Report dispels
the myth of sicknote Britain
A TUC report shatters the myth that UK workers - particularly
in the public sector - are always taking 'sickies', that stress
is not a serious illness and that the solution to 'sicknote Britain'
is a drastic cutback on the numbers of people in receipt of Incapacity
Benefit. 'Sicknote Britain?' shows that Britain is not a nation
of malingerers and reveals that British workers are less likely
to take short term time off sick than workers in any European
country except Denmark. It adds that only Austria, Germany and
Ireland lose less working time due to long term absence. And contrary
to the common perception, public sector employees are off sick
less than private sector workers. The report adds that the majority
of employers accept that most staff time taken off ill from work
is because of genuine sickness. A bigger problem is the high number
of workers (75 per cent) who confess to having struggled into
work when they were too ill to do so. TUC general secretary Brendan
Barber said: 'Sicknote Britain is an urban myth. We take less
time off than most other countries, and public sector staff are
less likely to take time off for a short term illness.' He added:
'Rather than spiralling out of control, as some would have us
believe, the number of Incapacity Benefit claimants is actually
on the decrease.'
• TUC
news release and Sicknote
Britain? report
• Hazards news and resources
on work sickness
• BBC
News story
BACK
Did you have a
chilly reception at work?
Did you receive a warm welcome back to work, or was the reception
more ice-box than Christmas box? Over the holidays, TUC called
on employers to make sure that the heating in offices, shops and
factories was turned back on early enough to ensure that their
workplaces reach the minimum legal temperature before staff returned
from the holiday shut down. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber
said: 'Every year we get lots of calls from workers who return
from the festive break only to find their building is like an
ice-box.' The law requires most workplaces to be kept to at least
16oC during working hours. Not only is working in arctic conditions
very unpleasant, excessively cold working environments can also
affect dexterity and mobility. Employees with muscular pain, arthritis
and heart conditions may have their health put at risk, warns
the TUC. It adds that the temptation to bring in old, possibly
defective heaters to warm the place up may introduce new dangers.
• TUC
news release • Daily
Mail • BBC
News Online
BACK
Average unpaid
overtime was worth £4,650 in 2004
UK employees did unpaid overtime worth £23 billion in 2004,
according to TUC - a mindblowing £4,650 worth per worker.
If they had done all their unpaid overtime at the beginning of
the year, they would have worked for free until Friday 25 February.
The TUC has designated Friday 25 February 2005 ‘Work Your
Proper Hours Day’, the day once a year the TUC urges employees
to only work their contracted hours. 'We’re not saying that
we should turn into a nation of clock-watchers,' said TUC general
secretary Brendan Barber. 'Most people do not mind putting in
some extra time when there’s a crisis or an unexpected rush.
But too many workplaces have come to depend on very long hours.
They get taken for granted and staff have to do even more if there
is an unexpected rush.' He added: 'Worst of all is that many long
hours workplaces are inefficient and unproductive. People are
putting in long hours to make up for poor organisation and planning
in the workplace.' Long hours are linked to higher heart disease,
depression and sickness rates and to an increase in the number
of accidents.
TUC
news release • Wales
TUC news release • Worksmart
'Work Your Proper Hours Day' guide • BBC
News Online • Sky
News
Email
TUC your long hours story
TUC
Changing Times work-life balance webpages Hazards
worked to death webpages
BACK
£1/2m
pay victory spurs rail hours investigation
Amicus is to launch a major investigation into breaches of the
working time regulations after securing an out-of-court settlement
in excess of £500,000 for 282 rail maintenance workers.
The union found GTBB joint venture, whose sponsor companies are
Balfour Beatty and Carillion, had failed to pay a number of staff
holiday pay required by the working time directive. Amicus says
rail staff across the UK could be losing up to £1,500 a
year. The problem stems from companies calculating holiday pay
based on basic salary, illegally discounting retention bonuses,
shift premiums and other allowances. Amicus national officer Bob
Rixham said: 'The £1/2 million settlement negotiated by
the union is great news but it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Rail maintenance companies will be best advised to review their
holiday payment policies or they will be pursued to a tribunal.'
The Working Time Regulations were introduced as a workplace health
and safety measure, to ensure workers had adequate breaks and
time off work (Risks 166). Rail workers have been covered by the
Europe-wide law since August 2003.
Amicus
news release • Personnel
Today
BACK
Amicus says
bullying firms could be named
Amicus says it will 'wage war' on workplace bullying in 2005
with a campaign to expose employers who tolerate bullying in their
workplace. The union says it is working in partnership with good
employers who recognise the damaging effects of bullying on staff
but says it will expose bad employers. Mandy Telford, anti-bullying
campaign coordinator at Amicus, said: 'In 2005, Amicus will be
waging war against the bullies and we will expose those companies
who tolerate it. The resulting economic damage to UK plc in terms
of sick days and lack of productivity is increasingly serious.
We believe that the union's anti bullying project will tackle
the problem at both an operational and a policy level.' The union
is pressing major UK companies to sign up to its anti-bullying
charter, and says companies including BT, Legal and General, British
Aerospace and Royal Mail are already on board. Amicus is fronting
a £1.8 million DTI-sponsored Dignity at Work Partnership
to investigate bullying causes and cures (Risks
150).
Amicus
news release • BBC
News Online • Ananova
BACK
Family court
staff face rising intimidation
Family court staff have faced a mounting campaign of intimidation,
including verbal and physical abuse, from aggrieved fathers over
the last 12 months, according to the probation officers' union.
A dossier compiled by the union, Napo, claims that the names of
court staff have been published on websites, threats have been
made against their homes, and their offices have been daubed with
paint and super-glue put on locks. Harry Fletcher, assistant general
secretary of Napo, said the dossier sent to children’s minister
Margaret Hodge showed that the number of incidents had escalated
in the past year. During 2003 more than 100 hoax bomb warnings
were received at Children and Family Court Advisory and Support
Service (Cafcass) offices, and this year a website was set up
'naming and shaming' court officers and denouncing them as incompetent
and corrupt. Mr Fletcher said 'the escalation in intimidation
against family court staff has caused stress and is bound to lead
to absenteeism.' He added: 'Staff need protecting and the civil
and criminal law must be used to contain this behaviour.'
The
Guardian
BACK
Britain: Union
calls for law to protect health workers
Health service union UNISON is calling for tough new laws to
protect staff from violence and abuse and to punish the offenders.
General secretary Dave Prentis said: 'It is shocking. Staff are
punched, kicked, spat at and abused. We have had members stabbed
and threatened with knives and guns. All for doing their job,
caring for the sick and injured.' He added: 'The public knows
that if they attack a police officer they are going to have the
book thrown at them. UNISON would like to see the same tough treatment
meted out to anyone found guilty of assaulting an NHS worker.
Judges must impose sentences that reflect the crime. At the same
time, we need managers to act before staff get hurt, rather than
dealing with it after.'
UNISON
news release
BACK
Fatigue is
top 2005 concern at sea
A campaign to combat fatigue at sea will be a top priority during
2005, says ship officers’ union NUMAST. General secretary
Brian Orrell said the union is stepping up its efforts to persuade
the government to act on the recommendations of a special Marine
Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report on the links between
accidents and fatigue and reduced crewing levels (Risks
184). He accused ministers of 'side-stepping' the problems
and of failing to state clear support for the MAIB proposals.
'Ministers seem to believe that the responsibility for ensuring
compliance with the hours of work and minimum manning regulations
lies with anyone but the government,' he added. 'This is a serious
issue and this ducking and diving is atrocious for a responsible
flag state.' The union says it is preparing a strategic campaign
on fatigue in the run up to its May biennial general meeting.
NUMAST
news release
BACK
UNISON nabs
£37m from unsafe employers
UNISON obtained a record £37,388,262 compensation in 2004
for members injured at work, up £3 million on 2003. 'This
£37m compensation represents an awful lot of pain, injury
and suffering for a lot of our members,' said UNISON general secretary
Dave Prentis. The majority of these injuries were preventable,
he added. 'Employers know this, but many refuse to act to prevent
them, or they find it cheaper to pay out compensation to anyone
injured, rather than improve safety at work.' He said employers
must take seriously their responsibilities for the health, safety
and welfare of their staff. Compensation awards included: £191,825
to the family of an Edinburgh man who died from the asbestos cancer
mesothelioma; £47,000 to a London play centre worker who
suffered a serious arm fracture after falling when working in
cramped conditions; £75,000 to a hospital worker who suffered
serious injuries to her back when she tripped over a trailing
cable; and £55,000 to a Southend Council finance manager,
who developed a mental illness triggered by substantial pressure
at work.
UNISON
news release and briefing
• The
Scotsman • Sky
News
BACK
Call for Scottish
schools to act on accidents
Educational employers must make employee health and safety a
priority for 2005, says Scottish teaching union EIS. The call
came as the union announced it secured in 2004 a total of £250,000
in compensation payouts and legal costs for injured EIS members.
EIS general secretary Ronnie Smith said: 'This is a clear sign
that not enough is being done in our schools, colleges and universities
to ensure the safety of teaching staff. While the EIS will always
do everything it can to support the claims of members who have
suffered an injury, our obvious preference would be for compensation
claims to become less common due to a reduction in accidents and
attacks against teaching staff.' He added that a commitment to
safety was 'sadly lacking in many educational employers.' The
EIS compensation statistics show the biggest risk to teachers
and lecturers in the workplace is slips, trips or falls. The largest
payout in 2004 was £80,000, to a lecturer who suffered severe
health effects caused by exposure to hazardous chemicals.
EIS
news release • BBC
News Online
BACK
New rights to
safety information take effect
The Freedom of Information Act has come into full effect and
gives individuals a statutory right to see a massive amount of
information held by government departments and thousands of public
bodies, including the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Commission
(HSC). Information on a company’s safety record, for example,
should be made available on request. A new HSE freedom of information
(FOI) website 'will provide the means for the public both to access
information as it becomes available and request information not
already published,' says HSE. Full text of HSE internal operation
guidance documents is now available. HSE says most enquiries will
be answered without charge, however more complex enquiries can
attract charges running to hundreds of pounds. The website also
highlights a series of exclusions, including information that
might prejudice enforcement action or that would be a 'breach
of genuine commercial confidence.' Campaign for Freedom of Information
director, Maurice Frankel, said 'the new rights will help people
ensure that they are being treated fairly, learn whether they
are exposed to hazards, check that public authorities are doing
their job and give people a better chance of influencing decisions
before they are taken.'
• HSE
news release and new Freedom
of Information webpages, including enquiry forms.
• Department for Constitutional
Affairds FOI webpages and DCA
news release
• CFOI
news release
• For general FOI law in Scotland, see: Freedom
of Information Act Scotland
• Campaign for Freedom
of Information • Freedomofinformation.co.uk
BACK
Working wounded
at higher risk of heart attack
Men who never take a sick day even though they are not in good
health may be setting themselves up for a heart attack, according
to a new study. Dr Mika Kivimäki and colleagues used a study
of 5,000 British male civil servants aged 35 to 55 to examine
the relationship between sickness absence, 'presenteeism' - working
while ill - and the rate of serious coronary events, including
fatal and non-fatal heart attacks. Among participants in the study
who rated themselves as unhealthy, 'no absence' was associated
with double the risk of a serious coronary event, the team reports.
That risk remained high even after coronary risk factors were
taken into account. 'The fact that the incidence of serious coronary
events is twice as high among unhealthy employees with no sickness
absenteeism as among unhealthy employees with moderate levels
of sickness absenteeism probably reflects the adverse consequences
of working while ill - that is, sickness presenteeism,' the researchers
conclude. Earlier stages of the 'Whitehall II' study of UK civil
servants established job insecurity and a lack of control at work
are strongly related to higher levels of ill-health (Risks
165).
• Mika
Kivimäki and others. Working while ill as a risk factor
for serious coronary events: The Whitehall II Study, American
Journal of Public Health, volume 95, number 1, pages 98-102, January
2005. DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2003.035873 [abstract]
• Reuters
Health
• Hazards guides on sickness absence policies and
practice and on work-related
heart disease
• Background information: Work, stress, health: The Whitehall
II Study [pdf]
BACK
Health alert
over flat screen TVs
Workers in factories that make flat screen televisions could
suffer long-term health damage, say scientists. A healthy 30-year-old
man developed a serious lung disease after being exposed to a
substance used to coat the screens. Doctors at Toranomon Hospital
in Tokyo found tiny deposits of indium tin oxide (ITO) in the
man's lungs, according to a report in the European Respiratory
Journal. He had worked on flat screen TVs for four years, during
which time he was repeatedly exposed to an aerosol containing
ITO. He became ill with a respiratory condition called pulmonary
fibrosis, a disease that kills half its victims within five years.
He also had emphysema, another potentially fatal lung disorder.
Another employee at the plant had already died as a result of
inhaling ITO, used in liquid crystal displays or plasma display
panels for TVs, computers and video monitors. The report notes:
'As industrial consumption of ITO rises, the potential health
hazard caused by occupational exposure to indium compounds has
been attracting much more attention. Maximum measures should be
taken to protect workers from the potential toxicities of indium
compounds.'
• BBC
News Online • S Homma and others. Pulmonary fibrosis
in an individual occupationally exposed to inhaled indium tin
oxide, European Respiratory Journal, volume 25, number 1,
January 2005.
BACK
Night shift
linked to late pregnancy loss
Pregnant women who regularly work the night shift may have an
increased risk of a miscarriage late in pregnancy or a stillbirth,
a new study suggests. The study of more than 40,000 Danish women
who worked during pregnancy found that those who consistently
worked the graveyard shift were 85 per cent more likely than daytime
workers to suffer a miscarriage relatively late in pregnancy or
have a stillbirth. Other job shifts - including rotating shifts
that required some overnight work - were not related to late pregnancy
loss, according to findings published in the Journal of Occupational
and Environmental Medicine. The researchers also found evidence
that job stress could be a factor in night shift workers' higher
risk of miscarriage and stillbirth. Job stress was not linked
to pregnancy loss overall, but among workers on fixed night shifts,
those who said their jobs had high demands but gave them little
control over their work had a higher risk of pregnancy loss. In
a recent analysis of the same group of Danish women, Zhu's team
found that those who worked nights or rotating shifts had a slightly
higher risk of having a low birthweight baby.
• Reuters
Health • Jin Liang Zhu and others. Shift work,
job stress, and late fetal loss: The National Birth Cohort in
Denmark, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine,
volume 46(11), pages 1144-1149, 2004 [abstract]
BACK
Occupational
health priorities in Europe
A new report says estimates that over 100,000 people in European
Union are killed each as a result of a work-related accident or
disease are infact 'no more than an approximate minimum, because
no exact figures can be put on it. It is a conservative and certainly
understated guesstimate.' The report from TUTB, the Brussels-based
health and safety research body for Europe’s unions, says
whenever authorities or researchers attempt to determine what
measurable impact working conditions has on some aspect of health,
they uncover new problems. The report covers on-going debates
on workplace health problems in the European Union, including
prevention systems, work organisation, job insecurity, reproductive
health and 'learning the lessons of failure.'
• Occupational health: Eight priority action areas for
Community policy, TUTB, 2004. ISBN 2-930003-55-3. 10 Euros.
Online
summary and order form
BACK
Asia: Labour
organisations appeal for tsunami action
The International Labour Organisation says urgent action is needed
to rebuilding the communities and livelihoods of the survivors
of the Asian tsunami disaster, which is now thought to have claimed
in excess of 150,000 lives. ILO director general Juan Somavia
said there was a pressing need to get people back to work 'to
avoid exacerbating existing and chronic poverty.' He added: 'The
ILO is making a rapid assessment of the impact of the disaster
on workers and employers as a basis for proposals for reconstruction
and recovery. Local organisations of employers and workers have
been hard hit but are struggling to help their members and the
communities in which they live.' Somavia said that ILO 'has voiced
its special concern for the many orphaned children and the risk
they may face of becoming victims of trafficking and the worst
forms of child labour.' TUC general secretary Brendan Barber announced
a TUC financial appeal. 'I am asking all TUC affiliates, union
organisations and individual union members, to give generously
to the TUC Aid appeal for money to help the victims,' he said.
'We will also be helping the regional trade unions to rebuild
and re-equip themselves.' Unions worldwide have launched similar
tsunami appeals. Many unions in the UK and worldwide have already
making substantial donations, according to Labourstart, the union
news service.
• ILO
news release • Labourstart
tsunami news service on the global trade union response
•
US Centers for Disease Control tsunamis webpage/links.
• Donate
now to the TUC Aid Tsunami Appeal, using the TUC’s
secure online donations service. Donations to this site receive
gift aid tax relief, which can add an extra 29 per cent to their
value. Alternatively, cheques payable to 'TUC Aid - Tsunami Appeal'
can be sent to TUC, EUIRD, Congress House, Great Russell Street,
London WC1B 3LS.
BACK
Australia:
Massive payout to gunned-down Coke worker
Soft drink giant Coca-Cola has been ordered to pay almost Aus$3
million (£1.2m) to a former employee who was shot five times
while loading a coke-vending machine. Craig Pareezer, 39, sued
Coca-Cola Amatil for negligence after he was shot in the head,
chest, stomach, leg and hand as he restocked a vending machine
at a Sydney further education college in 1997. Mr Pareezer had
previously complained about the dangers of restocking the Coke
machines, but was threatened with losing his job if he didn’t
continue - despite his boss knowing he had already been bashed
unconscious by a gang targeting vending machines at the college.
The shooting occurred on his first day back at work. Announcing
the award in December 2004, Justice Robert Hulme ordered Coca-Cola
Amatil to pay Mr Pareezer more than Aus$2.8 million (£1.14m),
his wife Sue $58,926 (£24,000), and $39,282 (£16,000)
to his son Scott, who witnessed the shooting. A NSW Supreme Court
judge ruled at an earlier hearing that Coca-Cola was liable for
Mr Pareezer's injuries. The company is appealing against the judgment,
but as a condition of appeal must pay the Pareezer family $260,000
(£105,600) now. Mr Pareezer’s assailant, Adriano Manna,
is serving an 18 year jail term for attempted murder.
Herald
Sun • News
Interactive
BACK
USA: $1/2m
passive smoking payout
A US state appeals court has upheld a $500,000 (£265,500)
award to a flight attendant who blamed secondhand smoke on planes
for her bronchitis and sinus trouble. The decision could clear
the way for damage trials on up to 3,000 similar claims. The ruling
for former TWA attendant Lynn French was a test case interpreting
a $349 million (£185m) settlement reached in 1997 between
the tobacco industry and non-smoking attendants. The flight attendants
blamed their illnesses on smoke in the cabin before smoking was
banned on domestic flights in 1990. After the tobacco industry
agreed to settle, a system of mini-trials was set up for each
flight attendant to decide whether he or she deserved compensation.
Under the ground rules, each jury was to presume that secondhand
smoke causes several diseases; the attendants had to prove only
that they suffered from one of those diseases and that their exposure
to smoke occurred on the job.
Law.com
BACK
USA: Asbestos
cowboys get lengthy jail terms
A US federal judge has sentenced an asbestos company boss to 25
years in prison, his father to 19 years and has ordered them to
pay about $25 million (£13.3m) in restitution and fines.
Alex Salvagno, 38, and his father, Raul, 71, were found guilty
in May of racketeering and conspiracy to violate environmental
laws for rushing asbestos abatement jobs at 1,555 buildings and
were sentenced in December 2004. Witnesses testified that Alex
Salvagno's company, AAR Contractor, profited by forcing its workers
to clean up asbestos as quickly as possible, by using illegal
methods that jeopardised the health of employees and, in many
cases, left deadly fibres behind. Their shoddy work went undetected
because Salvagno secretly co-owned a firm, Analytical Laboratories
of Albany, which was supposed to be testing the job sites. Dr
Stephen Levin, an associate professor at Mount Sinai School of
Medicine, testified in October that an estimated 100 employees
who worked for more than four years for AAR will almost certainly
get sick and die as a result of asbestos disease.
Albany
Times-Union
BACK
USA: Safety
enforcer 'no longer much of a problem'
US rights to basic protection at work are being fatally undermined
by the Bush government, latest evidence suggests. A feature this
week on National Public Radio reported that while official safety
watchdog OSHA was traditionally one of the two regulatory agencies
that American business feared the most - the other being the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) - 'EPA still causes trouble, but the word
around Washington is that OSHA is not longer much of a problem.'
It added that under Bush, 'OSHA changed course with a speed not
often seen in government.' Mark Friedman, director of labour law
for the US Chamber of Commerce, told the programme: 'There is
no reason why workers should have a voice in negotiating health
and safety policy' because OSHA does not enforce against workers.
This week OSHA announced a range of new measures to 'reduce the
regulatory burdens on employers,' including axing a requirement
to report exposures to some workplace carcinogens. Critics say
the Bush administration has also stacked the National Labor Relations
Board with pro-business, anti-union appointees, a move reflected
in a string of recent decisions which have taken away worker rights
and denied workers protection in organising and collective bargaining.
• NPR 'All things considered' - listen
to the programme • OSHA news release •
Confined Space on weakening OSHA
and NLRB.
Dyslexia in
the workplace
Dyslexia affects up to 2.9 million workers in the UK, but many
employers are not doing enough to assist affected workers, says
a TUC report. ‘Dyslexia in the workplace’ warns that
managers who do not appreciate the link between dyslexia and common
performance problems can often judge dyslexic employees unfairly.
The TUC report offers advice on how working practices can be changed
to maximise the potential of employees with dyslexia. Examples
in the report include the case of Paul, a trainee train driver
for a national railway company. Following an assessment that showed
him to be dyslexic, the company agreed to consider reasonable
adjustments and engaged a specialist trainer for advice. Despite
initial misgivings from some managers, Paul succeeded in passing
the rigorous operational and health and safety requirements of
the post first time, and is now a successful main line train driver.
• TUC
news release • Dyslexia in the workplace: A guide
for unions. ISBN 1 85006 727 9. From TUC Publications.
Members: £2.50; educational: £5.00; non-members: £
10.00.
