: Asthma risk for nurses and
cleaners
Nurses and cleaners are much more likely as people with other
jobs to develop asthma, according to a new study. The study found
that conditions in the workplace may be causing up to 25 per cent
of new asthma cases in the developed world. ETUI-HESA
news report • Manolis Kogevinas and others. Exposure
to substances in the workplace and new-onset asthma: an international
prospective population-based study (ECRHS-II), The Lancet,
volume 370, number 9584, pages 336-341, 28 July 2007
[abstract
– requires registration] Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain:
Cash-starved HSE fails to probe major injuries
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is failing to investigate
hundreds of the most serious workplace accidents every year because
of a lack of resources, safety campaigners have found. Figures
obtained by the trade union-backed safety magazine Hazards show
that an increasing number of major injuries which should according
to HSE rules require investigation are overlooked because of “inadequate
resources”. What
gorilla? Rising deaths, enforcement scandal, consultation farce,
useless statistics, Hazards magazine, Number 99,
2007 • Hazardsenforcement
webpages Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Global:
Asbestos pushers dealt serious blows
LAB Chrysotile Inc started bankruptcy proceedings on 25 July,
a move that should see the closure of Canada’s last asbestos
mine. The end of asbestos mining in Quebec could have a dramatic
knock-on effect for the industry worldwide; the Quebec-based Chrysotile
Institute, the global asbestos industry’s main lobbying
organisation is financed by the Canadian industry and money from
the federal Canadian and provincial Quebec governments. Earth
Times • ADAO
news release and website Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain:
Work deaths fall out continues
Work fatality figures released last week and described by TUC
as “dreadful” have led to more calls for extra resources
for the beleaguered Health and Safety Executive. Prospect negotiations
officer Mike Macdonald said HSE “cannot meet its public
expectations to advise, inspect and enforce workplace health and
safety so that Britain’s 28 million workers have confidence
they will not be injured or killed at work.” Prospect
news release Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Global:
Nanotech needs strong oversight says coalition
A strong, comprehensive oversight of nanotechnology and its products
is urgently required, a broad international coalition of consumer,
public health, environmental, trade union and civil society organisations
spanning six continents has said. A new statement, ‘Principles
for the oversight of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials’,
warns that nanomaterials already in use may pose significant health,
safety, and environmental hazards.
International Center for Technology Assessment news release. Principles for the oversight of nanotechnologies and nanomaterials[pdf]
• Hazardsnanotechnology
webpages Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain:
Enforcement reduces deaths says site union
Construction union UCATT is demanding that Britain’s safety
watchdog learn a lesson from its Irish counterpart when it comes
to construction safety. The union has also called for top Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) bosses, who announced last week a massive
hike in construction deaths, to “consider their positions”.
UCATT news release Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Global: Union safety alert after live
news deaths
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for
more attention to safety in media coverage of breaking news events
following the tragic collision of two news media helicopters in
the United States that left two journalists and two pilots dead.
The accident happened as five rival television networks were using
helicopters to cover a police chase in Arizona. IFJ
news release Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain: Give us toilets or prepare
for a sitdown strike!
London's bus workers are to stage a series of protests at key
London transport and local government offices on Thursday 23 August
to protest at the lack of toilet facilities. The campaign has
taken a new turn with the capital's bus workers, all members of
the TGWU section of Unite, threatening a full strike ballot if
Transport for London (TfL) and London's local authorities don't
act. Unite
news release • TUC/Hazards
toilet breaks campaign Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Finland: SAK says get tough on safety
crimes
Finland’s largest union confederation wants longer jail
terms possible for workplace safety crimes. SAK says penalties
should be comparable with those in force for environmental and
economic crimes. Trade
Union News from Finland Hazards news, 4 August 2007
New Solutions special issue
The new issue of New Solutions, a US-based international journal
on environmental and occupational health policy, focuses on women’s
occupational health. Papers look at how policy, prejudice and
practice combine to place women at risk at work and in the wider
community. There are contributions from some of the top experts
on workplace health and gender, including Professor Karen Messing,
author of ‘One-eyed science: Occupational health and women
workers.’ New
Solutions, Special issue: Women's occupational health,
volume 17, number 1-2, 2007 • Hazards
webpages on women and work hazards Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain: Airport security staff need
protection
Airport operators are being told to do more to protect their security
staff from assaults by passengers. The demand from civil aviation
union Unite-TGWU came after a meeting of BAA shop stewards where
concerns about assaults were raised. Unite
news release Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Canada: Payouts for smelter cancer
deaths
The families of 10 former workers at a Canadian smelter and who
killed by occupational cancers are eligible for compensation,
the body responsible for payouts has ruled. The Quebec workplace
accident commission determined the workers in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean,
Quebec, Alcan smelter were exposed to dangerous levels of carcinogens
which ultimately led to cancer. CAW
news release • CBC
News Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain: Strike looms after rail safety
‘betrayal’
More than 100 train guards, revenue protection inspectors and
retail staff at 'One' railway in north Essex are to strike on
18 and 20 August after a safety-related sacking. Guards based
at Colchester and Clacton, revenue protection inspectors based
at Colchester and retail workers between Chelmsford and Manningtree,
all members of the union RMT, voted by 83 to one to strike. RMT
news release Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Europe:
Excellent work cancer campaign resources
The European trade union safety thinktank HESA has published an
excellent online occupational cancer resource. HESA says it is
safe to say that cancer is now the main cause of ‘death
by working conditions’ in Europe, adding this cancer epidemic
is part of a major health and safety challenge facing workers.
HESA
occupational cancers webpages • Hazards
cancer webpages and work
cancer prevention kit Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain: Upped work rate caused clerk's
strain injury
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has paid out almost £500,000
after an RAF computer clerk developed a chronic repetitive strain
injury caused by an increased work rate. A total of £484,000
in compensation and legal costs was awarded following the onset
of the condition in the hand of the unnamed employee. Birmingham
Post Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Global: Stressful jobs cause depression
Having a high pressure job doubles the risk of depression and
anxiety in young adults, UK researchers have warned. A study of
972 32-year-olds found 45 per cent of new cases of depression
and anxiety were attributable to stressful work.
Maria Melchior and others. Work
stress precipitates depression and anxiety in young, working women
and men, Psychological Medicine, volume 37, issue 8, pages
1119-1129, 2007 Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Australia: Office printers 'are health
risk'
An office laser printer can damage lungs in much the same way
as smoke particles from cigarettes, a team of Australian scientists
has found. An investigation of a range of printer models showed
that almost a third emit potentially dangerous levels of toner
into the air. Environmental
Science & Technology Online Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain: Royal Mail manager charged
after road death
The driver of a Royal Mail lorry who was arrested after a road
accident which killed a father-of-five was a manager not employed
to drive heavy goods vehicles. Phil Edmonds, 46, was bailed by
police until October after being arrested on suspicion of causing
death by careless driving; the office worker was driving the Royal
Mail lorry during a postal strike Labournet Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain: Action on “absurd”
sacking of injured worker
Around 100 catering staff at Virgin West Coast’s Manchester
Piccadilly depot have mounted a third day of strike action in
support of an unfairly sacked colleague. RMT is demanding the
re-instatement of Rachel Tombling, who sustained injuries when
her head hit a computer screen in an on-board shop when her train
experienced rough riding - but was sacked when the company claimed
she had wilfully damaging it. RMT
news release Hazards news, 28 July 2007
USA: Industrial brakes caused steelworker
cancers
The families of three former Bethlehem Steel workers have been
awarded $3.97 million (£1.93m) in an asbestos settlement.
The former steelworkers had sued General Electric in Baltimore
Circuit Court over exposures from asbestos-lined industrial brakes
used in cranes and other equipment at the mill. Channel
13 Baltimore Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: Nestlé pays out for
tennis elbow cases
Nestlé UK Ltd has paid compensation to four workers at
the coffee making giant's site at Burton on Trent after each of
them developed tennis elbow – mirroring the experiences
of workers at another of the company’s plants in Brazil.
Steven Davis, received £11,000, a colleague £4,000
and two other workers undisclosed sums after developing the occupational
strain injury. IUF
news release Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: CWU action on mail strains
Postal union CWU has launched a new guide to tackle the high rates
of workplace strains suffered by mail delivery staff. It says
musculoskeletal injuries in Royal Mail are running at over 10
times the rate for workplaces overall. CWU news release • CWU
safe working on delivery guide [pdf] Hazards news, 28 July 2007
France: Renault could face courts
over suicides
Car maker Renault could face prosecution for the suicides of three
workers at its technical centre in Paris, after the French Work
Inspectorate submitted the findings of its investigation to the
public prosecutor. Three employees at the company's state-of-the-art
Technocentre killed themselves between October 2006 and February
2007. Personnel
Today Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: Union backs MPs call on port
safety
Recommendations of a government committee that would make ports
safer places to work have been welcomed by a union. Top union
members at the TGWU section of Unite - the union's docks and waterways
national committee - backed MPs on the Transport Select Committee
who urged ministers to establish a statutory safety inspectorate
for ports and to make the Port Marine Safety Code compulsory.
Unite
TGWU news release Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: Cyber-bullying ‘rife’
in UK business
One in five UK workers has been bullied by email, new research
has found. An independent online survey of over 1,000 workers
for the Unite-Amicus led Dignity at Work Partnership found a fifth
of respondents have been bullied by email in their current or
previous jobs, and 6.2 per cent have been bullied via a text message.
Unite
Amicus news release and Dignity
at work project Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: Safety reps briefed about
floods
TUC is urging union safety reps to be on their mettle as the recent
floods will not only cost the economy billions of pounds, they
will also have a major and sometimes devastating impact on the
lives, and the work, of hundreds of thousands of people. It has
published a new guide for safety reps on coping with health and
safety problems arising from flooding at work. Health
and safety in flooded areas: TUC guide for safety reps Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Brazil: Factory protest against deadly
speed-up
Trade unionists in Brazil are calling for an official inquiry
into safety standards at a multinational food giant after the
death of a worker. Representatives of the national foodworkers’
union CONTAC, the national union centre CUT and global union federation
IUF’s Latin America office joined workers at a rally outside
a Cargill poultry processing plant to demanding justice for 29-year-old
Marcos Antônio Pedro. IUF
news release Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: Urgent action call as deaths
soar
Deaths at work are at a five year high, new figures from the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) show. Statistics for 2006/07 released
on 26 July show 241 workers died, up 11 per cent from 217 deaths
in 2005/06. HSE
2006/07 statistics report • TUC
news release Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: DWP pushes for construction
deaths action
The union representing inspectors and specialists in the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) has welcomed the creation of an industry-wide
forum to target rising deaths in the construction industry. Prospect
said the announcement from Peter Hain, secretary of state for
work and pensions, follows calls from Prospect, construction union
UCATT and Michael Clapham MP, chair of the all-party parliamentary
group on occupational health and safety, for urgent action on
construction deaths. DWP
news release • Prospect
news release Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: Corporate killing law finally
passed
The long awaited corporate killing law is to take effect next
year. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber gave the law a qualified
welcome, saying: “Even though unions wanted the bill to
make individual directors personally liable for safety breaches
and penalties against employers committing safety crimes to be
tougher, we hope it will mean the start of a change in the safety
culture at the top of the UK's companies and organisations.”
Ministry
of Justice news release • TUC
news release • Details
of the new Act Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: Let-off for directors takes
shine off new law
Unions and campaign groups have given a lukewarm welcome to the
new corporate killing law, saying the omission of explicit legal
duties on and penalties for company directors is a major flaw.
Alan Ritchie, general secretary of construction union UCATT, said
it was “a hollow victory.” UCATT
news release • Unite-Amicus
news release • FACK
news release Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain:
BP boss survives safety scandals unscathed
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has
said it will fine London-based multinational BP $92,000 (£44,700)
for new safety breaches at its Texas City refinery. The company’s
recently unseated global boss whose cost cutting programme was
blamed for some of the company’s poor safety performance,
meanwhile, has been given the plumb post of Tate Gallery trustee
by Gordon Brown. OSHA
news release • BBC News Online on the BP
fine and on Lord
Browne’s new trustee role • More
news on BP’s safety record Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Canada: Smoke, fire and Lou Gehrig's
disease
At least seven out of 10,500 full-time firefighters in the Canadian
province of Ontario have recently developed Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, an incurable and fatal
neurodegenerative condition, investigations have found. Statistically,
only one or two people in 100,000 get the disease. Globe
and Mail Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: Firm fined over slurry pit
death
An animal rendering firm has been fined £650,000 after employee
Glynn Thompson, 45, died when he fell into a pit of offal. John
Pointon and Sons of Cheddleton, Staffordshire, was convicted at
Stafford Crown Court on four counts of breaching health and safety
laws; director Carl Pointon was cleared of manslaughter charges
in May.
BBC News Online on the
fine and the director
cleared of manslaughter Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain:
Workers living in fear under 'brutal' Amazon
Amazon workers are living in fear of heavy-handed bosses, a Scottish
employment expert has warned. Jim McCourt has spoken out about
the random body searches and ongoing drug tests he says are commonplace
in the factory which ships out books, CDs and DVDs across Scotland.
Greenock
Telegraph • Hazards news and resources on workplace
drug tests and other
work privacy issues Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: Asbestos victim gets £160,000
payout
A roofer who worked with asbestos for over 20 years has been awarded
over £160,000 in compensation. Jim Kingshott, 57, of Shoreham-by-Sea
received the settlement after he developed the asbestos cancer
mesothelioma. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain: HSE move will ‘haemorrhage
key expertise’
Plans to relocate the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE)
policy division will damage its ability to advise Whitehall, fail
to produce promised savings and risks haemorrhaging key expertise
within the safety organisation, HSE unions have warned. Prospect
and PCS members protested outside HSE’s London HQ on 17
July. Prospect
news release Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: Bogus self-employment a threat
to Olympic safety
A drive to cut the London Olympic construction costs is threatening
to suck in large numbers of “bogus self-employed”
migrant workers, leading to widespread tax avoidance, heightened
safety risks and blocked work opportunities for local people,
ministers have been told. UCATT
news release • TUC
CoVE news report • Financial
Times Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: ‘One’ rail workers
to ballot over safety
Some I00 guards, revenue protection inspectors and retail staff
at ‘One’ railway in north Essex are to vote on strike
action on a safety issue. The RMT members are angry at the dismissal
of a guard and the company’s failure to support other members
involved in an incident with a fare evader. RMT
news release Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: Proper enforcement needed
on danger trucks
Spot checks on trucks by an official agency that found widespread,
serious safety problems only “touched the tip of the iceberg”,
a union has warned. Ron Webb, national secretary for transport
with the TGWU section of Unite, said the checks by vehicle licensing
agency VOSA were welcome but added that spot checks on there own
were no substitute for consistent enforcement by properly resourced
teams of inspectors. Unite
news release • VOSA
news release Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: Security guard no-go on no-go
areas
Security officers’ union GMB has warned Glasgow city council
and Strathclyde Police to act swiftly to change bylaws so security
vans can have safe access to a city centre street. The Group 4
Securicor (G4S) vans are barred from the Argyle Street pedestrian
precinct, leaving workers vulnerable to attack when delivering
and collecting cash. GMB
news release Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: Union rep bullied, harassed
then sacked
A GMB shop steward who complained she was bullied and harassed
at work as a result of her trade union activities has now been
fired. Wendy Ford was sacked last week from the Gateshead Remploy
factory. GMB
news release Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: Alarm at increase in attacks
on ships
Seafarers’ union Nautilus UK has voiced concern at new figures
showing a sharp increase in the rate of piracy and armed attacks
on shipping over the past three months. Figures released by the
ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) show the number of attacks
was up by 37 per cent in the second quarter compared with the
same period in 2006. Nautilus
UK news release • IMB
news report Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: Waste collection anger directed
at workers Public anger at the switch by over 100 councils to fortnightly
waste collections is leading to a massive increase in attacks
on refuse workers, the union GMB has said. GMB
news release Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: Miner compensation delays
criticised
A Government department has been accused of delaying compensation
to ex-miners whose health suffered as a result of working down
pits because of “significant weaknesses” in planning
the payouts. A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) also
identified additional costs to the two schemes, which have so
far paid out £3.6 billion to 575,000 claimants for an occupational
lung disease (430,000 cases of Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease
settled by 31 March) and for vibration white finger (145,000 VWF
claims settled). NAO
news release • Coal Health Compensation Schemes:
Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, HC 608 2006-2007,
18 July 2007, executive
summary and full report [pdf] Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain:
Scheme reveals official blindspot on work health
The National Audit Office report on the coal health compensation
schemes has cast serious doubt on Great Britain’s official
occupational disease estimates. The government’s original,
wildly inaccurate, forecast was that there would be a total of
218,000 vibration white finger (VWF) and chronic obstructive airways
disease claims under the scheme, but the final claims total was
over three times higher, at 760,000. Self-reported Work-related Illness and workplace injuries
in 2005/06: Results from the Labour Force Survey[pdf]
• Coal
Health Compensation Schemes and headline
statistics Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain:
Corroded pipe led to Stockline blast
Nine workers at Glasgow’s Stockline plastic factory died
after petroleum gas ignited in a pipe which had corroded over
years. The revelation at the High Court in Glasgow came as the
companies that owned Stockline prepare to face four charges brought
under the Health and Safety at Work Act. BBC
News Online Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: Accountant’s visits
led to asbestos cancer
A chartered accountant died as a result of exposure to asbestos,
an inquest has heard. Raymond Dunn, 73, died on 9 May this year
after developing pneumonia as a result of the asbestos cancer
mesothelioma; he contracted the condition even though he had visited
a factory's offices only a couple of days a year – more
than 50 years ago. Blackpool
Gazette Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: High price paid for cheap
clothes
Workers in Bangladesh making clothes for some of Britain's best-known
high street brands, including Asda, Tesco and Primark, are enduring
long hours, low wages and dangerous working conditions, a union
leader has claimed. Nazma Akter, president of the United Garment
Workers Federation and general secretary of the Awaj Foundation,
a local organisation which fights for workers' rights, said that
long hours, bad working conditions, poverty and the overcrowded
and insanitary conditions in which garment workers are forced
to live made them susceptible to illness. The
Guardian Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: Firm warns of fake crane
parts risk
UK contractors must be on their guard over counterfeit tower crane
sections, a leading manufacturer has warned. While there have
long been rumours regarding fake parts and bad practice, the issuing
of two technical notes by the manufacturer has renewed safety
concerns across the industry. Contract Journal Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain: Firm fined £3,000 for
arm injury
A firm has been fined more than £3,000 after one of its
workers was injured when his arm was caught in an industrial cutting
machine. Bury St Edmunds-based Petlife International admitted
two health and safety offences. East
Anglian Daily Times Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Australia:
Concern at new ABC breast cancer case
Australian journalists' union MEAA wants broadcaster ABC to extend
its cancer cluster investigation to other Brisbane sites after
yet another breast cancer diagnosis for a Toowong studio former
employee. Media union MEAA Queensland secretary, David Waters,
called for a register of past and present employees for health
monitoring purposes, adding: “There is universal concern
amongst ABC Brisbane employees about this cancer cluster…
Yes, we have seen 15 cases of breast cancer since 1994 but all
staff are concerned about cancer and that extends to men.” Sydney
Morning Herald • Work
cancer prevention kit Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Australia: Church shareholder challenges
safety sackings
An Australian church is calling for an investigation after claims
an energy company fired two subcontractors who raised safety concerns.
The Uniting Church Synod of Victoria and Tasmania is a significant
shareholder in power industry giant Woodside Energy, owner of
the Port Campbell gas plant where two workers were sacked, allegedly
after reporting safety incidents. The
Age • ABC
News • Christian
Today • ABC
Radio audio report Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Canada:
Support for asbestos, but not for victims
The Canadian government spends millions promoting its asbestos
exports, but isn’t so forthcoming when it comes to its own
victims of asbestos disease. Almost 1,000 of the 1,500 people
in Ontario who developed the asbestos cancer mesothelioma between
1980 and 2002 weren't compensated, according to a new research
paper, which says this allowed the province's Workplace Safety
and Insurance Board to shortchange victims of the disease, and
taxpayers, out of hundreds of millions of dollars. The
Global and Mail • James T Brophy, Margaret Keith, Jenny
Schieman. Canada’s asbestos legacy at home and abroad,
IJOEH, volume 13, pages 236-243, 2007 [pdf] Hazards news, 21 July 2007
South
Africa: Unenforced laws leave work unsafe
Lenient, poorly enforced occupational safety laws are allowing
companies to get away with inadequate safety measures, the Southern
African Institute for Occupational Hygiene has said. Deon van
Vuuren, the institute's president, said most firms did not carry
out risk assessments every two years, as required by law, because
government inspections rarely took place. Business
Report Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain:
Female shipyard worker fired unfairly
A young woman who developed arthritis as a result of physically
demanding, repetitive work in a shipyard was unfairly dismissed,
a tribunal has ruled. Louise Brooks, 31, was sacked by A&P
Falmouth four years after being diagnosed. Unite-TGWU
news release Hazards news, 14 July 2007
USA: Study on black lung spots growing
problem
Black lung, the archetypal occupational disease that blighted
a past working generation, is re-emerging an official US report
has found. Noting “hot spots” of advanced black lung
disease in eastern Kentucky and south western Virginia, the report
says there are troubling “gaps” in efforts to control
dust in coal mines. Courier-Journal
• Courier-Journal
Black Lung special reports Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Derailment highlights private
contract risks
Rail unions have said London Underground maintenance contracts
must be taken back in-house or there could be more serious safety
incidents. The call came after a Central Line Tube train derailed,
reportedly due to a “bale of material” that fell on
the tracks from an underground storeroom.
RMT news releases on its earlier
warnings and on taking
maintenance back in house Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Bakerloo staff to strike
for safety
Around 150 train operators and station staff on London Underground’s
Bakerloo line have voted to strike for 24 hours from 10pm on 19
July in a safety dispute over lone working. The RMT members returned
a 94.5 per cent vote in favour of strike action after Tube bosses
attempted to impose changes under which station staff are expected
to “detrain” passengers at certain stations while
working alone. RMT
news release Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Nepal: Child workers face extreme
hazards
Tens of thousands of Nepalese children are being employed in some
of the most hazardous of all jobs, according to new research.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says Nepal has 2.6
million child labourers employed in hazardous work and a new report
from Concern-Nepal has found that children are employed in dozens
of dangerous work areas, with work as a mechanic deemed to be
the most risky.
IRIN Asia, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
• Concern-Nepal Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Progress on baggage handling
risks
Union leaders at Heathrow say they believe a solution to baggage
handling safety and staffing problems is possible ahead of the
busy summer period. Local union officials say a combination of
fast-tracked redundancies ahead of the move to Terminal 5 and
the training demands involved in preparing for the new terminal
operation have caused the current staff shortage. Unite-TGWU
news release Hazards news, 14 July 2007
India/Britain: GMB action call on
shipbreaking risks
India’s shipbreaking yards are exposing workers to horrific
conditions with hardly any safety measures, a UK union delegation
has found. After returning from a fact-finding mission to shipbreaking
yards in Mumbai, GMB national secretary for shipbuilding Keith
Hazlewood said there “were no safety provisions”,
adding: “I had never seen anything like the conditions the
shipbreakers were having to work in.” GMB
news release • IMF
shipbreaking webpages Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Union warning on chemicals
law
The European chemicals law being phased in over the next 11 years
must not be allowed to undermine existing workplace safety regulations,
a union has warned. A briefing from Unite’s Amicus section
on the REACH regulations on chemical evaluation and registration
says the union’s “primary concern… will be for
the health and safety of people at work,” adding the law
is primarily concerned with environmental risks “with workplace
effects of chemicals being a secondary consideration.” Unite-Amicus
REACH briefing Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Canada:
Cancer society wants asbestos stopped
The Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) has called for an end to Canada’s
export of asbestos and believes the federal government should
stop blocking international efforts to curb the trade in the dangerous
mineral. Although asbestos is internationally recognised as one
of the worst cancer-causing materials ever to have been in widespread
use, the society's decision is controversial because it undermines
the national government’s long-standing contention that
chrysotile (white) asbestos can be used safely and should be promoted.
Canadian
Cancer Society news release • James T Brophy, Margaret
Keith, Jenny Schieman. Canada’s asbestos legacy at home
and abroad, IJOEH, volume 13, pages 236-243, 2007 [pdf]
• Hazards
asbestos webpages Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Groundsman gets payout for
lost limb
A Kent groundsman has secured an undisclosed compensation payout
after losing a limb in an accident at work. UNISON member Roger
Adams, from Dartford, Kent, who works as a groundsman for North
West Kent College, was using a tractor mower to cut grass in October
2003 when the mower became blocked. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: MPs back shopwork respect
campaign
MPs are rushing to sign up to a retail union campaign to tackle
an epidemic of verbal and physical abuse aimed at Britain's shopworkers.
They joined Usdaw members at Westminster this week to add their
support to an Usdaw campaign to reduce the 10,000 physical assaults
on shop staff every year and what the union describes as the “endless
torrent of vicious verbal abuse aimed at retail staff by a minority
of out of control shoppers.” Usdaw news release and Freedom
from fear campaign Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Campaigners win asbestos
drug fight
NHS drugs advisers have reversed their proposal to block a drug
for people with an asbestos-related cancer after a high profile
campaign by asbestos groups and unions. Chair of the Asbestos
Victims Support Groups' Forum, Tony Whitston, said: “We
would like to thank all those who have campaigned for this treatment
for mesothelioma, a disease caused almost exclusively by asbestos
exposure and which was, and is, entirely preventable.” NICE
decision • Hazards
asbestos webpages Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Payouts at last for T&N
asbestos victims
A six-year block on asbestos disease payouts from the notorious
asbestos manufacturer Turner & Newall (T&N) had ended,
with the first settlements coming through. Unite’s Amicus
section says its members are at last receiving compensation from
the defunct asbestos company more than six years after their claims
were first lodged. Unite-Amicus
news release Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Bosses jailed over worker's
death
Two businessmen have been jailed for the manslaughter of a worker
who was crushed to death at a concrete plant. Technician Christopher
Meachen, 28, was killed at the Concrete Company at Costessey,
Norfolk, in November 2005. Norfolk
Constabulary news release • Norwich
Evening News
Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Fate of work deaths law in
the balance
The fate of a bill to allow companies to be prosecuted where gross
negligence leads to the death of employees or members of the public
is in the balance after the Lords voted for a fourth time to extend
its scope to include deaths in custody. The corporate manslaughter
and corporate homicide bill could fall if it does not become law
by 19 July. House
of Lords debate on the Bill, 9 July 2007 • Parliament
website tracking progress on the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate
Homicide Bill Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: HSE deaths data refusal under
investigation
The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) refusal to provide
information on deceased workers is to be reviewed by the Information
Commissioner. The official freedom of information watchdog will
determine whether HSE’s refusal to provide the Centre for
Corporate Accountability (CCA) the names of individuals who have
died at work is in breach of the Freedom of information Act (FoIA).
CCA
news release • CCA
is seeking financial support – find out more Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Retired driver gets skin rash payout
A retired machine driver has successfully claimed compensation
for an uncomfortable work-related skin rash that could easily
have been prevented. James Quinn, 68, from Leeds, was employed
with Mone Brothers Civil Engineering Limited from 1985 to 2004
and was required to fill up machines and this meant he came into
contact with diesel, hydraulic and engine oils, along with lubricant
grease on a daily basis. Irwin
Mitchell Solicitors news release Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Organ removal inquiry net
widens
More families could be affected by the removal, apparently without
consent, of body parts from nuclear plant workers. An inquiry
has now commenced into the removal of human tissue from workers
at Sellafield in Cumbria for medical tests since the 1960s, with
the inquiry scope widened to include the Atomic Weapons Establishment
in Berkshire and the UK Atomic Energy Agency (UKAEA) at Harwell
in Oxfordshire. Statement
by Michael Redfern QC • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Pupils screened after TB
outbreak
More than 200 pupils at a Flintshire secondary school are being
tested for TB after a member of staff was diagnosed with the infection.
Last month, TUC published an online briefing for safety reps,
outlining occupational infection risks posed by TB. BBC
News Online • Hazards
infections webpages Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: New chairs for workplace
health bodies
Former chemical industry lobbyist Judith Hackitt is to succeed
Bill Callaghan as chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC)
on 1 October 2007. Dr Keith Palmer will take up the post of chair
of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) on 18 January
2008. HSE
news release • DWP news releases on the IIAC
and HSC
appointments Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain: Government backs shops violence
campaign
Retail union Usdaw has welcomed government support for its ‘Freedom
from fear’ campaign to combat the physical and verbal abuse
aimed at Britain’s shopworkers. Usdaw
news release Hazards news, 7 July 2007
USA:
Watchdog ordered to release exposure database
The US government’s workplace safety watchdog has wrongfully
withheld data documenting years of toxic exposures to workers
and its own inspectors, according to a federal court ruling. As
a result, the world's largest compendium of measurements of occupational
exposures to toxic substances - more than 2 million analyses conducted
during some 75,000 Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) workplace inspections since 1979 - should now be available
to researchers and policymakers. PEER
news release Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: GMB defends traffic wardens
The public needs to change its attitude to traffic wardens who
face abuse and violence for doing a public service, the union
GMB has said. Commenting after a London traffic warden suffered
a serious head injury in an attack last week, GMB organiser Gary
Carter said: “TV programmes and comedians who ridicule and
demonise people who are going about their ordinary jobs enforcing
public policy on our highways give rise to these extreme reactions
that cause harm to others.” GMB
news release • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: Enforcers back ‘popular’
smoking ban
The local authority health and safety enforcement staff policing
England’s new smoking ban could need protection in carrying
out their duties, public sector union UNISON has said. UNISON
news release • CIEH
news release Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Italy:
McDonald’s fires safety campaigner
A trade unionist has been fired from a Rome outlet of the global
fast food giant McDonald’s after raising safety concerns.
Global foodworkers’ union federation IUF says the union
representative, employed at the unit for 16 years, “had
denounced the inadequate kitchen ventilation, intolerable psychological
pressure on employees and the lack of training, especially on
health and safety, which have resulted in many incidents.”
IUF
news release Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: Rail strike suspended after
talks progress
Strike action by maintenance workers in Cumbria whose bonuses
were withheld over the fatal Grayrigg crash was suspended this
week following progress in talks between Network Rail and the
union RMT. RMT
news release Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: Firm fails in bid to block
injury payout
The firm operating the Newcastle metro system has failed in a
bid to block an injury payout to metro train driver. An appeal
by transport executive organisation NEXUS at Newcastle Upon Tyne
Law Courts was rejected, and the company must now pay the £7,300
damages it owes the metro train driver, who was injured following
the failure of an overhead line.
Thompsons Solicitors news releases on the Richardson
case Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: Rail firm pays for safety
slip up
Chiltern Railways has been ordered to pay compensation of £10,000
to PCS member Richard Wilmot after he broke his right shoulder
on the station concourse as he approached the ticket barrier at
Marylebone station. He slipped on a wet floor – the company
had not repaired a leaking roof.
Thompsons Solicitors news releases on the Wilmot
case Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Global: BBC's Gaza correspondent released
BBC correspondent Alan Johnston has been released by kidnappers
in the Gaza Strip after 114 days in captivity. Global journalists’
unions federation IFJ says worldwide at least 29 journalists are
being held by kidnappers.
BBC News
Online and story
update • IFJ
news release • INSI
news release Hazards news, 7 July 2007
China: Mine boss jailed for killing
journalist
Seven men have been jailed over the beating to death of a journalist
outside an illegal coal mine in China. The head of the mine, Hou
Zhenrun, was jailed for life for ordering the attack that killed
reporter Lan Chengzhang outside the mine in Shanxi province; five
men were given sentences of between five to 15 years in jail for
carrying out the attack, while another man received a year sentence
for harbouring the suspects. IFJ
news release • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain:
Business wants regulated workplaces
A government push for less workplace regulation and enforcement
is the opposite of what works and what businesses want, two new
reports suggest. Findings of an 18-month inquiry published this
week by Tomorrow’s Company, a group of prominent corporate
leaders, calls for more, and better, regulation to reward environmentally
and socially responsible companies and a report published on 4
July by The Work Foundation, concluded “re-regulation”
and not deregulation that had led to the positive changes to the
labour market without any credible evidence of damage to economic
performance, while unemployment had remained relatively low. Tomorrow’s
Company news release • Tomorrow's
global company: Challenges and choices – executive summary
[pdf]
• The Work Foundation news
release • 7 out of 10: Labour Under Labour 1997-2007
[pdf]
• The case for safety regulation and enforcement - Hazards
enforcement webpages Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: Brown names new employment
team
Prime minister Gordon Brown has named Peter Hain as the new secretary
of state for work and pensions, replacing John Hutton. As the
cabinet minister overseeing the Department of Work and Pensions
(DWP), Hain’s responsibilities will include the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) and reform of the benefits system. Lord
McKenzie keeps his job as health and safety minister in DWP. DWP
ministerial team Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: Child, 2, injured in unsafe
factory
A two-year-old child was injured by a conveyor belt in a King’s
Lynn factory. Bel-Shrimp Ltd was fined a total of £5,000
with £4,300 costs, and its director Eric Oughton was fined
£400 with £100 costs at Kings Lynn Magistrates Court.
HSE
news release Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: AGM revolt over Tesco “deathtraps”
Tesco faced an unprecedented revolt at its annual general meeting
(AGM) over the poor employment conditions facing workers in the
developing world that supply its supermarkets with everything
from cheap clothing to fruit. In some cases workers were employed
in “deathtrap” factories, the shareholder protesters
said. War
on Want news release and report, Fashion Victims [pdf] Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: Whiteboard projector safety
fears
Interactive whiteboards, now a common feature in UK schools, may
pose a threat to the eyesight of teachers and children. A whistleblower
from the whiteboard industry itself has pressed the authorities
to investigate potential problems and wants printed warnings alongside
all screens because of the light projected onto them. BBC
News Online • Becta
whiteboard safety advice • National
Whiteboard Network guide Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain:
Pesticide wipes out worker’s memory
A pesticide-affected local authority groundsman went missing overnight
and was discovered by a colleague wandering in a park the following
day with no memory of what had happened. Andrew McKeith’s
employer, Macclesfield Borough Council, was fined a total of £6,000
and ordered to pay £3,747 costs after pleading guilty to
two HSE charges at Macclesfield Magistrates Court. HSE
news release • Macclesfield
Express and related
report Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: More work cancers than officials
admit
Occupational cancers are killing more people that published official
estimates, new figures show. Research commissioned by the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) and presented to an HSE-organised seminar
last month concluded six cancers alone were responsible for 7,380
deaths a year. HSE’s current estimate for all occupational
cancers, published on its website, is 23 per cent lower, putting
the figure for all workplace cancers at just 6,000 deaths a year.
Risks
314, 7 July 2007 • Hazards work
and cancer webpages Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: Plea to end crane collapse
deaths now
Activists lobbied a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) event in
Battersea Park last month in protest at deaths caused by collapsing
cranes. The Battersea Crane Disaster Action Group - formed after
23-year-old Michael Alexa was crushed to death by a falling crane
in Battersea last September. Enfield
Independent • Battersea
Crane Disaster Action Group Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: B&Q fined over fork lift
crash
A Leicester DIY store has been fined £80,000 and ordered
to pay £150,000 costs after an employee was hit by a forklift
truck. The man was working at a B&Q store in the city when
he was forced to dive out the way of a customer's car and into
the path of the truck. BBC
News Online Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Albania:
Chrome miners strike over safety
A month-long strike by 660 chromium miners in Albania escalated
late last month as 30 of the striking miners began a hunger strike.
Neither the mine and smelter management nor the Albanian government
officials have acted to address the grievances on pay and the
“abhorrent” safety conditions - health and safety
concerns were highlighted tragically on 5 June when two mineworkers,
Hysni Lezni and Avni Duriçi were killed 1,000 metres underground
in Deco Metal's chromium mine. ICEM
news release Hazards news, 7 July 2007
Britain: Use the ban to help staff
quit urges TUC
TUC is urging employers not to make life difficult for smokers
by banning them from cigarette breaks, but to use the change in
the law as an opportunity to help their staff get healthier and
quit the habit. From Sunday 1 July all enclosed workplaces have
to be smoke-free as England catches up with the rest of Britain,
and the TUC is concerned that in the rush to make sure that all
the no smoking signs are up and smoking rooms shut down, employers
may have forgotten about the best interests of their staff. TUC
news release • Hazards
smoking webpages Hazards news, 30 June 2007
USA: Call for three strikes policy for safety crimes
In the wake of an unprecedented 29 construction-related deaths
in New York City over the last year, contractors and union leaders
joined forces in mid-May to urge passage of a tough three-strikes-and-out
penalty system that would ban repeat offenders from obtaining
building permits for five years. The penalty is part of a comprehensive
set of construction industry reforms sought by the groups that
includes strengthened safety laws in an effort to protect the
public and city construction workers. Contractor
magazine Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: Migrant workers need extra
help staying safe
Problems with language and a poor understanding of the culture
in British workplaces means that migrant workers may need extra
help from employers and unions to stay safe at work, the TUC is
warning. A TUC migrant worker safety guide says that some rogue
employers are likely to be cutting corners and risking the health
of their migrant workforce. TUC
news release • Safety and migrant workers:
A practical guide for safety representatives[pdf]
• Hazards
migrant workers webpages Hazards news, 30 June 2007
USA:
Firm douses site safety protesters
At first, the images seem like documentaries from the US civil
rights marches in the 1960s. But they’re not: The video
clips filmed in June 2007 show construction workers peacefully
protesting about poor working conditions - when they are suddenly
and repeatedly assaulted with high-pressure water from a water
truck. AFL-CIO
Now • Building
Justice campaign
Britain: Schools action call on high
tech harassment
Teaching union NASUWT is calling on the government to take urgent
action on “cyber-bullying” of teaching and other school
staff. The union pressed its case at a meeting of the DfES Cyber
Bullying Task Group. NASUWT
news release Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: Strike vote over rail ‘bonus
scapegoating’
Network Rail workers being “scapegoated” over the
Grayrigg accident in Cumbria are set to strike for 24 hours from
on Friday 6 July. Rail infrastructure operator Network Rail cut
bonuses after the Grayrigg derailment in which one elderly woman
died and several other passengers were seriously injured. RMT
news release • BBC
News Online Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: Usdaw attack on shopwork
violence
Retail union Usdaw is stepping up its ‘Freedom from fear’
campaign, which has already won significant safety improvements
for thousands of staff. The union says this year’s ‘Respect
for Shopworkers Day’, on 11 July, will raise awareness of
violence and intimidation of staff with customers, employers,
local councils, politicians, the police and shopworkers themselves.
Usdaw
news release, campaign
pack and Freedom
from fear webpages Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: Lords urged to deliver asbestos
justice
A legal bid backed by the union Unite is seeking to secure compensation
for people with the asbestos related condition pleural plaques.
The case being considered by the Lords started on 25 June and
follows a Court of Appeal ruling last year, which overturned a
decision by the High Court in 2005 which said pleural plaques
should continue to receive compensation. Amicus
news release Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Global: Media unions call for release
of journalist
Journalists’ union NUJ has renewed its call for the immediate
release of kidnapped BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston after
an online video showed him wearing an explosives belt to deter
rescue attempts. NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said: “This
is a deeply troubling development and we are urging Alan’s
captors to let him go immediately, unharmed in any way.”
NUJ
Alan Johnston news releases Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: Bosses 'failing on staff
health'
Almost a third of employers are failing to recognise the need
to create a healthy workplace, an Investors in People (IIP) survey
has found. According to the study of 900 firms, 31 per cent of
bosses wrongly think healthy working just means that their staff
eat the right food during the day. IIP
news release • BBC
News Online • Hazards
work and health webpages Hazards news, 30 June 2007
France:
Second car firm linked to suicides
A second French car firm has had oppressive management practices
linked to worker suicides. CGT trade union representatives at
the Mulhouse site of Peugeot-Citroën in eastern France have
denounced management's practice of sending “guilt-inducing”
letters to workers on sick leave, a practice the union says is
unacceptable, particularly in the light of the suicide of four
workers at the site over the last two months. ETUI-REHS
news report Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain:
Report criticises HSE ‘complacency’ on cancer
Work-related cancers will claim thousands of lives each year for
a further working generation as a result of the “shocking
complacency” of the government’s health and safety
watchdog, a new report is warning. ‘Burying the evidence’
says the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has neither the resources
nor the strategy to tackle the workplace carcinogen exposures
killing at least 12,000 people each year. Cancer
Prevention Coalition news release and full report, Burying
the evidence: How the UK is prolonging the occupational cancer
epidemic • HSE
news release Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: Hospital reforms drove manager to suicide
The NHS has been urged to consider the impact of reforms on staff,
after a despairing hospital manager Morag Wilson, 32, threw herself
to her death from a motorway bridge. An inquest heard that Ms
Wilson, head of dietetics at the hospital, had been facing huge
pressure at work because of government reforms under the Agenda
for Change review. The
Guardian • Hazards
worked to death webpages Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: Government to act on work
abuse evidence
The government wants unions, businesses and workers to pass on
reports of abuse of vulnerable workers, and has said it will act
on this evidence. The call came at the first meeting of the Vulnerable
Worker Enforcement Forum, launched on 1 June to crack down on
abuses of workplace rights. DTI
news release • Personnel
Today • Email
your evidence of poor employment practices to the Vulnerable
Worker Enforcement Forum Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: HSC urged to act on directors’
safety duties
The failure of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) to press
the government to change the law and introduce safety duties on
company directors is being challenged by the Centre for Corporate
Accountability (CCA). In a letter to HSC chair Bill Callaghan,
the safety charity argues that HSC must follow through its December
2005 decision to support a change in the law and introduce safety
duties on company directors. CCA
news release • Text of the letter to the HSC
chair [pdf] Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: Firm fined £2,600 after
teen injures spine
A joinery firm has been convicted of safety offences after apprentice
Brett Lawden, 19, fell through an unprotected stairwell on a building
site. Cumbrian firm K and M Joinery Ltd was fined £2,600
and ordered to pay £1,395 costs by magistrates at Penrith
after pleading guilty to a breach of the work at height regulations HSE
news release • Hazards
young workers news and resources Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: Builder hit with fine for
horrific accident
A carpenter was left paralysed after breaking his spine when he
fell off an unsecured ladder on a building site. John Greig, 47,
lost all feeling in his lower body and has been told he will never
walk again following the incident in Llanishen, Cardiff, in January
2005; his employer admitted a safety breach and was fined £6,000
with £5,000 costs. BBC
News Online Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain: Report warns of London rail
privatisation dangers
Complex and fragmented arrangements for running the privatised
‘London Rail’ franchise will make it more difficult
to manage safely, with potentially disastrous consequences, according
to a leading rail safety expert. Many of the operational and safety
problems identified in a study of the plans, by expert Peter Rayner,
would not exist if the franchise was to be run directly by London
Underground. RMT
news release and briefing Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Australia: Temporary migrant jobs
prove fatal
Australia’s federal government is continuing to ignore warnings
over the abuse of temporary migrant workers, despite reports that
three overseas workers have died at work in recent weeks say unions.
Construction union CFMEU and national union federation ACTU have
highlighted the deaths of three migrant workers in the last month.
ACTU
news release • Sydney
Morning Herald • ABC
News Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Burying the evidence - How the UK
is prolonging the occupational cancer epidemic
The UK authorities are failing to acknowledge or deal effectively
with an epidemic of work-related cancers. The government’s
Health and Safety Executive is underestimating the exposed population,
the risks faced as a result of those exposures and the potential
for prevention.Hazards
report, 25 June 2007•Cancer
Prevention Coalition news release Hazards news, 25 June 2007
EARLIER NEWS
Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain: Firms should not panic over
flu pandemic
The TUC is warning against an over-reaction from firms on the
flu pandemic threat, saying some employers are panicking and taking
pointless and disruptive measures. Guidance for employers and
unions published by TUC gives advice on how workplaces could best
prepare for a possible UK outbreak. TUC
news release and flu pandemic guidance [pdf]
• Hazards
infections webpages Hazards news, 23 June 2007
USA: Outrage at work cancer report
delay
A Minnesota state senator and the United Steelworkers union have
called for investigations into a state Health Department delay
in releasing information about deadly cancers in Iron Range miners.
Bob Bratulich, director of District 11 of the United Steelworkers,
said: “It is unconscionable, unethical, and probably criminal
for a public agency to withhold information about a potential
health risk to workers.” Workday
Minnesota • Mankato
Press Press Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain: College survey spots bad
management
A union survey has found the majority of staff at a UK university
are suffering stress as a result of management bullying. Lecturers’
union UCU undertook the survey after Leeds Metropolitan University’s
human resources department refused to investigate the problem.
UCU
news release Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain: Harassed worker secures
settlement
A building attendant who suffered from bullying and harassment
at work has been awarded damages. Shaun Kernon, 38, will receive
the undisclosed out-of-court settlement from his employer, Gateshead
Council. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain: Modern miner gets deafness
payout
A miner and GMB member whose hearing was severely damaged working
for just 11 years in modern coal mines has received a £4,500
payout. UK Coal Ltd is to pay the damages to former employee David
Burns, 49. Thompsons
Solicitors news release Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Australia:
Another suicide linked to top firm
The family and friends of Leon Dousset, a line technician at Australian
communications giant Telstra who killed himself, believe increasing
performance targets and plans to install satellite tracking in
his work van drove him to suicide. The allegations follow the
suicide of Telstra call centre worker Sally Sandic in January.
Daily
Telegraph • Hazards
worked to death webpages • Details
of the Australian work suicides report Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain: Bring Lloyd's killers to
justice, says NUJ
The delay in bringing to justice the killers of Terry Lloyd is
unacceptable, journalists’ union NUJ has said. NUJ general
secretary Jeremy Dear called for “less prevarication and
more action” after the government admitted it had not taken
any action to prosecute soldiers responsible for the death of
NUJ member Terry Lloyd in Iraq in 2003. NUJ
news release Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain: Vigil for BBC captive's 100th
day
Thousands of BBC staff and union members around the world observed
a vigil on 20 June marking 100 days since the kidnapping of Gaza
correspondent Alan Johnston. Johnston was the only Western reporter
permanently based in Gaza, and his abduction has triggered appeals
for his release from lawmakers and rights groups around the world.
IFJ
news release, NUJ
news release and Alan
poster Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain: Union push for pleural plaques
payouts
As a bid gets underway to persuade the Law Lords to reverse a
Court of Appeal decision last year to deny compensation to people
with pleural plaques caused by asbestos exposures, around 200
construction workers from all over the UK will assemble outside
parliament. To coincide with the start of the House of Lords case
on 25 June, the demonstrators - including thermal insulation engineers,
welders and fabricators - will urge the Lords to restore compensation
for sufferers of pleural plaques. GMB
news release Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain: Payout after asbestos destroys kidney
An asbestos exposed worker who developed a serious kidney disease
is thought to be the first in the country to win compensation
for the condition. Ex-motor mechanic Graham Mansfield, 67, has
been awarded £135,000 after losing the use of his right
kidney to retroperitoneal fibrosis, a rare condition which causes
damage to the kidneys and other organs. Irwin
Mitchell Solicitors news release Hazards news, 23 June 2007
South Africa: Asbestos victims face
poverty
Even after being paid compensation, South Africa’s asbestos
disease victims remain desperately poor and many have already
exhausted their once-off lump sum compensation, according to a
study by the Asbestos Relief Trust (ART). The fund was set up
after South African investment holding company Gencor and British
multinational Cape settled litigation for damages by paying R587.5
million (£41.7m at the 2007 exchange rate). Business
Report Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain: TUC welcomes sickness absence
task force
The TUC has welcomed a new task force, charged with finding practical
solutions to workplace sickness absence. DWP minister Lord McKenzie
announced this new vocational rehabilitation task group to help
ill or injured people stay in or return to work, and called on
employers to do more to support their empl
