BRITAIN
Slap on the wrist for dangerous directors
Just fifteen people who are either company directors or very senior
managers were convicted of health and safety offences between April
1999 and January 2003, according to research conducted by the Centre
for Corporate Accountability (CCA). The convictions, following offences
committed between October 1996 and October 2001, resulted in fines averaging
£2,656, said CCA.
CCA
news release and reports
on director safety and manslaughter
convictions • Risks
108, 31 May 2003
AUSTRALIA
Researcher says unionisation is the only safe
way
Strong, unionised workplaces are the only way to ensure occupational
health and safety is properly reactivated, according to an Australian
researcher. Kathryn Heiler of the University of Sydney’s workplace research
centre ACIRRT said many unions were missing out on the opportunity to
organise around workplace safety issues because of poor communication
between union industrial and occupational health and safety (OHS) officers.
Heiler said it was time to "realign industrial relations and OHS conceptually
and industrially" and to use opportunities provided by workplace bargaining.
Risks
108, 31 May 2003 • UnionSafe
BRITAIN
Studies find there is no escaping work stress
Work-related worries threaten the well-being of the UK’s workforce,
with two-thirds of employees unable to leave work stress in the office.
Risks
108, 31 May 2003
BRITAIN
Unions mock "voluntary" long hours culture
Union leaders have made light of a new report by a bosses’ organisation
that claims most people work long hours voluntarily. The Institute of
Directors said campaigners who argued for a better balance between work
and home life often distorted the truth.
Risks
108, 31 May 2003
CANADA
Young people at risk at work
Over the past four years, 50 workers under the age of 25 have lost their
lives at work in Quebec according to a report by the province’s workplace
health and safety board CSST. It says in 2002, close to 24,000 young
people were injured on the job, and half of the injuries occurred between
May and September, when most students are working.
Risks
108, 31 May 2003 • Français
USA
Compensation cuts will hurt workers
Changes to Florida’s state compensation laws will mean most injured
workers, already faced with one of the country’s most tight-fisted systems,
will not be able to afford proper legal advice. Press reports say the
move, pushed through by the business-friendly Republican majority, has
left the insurance industry giddy and unions dejected. Other states,
notably California and West Virginia, are also looking to slash their
compensation budgets.
Risks
108, 31 May 2003
BRITAIN
Rail crash points were "poorly maintained" not
sabotaged
The points that caused the fatal Potters Bar rail crash were "poorly
maintained," the official HSE report has concluded, ultimately blaming
poor management of the railways.. Seven people died and 76 were injured
when the train derailed just outside the station on 10 May last year.
The report dismissed claims by maintenance contractor Jarvis that the
points may have been sabotaged.
Risks
108, 31 May 2003
MALAYSIA
Four deaths a day
An average of one thousand deaths occur every year in Malaysian workplaces,
according to the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (Penang Division).
Health and safety chair N. Balakrishnan said 95,006 industrial accidents
were reported for the year 2000, and he revealed that the number of
deaths had risen by 9 per cent since the previous year.
Risks
108, 31 May 2003
BRITAIN
"Pathetic" campaign is failing to tackle pub
smoke risks
Workplace smoking ban campaigners say the government must act now and
legislate to stop workplace exposures to passive smoking after a new
report found less than half the country’s pubs and bars are complying
with a voluntary code - and half of those that are complying still allow
smoking throughout the premises.
ASH
news release • Risks
108, 31 May 2003
EUROPE
Shop union's freedom from fear campaign goes
continental
Usdaw’s national 'Freedom from fear' campaign on workplace violence
is being picked up by service sector unions Europe-wide and has hit
the Commons too. The campaign won support from union delegates from
across Europe at the UNI-Europa commerce conference in Stockholm.
Risks
108, 31 May 2003
BRITAIN
Ambulance driver pleads not guilty to speeding
Union solicitors have entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of GMB
member Mike Ferguson. GMB says it has been 'overwhelmed' at the support
from the UK and abroad for Ferguson, the ambulance driver who is facing
police prosecution for driving too fast whilst delivering a life-saving
organ to a waiting transplant patient.
Risks
108, 31 May 2003
INDONESIA
Few workers getting occupational health care
Few of the 24 million workers covered by Indonesia’s government-run
social security programme receive the free medical care they are entitled
to after being injured at work. Most do not know that medical costs
for such incidents are fully covered, says Jamsostek, the state-owned
insurance company that runs the programme. The number of occupational
accidents is expected to double in the next 10 years, it adds.
Risks
108, 31 May 2003
BRITAIN
Unions angry as government commutes workplace
death sentences
A commitment by Home Secretary David Blunkett to bring forward corporate
killing proposals this year has drawn criticism from unions and campaigners
for letting negligent company directors off the hook.
Hazards
briefing on the Home Office proposals • Risks
107, 24 May 2003
AUSTRALIA
Unions organise for safer work
Australia’s trade unions have resolved to put organising at the centre
of their health and safety strategy. An Australian Council of Trade
Unions (ACTU) seminar this week attracted representatives from over
20 unions and labour councils around the country and "confirmed the
fundamental importance of good occupational health and safety to all
workers, and its central role in union organising."
Risks
107, 24 May 2003 • OHS
Reps and UnionSafe
briefings on the seminar recommendations
BRITAIN
£1 million payout for workplace brain injury
The High Court in Birmingham has approved a settlement of £1million
in damages to a worker who suffered a severe head injury in an accident
at work. At the time of the accident, Peter Bieliauskas, 51, was employed
as a boat builder at JL Pinder and Sons of Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove.
Risks
107, 24 May 2003
USA
Unions disappointed at weak asbestos action
US union federation AFL-CIO has said it is 'deeply disappointed' at
a move to bypass unions and introduce an asbestos compensation system
that is good for business and bad for asbestos victims. The statement
from AFL-CIO general counsel Jon Hiatt came this week as Republican
senator Orrin Hatch’s introduced a weak asbestos bill, on the eve of
an expected deal from employers and insurers.
Risks
107, 24 May 2003
BRITAIN
Bosses charged over chimney deaths
Two company bosses have been charged with manslaughter after a pair
of steeplejacks were killed by a fireball which engulfed them while
demolishing a chimney in Greater Manchester. Paul Wakefield, 40, and
Craig Whelan, 23, were working inside the 200ft tower in Westhoughton,
near Bolton, when there was an explosion.
Risks
107, 24 May 2003
BRITAIN
Tories call for action on workplace smoking
The shadow health secretary Dr Liam Fox has joined the TUC and health
campaigners in calling on the government to protect employees from cigarette
smoke in the workplace. An Early Day Motion ahead of the 31 May World
No Smoking Day, which has support from Labour as well as opposition
MPs, say "everyone should be able to work in a smoke-free environment."
Risks
107, 24 May 2003
USA
Democratic election fever could cure strain injuries
The Democratic candidates in the US presidential race are promising
to resurrect the ergonomics regulation overturned by congressional Republicans,
with the backing of President Bush and powerful business groups, in
2001.
Risks
107, 24 May 2003
BRITAIN
Road workers’ finger cash fight
Edinburgh city council has been hit with compensation demands from workers
suffering from a debilitating condition brought on by years of using
devices such as snowploughs, drills and jack hammers. Local authority
union UNISON is backing at least two dozen claims after checks found
workers had vibration white finger (VWF).
Risks
107, 24 May 2003
BRITAIN
Workers can make the difference
The construction industry’s awful safety record will only be improved
if construction employers respect and engage with the workforce and
embrace trade unions, George Brumwell, general secretary of construction
union UCATT, has warned.
Risks
107, 24 May 2003
BRITAIN
Rogue bosses escape justice as a result of HSE
cuts
The funding crisis facing the HSE will allow rogue bosses to escape
prosecution for health and safety offences, inspectors’ union Prospect
has warned. Government plans to reduce spending over the next year by
5 per cent across all HSE departments "has left the executive unable
to carry out prosecutions for health and safety offences according to
best practice," says the union.
Risks
107, 24 May 2003
USA
Unions call for action on TB
US public sector union the AFSCME has urged the Secretary of State for
Labor Elaine Chao to complete and issue a final rule on occupational
exposure to Tuberculosis (TB) after delays stretching for years.
Risks
106, 17 May 2003
USA
Employers urged to pay up for worker protection
US unions led by national union federation AFL-CIO have urged the safety
watchdog OSHA to issue a proposed rule clarifying an employer's responsibility
to pay for safety equipment. They say OHSA's own studies found the measure
would prevent over 47,000 injuries and seven fatalities each year.
Risks
106, 17 May 2003
BRITAIN
Jobs top cause of stress, says Samaritans
New stress research by MORI to mark the start of Samaritans Week shows
Britain is smoking, drinking and slobbing out to cope with high daily
stress levels. The Stressed Out survey found that the biggest cause
of stress was jobs, followed by money, family and health.
Risks
106, 17 May 2003
GLOBAL
Tobacco-funded research on passive smoking slammed
Campaigners, medical experts and unions have attacked a tobacco industry
backed study which concluded that passive smoking might not increase
the risk of heart disease and lung cancer by as much as has been claimed.
The study, which is described as "flawed" and which ignores "overwhelming
evidence that passive smoking kills" was published in the British Medical
Journal a week after Hazards revealed that tobacco industry-backed studies
are noteworthy only because of the consistency with which they declare
passive smoking no problem.
Risks
106, 17 May 2003 • Hazards
smoking at work webpages
BRITAIN
Nurse’s back pain compensation upheld
An NHS Trust has failed in a bid to overturn a damages award of over
£400,000 for a nurse whose career was ended by a crippling back injury.
Angela Knott won the award when the High Court last October (Risks 76)
ruled that Newham Healthcare NHS Trust had failed to make adequate arrangements
to protect nurses when they had to lift patients.
Risks
106, 17 May 2003
BRITAIN
Doctors want overtime to stop as doctor dies
The British Medical Association has advised senior hospital doctors
to ensure they are not working more than 48 hours a week. The move comes
after a coroner criticised the hours worked by a paediatric consultant
who was found dead in a toilet at Southampton General Hospital. Dr Sid
Watkins died after he apparently injected himself with the drug Fentanyl
to help him cope with his workload.
Risks
106, 17 May 2003
BRITAIN
Asbestos is a top cause of male deaths in middle
age
Shock new figures from the Health and Safety Executive show that Britain’s
middle aged men are dying in ever increasing numbers from asbestos related
diseases. The latest statistics on mesothelioma deaths in Great Britain
show that between 1980 and 2000, 2,247 men aged between 45 and 60 died
from mesothelioma, with probably another 4,500 dying from other asbestos-related
diseases, chiefly lung cancer. That’s about 2 per cent of the 351,000
men in that age group who died in the last two decades of the twentieth
century.
Risks
106, 17 May 2003
BRITAIN
Court tells insurers to pay Turner and Newall
asbestos victims
UK asbestos victims suing Turner and Newall for compensation have won
a major victory in the High Court. The Royal and Sun Alliance insurance
firm a Lloyd's of London syndicate were told to compensate the former
employees of the firm which has been placed in administration by its
asbestos-hit US parent company.
Risks
106, 17 May 2003
USA
Three strikes and you’re out
Borrowing from the controversial punishment for multiple street crimes,
opponents of corporate crime in California are trying to create a three-strikes-and-you're-out
law for businesses. A proposed Bill, which would cover illegal financial
dealings, consumer and environmental protection, civil rights, union
rights and employment laws, passed its first hurdle at the start of
March.
Risks
105, 10 March 2003
BRITAIN
Smoking bans are healthy for business and workers,
says TUC
Smoking bans in pubs and cafes would protect the health of UK hospitality
workers and result in increased profits for landlords and restaurant
owners, according to a story in the latest edition of the TUC-backed
magazine, Hazards.
Risks
105, 10 May 2003 • TUC
news release, 10 May 2003
THAILAND
Pain of the Kader fire won’t go away
Ten years afterThailand's worst industrial blaze, 10 May 1993 Kader
Industrial Toy Factory fire that claimed 188 lives, the Asian Network
for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims is calling for support
for the victims and their families and for proper, properly enforced
safety laws.
Risks
105, 10 May 2003
EUROPE
EU cracks down on chemicals
The European Commission has proposed tough new controls on thousands
of chemicals it believes pose a potential threat to the environment
and human health. REACH, the proposed European Union-wide system, would
make industry responsible for checking the safety of chemicals used
in their products, and streamlines risks assessment and testing rules.
Risks
105, 10 May 2003
BRITAIN
Court backs miners on bogus health tests
A High Court judge has ordered the government to re-think the way people
suffering from a disabling occupational disease are assessed for disability
benefits. He backed a claim by South Wales miners that a test that required
workers to plunge their hands into ice cold water for five minutes had
no scientific value in the assessment of vibration white finger industrial
injuries benefit claims.
Risks
105, 10 May 2003
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Inquiry call after top British journalist is
killed in Palestine
The interntional journalists' union IFJ has demanded an inquiry after
award-winning British film maker James Miller was shot dead in controversial
circumstances by Israeli forces in Palestine. His death came only hours
after a new global campaign was launched by media leaders including
IFJ demanding that attempts to kill journalists should be made a war
crime.
Risks
105, 10 May 2003
BRITAIN
GMB acts to save funeral workers’ lives
Funeral workers' union GMB is calling for urgent action after research
showed that glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde and its aqueous solution Formalin,
used worldwide for embalming, pose considerably greater problems to
health and to the environment than is generally thought.
Risks
106, 17 May 2003
NEW ZEALAND
Work with us for safer work, say unions
New Zealand union boss Ross Wilson is urging employers to work with
unions to tackle the country's appalling safety record. Speaking ahead
of the new Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act taking effect
on 5 May, he said the country’s unions were "calling for employer co-operation
with the development of effective employee participation systems in
workplaces."
Risks
105, 10 May 2003 • NZCTU
handbook on the new law
BRITAIN
NHS staff take the rap for speaking out
Health service staff are frightened to raise concerns, particularly
about unsafe staffing levels, government targets and waiting lists,
risks caused by other staff and a bullying culture, according to a new
report.
Risks
105, 10 May 2003
USA
Panel urges total ban asbestos
A panel funded by the US government’s Environmental Protection Agency
is recommending the government ban the import, production and distribution
of products containing asbestos. Asbestos is no longer mined in the
US, but government figures show 30 millions pounds are still imported
each year.
Risks
105, 10 May 2003
BRITAIN
Protecting privacy, not bad bosses
The government is consulting on the extent to which public bodies including
health and safety watchdog HSE should be able to demand the communications
records of British telephone and internet users.
Risks
105, 10 May 2003
HONG KONG
Officials admit use of faulty SARS masks
Some surgical masks provided to medical workers treating patients with
the SARS virus were faulty, Hong Kong's Hospital Authority admitted,
one day after a nurse died of the disease. The matter is under investigation
by the police, officials confirmed.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
BRITAIN
NHS blames workload for 24 per cent rise in work
accidents
The number of accidents involving NHS staff increased by almost a quarter
- despite a government pledge to cut the number by 20 per cent. A report
from the public sector watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) says
accidents could now be costing the NHS at least £173m a year and blamed
much of the increase on soaring workloads and staff shortages.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
INDONESIA
Worst place for safety in south east Asia
Indonesia's safety record remains the worst in south east Asia, a report
says. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) report, released on
Workers’ Memorial Day, reveals that industrial accidents are occurring
at a rate of 300 accidents per day.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
BRITAIN
Lowest recorded sick leave still leaves bosses
griping
The Confederation of British Industry wants to pin the blame for workplace
'sickies' on workers, despite its own research showing sick leave has
plummeted to the lowest level ever recorded by a CBI survey.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
BRITAIN
Respect to shopworkers - and freedom from fear
The growing incidence of violence against shopworkers should be the
focus of
an awareness day says their union. The shopworkers’ union, Usdaw, is
calling for a "national respect day". It wants the day, scheduled for
17 September, to highlight and help combat the physical and verbal abuse
faced by some its members.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
AUSTRALIA
The ultimate piss off
Wollongong workers on poverty-level wages are losing up to Aus$5,000
(£2,000) for taking toilet breaks, according to the union representing
staff at a Stellar call centre. CPSU adds that since the jobs were outsourced,
other employees claim they have lost their bonuses, worth up to $5,000
a year, for using sick leave entitlements.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
BRITAIN
Print union wins bladder cancer risk argument
A union campaign to get bladder cancer recognised as an occupational
disease in printers has ended in success. After years of lobbying, the
print union GPMU says it "has scored a significant victory in persuading
the Benefits Agency to recognise that printers suffer from bladder cancer."
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
CANADA
Tax relief on fines "disgusting" say unions
Unions in Ontario want tax law changes so companies can no longer deduct
penalties and fines as a cost of doing business. Employers can benefit
by breaking the law, said Wayne Fraser, a director of the United Steelworkers
Union. If a company has to pay for breaking a rule - for example, discharging
pollutants or being fined for the death of a worker - they can deduct
the payment as a cost, reducing their profit and saving on their corporate
income tax bill.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
BRITAIN
UNISON urges NHS to take a stab at injury prevention
Health service union UNISON is urging the Department of Health to take
a lead and introduce safer needles to help combat needlestick injuries,
after a report showed it was a major reason for escalating accident
rates in the health service.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003 • Related
information: Hazards needlesticks page
NEW ZEALAND
Workers stop and remember the dead
Union members across New Zealand stopped work to remember colleagues
who have lost their lives at work. Workers’ Memorial Day activities
included erecting memorials, marches and in Wellington a one minute
train stoppage at noon on 28 April while rail workers paid their respects
to workmates who lost their lives at work last year.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
BRITAIN
TUC tells employers to stop whingeing about insurance
costs
The TUC has told the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) we’d all
feel a lot better if it spent less time whingeing and more time promoting
safer workplaces. The TUC comments came in response to EEF criticism
of government plans to recover the NHS costs of workplace accidents
through the employers' liability insurance system.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
BRITAIN
Union activist reinstated by rail firm
A union activist whose demotion sparked a strike at a leading rail company
has been reinstated as a train driver. Greg Tucker won his claim for
unfair dismissal against South West Trains (SWT) last year after claiming
he was victimised because of his activities for the Rail Maritime and
Transport union (RMT).
Risks
104, 3 May 2003 • Related
information: Hazards victimisation webpage
GLOBAL
The silent war - 5,000 workers killed each day
The international federation of metalworkers’ unions says the deadly
price of work - 5,000 fatal injuries a day - amounts to a "silent war"
against workers.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
BRITAIN
HSE cuts will hurt workers
The safety of workers in Britain is being put at risk as a funding crisis
in the Health and Safety Executive threatens to bring the organisation
to its knees, the safety inspectors’ union Prospect has warned. It has
condemned the government's decision to slash the watchdog’s budget by
50 per cent leading to at least 50 retiring inspectors not being replaced.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
AUSTRALIA
Unions call for action on safety crimes
Union organisations from across Australia have called for action to
make employers properly accountable for workplace safety crimes.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
BRITAIN
PCS say end crown immunity on safety crimes
Civil service union PCS wants the government to honour a commitment
made nearly three years ago to remove crown immunity for health and
safety offences. Making the call on Workers’ Memorial Day, the union
says the majority of government departments and agencies are immune
from criminal prosecution by the HSE.
Risks
104, 3 May 2003
