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ARCHIVED NEWS - January - December 2007

More recent news

Risks * Number 337 * 22 December 2007

Britain: Don’t criminalise seafarers, says union
A union has warned against “a knee-jerk reaction” blaming seafarers for maritime tragedies, when lack of resources, understaffing and poor regulation and poor equipment could be the root causes.
Nautilus news releaseBBC 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 releaseNurses’ health: A survey on health and chemical exposures
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

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

Britain: Union challenges M&S on migrant workers
Migrant workers at a factory supplying meat to Marks & Spencer are suffering exploitation in a drive to maximise profits, according to a union report. Unite says that Polish staff at a factory in south Wales providing M&S with red meat are employed on “zero hours” contracts with no guaranteed number of hours, and suffer “harsh and divisive” conditions.
Unite news releaseTell 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.
DawnSDPI 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 OnlineAustralian 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 TimesDaily 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 TelegraphBBC 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 TimesUS 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 releaseFACK 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 TribuneMore 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 websiteAsbestos 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 releaseMental health at work: Developing the business case, Policy paper 8 [pdf]
Hazards news, 22 December 2007

Risks 337, 22 December 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Thailand: Migrant project reveals work dangers
Making Migrant Safety at Work Matter (MMSAWM) foundation volunteers have produced safety materials in the Shan and Burmese languages for agricultural and construction workers, to be distributed to workers at outreach sessions where interviews and bodymapping sessions are conducted.
Bangkok Post and related storyBodymapping 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 storyBodymapping 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 releaseDfT 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 WeeklyBusiness 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 FinanceIMF 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 OnlineHazards 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 releaseScottish 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 releaseBBC News Online
Hazards news, 15 December 2007

Risks 336, 15 December 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 8 December 2007

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

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

Britain: Scots to put right pleural plaques snub
Scottish ministers are to overturn a House of Lords ruling preventing workers suing employers over asbestos-related pleural plaques. The ruling prevented compensation claims for pleural plaques, a scarring of the lungs, arguing that it was technically not a disease.
Scottish government news releaseIrwin Mitchell Solicitors news releasePattinson and Brewer news releaseABI news releaseBBC News Online
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

Japan: Court rules man was worked to death
A court in central Japan has ordered the government to pay compensation to a woman who argued that her 30-year-old husband died from overwork at Toyota Motor Corp, Japan's largest car maker. Hiroko Uchino filed the suit after a local Labour Ministry office rejected applications for workers’ compensation benefits she filed after the death of her husband, Kenichi, said Hiroko Tamaki, a lawyer for the plaintiff.
Japan TimesSan Francisco ChronicleMore 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 MailThe 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 TelegraphImpaired 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 JournalJust 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 releaseDaily 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 PostNDP 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 releaseBBC 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 releaseEvening Post.
Hazards news, 8 December 2007

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

Risks 335, 8 December 2007

 

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 1 December 2007

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

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

Britain: Study exposes cancer control complacency
A disastrous failure by chemical firms and the Health and Safety Executive to control one of the best known workplace carcinogens has been revealed by an HSE survey. HSE assessed occupational exposures to the industrial chemical MbOCA, which can cause bladder cancer and which has been linked to other cancers, and found controls and personal protective equipment (PPE) were inadequate, training was poor and exposure levels were unacceptable.
HSE publication alert • A survey of occupational exposure to MbOCA in the polyurethane elastomer industry in Great Britain 2005-2006, HSE [pdf]Global union occupational cancer/zero cancer campaign
Hazards news, 1 December 2007

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

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

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

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

Risks 334, 1 December 2007



Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Britain: Call for tough action on safety ‘crime wave’
There must be tougher enforcement action to tackle a workplace health and safety “crime wave”, the TUC has said. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Evidence shows the most effective way to change behaviour is strong enforcement action, supported by advice and guidance.”
TUC news releaseCCA news releaseFACK 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 releaseBBC 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 releaseNZ 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 releaseStop 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 releaseTransformation 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 releaseDisability 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 releaseTaylor Wimpey Interim Results Statement 2007Northern 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 reportsBBC 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 1The rise in cancer - Part 2Global union zero cancer campaign
Hazards news, 24 November 2007

Risks 333, 24 November 2007

EARLIER NEWS


Hazards news, 17 November 2007

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

Risks 322, 17 November 2007


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Hazards news, 10 November 2007

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

Global: IUF calls for action on lung destroyer
A global union body is demanding urgent control measures on the food flavouring diacetyl, a widely used chemical that can destroy workers’ lungs. IUF, the international federation for foodworkers’ unions, says the ingredient in artificial butter flavours has been shown to cause disabling and sometimes fatal illnesses in exposed workers.
IUF news releaseFood 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 releaseTUC 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 releaseSTUC 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 releaseICEM 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 releaseThe GuardianBBC News OnlineThe 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 releaseFACK 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 OnlineMore 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

Risks 331, 10 November 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 3 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 reportCCA 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 summaryFull 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 releaseHSC/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 releaseBRC 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 MailAsbestos 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 ConnectHazards 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 AbbottCFMEU news releaseSky 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 projectHazards union 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 releaseEPA news releaseThe Pump HandleMore 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 OnlineHazards young 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

Risks 330, 3 November 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 27 October 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 releaseTUC 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 BlogThe 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 releaseICEM 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 GuardianBBC News OnlineTrade 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 DailyThe GuardianSpecial 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 HeraldACTU zero cancer campaignGlobal trade union occupational cancer/zero cancer campaignHazards 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 OnlineMetroToxic Free AirlinesAerotoxic 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 releaseFACK 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 GuardianHazards enforcement webpages
Hazards news, 27 October 2007

Risks 329, 27 October 2007

LATEST NEWS

Hazards news 20 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 releaseBBC 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: Pleural plaques ruling “a disgrace”
Thousands of workers with an asbestos-related condition will not be able to claim compensation following a ruling by Law Lords. Union leaders and lawyers attacked the decision to end claims for pleural plaques, usually caused by exposure to asbestos.
Unite news releaseProspect news releaseAsbestos Victims Support Groups Forum news releaseHouse of Lords appeal judgment, 17 October 2007
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 releaseUNISON 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 releaseCall 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 releaseQuality 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 releaseGuide 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: New guides to work killings law
The government and the Health and Safety Executive have each published guidance on the new Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007, which will come into force on 6 April 2008.
Ministry of Justice news release and Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 webpageHSE corporate manslaughter webpage
Hazards news, 20 October 2007

Risks 328, 20 October 2007


LATEST NEWS

Hazards news, 13 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 releaseIMF shipbreaking campaignHazards 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 repsMore 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 agreementListing 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 releaseThe Pump Handle
Hazards news, 13 October 2007

Risks, Number 327, 13 October 2007

 

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 6 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 releaseBRC 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 releaseBWI 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 JournalHazards 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 reportHazards 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 releaseRoger 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 releaseDWP news releaseICL/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 releaseUniversities of Strathclyde and Stirling expert group news releaseStatement 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 StarHazards 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 releaseHazards 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 LondonUS 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 PostHazards 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 releaseBBC News OnlineHazards smoking news and resources
Hazards news, 6 October 2007

Risks, Number 326, 6 October 2007


EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 29 September 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 releaseBBC News OnlineICL/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 AgeBBC 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 releaseStatement 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 releaseIraqi 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 websiteHSE news releaseBBC 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 releaseUNISON 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 releaseATL news releaseNASUWT news releaseNUT 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

Risks, Number 325, 29 September 2007

 

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 22 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 releaseUnite 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 pageBBC 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 releaseITUC news releaseAnnual 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 releaseBMA 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 releaseBBC 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 OnlineUCATT 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 ChronicleBBC 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 releaseInternational Herald TribuneMore on BP’s safety recordSee 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 releaseThe 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 workPeople Management magazineHazards drugs and alcohol news and resources
Hazards news, 22 September 2007

Risks, Number 324, 22 September 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 15 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-briefBBC 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 releaseHazards 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 HazardsMaquiladora 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 releaseTUC 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 TUCWatch 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 releaseHazards 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 HeraldICL/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 releaseBBC News OnlineGMHC 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 releaseWhy bad work is not a good ideaSafety 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 HeraldHazards 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 2007More 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 TodayHazards 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 releaseLiving 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 releaseAFL-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 HeraldASIC 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 releaseHSE back pain webpages
Hazards news, 8 September 2007

Risks, Number 322, 8 September 2007


LATEST NEWS

Hazards news, 1 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’ webpageHazards 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 releaseICEM 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 releaseBTP 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 StandardChina 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 LondonTUC/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 releaseFACK 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 GuardianFinancial TimesFind 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 reportSydney 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 releaseNorthern 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

Risks, Number 321, 1 September 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 25 August 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 releaseBBC News OnlineTUC/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 • Hazards occupational 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 releaseUNITE 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 EchoHazards workplace 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 releaseContract 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 releaseConservative 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 releaseUNITE 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 releaseFind 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 releaseTelegraph and Argus
Hazards news, 25 August 2007

 

Risks, Number 320, 25 August 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 18 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 releaseSound 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 updateThe 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 GuardianUsdaw 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 releaseTUC 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 statisticsHazards occupational 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.
XinhuaBBC 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 releaseBBC 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 EchoHazards 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

Risks, Number 319, 18 August 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 11 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 issuesSubscribe 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 releaseHSE news releaseOffshore 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 releaseNIOSH 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 releaseBERR 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 releaseBBC 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 releasePeterborough 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 OnlineToxic Free AirlinesAerotoxic 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 ManifestoFACK 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 PostTelegraph 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 releaseBBC 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 releaseHazards safety 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

Risks, Number 318, 11 August 2007

 

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 4 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 • Hazards enforcement 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 TimesADAO 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]Hazards nanotechnology 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 releaseTUC/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 releaseCBC 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 webpagesHazards 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

Risks * Number 317 * 4 August 2007


Hazards news, 28 July 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 releaseCWU 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 reportTUC 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 releaseProspect 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 releaseTUC news releaseDetails 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 releaseUnite-Amicus news releaseFACK 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 roleMore 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

Risks 316, 28 July 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 21 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 releaseTUC CoVE news reportFinancial 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 releaseVOSA 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 releaseIMB 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 releaseCoal 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: Workplace noise still a health threat
Workers, some exposed recently, are still developing noise-induced hearing loss, recent compensation cases show.
Thompsons Solicitors news releaseIrwin Mitchell Solicitors news release
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 HeraldWork 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 AgeABC NewsChristian TodayABC 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

Risks 315, 21 July 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 14 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-JournalCourier-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 releaseIMF 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 decisionHazards 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 releaseNorwich 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 2007Parliament 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 releaseCCA 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 QCBBC 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 OnlineHazards 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

Risks 314, 14 July 2007

 

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 7 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 releaseBBC 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 releaseCIEH 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 updateIFJ news releaseINSI 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 releaseBBC 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 releaseTomorrow'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 OnlineBecta whiteboard safety adviceNational 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 releaseMacclesfield 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 IndependentBattersea 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

Risks, 313, 7 July 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 30 June 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 releaseHazards 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 releaseSafety 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 NowBuilding Justice campaign

YouTube clip on water trucks dousing protesters

Hazards news, 30 June 2007

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

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 releaseBBC 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 releaseBBC News OnlineHazards 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 epidemicHSE 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 GuardianHazards 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 releasePersonnel TodayEmail 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 releaseHazards 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 releaseSydney Morning HeraldABC News
Hazards news, 30 June 2007

Risks, number 312, 30 June 2007

EARLIER NEWS

Hazards news, 25 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 MinnesotaMankato 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 TelegraphHazards worked to death webpagesDetails 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