Features

Fit for purpose? For many employers there are two categories of employee – ‘workers’ and, for those who happen to be sick, ‘shirkers’. But under a new ‘fit note’ system your doctor has different options, and can say you are either unfit or sorta-kinda-fit for work, as long as the employer takes certain action. Hazards examines the possibilities and pitfalls. Hazards 110, April-June 2010

Credit crunch Welfare reforms are demanding the sick and unemployed get into work, but the jobs don’t exist. And a new workplace safety strategy promises improvements, but the funds to deliver aren’t there. As the recession bites, Hazards editor Rory O’Neill argues that workers could get less of the credit and feel more of the crunch. Hazards 105, January-March 2009

You big fat liars Oh, they say it’s because they care. They’ll weigh us, keep tabs on our bad habits and ask questions when we are sick. And when we fall short of perfection, they label us shirkers, sickos and slobs. Hazards editor Rory O’Neill questions whether all this attention from employers is really for our own good. Hazards 104, October-December 2008

Spin cycle When research shows a chemical could be killing you, industry-backed scientists will quickly dispute the findings. David Michaels, author of Doubt is their product, exposes industry’s dangerous tactics. Hazards 103, July-September 2008

Food flavour wrecks lungs When dozens of US popcorn workers had their lungs destroyed by a flavouring chemical, it caused a national scandal. But it was seen as a US problem. It wasn’t, as Yorkshire factory worker Martin Muir can now testify. Hazards 101, January-March 2008

Dame blast The government’s ‘work is good for you’ push to make the sick work is overlooking one inconvenient truth. Hazards warns a combination of long hours, job insecurity, punitive sick leave policies, a failure to recognise the extent of the work-related health crisis and a lack of safety enforcement means for many work is bad and getting worse. Hazards 100, November 2007

OHS SOS A decent occupational health service (OHS) should is a real asset. It can troubleshoot health problems and it can help rehabilitate the sick or injured and accommodate those with disabilities. But OHS are rare and good ones rarer still. Simon Pickvance and Rory O’Neill spell out how to get the service you deserve. Hazards 99, August 2007

Futile Exercise? Workplaces make people sick. They kill tens of thousands each year. A new government workplace health strategy could make a difference. But Hazards discovered the government plan gives far greater emphasis to changing your lifestyle than changing your workplace. Hazards 93, February 2006

A job to die for? Whether it is cancer or heart disease, strain injuries or neurological disorders, work is claiming a massive, deadly and largely ignored workplace toll. And if you don’t count the bodies, the bodies don’t count. Hazards 92, November 2005

Burying the evidence Work cancers are killing unprecedented numbers in the UK. So why does the government’s Health and Safety Executive stick with a 25-year-old gross under-estimate of the problem, ensuring prevention doesn’t get the resources it deserves? Hazards 92, November 2005

Resources

Hazards sickness pages Hazards finds that instead of hounding the sick back to work, it would be more productive all round if employers introduced supportive sickness absence policies.

Hazards rehabilitation pages Firms must stop shirking on rehabilitation and prevention.

NASUWT Work health webpages

News

Britain: Workplace dust contributed to miner’s heart death
A former coal miner died as a result of an industrial disease, an inquest has ruled. Although Thomas Gill died on 24 September last year as a result of a heart condition, the inquest heard a lung condition, caused by more than 30 years of dusty work on the coalface, was a “major factor” in his death.
News and Star. TUC ‘Dust in the workplace’ report [pdf] • Hazards ‘Dust up!’ campaign and report • Risks 539 • 21 January 2012

Britain: Occupational health is a victim of the NHS cuts
The coalition government’s pledge to protect the NHS has been questioned after four out of five doctors said they had seen patient care suffer as a result of health service cuts during 2011 – and occupational health is one of the key casualties.
The Guardian • Risks 537 • 7 January 2012

Britain: Print fumes caused occupational asthma
A printer who developed asthma when he was exposed to dangerous fumes at work has received compensation.  Unite member Jason MaCann, 35, was diagnosed with the condition after he was exposed to isocyanates used in laminating machines at FFP Packaging in Northampton.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 537 • 7 January 2012

Britain: Disability is a health and safety issue
Health and safety can play a “strong role” in ensuring fair treatment of workers with disabilities, according to the union UNISON. A new guide from the public sector union says seven million people of working age – almost 20 per cent of the working age population - have a limiting long term illness, impairment or disability.
UNISON health and safety guide to disability [pdf] • Usdaw ‘Talking about mental health’ briefing and poster • TUC disability and health and safety webpages • Risks 537 • 7 January 2012

Britain: Sickness review ups pressure on ill workers
A government commissioned report that recommends taking responsibility for signing off sick workers out of the hands of GPs and handing it to a new Independent Assessment Service (IAS) could lead to damaging pressure on sick workers, the TUC has said.
DWP news release • review webpage and full report, Health at work – an independent review of sickness absence, DWP, 21 November 2011 • TUC news release • Personnel Today • BBC News Online • Risks 533 • 26 November 2011

Britain: Sickness plans are not about healthy workers
Workplace health campaigners have said a report for the government aimed at reducing the cost to business of sickness absence should have instead looked at preventing workers becoming sick in the first place. The findings of the government-backed review conducted by Professor Carol Black and former British Chambers of Commerce head David Frost, which include a recommendation that people should be signed off for long-term sickness by an independent assessment service and not by GPs, have been welcomed by government.
Morning Star • The Independent and related letters • The Guardian • Risks 533 • 26 November 2011

Britain: Workers can’t afford to be sick
Workers cannot afford to be off sick and rush back to work because of financial fears, new research has found. Insurance giant Aviva found over half (52 per cent) of UK workers could survive financially for only three months on statutory sick pay.
Aviva news release • Risks 533 • 26 November 2011

Britain: Knee-kicker damaged carpet fitter’s knee
A carpet fitter who has had to give up his job after suffering an occupational knee injury has received compensation. He required surgery for pre-patellar tendonitis in his right knee as a result of using a ‘knee-kicker’, a standard piece of equipment used to stretch and fit carpets.
Simpson Millar Solicitors news release • Risks 529 • 29 October 2011

Britain: Firm failed to protect workers from asthma risk
A South Tyneside company has been prosecuted for putting workers' health at risk by exposing them to a potent cause of occupational asthma. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation at Variable Message Signs Limited after an inspector visited the company's premises in Hebburn and identified serious failings in the way the company was controlling the risk of employees developing occupational asthma during soldering work.
HSE news release • Risks 529 • 29 October 2011

Britain: TV stonemason is done for dust
A stonemasonry business has been fined for exposing workers to potentially deadly stone dust after a viewer spotted its dangerous practices on a BBC television programme. Atelier 109 Limited featured in March 2010 in the BBC2 series Mastercrafts, presented by Monty Don.
HSE news release • Peterborough Today • Risks 529 • 29 October 2011

Britain: Phurnacite workers start legal fight
Around 300 former workers at a smokeless fuel plant in south Wales have started a joint compensation claim for the ill-health they say was caused by their job. They claim making the fuel at the Phurnacite plant at Abercwmboi near Mountain Ash left them with cancer and respiratory disease.
Hugh James Solicitors news release • BBC News Online • Wales Online • OH-World blog • Risks 528 • 22 October 2011

Britain: Rail union calls for reinstatement of sick worker
The transport union RMT has called for the reinstatement of a tube driver who was sacked after being sent back to driving duties against medical advice. The dismissal happened after James Masango returned to work after a period of sick leave.
RMT press release • Risks 527 • 15 October 2011

China: Watchdog threatens to close dusty gold mines
China’s top work safety watchdog has threatened to close down dangerously dusty gold mines after discovering that 95 per cent of mines surveyed violated national safety standards. The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) has ordered state-owned gold mines to take concrete measures to improve safety and curb emissions by August 2012 or face closure.
China Labour Bulletin • Risks 525 • 1 October 2011

Britain: DWP jumps the gun in move to rob the dying
Thousands of terminally-ill people have begun receiving letters warning them their benefits could be cut in next year even though parliament has yet to approve the changes. Under Welfare Reform Bill proposals being scrutinised in the Lords, Contributory Employment Support Allowance (CESA) will be time-limited to 12 months from April 2012.
Disability Alliance news release • BBC News Online • Risks 524 • 24 September 2011

Sweden: Paid exercise time works for firms
Businesses are increasingly concerning themselves with the health and well-being of their staff, with a preponderance of lifestyle initiatives urging workers to exercise and eat healthily. But if firms really want to see the benefits of a fitter workforce, they should give them paid time at work to take the exercise, the experience in Sweden suggests. Local Sweden • Risks 523 • 17 September 2011

Britain: Unite says ‘no’ to workplace dust
The official limit for workplace dust must be lowered to protect workers from one of the work’s biggest killers, the union Unite has said. Bud Hudspith, Unite national health and safety adviser, commented: “The current dust standards are not good enough and there is strong scientific evidence to prove it.”
Unite news release and TUC dust guide [pdf] • Risks 522 • 10 September 2011

China: Firms must keep work health records
Authorities in China have told employers they must retain health records of all employees who are exposed to health hazards. The records, which should show the results of health checks at the beginning of, during, and at the completion of employee contracts, could be used by workers as evidence in occupational disease compensation claims.
China Daily • China Labour Bulletin • The Hard Road: Seeking justice for victims of pneumoconiosis in China, CLB report, 2010 • Risks 520 • 27 August 2011

USA: Bad jobs and brain disease in the slaughterhouse
Immigrant workers on poverty wages have been recruited for the dirtiest, most dangerous jobs in the industrial production of Spam – and some developed a deadly work-related brain disease as a result. ‘The Spam Factory's Dirty Secret,’ a feature in the US magazine Mother Jones, relates the recent troubled history of the Hormel Foods plant in Austin, Minnesota.
Mother Jones • In These Times • Risks 518 • 13 August 2011

Britain: Quarry job caused disabling lung disease
A former stone mason who contracted a debilitating occupational lung disease caused by breathing stone dust has received a payout from the Bradford quarry where he worked for a decade. The 61-year-old suffers severe breathing difficulties and struggles to walk or climb stairs after contracting silicosis, caused by inhaling silica dust made airborne when working the sandstone quarried by Fagley Quarries Ltd.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Telegraph & Argus • Risks 518 • 13 August 2011

Britain: Government inciting ‘hatred’ of disabled
Over 50 charities have condemned the government for "contributing to hatred towards disabled people" by portraying them as work-shy scroungers. The Disability Benefits Consortium said the government is using “dangerously misleading” statistics to fuel claims that high numbers of benefits claimants are faking.
Disability Benefits Consortium statement • TUC Touchstone blog • Morning Star • Daily Mail • The Sun • Daily Express • Risks 517 • 6 August 2011

Britain: Diabetic stands up to AA ‘intimidation’
A diabetic AA patrolman was singled out for daily performance reviews and pushed to quit in an act of deliberate discrimination, an employment tribunal has ruled. Roadside recovery worker Paul Bailey won his case against the Automobile Association, after alleging that management subjected him to “direct disability discrimination, discrimination arising from disability, harassment and failure to make reasonable adjustments” in the course of his work.
GMB news release • Morning Star • Risks 517 • 6 August 2011

Cambodia: Union calls for probe into fainting episodes
The head of one of Cambodia’s biggest independent union’s has called for a government investigation into the fainting spells that have affected thousands of factory workers this year. Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union, sent letters to the ministries of Health, Environment and Labour, requesting they look into conditions at factories that are harming the health of workers.
VOA Khmer • Phnom Penh Post • Risks 516 • 30 July 2011

Global: Under fire Versace caves and bans sandblasting
Italian fashion giant Versace has become the latest brand to back a drive to end a deadly sandblasting process that gives denim a fashionable worn look. A succession of major global retailers had already banned the process, after a high profile campaign by workers’ rights groups.
Clean Clothes Campaign news release • Vogue Magazine • Financial Times • The Independent
Sign the Clean Clothes Campaign petition urging Dolce and Gabbana to stop sandblasting • Risks 516 • 30 July 2011

Britain: Flame cutter died of work-related lung disease
The widow of a Birmingham worker, who died aged 50 from occupational lung disease, has launched a search for former colleagues who may be able to help in their battle for justice. Flame cutter Timothy Alfred Dawes died on 16 July 2009 after suffering from the chronic lung disease bronchiolitis obliterans.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release. If anyone has any information which may help with Mr Dawes’ case, they can contact Ronan Hynes on 0121 214 5483 • Risks 516 • 30 July 2011

Britain: Call to axe damaging telecoms equipment  
Communications companies are being urged to withdraw dangerous equipment which is leaving engineers deafened or with hearing damage. It is thought thousands of engineers have been deafened after using British Telecom’s (BT) ‘green set’ and ‘yellow set’ oscillators, which are widely used in the sector.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 516 • 30 July 2011

India: New occupational lung disease identified
 A new deadly occupational lung disease caused by inhaling plastic dust may have been discovered. Health experts in India have identified four workers at a single Corel Pharma Chem’s factory developed a serious respiratory disease within a year of starting work.
Indian Express • Risks 512 • 2 July 2011

Britain: Managing presenteeism pays off
Employers can save money and improve the health of their staff if they manage presenteeism alongside sickness absence, according to a discussion paper produced by Business in the Community (BITC) and Centre for Mental Health. ‘Managing Presenteeism’ examines how employers can deal with reduced productivity among people who come to work and are not fully engaged or perform at lower levels as a result of ill-health.
Centre for Mental Health news release, presenteeism resources page, and Managing Presenteeism discussion paper • Risks 512 • 2 July 2011

Britain: Ford forced to up rotting flesh payout
A Ford worker who was offered just £2,000 after developing occupational dermatitis which left his flesh ‘rotting’ has received £24,000 with the help of union lawyers. The 41-year-old Unite member, whose name has been withheld, developed the painful skin condition after he was exposed to a rubber lubricant used while building engines at the Ford plant in Dagenham.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 512 • 2 July 2011

Britain: Sick former sportsman was unfairly sacking
A former sportsman has been awarded compensation totalling nearly £195,000 under disability discrimination legislation after he was sacked from his job, which meant he was denied access to his company's private health insurance scheme. The tribunal awarded compensation of just under £195,000 to reflect his loss of health and medical insurance benefits, loss of pension entitlements and injury to feelings.
 Bridge McFarland news release • Gainsborough Target • Risks 511 • 25 June 2011

Britain: MS ‘needlessly’ cuts careers short
Providing support for workers with multiple sclerosis (MS) would significantly reduce the annual welfare bill and prevent people from missing out on an average of 18 years of their working lives, according to a new report from The Work Foundation. ‘Ready to work: Meeting the employment and career aspirations of people with multiple sclerosis’  concludes that with greater employer awareness and more co-ordinated action, the majority of people with MS who are willing and able to work could be supported to do so.
The Work Foundation news release and report, Ready to work? Meeting the employment and career aspirations of people with Multiple Sclerosis [pdf] • MS Foundation news release • Risks 511 • 25 June 2011

Germany: Presenteeism costs twice as sickness leave
Presenteeism, where the working wounded labour on despite being ill, costs twice as much as sickness related absence from work, a German study has found. Researchers from the Felix Burda Foundation also estimated the annual cost to the German economy of worker sickness at 225 billion Euro – 9 per cent of the country’s GDP.
EU-OSHA news report • Risks 510 • 18 June 2011

Britain: Poor wood dust control caused cancer
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to investigate the occupational risks facing those in the furniture and woodworking industries, more than 10 years after the last checks found the official standard was routinely ignored. The news coincides with a £375,000 compensation payment to the widow of a cabinet maker who died of nasal cancer in 2005.
The Guardian • HSE wood dust survey 2000 [pdf] • HSE news release on the Millbrook prosecution • Risks 510 • 18 June 2011

USA: Six figure payout for popcorn lung
A US factory worker has been awarded $814,500 (£496,000) by a court after his lawyers argued successfully he contracted potentially lethal ‘popcorn lung’ from breathing a chemical used to make food taste buttery. A jury had awarded Maryland-resident Brian Hallock $5.4 million (£3.3m) from Polarome International Inc, a New Jersey-based chemical manufacturer and distributor.
Baltimore Sun • More on diacetyl hazards and popcorn lung • Risks 515 • 11 June 2011

France: One in six asthma cases work-related
Occupational allergies account for 15 per cent of adult asthma cases, experts in France have concluded. A meeting of lung allergy specialists in Paris heard panellists report the longer work-related allergens are inhaled, the worse the asthma gets, often continuing after occupational exposure has ended.
HESA news report • Risks 507 • 28 May 2011

Finland: Unions track asbestos exposure risks
Unions in Finland are keeping track of workplace asbestos exposures, using a purpose designed “follow-up” card. The say the initiative, which was launched last month by the Breathing Association, the union confederations SAK and STTK, and the trade unions representing metal, electrical, paper and construction workers, will record information on individual worker’s exposures and on possible occupational diseases that could be related to those exposures.
Trade Union News from Finland • Risks 506 • 21 May 2011

Britain: Top docs back union dust plan
The Institute of Occupational Medicine has backed a union push for a dramatic reduction in the amount of dust allowed in workplace air. Unions have for over two years been pressing an intransigent Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to reduce the occupational exposure limit for general workplace dust to a quarter the current level and to run a campaign to raise awareness of dust dangers.
The IOM’s position on occupational exposure limits for dust, May 2011 [pdf] • Delivering for health: HSE action on occupational respiratory disease [pdf], paper to the HSE board meeting, December 2010 [minutes, pdf] • Risks 506 • 21 May 2011

Britain: Mental illness and strains top disability list
Mental health problems have overtaken musculoskeletal disorders such as back pain as the main reason people claim benefits because they are unable to work, a study has found. Researchers, writing in the journal Occupational Medicine, looked at new incapacity benefit awards for both kinds of conditions in Britain from 1997 to 2007.
SOM news release • BBC News Online • Risks 505 • 14 May 2011

Britain: Benefit tests find sick fit to work
People with serious illnesses are being found “fit to work” under new sickness benefits tests, disability charities have warned. The MS Society, Parkinson's UK, National Aids Trust, Arthritis Care, the Forward-ME group and Crohn's and Colitis UK are calling for changes to make the test “fairer” for people with illnesses where symptoms vary over time.
MS Society news release and related report [pdf] • BBC News Online and related story • Morning Star • Risks 505 • 14 May 2011

CBI finds sickness absence stays low
Sickness absence in 2010 remained close to the previous year’s record low, employers’ organisation CBI has found. The CBI/Pfizer Absence and Workplace Health Survey reports there were 190 million working days to sickness absence last year, with each employee taking an average of 6.5 days off sick.
CBI news release • Risks 505 • 14 May 2011

Britain: Most claimants denied sickness benefit
Threequarters of sickness benefit claimants are found fit to work or abandon their claims before completing their medical assessment, latest figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have revealed. However, initial assessments of people's fitness to return to the workplace have been overturned in almost four in 10 cases in which individuals appealed.
DWP news release • The Guardian • Risks 504 • 7 May 2011

Britain: Land Rover fined for vibration crimes
Vehicle manufacturer Land Rover has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to take into account the risks facing workers using vibrating hand tools. Ten workers at its Solihull plant are believed to have developed a vibration related occupational disease as a result.
HSE news release • Risks 504 • 7 May 2011

USA: Top earners get the sick leave
Workers at the top of the wage scale in the US are more than four times as likely to have paid sick days than workers toiling near the bottom wage scale, according to a new Economic Policy Institute (EPI) report. The Economic Snapshot found just 19 per cent of low wage workers have paid sick days in the US, compared with 86 per cent of high-wage workers.
AFL-CIO Now blog • Economic Policy Institute Economic Snapshot • Risks 502 • 16 April 2011

Britain: Duncan Smith should apologise for sick ‘spin’
Work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith should apologise for his ‘outrageous spin’ after it was revealed some jobcentre staff had been being forced to stop people’s benefits to meet targets, civil service union PCS has said. The union’s general secretary, Mark Serwotka, said: “When this story broke Mr Duncan Smith described it as ‘claptrap’ and a ‘conspiracy’, but faced with the overwhelming evidence that these targets are still in place, his department has been forced to backtrack.”
PCS news release • The Guardian • Risks 502 • 16 April 2011

Britain: Prospect gets mapping
The scientists, engineers and specialists union Prospect has produced a short, very handy guide to health and safety mapping in the workplace. The union’s ‘factguard’ includes how-to pointers, good graphics and case histories of bodymapping and workplace mapping in practice.
Body and workplace mapping factcard • Hazards mapping webpages • Risks 500 • 2 April 2010

Britain: Sick must get up and train, says Grayling
Workers who were on incapacity benefits prior to controversial new health assessments are being told they must attend training course or lose their payments, the government has said. The new rules, which also apply to job seekers, were announced by employment minister Chris Grayling.
DWP news release and skills conditionality consultation • Risks 500 • 2 April 2010

Britain: Severe injury payout funds essential rehab
A £340,000 compensation payout to a roofer severely injured in a workplace fall will fund an intensive rehabilitation and physiotherapy programme. Timothy Kirk, 42, fell 45 feet through a skylight while at work. He was knocked unconscious and left in a coma for 11 days after the incident in October 2000, suffering a fractured pelvis, fractured femur and numerous head and facial injuries and having to undergo a tracheotomy to aid his breathing, as well as three operations on his stomach to reduce internal injuries.
Irwin Mitchell news release • Risks 500 • 2 April 2010

South Africa: Top court backs mine dust victims
South African miners have won a landmark dust disease case in the nation’s highest court. The legal precedent is expected to allow thousands of miners stricken with life-threatening respiratory and other diseases to sue companies under common law in South Africa, even if they have already received a payout from a state-run scheme.
ICEM news report • Risks 498 • 19 March 2011

Britain: No job is better for you than a bad job
As the government presses ahead with plans to force the sick back to work and job seekers into ‘Mandatory Work Activity placements’, new research has blown a hole in its “work is good for you” mantra. A study published this week warns while good quality jobs deliver health benefits, bad jobs can leave you in a worse state of health than remaining unemployed.
DWP news release. P Butterworth, LS Leach, L Strazdins, SC Olesen, B Rodgers and DH Broom. The psychosocial quality of work determines whether employment has benefits for mental health: results from a longitudinal national household panel survey, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Online First, 14 March 2011, doi10.1136/oem.2010.059030 [abstract] • Risks 498 • 19 March 2011

Britain: 'Raw deal' for sick British staff
British workers are among the worst protected in terms of benefits if they are off work sick, according to a new report. A study of 12 countries by Demos put Britain in eighth place in the level of protection in case of ill-health, below countries including France, Germany, the United States and Canada.
Of mutual benefit, Demo, March 2011 [pdf] • ITN News • Yahoo News • Risks 498 • 19 March 2011

Britain: Tool maker disabled by work asthma
A Hereford tool maker whose occupational asthma forced him to quit the job he loved has won a court battle for justice. Philip Gundy, 59, contracted occupational asthma as a result of the chemicals he was exposed to at work, operating grinding machines using metalworking fluids as coolants, and he was left with no choice but to give up his job.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 497 • 12 March 2011

Britain: New disability test 'is a complete mess'
One of the architects of the government’s new sickness benefit system has warned it would be a mistake to start introducing the “badly malfunctioning” system nationwide from the end of this month because of serious ongoing problems with the medical test designed to assess whether claimants are genuinely sick or disabled.
The Guardian • Risks 496 • 5 March 2011

Britain: Port worker wins disability adjustments case
An RMT member from Morecambe whose damaged back was aggravated after his employer refused to make adjustments to his work environment has won his case for disability discrimination. Manchester Employment Tribunal found Andrew Russell, 38, was discriminated against when his employer Heysham Port Ltd refused to allocate new equipment to him.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 494 • 19 February 2011

Britain: Government must create jobs, not blame
The government’s continued use of a flawed fitness for work disability assessment system is expending resources on victimising the sick when it should be concentrating its efforts on creating more jobs, the TUC has said. The union body was commenting on findings from the government's incapacity benefit reassessment programme published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
DWP news releases on the initial reassessments and the fitness for work assessment changes • TUC news release • Risks 494 • 19 February 2011

Britain: Concern as headsets deafen workers
Over 1,500 workers who believe their hearing has been damaged by the use of high pitched noise fed through workplace headsets are taking action against their employers. CWU is assisting over 1,500 members with claims arising from the use of these oscillators or amplifiers in their work, many of whom are suffering with tinnitus.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Tinnitus Awareness Week, 4-11 February 2011 • Risks 493 • 12 February 2011

Britain: Government ignores fitness test promises
A government claim that the “vast majority” of Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) claimants should not be receiving the benefit, contradicts the evidence and its own admissions just two months ago, the TUC has charged. The government said its figures, based on an assessment system that was found to be seriously flawed two months ago by the government-commissioned Harrington review, showed 39 per cent of claimants were “fit for work” and a further 39 per cent did not complete their claims.
DWP news release and ESA Work Capability Assessments statistics • Risks 491 • 29 January 2011

Global: Call to drop worn jeans
Unions this week told major garment companies and retailers they should stop selling sandblasted jeans. The process, which is used to give denim a fashionable worn and faded look, causes an often fatal lung disease in exposed garment workers.
ITGLWF news release • Risks 490 • 22 January 2011

Britain: Injured workers want rehabilitation
Injured workers value rehabilitation and say it allows them to get on with their lives and their jobs quicker, a survey had found. Personal injury law firm Thompsons questioned clients who had received rehabilitation in the last year, and found all respondents who had received rehabilitation while off sick said that the treatment had helped them return to work earlier than they would otherwise have done.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 489 • 15 January 2011

Britain: Drug workers get a dose of dermatitis
A Swindon pharmaceutical company has been fined after a number of its employees were exposed to a potent sensitiser and developed allergic contact dermatitis. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Catalent UK Swindon Zydis Limited, trading as Catalent Pharma Solutions, after at least ten employees developed the skin condition when working with Olanzapine.
HSE news release • Risks 489 • 15 January 2011

Britain: Payouts agreed for autoworker lung disease
A group of 79 ex-MG Rover workers have received compensation after what experts believe was the largest outbreak of occupational lung disease in the world. Metalworking fluids used by Powertrain Ltd, the engine building division of MG Rover, caused asthma and extrinsic allergic alveolitis (EAA) in exposed workers. breathing problems for the Unite members at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Birmingham Post • BBC News Online •
Hazards magazine on HSE’s failure to prosecute • Risks 488 • 8 January 2011

Britain: Bed firm ignored the doctor’s orders
A failure to act on the advice of a doctor has cost a major bed company £9,500 in damages to a former employee. The settlement was offered by Sealy Sleep Products (UK) Ltd to Norman Kirkbride, 41, whose GP had written to the company suggesting that Mr Kirkbride’s back condition would worsen if he continued lifting heavy objects.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 488 • 8 January 2011

Britain: HSE cuts will hurt workers
Unions and MPs have warned drastic cutbacks to the Health and Safety Executive will lead to more work-related ill-health and injuries. A report last month from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health warned the cuts in HSE’s budget were a “false economy” and will lead to increased costs from sickness absence, compensation and benefit payments.
PCS news release • Shields Gazette • SHP Online • We didn't vote to die at work: Campaign briefings, posters and resources • Risks 488 • 8 January 2011

Britain: Firms ‘cheat’ workers out of sick pay
Public sector employers have been urged to ensure all those working for them have a right to sick pay after a union study found multinationals providing contracted out cleaning and catering staff were denying this ‘basic right’. Major firms the UNISON survey found had denied sick pay to staff employed on public sector contracts included Compass, Sodexo, Medirest and ISS.
UNISON news release • The Mirror • BBC News Online • Risks 488 • 8 January 2011

USA: Official action on popcorn lung risks
Employers should used stringent safety controls to prevent ‘popcorn lung’, new guidance from US government safety watchdog OSHA has warned. The OSHA move came days after similar but more wide-ranging recommendations, including exposure limits, were introduced unilaterally in California.
OSHA news release • OSHA Safety and Health Information Bulletin and Worker Alert • Cal/OSHA news release • HSE guidance • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Europe: A quarter of workers hurt by their jobs
Work is adversely affecting the health of 25 per cent of European workers, a new survey has found. The first results of the fifth European Working Conditions Survey, previewed last month by the Dublin-based European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound), are based on responses from 43,816 workers in 34 European countries.
HESA news report and related blog article • Preliminary results of the fifth European Working Conditions Survey [pdf] • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Thailand: Weaving their way to victory
Thailand’s Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision to award compensation to a group of 38 textile workers suffering from cotton lung. The ruling brought an end to a 15-year legal battle led by Somboon Sikhamdokkae on behalf of staff of Bangkok Weaving Factory.
Bangkok Post • The Nation on Sunday • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Global: Appeal for deadly jeans sandblasting to end
Unions, safety and labour rights campaigners are demanding that clothing giants stop selling sandblasted jeans, a process linked to deadly occupational lung diseases. At a press conference in Istanbul last week, the Solidarity Committee of Denim Sandblasting Labourers of Turkey and the Clean Clothes Campaign, supported by dozens of trade unions and labour rights organisations, also called on governments to consider a ban on sandblasted products.
Solidarity Committee of Denim Sandblasting Labourers of Turkey website and the Clean Clothes Campaign appeal • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: Workers firing fear over being ill
Sick workers are increasingly reluctant to take time off for fear of being sacked or made redundant, a survey has found. The poll of union reps and safety reps carried out by the Labour Research Department (LRD) in October 2010 found recent changes in workplace sickness absence and sick pay procedures introduced by many employers had been “designed to make sickness procedures tighter and in some instances, potentially harsher in operation.”
LRD news release • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: Medical rehabilitation services ‘patchy’
Government plans to see more sick or injured people backing in work could be undermined by a ‘patchy’ provision of medical rehabilitation services, a report from medical experts suggests. The report from the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and the British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine (BSRM) is critical of current practices which are “often too focused on clearing beds at the expense of supporting a fully staffed acute rehabilitation service as part of the early continuum of care.”
RCP news release • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: TUC welcomes work capability changes
A government commitment to remedy flaws in its work capability assessments (WCA) has been welcomed by the TUC. Problems identified by unions and disability rights advocates in the operation of the system, which has seen people with debilitating and chronic illnesses wrongly told they are fit for work, were confirmed by the government commissioned Harrington Review of WCA.
DWP news release • TUC news release • The Harrington Review and the government’s response • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: Rolls Royce coolant caused rash
Rolls Royce has agreed to pay £5,500 compensation to an employee who developed painful dermatitis after he was exposed to a corrosive coolant at work. The 42-year-old Unite member, identified by his lawyers as Mr Pattison, was exposed to the coolant while working as a turner on aircraft turbines.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

India: Fight goes on for silicosis victims
Jodhpur mine workers, supported by the Rajasthan State Mine Labour Union, have given a district magistrate 10 days to agree a claim for the compensation before they embark on a programme of action. In January the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) directed the state government to look into the issue and provide silicosis victims a suitable compensation.
Times of India • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

Britain: Happiness index ridiculed by unions
Trade unions have rounded on government plans for a 'happiness' index. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber commented: “In reality this is little more than a gimmick,” adding: “Instead, under the current government, working people face growing job insecurity, rising prices, less protection in the workplace and far greater uncertainty.”
Unite release • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

China: Dust diseases blight coal mines
Lung diseases caused by coal dust in China’s notoriously hazardous mines are killing far more miners than accidents. More than 6,000 coal miners die each year as a result of ‘black lung’, a lung scarring caused by dust inhalation, with almost 10 times this number diagnosed with the disease each year.
People’s Daily • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

]USA: Who cares about black lung deaths?
Three coal miners in the US die daily - and needlessly - from black lung disease; over 1,000 coal miners perish every year. And a University of California in Santa Barbara found the industry is not picking up the tab, with the multibillion dollar cost of a government black lung compensation scheme not showing up on the utility bill, but paid for by consumers nonetheless.
Common Dreams • Charleston Gazette • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Global: Work chemicals linked to male breast cancer
Common workplace chemicals have been linked to an increased risk of male breast cancer. The research, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, found male breast cancer incidence was particularly increased in motor vehicle mechanics, who were twice as likely to develop the disease.
Sara Villeneuve, Diane Cyr, Elsebeth Lynge and others. Occupation and occupational exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals in male breast cancer: a case–control study in Europe, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 67, pages 837-844, 2010 [abstract] • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: Unions welcome Sellafield body parts report
The government has apologised to the families of dead nuclear workers whose body parts were taken for testing without their knowledge. The Redfern Inquiry was ordered when it emerged in 2007 that organs were taken from 65 workers at Sellafield in Cumbria between 1962 and 1992.
The Redfern Inquiry • Prospect news release • GMB news release • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: Fit notes are not working
The system of GP-issued “fit notes” introduced on 6 April is not working, a survey had found. The fourth annual ‘Health of the workplace’ report from Aviva, which surveyed GPs, employers and workers, found almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of the 200 GPs questioned felt “ill-equipped” to provide fit notes, up 1 per cent on last year’s survey figure, prior to the introduction of fit notes.
Aviva news release and fit note findings • Pulse• Preparing for the new fit note: guidance for union representatives, TUC, February 2010 [pdf] • TUC sickness absence webpages • Hazards ‘Fit for purpose’ guide • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Teacher gets record voice loss payout
An adult education teacher has received a six figure payout for occupational voice loss, after management tried to dismiss her concerns as ‘an occupational hazard for all teachers’.  Joyce Walters, 50, said she was speaking out because she doesn’t want others to go through the same “devastating” experiences.
Voice lessons, Hazards special report, November 2010. Hazards voice loss webpages. Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Most found fit in benefits clampdown
Over threequarters of people applying for the new Employment and Support Allowance programme (ESA) are being found fit for work after undergoing the Work Capability Assessment, or stop their claim before they complete their medical assessment, according to new official statistics. However TUC warned last week that the government was forcing many disabled and sick people on to jobseekers' allowance (JSA) despite evidence they are unfit to work.
DWP news release and Employment and Support Allowance: Work Capability Assessments statistics • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: Sick being forced to job hunt
The government is cutting costs by forcing many disabled and sick people on to jobseekers' allowance (JSA) despite evidence that they are unfit to work, the TUC has warned.
TUC news release. Morning Star • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010  

Britain: Hospital guilty for worker’s Hepatitis C
A healthcare worker at a Worcestershire hospital contracted the Hepatitis C virus after injuring herself on a needle used to take blood from an infected patient. During the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust over the February 2007 incident, City Magistrates heard the worker, who had been training at the Trust for three weeks, was instructed to take blood from a patient she had not been told was infected with the virus.
HSE news release and the relevant COSHH regulation • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Britain: Fit to work benefit checks rolled out
Incapacity benefit claimants in north-east Scotland and Burnley are to be the first to be reassessed systematically ahead of UK-wide welfare reform. Those deemed fit enough to work, using a points-based “work capability assessment” system, will be moved to the jobseeker's allowance.
DWP news release • TUC news release • BBC News Online • Morning Star • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

USA: Sick leave off the menu for serving staff
Restaurant staff in the US are being forced to work when sick and are under so much pressure they regularly put their own health and that of customers at risk, a study has found. Almost two-thirds of restaurant employees have cooked or served food while sick, largely because 87.8 per cent of those workers have no paid sick days, according to ‘Serving while sick’.
Serving while sick, ROC United, September 2010 [pdf] • Restaurant Opportunities Center United • Working In These Times • Los Angeles Times • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

USA: Noisy work doubles heart disease risk
A persistently noisy workplace more than doubles an employee’s risk of serious heart disease, a new study has found. Workers in persistently noisy workplaces were between two to three times as likely to have serious heart problems as their peers in quiet workplaces;  workers under 50 were between three and four times as likely to have angina or coronary artery disease or to have had a heart attack.
Wen Qi Gan, Hugh W Davies and Paul A Demers. Exposure to occupational noise and cardiovascular disease in the United States: the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2004, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Online First 5 October 2010; doi 10.1136/oem.055269 [abstract] • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Britain: Cancer sufferer gets unfair dismissal payout
A Welsh breast cancer patient has been awarded more than £100,000 compensation after she was unfairly dismissed when her performance dipped. Sally-Ann Burke, 54, was treated unfairly because of her disability from the illness which left her “tired and forgetful”, an Abergele Employment Tribunal found.
Daily Post • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Britain: Chancellor hits injury and disease victims
A ‘benefits cap’ announced by the Chancellor will target workers suffering work-related ill-health and injuries. The benefits limit will include consideration of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) payment, a Treasury news release confirmed this week, despite the benefit being created as a non-means tested payment intended to compensate workers for industrial diseases and injuries.
TUC Touchstone blog and related posting • Treasury news release • BBC News Online • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Benefit assessments ‘too rushed’ say medics
Sick workers are falling foul of rushed medicals to determine eligibility for benefits, the union Prospect has warned. It says the medical personnel responsible for assessing benefit claimants’ capability to work, on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions, are not allocated sufficient time to assess complex cases such as those coping with multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease.
Prospect news release • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

India: Hunger striking silicosis widows fight on
A hunger strike by silicosis widows has forced a district official to make a compensation gesture of 100,000 rupees (£1,400) for each victim. The move came after the women, who are backed by a mining union and the Mine Labour Peoples' Campaign (MLPC), protested for three days last week.
Times of India and earlier story • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Global: Denim workers fear silica ban won’t work
This month’s decision by Levi Strauss and H&M to ban the use of a deadly process using silica to sandblast jeans, will not end the practice because many manufacturers will continue the practice in poorer nations. Professor Zeki Kılıçaslan, a chest physician at Istanbul University, said: “These denim workers, unaware of the risks, sandblast between 2,000 and 3,000 items of clothing a day over 12 hours,” noting that some workers were continually exposed to the danger as a result of sleeping in their workshops.
Hürriyet Daily News • Treehugger • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Australia: Migrant victims of cut-price industry
Myung Yeol Hwang, a tiler from South Korea, died on 27 August, the day after he walked into the Sydney office of the country's biggest construction union, destitute and in dire need of medical help. CFMEWU hurriedly arranged an Immigration Department meeting to try to get the sick man a bridging visa and some medical treatment the next morning, but the 51-year-old died before he could make it to those meetings.
Sydney Morning Herald • ABC News • Brisbane Times • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: Hospital staff penalised for going sick
Staff at Manchester hospitals who take more than an agreed number of days off sick are to lose out on annual pay rises. In a move against which UNISON says it will make a legal challenge, Central Manchester University Hospitals Trust will refuse rises to workers who have taken more than 18 days off sick or had four separate sick absences.
UNISON news release • BBC news release • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Ferry boss flounders over 'fat' jibe
Unions have criticised ‘slanderous’ comments made by the boss of ferry giant Stena Line after he said British workers were “fat” and not fit for the job. Stena Line North Sea director Pim de Lange’s comments appeared in a Dutch newspaper, where he was quoted as saying it was hard to find seafarers in the UK “unless you want types with fat bellies and covered with tattoos’. 
Nautilus news release • BBC News Online • Daily Mirror • Sky News • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: Pensions move will hurt manual workers
Manual workers will suffer serious disadvantage as a result of an upward shift in the retirement age, UCATT has warned. The construction union was commenting after new figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed manual workers were more than twice as likely as professional workers to die before they reach 65 years of age.
UCATT news release • Office for National Statistics • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Britain: Asthma risk in motor repair
Car bodyshop workers are still at risk of occupational asthma from spray paints, according to a new Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report. A probe into the use of two-pack paints containing isocyanates in the trade identified there are still a number of areas of concern, with HSE estimates that vehicle spray painters are 80 times more likely to develop occupational asthma than the average worker in the UK.
HSE news release and vehicle repair asthma webpages • Determining current health and safety practices, awareness of HSE initiatives and economic trends in relation to isocyanate paint use in the motor vehicle repair sector, Research Report 802, HSE [pdf] • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

USA: Record payout for popcorn lung
A jury in Chicago has awarded a $30.4 million payout to a Flavorchem Corp worker disabled by exposure to diacetyl, a chemical used in butter flavouring found in products from popcorn to cakes, sweets and butter substitutes. The verdict awarded to Gerardo Solis, 45, and against BASF Corp, a supplier of diacetyl and the world’s largest chemical company, is the highest to date in popcorn and butter-flavouring worker lawsuits in the US.
Joplin Globe • Business Insurance • Popcorn lung in the UK • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Security concerns at bio-terror move
The proposed relocation of a key government bio-terror research centre could increase security risks, a union has warned. A Unite survey of Health Protection Agency (HPA) staff at the Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response (CEPR) at Porton Down found staff have “serious concerns” and believe a transfer could lessen security at the centre.
Unite news release • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Pre-employment medicals ruled out
The use of pre-employment medicals to weed out applicants on health grounds is to become illegal. Changes introduced under the Equality Act 2010 and that take effect from October 2010 mean prospective employers cannot ask health questions of applicants “until the applicant has been able to successfully pass an interview, or some other assessment, to show that they meet some of the non-health requirements of the job,” says a TUC briefing.
Equality Act 2010: A TUC briefing for affiliates [pdf] • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Benefits change forces most back to work
A controversial new system for assessing whether the sick and disabled are capable of working has seen more than threequarters of benefit claimants either told to get a job or abandoning their claim, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) figures show.
DWP news release • The Independent • Risks 467 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Controversy over fitness to work tests
Iain Duncan Smith has denied reports that ministers are considering trebling ‘fitness to work’ tests on people claiming incapacity benefit. The work and pensions secretary said the government has at the moment “absolutely no intention” of changing the 10,000 a week rate begun under Labour.
The Guardian • BBC News Online • Personnel Today • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Enforcement bad on safety, terrible on health
Enforcement action by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has plummeted on almost all major indicators, the watchdog’s board has been told. The report to the HSE board suggests prosecutions on health issues are especially rare – an HSE guesstimate indicates they are outnumbered 7-to-1 by safety prosecutions - despite work-related diseases outnumbering officially reported workplace injuries by five to one.
Review of enforcement by FOD, paper to the HSE board, 30 June 2010 [pdf] • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Son of Workplace Health Connect flops
An attempt to tweak a failed official initiative to provide health and safety advice to smaller, non-union firms has also been an expensive flop. “The government should accept roving union safety reps are the answer to improved safety in smaller firms, rather than unworkable, unwanted advisory services,” commented Hazards magazine’s Jawad Qasrawi.
Healthy workplaces Milton Keynes pilot: Evaluation findings, HSE research report RR809, June 2010 [pdf] • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

USA: Roofers face work-related early retirement
A combination of poor health and musculoskeletal disorders is forcing roofers into early retirement, a new study has found. The study of 979 roofers between the ages of 40 and 59 found that 10 per cent left the roofing trade within a year, and of those leaving, 60 per cent left their job due to chronic pain, work-related musculoskeletal disorders and poor health.
CPWR news release [pdf] • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Workers creaking under the strain
British workers are suffering physical pain as well as stress from working long hours, not taking lunch breaks and going to work when they are sick, research carried out for the physios’ union CSP has found. A survey commissioned by CSP found a quarter of people regularly work all day without taking a break, and more than half said they often go to work when they are stressed or physically unwell.
CSP news release • BBC News Online • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Wide social inequalities in work cancers
The occupational cancer burden in the UK has been consistently under-estimated and is concentrated almost entirely in certain social classes, a new study shows.
SOM meeting. Lesley Rushton and others. Occupational and cancer in Britain, British Journal of Cancer, volume 102, pages 1428–1437, 2010 [abstract]. Related HSE report: The burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain, research report 800, HSE, 2010 [pdf] • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Vibration disease costs stonemason his job
A stonemason has been forced to give up his specialist trade after his hands were left permanently damaged by using vibrating tools at work. The 46-year-old from Tadcaster, whose name has not been released, has received £56,000 in compensation after being left with the debilitating condition Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), caused by using vibrating tools on a daily basis in his job as a stonemason for a Yorkshire company.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Warning on ‘heavy-handed’ welfare plans
More support and not more penalties is what are needed to get the workless into work, unions, safety professionals and poverty campaigners have told the government. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Unions will support measures to help unemployed and disabled people into work but there is no excuse for such a heavy handed, punitive approach.”
DWP news release • Iain Duncan Smith’s speech • The State of the Nation: Poverty, worklessness and welfare dependency in the in the UK • TUC news release • PCS news release • IOSH news release • CPAG news release • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Not quite the right fit note
A new healthy work guide to assist GPs in fitness for work assessments skirts the issue of curing the unhealthy jobs that make many workers sick in the first place. The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is behind Healthy Working UK, a website it says will provide GPs and other healthcare professionals with information, training and decision aids concerning the relationship between work and health.
RCGP news release • RCGP Healthy Working UK website • Fit for purpose, Hazards, Number 110, 2010 • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: RAF painter disabled by solvents
A services painter who was left with a devastating degenerative neurological condition after he was exposed to dangerous toxins while working in ‘Victorian conditions’ has won his 17-year battle for compensation. Shaun Wood, 52, was diagnosed with Multiple System Atrophy-P (MSAP), a Parkinson’s type condition which affects the nervous system, after exposure to a cocktail of solvents as a painter and finisher at RAF sites across the world.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

USA: Blood lead levels tied to nerve disease
A study has strenghtened evidence linking long-term lead exposure to the risk of developing the fatal neurological condition amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease. The study found a doubling of blood lead levels led to a near doubling of the chances of developing ALS.
F Fang and others. Association between blood lead and the risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, American Journal of Epidemiology, volume 171, Number 10, pages 1126-33, 2010 • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: The sick are more likely to be in work
Workers are more likely to trail into work when sick than to take the day off, new research has shown. The study by The Work Foundation examined why employees attend work when unwell, with the think tank saying it also addresses a gap in UK data on sickness presence.
The Work Foundation News release • Why do employees come to work when ill? An investigation into sickness presence in the workplace, The Work Foundation, April 2010 • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: Disability and health and safety
The Health and Safety Executive is urging employers, unions and union reps to make better use of its guidance on disability and health and safety. The guide, which is available online, “promotes good practice in disability equality at work and health and safety risk assessment.”
Health and safety for disabled people and their employers, HSE [pdf] • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: Factory oils caused worker’s asthma
A factory worker has received £32,000 compensation after he developed asthma as a result of exposure to dangerous fumes for over three years. The 49-year-old Unite member from Bolton, who name has not been released, was diagnosed with occupational asthma after he was exposed to a mix of hydraulic oil and coolant mist at Edbro Plc in Lancashire.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

USA: Judge rejects Ground Zero dust deal
A US judge says a proposed $657m (£437m) compensation deal for people who developed health problems after working at New York's Ground Zero following the 9/11 terror attacks is too small. Some 10,000 rescue workers and police officers are suing New York City, saying they suffered health problems working in the dust and debris.
NY Daily News • National Law Journal • BBC News Online • The Guardian • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Britain: Irritable bowel syndrome caused by bad shifts
Bad shift patterns can cause classic symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a study of nurses has found. Researchers from the University of Michigan Medical School
conclude that “practising gastroenterologists should be aware of this association and educate patients with IBS on the possible impact of their work schedule on their symptoms.”
University of Michigan news release. Borko Nojkov, Joel H Rubenstein, William D Chey, Willemijntje A Hoogerwerf. The impact of rotating shift work on the prevalence of Irritable Bowel Syndrome in nurses, American Journal of Gastroenterology, 2010; DOI: 10.1038/ajg.2010.48 [abstract] • Emaxhealth.com • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Britain: Sick and dying are told they are fit for work
The revised system for assessing whether or not the sick and disabled are capable of working is flawed and is wrongly finding seriously ill people fit for work, according to Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) research.
CAB news release and full report, Not working - CAB evidence on the ESA Work Capability Assessment • The Guardian • Personnel Today • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

USA: Dust disease settlement for 9/11 workers
 New York City officials have agreed to pay up to US$657.5m (£437m) to thousands of rescue and clean-up workers after 9/11. The settlement would compensate more than 10,000 plaintiffs who say they were made sick by dust at the Ground Zero site of the attacks.
Representative Marilyn B Maloney news release • NYC Mayor Bloomberg news release • New York Times • BBC News Online • NYCOSH news release and  9/11 advice webpages • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Changing the job is best for backs
Action to change the workplace is necessary to secure an early return to work for people with chronic low back pain. A study published online this week in the British Medical Journal concludes those receiving a programme of integrated care, directed at both the patient and the workplace, return to work on average four months earlier than those receiving usual care.
Ludeke C Lambeek and others. Randomised controlled trial of integrated care to reduce disability from chronic low back pain in working and private life, British Medical Journal, volume 340:c1035, published online 17 March 2010. doi:10.1136/bmj.c1035 [abstract] • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Business told to make it quieter
An initiative has been launched to encourage manufacturers to make quieter machinery and businesses to use it, in a bid to reduce noise-related ill health in the workplace. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says its 'Buy Quiet' campaign is about getting everyone with an interest - manufacturers, suppliers, employers, unions, insurers and consultants - looking at what they can do to reduce the risk.
HSE news release and noise webpages • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: TUC lays down ‘good work’ challenge
The TUC is challenging the government and employers to ensure that workplaces don’t just prevent staff from becoming ill, but actively promote good health and well-being through ‘good work’. ‘In sickness and in health?’, argues that around one-third of our waking hours are spent at work, and that our working lives help to define who we are, where and how well we live, and even how long we live.
TUC news release • In sickness or in health?, TUC, March 2010 [pdf] • TUC Touchstone pamphlets • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

USA: The true cost of a valentine's gift
The US National Labor Committee launched a campaign for St Valentine's Day to protest about the death of over 2,000 India workers, including children who have contracted silicosis while grinding gemstones-heart shaped agate pendants and ornaments, earrings, bracelets for export to countries like the United States.
Youtube video • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: TUC issues fit note guide to union reps
At the same time as the government launched its guidance for employers on the new 'fit note' arrangements, the TUC published advice to unions and workplace representatives on how to prepare for the changes. The guide says the key to ensuring that workers are not forced back to work early, or on reduced pay, is for them to have proper union representation and access to grievance procedures.
TUC guidance • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: TUC issues warning on new fit notes
The TUC has warned employers against using the introduction of a new medical statement or 'fit note' to try to force workers back to work before they are ready. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said “if employers see the changes as a green light to force workers back to work before they are well enough to return, in the long run, it will only lead to increased sickness absence and unnecessary conflict.”
TUC press notice • DWP guidance • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: Stonemasons suffer long-term lung damage
A York-based company of stonemasons William Anelay Limited, of York, was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £6,000 by York Crown Court after pleading guilty of breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The court heard that two employees, who had been working for the company as stonemasons for many years, fell ill after being exposed to uncontrolled levels of respirable crystalline silica, which is caused primarily by dry stone carving without extraction ventilation or use of protective equipment.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Britain: Company fined for poisoning its workers
A recycling company and its director have been fined a total of £145,000 for exposing workers to toxic mercury fumes at a site in Huddersfield. Electrical Waste Recycling Group Ltd recycles electrical equipment, including fluorescent light tubes containing mercury and TV sets and monitors containing lead at a plant in School Lane, Kirkheaton.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • 13 February 2010

Britain: Doctors won’t decide on fitness to work
The new fit note will not give doctors the option to deem a patient “fit for work”, only whether they may be fit for some work, the government has indicated. The final decision will instead be a matter for the employee and the employer under the new system, due to come into force on 6 April.
Reforming the Medical Statement:  Government response to the consultation on draft regulations: The Social Security (Medical Evidence) and the Statutory Sick Pay (Medical Evidence) (Amendment) Regulations 2010, DWP, January 2010 [pdf]. Personnel Today • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Britain: Campaigners point to true work toll
Union-backed workplace justice and safety groups have said the government’s formal recognition of Workers’ Memorial Day should be backed up with a new system of official statistics to recognise that tens of thousands, not hundreds, are killed by work every year. Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) and the Hazards Campaign say the real toll demonstrates why there needs to be a renewed government emphasis on health and safety enforcement.
FACK news release • Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

China: Work diseases emerge from the shadows
The Southern People Weekly magazine this month listed Zhang Haichao, a 28-year-old rural resident of Henan Province, as a mover and shaker in Chinese society. Zhang became famous after receiving an open-chest operation in July 2009. This attracted intense public attention not because the procedure treated an exotic disease, but because it put the fate of victims of occupational diseases in the spotlight.
Beijing Review • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

India: Agate workers get silicosis, not compo
Thousands of agate polishers in Gujarat are getting a deadly occupational disease – but missing out on compensation because they work in their own homes. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the state government to speed up the compensation process for silicosis victims in what is typically a cottage industry.
Indian Express • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

New Zealand: Unions welcome poisonings probe
The Maritime Union of New Zealand has welcomed new research on nerve disease and the toxic fumigant methyl bromide. Concerns were raised after port workers exposed to the gas developed Motor Neurone disease, with one port town having a rate of the disease 25 times the national average.
Maritime Union news release • TVNZ • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: Lords seek pre-employment health check ban
The use of pre-employment health checks could be made illegal if a Lords amendment to the Equality Bill becomes law. This week, the House of Lords introduced the ground-breaking clause into the Equality Bill that would, for the first time, prevent employers asking candidates questions about their health that are unrelated to the job role.
House of Lords debate, Hansard, 19 January 2009 • Personnel Today • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: Workers 'robbed of life and compensation'
Victims of industrial diseases are being denied their full payments, as benefits are clawed back, according to an article in the Independent. Campaigners have told the paper that victims of industrial diseases such as the asbestos cancer mesothelioma are being “robbed” of government compensation because of an “unjust and indefensible” loophole in the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) scheme.
The Independent • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Is your OHS OK?
You might feel lucky to be covered by an occupational health service when you go to work, but is the system really up to scratch? Well, now you can check as the UK has introduced the first ever OHS performance standards.
FOM news release • Standards for Accreditation for Occupational Health Services [pdf] • Hazards guide to getting the most out of your occupational health services • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Egypt: TB-infected workers are abandoned
Workers in Egypt with tuberculosis (TB) are being left to fend for themselves, campaigners have warned. Mohamed al-Asmaie, head of Friends of the Environment, a local NGO campaigning on behalf of TB patients, said when many Egyptian workers become sick with TB, instead of receiving treatment in hospitals, they are laid off and have to fend for themselves.
IRIN News • Risks 438 • 9 January 2009

Global: Q fever outbreaks on two continents
Outbreaks on two continents of the occupational disease Q fever have highlighted a common but underestimated risk of animal handling. Two cases have occurred in Australian laboratory workers and the Dutch government last month ordered a cull of tens of thousands of goats in a bid to stop an outbreak of the disease, which has killed 10 workers since 2007.
BBC News Online • Herald Sun • Sydney Morning Herald • Risks 438 • 9 January 2009

Britain: Waste and recycling is a sick industry
Workers in the UK waste and recycling industry have much higher sickness rates than other local authority workers, research by a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) agency has found. A report from The Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) found the sector recorded more days off work than other departments within local government but also found record keeping was inconsistent and inadequate, so data “failed to accurately capture the reasons for absence”.
Review of sickness absence data in the waste and recycling industry, HSE research report 750 [pdf] • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 438 • 9 January 2009

China: Sick migrants demand surgical proof
Thirteen migrant workers from Yunnan in China have applied to have open-chest surgery to prove their lungs have been damaged by dust. The workers are following the lead of Zhang Haichao, who famously underwent open-chest surgery to prove he was suffering from pneumoconiosis, China Labour Bulletin reports.
China Labour Bulletin • Risks 437 • 19 December 2009

Britain: Small businesses get mental health advice
The government is providing a network of specialist coordinators and dedicated advice lines for small businesses as part of an overhaul of support for people with mental health problems. The new support includes mental health coordinators in every Jobcentre Plus district and nine occupational health advice line pilots.
DWP news release • NASUWT news release • Risks 436 • 12 December 2009

Britain: TUC guide to medical confidentiality
The TUC has published an online guide to confidentiality and medical reports. TUC says it “is important that employees know their rights to access to the information contained in any report” and provides guidance on good practice and on dealing effectively with any concerns raised.
TUC briefing document • Risk 435 • 5 December 2009

Britain: Prevention the cure for NHS staff
The government has accepted in full recommendations from an independent report into the health and well-being of NHS staff. It says implementing the measures called for by the Boorman report will help the NHS save up to £555 million a year and save up to 3.4 million working days – the equivalent to 14,900 extra staff.
DH news release • Risks 434 • 28 November 2009

Global: Unfair workplaces can kill you
Male workers are two to five times more likely to suffer a heart attack or die from heart disease if they suppress their frustration about unfairness at work, a Swedish study has found. The research found that those who expressed their frustration quickly were much healthier than those who suffered in silence.
Constanze Leineweber and others. Covert coping with unfair treatment at work and risk of incident myocardial infarction and cardiac death among men: Prospective cohort study, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, Published online first 24 November 2009. doi:10.1136/jech.2009.088880 [abstract] • The Independent. BBC News Online • ABC News • Risks 434 • 28 November 2009

Britain: Employers keen but clueless on ‘good jobs’
Employers accept the benefits of ‘good jobs’ but don’t have much idea about how to create them, a new report from The Work Foundation suggests. Stephen Bevan, managing director of The Work Foundation, said: “Employers grasp the link between staff well-being and how it can affect productivity, “adding: “What is missing is how to deliver this.”
The Work Foundation news release • Personnel Today • Risks 434 • 28 November 2009

Britain: Tool use caused hand injuries
A retired power station worker has received a £15,000 payout after his hands were left permanently damaged by using vibrating tools at work. Unite member David Hopps, 65, from Doncaster was left with the debilitating condition Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), also known as vibration white finger, after using vibrating tools in his job at Drax Power Station.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 434 • 28 November 2009

Britain: College lecturer deafened by work
A college lecturer has been left with permanent damage to his hearing after being exposed to excessive noise at work. UCU member Malcolm Hipkin, 65, received undisclosed damages after he was diagnosed with noise-induced deafness and tinnitus.
UCU news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 433 • 21 November 2009

Factory worker gets asthma payout
A factory worker has received £20,000 compensation after she developed asthma within weeks of being exposed to dangerous fumes. The 42-year-old, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with occupational asthma after she was exposed to soldering fumes at Turbo Power Systems Limited, Gateshead.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 432 • 14 November 2009

Britain: Machine noise caused deafness
A 52 year old engineering worker who is suffering two debilitating health conditions caused by noise exposures at work has received a “substantial” compensation award. Unite member Paul Harvey, 52, has to wear a hearing aid and suffers from tinnitus following exposure to excessive noise while working for Avon Vibration Management Systems in Chippenham.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 432 • 14 November 2009

Britain: Docs say fit notes plan is ‘unrealistic’
Government plans to introduce GP ‘fit notes’ instead of sick notes may be unrealistic, say researchers. A survey of 440 GPs in Nottinghamshire found few currently took any responsibility for managing the work issues of patients with back problems.
Carol Coole, Paul J Watson, and Avril Drummond. Work problems due to low back pain: what do GPs do? A questionnaire survey, Family Practice Advance Access, published on 26 October 2009, doi:10.1093/fampra/cmp074 [Abstract] • BBC News Online • Risks 431 • 7 November 2009

USA: Giant quilt pictures work’s pain
Hotel housekeepers undertook a seven-city tour in October with a gigantic “hope quilt” providing a craft-y depiction of injuries caused by their work. They say the Hope for Housekeepers tour is also a symbol of their determination to rally union and non-union hotel housekeepers against harsh working conditions and workplace injuries.
Labor Notes • UniteHere ‘Hope’ campaign • Risks 430 • 31 October 2009

Teachers use voice-saving headsets
Thousands of teachers are using pop star-style headsets in lessons to help protect their voices. The equipment, linked to speakers around the classroom, not only prevents hoarseness but is said to help pupils to hear better and learn more.
Daily Mail • Voice Care Network UK • Hazards voice loss webpages • Risks 430 • 31 October 2009

Britain: Made deaf by work in middle-age
A welder who was exposed to dangerous levels of noise is suffering occupational deafness aged just 46. GMB member John Walton, 46, worked for British Steel Corporation, now known as Corus, from 1978 to 1983, Darchem Projects Limited from 1985 to 1987 and Turbros Engineering from 1987 to 2007.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 430 • 31 October 2009

USA: Good jobs are good for you
Good jobs are good for workers and good for firms, a study has concluded. The New York-based Families and Work Institute found nearly 40 per cent of employees in a highly “effective’’ workplace - where people are trusted and supported - report being in excellent health, double the number of those who say they’re in the best health at less effective companies.
Families and Work Institute news release • Boston Globe • Risks 429 • 24 October 2009

Europe: Health and safety of cleaning workers
‘The occupational health and safety of cleaning workers’, a literature review from the Bilbao-based European Agency (EU-OSHA), “provides an overview of the most important issues related to occupational safety and health (OSH) for cleaning workers in terms of working conditions, risks and prevalence of exposures and health outcomes, and identifies information gaps and challenges.”
EU-OSHA publication notice • The occupational health and safety of cleaning workers, EU-OSHA, October 2009 • Risks 429 • 24 October 2009

Britain: Railway worker suffers vibration injury
A member of the rail union RMT has received £10,000 in compensation after his hands were permanently damaged by prolonged use of vibrating tools. The 50-year-old track worker from Sheffield, whose name has not been released, was left with the debilitating condition Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) as a result of his work for Jarvis Rail and other companies since 1978.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 429 • 24 October 2009

Cambodia: Hundreds sickened in garment factory
More than 500 workers at a Phnom Penh garment factory collapsed on 12 October after they were exposed to a chemical spray. Chea Mony, president of the Free Trade Union of the Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia, said staff at the Willbes Cambodia Ltd factory in Dagkor province were overcome because the air was filled with “an unbearable chemical smell.”
Phnom Penh Post • Risks 428 • 17 October 2009

USA: Dangerous speed up in meatpacking
Four years after a government report found slaughterhouse workers in the US faced more than double the injury rate of manufacturing as a whole, a new survey suggests conditions have deteriorated still further. Almost threequarters (73 per cent) of the Nebraska meatpacking workers surveyed stated that the speed of the line had increased in the past year and more than six out of 10 (62 per cent) said they had been injured in the past year.
Working In These Times • ‘The Speed Kills You’: The voice of Nebraska’s meatpacking workers’, Nebraska Appleseed, October 2009 [pdf] • Risks 428 • 17 October 2009

Britain: Firm exposed workers to asthma risk
A Gateshead company has been fined after exposing its workers to hazardous soldering fumes. Turbo Power Systems Ltd was fined £3,000 last week at Gateshead Magistrates’ Court and ordered to pay £3,000 costs after it pleaded guilty to three breaches of health and safety legislation.
HSE news release • Risks 428 • 17 October 2009

Britain: GPs don’t want ‘fit notes’ role
Less than 10 per cent of London GPs feel confident that they could operate the new style ‘fit notes’ system the government proposes to introduce in the spring of 2010. Londonwide LMCs, the organisation representing over 6,000 family doctors in the capital, says a “staggering” 96 per cent of GPs have received no training regarding the new ‘fit note’ system and nearly threequarters do not think that the new system will be manageable in terms of both time and resources.
Londonwide LMCs news release • Evening Standard • Risks 428 • 17 October 2009

USA: Biotech health risks cause concern
The mother of a worker who believes his health was ruined as a result of working in California’s cutting edge biotech industry has expressed her anger at the refusal by the firm’s health insurers to pay his medical bills. Sandi Trend's son, David Bell, was sickened at the Davis based company AgraQuest.
Blip TV - labor Video Project • Biotechnology Awareness webpages on David Bell • PEN news item • Risks 427 • 10 October 2009

Finland: You are making my brain hurt
Companies are showing a baffling disregard for the impact of work on their employees’ minds, a top brain researcher has said. Professor Kiti Müller, the director of the Brain and Work Research Centre at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, said the problem is compounded by the absence of any way to measure objectively and reliably the overall “brain load” level.
Trade Union News from Finland • The Brain and Work Research Centre and How much load can the brain take? presentation [pdf] • Risks 427 • 10 October 2009

Britain: Arthritis should not stop work
Employer support is a key factor in helping workers with arthritis to keep their jobs, new research has found. A survey by UK charity Arthritis Care found where bosses fail to offer supports like flexible working and an accessible environment, employees with arthritis are more likely to end up leaving their jobs.
Arthritis Care news release and employer pledge • Risks 427 • 10 October 2009

Britain: Presenteeism harms employee health
UK workers are so terrified of losing their jobs in this recession they are working while sick, a new study has found. According to those surveyed as part of Simplyhealth's Bothered Britain Report, 43 per cent of people living in Britain haven't taken any days off in the last 12 months, up from 36 per cent in 2008.
Simplyhealth news release and Bothered Britain report • Personnel Today • Risks 426 • 4 October 2009

Britain: Take notice of dermatitis risks or pay
An NHS Trust has been fined for ignoring official notices calling requiring it to sort out dermatitis risks in a hospital. The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust was fined £6,500 and ordered to pay £4,500 in court costs after pleading guilty to two health and safety charges at Harlow Magistrates’ Court for failing to remedy risks posed by latex exposure and for not reporting a case of latex dermatitis.  
HSE news release • Harlow Herald • Risks 426 • 4 October 2009

Europe: More than 1 in 11 are damaged by work
More than 1 in every 11 workers in the European Union has suffered a work-related health problem in the last year, according to official research. The extent of the problem was revealed after the 2007 European Union (EU) Labour Force Survey included a module on work accidents and work-related health problems.
HESA news report • Eurostat Statistics in focus, 63/2009 [pdf] • Risks 423 • 12 September 2009

Global: Deadly lung disease in denim factories
Migrant workers formerly employed in Turkey’s textile and garment industry may have contracted silicosis from sandblasting denim in factories that lacked basic protective measures. The warning comes from ITGLWF, the global union for the textile and clothing industry.
ITGLWF news release • Risks 423 • 12 September 2009

India: Tea workers dying for safe water
On 4 September, Sukesh Munda of Joy Birpara Tea Estate died from a gut infection. This brought the number of deaths from the enteric disease, related to the provision of unsafe drinking water at work, to four in a one-week period, with hundreds now affected.
IUF news release and YouTube video report • Risks 423 • 12 September 2009

Britain: Workers not using swine flu excuse
The TUC has said a business study has disproved claims that workers are taking swine flu sickies. The union body was commenting after research by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) found most companies in Britain have not been affected by swine flu.
The Guardian • TUC pandemic flu guide • 5 September 2009

Malawi: Tobacco plantations poison child workers
Almost 100,000 children who toil on Malawian tobacco estates for up to 12 hours a day are exposed to “extremely high levels of nicotine poisoning,” according to a report released by a children's rights group. London-based Plan International's ‘Hard work, little pay and long hours’ study found that labourers as young as five suffer severe symptoms from absorbing “up to 54 milligrams a day of dissolved nicotine through their skin,” the equivalent of 50 cigarettes a day.
Plan International news release • Hard work, little pay and long hours’ report [pdf] • Morning Star • The Guardian • Risks 421 • 29 August 2009

Britain: Farmer dies after being stung by wasps
A farmer died last week after being repeatedly stung by a swarm of wasps while working on his farm. Mark Evison, 47, had been clearing a dyke on farmland in Ellerker, near South Cave, East Yorkshire, when he disturbed a wasps' nest.
The Independent • BBC News Online • Risks 421 • 29 August 2009

Global: Deaths raise concerns over nano safety
Seven cases of occupational disease, two of them fatal, have been linked to nanomaterial exposures at work. A study published last week in the European Respiratory Journal reports the seven women employees at a Chinese factory suffered shortness of breath, fluid in the lungs and around the heart, non-specific inflammation of lung tissue, and fibrosis in the lungs.
Y Song, X Li, X Du. Exposure to nanoparticles is related to pleural effusion, pulmonary fibrosis and granuloma, European Respiratory Journal, published online 20 August 2009 [abstract] • IOM news release • 2020 Science blog • SAFENANO commentary • The Pump Handle • Jennifer Sass’ NRDC blog • Nature • Risks 421 • 29 August 2009

Britain: Government reveals swine flu priorities
The priority groups who will be first in line for vaccination against swine flu will include pregnant women, frontline health and social care workers, and everyone in at-risk groups aged over six months, health secretary Andy Burnham has said.
DH news release  • CSP news release • CSP’s information paper Prevention and Control of Healthcare Associated Infections includes a section on swine flu. Updated TUC pandemic flu guide. HSE updated swine flu guidance • Risks 420 • 22 August 2009

Britain: Swine flu and schools (and everywhere else)
Teaching union NUT has produced commonsense advice on swine flu and schools. And TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson, commenting on the implications of swine flu for workers and employers across the board, has warned “too many employers simply were not being flexible enough and were insisting on certificates after seven days.”
NUT swine flu health and safety bulletin. Updated TUC pandemic flu guide • Risks 420 • 22 August 2009

USA: Most nuke worker disease claims refused
A US federal programme created to help sick nuclear weapons workers is improperly rejecting thousands of claims, a former top medic on the scheme has said.
Eugene Schwartz, who recently resigned, said many of the complaints that workers, advocates and lawmakers have levelled at the controversial programme are valid.
ProPublica • Risks 419 • 15 August 2009

Germany: Rail firm snooped on health records
The German rail operator Deutsche Bahn has admitted it secretly and illegally monitored the health records of some of its employees. Last week the company released a statement saying: “The Deutsche Bahn management has received indications that the group's security division collected employees’ illness-related information and circulated it within the group.”
Deutsche Welle • Risks 419 • 15 August 2009

Britain: Employers express fit note concerns
The majority of employers say well-being at remains a priority, according to new snapshot research, but they have outstanding concerns about the new fit note. Research undertaken with 50 employers found over half of those surveyed said that well-being was more important to them in the current financial climate, but that there was too little information on next year’s replacement for the sick note.
IES news release. C Tyers and R Martin. Is well-being still important at work? Employers’ views on recession, the new fit note and priorities for the year ahead, Opinion Paper OP17, Institute for Employment Studies, August 2009 • Risks 419 • 15 August 2009

Britain: Teachers a priority for flu jab
Teaching unions are calling for classroom staff to be a priority for the swine flu vaccine this autumn, because working with children puts them at risk. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has written to children’s secretary Ed Balls calling for school staff and pupils to be offered the jab as early as possible.
The Guardian • Risks 419 • 15 August 2009

China: Dust disease victims demand justice
In early July 2009, Zhang Haichao underwent voluntarily an operation to open up his chest in order to prove he was suffering from the fatal lung disease pneumoconiosis. And at the end of July, more than 100 workers from Daozi in Hunan, China, all suffering from pneumoconiosis, staged a mass sit-in outside the Shenzhen municipal government demanding occupational illness compensation after years of dust exposures in construction and related jobs.
China Labour Bulletin • Risks 418 • 8 August 2009

Britain/Global: Pandemic flu latest
The TUC guidance on pandemic flu has been updated again. Among the latest additions are advice on pregnant women, those with underlying health conditions and employers who try to get those who have been in contact with the virus to take leave.
TUC pandemic flu guide • Risks 416 • 25 July 2009

Britain: Break cut led to deadly blood clot
A government worker who developed a life-threatening blood clot after sitting at her desk for hours without a break has received more than £10,000 in compensation. PCS member Angela Lamberton, 53, nearly died after the work schedule at her office was restructured to reduce the time employees spent away from their desks.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Leicester Mercury • Telegraph • Risks 416 • 25 July 2009

Britain: Firm fined for deadly disease outbreak
A meat processing firm has been fined £25,000 for an outbreak of a potentially deadly disease which left two workers in hospital. Two Polish employees contracted Legionnaires' disease while working at Kepak UK Ltd’s plant near Preston, in September 2006.
HSE news release • Lancashire Evening Post • Fleetwood Today • Risks 417 • 1 August 2009

Canada: Involve workers in return-to-work
Workers off sick with low back pain who are involved in identifying potential barriers to their return to work get back on the job quicker. Researchers in Canada found this was particularly true for older workers and those who have previously been off sick.
IWH news release and return to work programme • Ivan Steenstra and others. What works best for whom?: An exploratory, subgroup analysis in a randomized, controlled trial on the effectiveness of a workplace intervention in low back pain patients on return to work, Spine, volume 34, issue 12, pages 1243-1249, 2009 [abstract] • Risks 415 • 18 July 2009

Britain: Union warning on transport swine flu risk
Transport union RMT has warned of severe pressure on staffing levels and serious safety risks across the transport system if the number of cases of swine flu increases dramatically. The union alert came as experts advised that up to 40 per cent of the population could become ill with the condition over the coming weeks.
RMT news release • Personnel Today • The Observer • TUC pandemic flu guidance • Risks 415 • 18 July 2009

Britain: Body lead load linked to dementia
Older adults with higher amounts of lead in their bones exhibit greater memory impairment than adults with low lead levels, researchers have found. In a study of men and women aged 55 to 67 years, higher lead levels were associated with poorer performance on tasks used to assess memory deficits.
Environmental Health News • E van Wijngaarden, JR Campbell and DA Cory-Slechta. Bone lead levels are associated with measures of memory impairment in older adults. Neurotoxicology, published online 2009. doi:10.1016/j.neuro.2009.05.007 • Risks 412 • 4 July 2009

Britain: Lords widen work disability definition
More employees with disabilities will now receive protection from discrimination following a landmark ruling by the House of Lords involving a woman with a work-related health problem. The Lords found that people with a physical or mental condition which varied in its severity over time should still be termed disabled under the Disability Discrimination Act if it was likely their condition would become substantial again in the future.
EHRC news release, including background on the ruling • Personnel Today • HR magazine • Risks 412 • 4 July 2009

Britain: Work stops you exercising
The health of two out of three adults could be at risk as a result of too little exercise, with many claiming they are too busy at work to stay fit, according to a union report. A study by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) found the most common reason for not taking regular exercise was work commitments.
CSP survey report and Move for health webpage • Daily Express • Western Mail • Nursing in Practice • Hazards magazine’s new work and health pages • Risks 412 • 4 July 2009

Korea: Most teachers suffer from occupational illnesses
Two-thirds of Korean teachers have had or are currently suffering an occupational disease, a union survey has found. The Korean Federation of Teachers' Associations (KFTA) found 67.2 per cent of teachers said they have or have experienced occupational diseases, with the most common symptom was vocal nodules, experienced by over one-in-three teachers (34.4 per cent), and linked to occupational  voice loss.
Education International news report • Risks 412 • 27 June 2009

France: Work pesticide use causes Parkinson's
A new study confirms the link between on-the-job pesticide exposure and Parkinson's disease, and suggests that certain insecticides may be particularly risky. In the study, published online in the Annals of Neurology, French researchers found that among nearly 800 adults with and without Parkinson's, agricultural workers exposed to pesticides - including insecticides, weed killers and fungicides - were at greater risk of the disease, with the risk climbing in tandem with the amount of time a worker was exposed.
Alexis Elbaz and others. Professional exposure to pesticides and Parkinson's disease, Annal of Neurology, published online [abstract] • Fox News • ETUI-HESA news report • Risks 412 • 27 June 2009

Britain: Wind firm blows thousands on dermatitis
A wind turbine firm has been fined £10,000 after workers developed occupational dermatitis. Thirteen workers at the Newport plant of blademaker Vestas Blades UK Ltd developed the condition caused by exposure to epoxy resins.
Isle of Wight County Press • SHP Online • Risks 412 • 27 June 2009

Britain: Paying the price of a vibration injury
A GMB member has received a £10,000 compensation payout after his hands were left permanently damaged by using vibrating tools at work. Keith Rowley, 55, a fitter from Stourbridge, was has the debilitating condition Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), also known as vibration white finger.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Stourbridge News • Risks 411 • 20 June 2009

Australia: Deadly grounds for a sit down protest
Prolonged sitting is killing Australian workers – both blue and white collar – and even 30 minutes' exercise a day may be insufficient protection from this growing occupational health and safety hazard. New Australian research shows hours of sedentary activity, like typing emails or sitting at a quality control station, are associated with higher cardio-metabolic health risks that are independent of time spent in moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity.
Queensland Safety Conference news release • Risks 410 • 13 June 2009

Britain: Ballerinas face work hazards
Professional ballerinas, like highly driven young female athletes, face quadruple work-related health threats - disordered eating, menstrual dysfunction, the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, and early signs of cardiovascular disease.
Fox News • Risks 410 • 13 June 2009

Europe: Union victory on safer needles
A long running trade union campaign to introduce safer needles and prevent sharps injuries to health workers reached a successful conclusion this week, with the agreement of strict European Union-wide guidelines. The framework agreement signed this week between the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) and HOSPEEM - the European hospital and healthcare employers' association - aims to prevent the incidence of injuries with contaminated sharps, protect the workers at risk and establish appropriate response and follow up policies in cases where injuries occur.
UNISON news release • EPSU news release • Nursing Times • Risks 410 • 13 June 2009

South Africa: Health workers face TB risk
Health care workers in South Africa may be at much higher risk of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) than the general public, according to new research. A study of 3,639 patients referred between 2003 and 2007 to KwaZulu-Natal province’s King George V Hospital specialist treatment centre confirmed that poor TB infection control measures in many of South Africa's health facilities are putting health care workers at risk.
IRIN news • Risks 409 • 6 June 2009

Global: Pleural plaques linked to lung cancer
One in eight patients with lung cancer also had pleural plaques, a study has found. The Japanese study comes at a time the insurance industry is challenging moves to compensate pleural plaques in Scotland and across Britain.
The Yomiuri Shimbun • Risks 409 • 6 June 2009

Britain: TUC’s cautious note on fit notes
The TUC has sounded a note of caution about government proposals announced last week concerning the reform of the sick note. Workplace health campaigners have raised concerns about the ability of GPs to make judgments about what work a patient may be able to undertake when the medics have no knowledge of a workplace or a job and little training in occupational health.
DWP news release • TUC news release • EEF news release • Personnel Today • Risks 409 • 6 June 2009

Britain: Work’s a lot worse than you think
Workers massively under-estimate the risk of suffering a serious workplace injury, new research has found. Survey results released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to coincide with the launch of its new strategy reveal almost half of Britain’s workers know someone who has been injured at work but, on average, employees think that just 3,000 people were killed or seriously injured at work last year – 45 times lower than the number reported each year to HSE.
HSE news release and Be Part of the Solution strategy and pledge • Risks 409 • 6 June 2009

Britain: GMB warning on airport fumes
Passengers and staff are being exposed to high levels of potentially toxic aircraft fumes at a London airport, the union GMB has said. GMB says London City Airport’s extremely unusual parking system causes jet engine exhaust to be propelled straight towards the arrivals lounge in the airport building.
GMB news release • Risks 409 • 6 June 2009

Canada: Iron ore workers map out ill-health
Former workers of a Canadian iron ore plant have got together to investigate how their jobs have damaged their health. A union-organised occupational disease clinic this month targeted former employees of the Inco Ltd sintering plant, their widows or other survivors.
The Sault Star • Risks 408 • 30 May 2009

Britain: Paint spraying job killed man
A car paint sprayer died of pneumonia after long-term exposure to paint fumes, an inquest has ruled. Car paint sprayers are exposed to chemicals including diisocyanates, a potent cause of COAD, the condition that killed David Mathis, aged 66.
Hastings Observer • A job to die for, Hazards magazine, 2005 • Risks 408 • 30 May 2009

Britain: Sellafield workers exposed to radiation
Nuclear company Sellafield Limited is to be prosecuted for alleged breaches of health and safety law after two site workers were exposed to airborne radioactive contamination. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said two employees of a site contractor had been exposed to the radiation during the decontamination of an area of concrete floor in July 2007.
HSE news release • Construction News • Risks 408 • 30 May 2009

Britain: Knitting workers win noise appeal
Noisy knitwear factories could face a big compensation bill after the Court of Appeal ruled they should have been taking measures to protect workers’ hearing for over 30 years. Up to 700 workers employed in the knitting industry are seeking damages for what they say is work-induced deafness.
Nottingham Evening Post • Risks 408 • 30 May 2009

Britain: Rehab industry issues voluntary code
A voluntariy guidelines have been produced with the aim of cleaning up the private rehabilitation industry. TUC said proper regulation of the industry would be more effective than voluntary guidelines. 
UK Rehabilitation Council standards • BBC News Online • Risks 408 • 30 May 2009

Australia: Dire prognosis for health check scheme
A state-wide system of health checks in Victoria, Australia, has been found to be in a very bad way. The state-government funded WorkHealth programme had been opposed by unions because the initial design omitted any consideration of health problems caused or exacerbated by work itself - and now employers’ groups have abandoned the scheme, which could end up a fraction of its intended size.
The Age • Risks 407 • 23 May 2009

Australia: Muscle soreness is linked to workload
Back and neck soreness in office workers is more likely to be caused by high workloads and tight deadlines than by posture or other physical factors, a new study has found. Unmanageable workloads and unrealistic deadlines were amongst the stronger predictors of reported neck and back pain, said Karin Griffiths, a member of the research team.
CPSU news release • Risks 405 • 9 May 2009

Britain: ‘Green’ lightbulbs poison workers
Workers in China could pay a high price for the production of “green” lightbulbs in cost-cutting factories. Large numbers of Chinese workers have been poisoned by mercury, which forms part of the compact fluorescent lightbulbs.
Sunday Times • Risks 405 • 9 May 2009

Turkey: Jeans sandblasting banned after deaths
The Turkish government has banned the manual sandblasting of jeans and other clothing to prevent the development of incurable silicosis. The practice had been linked to 40 deaths, and can lead to rapid onset of the disease, with some teenagers known to be affected.  
Zaman • Risks 402 • 18 April 2009

Britain: Miners’ knee now an official work disease
Miner’s knee has received recognition as an official occupational disease in the UK. This ‘prescription’ under industrial disease benefits rules means that miners who pass a disability threshold, will be eligible for government payouts.
DWP news release • Osteoarthritis of the knee in coal miners, IIAC, August 2008 [pdf] • NUM news release • Daily Mirror • Risks 402 • 18 April 2009

USA: Popcorn peril spreads to sweets
A recently identified outbreak of severe cases of popcorn lung among former sweet factory workers may prove what government and civilian occupational health experts have long feared - the sometimes-fatal disease can afflict those exposed to diacetyl butter flavouring regardless of where they work.
Andrew Schneider Investigates • More from Hazards on diacetyl risks • Risks 401 • 11 April 2009

Britain: Workplace illness ‘to get worse’
An ageing workforce and higher rates of illness and disease among employees will pose a serious threat to British business by 2030, a report has warned. Private healthcare company Bupa estimates the number of workers with chronic conditions will rise by at least 7 per cent to more than four million.
Bupa news release • The Work Foundation publication note and full report: Healthy Work: Challenges and Opportunities to 2030 [pdf] • BBC News Online • Risks 401 • 11 April 2009

Britain: Injured firefighters win pensions fight
 Firefighters’ union FBU has welcomed a landmark legal win in its fight over pensions and jobs for injured and sick firefighters. A judicial review at the Court of Appeal this week upheld a legal challenge by three London firefighters who had their ill-health and injury pensions removed under changes to the service's pension scheme.
FBU news release • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Risks 401 • 11 April 2009

Europe: Increasing risks from hazardous substances
Contact with hazardous substances at work is endangering the health of workers across Europe and nanotechnology is one of the risks causing most concern, an expert report has concluded. ‘Expert forecast on emerging chemical risks’, published by the Bilbao-based European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), identifies the main groups of substances which could pose new and increasing risks to workers, contributing to diseases which range from allergies, asthma and infertility to cancers.
European Agency news release • Risks 400 • 4 April 2009

Europe: Action call on high concern chemicals
Unions are calling for hundreds of the most hazardous workplace chemicals to be subject to tight control under the European Union’s chemicals law, REACH. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) this week presented to the European Parliament its list of 306 priority chemicals for authorisation under REACH.
ETUC news release and Trade Union Priority List for REACH authorisation and related documentation • ChemSec news report • TUC chemicals webpage • HSE REACH webpages • Risks 400 • 4 April 2009

USA: Movement at last on popcorn lung
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), reversing years of foot dragging while the agency was controlled by the Bush administration, is moving quickly to protect workers from a serious lung disease caused by diacetyl, the artificial butter flavouring added to popcorn and other food products.
OSHA news release • Lynn Woolsey statement • AFL-CIO Now • The Pump Handle • Andrew Schneider Investigates • Risks 398 • 21 March 2009

USA: Workers failed by old lead standard
Americans who work with lead and their families are still at risk of developing serious chronic health conditions, according to a new report. ‘Indecent exposure’, published this week by health researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, notes: “As scientific evidence has shown more serious health effects associated with lower lead levels than previously anticipated, the number of persons who must be considered at risk increases dramatically.”
Indecent exposure: Lead puts workers and families at risk, Perspectives, volume 4, number 1, March 2009 [pdf] • The Pump Handle • Risks 398 • 21 March 2009

Britain: Bullying boss blamed for breakdown
An NHS hospital trust has been found liable for the nervous breakdown suffered by a hospital admin worker. UNISON member Nanette Bowen, 55, who has been unable to return to work after being bullied and harassed over a three-year-period, can now expect a six-figure settlement from Carmarthenshire NHS Trust.
UNISON news release • Morning Star • South Wales Evening Post • Risks 396 • 7 March 2009

Britain: Print work caused kidney disease
A printer who was exposed to a dangerous chemical in the workplace developed a debilitating kidney disease as a result. Unite member David Owenson, from Scarborough, was diagnosed with membranous neuropathy, a form of glomerulonephritis, following years of exposure to the common workplace solvent toluene.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Did your job cause your illness... check out the Hazards detective • Risks 396 • 7 March 2009

Britain: Fit-for-work moves not enough
Government-funding pilot schemes will aim to help people on sick leave back into work, ministers say. The TUC however has warned the limited ‘Fit for work’ measures are “nowhere near what is needed,” adding: “The solution is instead, access to comprehensive occupational health support, far more resources invested in prevention, and greater support for union safety and other representatives.”
Department of Health news release • Fit for Work webpage • Risks 395 • 28 February 2009

New Zealand: Bridge workers poisoned by lead
Dozens of workers on the Auckland Harbour Bridge were poisoned after inhaling lead-based paint dust during maintenance work last year. Tests on the men, who took off their full-face dust masks because they were uncomfortable to work in, showed up to half had marked increases in their blood lead levels.
Sunday Star Times • Risks 394 • 21 February 2009

Britain: Clampdown call on deafening noise
Public sector union UNISON is calling on employers to take noise risks seriously after a highway worker was deafened on the job. The 52-year-old UNISON member, whose name has not been released, was awarded a “substantial” amount in damages for hearing loss sustained as a result of working with noisy tools, including jackhammers and compressors.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 394 • 21 February 2009

Britain: STUC says make work fit for workers
The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is calling for action to make sure workers’ health is not another victim of the recession. It says its policy paper, ‘Occupational Health in Scotland,’ makes the case for “a massive expansion in publicly provided occupational health services to end the unacceptable level of workers falling into economic inactivity following periods of ill-health and to increase the number of workers being rehabilitated back into the workplace.”
STUC news release • Occupational health in Scotland report [pdf] • Risks 394 • 21 February 2009

Britain: What does the work doc know?
So, you’ve been ill, you’re injured, you’re starting a new job, your job’s made you sick – all reasons your employer might want a doctor to give you the once over. But is the doctor really qualified to make an assessment?
Medical referrals in employment - Is the doctor appropriately qualified? A short guide for employees and their representatives • GMC specialist register • Risks 394 • 21 February 2009

USA: Toxic firm wants to be left alone
A top journalist has attacked a major US flavouring firm for attempting to prevent federal health investigators from protecting workers. Seattle Post Intelligencer reporter Andrew Schneider, writing in his ‘Secret ingredients’ blog, was commenting on a year-long court battle between an Indianapolis flavour manufacturer and the government's top occupational health investigators regarding diacetyl, a flavouring know to cause potentially fatal lung disease.
Secret ingredients • Hazards website: www.hazards.org/diacetyl • Risks 393 • 14 February 2009

Britain: Safety reps’ guide to noise at work
The TUC has published a safety reps’ guide to noise at work. It provides information on the law and on what can be done to ensure employers do not put the hearing of their workers at risk.
Noise at work – a guide for health and safety representatives [pdf] • Risks 393 • 14 February 2009

Britain: Depression follows illness to work
 Individuals returning to work following absence due to a physical condition such as back pain, cancer or heart disease are at risk of mild to moderate depression, researchers have found. But they say those who do become depressed worry about telling their employers.
Returning to work, the role of depression – webpage, full report and executive summary • BBC News Online • Risks 393 • 14 February 2009

Britain: Old diseases stalk new workplaces
It doesn’t matter whether you work in a new service sector job or an old manufacturing industry, diseases that should be firmly a thing of the past continue to cause harm. A Unite member who worked as a customer service adviser for Barclaycard in Northampton received a £25,000 payout after she developed a work-related upper limb disorder and another, a plater with the hydraulic components manufacturer Parker Hannifin plc, received a “substantial” payout after he developed occupational dermatitis caused by chromates which forced him to give up his job.
Rowley Ashworth Solicitors news releases on the RSI and dermatitis compensation settlements • Risks 393 • 14 February 2009

Britain: STUC calls for ‘massive’ work health move
There must be a ‘massive’ expansion in publicly-provided occupational health services, the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) has said. The call comes in the first in a series of STUC policy papers aimed at addressing the challenges of the current recession.
STUC news release and full report, Occupational health in Scotland [pdf] • Risks 393 • 14 February 2009

USA: Work disease system favours business
A US man who believes workplace solvent exposure left him struggling with Parkinson’s Disease is fighting a second battle, this time for compensation. Ed Abney worked at a former Dresser Industries plant in Kentucky for over 20 years, often elbow deep in the solvent trichloroethylene, used to clean metal piping.
WKYT 27 News First • New York Times • Workers’ Comp Insider • Don M Gash and others. Trichloroethylene: Parkinsonism and complex 1 mitochondrial neurotoxicity, Annals of Neurology, volume 63, issue 2, pages 184-192, February 2008 [abstract] • Risks 391 • 31 January 2009

Britain: Unions slam ‘wrong’ welfare bill
Trade unions have said the government’s Welfare Reform Bill is the wrong law at the wrong time and have said they will resist attempts to privatise Jobcentre Plus services. The bill includes provisions which would compel the long-term unemployed to work for their benefits and require lone parents to undertake job-related training.
DWP news release • TUC news release • PCS news release and updated news release • ippr news release • Nice work if you can get it, ippr, January 2009 • Risks 390 • 24 January 2009

Union dismay at fat firefighter firing
Colleagues of a Scottish firefighter fired for being overweight are considering industrial action in a bid to get him reinstated. Kevin Ogilvie, a 22-year veteran with the fire service, was dismissed for a second time after failing to meet strict weight loss targets set by his employer.
Daily Record • Press and Journal • The Herald • BBC News Online • The Telegraph • Daily Mail • Hazards feature • Risks 390 • 24 January 2009

Britain: Injured firefighters fight sacking rule
Firefighters have taken to the Court of Appeal their challenge to government pension rules that threaten to leave badly injured and disabled firefighters sacked and without a pension. The legal moves started after three disabled London firefighters had their pensions removed by the London Fire Brigade.
FBU news release and FBUtube video report • Risks 390 • 24 January 2009

USA: Deadly return of black lung disease    
After years of decline, the rate of deadly ‘black lung disease’ in US coal miners had doubled and is appearing in younger and younger miners, official research has found.
AFL-CIO Now • The Pump Handle • Risks 389 • 17 January 2009

Europe: Euro MPs back pesticide controls
The European Parliament has voted to tighten rules on pesticide use and ban at least 22 chemicals deemed harmful to human health. The rules, which can only become law after they are approved by the 27 member states' governments, are opposed by the UK government.
European Parliament news release • Group of Socialist MEPs (PES) news release • BBC News Online • Risks 389 • 17 January 2009

USA: Lead at work affects the brain in old age
People exposed to lead at work are more likely to exhibit damaged brain function as they get older, a new study has found.  For older people, a buildup of lead from earlier exposure may be enough to result in greater cognitive problems after age 55, the authors say.
APA news release • NailaKhalil and others. Association of cumulative lead and neurocognitive function in an occupational cohort, Neuropsychology, volume 23, issue 1, pages 10-19, 2009 [abstract] • Times of India • EHS Today • Risks 389 • 17 January 2009

Britain: Do you want an apple from the boss?
Durham County Council is giving its staff two free pieces of fruit a day to see if it makes the workforce fitter. One union health specialist said “why not go the whole hog and make it five a day? Or just give the workers the money so they can make adult dietary decisions themselves?”
Newcastle University news release • ISAFRUIT project • Risks 389 • 17 January 2009

Britain: Lafarge recalls cancer risk cement
Construction materials multinational Lafarge has recalled 280,000 bags of cement after discovering a batch contained high levels of cancer-causing chromium VI. In total, about 2,500 tonnes of the Blue Circle cement have been recalled.
Wiltshire Times • Contract Journal • Risks 388 • 10 January 2009

Britain: Employers ignorant of deadly silica risks
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has vowed to step up its ‘Clear the Air!’ campaign warning workers against the dangers of silica exposure after it concluded that smaller companies still know very little about the potentially fatal health risks. However, late last year a succession of industry contributors to an HSE online forum on silica risks complained a failure of HSE inspection and oversight was leading to widespread abuse of safe practices and substantial exposures to the cancer causing dust.
HSE news release • Contract Journal • Building • Risks 388 • 10 January 2009

Hazards work and health news archive