Hazards news, January-December 2010

Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Britain: Government’s ‘dangerous’ plans for EU law
Government plans to change the way European directives become part of UK law have been condemned by the TUC as “dangerous” and “counter-productive.” Business secretary Vince Cable, who chairs the Cabinet’s Reducing Regulation Committee, said the government intended to end “the charge of ‘gold-plating’ so that British businesses are not put at a disadvantage relative to their European competitors.”
TUC news release • BIS news release • TUC reports: The case for health and safety; The red tape delusion: Why deregulation won’t solve the jobs crisis [pdf]; ‘Flexible with the truth? Exploring the relationship between labour market flexibility and labour market performance [pdf] • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

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

Britain: NUT warning on academy dangers
The safety of pupils and staff could be undermined if schools opt to become academies outside of local authority control, teaching union NUT has warned. A guide from the union notes “there are plenty of strong arguments to be deployed as to why health and safety could be adversely affected by conversion to academy status, arguments which could prove persuasive to both teachers and parents.”
NUT guide • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: Warning on site cold weather dangers
Construction union UCATT is warning construction employers that extra checks need to be made on sites, to ensure that work can be conducted safely during extremely cold weather. The union says site bosses need to undertake additional risk assessments during extreme weather “to ensure that sites are safe before work progresses.”
UCATT news release • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: RMT defends victimised safety rep
The sacking of an RMT safety rep has exposed London Underground’s (LU) “total contempt” for decent employment practice, his union has said. Train operator Eamon Lynch, who was the RMT Bakerloo Line drivers’ health and safety rep and who had a 15-year unblemished service record, was “very clearly victimised for his role as an RMT activist despite management’s bogus claims that they sacked him following an ‘operational incident’,” said the union.
RMT news release • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

USA: Law rejection ‘an insult to their memory’
While US lawmakers did not see the necessity for improved mine safety laws, the US media certainly did. An 11 December editorial in the New York Times noted: “Just eight months after the nation was shocked by the death of 29 coal miners in the Upper Big Branch explosion in West Virginia, Republicans have once again pandered to industry and blocked passage of an urgently needed mine safety reform.”
New York Times • Huffington Post • In These Times • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: Union delivers Tube cuts warning
Tube union RMT has delivered a message to Boris Johnson, warning that cuts in station staffing will turn London Underground “into a playground for muggers and vandals”. RMT handed the London major a special pre-Christmas delivery of postcards collected from members of the public opposing the cuts to ticket office and station staffing – the issue at the heart of the current dispute with RMT and TSSA.
RMT news release • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: Grieving mum warns safety cuts will kill
The mother of a man killed as a result of employer negligence has warned that workers' families will pay a heavy price arising from a government “hell-bent” on slashing health and safety protection. Dorothy Wright was speaking after the two companies responsible for her son Mark's death were fined a total of £440,000.
HSE news release • Dorothy and Douglas Wright’s Victim Impact Statement • Morning Star • Daily Post • BBC News Online • Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) website and the We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: At Amazon, ’tis the season to be nasty
Britain’s biggest online retailer sent home casual staff in the middle of the night, half way through their shift, an employment rights group has revealed. Some workers had to wait at the giant Amazon warehouse near Gourock, in Inverclyde, Scotland, until public transport resumed in the morning, even though they were not being paid.
The Herald • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: Workers reluctant to claim compensation
Many workers in the UK are reluctant to claim compensation for work-related health problems, new research has found. A survey for the not-for-profit Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) found 30 per cent of respondents would not consider claiming even if they developed a life-threatening occupational disease.
APIL news release • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: Excavator firm fined for severed fingers
Heavy plant manufacturer Komatsu has been fined after a worker had two fingers severed when his hand was caught in a drilling machine. John Watson, 55, was drilling holes in steel plates at Komatsu UK Ltd in Birtley, when his right hand became caught in the rotating parts of the machine.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Global: Asbestos safety reassurances rubbished
A claim by a Canadian minister that a monitoring scheme will ensure safe use of its asbestos exports has been rubbished by campaigners. The exchange is the latest prompted by plans to massively expand asbestos production in the Canadian province of Quebec, a move for which the industry is seeking financial support from the provincial government.
Vancouver Sun • Asbestos scandal: Irresponsible policies could cause an epidemic of malignant lung disease, Nature, 15 December 2010 • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: Builder fined for ignoring safety warnings
A Burnley builder whose employees were forced to work in unsanitary conditions, with no toilet or washing facilities, has been fined after ignoring a string of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforcement notices. Michael Connolly, 46, was prosecuted after repeated failures to improve conditions at the site in Littleborough where he had employed contractors to convert a house into flats and shops.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: Fencing firm ignored safety notices
A Gloucester fencing company ignored legally binding enforcement orders requiring it to provide access to hot running water for staff and to ensure its local exhaust ventilation system was working. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) served both improvement and ‘stop work’ prohibition notices on Andy Sutton Fencing Ltd, ordering the firm to properly protect its workers from wood dust and dangerous machinery.
HSE news release • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: Company fined after man crushed by truck
A Buckinghamshire engineering company has been fined £30,000 after a worker was crushed to death at its premises. Bryn Evans, 52, from Milton Keynes was acting as a banksman at Trevett Engineering Limited and was guiding a reversing heavy goods delivery vehicle towards a doorway when he was killed.
HSE news release • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Bangladesh: Another tragedy in a garment factory
At least 28 Bangladeshi garment workers are believed to have died and dozens more have been injured after a fire broke out on the 9th and 10th floors of the ‘That's It Sportswear Ltd’ factory, 16 miles outside the capital Dhaka. The factory produces goods for major high street retailers Walmart, H&M, Next, JC Penney, Kohl's, Squeeze, Sears, Target Store, Charming Shoppes, Carrefour, Inditex, Miss Etam, Migros and Celio.
Clean Clothes Campaign news release • BBC News Online • Ha-meem Group facebook page • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: Print firm fined after lorry incident
A 10-year-old equipment fault at a Bristol stationery supply firm saw a worker sustain serious injuries after he was caught between a reversing lorry and a loading platform. Nathan Ford, 30, suffered a fractured collarbone and forearm in the incident which happened as he was receiving a consignment of paper reels at the premises of his employer, Business Forms Express.
HSE news release and vehicle loading and unloading webpages • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: Firm fined after roofer breaks back
A roofing contractor from East London broke his back when falling through the skylight of a building extension, after safety procedures were overloooked. Company owner James Thompson pleaded guilty to a criminal breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,000.
HSE news release • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Britain: 'Asbestos on shirt' woman dies of cancer
A 44-year-old woman has lost her battle against a cancer she believed was caused by asbestos dust on her grandfather's work clothes. Mother-of-two Debra Stevenson, of Plymouth, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in December 2008 and died on 5 December 2010.
Western Morning News • Risks 487 • 18 December 2010

Hazards news, 11 December 2010

Britain: Minister sides with rogue gangmasters
Construction union UCATT has condemned a government minister for resorting to the use of “myths and factual inaccuracies” to justify a refusal to extend gangmaster regulation to the notoriously hazardous construction industry. Junior minister Ed Davey was responding to David Hamilton’s 3 December Private Member’s Bill to extend the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act to the construction industry.
UCATT news release • Hansard, 3 December 2010 • Gangmasters Licensing (Extension to Construction Industry) Bill 2010-11 • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

USA: Oil industry regulation still inadequate
The US government’s overhaul of the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling doesn’t go far enough to prevent conflicts of interest and enhance safety, according to leaders of the presidential panel studying the causes of the Gulf oil spill. Under the current inspection programme, inspectors are sent armed with little more than checklists and pencils into the Gulf to ensure the safety of more than 3,500 oil platforms and drilling rigs.
ProPublica news report and related blog entry • Houston Chronicle • Wall Street Journal • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Injured snapper gets payout from the Met
A press photographer has received £30,000 damages from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police after being injured in an unprovoked attack by a police inspector. NUJ member David Hoffman was covering the London G20 protests on 1 April 2009.
NUJ news release • Video of the incident • Bindmans LLP news release • The Guardian • The Mirror • Editorial Photographer • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Southeastern train staff in strike ballot
Rail union RMT is to ballot staff on Southeastern trains for industrial action over plans to cut jobs and reduce the role of team leaders at London’s Charing Cross and Victoria stations. Commenting on moves it believes will “compromise safety”, the union said under the plans the number of team leaders posts will be cut and those remaining will be taken away from dispatching trains to cover other duties.
RMT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Shopworkers voice festive work fears
Thousands of shopworkers could face holiday misery as a record number of stores open on Boxing Day, retail union Usdaw has warned. The union says it fears staff are being bullied into working and says many will only get Christmas Day off.
Usdaw festive rights webpage • The Mirror • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

USA: IKEA charged with labour rights abuses
A major IKEA factory in the US stands accused of serious workers’ rights, discrimination and health and safety abuses. This week trade union leaders from more than 25 countries protested in front of a new IKEA store in Geneva, Switzerland, “to send a message that they were united against workers’ rights abuses” at the wholly IKEA-owned Swedwood plant in Danville, Virginia, USA.
BWI news release and IKEA Swedwood campaign webpage and Facebook group • Machinists news release • Sign up to the BWI xmas message to IKEA chief executive officer and president, Mikael Ohlsson • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Unite demands end to ‘vicious’ BA bullying
British Airways (BA) has been urged to end a “vicious war” against cabin crew and instead enter constructive negotiations with their union. Unite, which represents 11,000 BA cabin crew, confirmed this week that a fresh ballot for industrial action at the airline is soon to get underway.
Unite news release • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Head injury cost worker his job
A reception assistant at Rampton Secure Hospital was forced to quit work after he was left with blurred vision, severe anxiety and personality changes from being hit in the head with an iron bar. UNISON member David Prince, who has received a six figure compensation payout, was inspecting an EH Lee Ltd delivery wagon when he suffered the head injury.
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Yorkshire Post • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Sweden: Firms call for safer toxics laws
Regulations and incentives are needed to encourage a shift away from toxic chemicals, a group of Swedish business leaders, academics and environmental organisations have said. The call, in a co-signed article in Dagens Industri, the country’s largest financial newspaper, says it is a misconception that a lack of technically sound alternatives are the barrier to the transition towards a toxic free world.
ChemSec news report • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Nursery worker crushed by metal door
A children’s nursery worker who was crushed under a falling metal door has been awarded a “substantial sum” in compensation by Sheffield City Council’s First Start Children’s Centre. UNISON member Beverley Hampshire, 47, was fetching play equipment from an outdoor shed when the heavy metal door fell off its hinges, collapsing on her and trapping her against a fence, causing a frozen shoulder and chronic regional pain syndrome.
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Two die at Sonae board factory
Two workers have been killed in an horrific industrial incident at a Merseyside wood processing factory. Maintenance workers Thomas Elmer, 27, and James Bibby, 25, both from Rossendale, Lancashire, were working for sub-contractor Metso at the Sonae wood processing factory in Kirkby.
Liverpool Echo, follow up letter and related article • Liverpool Daily Post • Nerve website and related back issues of Nerve from 2007 and 2004 • BBC News Online • Parliamentary question reported in They work for you • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Scottish retailers back anti-violence law
Shopworkers’ union Usdaw has welcomed the decision by The Co-operative Group, Scotmid Co-operative Society and the Scottish Grocers' Federation to support the Protection of Workers (Scotland) Bill. The Bill, which is being steered through the Scottish parliament by Labour MSP Hugh Henry, will give shopworkers and other public facing staff the same level of protection given to emergency workers who are assaulted while doing their jobs.
Usdaw news release and Freedom from fear Campaign • Morning Star •
Protection of Workers (Scotland) Bill • Risks 486 • 11 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

Britain: Upturn in firms lacking injury insurance
Severely injured workers are missing out on the rehabilitation and care they need because of the rising number of businesses with inadequate or no insurance, a top personal injury lawyer has said. David Urpeth, who heads the workplace injury team at national law firm Irwin Mitchell, said in the last year their practice had dealt with 10 cases where firms responsible for serious injuries to workers lacked the necessary insurance.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: McDonalds fined for partial blinding
Fast food giant McDonalds has paid out more than £20,000 after an employee at a London drive-thru was partially blinded by an acid-based drain cleaner. The burger chain was taken to court by Wandsworth Council after the worker suffered burns to his face and eyes that has left him with only around 55 per cent vision in his left eye.
Wandsworth Guardian • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Schlumberger fined over North Sea radiation
Offshore industry firm Schlumberger Oilfield UK has been fined £300,000 after workers on a North Sea installation were placed at risk of exposure to radiation. Radioactive material was left lying on the drill floor for about four hours, during which time 14 workers were placed at risk of exposure.
COPFS news release • BBC News Online • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Flooring firm fined for finger injuries
A laminate flooring firm has admitted criminal safety offences after a worker’s hand was maimed at its Merseyside factory. Christopher Sillitoe now has difficulty dressing himself, and using a knife and fork, after his hand came into contact with a large circular saw at Universal Mouldings Ltd's site in Aintree on 20 August 2009.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Britain: Half of car repair firms are law breakers
Almost half (49 per cent) of motor vehicle repair premises visited across Kent have been issued legally binding Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforcement notices after inspectors found criminal safety breaches. Inspectors from HSE, Kent Fire and Rescue Service and local authorities have been looking at areas such as asbestos management, electrical safety, chemical use and equipment maintenance as part of the ‘Common Approach to Vehicle Enterprise’ (CAVE) initiative.
HSE news release and MVR webpages • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Global: Screw tightens on Canada’s asbestos pushers
Canada has been hit with a global barrage of criticism this week for its support for asbestos exports worldwide. Protesters targeted headquarters of the Canadian federal and Quebec provincial governments in London, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Korea, Indonesia, India and elsewhere highlighting Canada’s commitment to continued asbestos exports and current plans to expand production in the country.
IBAS press pack on the Asian delegation to Quebec [pdf] • BWI statement and briefing [pdf] • Asbestos Forum news release [pdf] • Salon • The Olympian • Ottawa Citizen • ABC News • Globe and Mail • CBC News • Washington Post • Morning Star •
Canada accused of hypocrisy over asbestos exports. Tony Kirby, The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9757, pages 1973-1974, 11 December 2010 • Risks 486 • 11 December 2010

Hazards news, 4 December 2010

Britain: Rail fragmentation ‘a recipe for disaster’
Splitting up Britain’s rail infrastructure among private rail operators would be an costly recipe for disaster, rail union RMT has warned. It says handing back responsibility for track and signalling to train-operating franchises “could only result in the return of the spectre of Railtrack, with further dangerous fragmentation undermining safety as private interests sweat the assets for profit.”
RMT news release • Risks 485 • 4 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

Britain: Tube unions slam ‘meaningless’ review offer
Tube union RMT has rejected as “totally meaningless” management proposals for a safety review it says would still see current staffing cuts bulldozed through regardless of the “review” outcome and regardless of the safety implications.
RMT news release • TUC news release • The Guardian • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: Lords safety debate opens old wounds
Construction union UCATT has condemned Lord Young for belittling workplace safety in an address to the Lords. The Tory peer, who was forced to resign as a government health and safety and enterprise adviser last week, was responsible for the government's deregulatory focused health and safety review.
House of Lords debate, ‘Health and Safety: Common Sense Common Safety’, 25 November 2010, Hansard, pages 1 and 2 of the debate • IOSH news release • Morning Star •  We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Global: Asian asbestos campaigners target Quebec
A group of activists from Asia will descend on Quebec this month to warn the Canadian province’s government about the deadly price paid as a result of its asbestos exports. The delegation, which includes asbestos victims and union representatives, has sent a letter to the province’s premier, Jean Charest, urging him not to underwrite the cost of a massive expansion of asbestos mining at the Jeffrey mine in the town of Asbestos.
Financial Times • CTV • Montreal Gazette • International Ban Asbestos Secretariat.
UK protest: A protest will be held outside Canada House at Trafalgar Square, London, on 9 December, to coincide with an Asian delegation to Quebec. It is supported by unions, support groups and the TUC. Assemble 11 am [flyer pdf] • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: Probation hit by a 'toxic cocktail' of cuts
The probation service is being pushed to breaking point by a toxic cocktail of staff cuts and increased workloads, public sector union has UNISON warned. The union's survey of probation workers found that 69 per cent of workplaces in the sector were already suffering from staff cuts, with 80 per cent saying that workloads had increased in the last year leading to higher stress levels and a "collapse" in morale.
UNISON news release • Morning Star • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: End the 'culture of fear' at British Airways
British Airways should end the ‘culture of fear’ in the company and enter constructive negotiations, the union Unite has said. Unite confirmed this week that a fresh ballot for industrial action at the airline is soon to get underway.
Unite news release • Morning Star • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: Safety failures led to printer’s death
A printer was crushed to death after being dragged into a machine at a Wakefield firm after a string of safety lapses, an inquest jury has ruled. Unite member William Aveyard, 49, became trapped after trying to clear a blockage in a hand-fed press at printing firm Bezier.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Yorkshire Evening Post • Wakefield Express • 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

Britain: Employers pay just 3% of work asthma costs
More than 3,000 people develop asthma because of their work conditions but the state and the individual share the costs, with employers picking up hardly any of the bill, researchers have said. Writing in the journal Thorax, they note about 49 per cent of the lifetime costs of occupational asthma are borne by the individual, 48 per cent by the state and just 3 per cent by the employer.
Jon Ayres and others. Costs of occupational asthma in the UK, Thorax, Online First, 25 November 2010. doi: 10.1136/thx.2010.136762 [abstract] • The Telegraph • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Dangerous li(v)es, Hazards, November 2010 • 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

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: ‘Fixed grin’ returns to the workplace
David Cameron’s roundly ridiculed hopes of introducing a ‘happiness index’ received another blow last week. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) reported a rise in job satisfaction against backdrop of government spending cuts – but suggested it was the ‘fixed grin’ seen in the recession and not joy that had returned to the workplace.
CIPD news release and Employee Outlook report • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: Warning on deadly wood dust cancer
A carpenter who was given a false negative cancer result at an Eastbourne hospital died of an occupational tumour, an inquest has heard. Roy Taylor died at his home on Christmas Day 2009 from cancer of the nose.
Eastbourne Herald • Global Unions/Hazards occupational cancer campaign • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Europe: Trade deals must include decent work
The European Parliament (EP) last week adopted reports calling on the European Commission (EC) to include clauses on human rights, labour standards and environment standards in international trade agreements. Kader Arif, trade spokesperson with the parliament’s Socialists and Democrats group (S&D), said: “The inclusion of legally binding social, environmental and human rights clauses in all free trade agreements concluded by the EU... is now an official position of the European Parliament and this is a great achievement.”
S&D news release • ETUC news release • European Parliament reports on international trade agreements and human rights and social and environmental standards, corporate social responsibility and climate change • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: Alert on chemicals shake up at work
The TUC has reissued its call for union safety reps to make sure their employers are meeting new legal duties on workplace chemicals. The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) says by the REACH deadline of 30 November 2010, 24,675 registration dossiers had been successfully submitted for 4,300 substances including nearly 3,400 phase-in substances.
HSE news release • REACH - A briefing for safety representatives, TUC, September 2010 • ECHA news release, website and Practical Guide [pdf] • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: Warning on creeping offshore complacency
A cycle of ‘decay’ in offshore safety has afflicted the sector in the past and must be resisted by the industry and its regulators, the chair of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said. Judith Hackitt said the commitment to safety “must be sustained in the long term and it must be spread more broadly if we are to ensure that we don't see history repeat itself with another cycle where improved short-term performance leads to complacency and reduced investment.”
HSE news release and offshore liaison webpages • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Britain: Dangerous dogs lead welcomed by union
The latest steps towards improved dangerous dogs legislation have given a ‘cautious welcome’ by the Communications Workers’ Union (CWU). The union statement came after publication by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) of responses to its consultation on dangerous dogs legislation.
Defra news release and consultation responses • CWU news release and Bite back campaign • Risks 485 • 4 December 2010

Hazards news, 27 November 2010

Britain: Safety adviser goes - but TUC urges caution
Lord Young of Graffham, the prime minister's special adviser on both health and safety and enterprise, has resigned after claiming most voters had “never had it so good”. Hugh Robertson, TUC head of health and safety, warned: “Lord Young may be gone but his spectre continues to loom over us,” adding: “The fact that the government asked a man like this to be a special adviser on health and safety speaks volumes in itself.”
Unite release • Risks 484 • 27 November 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

India: Asbestos multinational’s victims get payouts 
Ninety-seven Indian citizens injured by asbestos have finally secured compensation for injuries sustained at the hands of a British company - Turner & Newall Ltd. (T&N). Madhumita Dutta, from Chennai-based Corporate Accountability Desk, commented: “While the amounts paid by the T&N trust are modest, nevertheless an important principle has been established.”
IBAS • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

Britain: Council cuts begin to hit
Evidence of the effect of the cuts has been highlighted after Liverpool City Council stated that it cannot afford to recruit enough EHOs. TUC head of safety, Hugh Robertson said safety would suffer as unlike food premises, “there is no requirement on them to make regular health and safety inspections on premises,” adding: “This means that many premises are never visited.”
Environmental Health News • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

Britain: Leaked memo reveals safety risks on Tube
A leaked internal London Underground document, passed to the RMT transport union, has contradicted management claims that they have no plans for unstaffed stations as a result of the cuts.
RMT news release • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

USA: Hyatt hotel chain accused
US trade union UNITE-HERE has accused the Hyatt Corporation of having the worst safety record in the hotel industry. It cites a peer-reviewed academic study published by the American Journal of Industrial Medicine that places Hyatt dead last among the 50 hotels studied.
Union blog • Extract of study • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

Britain: Mariners kept in appalling conditions
A Panamanian flagged vessel has been detained by the UK maritime authorities after an inspection revealed that the crew had to put up with dreadful conditions. The Most Sky, owned by Er-Em Shipping and Trading of Istanbul, Turkey, was held in Birkenhead by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency after the alarm was raised by the pilot.
ITF news • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

Britain: TUC slams child labourer safety fine
Kevin Banks, a building contractor from Stroud, has been fined just £2,000 with 34,052 costs after a 14-year-old boy was seriously injured when he overturned a dumper truck on a construction site while driving down a slope while not wearing a seatbelt. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Here we have a contractor who knowingly flouted the law and who risked the life of a child getting what is little more than a slap on the wrist.”
HSE release • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

Britain: Local council prosecutes over temperature
Carlisle Council has prosecuted a clothing company for forcing their staff to work in ridiculously cold conditions. An inspector who visited the Internacionale women's clothing found that staff had to work with the main doors open during trading hours and recorded a temperature of 7.6°C - well below the legal minimum of 16°C.
News report • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

Britain: Derisory fine after death
A Midlands firm has been fined just £1,500 after a man was crushed to death. David Hunt, 49, died from injuries when hooks holding up a metal beam disengaged while he was working at Ark Install Galvanising in Tividale.
Halesowen news • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

Britain: Rail company ordered to improve safety
A report from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch has criticised Eurotunnel's safety procedures and called for major changes in how the firm deals with emergencies. This follows an incident two years ago when a freight train went on fire in the tunnel 7 miles from Calais.
RAIB report • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

Britain: Waste company fined after worker's legs crushed
A London-based waste management firm has been fined after an employee's legs were crushed between two steel frames while unloading a truck. McGrath (Waste Control) Ltd was fined £14,000 and ordered to pay £7,447 in costs.
HSE news release • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

Britain: How to complain
With visits by inspectors few and far between, the only way that dangerous situations can be dealt with before someone in injured or made ill is either if there is a good union presence or if the problem is reported to the enforcing authority. The HSE has just published guidance on how to complain about a problem in your workplace, but recommends that first of all you should raise it with the employer and union.
HSE guidance • Risks 484 • 27 November 2010

 

Hazards news, 20 November 2010

Britain: Construction firm guilty of blacklisting
A major construction contractor has been found guilty by an employment tribunal of blacklisting a prominent trade unionist. Ashford Employment Tribunal ruled that Unite member Phil Willis, 61, had been unlawfully refused employment by CB&I because he was a member of a trade union and a prominent activist.
Unite news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release •   Morning Star • Construction Enquirer • Building • The Mirror • Blacklist blog • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

USA: Killed someone? Have an award
US health and safety authorities are handing out ‘Sentinels of Safety’ awards to major companies guilty of serious and sometimes deadly safety infractions. According to worker safety advocates, the commendations illustrate the dangers of federal agencies becoming too chummy with the industries they regulate.
Washington Post • FairWarning • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: Tube safety team cut in half
Management plans to axe more than half of London Underground’s (LU) health and safety team have been condemned by rail unions. The unions say they have been informed of plans to cut LU’s health, safety and environment directorate from 127 staff to just 62.
TSSA news release • BBC News Online • 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

Britain: Union warning on Scottish booze checks
A new law that will require age checks on anyone in Scotland who appears to be under 25 and attempts to purchase alcohol could lead to more problems for retail staff, the union Usdaw has warned. The union is calling on the Scottish government to launch a major publicity campaign to ensure Scotland's shoppers are made aware of the 'Think 25' policy that will shortly become mandatory for all licensed premises in the country.
Usdaw news release and Freedom from fear campaign • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: Commute times down to 10 year low
The growth of home working has helped to cut average commute times to a 10 year low of 47 minutes and 48 seconds per day, a TUC analysis of official figures has shown.
TUC news release and Touchstone blog • Risks 483 • 20 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

Britain: Health service staff ‘struggling’
Staff shortages, recruitment freezes and redundancies are set to exacerbate a health service resource crisis that has left frontline stressed and under severe pressure, public sector union UNISON has warned.
UNISON news release • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: Compensation a victim of legal aid cuts
Major government reforms intended to cut the legal aid bill by £350m a year by 2015 will deny many workers injured or made ill by their work access to justice, unions have warned. The proposals announced by justice secretary Kenneth Clarke will dramatically reduce access to legal support, with employment and personal injury costs on the government hit list.
Ministry of Justice news release • Unite news release and Justice for All campaign • BBC News Online • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: The problem is not enough jobs
Government plans to make the unemployed work for their benefits are addressing the wrong problem, too few jobs, unions have said. The government's welfare reform white paper will also introduce a single universal credit to replace a wide range of work-related benefits.
DWP news release and White Paper – Universal Credit: Welfare that Works • TUC news release and Touchstone blog • PCS news release • CSP news release • Morning Star and related article • BBC News Online • 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: Time to fight back on safety cutbacks
Unions and safety campaigners must escalate their efforts to combat a government assault on workplace safety regulation and enforcement, a new report from Hazards has warned. ‘Dangerous li(v)es’ condemns a savage funding cut to the Health and Safety Executive combined with a dilution of safety rules as “a political project driven by the business lobby and built around dangerous lies.”
Dangerous li(v)es, Hazards, Number 112, 2010. ‘Want to know about burdens?’ poster • ‘Get shirty: Watch dodge – HSE butchered, safety laws under attack’ feature • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign kit • 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

USA: Job strain heart risk for women
Women with high job strain have a greatly increased risk of cardiovascular disease compared with those in less demanding posts, a new study suggests. They have an 88 per cent raised risk of a heart attack, and more chance of strokes and damage requiring coronary artery bypass surgery, US researchers said.
American Heart Association news release • BBC News Online • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: Fears on planned pupil restraint powers
Government plans to give teachers powers to restrain and search unruly pupils without proper training could lead to chaos in the classroom, teaching organisations have warned. Four out of five teachers surveyed by the Teacher Support Network said extra training is essential if teachers are to get a grip on misbehaviour during lessons and avoid injury and false accusations of abuse when breaking up fights.
The Independent • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: Waste and recycling four times as dangerous
The combined fatal and major injury rate in waste and recycling is still more than four times the average across all industries, latest official figures have confirmed. A total of 416 out of every 100,000 employees suffered a major injury or were killed at work compared with the all industry average rate of 102 per 100,000, according to the latest statistics released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release and statistics • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

China: Study confirms asbestos lung cancer risk
A study in China has confirmed workers exposed to the only remaining form of asbestos in production are at a greatly increased risk of lung cancer. The research published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, found asbestos workers in the “high exposure” group were 3.66 times more likely to develop lung cancer.
Eiji Yano, Xiaorong Wang, Mianzhen Wang, Hong Qiu and Zhiming Wang. Lung cancer mortality from exposure to chrysotile asbestos and smoking: a case-control study within a cohort in China, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 67, pages 867-871, 2010 [abstract and full text] • International Ban Asbestos Secretariat. • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Global: More bad news for the asbestos pushers
Campaigners pressing for a global ban on asbestos will have further aggravated asbestos lobbyists this week, with the publication of a full page advert in two major Canadian newspapers condemning asbestos exports and use. The ad, which is signed by prominent experts and campaigners and national and international trade union, safety and medical organisations, has subsequently appeared on websites and social networking sites worldwide.
RightOnCanada.ca advert calling for an end to Canadian asbestos exports [pdf] • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: DIY asbestos removal leads to fine
A Norwich construction company has been fined £30,000 after endangering employees’ lives when it opted to cut costs by undertaking an asbestos removal job at its own HQ. Magistrates heard that members of staff at East Anglian Construction Ltd, a subsidiary of Peter Colby Commercials, had been asked to remove the hazardous building material from the company’s headquarters.
Norwich City Council news release • Norwich Evening News • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: Chemical firm fined after fireball horror
An offshoot of a global chemical company that posted £100 million profits in 2009 has been fined £20,000 after a welder suffered serious burns in a dust explosion. David Lightfoot was carrying out welding on a large container containing 380 tonnes of the explosive powder terephthalic acid at Indorama Polymers (Workington) Ltd.
HSE news release and fire and explosion webpages • Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited financial highlights • News and Star • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Britain: Site firm fined for electric burns
A Solihull groundworks specialist has been fined £13,000 after one of its workers suffered severe burns when his drill hit a power cable. The Pacestone Construction Ltd worker, who asked not to be identified, was using a pneumatic drill to dig a trench at the Taylor Wimpey housing development in Walsall, when he struck an 11kv cable under the pavement on 13 August 2009.
HSE news release and electricity webpages • Construction Enquirer • Construction News • Risks 483 • 20 November 2010

Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Britain: Tube job cuts hit London terror targets
A new analysis of London Underground Ltd’s (LUL) plans for station job cuts has revealed major terrorist targets are in the front line of the proposed reductions in Tube staffing numbers, the union RMT has warned.
RMT news release • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Fire cover cuts a threat to London’s safety
Firefighters’ union FBU fears a review of the number of fire engines operating in London could lead to 500 job cuts and a criminal breach of safety law. An investigation into the feasibility of removing 27 appliances from the fleet was ordered by London's fire authority chair Brian Coleman and comes after the vehicles were handed over for use by private contractor AssetCo during the recent strikes.
FBU news release • BBC News Online • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

USA: Safety enforcement is the efficient choice
Barriers to enforcement of safety regulations should be removed and enforcement agencies imparted with a sense of urgency, a top US law expert has said. University of Maryland law professor Rena Steinzor believes enforcement is not just the more effective option, it is the more efficient option.
Huffington Post • Capitol Hill Blue • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Xmas shoppers urged to keep their cool
Retail union Usdaw is urging seasonal shoppers to not take out their frustrations on shopworkers. Usdaw general secretary John Hannett said “we are asking shoppers to show respect for shopworkers and to 'Keep your cool at Christmas'.”
Usdaw news release, Respect for Shopworkers toolkit and Freedom from Fear campaign • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Call for action on work stress
The risks of stress are far greater than you might suppose, public service union UNISON has warned. The union was commenting on the 3 November National Stress Awareness Day. A report issued by mental health charity Mind on the day revealed millions of British workers have felt compelled to lie to their bosses about the cause of their stress-related sick leave.
UNISON news release and stress prevention guide [pdf] • Mind news release • The Guardian • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Global: Don’t base policy on deadly lies
The business lobby both sides of the Atlantic is using “bogus arguments” and “rigged statistics” to push for health and safety deregulation, a new report reveals. ‘Don’t base policy on deadly lies’ warns the business argument relies on inflating its estimates of the costs of regulation and ignoring the human and economic costs of health and safety failures, in “a toxic, but very deliberate, combination of bad science and bad sums.”
Don’t base policy on deadly lies, ITUC/Hazards green jobs, safe jobs blog, 11 November 2010 • We didn't vote to die at work: Campaign briefings, posters and resources • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Asbestos illnesses killing more women
There has been an alarming increase in the number of women dying of an asbestos-related cancer, with low level exposures in non-industrial jobs suspected as the cause. Latest official figures show that mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, is the most rapidly increasing cancer in women.
Daily Mirror • HSE statistics webpages and mesothelioma statistics • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

USA: President's panel slams complacent oil firms
Three major companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill lacked a safety culture and made serious mistakes ahead of the catastrophe, an official inquiry into the disaster has said. The White House oil spill commission said there was a culture of complacency at BP, Transocean and Halliburton.
Statement from Oil Spill Commission co-chair Bill Reilly • National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling •   BBC News Online and related story • The Guardian • Dallas Morning News • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Farming safety gains ‘wiped out’
A sharp rise in the number of people killed or seriously injured on British farms has wiped out previous safety gains. HSE says although only around 1.5 per cent of the working population is employed in agriculture, it accounted for 1-in-4 work-related deaths last year.
‎HSE news release, statistics webpages, agriculture statistics and Statistics 2009/10 [pdf] • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

USA: USW calls for lung cancer screening
The US steelworkers’ union USW wants routine occupational lung cancer screening for all workers in high risk jobs. USW international president Leo W Gerard said: “Millions of workers have been exposed to asbestos, silica, chromium, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, nickel and combustion products – and all of these exposures are firmly established as causes of human lung cancer.”
USW news release • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: A quarter of small sites shut down
Safety inspectors have been forced to stop work on 1-in-4 small building sites during an inspection blitz across London. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors are to continue the enforcement blitz of small refurbishment sites over the next few weeks. So far, close to 25 per cent of the 150 small construction sites visited have had prohibition notices served on them.
HSE news release and blitz statistics • Construction Enquirer • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Safety alert on unseen sweatshops
Union, safety and anti-poverty campaigners are urging the government to stamp out sweatshop labour in Britain. The call comes after an undercover investigation by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme found “dangerous, pressurised sweatshop conditions,” pay at half the legal minimum wage, and staff forced to work faster under threat of the sack and in cramped, overheated conditions with poor hygiene standards.
Dispatches • War and Want link to full programme • TUC news release • IOSH news release • Morning Star • The Independent • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Firm with £1bn sales gets £6k fine
A multinational foam manufacturer with global sales worth over £1 billion in 2009 has been fined £6,238 after a lorry driver’s back was broken when a pile of insulating board fell on him. Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates heard that on 21 October 2009 Colin Ball, a 52-year-old lorry driver, was delivering a consignment of insulation board to Recticel Limited’s warehouse in Stoke on Trent when a separate stack toppled onto him and knocked him back into his trailer.
HSE news release • Reticel Ltd financial summary • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Welcome for Potters Bar crash prosecutions
The decision to prosecute Network Rail and maintenance company Jarvis Rail over the 2002 Potters Bar crash in which seven people died has been welcomed by rail union RMT. Bob Crow, the union’s general secretary said: “RMT has campaigned for criminal proceedings against those responsible for the avoidable and tragic disaster at Potters Bar for eight long years,” adding that the decision to prosecute was “better late than never.”
ORR news release • BBC News Online • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Worker injured by electrical flame
A Teesside worker suffered burns when he hit an 11,000 volt underground electricity cable while planting trees. Robert Stubbs, 24, was planting trees in Redcar for social housing landlord Coast and Country Housing Ltd when the incident happened.
HSE news release and electricity webpages • The Gazette • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Cement giant fined after fireball horror
Lafarge Cement has been fined £130,000 after an electrical engineer was engulfed by a fireball.  Contractor Paul Ridings, 39, disturbed a loose connection and exposed a strand of wire, leading to an electrical explosion in which his clothes caught fire and he sustained burns to his face, neck, chest, arms and hands.
HSE news release and electricity webpages • Construction Enquirer • Thurrock Gazette • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Worker gassed inside a machine
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a Black Country recycling firm after nitrogen gas, used to stop explosions, made employee Stephen Barnes, 47, pass out. Halesowen Magistrates Court heard that it was usual for workers at Overton Recycling to climb into the chute of a fridge recycling machine.
HSE news release and work in confined spaces webpages. Express and Star • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Britain: Hard up firm escapes teen burns fine
A West Midlands company has admitted failing to protect its employees after two teenage workers suffered chemical burns – but the firm has been spared a fine because it is broke. Fretus Ltd was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £4,500 costs.
Coventry Telegraph • SHP Online • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Canada: Shiftwork is bad for you
Canadians who work night shifts and rotating shifts are almost twice as likely to be injured on the job as those working regular day shifts, according to a study by researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The study, published in the current issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, found that while the overall rate of work injuries in Canada decreased, the rate of injuries did not decline for night shiftworkers.
Wong IS, McLeod CB, Demers PA. Shift work trends and risk of work injury among Canadian workers. Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, 2010, online first • Science Daily • Vancouver Sun • Risks 482 • 13 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

Global: The story of (electronic) stuff
In under eight minutes, ‘The story of electronics’ video lets you “learn about the electronics industry’s ‘design for the dump’ mentality.” The ‘Story of stuff’ team behind the new video say: “Join us in championing product take back to spur companies to make less toxic, more easily recyclable and longer lasting products.”
The story of electronics and related background materials • The story of stuff • Find a group working on electronics health and safety and e-waste issues • Huffington Post • Risks 482 • 13 November 2010

Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: TUC exposes safety inspection crisis
Almost half (49 per cent) of workplaces in the UK have never been visited by a health and safety inspector, new figures from the TUC suggest. The union body says the lack of official oversight is a “scandal” that leaves workers at risk from rogue employers.
TUC news release • Morning Star• TUC safety campaign resources: Fighting the cuts to health and safety • How to lobby your MP on health and safety • The case for health and safety • We didn't vote to die at work: Campaign briefings, posters and resources • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

USA: BP and Halliburton knew of dangers
The US presidential commission investigating the BP oil spill has reached a stark conclusion about a factor that contributed to the deadly 20 April drilling explosion: The cement used to seal the bottom of the well was faulty. Moreover, cement contractor Halliburton and BP both knew it.
New York Times • FairWarnings • Courthouse News • The Guardian • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: HSE cuts are the real ‘safety madness’
Drastic cuts in the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) budget are a sure sign the government’s approach to safety has “gone mad”, the union Prospect has said. Prospect deputy general secretary Mike Clancy said: It cannot be in the national interest to reduce investment in a body whose mission is to prevent death, injury and ill-health – saving lives and costs – just days after lauding it as pivotal to the restoration of the UK’s occupational health and safety reputation and practice.”
Prospect news release • TUC news release • Prime Minister’s Office news release • BBC News Online • People Management • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Site deaths show folly of HSE cuts
Six construction deaths were killed in the week the government announced the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) budget was to be slashed. Construction union UCATT said the rash of fatalities should be seen as a warning that drastic cuts in HSE’s funding could leave workers entering the industry at additional risk as the sector recovers from the recession.
UCATT news release • HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

USA: Deadly mine bosses plead the Fifth
At least six officials at Massey Energy have pleaded the Fifth - asserting their constitutional right against self-incrimination - and have declined to testify in a joint state and US federal investigation into a coal mine explosion in April in which 29 miners died.
AFL-CIO Now blog • Charleston Gazette • NPR report • FairWarnings • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Unite takes asbestos fight to Supreme Court
Unite has confirmed it will go to the Supreme Court to challenge a Court of Appeal ruling it says threatens to deprive thousands of asbestos cancer victims and their families of their rightful compensation. The appeal court ruled last month that in some asbestos cases employers’ liability insurance is triggered not at the time of the exposure to asbestos in the workplace, but when symptoms of asbestos related disease emerged.
Unite news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Morning Star • HSE statistics webpages and mesothelioma statistics • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: ‘Shocking violence’ against striking firefighters
Two arrests were made after separate incidents when striking firefighters were struck by vehicles outside stations that were being picketed in south London. One man was arrested after a striker was hit by a car driven by a non-union manager trying to enter Croydon fire station, while a second arrest was made when an executive member of the firefighters’ union FBU was hit by a fire engine returning to Southwark fire station.
FBU news release • The Guardian • Daily Mail • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Safety probe into fire strike contractor
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is examining a complaint about the competency of contract staff brought in by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to replace striking firefighters in London. Private firm AssetCo was given a multi-million pound contract as part of LFB’s contingency plans to deal with the walkouts by FBU members.
BBC News Online. Waltham Forest Gazette • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Tube safety strikes continue
Thousands of union members have continued a programme of strikes after Tube bosses refused to suspend their “dangerous and unnecessary” plan to axe 800 safety critical station staff. The engineering and operational staff walked out on 2 November, with further 24-hour stoppages scheduled for 28 and 29 November.
RMT news release • TSSA news release • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Shopworkers face age old problem
Two-thirds of shopworkers have faced abuse when asking for proof of age ID from customers, a survey by retail union Usdaw has found. Usdaw says a “shocking” 65 per cent of shopworkers have been subjected to verbal abuse as a result of asking for ID, while over 16 per cent have been threatened with violence and more than 2 per cent have been physically assaulted.
Usdaw news release, Respect for Shopworkers toolkit and Freedom from Fear campaign • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Prison officers hurt in youth centre riots
Several prison officers were injured when inmates at two young offenders institutions went on the rampage this week, the Prison Officers Association (POA) has said.
POA news release. Morning Star • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Union targets not for profit stress
Voluntary sector union reps are being armed with campaign strategies to challenge funding-driven changes that could heap additional stress on their members. Unite says its 60,000 members in the sector are feeling the increasing pressure of central and local government spending cuts and the pursuit, by some managers, of a ‘more for less’ contract culture.
Unite news release • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Injury after firm ignoring safety concerns
Yorkshire Water Ltd has agreed to compensate a former employee for causing the injuries that forced him out of his job of nearly 30 years. The 60-year-old, whose name has not been released, sustained serious neck, back and shoulder injuries in December 2007 when his work vehicle hit a series of potholes he and his workmates had repeatedly asked management to fix.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 481 • 6 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

Australia: This is why I’m coming home safe
Tasmania’s state government is using the Facebook social networking site as a tool to make Tasmanian workplaces safer. A new ‘Homecomings’ campaign is using Facebook and television advertising to encourage people to post a picture of who they want to go home safely to each night.
Tasmania government news release • WorkSafe Tasmania Homecomings campaign and TV ad • ABC News • The Mercury • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Work stress hits people in and out of work
The global economic downturn led levels of work-related stress in the UK to soar, a British Academy report has concluded. Author Tarani Chandola, a University of Manchester sociologist, says those who kept jobs during the recession are affected as much as those left jobless.
British Academy news release • Stress at work, British Academy Policy Centre report [pdf] • BBC News Online • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Austere times mean more working wounded
Bosses must beware of the signs of ‘presenteeism’ among workers as austerity measures begin to bite across the public and private sectors, safety professionals’ organisation IOSH has warned. It says cost-cutting across government departments, public bodies and suppliers could lead to more working wounded, worried about the implications of taking time off sick.
IOSH news release • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Fitter dies in loading shovel incident
A Durham company has received a six figure fine after its criminal safety failings led to the death of worker Alan Noddle at its coal processing plant in Immingham. Hargreaves (UK) Services Ltd, a major energy support services company, pleaded guilty at Grimsby Crown Court and was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £35,000 costs.
HSE news release • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Australia: Unions want public to back injured jockeys
Jockeys have the most dangerous land-based job in Australia, national union federation ACTU has said. The union body said fatality statistics over the last 25 years confirm jockeys are the group of workers most likely to be killed at work and is asking all Australian workers to back the call for state governments to contribute to a fund to support injured jockeys.
ACTU news release and Racing for our lives booklet [pdf] • National Jockeys Trust • ABC News • Sydney Morning Herald • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Wrist snapped as glove was tangled in drill
A Cardiff manufacturing firm has been fined after a worker broke his wrist when his glove became entangled in an unguarded drill. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Elmatic (Cardiff) Ltd following the incident at its factory on 11 March 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

Britain: Printing firm injured workers’ hands
An Essex company has been fined after two employees had their hands crushed by printing presses within months of each other. The workers at printing and binding firm Wyndeham Heron Ltd had been working with machines, when their hands became trapped.
HSE news release and printing webpages • Risks 481 • 6 November 2010

 

Hazards news, 30 October 2010

Britain: Soaraway stress warning from TUC
Stress, bulling and harassment, back strains, slips, trips and falls, and overwork top the list of workers' safety concerns, according to new TUC research. The union body's 2010 survey of safety reps found nearly two thirds (62 per cent) of reps say that stress is in the top five problems faced by the workers they represent.
TUC news release • Morning Star • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

USA: BP accidents linked to cuts
As BP transformed itself into the world’s third largest private oil company it developed a culture of austerity in pursuit of corporate efficiency, lean budgets and shareholder profits, an investigation has concluded. But safety and the environment were casualties of the company’s “furious growth” strategy, the ProPublica probe found.
ProPublica news report • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: Scotland faces ‘rising tide’ of assaults
Public service staff in Scotland are facing a ‘rising tide’ of assaults, research by UNISON has found. The union’s annual survey of violence at work has revealed an increase of over 3,000 assaults compared with last year.
UNISON news release • Press and Journal • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: Power worker gets vibration payout
A power company worker who developed a vibration related occupational disease has received a £8,750 payout. Electricity network operator CE Electric UK agreed the compensation settlement after roadworker Deryne Hughes, 52, developed hand arm vibration syndrome.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

USA: ‘Toxic nightmare’ in prison recycling scheme
Inmates and employees at 10 US prisons were exposed to toxic metals and other hazardous substances while processing electronic waste for recycling, a four-year investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general found. Yet despite finding officials wilfully endangered thousands of prison staff and inmates, none will be prosecuted and most of the officials have retired without any sanction, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
US Justice Department Inspector General report [pdf] • PEER news release • FairWarning • New York Times • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: Workplace harm up, prosecutions down
The number of people harmed by their jobs increased by 100,000 last year, according to official figures, while the number of prosecutions and convictions reached a record low. The new statistics have prompted a warning from TUC that workplace injuries and diseases could increase as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) struggles to cope with unprecedented budget cuts.
TUC news release • HSE news release and report, Statistics 2009/10 [pdf] • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: £1 fine over site death 'an insult'
A woman whose husband died after falling from faulty scaffolding has said a £1 fine on one of the firms responsible is “an insult.” Peter Walton, 55, fell five metres on 10 May 2006, while working as a joiner on a site near Accrington; Howorth Scaffolding was fined £25,000, but developer Glenmill Group was fined £1.
HSE news release • FACK news release • BBC News Online • Burnley Citizen • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: Cuts could jeopardise safety, IOSH warns
Budget cuts could risk the steady year-on-year decline in work-related deaths and injuries in the UK, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has warned. IOSH is concerned that the 35 per cent budget cuts the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) faces following last week’s government spending review could reverse the downward injury trend.
IOSH news release • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: HSE cuts ‘to lead to self-regulation’
A leading trade magazine has claimed drastic cuts in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) budget could lead to the introduction of self-regulation in the construction sector. Construction News (CN) cites sources who say industry bodies will be asked to ensure their members self-regulate while HSE inspectors focus mainly on high risk sites, although an HSE spokesperson told Hazards: “HSE has no contingency plans for this purpose.”
Construction News • Risks 480 • 30 October 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: Stress set to soar due to savage cuts
Time off work due to stress has risen in the past year, and is a greater problem in the public sector than in the private sector, new research suggests. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development adviser Dr Jill Miller said “organisational change and restructuring is cited more commonly by public sector employers than those in other sectors as a major cause of stress, which will only increase in the near future as a consequence of the recent Comprehensive Spending Review.”
CIPD news release • BBC News Online • Morning Star • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

USA: Gun powder maker fined $1.2m for deadly blast
A US gun powder manufacturer is facing fines of $1.2m after an explosion killed two workers who had been employed by the firm for only a month. “Even after a prior incident in which a worker was seriously injured, and multiple warnings from its business partners and a former employee, this employer still decided against implementing safety measures,” said assistant secretary of labour for OSHA Dr David Michaels.
OSHA news release • Industry Week • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: Maersk fined for work sea hours failure
A major international shipping company has been fined after overworking seafarers and failing to obey an official improvement notice. AP Moller-Maersk was fined £18,500 this week and ordered to pay costs of £4,439 after admitting eight charges of failing to provide adequate hours of rest for the crew of a UK-registered containership and one charge of failing to improve the situation.
MCA news release • Nautilus news release • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: Farm hand loses leg in harvester
A farmworker’s leg had to be amputated after he attempted to clear a blockage on a harvesting machine operated by his boss while the blades were still rotating.
HSE news release • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: Firm refused to listen to noise warnings
A Burnley manufacturing company has been fined £16,000 after it ignored a formal warning about noise levels at its factory. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Equestrian Surfaces Ltd for putting its employees' hearing at risk, despite being given two extensions to an improvement notice requiring a reduction in their daily noise exposure levels.
HSE news release and noise webpages • Lancashire Telegraph • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: Roadworks company fined over M4 death
A Newport traffic management company has been sentenced after a trainee employee was struck and killed by a vehicle when working on the M4 near Cardiff. Sean Luke Hale, 30, a father of two young daughters, was hit by a car while crossing the carriageway to collect traffic cones from the central reservation during road resurfacing of the busy motorway in 2006.
HSE news release • South Wales Argus • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Britain: London protest in support of Ark Tribe, 2 November
Construction safety campaigners are to mount a protest outside the Australian High Commission in London to protest at the victimisation of a union rep who is being prosecuted after making a stand on site safety. The 2 November event is in support of
Ark Tribe, a safety rep with the Australian construction union CFMEU.
‘Don't Jail Ark!’ campaign and “tell your mates” tool from Rights at Work. London protest in support of Ark Tribe, 4.15pm prompt, 2 November, Australian High Commission, The Strand, London • Risks 480 • 30 October 2010

Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: A bad seven days for health and safety
Cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and to local authority budgets announced in the spending review will make it easier for rogue employers to take unacceptable risks with the health and safety of their workforce, the TUC has warned. 
TUC news release • Chancellor’s statement on the spending review, HM Treasury news release, related news release on cuts to the DWP budget and Spending Review webpages • The Scotsman • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Zambia: Outrage after bosses shoot miners
Police in Zambia have charged two Chinese mine managers with attempted murder after they allegedly opened fire on a group of miners. At least 11 workers were injured, two critically, in the incident at the Collum coal mine in the southern town of Sinazongwe.
Wall Street Journal • BBC News Online • Financial Times • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: HSE cuts make more deaths ‘inevitable’
Cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) budget will put workers’ lives at risk, UCATT has warned.
UCATT news release • Risks 479 • 23 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  

USA: Deadly firms get federal business
A report from the US Government Accountability Office says contractors are routinely receiving lucrative government business even after they had been cited for violating laws designed to protect workers. Colleen M Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said the report underscores “the willingness of some private companies to shortchange the wages and benefits of their employees, to risk their health and safety, and through environmental violations the health of the public at large, in pursuit of federal work.”
Federal contracting: Assessments and Citations of Federal Labor Law Violations by Selected Federal Contractors, GAO report [pdf] • Washington Post • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: Tube maintenance staff fight for safety
London Underground fleet maintenance staff will take industrial action from next week in defence of safety-critical jobs. The RMT members, who returned a massive vote in favour of industrial action short of a strike, are refusing to carry out higher grade working and will not to cooperate with staff movements away from home locations.
RMT news release • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Chile: Mine rescue exposes safety shortfall
The release of 33 trapped miners in Chile has been celebrated worldwide, but has also raised troubling questions about the circumstances that led to the workers being entombed for 69 days at Campañia Minera San Esteban Primera’s San José copper mine.
ICEM news report • Morning Star • Huffington Post • Sustainlabour • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: HSE to ‘actively pursue’ Lord Young’s plan
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has “warmly welcomed” the recommendations of Lord Young’s health and safety review. His report, which was commissioned by David Cameron and which is now the government blueprint for health and safety reform, comes as the safety watchdog faces swingeing cuts as part of the government’s spending review.
HSE news release and Young report webpages • HSE news releases on the consultants register and the office risk assessment tool • Online risk assessment tool for offices • Prospect news release • BOHS news release • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: Unions slam official safety blueprint
Unions have reacted angrily to the government-adopted safety report they say will undermine hard-won safety standards. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said “the moment Lord Young was given the brief to review Britain’s health and safety regime he began ridiculing it, criticising the mythical ‘compensation culture’ and wheeling out ‘health-and-safety-gone-mad’ stories.”
RMT news release • GMB news release • UCATT news release • CWU news release • STUC news release • Morning Star • Daily Mirror • Personnel Today • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: Business glee at the safety reforms
While the unions representing the workers on the rough end of Lord Young’s safety reforms have been dismayed by the new government-approved plan, the business lobby by contrast has been united in its praise for the measures to pare back safety protections.
IoD news release • CBI news release • EEF news release • BCC news release • BRC news release • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010  

Britain: Dangerous double standard for ‘low risk’ work
The government risks introducing a dangerous double standard on safety if it implements reforms proposed by Lord Young, unions and campaigners have warned. Hope Daley, UNISON’s head of health and safety, said: “Despite the review, Lord Young shows no awareness of the problems caused by occupational ill-health and no real understanding of the level of injury or ill-health in schools, classrooms or offices.”
UNISON news release • Usdaw news release • FACK news release • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: School trips could get riskier, unions warn
Government plans to ease the risk assessment requirement on school trips could remove a common sense safety measure and increase risks to pupils, teaching unions have warned.
ATL news release • Daily Mail. The Independent • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: Academics warn of ‘big society’ dangers
David Cameron’s vision of a “big society” is in reality a dangerous illusion which could bulldoze through big reductions in already threadbare safety protection, researchers have warned. Liverpool-based academics Professor Steve Tombs and Dr David Whyte say the prime minister’s big society has “a, quite literally, dangerous flip-side.”
Left Foot Forward • 23 October 2010

Australia: Fight back on to preserve safety rights
After looking like a done deal for months, the door has been propped ajar for a second look at Australia’s national harmonisation of workplace health and safety laws. Kristina Keneally, the state premier in New South Wales (NSW), gave new hope for a rethink about the proposed laws when she announced her state would not pass legislation that allowed occupational health and safety (OHS) standards to be cut.
Rights at Work • The Age • Sydney Morning Herald • Daily Telegraph •
Don’t risk second class safety campaign • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Global: BP links bonuses to safety performance
Bonuses for the fourth quarter for BP staff will be based solely on how employees perform in terms of safety and risk management, Bob Dudley, the UK oil multinational’s new chief executive, has told its 80,000 employees worldwide. The bonus strategy is certain to come in for close scrutiny as similar schemes have been found to encourage managers to suppress injury reports and discourage sick leave in a bid to secure larger payouts.
BBC News Online • The Herald • Financial Times • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: Bus firm fined for over-working drivers
A bus firm boss has had to pay out almost £100,000 after an investigation found his drivers were working exhausting shifts without adequate breaks for weeks at a time. Edward John Martin Bellamy, the director and transport manager of Bellamy Coaches, was also failed to keep records of work, an investigation by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) found.
Nottingham Post • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: Government fails bereaved families
A government decision to scrap a review of the inquest system and abolish the position of chief coroner before it is even established is a betrayal of bereaved families, campaigners have said.
Reform of coroner system, MoJ response, 14 October 2010. Inquest news release [pdf] • Morning Star • UK Human Rights blog • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Europe: EU approach to regulating nanotechnology
A new guide from the European Trade Union Institute’s (ETUI) health and safety research arm (HESA) spells out Europe’s need for better nanotechnology regulation. HESA is critical of the European Union’s nanotechnology strategy, which it says is concerned primarily with “catching up” with the US and Asia on nano production.
ETUI publication notice. The EU approach to regulating nanotechnology, Aída María Ponce Del Castillo, ETUI, 2010. ISSN 1994-4446. 10 euros • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: Hose firm injures three in two months
A Chichester rubber hose manufacturer has been fined after three workers were injured on its premises in a two month period. Oldham Seals Limited was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,151.25 at Chichester Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to a criminal breach of safety law.
HSE news release and safety management webpages • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: Plastics firm seriously injured teen worker
A Lancashire plastics company has appeared in court after a teenage apprentice suffered serious injuries when his arm was dragged into a machine. The worker, who asked not be named, dislocated his left shoulder and broke his arm on 6 May 2008 while working at General All Purpose (GAP) Plastic's Blackburn factory.
HSE news release • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Britain: Recycling firm broke worker’s ribs
A recycling company has been fined after one of its workers suffered broken ribs when he was forced onto a metal conveyor belt in Preston. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Smurfit Kappa UK Ltd following the injury on 4 September 2009.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • Risks 479 • 23 October 2010

Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Britain: Young Review is a ‘grave disappointment’
The TUC has branded as a ‘grave disappointment’ a government-backed report calling for a relaxed system of accident reporting, measures to address a compensation culture the government itself accepts does not exist and changes to the risk assessment process that do already exist.
Downing Street news release and full report, Common sense, common safety [pdf] • HSE news release • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

USA: Steel giant sued over alcohol tests
The USA’s largest steel firm violated federal law when it applied a nationwide policy requiring probationary employees to undergo random alcohol tests and fired an employee as a result of such a test. Commenting on the lawsuit supported by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, EEOC attorney Debra Lawrence said: “The EEOC is committed to eradicating systemic discrimination in the workplace, including blanket policies mandating medical examinations that violate federal law.”
EEOC news release • IMF news report • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Britain: Don’t base policy on myths and preconceptions
Safety standards at work could be sacrificed if the government implements Lord Young’s recommendations on reform of the UK health and safety system, the TUC has warned.
TUC news release •  TUC resources: Fighting the cuts to health and safety • How to lobby your MP on health and safety • The case for health and safety •
We didn’t vote to die at work: Campaign briefings, posters and resources • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Britain: TUC concern at asbestos ruling
The TUC has expressed grave concern at the continued uncertainty facing people dying from asbestos diseases, following a Court of Appeal ruling on compensation payments. Three appeal court judges ruled that only some sufferers could recover damages for the fatal harm they sustained as a result of work exposures decades ago.
TUC news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • John Pickering Solicitors news release • Solicitors Journal • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Korea: Protesters ‘die-in’ at electronics fair
Members of the public attending a major electronics fair in Korea have found out more about the industry than they might have anticipated – as a ‘die-in’ by campaigners outside the event highlighted the occupational cancer and other risks blighting the sector.
Stop Samsung campaign news release • Good Electronics news release • The Hankyoreh • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Britain: ‘Perverse’ ruling is an insult to the dying
Asbestos campaigners and unions have criticised a ‘perverse’ Court of Appeal ruling which has left workers dying of asbestos cancers facing delays to their compensation payments or without recourse to compensation at all.
Asbestos Forum news release [pdf] • Unite news release • UCATT news release • GMB news release • Morning Star • Birmingham Mail • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Britain: Over a million shopworkers assaulted last year
Over a million shopworkers have been assaulted, threatened or abused in the last year, Usdaw has revealed. The preliminary results from the retail union’s annual survey found in the past 12 months, 6 per cent of shopworkers were subjected to violent attack, 37 per cent were threatened with harm and a “massive” 70 per cent had suffered verbal abuse.
Usdaw news release, Respect for Shopworkers toolkit and Freedom from Fear campaign • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Britain: Another voluntary safety system fails
Another attempt to run aspects of the health and safety policing regime on a voluntary basis has failed. The British Occupational Hygiene Society [BOHS] said “with deep regret” it was closing the Asbestos Building Inspectors Certification Scheme (ABICS), a body supported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and intended to ensure asbestos surveyors were certified to have reached the necessary competence standard.
BOHS news release • Industry Today • 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

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

Chile: Miners are rescued, but mines still unsafe
All of the 33 miners trapped deep underground in northern Chile for more than two months have been rescued. The operation, which was completed on 14 October and took 22 hours, ended when the six rescuers sent down to assist the miners were winched up.
The Guardian • Financial Times • BBC News Online • New York Times updates • Christian Science Monitor • UMWA news release • CFMEU video • Daily Mirror • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Global: Gerdau fails to report accidents
A global trade union network is keeping up the pressure on steel multinational Gerdau to improve health and safety. A meeting of the network this month expressed concern at the company’s practice of “hiding” accidents by putting workers back on the job before they are able to do their work.
IMF news release • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Britain: Safety firm fined after death plunge
A safety testing company’s lax rules for its own employees were exposed after one of its senior engineers fell to his death while inspecting the rooftop safety system at a Bradford DIY store. Nottingham-based First Testing Ltd employee Paul Voller, 31, died after plunging about 30ft through a skylight at the B&Q store.
Telegraph and Argus • Nottingham Post • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Britain: Company fined after cutter hits head
The owner of Bristol lighting company Fineline has been fined £20,000 after an employee was injured by machinery that was not properly guarded. Rolf Weber sustained minor head injuries on 5 February 2010, after going into the working area of the machine to remove a finished work piece and inadvertently hitting his head on the cutter, which was still rotating at full speed.
HSE news release and work equipment webpages • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Bangladesh: Three more shipbreakers die
Trade unions in Bangladesh have stepped up demands for safer working conditions in the country’s deadly shipbreaking industry after three workers died and scores more were injured in an incident  at a Chittagong yard. In March 2009, the Supreme Court in the country directed the government to ensure safety of those working at shipbreaking yards.
Morning Star • Daily Star • IMF shipbreaking webpages • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Britain: Fencing firm didn’t fence machinery
A Manchester fencing manufacturer has admitted putting its employees in danger by allowing them to use unguarded machinery. Fencing Supplies Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the company allowed guards to be disabled on nine fence cutting machines.
HSE news release • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Britain: Textile firm fined after eight foot fall
A man was left with serious injuries after a fall from an unguarded platform, a court heard during the sentencing of a Huddersfield textile retailer. Fifty-seven year-old Dennis Hunter was left with a broken leg and crushed ankle when he fell eight feet onto concrete while dismantling shelving at the Phoenox Textiles site.
HSE news release and shattered lives campaign • Risks 478 • 16 October 2010

Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: TUC pans Tory attack on safety
The TUC has warned that a David Cameron-commissioned report into workplace safety is likely to be “seriously unbalanced”. The overdue report has been trailed repeatedly by its author, former Tory cabinet minister Lord Young, who gave his latest preview to last week’s Conservative Party conference.
TUC news release • Lord Young’s speech to the Conservative conference • IOSH news release • The case for health and safety, TUC, 2010 • We didn’t vote to die campaign • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Britain: Near miss success for Unite safety rep
A Unite safety representative has been named runner-up at the National Food and Drink Health and Safety Awards. Keith Smith, Unite senior steward and safety rep at the Unilever factory at Burton-on-Trent came second with his idea to boost the number of workplace safety representatives and improve safety on site.
Unite news release • Risks 477 • 9 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

Britain: RMT calls for action after worker’s death
Rail union RMT union has said Network Rail should be prosecuted in the light of a coroner’s call for new safety checks after in inquest heard how an Essex rail worker was fatally injured when a “poorly welded” basket fell on to him. RMT, which provided representation for Malcolm Slater’s widow at the inquest, had sought a ruling of ‘unlawful killing’, arguing that company’s serious breaches of health and safety were a direct cause of the 64-year-old’s death.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Sunderland Echo • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Britain: Unite forces Network Rail safety review
Network Rail has agreed to an independent review of how it reports workplace accidents following an intervention by Unite. Unite national officer Bob Rixham said: “It's still outrageous that senior directors can walk away with huge bonuses when Network Rail wrongly boosted its safety record.”
Unite news release • The Guardian • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

India: Death exposes tea worker exploitation
Poisonings and shootings are among the labour and human rights abuses at a tea plantation linked to the multinational Tata group, a new report has claimed. The Powai estate has one of the world's largest tea-processing factories and employs some 1,800 permanent and 1,200 temporary workers.
IUF news release and full report, In cold blood [pdf] • 10 Downing Street news release. Morning Star • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Britain: Tube bosses ‘put passengers at risk’
RMT general secretary Bob Crow has accused London Underground (LU) bosses of putting passengers’ safety at risk by using untrained staff to cover for thousands of Tube workers during a 24-hour strike. Members of RMT and TSSA unions walked out at 7pm last Sunday in a long-running dispute over 800 job cuts which the unions say could have a serious detrimental effect on safety.
RMT news release • Morning Star and related story • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Europe: Economic incentives pay dividends
Incentive schemes to encourage companies to invest in safety ‘pay dividends’, a report has concluded. The research by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) suggests the schemes are a cost-effective option for governments looking to cut the numbers of work-related accidents and illnesses. It says used in tandem with regulation and enforcement, the incentives could make it more likely that the EU reaches its workplace accident reduction target.
EU-OSHA news release, factsheet, Economic incentives at a glance, and full report, Economic incentives to improve occupational safety and health: a review from the European perspective • 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

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

Chile: Unions issue safety manifesto
Unions have called on the Chilean government to introduce effective health and safety legislation. The unions, from the mining, metals, and energy sectors, say flaws in the existing safety laws include excluding workers and their trade unions from participating in safety matters.
ICEM news report and letter to the Chilean government [pdf] • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Britain: Don’t let cost-cutting cost lives
Safety experts are warning government budget cuts could cost lives and place its own staff at risk, while business groups continue to mount an attack on existing safety rules. The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) this week voiced fears the recognised workplace dangers of organisations cutting costs – including excessive working hours, extended use of ageing equipment and lack of training – are the “hidden dangers” of the government’s deficit reduction drive.
IOSH news release • FPB news release • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Britain: Pre-employment screening bites the dust
Changes to discrimination law that include measures to make pre-employment medicals and questionnaires illegal have taken effect. TUC has said union representatives should make sure that their employer’s recruitment policies take account of the new legal duties under the Equality Act 2010.
EHRC news release and guidance • Home Office news release and Equality Act webpages, frequently asked questions and  guide • Usdaw news release • The Guardian • Equality Act 2010: A TUC briefing for affiliates [pdf] • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Global: BP safety talk is all about shareholders
The creation by BP of a new global safety unit with “sweeping powers” has the safety of shareholders’ money as its “ultimate goal”, the company’s top boss has admitted. BP chair Carl-Henric Svanberg said there were “difficult challenges ahead” but added “we have assembled a strong and able new team and are developing a robust strategy to deal with them and to deliver our ultimate goal – the restoration of shareholder value.” BP news release •   Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Houston Chronicle • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Britain: Call for UK equity fines law
A member of the Scottish parliament has said the UK government should introduce a new safety fines system, after the Scottish parliament’s Justice Committee said it did not have the power to implement the measure. The committee said the Criminal Sentencing (Equity Fines) Bill, introduced by SNP’s Dr Bill Wilson MSP, impinged on legislation reserved to Westminster.
Bill Wilson MSP news release • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

USA: Multiple killers face lower penalties
The more people harmed by a corporation’s negligence, the lower the court penalty is likely to be, US researchers have found. The findings came in a US study that examined 136 representative cases between 2000-2009 in which individuals from corporations had been found guilty by juries of negligently exposing members of the public to asbestos, lead paint or toxic mould, and where their victims had all suffered significantly.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Loran F Nordgren and Mary-Hunter Morris McDonnell. The scope-severity paradox: Why doing more harm is judged to be less harmful, Social Psychological and Personality Science, published online 25 August 2010. DOI: 10.1177/1948550610382308 • 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: Veolia fined after another death
National waste and recycling company Veolia ES (UK) Ltd has been fined £225,000 after a worker was killed in a vehicle collision while collecting litter from a busy road. The fine comes less than eight months after it was prosecuted for another workplace death.
HSE news release • 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: Site firm fined after telehandler tragedy
Scottish construction firm James Swinton Co Ltd has been fined after one of its workers died four weeks after being struck by a telehandler driven by a co-worker. Charles Wilkinson, 51, from Berwick, was struck by the telehandler as it was being reversed the wrong way along a one-way residential street in Tweedmouth.
HSE news release • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Britain: Couple in court after couple of crimes
The owners of a pine furniture workshop in Bacup have been prosecuted after an employee was seriously injured twice in less than two months. Simon Davies, 21, was cutting a small groove into a pine door on 13 July 2009 when it shot out of the machine, forcing his left hand onto a rotating blade.
HSE news release and woodworking webpages • Risks 477 • 9 October 2010

Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: Deaths expose Network Rail’s ‘ignorance’
Network Rail’s “ignorance” and “irresponsibility” has been condemned by train drivers’ union ASLEF after an official investigation found the company “did not properly understand” the risks posed by a level crossing where three people died.
RAIB news release and full report • ASLEF news release • Risks 476 • 2 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

Britain: Social workers send out safety SOS
Stressed out social workers have sent an SOS to MPs and the public, calling on them to back their campaign for a new “Social Work Contract.” Public sector union UNISON has joined up with social work journal Community Care to promote a specially devised contract that would allow social workers to do their job properly and in safety.
UNISON news release • Community Care magazine • The Social Work Contract • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Global: Spanish metalworker death spurs global action
Following the death of a worker at a steel plant in Spain on 5 September, workers and their unions at Gerdau plants worldwide have taken action to demand improvements in workplace health and safety. According to IMF, the global union federation for the sector: “Since the creation of the Gerdau Global Workers' Committee in 2006 the workers, supported by the International Metalworkers' Federation, have been trying to gain recognition from the company of the global committee so as to discuss improving workplace health and safety at all Gerdau plants.”
IMF news release • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Coalition attacks ‘the right to be safe’
The coalition government is attacking the most fundamental of workers’ rights - the right to be safe at work, retail union Usdaw has warned. Usdaw general secretary John Hannett said the Tories were doing this “because they are ideologically committed to putting profit before people and the Lib Dems, because they are ideologically committed to clinging to their ministerial limos.”
Usdaw news release • The case for health and safety, TUC [pdf] • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Unite calls for better truckstops
Transport union Unite has called on the trucking industry to support its campaign to provide more and better truckstops. Members are keeping diaries of their experiences at truckstops around the country, highlighting problems including inflated parking charges, poor food and drink, dirty toilets and washing facilities, or truckstops closed during public holidays when drivers still require them.
Road Transport • Unite truckstop campaign and email hotline • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

China: Bosses use stand-ins to evade mine dangers
Mine bosses in China are using stand-ins to get round a rule requiring them to go down the country’s notorious hazardous mines. Under the rule, the mine leaders must go below ground with miners or be considered “absent without leave” and face fines of up to 80 per cent of their annual income.
China Daily • China Labour Bulletin • The Guardian • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Jumping beer keg crushes finger
A beer delivery man from South Shields has received £3,500 compensation from his employer after his finger was crushed and left deformed when it was crushed by a beer keg. GMB member Paul Anderson, 42, sustained the injury in May 2008 while attempting to unload a delivery of beer kegs at a pub in Newcastle.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Faulty ladder makes caretaker ‘the fall guy’
A school caretaker has received £30,000 compensation after damaging his knee when he fell from a ladder at work. The GMB member, who worked in Leeds but whose name has not been released, was attempting to unlock a toilet cubicle door when the ladder he was using slipped on shiny quarry tiles.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Tube danger from uninspected trains
London Underground Limited (LUL) has been breaking safety rules by running trains that have missed essential safety inspections, rail unions have warned. RMT said train brake blocks, cab equipment, chassis brackets and other critical equipment is supposed to be inspected at 14-day intervals, but the union has evidence that trains that have not been inspected for at least 22 days.
RMT news release and details of the industrial action schedule • Morning Star • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Non-union firms fail to involve workers
Unless unions are involved, companies are unlikely to take worker involvement seriously and even when they do it will be on management terms, new research has found. The RoSPA report concludes that worker involvement in health and safety “as a concept, is low down on the agendas of most of the employers; there is little willingness to invest money and resources in worker involvement.”
RoSPA news release • Worker involvement in health and safety: What works? [pdf] • TUC worker involvement webpages • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: HSE benchmarking tool ‘a costly flop’
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) corporate benchmarking tool has been branded “a costly flop” after figures obtained from the watchdog showed each use has cost taxpayers over £5,100. HSE said it has paid £582,257 – mostly to Greenstreet Berman – for CHaSPI over seven years, by which time only 114 firms had completed its CHaSPI index.
HSB news report • Review of CHaSPI, HSE Research Report, RR813, 2010 [pdf] • CHaSPI • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Lead level reached four times the legal limit
A Black Country glass maker has been fined £3,600 after an official inspection found airborne lead levels in some instances were over four times the legal limit. Employees at Brierley Crystal had elevated blood lead levels, with four in excess of the 35 micrograms/dl level described as evidence of “significant” over-exposure in the lead regulations.
HSE news release and lead at work webpages • Hazards magazine lead webpages • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Australia: Site commission makes sites less safe
An Australian construction commission set up to limit the power of unions in the sector has been politically partisan and has made sites less safe, unions have said. Jeff Lawrence, secretary of the national union federation ACTU said the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) must be abolished and “has been an abject failure which has led to poorer safety standards in the industry.”
ACTU news release • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Families at risk from deadly asbestos
It’s not just your own asbestos exposures at work that can lead to a deadly cancer, they can hit your family too, recent cases affecting a daughter, a wife and a granddaughter have demonstrated.
Portsmouth News • Daily Echo • The Sun • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Worker loses leg on offshore wind farm
Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd and Scaldis Salvage and Marine Contractors BV have been fined after a worker lost his leg during work on an offshore wind farm. The incident in August 2006 took place 20 kilometres offshore in the Moray Firth, during construction of the Beatrice Windfarm Turbine B, one of two wind turbine generators which were being built to provide power to the Beatrice AP Oil Platform.
COPFS news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Firm fined after spinning screw death
A Preston engineering firm has been fined after a worker was killed when he became entangled in machinery. Michael Lohaza was found dead after becoming trapped in a lathe at Autoy Ltd on 10 January 2009.
HSE news release • Lancashire Evening Post • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Site giant Kier fined £160k after death
Kier North West has been fined £160,000 after a labourer fell to his death while building Premier League side Everton FC’s new training academy. Karl Davis was working on the first floor when a guardrail gave way and he fell out of an open window frame.
HSE news release and falls webpage • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Hand deskinned in chicken machine
A chicken deskinning machine tore the skin off the back of a worker’s hand, a court has heard. The Crown Chicken Ltd employee was using the industrial machine to skin chickens when his glove became caught and his hand was pulled onto the cutting blade.
HSE news release • East Anglia Daily Times • Farmers Weekly • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Britain: Walkers fined after toxic gas death
Food giant Walkers Snack Foods Ltd and chemical distributor Omnichem Ltd have been fined after a worker was killed by a cloud of toxic gas. John Marriott, 59, was working for Omnichem on 19 July 2006 when he was seriously affected by chlorine dioxide fumes.
HSE news release • Daily Mirror • Leicester Mercury • BBC News Online • Risks 476 • 2 October 2010

Hazards news, 25 September 2010

Britain: TUC alert on chemicals shake up at work
The TUC says union safety reps should make sure their employers are ready to meet new legal duties on workplace chemicals. The union body, which has published new online safety rep guidance on the REACH regulations, says safety reps in firms using chemicals should check with the employer whether: Their classification should be changed under the new rules; they are labelled in line with the rules; all uses are covered by updated safety data sheets; and the required risk assessment measures have been implemented.
REACH - A briefing for safety representatives, TUC, September 2010 • ETUC news release and leaflet • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

USA: Chemical giant denies brain cancer link
A high profile legal case is to cast doubt on industry evidence claiming that vinyl chloride exposure is not linked to brain cancer. Aaron Freiwald, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, believes he can prove that an industry-funded study on which Rohm & Haas is expected to rely is flawed and failed to include as many as two dozen fatal cases of brain cancer.
Green jobs blog • Center for Public Integrity feature • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: 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

USA: Whistleblowers need a new protector
An official US government report critical of the lack of protection provided to workplace safety whistleblowers has led to calls for a new agency to protect workers. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report concluded the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had neglected its whistleblower protection role.
PEER news release • GAO report [pdf] • OSHA statement on the GAO report • ProPublica blog • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: NUT critical of schools asbestos assurances
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has ‘misplaced’ confidence in a survey it says establishes the ability of schools to safety manage asbestos, teaching union NUT has said. NUT general secretary Christine Blower said inspectors only visited 42 authorities, adding: “The other 110 simply completed an on-line survey, making the survey essentially a paper exercise, reliant on local authorities admitting to failings in their system of asbestos management in order to trigger a visit from the HSE.”
HSE news release, survey findings and asbestos management webpages • NUT news release • Edexec • Asbestos in Schools • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: RMT aims to block ‘safety risk’ Chunnel trains
Rail union RMT has warned that tests using a Deutsche Bahn ICE (Inter City Express) train in the Channel Tunnel next month could be a first step towards a “major dilution” of current safety standards. The RMT warning came after Deutsche Bahn senior managers were reported to be seeking major changes to the rail safety regime to accommodate the new trains.
RMT news release • The Guardian • Daily Mail • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: Payout for prison officer injured by inmate
A prison officer at who was injured while trying to restrain an inmate has received £47,500 compensation from the Ministry of Justice. Keith Brown, 55, who still works at HM Prison Dorchester, was charged by one of the inmates, and while trying to restrain him sustained a fracture to the base of his right thumb.”
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: Union condemns use of no toilet trains
“Greedy money-grabbing” bosses on Southern Railways have been branded a “disgrace” by the rail union RMT after it emerged some of its expanded fleet will have no toilets on board. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “It doesn't take a genius to work out that, if you close on-train toilets, some people will take matters into their own hands turning the carriages into stinking cattle trucks and creating appalling conditions for both passengers and staff.”
BBC News Online • Morning Star • The Telegraph • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: BP price surges as spill concerns dissipate
The share price of UK oil multinational BP soared this week after it indicated the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico had been “killed”. The share price surge came as more optimistic analysts predicted legal claims arising from the disaster could be significantly below the $20bn (£13bn) set aside by BP and a leading US campaign group, Public Citizen, has ended its call for a boycott of the oil company.
Green jobs blog • BP news release • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

South Africa: Union mobilises a safety ‘army’
A mining union has marked last week’s anniversary of the 1986 Kinross disaster by launching a R2.7 million (£244,000) health and safety programme and setting out to create an ‘army’ of union safety activists. National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) president Cedric Gina b6 the end of October, Numsa hoped to reach 6,000 shop stewards to create an “army of health and safety reservists.”
Iafrica.com • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: Fire risk alert on timber frame construction
Firefighters, construction workers and the public face a ‘significant risk’ at sites using timber frame construction methods, fire chiefs have warned. The Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) is calling for an urgent review of the Building Regulations following a spate of major blazes at sites using this construction technique.
CFOA news release • Construction Enquirer • The Independent • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Global: Call to stop trade in toxic e-waste
The international system intended to stop illegal hazardous waste exports is not working, the head of a UK watchdog has warned. Environment Agency chair Lord Smith, in a speech to INTERPOL, said better cooperation and exchange of intelligence across national borders was necessary to stop a crime that poses a “growing and persistent risk to human health and the environment”.
Green jobs blog • Environment Agency news release • INTERPOL news release • 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

Britain: Director fined over mixer death
A building materials manufacturer and its director have been fined a total of £20,000 after a worker was killed by an industrial mixing machine blade. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Bury-based Building Chemical Research (1984) Ltd (BCR) and company director Stuart Reich, 62, following Paul Palmer's death at the company's premises in Radcliffe.
HSE news release • Bolton News • Construction Enquirer • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: Firms fined after ferry drowning
A Sussex port and an Italian shipping company have been fined a total of £185,000 for health and safety failings after a worker drowned at Newhaven Docks. Newhaven Port & Properties Limited pleaded guilty to criminal safety breaches and was fined £85,000 and ordered to pay costs of £34,000. Forship S.p.a pleaded guilty and was fined £100,000 plus costs of £43,782.
HSE news release • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Britain: Fabric roll crushed agency worker’s arm
Leather Limited, a Peterborough fabric manufacturer, has been fined after a worker’s arm was so badly crushed he had to have metal plates inserted to help support his broken bones. Agency worker Robert Dunn, 32, was operating a fabric winding machine on 4 November 2009 when his left arm was drawn into a roll of material and crushed, breaking all three arm bones.
HSE news release, textiles and risk assessment webpages, and guide to the 
Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 [pdf] • Risks 475 • 25 September 2010

Australia: Young worker died on insulation project
A construction firm has been fined after a teenage worker died working on a government-backed home insulation scheme. Arrow Property Maintenance Pty Ltd was fined $135,000 (£82,200) on charges relating to the death of 16-year-old insulation installer Reuben Barnes. He was electrocuted while installing fibreglass insulation in the ceiling of a private home in November last year.
Green jobs blog • 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

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

Hazards news, 18 September 2010

Britain: Post workers get off their bikes
Cycles are great for leisure pursuits, but are neither safe nor suitable when it comes to delivering large quantities of mail, postal union CWU has said. The union is supporting a decision by Royal Mail to scale back the use of cycles on deliveries.
CWU news release • CTC campaign • BBC News Online • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

USA: Chromium industry buries cancer evidence
The world’s largest producer of chromium chemicals failed to inform the US authorities after it found a “substantial” lung cancer risks to workers exposed to hexavalent chromium (CrVI, or chrome 6). A notice this month filed by the US government’s Environmental Protection Agency says Elementis Chromium failed or refused to submit to EPA a study conducted for an industry trade group that showed evidence of excess lung cancer risk among workers in chromium production facilities.
The Pump Handle blog and 2 September 2010 EPA notice, posted on the Defending Science website • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: Dispute over assaults on rail staff
Rail union RMT has declared a formal dispute with Southern Railways over an upsurge in assaults on staff. The union, which says the problem is the result of the company’s decision to cut back on security measures, is now preparing for a ballot for industrial action.
RMT news release • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010 

Europe: Unions launch fair ferries campaign
Seafarers’ unions have launched a Europe-wide campaign for “fair and safe ferries for all.” The initiative, kicked off this week at a Hull conference, comes ahead of related activities at selected European ferry ports from 27 to 30 September.
ITF news release • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: UCATT steps up blacklisting campaign
Construction union UCATT has stepped up its campaign to end blacklisting. The union’s motion at this week’s TUC Congress in Manchester, calling for the new regulations to ensure that blacklisting is finally made illegal once and for all, was unanimously carried.
UCATT news release • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Turkey: Government condemned over murdered journalist
Journalists’ unions have hailed a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which ruled Turkey failed to protect the life of a leading journalist who was murdered three years ago. The ECHR ruling said Turkey should have taken steps to protect Hrant Dink after it was warned that ultra-nationalists were plotting to kill him.
IFJ news release • ECHR news release • Today’s Zaman • Bianet and related article on the ECHR ruling • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: Deadly asbestos risks onboard ships
A union campaign to secure tougher controls against the threats posed by asbestos on ships has won backing from delegates to TUC’s Congress. Seafarers’ union Nautilus International secured unanimous support for a motion expressing concern at the continued presence of asbestos on ships – despite international rules introduced in 2002 to prevent its use.
Nautilus news release • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Global: Deadly jeans fade out of fashion
Two major multinationals have agreed to end sandblasting denim jeans, a practice that has led to deadly lung disease in garment workers. ITGLWF, the global union federation for the sector, welcomed the announcement by Levi Strauss and H&M.
ITGLWF news release • Levi Strauss news release • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: BP cited for North Sea safety lapses
BP's operations in the North Sea were investigated six months before the Gulf of Mexico explosion amid questions about staff safety training, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) correspondence reveals. HSE found new staff were not being trained to 'basic safety standards', according to a letter obtained under freedom of information laws.
The Daily Telegraph • Daily Mail • Financial Times • The Independent • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: Business lobby attacks regulation again
Another business lobby group has taken aim at workplace regulation. Manufacturers’ organisation EEF has urged the coalition government to “reverse the rising burden stifling businesses”.
EEF news release, Reforming regulation report [pdf] and related position paper [pdf]. The case for health and safety, TUC, September 2010 [pdf] • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign and facebook group • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: Bosses fined after digger bucket death
Two construction firm bosses have been fined after a worker died on a Salford demolition job. John Cain, 36, was working on a project to demolish the Albert Park Inn on 22 November 2004 when he was hit by an excavator bucket on a digger.
HSE news release • Bolton News • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: Family issues safety plea after ‘avoidable tragedy’
The devastated parents of a young engineer killed when a falling digger bucket struck him on the head have urged the construction industry to learn vital lessons from his tragic death. The call from the distraught family of Mark Handford came after a coroner's jury recorded a verdict of accidental death into the incident which claimed the life of the 22-year-old just over a year ago.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: MOD censured for asbestos crimes
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has received a formal Crown Censure from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after potentially exposing workers to deadly asbestos fibres. The action relates to criminal breaches of safety law however the ministry, as a government body, cannot be prosecuted in the criminal courts.
HSE news releases on the MoD Crown Censure and the Interserve fine • HSE managing asbestos webpages • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: Food giant crushed worker’s skull
Premier Foods Group Limited, the UK's biggest food manufacturer with an annual turnover of £2.6 billion, has been fined £14,000 after a 65kg metal pillar fell on a maintenance engineer in Merseyside, crushing his skull. Thomas Williams, 61, was working at the firm’s site at Manor Bakeries in Moreton in July 2008 when the four-metre section of pillar fell on his head.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Wirral Globe • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Global: ITUC welcomes asbestos ‘death knell’
A statement from a United Nations body confirming its desire to see the end of asbestos use worldwide is the ‘death knell’ for a substance which claims one life every five minutes around the clock, the global union confederation ITUC has said. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) this month warned in an official position statement that industry lobbyists pushing asbestos around the world must not claim to have ILO support.
ITUC news release • ITUC/Hazards green jobs, safe jobs blog • BWI news report • World Health Organisation asbestos briefing, July 2010 • International Labour Organisation (ILO) position statement on asbestos • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: Firm fined for failing its own workers
A North Yorkshire company making innovative machinery fitted with the latest safety devices failed to protect its own workers from the risk of injury as they manufactured them. Tadcaster firm Lambert Engineering Ltd pleaded guilty at Selby magistrates court to a breach of health and safety legislation after a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector found “widespread instances” of protective guards on factory floor machines either being removed or disabled.
HSE news release • York Press • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: Firm fined after teen is injured in fall
A Croydon company has been fined after a teenage worker suffered multiple fractures and internal injuries when he fell through a rooflight. Lewis Edwards, 17, from Sidcup, had only been at STP Solutions Ltd a few weeks when the incident happened.
HSE news release and fall webpages • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: Warning on waste and recycling crackdown
Local authorities have been reminded of their crucial safety role in the procurement and management of waste and recycling services. The warning from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) comes ahead of an October programme of official safety inspections.
HSE news release, waste services webpages and guidance [pdf] and WISH Forum • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Britain: TUC resources for safety reps
The TUC has published an online resource pack for health and safety representatives. The lengthy list of resources includes three new publications - an introduction to being a health and safety representative, a guide to reporting, and information on what to expect if an inspector visits. The latter includes a link to the actions that official health and safety inspectors are recommended to take when they encounter breaches of the various regulations on consultation over health and safety issues.
TUC safety rep resources • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Australia: Public apology to victim and union
An Australian employer accused of waging a campaign of bullying and harassment against a former employee has agreed to make an unprecedented public apology to the worker and his union. Dean Hutchinson, who will receive a confidential payout, said that while working Sunbury Wall Frames & Trusses (SWFT) he was regularly shot at with a nail-gun by a supervisor and was struck on the head with a large piece of wood thrown at him, which later caused him to vomit.
CFMEU news report • The Age • Risks 474 • 18 September 2010

Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Hidden toll highlights need for safety laws
More than 20,000 people in the UK are killed prematurely by their work every year, highlighting the need for strong, strongly enforced health and safety regulation, according to a TUC report. ‘The case for health and safety’ smashes the myth that Britain is one of the safest places to work, says TUC.
TUC news release • The case for health and safety, TUC, September 2010 [pdf] • BBC News Online • Personnel Today • Stronger Unions • Morning Star • The Herald • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

USA: Explosion hits strikebreaking uranium plant
A US uranium processing plant that shipped in replacement workers after locking out its union workforce has suffered an explosion. Workers at the uranium enrichment facility in Metropolis, Illinois have been locked out for two months after contract negotiations broke down over owner Honeywell's demand that workers give up their retiree health care coverage and pension plans.
Huffington Post • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Network Rail buried workplace injuries
Network Rail's chair Rick Haythornthwaite should claw back directors’ bonuses because the company has systematically under-reported workplace injuries for at least two years, the union Unite has said. Seven directors earned £2.36 million in bonuses last year, with Network Rail’s safety record one of the “key discretionary items” used by its remuneration committee to calculate the payouts.
Unite news release • HSE RIDDOR guidance • ORR webpage • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Reinstatement demand for sacked whistleblowers
Construction union UCATT is pursuing legal action in support of members who were dismissed after raising serious safety concerns. The union says problems at the Velindre Electricity sub-station construction site in Swansea began in February 2010, when the workers were suspended by J2M - a consortium of Morrison Utility Services, Jacobs Engineering and Mitsubishi Electric.
UCATT news release • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Tube safety strike ‘solid’
A Tube safety and staffing strike this week was ‘rock solid’, the unions involved have said. The 6 September 24-hour action by TSSA and RMT members was in protest at plans by London Underground Ltd (LU) to axe 800 station and other staff and close ticket offices.
RMT news release and follow up release • The Independent • Morning Star • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

USA: Injury reports crackdown snags firm
A promised official crackdown on US firms that fail to report workplace injuries had led to a large fine for a company the US government’s safety watchdog says provided ‘grossly incorrect’ figures for two years.
OSHA news release • Houston Chronicle • FairWarning • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Sticky plastic led to arm injury
A Unite member has received a £90,000 payout after he broke his forearm in two places and fractured his elbow when he was caught in a printing press. Andrew Watts, 45, who had more than 20 years’ experience working for packaging company Amcor Flexibles when the incident occurred, was setting up a printing press to apply different colours to plastic packaging.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Union says safety first for Scottish ferries
Safety must come first in any changes made to Scotland’s ferry services, a union has told the Scottish government. In its detailed response to a public consultation on the review of Scottish ferries, Nautilus noted that safety is by far the most important issue for users of the services.
Nautilus news release • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Repetitive job led to strain injury
A factory worker who developed a repetitive strain injury has been awarded £3,000 compensation for his injuries in a union-backed claim. Unite member Geoffrey Coleman, 41, an employee at an unidentified factory in Kendal, Cumbria, sustained his injuries while packing a new product in the finishing department.
Thompsons Solicitors • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: BP spreads blame on oil spill
BP was not solely to blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the related deaths, injuries and environmental harm, the UK multinational’s own investigation has concluded. Instead, “a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties”, including cementing contractor Halliburton and rig owner Transocean, led to the explosion on 20 April that killed 11 workers and led to environmentally devastating oil pollution across the region.
BP news release, related video and internal investigation report • BBC News Online • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Transocean accused on North Sea safety
Transocean, the American rig owner at the centre of BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, has been accused of compromising safety in the North Sea by “bullying, harassment and intimidation” of its staff. The offshore and transport union, RMT, argues that abusive behaviour and racism towards an increasingly multinational workforce in the North Sea are widespread, and it wants a huge shake-up of the system in the light of a worsening safety record.
The Guardian • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010 

Britain: Government told to think of the victims
The government should consider the victims of lax workplace safety standards when it fashions its policy on safety regulation, campaigners and bereaved families have warned. The groups, speaking ahead of Lord Young’s report to the government on health and safety regulation, safety tragedies will only be prevented if strong regulation is backed up by strong enforcement.
Hazards Campaign news release • FACK news release • ‘Face the FACKs’ DVD, £10 including p&p, order form [pdf] • We didn't vote to die at work campaign and facebook group • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Scots safety unit gets speedy convictions
A specialist body set up in January 2009 to investigate workplace safety crimes in Scotland has led to more and speedier convictions. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s (COPFS) Health and Safety Division was created to examine cases reported to the procurator fiscal by the Health and Safety Executive.
COPFS news release • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Global: Asbestos use must stop, confirms ILO
Asbestos industry lobbyists pushing the deadly fibre on the developing world must not claim to have the support of the International Labour Organisation, the United Nations body has indicated. As well as encouraging governments to sign up to ILO conventions, the statement highlights ILO’s commitment to “promoting the elimination of the future use of all forms of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials.”
The ILO position on safety in the use of asbestos, ILO, September 2010 [pdf] • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Boarding school fined after demolition death
A Shropshire boarding school has been fined £25,000 after a demolition worker was killed when a 2.4 tonne roof fell on top of him. Four of the victim’s colleagues cheated death at Moor Park School, Ludlow, after a dumper truck on the site created an escape route for them when the roof caved-in.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 473 • 11 September 201

Britain: Director fined after dodgy dock plunge
A Scottish shipbreaking and scrap metal company and its director have been fined after a night watchman was injured falling into water from a decrepit quay. RM Supplies (Inverkeithing) Ltd had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two breaches of the Docks Regulations 1988 and was fined a total of £14,000; 56-year-old RM Supplies director Thomas Muir, whose firm was responsible for the condition of the quay, pleaded guilty to safety offences and was fined £2,750.
HSE news release • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Bakeware firm fined after worker burned
An industrial bakeware company has been fined £10,000 after a worker received 60 per cent burns following an explosion at a Nottingham factory. The 33-year-old welder from llkeston, who has asked not to be named, was working for Fluorocarbon Bakeware Systems Ltd on 16 December 2008 at its unit in Beeston.
HSE news release • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Builder fined after hand is disfigured
A London building firm whose employee had his hand mangled has been fined £1,000. Maplestead Limited was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for a criminal breach of safety regulations.
HSE news release • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Newsagent chain fined over robbery risks
A newsagent chain that failed to protect staff from a known risk of robbery has been fined. Cheshire West and Chester Council took action after the branch manager of a shop in the Martin McColl chain was seriously assaulted in an early morning robbery in November 2008.
Cheshire West and Chester Council news release • USDAW news report • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Sickness benefit health tests ‘unjust’
A coalition of charities has warned that a controversial health test being pushed by ministers to decide who will get long-term sickness benefits is not working. There is mounting evidence, say the charities, that people with serious illnesses are being judged fit for work when they are not.
Papworth Trust news release • The Guardian • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Britain: Teachers exhausted by unreachable targets
Unrealistic goals and the high expectations of others are making teachers stressed and exhausted, researchers have warned. A study by Kent University revealed that teachers who were asked to do more than they were capable of delivering had higher stress levels and were more at risk of stress-related illnesses and burnout.
Teacher Support Network news release • Morning Star • Risks 473 • 11 September 2010

Hazards news, 4 September 2010

Britain: Payback offenders attack supervisors
Supervisors of offenders on unpaid work schemes are increasingly being subjected to threats and verbal and physical abuse, with many complaining of feeling intimidated and afraid, according to a union survey. Most threats are made by offenders, but probation officers’ union Napo also points to attacks by rival gangs, including shootings.
The Guardian • Morning Star • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

USA: Safety is top worker concern   
More than eight in 10 US workers — 85 per cent — rank workplace safety their top workplace concern, according to a new study from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. Robert Shull, the workers’ rights programme officer at the Public Welfare Foundation, commented: “Given the importance that workers themselves place on this issue, we should not have to mourn the loss of people on the job before government and employers take more effective measures to ensure that employees can go home safely after work.”
Public Welfare Foundation news release • NORC survey report [pdf] • The Pump Handle • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Britain: Union plan for better community service
Community sentences can deliver a cost-effective alternative to prison – but only with the necessary investment, management and support, UNISON has said. The union is calling for better alternatives to jail terms and has launched an “eight star plan” it says will result in community sentences delivering a real payback to local communities and for the offenders taking part.
UNISON news release • Risks 472 • 4 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

USA: BP quizzed on its safety record
US federal investigators last week pressed senior BP officials about whether the company had a troubled record of safety problems even before the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. Time after time, BP appeared to have gambled with safety, said a chair of the panel, Captain Hung Nguyen of the Coast Guard, noting: “One dot is a point, two dots is a line, and three dots is a trend... There’s a trend there about the safety culture of BP.”
New York Times • Boston Globe • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Britain: Derailment underlines guard’s ‘crucial’ role
The crucial role played by the conductor of a train derailed in a level-crossing collision in Suffolk last month has underlined the importance of safety-trained guards, the rail union RMT has said. Twenty-one people were hurt, two seriously, when a train derailed in a crash with a lorry on a level crossing.
RMT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Ukraine: Steel worker dies during safety visit
A steelworker has died at an ArcelorMittal steel plant in the Ukraine while the firm’s global safety committee was meeting on the premises. The tragedy at the Kryviy Rih plant on 19 August highlights the “unacceptable” fatality rate at the company, said global metal unions’ federation IMF.
IMF news release • ArcelorMittal/IMF occupational health and safety agreement [pdf] • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Global: Vedanta stripped of safety award
Multinational mining group Vedanta Resources has been stripped of a British Safety Council (BSC) international safety award after it was revealed it had not declared at least 40 workers died in a chimney collapse on 23 September 2009 at one of its sites in India.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Britain: Death shows need for director accountability
Health and safety campaigners have demanded that company directors be held personally accountable for the “serial killing” of workers after the latest death at a Corus steelworks. Barry Shaw died on 28 August in what police described as a “crushing accident” at Corus's Scunthorpe steel mill.
Hazards Campaign news release • More on Corus’ health and safety record • Morning Star • Grimsby Telegraph • BBC News Online • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010
Britain: Directors get small fine for severed fingers
Two directors in Leeds have been found guilty of safety offences after a worker had his fingers crushed in a hydraulic press. The 57-year-old man, who has not been named, had the ends of two fingers severed in April 2009 at Lupton Fabrications Ltd, a metal fabricating company formerly owned by Dennis Brunt and Peter Critchard.
HSE news release and engineering safety guide • Yorkshire Evening Post • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Britain: Director guilty after worker’s plunge
A Cheshire building company and its director have been fined after a worker fell nine metres from scaffolding at a building site in Llanfairfechan, sustaining severe injuries. JBB Homes Ltd - which has subsequently gone into liquidation - pleaded guilty to a criminal safety breach and was fined £20,000 plus costs of £10,835 and director, James Burt, pleaded guilty to breaching section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £10,000.
HSE news release and Shattered Lives campaign • Construction Enquirer • Daily Post • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Britain: Schoolboy died after farm roof fall
A Scottish farming partnership has been fined £13,500 following the death of a 13-year-old boy. Austin Irvine, who was the stepson of a junior partner in the Moray farm, fell through the roof of a farm building on 21 August 2006.
HSE news release • The Sun • Aberdeen Press and Journal • Daily Record • Farmers Weekly • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Britain: Bricklayer paralysed by falling steel beam
Doncaster based developer Strata Homes has been fined for a criminal safety breach after a worker was left paralysed from the chest down when he was crushed by a steel beam weighing more than 660 pounds. Anton Burrows, 24, was working as part of a bricklaying team sub-contracted to Strata Homes Yorkshire Ltd, at a Huddersfield development on 7 April 2009.
HSE news release, falls webpage and guide to safe lifting operations [pdf] • Construction Enquirer • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Britain: Man brain damaged by falling panel saw
A Keighley haulage company has been fined £5,000 after one of its employees suffered permanent brain damage when he was struck on the head by a 290 kilogram panel saw. Nicholas Holmes, 49, from Bradford, was delivering panel saws to the Saw Centre in Glasgow on 16 August 2007 when one fell off the vehicle, hitting him on the head.
HSE news release • Telegraph and Argus • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Britain: Scots sawmill a repeat offender
A Scottish sawmill has been fined £28,000 after two of its employees were severely injured in separate incidents less than three months apart. Adam Wilson and Sons Limited pleaded guilty to multiple criminal breaches of health and safety law in relation to the two incidents and was fined £8,000 for the first incident and £20,000 for the second incident.
HSE news release • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Britain: Modern-day ‘slaves’ face brutal treatment
Thousands of foreign domestic workers are being abused sexually, physically and psychologically by employers, according to an investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches team. “The first thing to understand when we're talking about slavery is that we're not using a metaphor,” said Aidan McQuade from Anti-Slavery International.
Dispatches • The Guardian • Anti-Slavery International action call to the government on domestic slavery and YouTube film • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Europe: SUBSPORT guide to chemical substitution
A new European online resource is being developed, to provide information about safer alternatives to the use of hazardous chemicals. The EU-backed substitution portal, being prepared by groups from Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Spain, including the trade union safety research body ISTAS, aims to be the leading database for substitution worldwide.
SUBSPORT website • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Egypt: Safety campaigners escape military jail    
A military court in Egypt has acquitted three workers accused of leading a strike to protest poor safety conditions inside an army-affiliated factory and has given five others suspended sentences of between six months and one year. Unions, however, are to challenge the legality of the prosecution.
Daily Eygpt News • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Global: Canada gives asbestos mine more money
A last-ditch effort to revive Quebec’s asbestos industry has received a government cash lifeline while the deadly mining operation scrabbles to find private investors. The rapid approval by the Quebec government of a Can$3.5 million (£2.15m) guaranteed line of credit, plus political support from Canada’s federal government, means the Jeffrey mine in Asbestos, Quebec will reopen for the month of September while it courts possible investors from the UK and India.
IBAS news release • Toronto Star • CBC News • Risks 472 • 4 September 2010

Hazards news, 28 August 2010

USA: There are alternatives to toxic chemicals
A comprehensive, proactive federal chemicals management policy should identify toxic chemicals before they are used commercially and force the use of safer alternatives, a new report says. ‘Preventing toxic exposures: Workplace lessons in safer alternatives’ says while new rules are formulated, efforts should concentrate on measures to promote safer alternatives.
Preventing toxic exposures: Workplace lessons in safer alternatives, Perspectives, volume 5, number 1, UC Berkeley Health Research for Action, 2010 [pdf] • California Progress Report • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: STUC anger at microchip cancer study
The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is to raise formally its concerns about the Health and Safety Executive’s ‘no risk’ claim about cancer rates at a Greenock microelectronics factory. STUC said it intended to write to HSE chair Judith Hackitt “seeking an explanation how the HSE justifies issuing a press release with the heading ‘Research indicates no increased cancer risk at Greenock factory’ when the report quite clearly states that incidences for some types of cancer were higher than they had anticipated.”
Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) news report • Health and Safety Executive (HSE) study webpages, report summary and news release • A further study of cancer among the current and former employees of National Semiconductor (UK) Ltd, Greenock – 2010, HSE, August 2010 [pdf] • The Herald • BBC News Online • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Campaign refutes HSE’s ‘bogus’ cancer line
The UK’s official workplace health and safety watchdog is helping the microelectronics industry cover up worrying evidence of occupational cancer risks, a campaign group has charged. Phase Two, which represents workers who believe their health was damaged by exposures at National Semiconductor’s (NSUK) plant in Greenock, Scotland and which has the support of STUC, was speaking out on the 24 August publication of a study into cancer rates at the factory.
Phase Two news release and campaign group webpages • National Semiconductor website • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Evening Times • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

USA: There are alternatives to toxic chemicals
A comprehensive, proactive federal chemicals management policy should identify toxic chemicals before they are used commercially and force the use of safer alternatives, a new report says. ‘Preventing toxic exposures: Workplace lessons in safer alternatives’ says while new rules are formulated, efforts should concentrate on measures to promote safer alternatives.
Preventing toxic exposures: Workplace lessons in safer alternatives, Perspectives, volume 5, number 1, UC Berkeley Health Research for Action, 2010 [pdf] • California Progress Report • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Tube staff to strike for safety
Some 10,000 members of London Underground’s two biggest unions will begin a rolling series of strikes on 6 September against plans to axe 800 station and other staff and close ticket offices.
RMT news release • TSSA news release • Morning Star • BBC News Online • The Guardian • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

USA: Retirement dilemma for manual workers
As governments look to reduce the pensions bill by delaying retirement, manual workers could be faced with jobs they can no longer physically manage while not being eligible for a retirement pension. This is the conclusion of a US Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) study which looked at the prospects for older workers in occupations characterised by physically demanding or difficult work.
Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) news release • Hard work? Patterns in physically demanding labor among older workers, Hye Jin Rho, CEPR, August 2010 [pdf] • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Prison bravery ‘rewarded with reprimand’
A prison officer has been suspended for five months, subjected to an investigation and reprimanded following what his union describes as “heroic actions to prevent injury to other staff” and the attempts of an offender to self harm. The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) says the episode at Whatton prison is estimated to have cost the Ministry of Justice tens of thousands of pounds.
POA news release • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Eurostar train managers vote for action
Train managers at Eurostar have voted overwhelmingly for action to stop next month’s imposition of the ‘self-dispatch’ of services from Paris, a safety critical function currently undertaken by platform staff.
RMT news release • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Hospital porter retires early after injury
A hospital porter who was injured at work after his employer refused to respond to health and safety warnings has been forced to take early retirement. UNISON member Peter Streek, 66, received £13,000 compensation in a union-backed claim after suffering a badly ruptured Achilles tendon.
UNISON news release • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Rail worker received £9,750 burns payout
A rail worker whose leg was badly burned as he cut a rail has received £9,750 compensation. The RMT member, who has permanent scarring, had not been provided with suitable personal protective equipment (PPE).
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Lost leg costs trainee nurse her career
A former nursing student whose career was ended by a road traffic accident, has received a six-figure payout. UNISON member Lisa Bennett, 43, lost her leg after being knocked off her 125cc motorbike by a car in December 2004.
UNISON news release • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Offshore deaths rise due to 'cost-cutting'
Deaths and major injuries in the offshore oil and gas industry doubled last year because of cost-cutting, unions have said. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) demanded urgent improvements in safety after revealing that 17 deaths and 50 major injuries occurred in the sector over 12 months.
HSE news release and offshore statistics • Morning Star • STV News • BBC News Online • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Campaigners call for tougher dogs laws
A 20-strong coalition, including the TUC, several unions, the UK's largest animal charities and law enforcement agencies, is calling for tougher dog safety laws. A joint statement launched this week calls on the leaders of the main political parties to work together to introduce improved and updated legislation to protect dog welfare and public safety.
CWU news release • RSPCA news release • BBC News Online • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Firms fined £125,000 after fall injury
Two construction firms have been fined a total of £125,000 after a worker fell more than 60ft (20m) from a hospital building site in Newcastle. Laing O'Rourke Construction and Expanded Structures, both based in Kent, admitted health and safety breaches at Newcastle Crown Court.
HSE news release and falls webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Egypt: Safety protesters face military trial
Eight civilian warplane factory workers have appeared before a military court in Egypt after protesting about poor safety conditions, a spokesperson for the Center for Trade Union and Workers' Services (CTUWS) has said. The legal team defending the Helwan Engineering Industries Company workers was denied the right to receive a photocopy of the investigations report.
Daily News Egypt • Al-Masry Al-Youm • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Steel cable shoots through shin
A Workington company has been fined £15,000 after a steel cable shot through a worker’s leg, leaving him with a hole through his shin. ACP (Concrete) Ltd, which produces concrete panels, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident, which left worker Jamie Graham, 25, in a hip-to-toe full leg cast for six weeks and on crutches for another four months.
HSE news release • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Onion firm fined after serious ladder injury
A Spalding onion packing firm has been fined after a worker broke his shoulder falling from a ladder. Moulton Bulb Company Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,188.
HSE news release and shattered lives campaign • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Shipbreaker fined over asbestos risks
A North Lincolnshire shipbreaking company put its workers and others at risk of exposure to asbestos, a court has heard. Marine reclamation company Acetech Construction Limited, purchased a Polish former fishing vessel, ‘The Patricia III’, in 2007 for dismantling and selling on as scrap.
HSE news release and asbestos webpages • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Chile: Miners safe, but rescue could take months
The 33 Chilean miners trapped deep underground for over three weeks have been told they may not be rescued for several months. ICEM, the global union federation for the mining sector, cautioned that the rescue of the miners is far from assured.
BBC News Online • ICEM news report • AWU solidarity message • Risks 471 • 28 August 2010

Britain: Asbestos disturbed at primary school
A Solihull building firm has been fined £1,000 after failing to take precautions against asbestos while working at a school. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the company after bosses at Greswolde Construction Ltd failed to warn employees the substance was present, despite being in possession of a survey detailing the location of the asbestos.
HSE news release • Risks 471 • 28 August 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

Hazards news, 21 August 2010

USA: BP agrees to record death blast fine
London-based oil multinational BP has agreed to pay a fine of $50.6 million (£32.5m) for violations related to the 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery that killed 15 and injured 170. The company also must pay another $500 million to protect workers at the plant, Labor secretary Hilda Solis said.
OSHA news release, remarks by Labor secretary Hilda Solis and the full agreement [pdf] • USW statement. AFL-CIO Now blog • FairWarning • BBC News Online • More on BP’s safety record • 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: Council condemned over schools risks
The leadership of a London council has been condemned by UNISON for its “staggering” failure to address potentially deadly health risks to school staff and pupils. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation into the possible presence of asbestos and legionella bacteria in four schools in the London borough of Waltham Forest found that the council had no plans to deal with the risk of exposure to pupils.
Labournet • Morning Star • Waltham Forest Guardian • Daily Mirror • Asbestos in schools website • HSE legionnaires and asbestos webpages • Risks 470 • 21 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: Threat to sack all London’s firefighters
Firefighters’ union FBU has condemned a threat to fire all London’s firefighters for resisting what they believe are potentially dangerous changes to staffing levels and shift patterns. The capital's 5,000 firefighters were given 90 days’ notice on 11 August by the London Fire Authority that they would be sacked if they refuse to go along with cuts to night cover.
FBU news release • London Fire Authority news release • Socialist Worker • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

China: Province shuts all fireworks factories
All nine fireworks factories in Heilongjiang province in northeast China were ordered to shutdown on 19 August, days after a blast at one killed 20 people. The factories have been told to dismantle their production facilities by the end of the month, according to a statement on the website of the Heilongjiang Work Safety Administration.
Xinhua • Fox News • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: RMT warns of Euro rail safety risks
Steps to introduce a train that does not meet key Channel Tunnel safety standards could have “potentially lethal consequences”, rail union RMT has warned. The union alert comes ahead of tests on a Deutsche Bahn ICE (Inter City Express) train in the Channel Tunnel, due to commence in October.
RMT news release • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Coalition ‘unsafe’ on transport
Transport union RMT has said jobs, quality and safety have been lined up for an all-out assault this autumn, with passengers forced to pay more for “over-crowded, under-resourced and unsafe services.”
RMT news release • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Union concern over runaway Tube train
Rail union RMT has said it is concerned about any role the use of maintenance contractors may have played in an incident when a runaway train travelled four miles without a driver on a London Tube line. The Rail Accident Investigation Bureau (RAIB) said it had launched a full investigation into the incident on the morning of Friday 13 August.
RAIB current investigations register. RMT news release. Construction Enquirer. BBC News Online • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Attack leads to job loss for carer
A grandmother who was forced to quit her career as a care worker after an attack by an aggressive patient, has been awarded a £12,500 out of court payout.
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Appeal court backs risky work fines
Big fines for unsafe firms are justified even if they are caught breaking the law before any injury occurs, a Court of Appeal ruling has established. In a case involving the retailer New Look, the Court of Appeal agreed with the sentencing judge that a court does not have to wait until death or serious injury has occurred to express its displeasure at wholesale breaches of the defendant’s responsibilities. 
London Fire Brigade news release • Shoosmiths Solicitors news release. Environmental Health News • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Putting NHS violence on the record
Patient records can be tagged to warn staff of violence and aggression risk, new official guidance confirms. Guidelines from the NHS Security Management Service (NHS SMS) spell out policy on the use of markers on patients’ care records, to alert NHS staff to the risk of physical violence or aggression, either from the patient or someone associated with them.
NHS SMS news release • Procedures for placing a risk of violence marker on electronic and paper records [pdf] • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Fine just £8,000 after devastating injuries
A construction company has been fined £8,000 after a young worker was seriously injured when he fell from a building's roof. Delme L James Ltd employee Gwyndaf Davies was 21 when he suffered multiple spine and facial fractures and a brain injury and was in hospital for nine months. was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release and falls webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Five foot fall hurts steeplejack’s foot
A Stoke-on-Trent steeplejack firm has been fined after one of its workers fell a short distance from scaffolding, suffering foot injuries that left him in plaster for four months. Rafferty Chimneys Engineering Ltd was operating at a site in Tunstall when Kevin Ford fell 1.5m (five feet) to the ground, causing a serious injury to his heel.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Factory worker gets deafness payout
A process worker has been awarded £15,000 compensation after developing a disabling level of noise-induced hearing loss. Gerald Cox, 52, worked for LG Philips Displays from 1980 to 2005, when the Durham factory closed.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Trades led to asbestos cancers
Two men from the West Midlands developed cancer as a result of exposures to asbestos at work. Iain Shoolbred, a workplace illness expert with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, is representing is appealing to former work colleagues of Ronald Webster and Barry Halford to come forward with information about working practices, which could prove essential to their compensation claims.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news releases on the Ronald Webster and Barry Halford cases. Anyone who worked with either should contact Iain Shoolbred at Irwin Mitchell solicitors on 0870 1500 100 • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: National inspection day, 27 October
Wednesday 27 October, the mid-point of this year’s European Health and Safety Week, is National Inspection Day, when union health and safety representatives are encouraged to inspect their workplace.
TUC National Inspection Day webpage, guide [pdf] and poster in colour [pdf] and black and white [pdf]
Maintenance in the workplace: A guide for health and safety representatives, TUC, August 2010 • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Britain: Health and safety gone mad?
An online briefing from the Institute of Employment Rights spells out why decent health and safety regulation and enforcement is a lifesaving necessity. The briefing comes as a Hazards Campaign ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ initiative is attracting increasing support from unions and safety activists.
Health and safety gone mad? An Institute of Employment Rights (IER) briefing, August 2010 [pdf] • We didn’t vote to die at work webpage and facebook group • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Asia: Deaths undermine ‘social responsibility’ claims
The cancer and suicide scandals that have hit microelectronics firms operating in Asia have cast doubt on the supply chain oversight employed by multinationals. The high profile ‘corporate social responsibility (CSR)’ policies of companies such as Apple and Samsung are not delivering in many of the Asian factories actually producing the goods, says global safety campaigner Garrett Brown.
OHS Online • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • FairWarning • Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network • Risks 470 • 21 August 2010

Hazards news. 14 August 2010

Britain: Tube bosses are ‘dicing with death’
Rail union RMT an industrial action ballot of all Tube fleet maintenance staff after London Underground (LU) said it intended to slash the frequency of train safety inspections. “The inspections, of braking systems and other equipment that it is crucial to staff and passenger safety, are being cut in frequency as a blatant cost saving measure which is just part of the overall cuts drive being bulldozed through by Transport for London (TfL),” the union warned.
RMT news release • Morning Star •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

USA: Labour shortages increase offshore risks
The US offshore oil industry is struggling to address the pervasive problem of undertrained and overstretched workers on deepwater rigs like the one used in the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. As the number of huge, high-tech drilling rigs has soared in recent years, finding and keeping experienced staff has become a growing challenge for the offshore industry.
Wall Street Journal •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: London fires fuel Tube job cuts concerns
RMT general secretary Bob Crow has warned the two recent fires on the Tube system “show that it is trained staff at station level who are critical when it comes to spotting potential danger - yet these are the very staff that Transport for London are looking to axe in a cull of 800 Tube station posts.” In results announced on 11 August, RMT members voted by 76 per cent for strike action and by 88 per cent for action short of a strike in opposition to the job cuts.
RMT news release • and news release on the ballot results • Morning Star •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

USA: Metropolis faces deadly work peril
Union members at America’s only uranium conversion plant, in Metropolis, Illinois, say work-related cancers are a central reason the union is refusing to accept the plant operator’s plan to reduce pensions for newly hired workers and health benefits for retirees. On 28 June, Honeywell locked out its 220 union employees after contract negotiations stalled, accusing the union of refusing to give the company 24 hours’ notice of a strike.
New York Times •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Prison fall leads to pay out
A prison officer who suffered serious facial injuries when she tripped and fell during a night patrol has received an undisclosed compensation payout. The Prison Officers’ Association (POA) member fell over a metal lock back latch that was embedded in a concrete floor.
Thompsons Solicitors news release •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Deregulation’s deadly reality gulf
A ‘deregulatory blitzkrieg’ by the coalition government could create the conditions linked to incidents like the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster engulfing BP. According to Hazards magazine: “Hand-wringing by prime minister David Cameron over the ‘sadness’ of the Gulf disaster is a seriously unsatisfactory alternative to protecting lives, livelihoods and the environment.”
Abuse of power • Hazards magazine, number 111, 2010 • BIS news release • FPB news release • The Independent • BBC News Online •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Call to fire ‘abysmal’ leader of safety watchdog HSE
The leader of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has not defended effectively the watchdog’s role and resources and should go, two top safety scholars have said. Dave Whyte said “it is difficult to imagine how the chief of any other public authority could defend such an abysmal record without being thrown out of office.”
Interview with Dave Whyte and Steve Tombs, Hazards Online, 9 August 2010 • 14 August 2010

Global: Top retailers in new sweatshop scandal
Gap, Next and Marks & Spencer have all launched their own inquiries into abuses of working regulations at their Indian suppliers. The retail multinationals have also pledged to end the practice of excessive overtime, which is in breach of the industry's ethical trading initiative (ETI) and Indian labour law.
The Observer •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Firm must pay for hospice cancer care 
The High Court has ruled a company responsible for a man’s death from an asbestos cancer should contribute to his hospice care costs. The ‘landmark’ case involves James Willson who in 1951, aged 20, went to work erecting new boilers at Deptford Power Station and subsequently died of the asbestos cancer mesothelioma.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Loughborough Echo •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Blacklisting case heads to full tribunal
An electrician blacklisted from the construction industry has won the right to take his case to a full tribunal. Steve Kelly, one of over 3,000 workers whose data was found on an illegal blacklist run by disgraced firm The Consulting Association, believes he was targeted because of his trade union health and safety activity.
Morning Star • Blacklist blog •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Director fined over high lead levels
An employer has been fined after routinely exposed workers to excessive levels of lead at a Norfolk sheet metal manufacturing company. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution, told Hazards magazine that airborne levels of lead Anglia Lead Ltd exceeded official limits on “various occasions” investigated by the watchdog and blood tests showed a number of workers were “significantly exposed.”
HSE news release and lead webpages •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Quarry firm fined after machine plunge
A quarry operator has been fined £30,000 after a trainee driver was injured when a 30-tonne wheel loader vehicle overturned and slid almost 16ft down a sand stockpile. Humberside Aggregates and Excavations Ltd of North Cave, East Yorkshire, was also ordered to pay £10,590 in costs after pleading guilty to three separate breaches of Quarries Regulations 1999.
HSE news release •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Firm fined £200,000 over vineyard death
A distribution company has been fined £200,000 for safety breaches linked to the death of a Cornish vineyard owner when a delivery of empty wine bottles fell from a lorry tail lift. The Gregory Distribution Ltd vehicle was being driven by an agency driver who had not been give specific safety advice before setting off.
HSE news release and haulage webpages • BBC News Online •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Global: Microelectronics investors demand better standards
A coalition of over 40 European, Australian and US investment groups has condemned abusive workplace conditions in the global electronics supply chain and is demanding improvements. The group, led by Boston Common Asset Management, LLC, Trillium Asset Management Corporation, As You Sow and Domini Social Investments LLC, have told the electronics manufacturers in their portfolios they most ensure better working standards in their supply chain.
ICCR news release and full statement • Good Electronics news release and resources •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Maintenance job leads to a broken back
A Staffordshire company has been fined £8,000 after a worker fell more than two metres from a scaffold tower, fracturing one vertebra, crushing another and leaving him immobilised for more than six weeks. Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court heard that Barry Derbyshire, 61, who was working for Klarius UK Ltd, had been stooping down to try and locate an oil leak when he stood up and possibly overbalanced, falling off the edge.
HSE news release and falls webpages • The Sentinel •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Jam costs cake worker two fingers
One of the UK's leading food manufacturers has been fined after a worker had two fingers sliced off in one of its mixing machines. McVities Cake Company, part of United Biscuits (UK) Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation into the incident on 9 April 2009 at a cake baking site in Halifax.
HSE news release •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Gangmaster ‘trapped’ workers in squalor
A Lancashire gangmaster has had its licence revoked after it was found workers were “trapped” in dangerous and squalid conditions as a result of illegally low pay. Latvian workers with Plus Staff 24 Ltd, based in Skelmersdale, lived in “filthy and dangerous houses without suitable bedding and any electrical safety documentation whilst having to use a toilet covered in mould.”
GLA news release • BBC News Online •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: Would you laugh at a plane crash?
The boss of a health and safety company has hit back at those who deride the topic as a joke or pointless bureaucracy. Karen Baxter, managing director of the workplace risk specialists Sypol, said people who make jokes about “elf and safety” at work wouldn’t take the same attitude towards an air accident.
Sypol online article •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Britain: We still didn’t vote to die at work
As the coalition government continues with a succession of initiatives to reduce ‘red tape’ on business, the ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ campaign to counter any moves to deregulate health and safety is growing in strength. New resources on the Hazards magazine website are intended to complement the existing Hazards Campaign ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ initiative, which includes a well-received facebook group, campaign materials and very snazzy t-shirts.
We didn’t vote to die at work – facebook group and Hazards webpages •  Risks 469 • 14 August 2010

Hazards news, 7 August 2010

Britain: Reps stand up for the right to sit down
Union reps at the BBC may have won a sit down victory for retail and catering workers after a health and safety investigation at Television Centre. The two reps, members of the broadcast unions NUJ and BECTU, had raised concerns about the removal of stools provided to workers operating the tills in a studio canteen.
NUJ news release • Daily Mail • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

USA: BP safety boss ‘rather offensive’
A top safety official at BP last month faltered in an attempt to defend the company's safety record before a US Senate committee. BP's vice president of health and safety, Steve Flynn, vowed profit does not supersede safety at the oil multinational, a claim that failed to mollify members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's employment panel.
New York Times • In These Times • Washington Post • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: RMT condemns Tube ‘attack on safety’
A threat by London Underground (LU) to rip up an existing agreement on job protection is “an attack on safety,” rail union RMT had said. The union described the move by Tube management as “blatant intimidation and provocation of members who are currently balloting for action over tube safety and the threat to 800 station-based staff posts.”
RMT news release • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Stansted strike warning over abuse
Swissport employees at London Stansted may resort to industrial action in response to the “downgrading” of the company’s ‘non-abuse’ policy. Their union, GMB, says workers have been facing additional problems which have made the protection of staff from irate passengers an even more pressing concern.
GMB news release • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Virgin shamed by assault victim firing
Rail union RMT could ballot staff for industrial action following the dismissal of a member who took a period of absence after an “horrific” on-train assault. RMT officials are preparing the ground for an “urgent ballot” of all on-train catering and train manager members [guards] at Liverpool Lime Street following the dismissal of Jackie Catterson.
RMT news release • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

USA: Oil industry ‘malfeasance’ kills hundreds
The US oil and gas industry has been responsible for thousands of fires, explosions and leaks over the last decade, causing hundreds of deaths and widespread habitat and wildlife destruction, a new report has concluded. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) says its findings underscore “petroleum company malfeasance.”
National Wildlife Federation (NWF) news release and report, Assault on America: A decade of petroleum company disaster, pollution, and profit • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Prison officers press for stab vests
Prison officers are keeping up their campaign for stab vests after a series of violent attacks. Colin Moses, chair of the Prison Officer Association (POA), the union for prison staff, said: “We fully appreciate that prisoners should be treated fairly and we are more than happy to ensure that all of our actions comply with human rights, but we are also determined to ensure the personal safety of our members.”
PPSS news release • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Assault on care worker ends her career
A care assistant has had to take medical retirement after being attacked by a resident at an old people’s home in Middlesbrough. The UNISON member, who was employed by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, has now received over £57,000 compensation after an eight year legal battle.
UNISON news release • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Lorry driver gets crushed thumb payout
A lorry driver from Grimbsy, whose thumb was crushed as he tried to unload a trailer at work, has received a £5,500 compensation payout. GMB member Ian Castle, who worked for general haulage firm PA Dunwell Transport Limited, was lowering the roof door of the lorry when it crashed down suddenly, hitting him in the shoulder and trapping his thumb against a lever.
GMB news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Joinery job led to asbestos cancer
A former joiner has received a payout for an asbestos cancer, despite one of his employers having ceased trading. Unite member Bernard Dean, 61, received a “substantial” payout after developing mesothelioma.
Thompsons Solicitors news release and ELIB campaign • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010
Britain: Firms fail to control cancer risks
Workers producing rubber goods are not being provided the minimum legally-required protection from cancer risks, a survey by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has found. The report adds to earlier concerns about poor control of occupational cancer risks in the chemical sector.
A small survey of exposure to rubber process dust, rubber fume and N-nitrosamines, RR819, HSE, July 2010 • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

China: Work death payouts increased
China's basic work-related death compensation award is to nearly double next year to 343,500 yuan (£31,800), state authorities have announced. The State Administration of Work Safety says when funeral expenses and monthly pension payments to the relatives of the deceased are included, the total payment will average around 618,000 yuan (£57,350).
China Labour Bulletin • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Companies should come clean on safety
Firms should be required by law to report their health and safety performance and any related enforcement action, the TUC has said. The union body was commenting as the government announced a consultation on ‘narrative reporting’ requirements on business.
BIS news release and The future of narrative reporting - a consultation, BIS, August 2010 [pdf] Closing date for comments: 19 October 2010 • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Rail dangers persist, warns coroner
The coroner at the inquest into the deaths of seven people at Potters Bar eight years ago has warned of ongoing concerns about safety on the country's rail network. An inquest jury last week blamed points failure for the disaster.
BBC News Online • The Independent • The Guardian • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Unions call for urgent rail safety moves
Unions have called for sweeping improvements in railway safety, with one warning of possible industrial action if problems are not remedied. The comments came after an inquest into the Potters Bar rail disaster warned of ongoing safety concerns.
RMT news release and related commentary • TSSA news release • ASLEF news release • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Brothers fined over skull crush horror
Two brothers have been fined a total of £13,000 after a worker was left with a caved-in head and permanent brain damage when he fell through an industrial roof in Carlisle. Alan Hind was helping to demolish the building when he fell six metres to the concrete floor below.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Daily Mail • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Architects and site firm fined for death
An architects’ practice and a construction company involved in a Somerset development have been fined a total of £195,000 following a site fatality. Express Park Construction Company Limited (EPCC) and Oxford Architects Partnership pleaded guilty to safety offences.
HSE news release and construction design and management webpages • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: Pleural plaques payouts scheme kicks off
A controversial government compensation scheme to provide lump sum payouts to some people with asbestos-related pleural plaques is now accepting applications. Thousands will be able to apply for a £5,000 payment, the Ministry of Justice has said.
MoJ news release and pleural plaques compensation eligibility guidelines • Northern TUC news release
Find an asbestos group: Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Britain: What’s coming up at TUC?
There’s a slew of health and safety motions coming up at the TUC’s September congress, with opposition to the government’s plans for health and safety taking centrestage. The coalition’s move to slash health and safety regulation and enforcement is the subject of three critical motions in the draft agenda, from unions NASUWT, Prospect and BFAWU.
TUC news release, Congress webpages and preliminary agenda [pdf] • Risks 468 • 7 August 2010

Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: RMT concern at ‘rigged’ rail injury figures
Rail union RMT is demanding an urgent government investigation into allegations Network Rail has “rigged” injury figures to hit performance targets. The union says it fears a culture of non-recording of incidents is rife at Network Rail (NR) and is directly linked to the senior management bonus culture.
ORR news release and The ORR Health and Safety Report • RMT news release • Rail magazine • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Old schools equal more asbestos problems
Unions and asbestos groups have warned there will be “hidden consequences” of the government’s decision to scrap the Building Schools for the Future programme, saying there is “a real and increased risk” of children, teachers and support staff being exposed to asbestos fibres.
Northern TUC news release • Asbestos Exposure in Schools website • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

USA: BP’s clean up safety claims queried
BP monitoring figures that show even the oil clean-up workers in the riskiest jobs in the Gulf of Mexico are generally having minimal exposures to hazardous chemicals have been queried by experts. Eileen Senn, an occupational hygienist and long-time workplace safety official, pointed to 10 separate shortcomings in the quality of the company's data release, which OSHA said concentrated on workers with the heaviest potential exposures, including the move to sample for 11 chemicals when many more substances are potentially present in Gulf air.
New York Times • Labor Notes • Sciencecorps on the Gulf oil spill hazards • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Call for full inquiry into death of a cadet
A seafarers’ union is calling for an urgent inquiry into the death of a cadet on a British-registered ship. Nautilus International is calling for the UK government to ensure there is a “full and transparent” inquiry into the death of a South African cadet on the containership Safmarine Kariba and subsequent allegations of rape and harassment.
Nautilus news release • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Oil giant Total must be probed
Multinational Total should face an independent probe into serious safety lapses, the union GMB has said. The union says it is demanding a “full independent safety investigation” into the oil giant’s safety record following the death on 29 June of 24-year-old Rob Greenacre at Lindsay Oil Refinery and the £6.2 million fines and costs penalty on the company on 16 July after it admitting failing to protect workers and the public at the Buncefield oil depot site that exploded in 2005.
GMB news release • Grimsby Telegraph • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Mexico: Copper mine dangers resurface
In the rush to get copper production from the Cananea mine back on world markets at time of major shortages of the metal, Grupo México is disregarding the safety of contract workers. The charge comes from ICEM, the global federation for mine and chemical unions, which says there has been an undocumented rash of on-the-job accidents and injuries in the six weeks since federal police opened the mine in Sonora State for the company.
ICEM news report • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Most rigs are working beyond design life
More than half of the UK’s offshore oil and gas installations “have exceeded their original design life or soon will,” the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned. The watchdog said a new inspection programme of installations on the UK continental shelf is underway “to ensure that ageing infrastructure does not adversely affect safety.”
HSE news release • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: BP’s Tony Hayward gets his life back
He’s the casualty of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe least likely to elicit sympathy. BP announced this week that beleaguered chief executive Tony Hayward will go, but will at 53 qualify immediately for a £600,000 annual pension, a £1.045m pay off in lieu of notice, a multi-million portfolio of company shares, and a place on the board of BP’s Russian offshoot as a consolation prize.
BP news release • Robert Peston’s BBC blog • The Guardian • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Australia: Too many fatalities on the waterfront
Workplace safety on Australia’s waterfront must be overhauled to stem the mounting death toll among stevedoring workers, unions have warned. Three deaths and a spate of serious injuries and near misses in a little over six months is not good enough and suggests that waterfront deregulation has had a detrimental impact on safety, said Ged Kearney, the new president of national union confederation ACTU.
ACTU news release • MUA news release • Risks 367 • 31 July 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 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Brum car worker injured by robot
A Birmingham automotive firm has been fined after lax safety controls led to an employee being struck by a manufacturing robot running on auto, leaving his voice box damaged and almost paralysing him down one side of his body. Dura Automotive Body and Glass Systems UK was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £20,000 costs in a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution.
HSE news release • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Firm fined after trainee’s quarry plant plunge
A quarry operator has been fined £30,000 after a 30-tonne wheel loader vehicle driven by a trainee overturned and slid almost 16ft down a sand stockpile. Humberside Aggregates and Excavations Ltd was also ordered to pay £10,590 in costs after pleading guilty to three separate breaches of the Quarries Regulations 1999.
HSE news release and quarries webpages • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

China: Electronics industry labour abuse revealed
Workers in China’s burgeoning electronics sector are enduring poor labour and safety standards in the country’s deregulated Special Economic Zones (SEZs), a new report suggests. The labour standards report released by risk intelligence and rating firm Maplecroft, says with increasing unionisation, worker protests and management initiative, wages and working conditions are being addressed, with some positive results albeit with cost implications for business.
Maplecroft news release • BBC News Online • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Worker loses leg in paving machine
A Somerset construction firm has been fined £10,000 after a worker's foot was crushed under a paving machine, leading to the amputation of his lower leg. Taunton Magistrates Court heard that Alan Seviour, who worked for John Wainwright & Co Ltd as a delivery driver, was carrying out relief road work on 29 August 2008.
HSE news release • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Site firm ‘ignored’ falls warnings
A major construction company that ignored a series of warnings has been fined for failing to protect its workers from falls on a site in South Wales. Gee Construction Ltd, the principal contractor on the site in Caerphilly, firm pleaded guilty to a breach of the work at height regulations and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,514.25.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Get your TUC safety diploma online
You’ve done the courses, got the experience and you’ve still got a hankering to learn more. If so, you might want to consider the TUC Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety.
Course and application details for the online course for the TUC Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Research on mental health in teaching
A research report that found the pressures piled on teachers are so severe some staff have considered suicide, has been made available online. The survey for teaching union NASUWT found a lack of support from schools and their management teams was leading to stress, burnout and depression.
Teachers’ Mental Health: A study exploring the experiences of teachers with work-related stress and mental health problems - Research report for the NASUWT • Related NASUWT news release • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Europe: European Health and Safety Week
To help unions and health and safety representatives promote health and safety week in October, the TUC has updated its website. In line with the theme of the week -  maintenance work - TUC has produced an online guide on maintenance activities, including a safety reps’ checklist .
Maintenance in the workplace: A guide for health and safety representatives, TUC, 2010. TUC National Inspection Day webpages • European Health and Safety Week resources from TUC and the European Health and Safety at Work Agency (EU-OSHA), including an EU-OSHA safe maintenance guide [pdf] • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Britain: Stress network conference, 27-28 November 2010
The National Stress Network’s annual conference will be held in the West Midlands on the weekend of 27-28 November. The theme is ‘Stress prevention to secure an effective workplace.’ The organisers note: “Failure to prevent a high stress climate in the workplace should lead to enforcement and prosecution. Prevention is central to success. Cures are too late and ineffective.”
National Stress Network Conference 2010, 27-28 November, Hillscourt Conference Centre, Nr Birmingham. Further details and application form [pdf] • Risks 367 • 31 July 2010

Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Britain: Firefighter wins human rights safety ruling
A firefighter has won £80,000 in damages after an employment tribunal found he was unfairly dismissed after raising health and safety concerns. FBU member Christopher Bennett, who has arthritis, was fired for gross misconduct for sending an email to colleagues asking whether the reclining chairs provided at work were caused back pain.
FBU news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Manchester Evening News • BBC News Online • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

USA: Migrant workers dying in the heat
Recent evidence suggests the heat safety law California passed in 2005 has not saved largely immigrant farm workers and construction workers from painful deaths and health problems caused by toiling often without shade, breaks or water in extreme heat. Each year since the law was passed, workers have died – at least 11 between 2005 and 2009 according to a lawsuit filed last year by the United Farm Workers union (UFW).
Working in These Times • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: Tube workers walk out to defend colleague
Tube workers at Rickmansworth walked out this week in support of a colleague they believe was victimised after a passenger was injured. The 77 ASLEF members stopped work for 24 hours at midnight on Tuesday in protest at the “utterly wrong” decision, with the union saying the incident was “caused by safety deficiencies, especially concerning mirrors, which we had reported regularly to management.”
ASLEF news release • BBC News Online • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Global: True cost of asbestos is exposed
A global network of lobbying groups is ensuring asbestos, banned or restricted in more than 50 countries, continues to be using in developing nations. A four-continent investigation by the US-based Center for Public Integrity (CPI) reports that many scientists fear the continued use of asbestos could significantly prolong a global epidemic of asbestos-related illnesses.
Dangers in the dust – a Center for Public Integrity investigation • BBC News Online. Toronto Star • Montreal Gazette • Vancouver Sun • Risks 466 • 24 July 201

Britain: Tube bosses concede system is rotten
After months of accusing Tube union RMT of scaremongering over the safety impact of cuts on London Underground (LU), tube bosses on 20 July conceded that budget cuts have resulted in services running on dangerous and rotten infrastructure dating back to the 1920s.
RMT news release • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Korea: Investors query Samsung cancers
Institutional investors in Europe and the US have asked Samsung to explain the occupational cancer furore that has engulfed the company. The cancers have been linked to toxic chemicals used at Samsung semiconductor plants in South Korea.
Hankyoreh 21 • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Peru: Site workers in mass safety protest
A safety and pay protest in Peru saw 150,000 workers take to the streets this month. The 14 July 2010 protest, called by Peru’s FTCCP construction workers’ union federation, saw 25,000 demonstrate in Lima, with major events also held in other cities.
BWI news report • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: RMT warns of ‘great danger’ on railways
Transport union RMT is warning of a “great danger” on the railways if government cuts to the transport budget go ahead. Commenting as Network Rail’s annual meeting kicked off this week in Manchester, the rail union warned that cuts of between 25 and 40 per cent planned by the government would have a “catastrophic” and “lethal” impact on rail infrastructure and operations.
RMT news releases on the Network Rail AGM and the Potters Bar inquest • Potters Bar inquest website • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: Sex assault trauma for prison gardener
A gardener at a young offenders’ institute had to give up work as a result a sexual assault by inmates. Unite member David Thomas suffered psychological trauma as a result of the May 2004 attack at HM Prison and Young Offenders Institution Onley, near Rugby, Warwickshire.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: New union face on HSE’s board
GMB general secretary Paul Kenny has been appointed to the board of the Health and Safety Executive. The union leader said he was “proud” to be appointed to the board as an “employee interests” representative, adding: “As a Board member I will do my best to shift the focus to the true value of protecting workers from unsafe working practices, and to the wider benefits for business and society.”
DWP news release • HSE board • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: Oil giants fined for Buncefield blast
Five companies responsible for the 2005 Buncefield oil depot explosion were last week ordered to pay fines totalling more than £9 million. Sentencing the firms at St Albans Crown Court, Judge Sir David Calvert-Smith said: “Had the explosion happened during a working day, the loss of life may have been measured in tens or even hundreds.”
HSE news release • Environment Agency news release • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: Tory MP says Buncefield fines ‘an insult’
Campaigners, lawyers and a Tory MP have criticised the “drop in the ocean” fines levied on oil giants after the Buncefield explosion. Hazards Campaign spokesperson Hilda Palmer said the case for deregulation “has been blown to smithereens in the Buncefield explosion.”
Hazards Campaign news release and We did not vote to die at work campaign • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Channel 4 News • Telegraph • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: Court rejects fatality fine appeal
A company fined £100,000 after a worker was crushed to death has failed in a court appeal against the penalty. London-based Marble City Ltd and directors Gavin and Jamie Waldron were all fined in April after 51-year-old Ronald Douglas was crushed by six tonnes of stone slabs he was helping unload from a lorry.
Local London • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: Face the FACKS – the human face of workplace killing
“Face the FACK - The human face of workplace killing” is a new DVD from Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK). The resource, which was premiered at this month’s National Hazards Conference, features personal accounts from family members bereaved by work.
FACK resources • Face the FACK - The human face of workplace killing, £10 including post and packing, cheques payable to ‘GMHC’, from: FACK, c/o Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester M16 7WD. Telephone: 0161 636 7557 • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Global: New construction safety training guides
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has produced new online construction health and safety training resources. The new tools, co-authored by Fiona Murie of BWI, the global union federation for the sector, and Glamorgan University’s Professor Richard Neale, are “a comprehensive international occupational safety and health training package”, says BWI.
BWI news release • ILO construction safety training materials • ILO construction sector webpages • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: Frozen food firm fined for finger
A Lincolnshire-based international frozen vegetable supplier has been fined after a man's finger was amputated when his hand was crushed at work. The incident occurred at Pinguin Food Ltd's site in Boston on 10 February 2009 when the worker tried to straighten some boxes on an automatic palletising machine.
HSE news release and safe guarding leaflet [pdf] • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: Pneumatic power press cuts off fingers
A Telford packaging firm company has been fined after an employee lost three fingers while working with machinery. Telford Magistrates Court heard how on 22 September 2008 the I2R Packaging Solutions employee was helping another worker remove aluminium foil from a 130-tonne power press, which had become jammed while making foil food cartons.
HSE news release • Packaging News • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: Engineering firm fined after hand severed
A court has heard how a worker had his hand torn off while working for a Peterlee company. The Conder Solutions Limited employee was working on a metalworking lathe, Peterlees Magistrates' Court heard.
HSE news release • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Britain: Pirelli fined over forklift truck injury
Tyre manufacturer Pirelli has been fined £9,000 after a worker suffered a broken leg when he was hit by a forklift truck. Allan Miller, a 62-year-old contractor, was walking through an area in the curing department at the company's Carlisle factory when he was struck from behind by a pallet being carried on a forklift truck.
HSE news release • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

Global: Bladder cancer risk to painters confirmed
Painters are at a significantly increased risk of developing bladder cancer, with the risk increasing the longer a person works in the trade, a new study has confirmed. The large scale “meta-analysis”, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, found the risk arises not solely from exposure to paint but to factors that can occur in the environment in which painters work, such as the stripping of old paintwork, sanding or exposure to asbestos.
Neela Guha and others. Bladder cancer risk in painters: a meta-analysis, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 67, pages 568-673, 2010  [abstract].
Paolo Vineis. Editorial: Bladder cancer risk in painters, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 67, pages 505-506, 2010 [extract] • Risks 466 • 24 July 2010

 

Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Tribunal fails to protect safety rep
Penny Gower, a safety rep with the Scottish teaching union EIS, has criticised the flimsy protection provided by employment tribunals to those who stand up for safety. “The ET ruled that I had been unfairly dismissed due to the College summarily sacking me without an appeal, but concluded that they had been right to dismiss me anyway,” said the sacked Carnegie College tutor.
Defend health and safety reps’ rights blog and Penny Gower’s safety rep inspection report [pdf] • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

USA: Campaign wins ban on deadly floor coating
A landmark bill banning the commercial use and sale of a wood floor finishing product linked to fires that left three floor finishers dead has taken effect in Massachusetts. The new law, which was introduced at the urging of an industry-union-community taskforce, targets “lacquer sealer”, a floor finishing product containing nitrocellulose and synthetic resins that can burst into flames at the slightest trigger.
MassCOSH news release, factsheet and report • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Acid eye damage from duff goggles
A 25 year old man left with an injured tear duct and permanently needing to treat his eye with lubricating drops after acid entered his right eye at work. GMB member Phillip Heeney was injured at Omya UK limited of North Ferriby while moving a drum of liquid acid with a colleague.  
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Injured elbow points to neglected safety
Problems spanning several years with water leakage from cooling racks eventually claimed a victim at GlaxoSmithKline in Ulverston, Cumbria. Unite member Dorothy Kirby, 52, slipped and fractured the elbow of her right arm.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

USA: ‘Appalling conditions’ on tobacco farms
Tobacco farm workers in the US are enduring deadly conditions, global farm unions’ federation IUF has revealed. Reynolds American Incorporated (RAI), in which British American Tobacco (BAT) holds a 42 per cent share, sources most of its tobacco leaf from the company's home state of North Carolina.
IUF news release • Tell BAT to stop the abuse • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Stressbusters target not-for-profits
Unite reps in the not-for-profit sector have embarked on a ‘Stressbusters’ campaign. All the union’s reps in the sector are being asked to participate in a national stress survey.
Unite Stressbusters campaign • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: TUC calls for 3R’s – rules, resources and rights
Securing safe and healthy workplaces requires good regulations, proper enforcement and decent rights, TUC has told a government-commissioned enquiry. The TUC comments to Lord Young’s review, which is expected to report in the coming weeks, notes that the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) fatalities figure represents on “a tiny proportion” of those killed by work.
TUC news release • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: There is no compensation culture
There has been a dramatic decline in compensation claims for work-related injury and ill-health, union legal advisers have told a government-commissioned enquiry. They say the government’s own Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) statistics which show employer liability claims have fallen 69 per cent from 2000/01 to 2009/10 – from 219,183 in 2000/1 to 78,744 in 2009/10.
Thompsons Solicitors submission • Prospect news release • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Coalition not serious on safety
The health and safety of Britain’s workforce is not being taken seriously by the coalition government, Unite has said. Joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, accused former Tory cabinet minister Lord Young, who is heading a government review, of being “offensive”.
Unite news release • Daily Mirror • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Deregulation is already bad for you
The UK’s workplace safety standards have been undermined by changes in the official approach to health and safety regulation over the past decade, a new report has found. Academics from the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University found the policy changes have affected the ability of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to enforce effectively health and safety law.
University of Liverpool news release • Regulatory Surrender: death, injury and the non-enforcement of law, Institute of Employment Rights, July 2010. Purchase details from IER, The People's Centre, 50-54 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool L3 5SD, or call 0151 702 6925 or email IER • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

USA: Coalition for Workplace Safety a big con
The ‘Coalition for Workplace Safety’ sounds virtuous enough. But it turns out to be an industry front organisation, bent on derailing attempts to tighten US workplace safety rules.
The Pump Handle • Coalition for Workplace Safety • The Seminal • The Hill • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: We didn’t vote to die at work
The Hazards Campaign has launched a national ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ campaign. The initiative, which was premiered at this month’s National Hazards Conference in Keele, has already attracted wide support from unions and safety reps.
Join the ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ Facebook group. If you want to get hold of campaign resources, contact the Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester, M16 7WD, or email  or phone 0161 636 7557. T-shirts cost £6 (that includes postage) and are available in small, medium, large, XL, XXL and XXXL (send a cheque made out to ‘Hazards Campaign’) • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Who pays BP’s disaster bill? You do
If you thought the multi-billion dollar costs of destroying refineries and oil rigs (and killing workers, ruining livelihoods and wrecking the environment in the process), might have a chastening effect on BP, you might need to think again. BP is forecast to pay about $10bn less tax over the next four years as it meets the costs of its huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, hitting the revenues of Britain and the US that receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the company each year.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

South Africa: New spate of mine deaths
Seven miners were killed in three separate underground mine accidents in South Africa in the space of a week, including five contract workers at Aquarius Platinum’s Marikana mine in the Bushveld area near Rustenburg, North West Province.
ICEM news report • The Guardian • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Lab staff exposed to deadly bacteria
The Health Protection Agency has been fined £25,000 for a spillage of the deadly bacterium E.coli 0157 at its centre in Colindale, north London. Three employees were put at risk of contamination although nobody was infected, the Old Bailey heard.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Cleaner killed at plastics firm
A Rochdale plastics manufacturer has been fined £140,000 after a Portuguese cleaner was crushed to death by a pallet of bags weighing nearly one and a half tonnes. TS (UK) Ltd was prosecuted for failing to ensure the safety of its employees and not having a worker trained in first aid on duty.
HSE news release • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Farm worker crushed in his cab
Farming and haulage company Pearn Wyatt & Son has been fined £21,000 with £54,000 costs after a 24-year-old agriculture worker was crushed to death on a farm in Norfolk. Sam Foley had been using a tractor to tow manure to a field at Grange Farm, in Snetterton, on 8 July 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Roofing firm fined £2,000 after teen’s plunge
A roofing company has been prosecuted after a teenage worker fell three metres through a fragile roof, breaking his arm. Apprentice Shaun Jacob, 18, was removing the ridge from a metal sheet roof when a sheet he was standing on buckled and he fell to the ground.
HSE news release • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Cactus sap put worker in hospital
A worker was hospitalised and suffered long-term eye damage after being squirted with cactus juice. Carl Woodbridge, a technician working for Ambius, a subsidiary of Rentokil Initial UK Ltd, was working at a Milton Keynes shopping centre in October 2008, to carry out pruning on several large cacti, one of which had become unstable.
Milton Keynes Council news release • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Britain: Prefab demolition led to asbestos death
A man who developed cancer after being exposed to asbestos while demolishing prefabricated houses received a compensation payout just weeks before his death. John Manniex, from Leigh in Greater Manchester, died of mesothelioma on 1 July.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 465 • 17 July 2010

Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Britain: Total safety queried after refinery death
Safety standards at the oil giant Total, found guilty of safety breaches last month related to the Buncefield oil depot explosion, have been questioned by unions after the death of a worker at a Lincolnshire refinery. Unite member Robert Greenacre, 24, died after a fire and explosion at Total’s Lindsey plant on 29 June.
Unite news release • GMB news release • Morning Star • Grimsby Telegraph • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

USA: Cheap masks won’t protect Gulf workers
Masks issued to workers in the Gulf of Mexico cleaning up the BP oil spill are not offering the necessary protection, an expert has warned. Industrial hygienist Eileen Senn, writing in The Pump Handle blog, reports the $5 officially recommended masks are “not approved for organic vapours” meaning “this dust mask presumably will remove only small amounts of hydrocarbon vapours, so workers may still be exposed to them.”
The Pump Handle • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Global: Campaigners denounce Canada on asbestos
A protest outside London’s Canada House was intended to “shame” Canada for promoting asbestos exports, the organisers said. The protest on 1 July, timed to coincide with official celebrations to mark Canada Day, took place as plans were being finalised to pump Canadian federal and state funds into an expansion of asbestos production and exports -  demonstrators carried banners bearing messages including: “Canadian asbestos – buy now, die later.”
UCATT news release • GMB news release • Asbestos Forum news release [pdf].
A worn-out welcome: Renewed call for a global ban on asbestos, Environmental Health Perspectives, 1 July 2010 • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Global: RMT sounds safety alarm over rail cuts
Transport union RMT has raised serious safety fears over rail maintenance as it emerged the transport budget is being lined up for cuts of up to 40 per cent as part of the government’s public spending plans. The union said cuts of this magnitude would “savage” maintenance and renewals work.
RMT news release • BBC News Online • The Independent • TUC Cuts Watch • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: Scaffolder gets brain damage payout
A scaffolder who was left with a severe brain injury after a workplace fall has received a “substantial” sum in compensation. Unite member Patrick O’Malley, 35, spent four years in hospital after the injury, suffered while working for Powertherm Access Services.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Finland: Exhaustion trebles work death risk
Work-related exhaustion can be deadly for industrial workers, a new study has concluded. Finnish researchers found industrial employees who are under 45 years of age were almost three times as likely to die as other workers, with the most common causes of death tumour (34 per cent), accident (26 per cent), suicide (26 per cent) and coronary decease (22 per cent).
Trade Union News from Finland • Burnout as a predictor of all-cause mortality among industrial employees: A 10-year prospective register-linkage study, Journal of Psychosomatic Research volume 69, issue 1, pages 51-57, July 2010 [abstract] • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: Ambulance workers under attack
There must be ‘zero tolerance’ of violence against ambulance workers, the union GMB has said. The union’s new analysis of NHS data on assaults shows there were 2,705 assaults on ambulance staff in England in the two years to April 2009.
GMB news release • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: HSE work death figure falls again
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures on the number of people killed at work in Britain fell last year to a record low. The HSE provisional data, which exclude work-related road, marine and air accident deaths and the entire occupational disease death toll, show that 151 workers were killed between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 compared to 178 deaths in the previous year and an average number over the last five years of 220 deaths per year.
HSE news release, statistics webpage and latest fatality figures • TUC news release • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: Deaths down in construction
There has been a marked decrease in construction fatalities in Britain, the new Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show. In 2009/10 there were 41 deaths in the construction sector, down from 52 fatalities in the sector the year before.
UCATT news release • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: Deaths up in agriculture
There has been a sharp upturn in the number of workers killed in agriculture. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) fatality figures for the period from 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 show 38 agriculture workers were killed at work. HSE says this marks a return to average levels of previous years, in contrast to the record low in 2008/09 when 25 workers died.
HSE news release • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

China: Steelworkers killed in bus fire
A shuttle bus carrying steel factory workers in eastern China burst into flame, killing 24 of those on board. The tragedy happened in Wuxi, in Jiangsu province near Shanghai, on a bus from the Wuxi Xuefeng Steel Company.
Shanghai Daily • BBC News Online • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: HSE statistics omit most deaths - official
Unions and campaigners have warned that official workplace death figures only show a small part of the real toll – a point also recognised in an official probe. The UK Statistics Authority checked HSE’s figures against a code of practice for official statistics and indicated they do not make the grade, concluding “HSE does not produce an overall figure for work-related fatalities in Great Britain” and recommends HSE “investigate the feasibility of producing statistics on the total number of work-related injuries and fatalities.”
UNISON news release • Hazards Campaign news release • BIS news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Your Freedom •
Assessments of compliance with Code of Practice for official statistics - 'Statistics on Health and Safety at Work (produced by the Health and Safety Executive), Report Number 42, UK Statistics Authority, 27 May 2010 [pdf] • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: HSE observes hi-tech horror show
Microelectronics firms in Britain have neglected health risks to workers, tampered with crucial safety alarms and have shown no consideration of the risks faced by entire groups of workers, an official report has found. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uncovered “weaknesses”, “misunderstandings” and poor practices in vital safety procedures across the sector.
Unite news release • Sunday Herald • Rob Edwards website • Control and management of hazardous substances in semiconductor manufacturers in Great Britain in 2009, HSE, July 2010 [pdf] • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: Pesticides linked to cancer increases
A ‘dramatic’ increase in a range of occupational and childhood cancers has been linked to pesticide exposures. A report published last week by CHEM Trust links exposure prior to conception or during pregnancy to higher rates of childhood cancer and warns that farm workers could also be developing cancers caused by pesticide exposures at work.
Chem Trust news release [pdf] and report [pdf] • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Scotsman • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Canada: Workers see red at ‘green’ hotels
Hotel workers are paying a high personal price so hospitality employers can claim they have gone ‘green’. Staff at the US-based Starwood Hotels chain - which is touting a ‘Make a Green Choice’ programme in its hotels across North America and which includes Westin and Sheraton hotels – say the initiative is a bogus green plan that does nothing for the environment.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: Asbestos epidemic reminder from campaigners
More than 60,000 people in the UK will die in the future having previously been exposed to asbestos leading to a total death toll of 90,000 by the year 2050, campaigners have warned. But they say that despite the magnitude of the epidemic, prevention, research and treatment are all seriously neglected.
Asbestos Forum Action Mesothelioma Day events listing • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • HSE news release • BLF news release • Morning Star • Manchester Evening News • North West Evening Mail • Leicester Mercury • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: Construction bosses fined after death
Two directors of PIB (UK) Ltd and their company have been fined after a member of the public died on one of their construction sites. John Blankson, 55, and Steven Moore, 44, pleaded guilty to safety charges and were fined, and Moore was also disqualified from being a director for five years.
HSE news release • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: Global firms fined for crushing death
Two global companies have been ordered to pay a total of £160,000 in fines after a man was crushed to death by a rolling lorry. Logistics company Exel Europe Ltd and Imperial Tobacco Ltd both pleaded guilty to criminal safety breaches relating to the death of 42 year-old Exel heavy goods driver Gary Brooks.
HSE news release • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

Britain: Comet fined after fatal roof fall
Electrical chain Comet has been fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £24,446 legal costs after the death of a roof worker at a Wrexham store. Comet had previously admitted failing to ensure the safety of Paul Alker, who fell through a skylight in 2007 and whose boss, Steven Smith of Wrexham Roofing Services, was earlier jailed for two years in 2007 after being convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Daily News • Risks 464 • 10 July 2010

 

Hazards news, 3 June 2010

Britain: Unions slam ‘work until you drop’ move
Unions have condemned government proposals to raise the retirement age, which could leave former workers in some of the poorest parts of the country receiving less than two years pension on average before they die. UCATT general secretary Alan Ritchie said: “By increasing the retirement age the ConDems are effectively forcing many construction workers to work until they drop.”
DWP news release • When should the state pension age increase to 66? – A Call for Evidence • GMB news release • UCATT news release • UNISON news release • TUC news release • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

USA: Sometimes deadly behaviour does not pay
Employers and corrupt public officials frequently get away with deadly behaviour – but not always. A contractor is now under house arrest and a crane inspector who accepted bribes is serving jail time after being linked to deadly workplace incidents in the US.
In These Times • New York Times • 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: RMT warns of ‘huge’ rail safety risks
Rail union RMT has warned that a failure to update the country’s rail system will create ‘huge safety risks’.  RMT was responding to an indication from the secretary of state for transport that train fares are going to be jacked up while modernisation and renewal work is to be shelved.
RMT news release • Financial Times • The Herald • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Six figure payout to injured shunter
A GMB member whose leg was seriously injured when he was flung from a barrow truck while working at a haulage company has received £245,000 compensation. The man, whose name has not been released but who worked as a shunter at GCT in Thorne, was helping to load pallets on to wagons.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Ireland: Voluntary fails, inspection succeeds
A dramatic decline in workplace fatalities and injuries has been delivered in Ireland after its safety agency boosted the number of official workplace inspections. A previous policy, where the watchdog introduced a US-style voluntary programme, was abandoned after it was followed by a marked upturn in workplace deaths.
HSA news release • RTÉ News • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Unfit fitter finished by flawed floor
A Unite member has been forced to take early retirement as a result of injuries sustained when he tripped over a fire hydrant cover at work. Thomas Mirehouse, 63, from Maryport in Cumbria, has been left with a significant disability in his left shoulder after suffering the injury.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Tube standards under threat from cuts
This week’s confirmation by London mayor Boris Johnson that Transport for London has completed its takeover of the failed Tube Lines operation, has prompted a warning that planned job cuts on London Underground will undermine standards and safety.
RMT news release • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Warning on government safety review
A government review of health and safety must not be allowed to undermine essential workplace protection, unions and campaigners have warned. David Cameron last month formalised a government call for Lord Young to review health and safety regulation, a process started pre-election by the Conservatives and which has already faced strong criticism from unions.
FACK letter to Lord Young • Morning Star • Daily Telegraph • Risks 463 • 3 June 201

Global: Condemnation of Canada’s asbestos ruse
Moves to use public money to underwrite the cost of a massive expansion of asbestos mining in Canada are attracting condemnation in Canada and worldwide. This week, in a letter sent to Quebec leader Jean Charest, the Canadian Cancer Society urged the premier not to approve a Can$58 million (£36.6m) loan guarantee to Jeffrey Asbestos Mines, based in Quebec.
Canadian Cancer Society news release and position statement • Public Citizen news release • Montreal Gazette • CBC News. RightOnCanada • 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

Britain: Directors need statutory safety duties
Most company directors are not taking health and safety seriously at boardroom level, so statutory directors’ duties on safety are the only alternative, the findings of a government commissioned review suggest. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said most firms had done nothing, “so the case for statutory duties is now unanswerable.”
The report of the Steering Group overseeing an independent evaluation of measures taken to strengthen director leadership of health and safety, HSE, June 2010 [pdf] • UCATT news release • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Europe: Safety is an investment not a cost
Recession-hit firms should not let health and safety slip down the list of priorities, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has said. “Spending on workplace health and safety should be seen as an investment and not a cost,” commented EU-OSHA director Jukka Takala at the launch of the agency’s 2009 annual report.
EU-OSHA news release, Annual Report 2009  and Summary • Risks 463 • 3 June 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: Wood dust caused nose cancer
A widow has received compensation after her husband died of a work-related nose cancer. Barry Haw contracted the condition after being exposed to wood dust while working as a craftsman for Robert Thompsons Craftsmen Limited.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Did vinyl chloride cause deadly stomach cancer
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors is seeking information to help in the case of Jonathan Cooke from Stourport on Severn, who died age 39 of stomach cancer on 4 December 2007. His work at Dura Automotive for over 20 years could have exposed him to the potent human carcinogen vinyl chloride.
Information request: Anyone who worked at Dura Automotive in Stourport is being asked to contact Satinder Bains at Irwin Mitchell Solicitors on 0870 1500 100 • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: BP’s unsafe UK record exposed
The troubled oil giant BP has been caught breaking health and safety regulations 54 times over the past five years in the UK, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) records. The official action against the British multinational relates to a series of maintenance and operating lapses which put workers and the environment at risk from major leaks, fires and accidents in the North Sea and elsewhere.
Sunday Herald • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Government to adopt BP business model
John Browne, Tony Hayward’s predecessor as chief executive of BP, has been appointed by the UK government to oversee moves to make Whitehall “more businesslike.” Lord Browne was the architect of the much criticised BP cost- and safety-cutting strategy implicated in the Texas City refinery disaster, which killed 15, and a sequence of other safety and environmental crimes.
Cabinet Office news release • Green jobs, safety jobs blog • BBC News Online • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Man killed in oil refinery blast
A worker has been found dead after a fire and explosion at an oil refinery in North East Lincolnshire. The man, whose name was not released in the immediate aftermath of the blast, was working near a crude oil distillation which exploded at Total’s Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Killingholme on 29 June.
BBC News Online on the 29 June and 19 June fatalities at the Total refinery site • Hartlepool Mail • Peterlee Mail • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Britain: Company fined £280,000 after horror death
A brick firm worker who had only been on site for two weeks was killed when his head was crushed between concrete blocks and a metal platform. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted brick manufacturing company Hanson Building Products Ltd, after the death of Peter Clarke, 57, at the company's distribution plant in Coleshill on 26 April 2008.
HSE news release • Coventry Telegraph • Risks 463 • 3 June 2010

Hazards news, 26 June 2010

USA: BP disaster victims could lose out
Thanks to a 90-year-old legal loophole, the families of the 11 workers killed on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig may be denied full compensation for the loss of their loved ones. Under the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), unlike occupational fatalities on land – where the worker's family can sue for both pecuniary (lost wages) and non-pecuniary damages (recompense for the loss of a loved one) - the families of the victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster are only able to recoup lost wages.
In These Times • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

USA: Probe to fine ‘root causes’ of BP well disaster
The Chemical Safety Board (CSB), the organisation that investigated BP’s Texas City disaster and pinned much of the blame on the company’s London-based global board, is to investigate the “root causes” of the latest industrial catastrophe blighting BP’s record.
CSB investigation announcement [pdf] • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Tory review wrong from the start
The outcome of a government health and safety review, which seems to have been pre-ordained by the time David Cameron kicked off the process last week, has been strongly criticised by the TUC. Five days after the prime minister announcing Lord Young was to undertake the review, the former Tory employment and trade secretary was telling the Times “People occasionally get killed, it’s unfortunate but it’s part of life” and declaring health and safety regulations protecting office workers were “nonsense”.
BBC News Online • Scotsman • IOSH news release • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

USA: Pratt study did show cancer rise
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft has been accused of burying evidence of higher cancer rates at a Connecticut factory. A series of headlines this month trumpeted the company line: ‘No cancer link found at P&W’; ‘Study: Pratt & Whitney Workers Got Brain Cancer At Same Rate As Overall Population,’ and ‘Study Shows No Cluster At North Haven Plant.’
New Haven Independent • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Don't play politics with safety
David Cameron should not play politics with workplace health and safety, a union expert has warned. Roger Kline, from the children’s services union Aspect, notes: “In the year when the cost of cutting corners on health and safety killed oil rig workers, polluted an ocean and threatens the very existence of BP, our prime minister, (without a dissenting squeak from his coalition partners) claims we need to end the ‘compensation culture’ in health and safety.”
The Big Picture, Community Care blog • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

USA: Work safety laws are top public issue
Health and safety regulations are the most important workplace issue for the public, new US research has found. A national poll on by the Public Welfare Foundation and researchers at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center found a massive 85 per cent say workplace safety regulations are “very important”, heading the poll.
Public Welfare Foundation news release • full report and audio release • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Strike breaking jeopardised swim safety
Unions last week raises ‘serious concerns’ about health and safety arrangements at a major UK swimming event affected by strike action. Glasgow branch secretary Brian Smith, speaking on day one of the ‘rock solid’ action, said the safety concerns were so acute the unions contacted the Health and Safety Executive.
UNISON news release • Glasgow Life news release • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Global: Campaign aims to scupper pirates
Workplace violence a big issue for trade unionists – and maritime professionals are having to deal with one of the most extreme forms of workplace violence: piracy. Mark Dickinson, general secretary of seafarers’ union Nautilus International, says it is “incredible” his members are still at risk “on a daily basis”.
Touchstone blog • Global Campaign Against Piracy - sign the petition now! • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Bosses pocket bonuses as pubs crumble
Directors of a major pub chain are pocketing ‘massive bonuses’ but neglecting essential maintenance to their properties with potentially deadly consequences, GMB has said. The union has called on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to investigate all Pubco Enterprise Inns premises “before someone is killed.”
GMB news release • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: ‘Lethal’ plan for driverless Tube trains
Tube union RMT has condemned ‘lethal and unworkable’ plans hatched by Conservatives on the London Assembly to move the entire London Underground train system to driverless operation.
RMT news release • BBC News Online report, including the Tory memo [pdf] • Personnel Today • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: You decide, says firm – eyes or ears?
A West Midlands fitter was forced to make a choice between protecting his ears or his eyes at work. The 66-year-old Unite member is now deaf in his left ear and suffers from tinnitus after he was exposed to excessive levels of noise while working for a factory for 40 years.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Worker maimed in molten metal spill
A foundry worker who suffered 65 per cent burns during a spillage of molten metal has received a ‘substantial’ sum in compensation. The 28-year-old Unite member from Horwich, whose name has not been released, suffered extensive burns to his legs, feet, arms, hands and torso and was put into a medically induced coma following the incident at PMT Industries in Tonge Moor in January 2008.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Oil giants guilty in Buncefield blast
A company controlled by Total and Chevron has been found guilty of grave safety failures that led to the Buncefield oil depot explosion. Hertfordshire Oil Storage Limited (HOSL), which was owned by the oil giants, failed to prevent major accidents and limit their effects, a court has found.
HSE/Environment Agency joint statement • HSE Buncefield webpages • The Guardian. Buncefield Investigation website • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Campaign leads to fewer quarry injuries
Reportable injuries in the quarry sector are down 76 per cent since the 'Hard Target' initiative was launched in 2000, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said, with reportable injuries down from over 500 to below 200 a year.
HSE news release and campaign details • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Worker loses leg under waste recycling truck
A Cheshire recycling company has been fined £10,000 after a worker lost part of his leg when he was crushed by an 18-tonne truck. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted WSR Recycling Ltd after the incident, which led to the worker’s left leg being amputated below the knee.
HSE news release and waste webpages • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Council fined after school death fall
A council has been fined £56,000 after an electrician was killed when a work platform collapsed in a school gym hall. Robert McGill suffered severe brain injuries in the 6 April 2009 incident at Kilmarnock Academy, and died later in hospital.
HSE news release and falls webpages • BBC News Online • Glasgow Evening Times. Scotsman • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Father fined after son’s fall
A sawmill and the father of an injured worker have been fined after the roofing contractor fell through a skylight and suffered serious head injuries. Woodgate Sawmills Limited, and Stanley John Frederick Stephens of The Longhope Welding Company were prosecuted after Robert Stephens, 40, fell through a fragile skylight on 1 June 2007 while working on the roof of a sawmill building in Coleford.
HSE news release • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Britain: Workers caught short on toilet breaks
Many of us are being short-changed by our employers when it comes to the call of nature. A study by the Labour Research Department (LRD) has found many British workers are suffering because of inadequate toilet facilities and restrictive toilet break rules.
LRD news release • BBC News Online • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

China: Illegal coal mine kills 47
A coal mine in central China's Henan Province where an underground explosion killed 47 people on 21 June was operating illegally, officials said. The operation license of Xingdong No. 2 Mine in Weidong District, Pingdingshan City, expired on 6 June, and the district government cut its electricity supply on 7 June, according to local officials.
Xinhua • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

India: Panel reconsiders Bhopal leak action
Cabinet ministers are recommending that India's government revisit its response to the 1984 toxic gas leak in Bhopal. The fact that the Bhopal tragedy is back in the news at the same time as the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has added to the sense that victims of the 1984 disaster have been terribly let down.
The Guardian • BBC News Online. The Hindu • Risks 462 • 26 June 2010

Hazards news, 19 June 2010

USA: Oil companies all fail the safety test
Members of the US Congress tore into the big energy corporations on 15 June for filing almost identical and identically flawed Gulf of Mexico oil spill response plans. The verbal assault by committee members undermined attempts by the oil giants to suggest that their working practices differ from those of BP; and that the catastrophe, which killed 11 workers, would not have happened if the well had been theirs.
Green jobs blog • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

USA: Corporate greed causes work deaths
As oil mucked the Gulf of Mexico and families mourned 11 dead rig workers, BP officials proclaimed that the corporation’s priority always was safety. This mirrored the tack taken by Massey Energy, whose officials also declared safety was paramount after an explosion in the corporation’s Upper Big Branch mine killed 29 workers.
Campaign for America’s Future • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Cash van driver overturns conviction
A security van driver found guilty of assault and a parking offence has had his conviction overturned. The GMB member, whose name has not been released, had parked his G4S van on double yellow lines at Kings Cross Station in central London while collecting in excess of £20,000 from rail firm GNER.
GMB news release • Risks 461 • 19 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

USA: 'Nailed' – an enforcement blog with teeth
Many followers of health and safety will be used to official enforcement and compensation agencies adopting one of two voices – a serious and measured tone when things go wrong or enthusiastically extolling the virtues of partnership and cooperation in better times. But in the US, Washington State’s Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has launched a blog that is altogether more pithy.
Nailed blog • Washington State Department of Labor & Industries news release • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Slipped disc costs scaffolder his job
A Scunthorpe scaffolder has had to give up his job after suffering a serious back injury at work. Unite member Kenneth Higgins, 55, suffered the slipped disc while working for Powertherm Access Services in February 2005.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Europe: Have your say on green jobs
As oil laps on the US coast, there’s renewed energy in discussions of green jobs. And that means new opportunities and, potentially, new risks, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) says. In response, its European Risk Observatory (ERO) “has commissioned a foresight study to explore the potential impact that key technological innovations may have on workers’ health and safety, both positively and negatively, in jobs in the green economy (‘green jobs’) and what new and emerging risks to occupational safety and health (OSH) this may bring by 2020.”
EU-OSHA blog and online questionnaire • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Bread sandwiches worker against rail
A bakery worker who was pinned against a safety rail by an 80 kilo stack of bread has received almost £4,000 in compensation for his injuries. The worker, a member of the union BFAWU, was left with soft tissue injuries to his lower back and severe bruising to his thigh following the incident at a bakery in Stockton in December 2009.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Government aims to remove safety rules
The TUC has said a review of UK health and safety regulation announced this week by David Cameron will undermine the “already limited” legal protection of UK workers. He said the prime minister was pandering to the businesses that are responsible for hundreds of thousands of workers falling sick each year.
10 Downing Street news release • TUC news release • Stronger Unions blog • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Morning Star • The Guardian • The Independent • Daily Mail • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Review must debunk ‘burdens’ myth
Unions and campaigners have warned that essential regulation and enforcement of health and safety must not be abandoned by the government. Hilda Palmer of the Hazards Campaign said: “There is a lack of evidence or fact to support the need or value of cutting regulation of health and safety, a lack of balance in failing to mention the burden on workers hurt or made ill, and on the families of those killed, and a failure to mention the massive cost of up to £30 billion per year of bad health and safety, the majority of which employers externalise onto all of us.”
Prospect news release • NASUWT news release • HSE news release and facts about HSE’s role webpages • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Controversial MP is new safety minister
A member of parliament referred to in the press as a Conservative Party ‘attack dog’ and who before becoming an MP worked for a union-busting PR firm that creates front organisations for polluting industries is the new health and safety minister. Chris Grayling, who was shadow Home Secretary before the election, is now minister of state at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
Green jobs blog • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Job loss digger driver killed himself
A digger driver from Hull hanged himself after losing his job, an inquest has heard.
Patrick McLaughlin, 52, been made redundant when the company he was working for went into liquidation in August last year.
Hull Daily Mail • TUC news release • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Union welcome for medic hours probe
The TUC has welcomed the findings of a government commissioned independent review, which concludes it is possible to deliver high quality training for hospital doctors within the 48 hour limit on average weekly working time.
TUC news release • Time for training - a review of the impact of the Working Time Directive on the quality of training • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Europe: Strain injuries in Europe
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) remain the most common occupational disease in the European Union and workers in all sectors and occupations can be affected, a new report from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has concluded. It says: “The report highlights the main issues and aims to provide a well-founded evidence base, helping policy makers, actors at enterprise and sector level, as well as researchers and those who record, prevent and compensate occupational diseases in the European Union to set the agenda for the next years.”
OSH in figures: Work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the EU - Facts and figures • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Bakery bosses exposed workers to flour, power
The directors of a Bedford based DG Bakery Ltd have been fined after a series of health and safety breaches exposed staff to serious danger - including electrocution and exposure to flour dust.
HSE news release • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Manager fined after teen trainee is injured
The manager of a Fareham diving company has been fined £2,500 for health and safety breaches that led to teenage trainee Jonathan Holmes breaking his ankle at work. Andrew William Steel Baillie, general manager of Sub Surface Engineering Ltd, pleaded guilty to the charges brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release • Portsmouth News • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Britain: Asbestos protest, Canada House, London, 1 July
Asbestos and safety campaigners are to protest outside Canada House on 1 July. The event, on Canada’s National Day, is to protest at Canada’s continuing support for Quebec’s exports of asbestos to the developing world.
Asbestos protest at Canada House, Trafalgar Square, London 10am to 12 noon, 1 July 2010. Event details • Risks 461 • 19 June 2010

Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Global: Olympic suppliers ‘degrade’ workers
Appalling and degrading conditions are being endured by millions of workers producing sportswear and Olympic branded merchandise, unions and campaigners have warned. The TUC, along with Labour Behind the Label, unions and human rights campaign groups, is part of the Playfair 2012 campaign calling on the organisers of London 2012 and the Olympic movement to ensure that workers’ rights are respected.
TUC news release • Labour Behind the Label • Playfair 2012 • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Mexico: States forces back ‘homicide’ mine
Unions have condemned an assault by heavily armed federal riot police on striking mineworkers at the Cananea copper mine near the US border. On Sunday 6 June at about 10pm, hundreds of police surrounded the mine, which has been occupied by the miners, and used tear gas to dislodge the workers.
IMF news release • USW news release • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Derailment shows why guards are essential
Rail union RMT has again demanded Scotrail call an immediate halt to plans to extend Driver Only Operation (DOO) on its services after eight people needed hospital treatment as a result of a train derailment on Sunday 6 June.
RMT news release • Scotsman • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Unite safety alert after Corus death
The union Unite is calling on all safety reps to make sure employers take all the necessary steps to prevent fatalities after a member was killed at work. The call for vigilance follows the 23 April death of an electrician working for Corus at their Scunthorpe Concast Plant.
Unite news release • Scunthorpe Telegraph • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Global: Union work gets more deadly
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of trade unionists murdered, with new figures revealing there were 101 killings in 2009 – up 30 per cent over the previous year. The latest Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights, published by global union confederation ITUC, also reveals growing pressure on fundamental workers’ rights around the world as the impact of the global economic crisis on employment deepened.
ITUC news release and survey, video and multimedia resources • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Global: UCATT slams Australian ‘show trial’
UCATT has said called on the Australian authorities to abandon the ‘show trial’ of an Australian union rep who stood up for safety. The UK construction union has sent a message of solidarity to its Australian sister union CFMEU and construction worker Ark Tribe, who refused to answer to an anti-union “interrogation squad”.
UCATT news release • CFMEU news release • Rights on site • Find out more about Ark Tribe’s case • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Train deaths led to nervous breakdown
A Hull train driver suffered a nervous breakdown after he was involved in a fatal collision on a railway crossing. ASLEF member David Jarrad, 56, suffered post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and permanent phobic anxiety after the incident in June 2005 when his train hit a car crossing the line between Thorne and Goole.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Ear protection came 30 years too late
A GMB member who was exposed to dangerous levels of noise in the workplace for over 30 years has been left with occupational deafness and tinnitus. Terence Haywood, 62, has received £13,000 in compensation for the damage to his hearing caused by the noise from his job as a dye caster for Hallams Castings.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Union warning on over-crowded schools
A teaching union is calling for better school facilities after a primary school teacher suffered a serious injury in a cluttered school corridor that was being used as a temporary classroom. NASUWT said the 37-year-old union member permanently damaged her spine after she fell while trying to navigate the corridor at a Hartlepool school.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: US oil spill prompts UK rig action
Energy secretary Chris Huhne has said the UK government will increase its inspection of drilling rigs and monitoring of offshore compliance with legal standards. In addition to increased scrutiny by his department (DECC), the government has asked a new oil industry-led group, OSPRAG, to report back on the UK’s ability to prevent and respond to oil spills.
DECC news release • HSE comment on Deepwater Horizon • The Independent • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Don’t just criticise BP ‘criminals’, try them
Can you have serial crimes but no criminal? Critics say BP’s directors have proved as slippery as the gulf’s oil smeared coastline, with none so far facing criminal charges relating to the Deepwater Horizon disaster or other deadly incidents.
The White House blog • US Department of Justice news release • The Progressive • Creators.com • ITUC/Hazards green jobs, safe jobs blog and related BP criticism • Think Progress • CNN News • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Europe: Stress hurts workers, but so what?
Most European company bosses are aware of serious stress problems in their workplaces, but most opt to do nothing concrete about it. New data from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) shows 79 per cent of European managers are concerned by work-related stress, but less than a third of companies have set procedures to deal with it.
European Agency news release and ESENER survey results • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: RAF flew in the face of pregnancy law
The Royal Air Force (RAF) ignored its risk assessment duties and created an “offensive environment” for an officer who was denied the right to stay in her job when she became pregnant.  A tribunal found she had faced discrimination and its recommendations included calling on the Ministry of Defence to carry out an individual risk assessment for each pregnant woman and to consider adjusting her role to enable her to remain in her post.
EHRC news release • Leigh Day and Co news release • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Fewer heart attacks after smoking ban
There were 1,200 fewer hospital admissions for heart attacks in England in the year after July 2007, when the smoking ban came in, a major study suggests. The 2.4 per cent drop was much more modest than that reported in some areas where similar bans have been introduced.
Michelle Sims and others. Short term impact of smoke-free legislation in England: retrospective analysis of hospital admissions for myocardial infarction, BMJ Online first, June 2010. BBC News Online • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Canada: Deathbed reprieve for killer industry?
The battle to end Canada's export of deadly asbestos may be about to be lost, a top human rights group has warned. Kathleen Ruff of the Rideau Institute says: “Economically, the industry is on its deathbed,” but adds that it has reason to believe it will soon receive a multi-million dollar bail-out from Canada’s federal and Quebec governments.
Toronto Star • Risks 460 • 12 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: More sickness policies, fewer sick days
The average UK worker took 6.4 days off through sickness last year, the lowest number since 1987, a survey by employers’ organisation the CBI suggests. This compares with 6.7 days in 2007, the last year surveyed.
CBI news release • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Security firm fined for poisoning
Glasgow-based Alpha Group Security Ltd has been fined £7,000 following the poisoning death of a construction site security guard. Thomas Fraser, 37, died of carbon monoxide poisoning at an on-site flat used as a base for employees.
HSE news release • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Out of control lift kills lift engineer
A defunct Kent-based lift company has been ordered to pay £45,000 in fines and costs following the crushing death of a self-employed lift engineer. J Brown Services Ltd was prosecuted following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after 35-year-old Andy Bates died while completing the installation of a new lift at a site near Oxford Street in Central London.
HSE news release • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Britain: Firm guilty after young worker’s death
Flowserve (GB) Ltd has been fined £150,000 following the death of a 21-year-old employee. The prosecution at Lewes Crown Court related to the 7 May 2008 death of Philip Locke, who received fatal injuries when carrying out a pressure test on a high pressure valve.
HSE news release • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Europe: REACH - an opportunity for trade unions
The marketing of chemicals - especially those that could harm human health - has been covered by the EU-wide REACH regulations since 1 June 2007. But ‘REACH: an opportunity for trade unions’, a new publication from the trade union research institute ETUI, concludes real progress, including outlawing the most toxic chemicals from workplaces, “will not happen unless union representatives take ownership of the law.”
REACH: an opportunity for trade unions.
Putting knowledge to work in the workplace, Tony Musu, ETUI, 2010. ISBN 978-287452176-8. Price: 10 Euros. ETUI publications notice and contents and preface [pdf] • Risks 460 • 12 June 2010

Hazards news, 5 June 2010

Britain: TUC prescription on drugs and alcohol
A decent policy is the key to addressing drug and alcohol problems at work, the TUC has said. The union body adds: “Under no circumstances should a drugs or alcohol policy be part of a disciplinary policy.”
TUC guide on drugs and alcohol policies [pdf] and drug testing in the workplace [pdf] • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

USA: Safety rules fail the biotech test
Workers in cutting edge biotechnology labs are facing serious and seriously unregulated risks. “Worker safety cannot be sacrificed on the altar of innovation,” said OHSA head David Michaels.
New York Times • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Firm’s blind eye on safety goggles
A driver whose requests for safety goggles were repeatedly ignored has received a “substantial” sum in compensation after he suffered permanent damage to his eye at work. After being hit in the eye by work equipment, the 57-year-old GMB member working for Coast and Country Housing Limited needed surgery to correct a detached retina and then another operation a year later to remove a cataract.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Nuke plant slip hurt worker’s prospects
A nuclear plant surveyor who suffered a trapped nerve at work in a workplace slip missed out on promotion as a result. The 54-year-old GMB member, whose name has not been released, was forced to go on restricted duties after slipping on liquid while working at Sellafield in Whitehaven.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

USA: Rig spill clean up makes workers sick
A chemical dispersant being used to fight the gulf oil spill is making workers sick, recent reports suggest. The disaster, where BP has failed repeatedly to stem the oil gusher and which started with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers, has led to an increasing clamour for criminal charges to be levelled at BP, the company that owns the well.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • New York Times • Minnesota Independent • Working In These Times • Truthout • Nola.com • BBC News Online • The Guardian • Fairwarning • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Caterpillar didn’t move after warning
A Unite member working as a painter for Caterpillar needed two operations to correct a hernia following a workplace injury has received more than £7,000 in compensation. Keith Robinson, 43, needed the major surgery after moving a 12ft high and 30ft long walkway to access a work area.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Tory ‘attack dog’ is safety minister
Chris Grayling, a member of parliament referred to in the press as a Conservative Party ‘attack dog’ and who before becoming an MP worked for a union-busting PR firm that creates front organisations for polluting industries is the new health and safety minister.
Green jobs blog • 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

Global: Unions call for action on Foxconn suicides
A global union confederation has said it is “gravely concerned” at the tragic suicides at Foxconn Technology Group in Shenzhen, China. ITUC says the Taiwanese Foxconn group is at the heart of the ‘Made in China’ export model.
ITUC news release • Good Electronics and makeITfair joint statement • Sign up to the Labourstart appeal in support of the Foxconn workers • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Bed makers remove mattress strains
An initiative to address greatly elevated strains risks in bed manufacture has met with some success, says the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The watchdog says “employees in the bed manufacturing industry are around twice as likely to suffer manual handling injuries such as back and upper limb disorders than those in any other manufacturing sector,” with jobs like the manual handling of mattresses particularly problematic.
HSE news release and mattress handling initiative • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Australia: Union bans nuke work
An Australian union has banned its members from working in uranium mines, nuclear power stations or any other part of the nuclear fuel cycle. The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) says other unions have expressed strong support for the campaign against uranium, which it has labelled the “new asbestos” of the workplace.
ETU news release and When the dust settles video part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5 • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Sydney Morning Herald • Brisbane Times • Beyond Nuclear radiation and health webpages and Australia webpages • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: BP spill prompts North Sea discussions
North Sea oil industry leaders have created an advisory group to review procedures in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico disaster. The Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group (OSPRAG) was formed by the industry body Oil and Gas UK and includes offshore unions Unite and RMT, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and other government agencies.
Offshore Magazine • BBC News Online • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Site death fine increased eight-fold
A building firm has had a fine following the death of a worker increased eight-fold by appeal court judges in Scotland. Discovery Homes (Scotland) Ltd was originally fined £5,000 after admitting a criminal safety breach linked to the death of bricklayer Andrezej Freitag, 55.
Scottish Appeal Court judgment • STV News • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Laundry boss jailed for exploiting immigrants
A Berkshire man who hired 23 illegal immigrants and kept them virtual prisoners at a laundry in Hampshire has been jailed for a year for assisting unlawful immigration. Qing Wu, 42, employed the workers at Universal Chinese Laundry in Alton.
Portsmouth News • BBC News Online • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Fingers chopped off at plastics firm
A plastics recycling factory in St Helens has been fined £15,000 after a worker had parts of two fingers cut off by blades on a high-speed fan. The Roydon Granulation Ltd employee, who has asked not to be named, suffered serious injuries to four fingers on his left hand including the partial amputation of two.
HSE news release • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: Premier league club fails on safety
Premier League football club Aston Villa has been fined after a worker was badly injured in a fall through a roof during the redevelopment of its training ground. The club, its contractor and Mechanical Cleansing Services’ director, Damon Roe, all admitted health and safety offences.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • BBC News Online • Risks 459 • 5 June 2010

Britain: High voltage shock for stationery worker
A London stationery manufacturer has been fined after admitting removing safety guards and exposing a worker to a high voltage shock that left him permanently disabled. The man was investigating a fault on a plastic welding machine at Chart Design Ltd in Wembley in June 2007 when his fingers came into proximity with components carrying several thousand volts.
HSE news release • Risks 459 • 5 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

Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Random drug tests of ‘dubious legality’
The TUC has warned that random drug tests at work are of ‘dubious legality’ and has called on the government to produce clear guidelines. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said employers cannot ignore drug use at work, but added “the way to tackle this danger is by having proper policies in place for dealing with drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace, rather than introducing random testing which is not only a breach of a person’s right to privacy and dignity, but also of dubious legality.”
TUC news release • Drug testing in the workplace [pdf] • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Supermarket slip costs worker her job
It wasn’t a fall in her own workplace that caused a bakery worker to give up work, it was a visit to the supermarket. But the BFAWU member still received £45,000 in damages after her union stepped in with legal support.
BFAWU news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Union welcome for bookie standards
Betting shop union Community has welcomed a new voluntary standard intended to protect bookies’ staff from violence. The union say the industry-backed measure comes after Community’s intensive lobbying in the wake of a rise in robberies and attacks.
Community news release and betting shops webpages • Safe Bet Alliance news release • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Bending machine wrecks worker’s hand
A factory worker whose hand was crushed in a defective machine was forced to take five months off work as a result of the horrific injuries. GMB member Darrell Neromilotis, 46, needed two operations to save his hand following the November 2007 incident at outdoor equipment manufacturer Playdale Playgrounds Ltd.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Sellafield fitter hurt by wrong tool
A mechanical fitter who needed surgery on his shoulder following a workplace injury has received more than £5,000 in compensation. Unite member Geoffrey Burns, 59, from Whitehaven had to take six months off work following the incident in August 2008 while working for nuclear firm Sellafield.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: BMA calls for safe shifts for docs
Doctors who work shifts are more prone to health risks and sleep deprivation, a report from BMA Scotland has concluded. The report, produced by the BMA’s Scottish Junior Doctors Committee (SJDC), highlights the dangers of irregular shift patterns on health and performance and makes a series of recommendations to reduce these dangers.
BMA news release and the Shiftwork, rest and sleep: Minimising the risks report • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Firm broke chemicals laws before blaze
The boss of a chemical company that suffered a serious blaze leading to a multi-agency major incident response has claimed the factory had never before had problems with health and safety. However, official papers show Huddersfield-based Grosvenor Chemicals attracted a series of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) improvement notices last year for a catalogue of breaches of safety laws, including regulations covering dangerous, explosive and hazardous substances – and there had been a death at the site.
Environmental Agency news release • Kirklees Council news release • Huddersfield Daily Examiner and related report. • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Global: Will BP’s ‘disaster-prone’ board face jail?
Directors of BP’s London-based global board seem to be above justice when it comes to the firm's serial workplace safety and environmental crimes, claims a new report. Campaigning magazine Hazards, which has been monitoring the multinational’s safety performance for years, says if more attention had been paid to BP’s deadly workplace safety record the risks would have been “shockingly apparent”.
ITUC/Hazards green jobs blog and BP webpages • The Daily Beast • Greenpeace BP logo competition • CBS News • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Business wrong again on regulation
A business group has published updated estimates of the cost to business of regulations without addressing concerns raised last year that the figures were “rigged”. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) ‘Business Burdens 2010’ estimates these safety regulations lead to a combined recurring annual cost to business of £374 million – but deliberately omits from the calculation the savings accrued from preventive action required by regulation – including the savings made by business from operating safely.
BCC news release and Burdens barometer 2010 [pdf] • Who pays?, Hazards magazine, number 106, 2009 • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Blacklist bosses to be named and shamed
Construction bosses who personally sanctioned the use of blacklists in the industry are set to be named and shamed. A tribunal ruling means the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) must now reveal full details relating to a number of test cases – including invoices, correspondence and documentation detailing the business and organisational relationships between The Consulting Association and construction firms must be released under the terms of the ruling.
Construction Enquirer • Blacklist blog • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Freight firm fined after crushing death
A Leeds freight company has been fined after a 59-year-old worker was crushed to death by a case of glass. Alan Fletcher tried to stop the two-tonne case from falling as it was unloaded at Roadways Container Logistics, Leeds Crown Court heard, fining the firm £250,000 plus £100,000 costs.
HSE news release and Fletcher family statement • BBC News Online • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Waste giant fined after landfill death
A major UK waste management and recycling company has been fined after a driver was killed at a Northamptonshire landfill site. Sita UK Limited was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the death of bin driver Gary Carter, 32, at the Cranford landfill site on 4 January 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Contractor guilty after wall crushed worker
Contractor Keith Gardner, trading as KP Gardner Builders, was fined £7,000 last week for breaching health and safety law after a builder broke his back and ribs when a wall fell on him at a London construction site. Jason Lunnon, 41, was seriously injured when he was struck by the falling concrete blocks on the site in Newham.
HSE news release • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Council fined after dumper truck injury
 Bridgend County Borough Council has been fined after an incident that saw a driver injured when his dumper truck overturned. Council employee Mark Morgan was driving the one tonne vehicle through woodland on 25 September 2008 when the truck began to slide.
HSE news release and risk management webpages • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Britain: Seven-metre fall stops man working
Construction firm Hartog Hutton Ltd and building owner Fluorocarbon Company Ltd have each been fined after a builder suffered fractured vertebrae when he fell from a factory roof in Hertfordshire. Danny Langdon, 63, injured his spine in the seven metre fall on Christmas Eve 2008 and has been off work since.
HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010
Britain: Hazards Conference, 9-11 July 2010, Keele University
The National Hazards Conference, organised by the Hazards Campaign and supported by UK unions, is the biggest annual educational and campaigning event for trade union safety reps and activists.
National Hazards Conference background and registration information • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Morocco: Firm ignores global safety deal
Union reps in Morocco employed by a company part-owned by the multinational ArcelorMittal are demanding the firm respects its global agreement on health and safety. A monitoring mission from the global union federation IMF met last week with shop stewards from SONACID production sites, where workers are reported to be subjected “to psychological pressure” and told they could lose bonuses, other benefits and career opportunities “to convince them not to report accidents,” IMF said.
IMF news release • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

Turkey: Unions necessary to prevent disasters
Unions provide the ongoing scrutiny of workplace safety standards that can keep Turkish mines safe, a union safety expert has said. Speaking in the wake of three methane explosions in three different mines in the last six months, Fikret Sazak said the disasters were a direct result of a lack of proper precautions and strong workers’ union.
Hurriyet Daily News • Today’s Zaman • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

USA: Call for mine manslaughter charges
US legislators and trade unionists last week grilled the owner of a mine where 29 workers died in a blast last month, slamming the “alarming record” of serious safety violations at the Massey Energy mine in West Virginia. Highway billboards calling for a manslaughter prosecution of Massey Energy are appearing around West Virginia and read: “29 Coal Miners Dead, Prosecute Massey for Manslaughter.”
Prosecute Massey for Manslaughter website • Morning Star • . USW blog. Counterpunch • Pittsburgh Tribune-Review • Fairwarning.org • Truthdig • New York Times • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

USA: Confronting blame-the-worker programmes
When US firms get lean-and-mean, injuries can increase, official safety inspections become more likely and workers’ compensation premiums soar. But many employers have found a novel response: hide the injuries.
Labor Notes • USW webpages on BS programmes • Hazards behavioural safety webpages • Risks 458 • 29 May 2010

 

Hazards news, 22 May 2010

Britain: Fighting for your life
Hazards magazine is pressing head with its campaign to defend workplace safety from a retreat from regulation and enforcement. In a pointed reminder to the Conservatives and the Lib Dems – both of whom have called recently for deregulation – a stark poster warns: ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’.
Hazards magazine, issue 110, April-June 2010. Contents list and We didn’t vote to die at work poster • 22 May 2010

USA: Obama to set up oil spill commission
US President Barack Obama has vowed to end the “cosy relationship” between oil companies and US regulators in the light of the Gulf of Mexico disaster. He also condemned “the ridiculous spectacle” of oil executives “falling over each other to point the finger of blame.”
BBC News Online on the presidential commission and the blame game •   The Guardian • In These Times • Center for Public Integrity news report • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: Reps told to be wary of BS
The TUC is warning union reps to be on the lookout for behavioural safety (BS) schemes that pin the blame for injuries and illness at work on “unsafe acts” by workers. The union body says the schemes – which also go by the name of “behavioural modification” or “behaviour based safety” – require that “management should target specific behaviours and aim to change these based on observing and monitoring workers.”
Behavioural safety: A briefing for workplace representatives, TUC, May 2010 • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: Industrial action threat at Tube Lines
London Underground union RMT has started a ballot for industrial action by members employed by Tube Lines. It says the move is in response to a continuing threat to jobs and safe working conditions and in support of a decent pay increase.
RMT news release • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

China: Electronics giant faces suicide controversy
Foxconn Technology, the giant contractor that manufacturers the iPhone and other brand name consumer electronics, has defended its employment standards after the suicide death of an eighth worker.
CBC News • Cult of Mac • Xinhua.net • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: Payout after seven floors plunge
A civilian worker with the police who was in a workplace lift that plunged seven floors to the ground has received a “substantial” sum in compensation. The PCS member, who works for the Metropolitan Police in London and whose name has not been released, suffered from neck and back pain as a result of the incident in May 2008 and required treatment for an anxiety disorder after she was left with a fear of getting in lifts.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: UCATT calls for more site protection
Construction union UCATT has vowed to keep the pressure on government over blacklisting and bogus self-employment.
Morning Star • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: Action needed on commercial fishing deaths
Britain’s top marine accident investigator has criticised lax attitudes to safety after the deaths of three fishermen in a two week period. The death rate among fishermen was “consistent and disproportionate,” the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said.
MAIB triple investigation report and 2009 Safety Digest [pdf] • Press and Journal • BBC News Online • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

China: Electronics giant faces suicide controversy
Foxconn Technology, the giant contractor that manufacturers the iPhone and other brand name consumer electronics, has defended its employment standards after the suicide death of an eighth worker.
CBC News • Cult of Mac • Xinhua.net • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: Fishing boat firm fined following fall
A Scarborough fishing boat operator has been fined after an electrician suffered serious injuries when he fell from a ladder while aboard the company’s boat. Contractor Philip Parcell, 53, from Newby, broke his back in three places, fractured his skull in two places and sustained nerve damage to the left side of his face after plummeting between decks of the Our Julia when it was moored in Scarborough harbour on 16 July last year.
HSE news release • Risks 457 • 22 May 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: Stress again linked to the recession
Work pressures during the recession have caused a big rise in mental health problems, a mental health charity has said. A survey for Mind suggests that one in 11 British workers has been to their GP for stress and anxiety arising the financial squeeze and 7 per cent said they were prescribed medicines to help them cope.
Mind news release and Taking care of business campaign • BBC News Online • The Independent • The Observer • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: Raleigh fined over worker’s death
Bicycle company Raleigh has been fined £72,000 after the death of a forklift truck driver at its Nottingham depot. John Whittington, 59, was hit by a falling girder when part of his forklift truck, which had its forks raised, struck a door frame at the Eastwood site in September 2007.
Nottingham Post • BBC News Online • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

USA: Nurses rally for safe staffing
Some 1,000 registered nurses from around the US rallied on Capitol Hill, Washington DC, on 12 May to show their strong support for legislation to establish minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for all hospitals in the country. Brandishing signs that read ‘I’m A Patient Advocate,’ ‘Safe Patient Ratios Save Lives’ and ‘Safe Lift Now,’ members of National Nurses United (NNU), made the case that the care they are able to give their patients is being hampered by long working hours and cutbacks.
AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: Worker crushed in building collapse
Two firms have been fined a total of £7,000 after part of an office block under construction collapsed, seriously injuring one worker. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the building’s designer, Peter Wallace of the Wallace Partnership, and the principal contractor, Jack Smith (Builders) Ltd, following the collapse in Kirkham.
HSE news release • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: Firms fined after site fall
Businesses are being urged to take proper precautions when their staff work at height after a West Yorkshire worker sustained serious back injuries when he plunged more than three metres from a terrace retaining wall on a construction site. There were no guardrails in place to prevent Graham Parkin falling from height as he accessed a work area.
HSE news release • Ilkley Gazette • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: Confectioner fined after 1 tonne blow
A Telford confectionery company has been prosecuted after a worker’s head was hit with a one tonne force. Magna Specialist Confectioners Ltd (MSC) was fined a total of £75,000 and ordered to pay costs of £37,500 by Shrewsbury Crown Court.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: College fined after window cleaner falls
Lincoln College has been fined £1,500 after a window cleaner fell four metres, suffering broken ribs and a serious back injury. James Theaker, 50, from Lincoln, was employed by A Nicoll & Son Ltd, when he was contracted to clean windows at Lincoln College on 4 November 2008.
HSE news release • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Britain: Widow calls for insurance fix
An asbestos widow has called on the government to help asbestos victims and their families overcome barriers to obtaining compensation. Caroline Squires from Wacton in Norfolk has voiced her support for an Employers’ Liability Insurance Bureau (ELIB) after her husband, Almer, died from asbestos related cancer mesothelioma. Mr Squires, died in October 2008, aged 66.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

Europe: European conference, 10-12 September, Leeds
The 12th bi-annual European Work Hazards Conference is to be held in Leeds from 10 to 12 September 2010. This year’s conference, hosted by the UK Hazards Campaign, “will give hazards activists the chance to meet and work with activists from throughout Europe and other parts of the world”, say the organisers.
European Work Hazards Network (EWHN) website and conference details • Risks 457 • 22 May 2010

 

Hazards news, 15 May 2010

Britain: We didn’t vote to die at work
In a pointed reminder to the new Conservatives and Lib Dem coalition government, a stark poster from Hazards magazine warns: ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’. This “fighting for your life’ edition is intended to provide unions and campaigners with the ammunition they need to defend workplace health and safety standards.
Hazards magazine, issue 110, April-June 2010 • Contents list and We didn’t vote to die at work poster • 15 May 2010

Britain: HSE inspections down to once in a lifetime
A decade ago, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) could be expected to turn up at the average UK workplace once every few years. But unpublished official figures obtained by the trade union safety magazine Hazards show workplaces are now lucky to see the pared back watchdog once in a working lifetime and also show HSE enforcement “has crashed”.
Once in a lifetime - HSE inspection and enforcement drops off the chart, Hazards magazine, number 110, April-June 2010 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Only unions mean real worker involvement
Worker involvement is currently the biggest thing in health and safety, says the TUC. But Hugh Robertson, the union body’s head of safety, has warned the positive chatter from enforcers and employers is not always translating into meaningful consultation at the workplace.
Better talk?, Hazards magazine, issue 110, April-June 2010 • 15 May 2010

USA: More regulation is the solution
Whether the problem is blood spilled in the workplace or oil spilled in the oceans, a series of recent disasters show why more regulation of profit-hungry industries is needed, a US union leader has said. “Twenty-nine dead coal miners in West Virginia, seven dead workers at an oil refinery in Washington State and 11 dead on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig followed by an ecological calamity, all in the span of a month, illustrate in blood the need for more regulation and stiffer enforcement,” said Leo W Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers (USW).
AFL-CIO Now blog • In These Times • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Safety victory for rail union
Rail union RMT says Southern Trains has stepped back from a move that would have undermined rail safety by extending driver-only train operation. The rethink came after RMT threatened industrial action.
RMT news release • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Temp’s lack of training led to injury
A GMB member who suffered a broken jaw and lost seven teeth in while on placement from an employment agency has received £47,500 in compensation. John McFarlane, 42, from Washington was hit in the mouth by a tool called a warwick after he was forced to work on his own in a new temp placement, after just two days of a promised seven day training programme.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

USA: President’s panel calls for cancer action
Policymakers in the US should abandon a reactionary approach to regulation of cancer causing chemicals and champion a precautionary approach, top advisers to Barack Obama have said. The report from the President's Cancer Panel recommends: “A precautionary, prevention-oriented approach should replace current reactionary approaches to environmental contaminants in which human harm must be proven before action is taken to reduce or eliminate exposure,” adding that this new approach “should be the cornerstone of a new national cancer prevention strategy that emphasises primary prevention.”
Reducing environmental cancer risk: What we can do now, President’s Cancer Panel, 2010 [pdf] • Huffington Post • Effect measure • Washington Post • USA Today • Los Angeles Times • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: London mayor’s ‘smokescreen’ on cuts
Tube union RMT has said London mayor Boris Johnson is throwing up a “smokescreen” under the guise of a Transport Strategy in a bid to deflect attention away from a massive transport cuts package. The union says the mayor’s plan threatens thousands of jobs, ticket office closures and “a systematic undermining of current safety standards.”
RMT news release • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Union asbestos register pinpoints exposure
A former engineer has spoken of his relief in obtaining compensation after being diagnosed with the incurable asbestos cancer mesothelioma in February 2009. Unite member David Marren, 63, became aware of the diseases caused by asbestos when his union launched a National Asbestos Exposure Register.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Double tragedy for asbestos cancer victim
An asbestos cancer sufferer whose first wife died from the same disease has received compensation from his former employer. Unite member Roland Lakin, 70, from Chorley in Lancashire was diagnosed with the incurable cancer mesothelioma in July 2009 after he nursed his first wife, Thelma, through the disease until she died in 2006.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Chorley Citizen • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Russia: Ninety feared dead in mine blasts
It is feared 90 workers have died in a tragedy at a Siberian coal mine, after a methane gas blast. Russian rescue on 13 May suspended the search for 24 men still missing after the mine disaster that killed at least 66 because of fears of new underground blasts, the emergencies ministry said.
ITAR-TASS news report • BBC News Online. Business Week • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Calling all safety reps!
The TUC wants to hear from trade union safety reps – what you are doing, what concerns you, and what problems and successes you are encountering while wearing your union safety hat. The eighth TUC survey of safety reps is designed to provide the TUC and individual unions with information about their safety reps and their experiences and needs.
TUC survey of safety reps • Deadline for responses, 1 July 2010 • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Global: New impetus to end child labour
Amid growing concerns over the impact of the economic downturn, the International Labour Office (ILO) has warned that efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour are slowing down and has called for a “re-energised” global campaign to end the practice. On 11 May, more than 450 delegates from 80 countries attending the global child labour conference in The Hague agreed on a ‘Roadmap’ aimed at “substantially increasing” global efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour by 2016.
ILO news release, child labour conference website, conference news release and Roadmap [pdf] • Accelerating action against child labour, ILO, May 2010 • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: More overtime equals more heart risk
The more overtime you work, the greater your risk of heart disease, a study of UK workers has found. The study of 6,014 British civil servants, published online this week in the European Heart Journal and part-funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), followed the workers for an average of 11 years.
Marianna Virtanen, Jane E Ferrie, Archana Singh-Manoux, Martin J Shipley, Jussi Vahtera, Michael G Marmot, and Mika Kivimäki. Overtime work and incident coronary heart disease: the Whitehall II prospective cohort study. European Heart Journal, published ahead of print 11 May 2010. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehq124 [abstract and related editorial] • BBC News Online • The Guardian • Los Angeles Times • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Union welcomes detention of fatigue ship
 The temporary detention of a passenger ship in Portsmouth because of concerns that senior officers were suffering from fatigue, was welcomed this week by the seafarers’ union Nautilus. The Bahamas-flagged cruiseship Prince Albert was held for several hours following a Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) inspection on 10 May.
Nautilus news release • MCA news release • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Managing director gets four year ban
A managing director has been disqualified from running a firm for four years after a 23-year old worker from Kettering fell more than nine metres, leaving him paralysed from the chest down. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted SDI Group UK Ltd, Construction Ltd and Richard Mark Berwick, the managing director of RM Berwick Steel Erection Services Ltd, after the incident on 8 February 2007 in Glossop, Derbyshire.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Coroner calls for better falls standard
The death of a young roofer whose fatal fall was a result of “inadequate” planning and site supervision has prompted a coroner to call on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the industry’s trade body to introduce improved standards. Daniel Hollington, 21, plummeted to his death on 30 October 2007 after falling through a warehouse skylight and landing on the concrete floor 40 feet below.
Thurrock Gazette • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Firm fined after teen has leg crushed
A Wolverhampton manufacturer has been fined £8,000 after a teenage employee was trapped under a load of steel, breaking his leg. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Dranson Ltd after 17-year-old Jamie Meredith was left pinned to the floor in agony after approximately 700 kg of steel fell off a trolley he was pushing.
HSE news release • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Britain: Nurses back dangerous dogs campaign
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has given its full support to a union’s campaign for full legal protection for workers from out-of-control dogs. The union CWU says members who deliver post or repair, maintain and provide residential telephone services have been attacked - and, in some cases, seriously injured - by domestic pets.
CWU news release • CWU Bite Back campaign • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

Global: A trade union guide to ethical trade
The TUC has published an online trade union guide to ethical trade. The guide calls on UK firms to sign up to the Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI) Base Code. As well as demanding firms require their suppliers work towards providing safety and hygienic working conditions, membership looks for UK firms to seek a supply chain that meets eight other key minimum labour rights standards, including freedom to form and join trade unions, no use of child labour, working hours that are not excessive and freedom from discrimination and abuse.
A trade union guide to ethical trade • Risks 456 • 15 May 2010

 

Hazards news 8 May 2010

 

Britain: Union puts grubby train cabs on report
Train drivers’ union ASLEF is calling on its members to report every grubby cab in the repair book. The union argues that there are two important principles involved – safety and status. 
ASLEF news release • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

USA: Union called in at anti-union deaths mine
 Three weeks after the 29 non-union miners died at Massey Energy’s, Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, the colliery did what other non-union miners have done in recent times when company negligence has caused a disaster. They called in the union participate in the investigation - in the past 15 months in the US, 53 miners have perished; 52 of them worked at non-union operations.
ICEM news report • Washington Times • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Eurostar action vote over lone working
Eurostar train managers have voted by more than 9-to-1 for industrial action over a failure by the company to give assurances they will not introduce lone working. Rail union RMT this week issued an instruction to its train manager members to take industrial action short of a strike.
RMT news release • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010   

USA: Union called in at anti-union deaths mine
 Three weeks after the 29 non-union miners died at Massey Energy’s, Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, the colliery did what other non-union miners have done in recent times when company negligence has caused a disaster. They called in the union participate in the investigation - in the past 15 months in the US, 53 miners have perished; 52 of them worked at non-union operations.
ICEM news report • Washington Times • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Nuclear worker suffers vibration injuries
A GMB member has received £35,000 in compensation after developing a strain injury from prolonged use of vibrating tools. The 49-year-old from Cumbria, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) after working at the Sellafield nuclear waste plant in Calder Bridge for 23 years.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Scaffolder’s leg broken by 300k weight
A scaffolder who needed surgery after a 300 kilo weight fell on his leg has received £30,000 in an out of court payout. Unite member Michael Simpson, 63, was trapped under the heavy metal block when it fell onto his ankle in December 2005 while he was working at Felixstowe Docks.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Staffing cuts leave Tube stations ‘dangerous’
Rail union RMT says “reckless” staffing cutbacks on London’s Tube network have made some stations “a muggers’ paradise”.
RMT news release • The Independent • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

USA: Retailer discouraged accident reports
Californian supermarket chain Raley's Inc has agreed to pay a $550,000 settlement to resolve an unlawful business practices case after pressuring workers out of reporting injuries and claiming compensation. An investigation found Raley's managers routinely attempted to dissuade injured employees from filing compensation claims, suggesting that injured employees use their own health insurance for work-related injuries instead of reporting accidents and injuries as required by state workers' compensation law.
Sacramento Bee • Sacramento Business Journal • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Breast cancer link to shiftwork confirmed
Nearly 2,000 women contract breast cancer every year in the UK because they work night shifts, according to a new report. The figure, published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), is based on 2005 data and attributes 1,969 new cases of breast cancer and 555 deaths from the disease that year to shiftwork.
The Herald • The burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain, research report 800, HSE, 2010 [pdf] • While you were sleeping, Hazards magazine, number 106, Summer 2000 • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Work cancer toll was (and is) under-estimated
Thousands of occupational cancer deaths each year have been missed in official estimates, a new study for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has shown. The report puts the number of cancer deaths in 2005 that were attributable to work at 8,023 – which compares to the 6,000 deaths a year HSE defended as a “best available estimate” until two years ago – and HSE now concedes even the new figures “are likely to be a conservative estimate of the total attributable burden.”
The burden of occupational cancer in Great Britain, research report 800, HSE, 2010 [pdf] • TUC occupational cancer guide [pdf] • Global Unions cancer campaign • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

USA: Young workers at risk
Younger workers in the US are twice as likely as their older counterparts to be treated in hospital emergency departments for work-related injuries, official research has shown. On average each year from 1998 to 2007, about 800,000 workers 15 to 24 years of age were treated in emergency departments and nearly 600 died from work-related injuries.
NIOSH science blog • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Young women 'face work stress risk'
Stress at work can greatly raise the risk of heart disease for women under 50, a study of more than 12,000 nurses suggests. The study, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, concludes work pressure has a greater effect on young women than those in their 50s and 60s.
Yrsa Andersen Hundrup and others. Psychosocial work environment and risk of ischaemic heart disease in women: the Danish Nurse Cohort Study, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 67, pages 318-322, 2010 [pdf] • BBC News Online • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Insurers must not evade payouts
The new government must provide injured workers with enhanced access to compensation, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). The association was commenting as a government consultation, Accessing Compensation, which closed on 5 May.
APIL news release [pdf] • Assessing Compensation consultation, DWP • Law Gazette • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Scotland takes a lead on dogs law
Postal workers’ union CWU has welcomed new dangerous dogs legislation passed unanimously by the Scottish parliament. The new law will give police, councils and courts in Scotland greater powers to impose penalties on the owners of dangerous dogs.
CWU news release and Bite Back campaign • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Right-leaning lobby ignorant on safety
A leading professional body has joined unions and campaigners in criticising a report by a Tory-linked think tank that calls for health and safety deregulation. The report, ‘Health and safety: reducing the burden,’ produced by the right-leaning Policy Exchange, “is marred by a number of conceptual weaknesses,” according to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).
IOSH news release • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Food firm fined for finger loss
A specialist bread manufacturer has been fined after a worker was injured by a dough mixing machine and had his finger amputated. Thambirasaiyah Roy, 39, was using a spiral mixing machine to make dough in October 2006, at the company's factory in Hendon.
HSE news release • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Steel beams fall on site worker
A Hertfordshire company has been fined after a worker was seriously hurt when he was struck by steel beams falling from a tower crane. Stephen James, 58, was working as a slinger, a person directing crane drivers, for John Doyle Construction Ltd at a residential development in September 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Water firms fined after roof fall
A water services company and its sub-contractor have been fined after a technician fell through the roof of a pumping station in Cambridgeshire, fracturing his back. Technician Matthew Morgan, sub-contracted to Anglian Water Services, fell through an unmarked fragile roof light while taking a reading from a rain gauge on top of a pumping station in Willingham, near Cambridge.
HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

Britain: Stress research and statistics
If you want some official background stats on workplace stress, or a quick look at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) research on the topic, then your task has just got a bit easier. HSE has produced a dedicated ‘Work related stress –research and statistics’ webpage.
HSE stress research and statistics webpage • Risks 445 • 8 May 2010

 

Hazards news, 1 May 2010

Global: Everyone wants a piece of 28 April
It wasn’t just Gordon Brown that saw the necessity to speak out on Workers’ Memorial Day. Around the globe, everyone from world leaders to international safety and health organisations have been chipping in. The 28 April event, which was created by unions and remains a union-led activity, was even the subject of a “presidential proclamation” from Barack Obama.
Presidential Proclamation • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Britain: Gordon Brown praises the union effect
The first 28 April commemoration in the UK to have the official stamp of approval has been accompanied by a ringing endorsement for union safety reps from Gordon Brown. A Workers’ Memorial Day statement from the Labour leader, which said he was “proud” a Labour government had given the day official recognition, continued: “It is fitting that this year’s theme for Workers' Memorial Day is 'Unions make work safer.'
ITUC/Hazards 28 April webpages • TUC Workers’ Memorial Day webpages • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Britain: Tories face protests over safety axe plans
Tory plans to cut safety laws and to allow firms to opt for self-regulation have prompted angry protests from construction union UCATT. On 27 April, a union organised demonstration was led by someone in full Grim Reaper regalia, carrying a “thanks for the business Dave” placard; other placards warned “Danger – Tory safety policy: Profit before workers’ lives.”
UCATT news releases on the Millbank and John Penrose protests • Morning Star • Hazards Campaign news release and manifesto for workplace safety [pdf] • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Italy: Executives jailed for asbestos deaths
A Sicilian court has jailed three former executives of a shipbuilding company for negligent homicide after 37 workers died from exposure to asbestos. The sentences ranged from three to 7½ years for the three Fincantieri executives, the ANSA news agency reported.
TerraNet • The Province • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Britain: UNISON anger at shortcuts before safety
Public sector union UNISON has revealed that in the last year it has secured nearly £2 million for members with asbestos-related diseases. The union says the figure, released on Workers’ Memorial Day, highlights the risk that many workers face just doing their day-to-day jobs.
UNISON news release • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Britain: Dangers in store outside stores
Store workers lined up at Usdaw's annual conference to denounce their employers' disregard for women workers' safety. Usdaw deputy general secretary Paddy Lillis told a thousand Usdaw reps “safety at work should not stop at the store entrance,” adding: “Journeys to or from work can expose workers to the threat of violence and women feel particularly vulnerable waiting at a bus stop in the dark, walking home at night or parking their car in an isolated spot.”
Morning Star • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Britain: These boots weren’t made for walking
A highways worker who had to take three months off work after she was forced to wear unsuitable footwear at work has received £3,600 in compensation. PCS member Deborah Allen developed Achilles tendonitis when her eczema flared up after she was forced to wear synthetic work boots.
Thompsons Solicitors • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Britain: Site firms scoop blacklisting awards
Campaigners from the Blacklist Support Group provided some extra entertainment at the swish National Building Awards 2010 dinner at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. The campaign presented its own alternative Blacklister of the Year Awards as the construction industry revellers assembled for the 22 April black tie event.
Blacklist blog • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Britain: ‘Just’ jail term for teen’s site death
 A builder whose negligence led to the death of a 15-year-old boy has failed in a challenge against his jail term at London's Court of Appeal. Colin Holtom admitted the manslaughter of Adam Gosling at the Old Bailey in July 2009 and was sentenced to three years in prison, with appeal court judges agreeing that although long, the sentence was “justifiably severe.”
Essex Chronicle • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Britain: Big bonuses for death pit bosses
Directors of the UK’s largest coal producer, which last year killed two mine workers, have received five figure bonuses to top up their six figure salaries. However, the bonuses would have been higher still if health and safety targets had been met.
UK Coal preliminary financial results for year ended December 2009 [pdf] and Financial results presentation [pdf] • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Global: BP accused over rig safety
Oil giant BP is facing accusations that it lobbied against new offshore safety rules and breached “numerous regulations” at a rig that exploded on 20 April, where 11 workers are missing presumed dead.
Huffington Post • The Guardian • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Britain: Confectionery giant fined for machine death
The UK's largest confectionery firm has been convicted of two criminal safety breaches and fined £300,000 after an employee was crushed to death in one of its sweet-making machines. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Tangerine Confectionery Limited following the death of employee Martin Pejril at its Poole factory.
HSE news release • Bournemouth Echo • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Britain: Family farm fined for crushing death
A family farm in Scotland has been fined £20,000 after a farmworker was crushed to death by a one tonne concrete panel. On 3 June 2008, Colin Hill was helping to build a perimeter wall on an open hay shed at Hamilton Farmers (East Lothian), when the pre-cast concrete panel toppled over and crushed him.
HSE news release • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

Global: Asbestos exports are ‘a crime’
An Indian health group is accusing Jean Charest of backing human rights abuses because of the Quebec premier's views on asbestos exports to the country. Mohit Gupta of the Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India says Charest is dismissing Indians as second-class citizens.
Ban Asbestos India news release • BWI news release • Winnipeg Free Press • Risks 454 • 1 May 2010

 

Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Britain: Rail firm ‘gloats’ over dangerous jobs cull
Network Rail’s ‘gloating’ over its cull of frontline maintenance jobs has been condemned by rail union RMT. The union has demanded a reversal of cuts in what it says are safety critical jobs.
RMT news release • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: News staff stressed by ‘silly’ changes
Angry journalists are demanding Johnston Press Group stop making their local papers look silly through ill-thought out organisational changes that are also putting serious strain on overworked staff.
NUJ news release • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

USA: Green buildings should not hurt you
Green building is no less hazardous for workers than the less environmentally concerned alternative, a US study has found. In a separate paper in the same issue of the Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, the same authors call for a sustainable construction safety and health (SCSH) rating system to “rate projects based on the importance given to construction worker safety and health and the degree of implementation of safety and health elements.”
The Pump Handle • Green jobs, safe jobs blog
S Rajendran and others. Impact of green building design and construction on worker safety and health, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, volume 135, issue 10, pages 1058-1066, 2009 [abstract]. S Rajendran and others. Development and initial validation of Sustainable Construction Safety and Health Rating System, Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, volume 135, issue 10, pages 1067-1075, 2009 [abstract] • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: Prison staff denied stab protection
Leaders of the prison officers’ union POA have responded angrily to a refusal by the Ministry of Justice to provide anti-stab vests to prison officers and other frontline prison staff.
POA news release • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: Burns resulted from poor protection
A factory worker was seriously burned after being provided with inadequate protective gear at work. GMB member Scott Harper, 33, from St Neots in Cambridgeshire was left with a six-by-three inch scar across his forearm after the incident while working as a shift leader for food packaging manufacturer Sealed Air Limited.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: Hospital porter faces deadly DVT risk
A theatre porter has been forced to give up his 14-year career and face the daily risk of developing a fatal blood clot after a workplace injury. UNISON member John Beresford, from Nottingham, has to take medication for the rest of his life to avoid a clot, after developing Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) from twisting his knee at work.
UNISON news release • 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

Britain: Slip leads to months off work
A factory worker was forced to take almost six months off work after a serious fall that led to injuries, a compensation payout and a change in work practices. Unite member Brent Songhurst, 59, from Bridgend was left with a broken wrist and severe shoulder pain after he slipped on dust created by shot blast while working at medical instruments manufacturer, Biomet UK Ltd in Bridgend.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: Biffa fined for another waste death
The boss of Britain's biggest waste disposal firm quit shortly after a fourth preventable death at its dumps in six years. Biffa Waste Services Ltd received its safety biggest fine yet on 19 April, after admitting safety failings that led to the death of Dennis Krauesslar, 59.
HSE news release • Daily Mirror blog • BBC News Online • Newbury Today • Morning Star • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Korea: Samsung PR push won’t cure cancer woes
Electronics giant Samsung has started a public relations charm offence in a bid to escape a cancer scandal linked to its Korean factories. On 15 April, the company invited reporters to a chip plant south of Seoul to demonstrate its manufacturing process and emphasise its commitment to safety.
Washington Post • USA Today • Global Unions cancer campaign • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: Biffa condemned for lack of care
Safety campaigners have joined the family of Dennis Krauesslar, killed as a result of criminal safety breaches at a Biffa waste site, in condemning the company for its lack of care. The firm received a six figure fine after pleading guilty to two safety charges. Thompsons Solicitors news release • Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: ‘Best recycler’ fined £200,000 for death
A global metals and electronics recycling company has been fined after a lorry driver died when a crushed car fell from a scrapheap. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Sims Group UK Ltd, part of the world’s biggest metal recycling company, after truck driver Adrian Turner was crushed by a metal bale which rolled off the heap at the firm’s yard in Newport, south Wales.
HSE news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • BBC News Online • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: Recycling firm fined for crush injury
European Metal Recycling Limited has been fined after a worker’s hand was crushed as he attempted to clear a blockage on a magnetic conveyor. The firm was fined £8,000 with £5,506.50 costs in April after pleading guilty to a health and safety offence.
HSE news release • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Five-year ban for unsafe director
A director of a fuel tank manufacturing business has been banned from directing any company for five years after breaching a raft of health and safety regulations. Brian Nixon, the managing director of Transtore (UK) Ltd was also fined £17,000.
HSE news release • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: Directors fined after slabs kill man
Two directors of a marble and granite manufacturing company have been fined after a worker died and two others were injured when six tonnes of stone slabs fell on them. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Marble City Ltd (MCL) and company directors Gavin and Jamie Waldron following the incident on 20 March 2008 outside the company's site in Wandsworth, London.
HSE news release • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: Scottish courts to probe company finances
Scottish companies found guilty of causing workplace deaths will no longer be able to dodge hefty fines by pleading poverty. Courts in the country will soon be able to order background checks on convicted companies’ accounts.
Bill Wilson MSP news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 453 • 24 April 2010

Britain: HSE targets meat industry risks
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued new instructions to inspectors on how to police safety at meat and poultry factories. The move follows an official inquiry that uncovered widespread mistreatment and exploitation of migrant and agency workers in the meat and poultry processing sector.
Usdaw information note • Inspection of meat/poultry factories 2010/11, SIM 01/2010/01, HSE • Risks 453 • 24 April 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

 

Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: Scotrail workers strike for safe staffing
Rail union RMT has said a 72-hour strike this week by RMT guards and drivers at Scotrail in defence of safety staffing was “rock solid”. An RMT lobby of the Scottish parliament on 15 April demanded action over safety, both on Scotrail and at Network Rail, where the union is also in dispute over safety, jobs and conditions.
RMT news release • Morning Star • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

USA: Work deaths need not dent your profits
The money men on Wall Street really do not concern themselves with anything other than the bottom line, recent disasters suggest. Just days after 29 workers died at the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch coalmine in West Virginia, Standard and Poor’s Equity Research – a respected adviser to stockbrokers and other financial market players – upgraded the stock of the serial safety offender to “buy” as the mine disaster was “immaterial” to the company’s profitability.
Fox Business News • Firedoglake blog • Huffington Post • Business Week • USW blog. More on BP’s safety record • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Union probe into firefighter deaths
Firefighters’ union FBU has said it is starting its own inquiry into the deaths of two firefighters, killed tackling a 6 April blaze at a block of flats. James Shears, 35, and Alan Bannon, 38, died from exposure to excessive heat while fighting the fire at the 15-storey Shirley Towers in Southampton.
FBU news release • BBC News Online • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Pilots deliver manifesto for air safety
A union representing over 15,000 pilots has announced it will support parliamentary candidates who stick up for airline safety. BALPA will present candidates with a manifesto that sets out the safety standards that need to be achieved across airlines. BALPA news release • Morning Star • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Global: Global action on railway safety
Rail workers pressed the case for rail as a vital, sustainable transport resource this week, on a global day of campaigning organised by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). On the 13 April ITF Railway Workers' International Action Day, affiliates of the global transport federation around the world pressed the case for rail and warned that cost cutting and privatisation were threatening the safety and quality of services.
ITF news release and campaign resources • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Global: Global action on railway safety
Rail workers pressed the case for rail as a vital, sustainable transport resource this week, on a global day of campaigning organised by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). On the 13 April ITF Railway Workers' International Action Day, affiliates of the global transport federation around the world pressed the case for rail and warned that cost cutting and privatisation were threatening the safety and quality of services.
ITF news release and campaign resources • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Dying rail worker gets asbestos payout
A dying man has received £120,000 compensation for the asbestos cancer mesothelioma, caused by his exposure to the fibre while working as a welder at the British Rail workshops in Derby. The 76-year-old Unite member, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with mesothelioma in February 2009.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: HGV driver receives compensation for RSI
An HGV driver has received £13,500 in compensation after developing a repetitive strain injury (RSI) doing her job for a blue chip company. The GMB member from Leicestershire, whose name has not been released, has been left with a seriously strained elbow after being forced to attach brakes on her truck twice a day.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: What will the election bring?
The election manifestos of the major political parties contain precious little on workplace health and safety - and what’s there is less than reassuring, safety campaigners have said.
Hazards Campaign news release • UCATT news release • GMB news release •  
Labour manifesto [pdf] • Conservative manifesto [pdf]. Liberal Democrat manifesto [pdf] • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Corus in the dock again after crushing death
Corus UK has been fined £240,000 after a young lorry driver was crushed to death at its site in Staffordshire – the steel multinational’s fourth appearance in the dock on safety charges in just six weeks. The latest prosecution came after 22-year-old Ross Beddow was crushed to death when three tonnes of steel plates fell on him at the firm’s base in Wombourne.
HSE news release • More on Corus’ safety record • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Corus effect shows need for director rules
Leaders of the main political parties are being asked to state where they stand on employers who kill and injure their workers - especially notorious repeat offenders. The Hazards Campaign question -  “When will senior directors of companies such as Corus be held personally accountable for their serial killing and injuring workers?” – follows the fourth Corus safety fine in six weeks, the latest after the death of lorry driver Ross Beddow.
Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Korea: Samsung worker dies – activists arrested
On 2 April, following a funeral ceremony for Park Ji-yeon – a 23-year-old Samsung worker who succumbed to occupational cancer - Health And Rights of People in the Semiconductor industry (SHARPS), a coalition of trade unions and campaign groups, organised a press conference at Samsung headquarters in Seoul, calling the company to account for semiconductor related cancer deaths; the police broke up the press conference and detained seven activists without charge until 5 April.
IMF news release • Huffington Post. Sign the SHARPS petition • See the SHARPS video • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Plant hire firm fined after fall death
Ashtead Plant Hire Co Ltd, trading as APlant, has been fined £200,000 for health and safety failings that led to employee Phillip Pearce falling five metres to his death. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) showed that the company failed to follow its own health and safety guidelines for work at height.
HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Poor planning led to fatal hangar fall
A Gateshead building firm has been fined £100,000 after one of its employees fell to his death while dismantling a hangar roof at Bristol International Airport. Rubb Buildings Limited was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after 30-year-old Steven Watson fell through the roof while dismantling the disused Brymon hangar on 16 December 2006.
HSE news release • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Fine for security guard gassing death
Clyde Valley Housing Association Limited has been fined £70,000 after a security guard died from carbon monoxide poisoning on a construction site in Burbank, Hamilton, Scotland. Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that on 6 February 2008 the security guard was overcome with fumes from a petrol generator used inside the site office.
HSE news release • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Bakery fined for failing to protect worker
A speciality bread manufacturer has been fined after a worker become entangled in a bagel forming machine and broke his wrist. Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard the Country Style Foods employee was experienced, and familiar with the type of machine he was using, the HSE investigation found the machine itself was new to the plant and no formal training or written instructions had been completed governing its safe use.
HSE news release • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Defective cut-out caused cut on finger
A Lincolnshire pet food firm has been prosecuted after one of its machines damaged a worker’s hand. Fold Hill Foods Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined £1,250 and ordered to pay costs of £1,545.
HSE news release and food manufacturing webpages • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Punk shop asbestos ‘killed McLaren’
The former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren may have been exposed to the asbestos that killed him while smashing up Sex, his King's Road punk design shop, his partner Young Kim has said. She said the 64-year-old, who died on 8 April of the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma, was exposed to the deadly material when he shattered the ceiling of Sex, the shop he shared with his then partner, designer Vivienne Westwood.
The Independent • The Telegraph • BBC News Online • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

Britain: Overwork linked to chef’s death
A talented chef died last month from overwork, his family suspects. Nathan Laity, a sous chef at London’s Tate Modern restaurant, died on 13 March, aged 23.
Daily Mail • The Guardian • Metro News • Risks 452 • 17 April 2010

 

 

Hazards news, 10 April 2010

 

Britain: Teaching stresses leave staff ‘suicidal’
The pressures piled on teachers are so severe some staff have considered suicide, research for the union NASUWT has found. Its survey found a lack of support from schools and their management teams was leading to stress, burnout and depression. Politics.co.uk • . Hazards occupational suicide webpages • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: ‘Gross dereliction’ on school asbestos menace
A failure to tackle effectively the problem of asbestos in schools amounts to a ‘gross dereliction’ of the duty of care to staff and pupils, teaching union NUT has said.
NUT news release • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

USA: Verdict highlights deadly biotech risks
A federal court’s decision to make a $1m plus payout to a sick biotech worker highlights the dangers faced by those employed in cutting edge industries. Becky McClain was awarded $1.37 million by a US District Court last week after saying her serious health problems stemmed from being infected by an experimental virus while working at Pfizer Inc’s Groton laboratories.
The Day • New York Times • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Court blocks rail safety strike
Rail union leaders are set to reballot thousands of rail workers over industrial action in a row over safety, jobs and working practices. More than 5,000 signal workers and 12,000 maintenance staff across the rail network were due to stage four days of industrial action this week, but the action was halted at the high court, which backed a Network Rail call for an injunction.
RMT news release • TSSA news release • Morning Star • Stronger Unions blog • Herald • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Serious injury on fan mended with string
A scaffolder lost his leg after falling onto an industrial fan which had not been properly repaired. Unite member Terry Ledger, 43, was dismantling scaffolding at Coryton Oil Refinery in Essex when he fell through wire caging used to protect the fan, which had been damaged in an earlier accident but had only been repaired using a piece of string.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Global: Work chemicals linked to breast cancer
Occupational exposure to certain chemicals and pollutants before a woman reaches her mid-30s could treble her risk of developing cancer after the menopause, a new study suggests. Women exposed to synthetic fibres and petroleum products during the course of their work seem to be most at risk, according to the paper, published in the 1 April issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
F Labreche and others. Postmenopausal breast cancer and occupational exposures, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 67, pages 263-269, 2010. Business Week • HESA news report • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Dramatic rise in dangerous sites
There has been a 20 per cent increase in the number of construction sites requiring enforcement action after HSE inspection blitzes. Nearly one in four of the construction sites visited by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) during March 2010 failed safety checks, compared to one in five in an equivalent blitz last year.
HSE news release and equivalent 2009 HSE release • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

USA: Deadly mine had poor safety record
A huge explosion on 5 April has killed at least 25 miners in the worst mining disaster in the United States in more than a quarter of a century. Early reports have highlighted a poor safety record at the Upper Big Branch mine, and have criticised a policy operated by mine owner Massey Energy that puts production ahead of safety.
AFL-CIO statement • National COSH news release • UMW news release • Democracy Now • New York Times • The Guardian • West Virginia Gazette • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Directors’ duties on the back burner
The government has said it will not act on two key recommendations of a report into fatalities in the construction industry. The 30 March DWP response to Rita Donaghy’s report into construction deaths, published a week before parliament was dissolved ahead of the general election, accepted 23 of the 28 recommendations of the report, but only said it “would look further” at the report’s call for statutory safety duties on company directors and at the extension of gangmaster licensing to the construction industry.
DWP news release and full response to Rita Donaghy’s report • UCATT news release.
One Death is too many – Inquiry into the underlying causes of construction fatal accidents, the Donaghy report, 8 July 2009 • TUC directors' duties briefing document • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: TV footage helps convict fall death firm
Footage filmed for a TV documentary about medics has been used to help secure a safety conviction relating to the death of 25-year-old construction worker Balwinder Kumar. London firm Regentford Ltd was fined £250,000 after being convicted of safety offences, following an eight day trial at Croydon Crown Court.
HSE news release and scaffolding guide • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Steel giant Corus gets its third fine in a month
Corus ended March as it began – in the dock for safety offences. On 31 March, the steel giant was fined £10,000 following an explosion in a 75-metre-tall steel chimney in Scunthorpe, the firm’s third prosecution of the month.
HSE news release • More on Corus and safety • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Watchdog ‘interventions’ at major waste firms
Major waste and recycling firms are to be the target of “central interventions” by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in a bid to address the sector’s appalling health and safety record. HSE says “the accident rate is still high (typically 4 times the all industry average for all injuries to workers and typically 9 times the all industry average for fatal injuries to workers).”
Central interventions by lead inspectors to national waste management and recycling companies, HSE Sector Information Minute (SIM) • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Waste company fine after near fatal fall
A West Midlands waste management firm has been fined £12,000 after a guard rail gave way and a new worker fell nearly three metres, narrowly missing a crushing machine. AB Waste Management Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
HSE news release • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Coffee break saves a worker’s life
Rubber manufacturer Moseley Rubber Company Ltd has been fined £10,000 after a Manchester worker narrowly escaped death in a factory explosion. Dave Lomas, 56, was returning from a coffee break when he saw a five-foot iron girder fly through the factory, smashing his workstation into pieces.
HSE news release • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

USA: Killing people at work is not fine
US unions and the US Chemical Safety Board have condemned the oil industry’s cavalier approach to safety after another workplace tragedy. The United Steelworkers (USW) said it was “incredible” that the response of oil industry trade associations to the Tesoro refinery explosion and fire on 2 April that killed five workers was to brag about their safety record.
USW news release and Oil bargaining website • CSB news release • ICEM news report • Seattle Times • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Machinery firm fine £3,000 for repeat offences
A Cornish firm that continued to use dangerous machinery after a series of warnings from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £3,419.50 costs. Specialist boring equipment manufacturer Rigibore Ltd pleaded guilty at Camborne Magistrates’ Court to breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
HSE news release • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Fruit firm fined for Polish worker abuse
A Scottish fruit farm where workers were forced to live in appalling conditions has been ordered to pay more than £26,000 to two fruit pickers. David Leslie Fruits was told to pay the cash to Polish students Tomasz Kowal and Michal Obieglo for withholding wages and racial discrimination.
Press and Journal • Daily Record • BBC News Online • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

Britain: Recession leads to depression
The number of people suffering stress, anxiety and depression because of redundancies, job insecurity and pay cuts owing to the recession is soaring, a study has found. Worries about the effects of the downturn have produced a sharp rise in people experiencing symptoms of common mental health conditions, according to the report, by academics from Roehampton University and the children’s charity Elizabeth Finn Care.
Elizabeth Finn Care news release • The Guardian • GMTV • Daily Express • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

France: Talks after suicides shock Disneyland
Union representatives and managers have been in talks over the working environment at Disneyland Paris after three workers killed themselves in the last eight weeks. The most recent suicide was that of a Eurodisney chef, who was found hanged at his home over a week ago.
Sky News • The Independent • The Sunday Times • More on occupational suicides • Risks 451 • 10 April 2010

 

 

 

Hazards news, 3 April 2010

 

Britain: One in three interns are exploited at work
Amidst fears that one in three interns is being exploited through unpaid work, the TUC has launched a new website aimed at helping these young people find out more about their rights at work. The TUC website www.rightsforinterns.org.uk, which includes a health and safety section, is part of the union body’s Next Generation campaign which aims to secure a better deal for young people at work.
TUC news release, Rights for Interns website and ‘The interns’ video clip • NUJ news release • The Guardian • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: More public sector staff work when ill
Government claims that there are easy savings to be had from cracking down on sickness absence in the public sector have been challenged by new TUC research showing that these workers are much more likely to turn in even when sick.
TUC news release, The truth about sickness absence report [word] and full poll findings [pdf] • Personnel Today • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Mexico: Tense standoff at danger mine
Tensions remain high at Mexico's Cananea mine where 1,300 miners have occupied a Grupo Mexico copper mine defending their right to strike for health and safety standards on the job. The striking members of the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) at the Cananea copper mine in Sonora, Mexico, blocked the federal highway between Cananea and Agua Prieta on 16 and 17 March, demanding that the government step in to help broker a peaceful resolution.
IMF news release • Support Cananea miners and their families • Working In These Times • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Bus driver working times must be cut
Transport union Unite has launched a campaign to shave at least an hour off the driving time of the UK’s bus drivers on grounds of safety, and with no loss of pay. It says 100,000 Unite members are being mobilised around a Busworkers’ Charter that demands improvements to working conditions for all workers in the sector, including ancillary staff such as maintenance and clerical workers, and even tram workers.
Unite news release and Busworkers’ Charter [pdf] • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

France: Unions criticise suicide response plan
Unions have said plans by France Telecom to address the “social crisis” that has made the company name synonymous with workplace suicides do not go far enough. Under the plan to remedy organisational ills that have seen the French president intervene, France Telecom will recruit 3,500 people in 2010 in order to reduce workloads and stress and job transfers will be voluntary and not mandatory, a departure from the previous policy.
UNI news report • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Shop union violence plan gets official stamp
A long running campaign by retail union Usdaw to curtail violence to staff in the sector has made remarkable progress – and the union is now spearheading a national drive for further improvements.
Usdaw news release • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Real dangers shattered rail worker’s wrist
Track worker Maurice Marshall suffered extensive injuries to his wrist after a rail employer failed to act on a safety alert from track inspectors. The RMT member has received substantial damages after he suffered open fractures of the radius and ulna in his wrist which have resulted in lack of movement, grip and strength.
RMT news release • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Teenage work noise led to deafness
A GMB member exposed to dangerous levels of workplace noise as a teenage apprentice is now reliant on two hearing aids at the age of 48. Neil Dawson from Hull has received £5,750 in damages after developing occupational deafness.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Slippery car park cost worker his job
 A council parking attendant who was forced to give up his job after he suffered a serious injury at work has received £140,000 in compensation. The 59-year-old Unite member from Stoke on Trent, whose name has not been released, has been left unable to walk more than 150 metres after slipping on black ice.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Europe: Unions to press for better work hours
Unions across Europe are expecting a review of working time rules to tackle the unhealthy problem of long and irregular hours. The European Commission announced last week a review of the EU-wide working time regulations.
EC news release • ETUC news release • EPSU news release • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Whistleblowing ETs could attract regulators
Employers that choose to dismiss or pay off workplace whistleblowers could face further investigation from 6 April, when the current bar on employment tribunals (ETs) revealing any details of whistleblowing allegations outside of the tribunal process is lifted. Under the new system, tribunals will be able to refer claims to the relevant regulatory authority, such as the Serious Fraud Office or Health and Safety Executive, for further investigation.
Personnel Today • Blacklist blog • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Global: Would you fly BP Airlines?
The fifth anniversary of the BP Texas City refinery explosion, which killed 15 contract workers and injured over 170 others, fell on 23 March. However, both US regulators and unions have questioned the company’s commitment to improved standards, with John Bresland, chair of the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), saying:“If the airline industry was having the same number of accidents as the refinery industry, I don’t think too many people would be flying.”
USW Tony Mazzocchi Center news release • OSHA news release • CSB news release • Houston Chronicle • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Firm to blame for worker’s brain damage
The mother of a Derbyshire man who was left blinded and with serious brain injuries when he was hit on the head by a five and a half tonne metal sheet has expressed her relief at the High Court’s decision to hold his employer 100 per cent liable. However, despite the judge finding the company was responsible for serious and numerous breaches of safety legislation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had earlier decided it would not pursue a prosecution.
Irwin Mitchell news release • Sheffield Telegraph • BBC News Online • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Recycling firm fined after arson attack
A York hazardous waste recycling company has been fined £40,000 and £6,110 costs for failing to safeguard flammable liquid that was used in an arson attack on the business. BCB Environmental Management Limited pleaded guilty at Harrogate Magistrates Court to breaches of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR) after illegally processing drums of volatile chemicals close to unprotected electrical equipment and forklift trucks.
HSE news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • York Press • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Factory fined £100,000 after worker's death
The brother of a dead factory worker has spoken out after a company was prosecuted for his death. Hydro Aluminium Extrusion Ltd, of Caerphilly, which specialises in supplying aluminium extrusion and fabricated products - was fined a total of £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £13,375 at Durham Crown Court after 38-year-old Jens Hinrichs was struck by a rail track mounted shuttle car and killed.
HSE news release • Sunderland Echo • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Canada: Union prosecutes firm after worker death
The United Steelworkers union (USW) in Canada has launched a private prosecution alleging that Weyerhaeuser Company Ltd was criminally negligent in the death of sawmill worker Lyle Hewer. USW Western Canada district director Stephen Hunt said: “Our position is this: If the Crown refuses to proceed, the Steelworkers will.”
USW news release • CBC News • Vancouver Sun • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Site boss guilty after worker drowns
A West Kent construction employer has been found guilty of health and safety breaches following the drowning death of an employee. At Maidstone Crown Court, Edward James Day (trading as E J Construction) of Longfield Road, Longfield, Kent, was fined £20,000 on charges relating to the death of Mark Wilkin.
HSE news release • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Tory safety axeman falls short on facts
A Tory appointed health and safety troubleshooter has shown a troubling disregard for the facts, safety professionals organisation IOSH has indicated. Commenting on a speech by Lord Young, IOSH chief executive Rob Strange said “despite meeting him twice to brief him for his review, he quite clearly hasn’t taken in some of the facts.”
IOSH news release • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

Britain: Safety is a union recruitment tool
Public sector union UNISON says health and safety is one of the main reasons people join unions – and it is making safety a key plank of a recruitment and organising drive. UNISON notes on its safety webpages: “Your union has some of the best health and safety guidance in the UK. It also has specific recruitment materials which focus on health and safety. Use our health and safety recruitment leaflet to sign up new members.”
UNISON news briefing • health and safety member sign up form [pdf], recruitment leaflet [pdf] and poster [pdf] • Risks 450 • 3 April 2010

 

Hazards news, 27 March 2010

 

Britain: Prison guards call for action after glassing
The union representing prison officers has demanded “immediate action” to remove all glass jars and containers from the possession of inmates, following a vicious attack Frankland Prison on 15 March 2010.
POA news release • Daily Mail • The Times • Risks 449 • 27 March 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: 'Dossier of disgrace' exposes BA's bullying
A 'dossier of disgrace' exposes a litany of bullying and harassment directed at union members and representatives by British Airways management, the union Unite has said.
Unite news release and Dossier of disgrace [pdf] • Morning Star •
ITF campaign webpage to support the Unite BA cabin crew • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Britain: Train drivers welcome cool cabs
A union campaign for safer, more comfortable train cabs has had a major breakthrough. Train drivers’ union ASLEF says its SQUASH campaign has now resulted in an agreement to provide cab cooling equipment on all the Class 66 locomotives in the Freightliner group.
ASLEF news release and SQUASH campaign • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010 

Britain: Ferry workers warned about hearing risks
A ferry worker developed noise induced hearing loss after just eight years working on Stena Line ferries. RMT member Peter Hall, 49, had worked out of Holyhead for 18 years, but says he has had hearing difficulties for a decade.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 449 • 27 March 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: Work safety is a top whistleblower concern
The number of employees claiming to have been sacked, mistreated or bullied for exposing corrupt practices at work has increased tenfold over the last decade, according to official figures – and raising health and safety issues remains one of the top concerns. Blacklist blog • 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

Britain: Wrong-thinking by right-leaning thinktank
A report on workplace safety calling on regulators to go easy on directors, for a “consideration” of safety deregulation and for some businesses to be exempted entirely from controls has been denounced by TUC as out of touch with reality. The author the Policy Exchange report, Corin Taylor, is currently a senior policy adviser at the Institute of Directors and was until recently research director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance.
TUC news release • Policy Exchange news release and report, Health and safety - Reducing the burden [pdf] • FACK news release • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Britain: Inspectors denounce Tory ‘lunacy’ on safety
Plans by the Conservative party to allow firms to evade safety inspection by trained Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors are “sheer lunacy”, the safety inspectors’ union has warned. Prospect negotiator Mike Macdonald said: “Plans to side-step HSE inspectors amount to plans to side-step safety.”
Prospect news release • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

USA: Official call for better enforcement, better jobs
The USA’s top workplace safety official has said new legislation and better enforcement are both requirements if the nation is to create safer, better jobs. David Michaels, the assistant secretary of labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) made the call last week in testimony to the House of Representatives Education and Labor Committee's Subcommittee on Workforce Protections.
Testimony by OSHA head David Michaels • Firedoglake blog • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Britain: Deadly sites expose ‘fatally flawed’ Tory plans
Construction union UCATT is calling on the Conservatives to rethink their plans to “privatise” safety enforcement, after an official inspection blitz of sites in Greater Manchester revealed over a quarter were unsafe.
UCATT news release • HSE news release • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Britain: STUC welcomes action on workplace gas safety
The UK government has announced measures to boost safety following a factory blast in Glasgow which killed nine workers and serious injured 30 over five years ago. The action comes in the official response to a report into the explosion at the ICL Plastics factory in May 2004.
STUC news release • DWP news release and response to the ICL inquiry report [pdf] • STV • BBC News Online • ICL Stockline campaign website • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Britain: Network Rail fails on safety again
Rail unions have reissued a call for Network Rail to halt a job cuts programme, including the loss of hundreds of safety critical maintenance jobs, after it emerged the company has been again hit with an official health and safety improvement notice covering safety failings across the South East.
TSSA news release • RMT news release • The Independent • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Britain: Directors fined £1,000 for brain damage fall
Two directors of a decorating firm have been fined just £1,000 each for safety offences that left a worker brain damaged. Self-employed Trevor Dawson from Ravensthorpe, West Yorkshire, was working as a painter on a student accommodation refurbishment when the incident happened on 15 August 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Britain: No prosecution after laundry tragedy
A firm that failed to guard a machine or post warning signs about serious safety risks will not be prosecuted after a novice worker died after being trapped in the machine. Hafiz Abdul Shakoor fell into a coma and died 12 days after suffering a heart attack when he became caught between metal bars in a laundry loading area.
Birmingham Mail • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Britain: Scots work killers could suffer share hit
A proposal in Scotland to allow courts to force companies guilty of serious safety crimes to issue new shares has passed its latest hurdle in the Scottish parliament. Dr Bill Wilson, the SNP member of the Scottish parliament for West of Scotland, said: “With more than eighteen signatures from MSPs and sufficient cross-party support I now have the right to introduce my Criminal Sentencing (Equity Fines) Bill.”
Bill Wilson MSP news release • Criminal Sentencing (Equity Fines) Bill [pdf] • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Canada: More public cash for the asbestos lobby
A Canadian government committee has voted to continue funding a body that has spearheaded the global campaign to push deadly asbestos on the developing world. The natural resources committee of the House of Commons rejected a motion that sought to eliminate the Can$250,000 (£164,000) in yearly funding Canada gives to the Chrysotile Institute, a Quebec-based asbestos industry group and energetic advocate of Canadian asbestos exports.
NDP news release • Winnipeg Free Press • RightOnCanada.ca campaign to end Canadian government funding for the asbestos lobby and asbestos webpages • 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: New HSE strain injuries tool
A new downloadable tool is now available that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) says can help reduce the likelihood of employees suffering from musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) of the upper limbs associated with repetitive tasks. The Assessment of Repetitive Tasks (ART) tool, developed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL), can help identify where the significant risks lie, suggest where to focus risk reduction measures and help prioritise improvements, the official safety agencies say.
HSE news release and ART tool • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

Bangladesh: Fire victims need proper compensation
Garment employers must develop a compensation scheme that meets the needs of the victims of a Dhaka sweater factory fire, the global union federation for the sector has said. The call from the ITGLWF comes in the wake of the 25 February fire at the Garib & Garib Sweater factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which left 22 workers dead and another 50 injured.
ITGLWF news release • Risks 449 • 27 March 2010

 

 

 

 

Hazards news, 20 March 2010

Britain: Unionised workers are happier workers
Unions can help prevent staff feeling stressed and de-motivated by new working practices and reduce the number of staff quitting their jobs, according to a new report from the TUC. The publication comes in the wake of recent international scandals linking the recession, job insecurity and company restructuring to a deterioriation in staff health and well-being and to an increased suicide risk.
TUC news release • The road to recovery, Touchstone Pamphlet, TUC, March 2010 [pdf] • Risks 448 • 20 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: Tory safety opt-out will be a ‘scoundrels’ charter’
Campaigners and unions have dismissed Tory plans to “privatise” safety enforcement as a “scoundrels’ charter.” Under Tory proposals firmed up this week by shadow business spokesperson John Penrose, certain businesses would be allowed to carry out their own safety audits and refuse access to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors.
UCATT news release. Morning Star • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Royal Mail ‘got off light’ after work death
Royal Mail got away with a “paltry fine” following the horrific death of a member of staff. Commenting on the £90,000 fine, CWU national health and safety officer Dave Joyce said: “When you consider the Postal Regulator fined Royal Mail £11.5 million a few years ago for not delivering enough letters on time, this fine is paltry on an organisation with a £9,560 million turnover and fines like this are no deterrent or incentive to improve safety management and place little value on a lost life.”
CWU news release • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

USA: Green watchdog backs worker inspection role
The US government’s environmental watchdog has accepted workers and union reps should be allowed to participate in official workplace safety inspections conducted under the Clean Air Act. The clarification came when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to take steps to institutionalise worker and union involvement in workplace inspections conducted in workplaces using extremely hazardous substances.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • 20 March 2010

Britain: Ambulances need intensive care
Worn out ambulances are putting ambulance crews and patients at risk, the union GMB has warned. The union says many Yorkshire Ambulance Service vehicles are in a poor state, with 250,000 miles being a low mileage for the overworked and ageing fleet.
GMB news release • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Sellafield worker gets radiation flashbacks
A Unite member who was exposed to dangerous radiation while working for a nuclear power station and who had time off with related flashbacks and depression has received £4,500 in compensation. The 38-year-old from Workington, whose name has not been released, was exposed to alpha radiation in his job as a process worker for Sellafield Limited in Cumbria in January 2007.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Honduras: Drive-by killers target journalists
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed fresh concern over the media crisis in Honduras following three murders in two weeks targeting media. The killings of Joseph Hernández Ochoa, a former TV presenter on 1 March, David Meza Montesinos, a radio reporter who died on 11 March and fellow reporter Nahum Palacios Arteaga murdered three days later were carried out in drive-by shootings.
IFJ news release • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Quick-thinking worker saves school kids
A UNISON member’s quick action saved school kids from being crushed by a collapsing climbing frame in a Midlands school. Julie Belcher, 49, was injured by falling wall bars in the incident.
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Birmingham Mail • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Airport worker hurt in make-up bust-up
A security worker on the receiving end of a vicious passenger attack at Heathrow Airport which led to her giving up her job has received an undisclosed sum in compensation. PCS member Margaret Needs, 57, was working as a security supervisor for BAA when she was attacked in 2006.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Foot injury costs engineer his job
A Unite member who was forced to give up his job after he suffered a serious foot injury at work has received £210,000 in compensation. The 55-year-old, from Retford in Nottinghamshire, spent a year in rehabilitation learning how to walk after he suffered a complex fracture to his right foot following the incident at Cottam Power Station.
Thompson Solicitors news release • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Lead poisoning leads to fine
A company carrying out a massive restoration of a Scottish mansion has been fined £10,000 after workers were poisoned by lead paint. Several east European workers were found to have contracted lead poisoning which could affect their health for 25 years, while restoring the estate of Dutch construction billionaire Dik Wessels.
HSE news release • STV • Dangerous lead report, Stirling University/Hazards magazine, November 2009 • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Vulnerable meat workers 'exploited'
An official inquiry has uncovered widespread mistreatment and exploitation of migrant and agency workers in the meat and poultry processing sector. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) investigation found workers reported physical and verbal abuse and a lack of proper health and safety protection.
EHRC news release and report [pdf] •   Unite news release • The Guardian • BBC News Online • 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: Corus gets second safety fine this month
Steel giant Corus has found itself facing the courts on safety charges for the second time in a fortnight. In the latest case, the multinational was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £9,908.50 costs at Sheffield Crown Court after a worker escaped with minor injuries after the crane he was operating overturned.
HSE news release • More on the Corus safety record • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Global: BWI calls for action on 28 April
Construction unions worldwide are to undertake national, local and workplace level activities worldwide this year, to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day. “The BWI believes that trade unions must have the right of access to all workplaces to carry out their role of representing workers on health and safety and to provide external trade union support for workplace health and safety representatives,” a BWI briefing says.
BWI news update • briefing [pdf] and action checklist • TUC 28 April 2010 webpage and events listing • Global Unions 28 April resources • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Hammer firm hit with fine
A Solihull hammer manufacturer has been fined after an employee suffered severe injuries when his hand was caught in an industrial drill. Solihull magistrates heard Aaron Watts was working at the Shirley based Thor Hammer Company when the glove on his right hand became entangled in one of the rotating spindles of an unguarded pedestal drill.
HSE news release. Birmingham Post • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010  

Britain: A quarter of sites fail safety inspections
More than a quarter of the construction sites visited in Greater Manchester during an inspection blitz last week failed safety inspections.
HSE news release • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

Britain: Union anger over Tube job cuts
Rail unions have reacted angrily to a “lethal attack” on hundreds of jobs on London Underground. Both TSSA and RMT have pledged to fight what RMT described as a threat to safety, jobs and working conditions from planned cuts announced by Transport for London (TfL) and “expected attacks” from contractor Tube Lines.
RMT news release • TSSA news release • Risks 448 • 20 March 2010

 

 

Hazards news, 13 March 2010

Britain: Hands up for toilet breaks at work
Employers should not be able to penalise staff for using the toilet in work time and should provide decent, clean lavatories, the TUC has said. The union body is calling for a change in the law to bring workplace loos into the 21st century.
TUC news release • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

USA: BP fined again for ‘wilful’ safety breaches
The US government safety watchdog has fined British oil giant BP PLC $3 million (£2m), citing a catalogue of ‘wilful’ safety breaches at its Toledo, Ohio, refinery. The move comes just four months after it imposed a record safety penalty on the company over its refinery in Texas.
OSHA news release • Wall Street Journal • BP’s health and safety record • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: The smell of grease paint – and dead mice
The vermin problem in London's ageing theatres is “running out of control”, a survey by actors’ union Equity has found. Threequarters of theatre actors and stage managers reported regular infestations in their workplaces, including rats, mice and fleas.
Equity news release • The Guardian • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: Overwork stress costs worker his job
A university worker who had to work 65 hours a week has received £110,000 in compensation after he had to give up work due to stress. UCU member Mark Bannister, 49, had a history of anxiety and depression and despite complaining about the excessive workload, nothing was done to alleviate the pressure.
UCU news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Global: Greenpeace adds to Samsung pressure
A global electronics giant embroiled in an occupational cancer scandal has been accused by Greenpeace of reneging on a promise to phase out toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases. This week climbers from the environmental group scaled the Benelux headquarters of the Korean multinational Samsung, sticking the message “Samsung = Broken Promises” in giant letters onto the front of the building.
Greenpeace news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Sign the SHARPs petition urging Samsung to act on occupational cancer risks • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: Rail workers back action on safety
Network Rail maintenance workers have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over safety. The RMT members voted 77 per cent for strike action and by 89 per cent for action short of a strike “over plans by the company to axe up to 1,500 safety critical jobs and to rip up national agreements on working practices,” says the union.
RMT news release • TSSA news release • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Global: Body repeats call for an asbestos ban
Over 10 years after a global society of occupational medicine experts called for a worldwide asbestos ban, it has reiterated its call and said any further delay will carry a high cost in human lives. The Collegium Ramazzini notes: “All countries of the world have an obligation to their citizens to join in the international endeavour to ban all forms of asbestos,” adding: “An international ban on asbestos is urgently needed.”
International Ban Asbestos Secretariat • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: Guards keep trains safe
Train operating companies up and down the UK have been asked to confirm they will retain the safety critical role of train guards. The call, in a letter from rail union RMT, comes as the union launches a new ‘Keep the guard on the train – keep the train safe’ campaign.
RMT news release • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Europe: Agreement leads to safer needle rules
Health unions have welcomed a new Europe-wide law to help protect health care workers from the agony of needlestick injuries and infections. The directive gives legal teeth to a framework agreement reached by European trade union and employers’ organisations in June last year, which included guidance for training, support and prevention of needlestick injuries.
EPSU news release • PSI news release • UNISON news release • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: ‘Revolving door’ contracts hurt charity workers
More than 90 per cent of voluntary sector staff feel their well-being is being undermined due to the financial crisis facing charities. Rachael Maskell, Unite’s national officer for the sector, said: “The shocking results of our survey show a sector hit by a short-term ‘revolving doors’ contract culture which is having an serious adverse affect on employees’ health and well-being.”
Unite news release • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: Jolting pastries caused back injury
A bakery delivery driver who damaged his back pushing pastries was forced to take almost a year off work. The member of bakery union BFAWU suffered the injury working for Peter Cathedral Bakers in Durham in May 2007.
BFAWU news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: CWU welcomes dangerous dogs move
A government consultation aimed at strengthening the Dangerous Dogs Act has been welcomed by the postal workers’ union CWU. Under the government proposals, which come after a lengthy campaign spearheaded by CWU, dog owners could be required to take out third party insurance and to have their dog microchipped and there could be New Dog Control Notices for misbehaving animals, or "Dogbos".
Defra news release and Dangerous dogs consultation • CWU news release • BBC News Online • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: Blacklister is beyond reach of tribunals
Campaigners have condemned the lack of protection given by UK employment law to many trade unionists falling victim of employer blacklists. They were speaking out after an 8 March written judgement from the first full-merits blacklisting Employment Tribunal, Dooley v Balfour Beatty, found in favour of the company – despite the company admitting using the illegal blacklist to seek the dismissal of sub-contracted bricklayer Mick Dooley.
Blacklist blog • Labournet • The Guardian • 13 March 2010

France: ‘Radical change’ after telecom suicides
France Télécom’s new management must move quickly “to take charge and encourage radical change” if it is to put an end to a suicide crisis, according to a study commissioned by the company. The team of Stéphane Richard, who formally succeeded Didier Lombard as chief executive on 1 March, has a “few weeks” to install a new style of leadership to address the crisis, according to an interim report from Technologia, a human resources consulting firm.
Telecom TV • New York Times • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: Contractor fined for failing to provide toilets
A Bridlington building firm boss has been fined for not providing adequate toilet and washing facilities for staff on a construction site. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Bryan Ellis Brown, a partner in Bryan Brown & Son, of Flamborough, Bridlington, after finding problems on the site on 23 July 2009 which the firm then failed to remedy.
HSE news release • Risks 447 • 13 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: Roads continue to kill off the record
Road safety campaigners and industry representatives have challenged the government to start official reporting of work related road crashes. The call came after road safety minister Paul Clark told a road safety conference this month: “Work related driving remains a great concern to all of us involved in road safety because around 75 per cent of all work-related deaths are out on the road.”
Paul Clark’s speech to the Brake Fleet Safety Forum conference • Brake • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

Britain: Royal Mail fined over employee death
Royal Mail has been fined following the death of an employee who was crushed by a reversing HGV. Yard shunter Colin Smith, 57, was fatally injured in September 2006 at Royal Mail’s Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC).
HSE news release • Risks 447 • 13 March 2010

 

 

Hazards news, 6 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

Turkey: ‘Obvious negligence’ in deadly mine blast
A gas explosion on 23 February that killed 13 workers in a Turkish mine was the result of “obvious negligence”, according to a top union official. Tayfun Görgün, president of the mining union DEV MADEN-SEN, said there were clear faults with the mine's ventilation, early warning system and auditing.
Bianet • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: Unpaid overtime reaches ‘extreme’ levels
The number of people working ‘extreme’ levels of unpaid overtime soared to almost 900,000 last year, with teachers and lawyers the most likely to put in hours of extra work, according to new figures released by the TUC. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “A long hours culture is bad for workers' health and family life - whether the hours are paid or not.”
TUC news release • Work Your Proper Hours Day • UNISON news release • UCU news release • The Guardian • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: Race is on for an ethical London Olympics
Playfair 2012 has launched a campaign for an ethical London Olympic Games. The coalition, co-ordinated by the TUC and Labour Behind the Label (LBL) and which involves unions and other campaigning organisations, wants the organisers of the London Olympics to ensure that workers making sportswear for the 2012 Games won't be working in appalling and degrading conditions.
TUC news release • Playfair 2012 • Playfair 2008 clearing the hurdles website • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: GMB fights to protect security guards
A new campaign is aiming to tackle the increasing number of attacks on security guards at work. Security industry union GMB, whose SafeGuard campaign was launched on 1 March at the House of Commons, is asking all Britain’s security companies to sign the GMB SafeGuard Charter, committing them to act to tackle the attacks on 350,000 licensed security staff in the course of their work.
GMB news release and SafeGuard charter [pdf] • GMB Security website • BSIA news release • SMT Online • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Church must act on clergy bullying
A culture of bullying has yet to be understood or addressed in the church and in other faiths, the union Unite is warning. Unite national officer Rachael Maskell will tell a London ‘Define Bullying’ event on 11 March of the large number of calls and emails - about 50 - the union has received in the wake of the Mark Sharpe victimisation case.
Unite news release • Define bullying event, 11 March • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: New blacklisting regulations “too weak”
Construction union UCATT has said it is “bitterly disappointed” with the new anti-blacklisting regulations, repeating its warning the measures are so weak that they will not prevent blacklisting from occurring. Employment relations minister Lord Young announced the new measures, which came into effect on 2 March.
BIS news release • UCATT news release • Blacklist blog • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: Is drug testing an issue in your workplace?
Reports from unions and the shopfloor suggest there has been an upturn in the number of firms introducing – or at least proposing to introduce – drug testing programmes at work. The TUC is investigating the phenomenon, and says it has aware of “growing concern on random drug testing in non-critical employment areas”.
Email details of drug testing case histories, workplace practices and policies to the TUC health and safety department or post to Hugh Robertson, TUC, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS • Hazards magazine drug and alcohol webpages • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: Watchdog confirms RMT rail safety fears
Rail union RMT has demanded an immediate halt to plans to axe up to 1,500 safety-critical Network Rail maintenance jobs after an official probe called for “a significant change in attitudes and behaviours throughout” the company. The call, in a letter from Bill Emery, the chief executive of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), to Network Rail boss Iain Coucher, came as a damning report from ORR identified major safety concerns related to implementation of Network Rail’s maintenance restructuring.
ORR news release and letter to Iain Coucher, Network Rail [pdf] • RMT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: RMT demands action against Network Rail
RMT has demanded urgent legal action against Network Rail after an improvement notice served on the company highlighted “systemic” failings in its track-work safety regime. The improvement notice, issued by railways inspector Liesel von Metz on 23 February, concerns lines between Cardiff Central and the Valleys and fleshes out a prohibition notice served earlier in the month.
RMT news release • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Korea: Urgent action call on Samsung cancers
A cancer cluster is affecting young workers exposed to toxic chemicals at electronics manufacturer Samsung in Korea, union and safety campaigners have warned. A petition calling for Samsung to accept responsibility for the problem, compensate victims and remedy the health and safety problems is being circulated worldwide by Supporters for the Health And Rights of People in the Semiconductor industry (SHARPs), the Korean Metal Workers' Union (KMWU), Asian Network for the Rights Of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV) and International Campaign for Responsible Technology (ICRT).
ANROAV news release • AMRC news release • Good Electronics news release •
Sign the SHARPs petition • Global Unions cancer campaign • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: Union welcomes ship fatigue inspections
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has warned that serious action will be taken against shipping companies found to be cutting staffing levels and flouting hours of rest requirements. The statement from the marine safety body has been welcomed by seafarers’ union Nautilus.
MCA news release • Nautilus news release • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: HSE launches site crackdown
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has started an intensive inspection initiative aimed at stopping dangerous practices on building sites across Great Britain. The watchdog says it wants to raise awareness of construction site risks and prevent unnecessary injuries and deaths.
HSE news release • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Bangladesh: Anger as garment workers perish
At least 21 workers have been killed in a fire at the Garib & Garib Sweater Factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh. Patrick Itschert, general secretary of ITGLWF, the global union federation for the sector, said: “This tragedy, which echoes so many others in Bangladesh’s garment sector, is a brutal reminder of the grossly inadequate safety measures in place in Bangladesh’s garment factories.”
ITGLWF news release • Morning Star • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: Campaigners welcome new cranes law
Unions and campaigners have welcomed confirmation that a crane safety law will come into effect next month. Liliana Alexa, the Battersea resident who spearheaded the campaign for a law and whose son Michael Alexa, 23, was killed by a crane collapse whilst cleaning his car, welcomed the new measures.
GMB news release • BCDAG news release • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: Steel giant Corus gets away with a £5,000 fine
Steel giant Corus has been fined £5,000 after a worker was seriously injured while clearing a jam in the production line at a factory in Skinningrove, East Cleveland.  The fine will not make a significant dent in the company coffers: the firm’s website notes: “Corus is Europe's second largest steel producer with annual revenues of around £12 billion and a crude steel production of over 20 million tonnes.”
HSE news release • More on the Corus safety record • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: Council fined after road worker dies
Rotherham Council has been fined £75,000 after employee Gordon Duffield was killed by a reversing truck. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also prosecuted contractor Brocklebank & Company (Demolition) Limited over the incident during a council road surfacing operation. 
HSE news release • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Britain: The lifesaving union effect
Hazards magazine has updated its webpages on the extremely positive “union effect” on workplace health and safety. A new pin-up-at-work guide notes that “union workplaces are safer workplaces” and urges workers “to get organised – or you might not live to regret it.”
Hazards ‘union effect’ webpages and 28 April poster • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

Australia: Tragedies linked to compensation worries
Injured workers in South Australia are going without food and medication and some have been driven to suicide because they cannot afford basic necessities, it has been claimed. SA Unions, the umbrella organisation for unions in the state, is campaigning to “restore fairness” in the system, which is says is currently “the costliest, least fair and most poorly managed workers compensation scheme in the nation.”
Ann Bressington news release • SA Unions news release • The WorkCover Suicide video can be viewed on the Todaytonight website • Risks 446 • 6 March 2010

 

 

Hazards news, 27 February 2010

 

 

Britain: Leaked Tube staffing plan raises alarm
London Underground (LU) has formulated secret plans to axe hundreds of jobs, rail union RMT has warned. It says the move would “devastate” Tube safety. RMT says the internal LU management report, ‘Minimum Staffing Levels’ calls for “hacking back” staffing levels to the “absolute bare bones” introduced in the aftermath of the Kings Cross fire in 1987 which claimed 31 lives.
RMT news release • The Independent • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

USA: Campaigners attack Walmart’s sick policy
Campaign group WakeUpWalmart.com and a coalition of supporters is campaigning against Walmart’s “irresponsible” sick leave policy. Last year Walmart – the world’s largest retailer – was on the end of critical press coverage when it was revealed it gave employees "demerits" that can lead to dismissal when they call in sick.
UFCW news release and related WakeUpWalmart campaign video • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Costa Rica/Britain: Protest over banana worker victimisation
GMB has protested to the Archbishop of Westminster and the Pope about a Catholic church organisation that the UK union says spearheads anti-union activities in Costa Rica. The union, which is working with the banana workers’ union SITRAP in Costa Rica, wants “to secure an end to the Pope John XXIII School in the capital San Jose being used to promote the anti-trade union strategies of the employers in Costa Rica’s tropical fruit plantations.”
GMB news release • 27 February 2010

Mexico: Widows seek justice for 65 mine deaths
Families of coal miners killed four years ago in an explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine in Coahuila, Mexico, have filed a US-union backed legal case in US federal court seeking damages from Grupo Mexico Inc. The lawsuit was filed by the United Steelworkers union (USW) on behalf of three widows whose husbands were among 65 coal miners killed in the disaster.
USW news release • IMF news report • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette • Arizona Star • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Project to help vulnerable site workers
Construction union UCATT has launched a project to provide assistance to construction workers facing exploitation or forced to work in dangerous circumstances. The Vulnerable Workers Project, which will run for two years throughout England, is funded by the government’s Union Modernisation Fund.
UCATT news release • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Former Lucas worker seeks cancer help
A Lancashire cancer survivor is urging his former work colleagues to come forward to provide information about his exposure to chemicals at work. Terry Burns, 51, who is being treated for bladder cancer, is calling for his former work mates at Lucas Aerospace to come forward to help piece together information about his working conditions.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Anyone who worked with Mr Burns at Lucas Aerospace from 1978 to 2000 and who may have useful information should contact Marion Voss on 08000 224 224 • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Faulty brakes and faulty bosses caused crash
A GMB member who had complained about defective brakes on his work van has received a payout after the vehicle subsequently crashed. Michael Ross, 46, had asked his employer, AMEY, to check the van’s brakes on three occasions but was told each time that there was nothing wrong with them.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Work killers could be forced to advertise crimes
Companies convicted of corporate manslaughter could be forced to take out adverts publicising their conviction as a result of new measures, the justice ministry has said. Courts will now be able to hand out publicity orders to firms and public bodies where gross corporate health and safety failures caused a person's death.
Ministry of Justice news release • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Serial offender trumpets safety ‘milestone’
A company that says it is the UK’s leading waste and recycling firm and that parades its environmental and safety credentials has been a serial safety offender over the last five years. Health and safety magazine Hazards charges that while no mention of a conviction in February relating to an employee’s death appears on the Veolia ES website, “the company is less reticent when it comes to boasting about its safety successes.”
Hazards ‘green jobs, safe job’ blog • 27 February 2010

Europe: Green capitalism can be just as deadly
If you are one of those employed in the rapidly expanding green jobs sector, don’t assume your green employer is any less likely to exploit and endanger you. According to Laurent Vogel, director of the European TUC’s health and safety research arm, HESA, “private management of environmental protection activities does sacrifice working conditions for the sake of competitiveness.”
The relative appeal of green jobs • Just Transition editorial, Laurent Vogel, February 2010 • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • 27 February 2010

Britain: Boss fined for unsafe work on roof
A roofing firm boss has been fined £4,950 after putting himself and two of his employees at risk of falling more than seven metres from a building. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Dean Paul Shaw, 44, trading as Streamline Guttering and Cladding, of Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, for allowing work to take place on a roof without adequate safety equipment to stop him or his workers falling.
HSE news release and Shattered Lives campaign website • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Property developer faces the courts
A Bradford property developer has been fined £10,000 for serious safety failings that endangered the lives of workers on a refurbishment project in Hull. HQ Leisure Limited pleaded guilty at Hull Magistrates Court to one breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, two breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and three breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
HSE news release • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Government acts on asbestos illness
The Ministry of Justice has announced a range of measures to support people who have been exposed to asbestos. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the decision not to compensate new cases of pleural plaques was “disappointing” but added “the other measures announced will be of real benefit to those who develop a disease as a result of exposure to asbestos”.
Ministry of Justice news release and statement from Jack Straw • DWP news release • TUC news release • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Mixed verdict from asbestos victims
Asbestos victims’ organisations and personnel injury lawyers have given a mixed verdict on the government’s moves on pleural plaques and asbestos compensation and research.
Asbestos Forum news release [pdf] • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: UCATT says victims have been ‘abandoned’
 Construction union UCATT has expressed disappointment after the government ‘abandoned’ the majority of pleural plaques victims in England and Wales. The union was speaking out after justice secretary Jack Straw confirmed on 25 February the government would only compensate pleural plaques victims who had lodged a legal case prior to a 2007 Law Lords decision to bar compensation.
UCATT news release • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Flawed evidence denied asbestos victims
People killed by asbestos diseases have been wrongly denied compensation because the courts have relied on flawed medical evidence, a landmark case has shown. The judge said that the asbestos level of 20 million fibres for confirmation of asbestos disease was “set too high, probably significantly too high” and found in favour of asbestosis widow Della Sabin and awarded her £100,000 in compensation.
Pannone LLP news release • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Compensation law moves forward in Scotland
A Labour MSP said he is “delighted” to have won cross-party support for his proposed shake-up of compensation laws for wrongful deaths in Scotland. Bill Butler has put forward a Member’s Bill aimed at speeding up the process of paying compensation to victims of disease and accidents, including those caused by or related to work.
Bill Butler blog • The Herald • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Australia: Payout after skin cancer death
A record six figure payout has been given to an Australian widow after her construction worker husband died at 43 from skin cancer. The family of construction worker Rohan Crotty – his 39 year-old wife Jo-Anne and four sons aged five and under – have been left in mourning after Rohan died in July last year within two years of being diagnosed with melanoma.
News.com.au • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Tower crane registration scheme becomes law
A new law to improve the safety of tower cranes on construction sites was laid before parliament this week, paving the way for the start of a statutory registration scheme. The regulations, developed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a high profile campaign by safety activists and unions, will come into force on 6 April.
DWP news release • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Hole in ship was plugged with a rag
The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency has detained a 2,000 ton ship using a rag to plug a hole in its cracked hull. The Russian registered cargo vessel Baltiyskiy 110 has been issued with a Detention Notice due to failure to comply with merchant legislation in Fowey, Cornwall.
MCA news release • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

Britain: Unexploded bombs left at recycling centre
A Welsh council has warned people to be more responsible after an unexploded artillery shell, detonators and marine flares were dumped at its local authority recycling centres. Powys Council said it had been forced to call out Army bomb disposal experts and police three times during the last five months.
Powys Council news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • BBC News Online • Risks 445 • 27 February 2010

 

 

Hazards news, 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

Belgium: Train staff strike after fatal crash
Train workers in southern Belgium went on spontaneous strike in protest against what they believe were dangerous working practices immediately after two commuters crashed at Halle, just outside Brussels, killing 18 people. The strike was widely followed and led to widespread disruption to train services in southern Belgium.
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: Union calls for action on baggage limits
Unite the union have been running a campaign to try to prevent baggage handlers from having their backs damaged by having to move heavy luggage. Unite says that baggage handlers are five times more likely to be injured, although the cramped conditions they work under are also a major factor.
Unite release • HSE release • Risks 444 • 20 February 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: Rail firm issued prohibition notice over staff cuts
Network has been served a Prohibition Notice by the Office of Rail Regulation over a shortage of lookouts to ensure safe track working in South Wales. The notice states that the inspector is 'of the opinion that there is an immediate risk of harm to the trackworkers undertaking foot patrols on the railway line between Cardiff Central and Aberdare, Rhymney, Treherbert and Merthyr Tydfil.”
RMT release • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: Rail unions to ballot on safety fears
Two rail unions are to ballot their members for industrial action over the threat from Network Rail to axe up to 1500 safety-critical maintenance jobs. The two unions, TSSA and RMT have repeatedly raised concerns over the effect that these cuts will have on the safety of the national rail network.
TSSA release • RMT release • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

USA: Shock tactic in New York asbestos protest
A New York union branch has found a novel way of highlighting both the dangers of asbestos and also the importance of unionisation in protecting the safety of both workers and the public. The union has put a coffin outside the offices of a company that is using non-unionised workers to remove asbestos.
Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: Social workers and carers under attack
Trade union UNISON has warned that violence and abuse against social workers and people working in social care, has reached 'chronic' levels, with attacks and abuse becoming a regular occurrence.
UNISON ten point plan • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: TUC criticises low fines despite new laws
The TUC has expressed concern that courts are continuing to impose ridiculously low fines on employers who are found guilty of health and safety offences despite recent laws that aimed to increase penalties. The health and safety at work offences act, which came into effect last year removed the limit on most offences by allowing them to be tried in higher courts and at the same time raised the maximum fine which could be imposed in the lower courts to £20,000.
HSE press notice • HSE press notice • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: Safety campaigners back TUC on sentencing
Safety campaigners have backed the TUC's call for greater penalties against companies that kill workers, following the publication of government sentencing guidelines.
IOSH press release • FACK release • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: HSE warns oil industry
HSE chair Judith Hackitt has warned the UK oil and gas industry that they must not allow short-term business pressures to blind them to the real and potentially devastating human and business consequences of neglecting process safety and asset integrity. Unions have campaigned for many years for a tougher line against the oil and gas extraction and processing industry which, they claim has a lack safety culture and are not doing enough to ensure that their ageing rigs are safe.
HSE press release • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: Compensation for asbestos victim's family
A union has obtained compensation of £230,000 for the family of an Exeter engineer who died from asbestos related disease mesothelioma. The Unite member worked for Lucas Industries from 1960 until the 1980s and came into contact with asbestos when carrying out heat tests wearing asbestos gauntlets.
Thompsons Solicitors press release • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: Construction firm fined after worker run over
Construction giant Carillion has been fined £185,000 after an Oldham worker suffered life-threatening injuries when he was run over by a reversing truck at the Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale in 2008. A Ford Transit truck was reversing on the construction site when it hit Michael Gresty who was helping to build a new track around a large pond.
Press notice • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: Shorter hours the key to a better future
A UK think tank has said that shorter working hours will be better for workers and the environment - but only if there is greater pay equity. Despite a recent trend to increased working time the new economics foundation (nef) forecasts a major shift in the length of the formal working week as a consequence of dealing with key economic, social and environmental problems.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 444 • 20 February 2010

Britain: Serial offender fined after recycling bin death
A company that says it is the UK’s leading waste and recycling firm and that parades its environmental and safety credentials has been fined £130,000 after a worker was killed when a 1,100-litre recycling bin fell on his head.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • 20 February 2010

 

 

Hazards news, 13 February 2010

Britain: Unions welcome asbestos scheme consultation
Unions and asbestos campaigners have welcomed a consultation by the government on the setting up of a fund to pay compensation to those who develop diseases many years after exposure where the insurer cannot be traced. The Department for Work and Pensions has published a consultation paper which sets out plans to create an Employers' Liability Tracing Office to help people track down their employers' liability insurance policies, and an Employers' Liability Insurance Bureau to provide a fund of last resort for those who are unable to trace them.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Canada: Union testifies to helicopter crash inquiry
A Canadian union has called for major changes in the way that the helicopter industry operates to ensure that there are no further tragedies such as the one last March when a Cougar chopper fell into the sea about 60 kilometres east of St. John's killing 17 of 18 people aboard.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Britain: PM meets union to discuss new dog laws
Officials from the Communications Workers Union have met the Prime Minister as part of their campaign to get dangerous dog legislation changed. The union has been waging a long-standing campaign to close a loophole in the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act which fails to provide legal redress for people attacked by animals on private property.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Britain: Cooker company ignored lifting regulations
Factory worker Michael Mountford from Stoke on Trent suffered serious damage to his shoulder and neck while putting together heavy cookers for Indesit Company UK, based in Blythe Bridge, Staffordshire. His job on the assembly line involved lifting the cookers before adding parts to them.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

El Salvador: Forced labour supplies western market
The true cost of cheap imports to markets like Europe and the US has been exposed by a report from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) of into the free trade export zones in El Salvador.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Britain: Union alleges bullying by BA
Members of the Unite the union have accused British Airways of behaviour that amounted to bullying after the airline put up a 'graffiti wall' in its headquarters building and encouraged comments that were derogatory and insulting to cabin crew. The incident happened while Unite was balloting cabin crew over industrial action as part of a long-running dispute.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

USA: Long hours linked to deadly gas explosion
Workers in a Connecticut power plant that was rocked by an explosion which killed five people last week were often working more than 80 hours a week, reports say. It is also alleged that workers at the Kleen Energy Systems plant smelled gas less than an hour beforehand and were told to open doors wider for air.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Britain: Strike over train safety concerns
RMT members working for Scotrail are to strike over safety concerns after the company announced plans to introduce driver-only operation on the new Airdrie-Bathgate line. Members voted by a margin of nearly five to one on an 82 per cent turnout to strike for 24 hours on February 20, March 1 and March 13.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Britain: Compensation after asbestos exposure
A former power station worker Clifford King, 85, from Newark in Nottinghamshire has received compensation thanks to his union, Unite, taking up his claim for damages after he was diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

USA: Poisonous record of prison e-waste recycling
US prisoners and staff supervisors were exposed for years to excessive levels of toxic heavy metals during computer recycling operations, a government workplace health research agency has confirmed. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report, however, says the absence of recordkeeping inside the prisons, made it impossible to confirm any health problems from these illegal levels of exposure.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • 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: 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

Thailand: Railway workers need support
An international campaign has been launched to support six Thai union officials who have been sacked after union members refused to drive trains they believed were unsafe. The action also happened after the Thai national rail company (SRT) had cut jobs.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Britain: Guideline on Corporate Manslaughter published
The Sentencing Guidelines Council have published guidance for courts in dealing with companies and organisations that cause death through a gross breach of care or where breach of health and safety requirements are a significant cause of the death. The council guidelines, effective from 15 February 2010, state fines for companies and organisations found guilty of corporate manslaughter may be millions of pounds and should seldom be below £500,000.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Britain: Company fined after bowling alley death
A leisure company, Mitchells and Butler Retail Ltd, which ran the former Hollywood Bowl site in East London, has been fined £40,000 after pleading guilty to a health and safety breach in a prosecution brought by Newham Council. Ferdinand de la Cruz was crushed to death by a ten-pin bowling machine he was cleaning because the company had not provided adequate protection - namely a guard that would have prevented the awful accident.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Britain: Verdict of unlawful killing reinstated
An inquest has heard that a pit worker died from a gas leak because his employer did not enforce its health and safety policy. Richard Clarkson, 26, died in 2004 in an argon gas-filled pit at Bodycote Ltd metal parts factory in Hereford and his colleague, Stuart Jordan, who tried to help him also died.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

Europe: Dangerous substances risk campaign
European health and safety inspectors are to run a Europe-wide inspection campaign to improve working conditions associated with the use of dangerous substances in the workplace. The campaign, which will run from January 2010 to March 2011, is being run by SLIC, the European Union Senior Labour Inspectors Committee, and is supported by the European Commission.
Risks 443 • 13 February 2010

 

 

Hazards news, 6 February 2010

 

Britain: Unions make work safer every day
The worldwide theme for Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April this year is to be ‘Unions make work safer.” The general theme – unions at national level can adapt it to fit local campaigns and priorities – was announced in a circular this week from the International Trade Union Confederation. It followed a consultation with national union centres and international union organisations. The circular notes: “The ITUC, in cooperation with Hazards and Global Unions, will produce background material for 28 April. It is for this purpose that we would like trade unions to send us information, success stories and resources on the effect trade unions have on improving occupational health and safety and ultimately saving lives, in order to incorporate them in the background materials.” So, tell TUC what union safety organisation in your workplace has done – through active safety reps, effective safety committees, mapping exercises and union insistence that health and safety is a priority - to make work healthier and safer all round.
Send examples to TUC. TUC Workers’ Memorial Day webpages and union effect briefing • Global 28 April webpage and facebook page • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Britain: Union welcome for 28 April recognition
The UK government’s official recognition of Workers’ Memorial Day has been met with a lot of praise from unions and a bit of now-we’ll-have-some-more-thank-you.  Ronnie Draper, president of the bakers’ union BFAWU said the “fantastic” news was “testament to the campaigning strength of trade unions and other pressure groups.” He added: “The slogan ‘Remember The Dead, Fight for the Living’ must never be forgotten, it should be used as a constant reminder that lives lost at work should not be in vain, and the protection of workers must be our ultimate goal.” Bob Monks, general secretary of the road transport union URTU, said: “The official day will help promote our campaigns to highlight and prevent workplace accidents in the road haulage, distribution and logistics industry.” Dave Prentis, UNISON general secretary, said it was good news that had “been a long time coming”. He added: “Too many workers are still suffering because of workplace injuries. By marking Workers’ Memorial Day nationally, it will act as a reminder for all employers that they have a legal duty to protect their staff.” Alan Ritchie, general secretary of the construction union UCATT, said it was “an important first step in the campaign to establish Workers’ Memorial Day as a bank holiday, in order to ensure that all workers have an opportunity to remember their friends and colleagues who have been killed or injured at work.”
BFAWU news release • URTU news release • UCATT news release • UNISON news release • 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 founder member Linzi Herbertson said: “We want all those killed by work either in incidents or through illnesses caused by bad working conditions, to be remembered. FACK members cannot understand why some workers killed at sea, or in the air, or on the roads, or through work stress suicide, plus all the members of the public killed by work activities, are not included in the official figures” published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Both FACK and the Hazards Campaign say these HSE figures systematically under-estimate the deadly impact of work-related ill-health. Hilda Palmer of the Hazards Campaign said “if we include the many thousands who die from illnesses caused by their working conditions the total could be as high as 50,000 a year! Government has long been criticised for under-estimating deaths from work- related cancers which even the most conservative estimate by global experts is about 18,000 each year.”
FACK news release • Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

USA: Training alone is never enough
Health and safety training at work is a good thing - but will only result in safer, healthier workplaces if there is management commitment and worker involvement. This is the finding of a detailed review by the US government’s occupational health research body NIOSH and researchers from Canada’s Institute for Work and Health (IWH).
NIOSH Science Blog • A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Training & Education for the Protection of Workers • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Britain: Call for vigilance after bridge deaths
Construction union UCATT is calling for increased vigilance and is demanding companies do not take a complacent attitude to safety, after two bridge workers in Scotland were killed within hours of each other. Both men were undertaking painting and blasting duties and both deaths occurred on rail bridges.
UCATT news release • ORR statement • BBC News Online • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Britain: Firefighters 'arrest' over warehouse deaths
Firefighters’ union FBU has expressed concern after being told three managers were to be arrested in relation to the deaths of four firefighters in a 2007 warehouse blaze.
FBU news release • BBC News Online • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Philippines: Unions launch asbestos e-campaign
Unions in the Philippines have launched an email campaign to press for a ban on all asbestos use. The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), the Associated Labor Unions (ALU) and the Building and Woodworkers International (BWI) campaign is urging the country’s Senate to pass Senate Bill 741, banning asbestos.
Ban Asbestos Philippines news release • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Britain: Body armour hurt council worker
A community enforcement officer who was injured by ill-fitting, second hand body armour, has received a £2,000 payout. UNISON member Anthony Roach, from Eaglescliffe in Teesside, was left with serious back and shoulder problems after being provided the faulty police cast-offs.
UNISON news release • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Britain: Claims firm ditched deaf worker
An engineering worker who was exposed to dangerous levels of noise at work for over 20 years has received a £13,500 payout – after a claims management firm dropped the case. Unite member Ashiq Hussain Shah, 58, suffered the hearing damage while working for Bradford-based motor parts manufacturer Federal Mogul from 1989.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

India: Shipbreaking workers denied drinking water
Shipbreaking workers toiling in Mumbai, India, are being denied access to drinking water, putting lives at risk, unions have warned. Global union federation the International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) has been working closely with the shipbreaking workers as part of its union building project which has seen 2,500 workers organised in Mumbai, and a further 6,500 in Alang.
IMF news report • Risks 442 • 6 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: Risk assessment may have stopped knife death
A simple risk assessment may have averted an incident when a mental health worker was stabbed to death, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said. Mental health charity Mental Health Matters was fined £30,000 and ordered to page £20,000 costs after admitting failing to protect employee Ashleigh Ewing, 22, who was stabbed to death by a paranoid schizophrenic.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • The Journal • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Britain: Fined £7,500 after builder’s death
A Bolton housebuilding company has been fined £7,500 after one of its workers fell to his death. DC Kennedy Homes Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after Ian Smith, 64, was killed when he fell from an unstable ladder.
HSE news release and Shattered Lives campaign • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Britain: Rail regulator moves in on jobs axe row
RMT has welcomed confirmation that the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) has approached the government directly regarding the rail union’s safety concerns at Network Rail. The union had highlighted the safety implications of Network Rail’s plan to axe 1,500 maintenance jobs.
RMT news release • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Britain: Network Rail ‘madness’ jeopardises progress
It would be ‘madness’ to let Network Rail jeopardise safety improvements on the rails by axing maintenance jobs, rail union RMT. The union was commenting after a Railway Safety Standards Board (RSSB) report showed encouraging safety improvements on the rail network.
RSSB news release [pdf] • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

HSE slips and trips website – rebranded
To coincide with the launch of phase 3 of its ‘Shattered Lives campaign’, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) slips and trips website has been rebranded with what the watchdog describes as a new design, better navigation, news and resources.
HSE slips and trips website • STEP • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Europe: Construction unions reject deregulation
The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) has denounced European Commission (EC) proposals for health and safety deregulation. The EC’s October 2009 action programme, which forms part of a European Union “Better Regulation” push, calls for certain firms to be exempted from core health and safety requirements.
ETUI-HESA news briefing • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

Global: Scientists slam Canada’s asbestos trade
Over a hundred prominent scientists in 28 countries have challenged Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who embarked on a trade mission to India on 31 January, to stop Quebec's export of asbestos to the developing world. The assault on Canada’s deadly trade came ahead of the mission to India, a key export market for Canada’s asbestos.
RightOn Canada news release and letter to Premier Charest [pdf] • Montreal Gazette • CBC News • CTV News • ETUI-HESA news report • Risks 442 • 6 February 2010

 

 

 

 

Hazards news, 30 January 2010

 

Britain: Workers’ Memorial Day – it’s official!
The UK will officially recognise Workers’ Memorial Day to commemorate thousands of people who have died, been seriously injured or made ill through their work, cabinet minister Yvette Cooper has announced. To mark the day this year, the TUC is calling for two minute’s silence in workplaces up and down the country at noon on Wednesday 28 April.
DWP news release • TUC news release and Workers’ Memorial Day webpages • International 28 April website • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: Sharp increase in violent attacks
The TUC has called for a “zero tolerance” approach to violent crime at work after a new analysis showed the number of physical assaults against workers last year was up 50 per cent on the previous year.
Violence at work: Findings from the 2008/09 British Crime Survey, HSE, January 2010 [pdf] • TUC news release • BBC News Online • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010  

USA: Toxic chemicals law reform call
An overhaul of the US federal toxic chemical law to reduce the level of toxic exposures to workers, families and children is urgently required, campaigners have said. The union USW, the Learning Disabilities Association, the Cancer Institute and the Pennsylvania Nurses Association joined forces to call for reform of the Toxic Substances Control Act.
USW news release • The health case for reforming Toxic Substances Control Act • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: Firefighter warns workers to log accidents
A firefighter has said workers should make sure they log all workplace injuries and incidents, no matter how minor, after developing a debilitating condition from what at first appeared to be an insignificant niggle.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: RMT dossier exposes rail safety failures
RMT has warned that a safety crisis on the rails could get dramatically worse if Network Rail is allowed to proceed with plans to shed 1,500 safety critical maintenance posts. On 27 January, the union handed a damning dossier to MPs, outlining reports of a “serious deterioration in safety” alongside damaging maintenance cuts.
RMT news release • 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: Scotrail ‘bullies’ supervisors to train as guards
Rail firm Scotrail is bullying managerial and supervisory staff into taking a quickie training course so they can act as train guards. The courses, described by rail union RMT as “dangerously compressed”, are Scotrail’s contingency plan in the event of industrial action over the imposition of Driver Only Operation (DOO) on the Airdrie/Bathgate line.
RMT news release • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: ‘Inadequate’ blacklisting law is delayed
Construction union UCATT says it has won a delay in the implementation of a blacklisting law, after raising concerns about the adequacy of the measures. The union says it wrote to and contacted directly members of the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments, expressing “grave concerns” about the proposed law.
UCATT news release • Blacklist blog • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: Police worker receives £10,000 after fall
A police receptionist has received more than £10,000 in compensation after getting ‘triplash’ when her foot caught in loose wires. The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union member, who had earlier reported the trip hazard, was left with serious whiplash injuries to her shoulder and neck following the incident.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • 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

Britain: Former BT worker gets asbestos cancer
A former BT engineer has received “substantial” compensation after his employers admitted exposing him to asbestos. Unite member Vaughan Toms, 62, was diagnosed with the asbestos cancer mesothelioma in November 2008 after complaining about being breathless to his doctor.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: Bill calls for safety duties on directors
A Labour MP is pressing for a new law to place legally binding, explicit safety duties on company directors. Aberdeen North MP Frank Doran presented his Health and Safety (Company Director Liability) Bill in a House of Commons debate on 19 January.
House of Commons debate, Hansard, 19 January 2010. Health and Safety (Company Director Liability) Bill • Theyworkforyou.com • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: Company finez for Heathrow crush death
A major airport services company has been fined £90,000 following the death of an employee crushed by an electric vehicle at Heathrow airport. Maintenance engineer Mohammed Taj, 52, died in March 2008, when the “tug” used for pulling baggage and other supplies to planes, fell on his head.
HSE news release • Hillingdon Times • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: Massive cement explosion injures worker
A Scottish oil service firm has been fined £14,000 after an explosion sent five tonnes of cement powder into the atmosphere, injuring a worker. Peterhead-based Cebo UK pleaded guilty to two failures to comply with its pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit when the case was heard at Peterhead Sheriff Court.
SEPA news release • Press and Journal • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Britain: Confused recycling sector is still deadly
If you work in waste and recycling, you might not be reassured to hear it has a work fatality rate nine times the national average. And you might be even more alarmed when you hear some privatisation-happy local authorities are clueless when it comes to their legal responsibility to keep you safe.
HSE news release and new waste sector resources • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 441 • 30 January 2010

Global: NHS supplies made in very unhealthy conditions
Doctors are calling for action to eliminate child labour and dangerous working conditions in the production of NHS supplies. The BMA’s Medical Fair and Ethical Trade group this week launched an information campaign telling doctors about the labour abuses evident in the production of NHS medical supplies.
BMA news release • Fair Medical Trade website, facebook group and leaflet [pdf] • 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: Vehicle spot checks on load safety
Spot checks on hundreds of vehicles will take place in the coming weeks in support of a new drive to ensure that loads are being transported securely. The Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) new load safety campaign is focused on reducing the number of death and injuries linked to workplace transport.
HSE news release and load safety campaign • Risks 441 • 30 January 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

 

Hazards news, 23 January 2010

Britain: RMT secures safe staffing milestone
Rail union RMT this week struck a deal to guarantee safe staffing levels on East Coast Main line trains. RMT says the agreement to keep train guards is “an important victory in the fight against Driver Only Operation (DOO).”
RMT news release • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Aslef go slow ‘saves lives’
A union call for train drivers to drive slowly – no more than 20 mph – over open level crossings has been praised after it was claimed to have saved at least one life. ASLEF general secretary Keith Norman commented: “Others may talk about level crossing safety, but our union actually does something about it, adding: “I hope others, like Network Rail, will follow our lead and get serious about this continuous loss of life.”
ASLEF news release • John O’Groat Journal • Daily Record • Press and Journal • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

USA: OSHA chief calls for good safe green jobs
The newly installed leader of the US government’s workplace safety watchdog has made his first public act a call for green jobs to be good, safe jobs. Dr David Michaels, the head of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), called for greater worker involvement and said: “We must push worker health and safety as a critical, necessary, and recognised element of green design, green lifecycle analysis and green contracts.”
Video and transcript of speech by David Michaels, head of OSHA • NIOSH green, safe and healthy jobs webpages • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Blacklist law won’t end ‘despicable’ practice
Construction union UCATT has said it is ‘deeply disappointed’ with the government’s ‘fundamentally flawed’ blacklisting regulations. The union had told ministers the regulations as originally drafted would not end blacklisting and had hoped the government would revise the proposed law, but this has not happened.
UCATT news release • Building •  Blacklist blog • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Shop union presses for assaults law
People who assault shopworkers in Scotland could get tougher penalties if a new bill is successful, says retail union Usdaw. The Workers (Aggravated Offences) Bill is being brought by Hugh Henry MSP and calls for the assault of shopworkers to be recognised as an aggravated crime.
Usdaw news release • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

USA: Black workers put in radiation risk jobs
The Studsvik Memphis Processing Facility in Tennessee, a US company that processes nuclear waste, has agreed to settle compensation claims with black employees who were assigned to jobs with higher radiation exposures but who then had their dose meters doctored to show lower exposure levels. “Some of the discrimination allege d in this case is unusually extreme because of the physical danger it created for African American employees,” said Equal Employment Opportunity (EEOC) acting chair Stuart J Ishimaru.
EEOC news release • Memphis Commercial Appeal • UPI.com • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Broken ankle leads to lifetime clot risk
A driver who faces the risk of developing a life-threatening blood clot after breaking his ankle at work has received £20,000 in provisional damages. The 53-year-old GMB member from Kent, whose name has not been released, will have to take medication for the rest of his life to avoid a potentially fatal clot from occurring after he developed Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) as a result of the break.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Employers are failing to prevent falls
An outreach play and learning worker for Staffordshire County Council received £6,250 after slipping on ice in December 2008. UNISON member Sandra Lewis, 50, broke her left wrist and suffered severe bruising to her hips in the slip at Queen’s St Community Centre in Burton.
UNISON news release • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

China: Apple supplier hit by poisonings protest
Workers at a Chinese factory that supplies Apple touchscreens smashed vehicles and factory facilities last week in a protest over safety and pay. The China Daily reported that the more than 2,000 workers were involved in the protest at the United Win (China) Technology Ltd Co factory where they say there have been deaths from over-exposure to n-hexane, a toxic solvent used to clean the screens.
China Daily • Breitbart • San Jose Business Journal • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Scaffolder survives a 40ft fall
A Unite member who survived a 40ft fall has been awarded £90,000 in compensation. Trevor Cox, 43, at the time an advanced scaffolder with Wakefield-based Cape Industrial Services, was off work for eight months with his injuries after the incident in July 2007.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010    

Britain: Injury pain led to morphine addiction
A care assistant who developed a dependence on morphine following a serious workplace injury has received £18,000 in compensation. The GMB member from North Yorkshire, whose name has not been released, was off work for several months after she was hit on the ankle by a hoist, used to move immobile patients.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Lunch breaks led to asbestos cancer
A gardener exposed to asbestos when he took his lunch break in a boiler room has been awarded £205,000 compensation after developing a deadly cancer. UNISON helped the 57-year-old, identified as Mr Gaffney, to claim the compensation after he was exposed to asbestos while working for the University of Liverpool during the 1980s.
UNISON news release • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Shock global safety ranking for the UK
The UK does not make Europe’s top 20 for occupational health and safety performance and only just scrapes into the top 30 worldwide, according to a new ranking topped by Denmark. The Health and Safety Risk Index (HSRI) ranks the UK the 30 safest nation; among the 30 OECD nations, the UK is ranked at a lowly 20th – although some other major OECD nations have worse still rankings, including the USA, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Maplecroft news release • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: BAE fined over woman’s blast death
Defence company BAE has been fined £80,000 over the death of a worker who was killed in a blast at its explosives factory in Lancashire. Lynda Wilkins was working with lead styphnate, a sensitive primary explosive, in March 2005 when she was killed at the Chorley site.
HSE news release • Lancashire Evening Post • BBC News Online • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Bangladesh: Pesticides pushers kill thousands
 Thousands of Bangladeshi workers are dying of pesticide poisoning each year, as a result of unsafe use of often banned pesticides. Meanwhile, safer, greener approaches to production are ignored in the face of a sustained and richly-resourced lobbying campaign by multinational pesticide producers.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010
         
Britain: Young worker crushed to death
A construction company has been fined after a young employee had his head crushed at a site in Gloucestershire. Macob Administration Limited, based in Bridgend, Wales, was charged by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after 23-year-old Lance Taylor was killed on a Gloucester construction site on 11 February 2005.
HSE news release • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Head’s suicide 'linked' to school inspection
The death of an “outstanding” headteacher was “inextricably linked” to the outcome of a school inspection, a sheriff has concluded. Irene Hogg's body was discovered at a secluded spot near Jedburgh in the Scottish Borders in March 2008, days after she received critical feedback from the visit.
The Independent • The Guardian • Border Telegraph • The Herald.
Hazards work-related suicides news and resources • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Cancer-linked pesticides used in schools
At least four potentially cancer causing pesticides are being used in UK schools, placing staff and pupils at risk, according to a new survey. The Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) and Pesticides Action Network (PAN) snapshot of English, Welsh and Scottish school authorities also reveals that in addition to the four possible carcinogens – dichlobenil, oxadiazon, sulfosulfuron and mecoprop - seven of the pesticides used in schools may pose other serious health risks.
HEAL news release [pdf] and full survey report [pdf] • PAN UK • 23 January 2010

Britain: Compensation reform must not hurt justice
Proposed reforms to the civil compensation system must not compromise access to justice, the TUC has said. The union body was commenting on the publication of the final report of the Civil Litigation Costs Review by Lord Justice Jackson, whose proposals would introduce the biggest ever shake-up to the costs of taking cases through the civil courts.
Judicial Communications Office news release and the Jackson Review • TUC news release • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Britain: Union disgust at asbestos law appeal
Insurers have appealed against the decision to allow legislation giving victims of an asbestos-related illness in Scotland the right to claim damages. Last week, a judge rejected a bid to invalidate The Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions)(Scotland) Act which came into force last year and which allows sufferers of pleural plaques, a usually benign scarring of the lungs, to make compensation claims.
UCATT news release • ABI news release • BBC News Online • Risks 440 • 23 January 2010

Hazards news, 16 January 2010

 

Britain: Over five million worked for free
Over five million workers across the UK gave away £27.4 billion in unpaid overtime in 2009, a TUC analysis of official statistics has found. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “This long hours culture causes stress and damages people's health.”
TUC news release • Work Your Proper Hours Day • The Independent • Personnel Today • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Bullied hospital worker had breakdown
A bullied NHS manager, who suffered a nervous breakdown after being harassed over a three year period, has been awarded £150,000 in compensation. Nanette Bowen, a 55-year-old UNISON member from Llanelli, suffered stress and panic attacks, was signed off sick and, on one occasion, she was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack.
UNISON news release • BBC News Online • Morning Star • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

USA: Better enforcement equals fewer mine deaths
Mining deaths in the US fell to an all-time low last year, and two of the key reasons, said the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), are stronger enforcement of mine safety laws and the tougher mine safety rules passed in 2006 after a series of explosions, fires and other deadly incidents. MSHA figures show 18 coal miners were killed in 2009 and 16 workers in metal/nonmetal mines were killed - a drop from 2008’s total of 53 deaths.
MSHA news release • AFL-CIO Now Blog • Charleston Gazette • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Dog attack led to plastic surgery
A postwoman who was scarred for life after a vicious dog attack has been awarded £70,000 in an out-of-court payout. The CWU member, whose name has not been released, was delivering post to a farm in February 2007 when a German Shepherd dog attacked her.
CWU news release • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Official sums wrong on pleural plaques
Construction union UCATT has demanded urgent answers after discovering the government's liability for pleural plaques victims is a fraction of what had previously been claimed. The union says the government’s fear of footing a high compensation bill is the “principal reason” behind the lengthy delays in announcing a decision on pleural plaques compensation.
UCATT news release • Morning Star • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

South Korea: Ex-Samsung workers seek cancer justice
A group of former Samsung Electronics workers and family members of deceased workers in Korea are suing a state labour welfare institute for failing to recognise cases of leukaemia they say were called by work. If their bid is successful, they would be eligible for state compensation.
Korea Times • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Some asbestos diseases are compensated
While the insurance industry fights to stop pleural plaques being compensated and the government fights the urge to make a decision, other asbestos related conditions are attracting payouts – thanks to union legal services.
UNISON news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Don’t axe safety critical rail jobs
A 27 January rally and lobby of parliament will call for Network Rail to abandon plans to axe nearly 1,500 safety-critical maintenance jobs. The RMT lobby will take place under the banner ‘Cuts Cost Lives’.
RMT news release • 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

Global: Olympics run the risk of labour abuses
 In the run-up to the Winter Olympic Games, to be held in Vancouver, Canada in February, an international coalition is calling on global sportswear companies to respect labour rights. The group has rated the commitments made by the major sportswear brands to eliminate sweatshop abuses in their supply chains.
ITUC news release • The company ratings and ads can be found on a new Play Fair Coalition ‘Clearing the hurdles’ website • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Shock at work deaths penalty proposals
Not linking fines with turnover is a “gross undermining” of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (CMCHA), trade union law firm Thompsons Solicitors has warned. It says one of the main reasons behind the legislation was public disquiet at large companies who had killed workers receiving minimal or no sentences – but the new proposals fail to address this concern.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Four figure fine for four finger loss
A plastics recycling company has been fined £2,500 after a worker had four of his fingers severed. Wesley Dickinson, 22, was trying to remove a guillotine jam at Centriforce Products Ltd in Liverpool when his fingers became trapped.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Fine after aircraft painter fell off plane
Aircraft painting company Air Livery has been fined after a worker fell from an aeroplane wing, breaking and dislocating both his elbows. Robert Lupton fell more than 20ft (seven metres) from the Boeing 777 plane he was working on at the company's Filton base.
Bristol Evening Post • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Small fine after serious telehandler injury
A construction company from Gateshead has been fined £4,500 after one of its workers was seriously injured when a forklift truck telehandler he was operating overturned. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Meldrum Construction Services Ltd following the incident on 16 July 2008.
HSE news release • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Shoplifting is not a victimless crime
Retailers have reported a sharp surge in shoplifting during the recession – matched by an increase in violence against shop staff. The latest crime survey by the trade body the British Retail Consortium (BRC) shows at least 22,000 staff nationwide say they were targeted by customers in 2009.
BRC news release • Usdaw news release and Freedom from Fear campaign • UNI news release • . BBC News Online • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

Britain: Insurers defeated over plaques law
Insurance giants have lost a legal bid to overturn a Scottish law which allows victims of an asbestos-related condition to claim damages. Unions and asbestos campaigners welcomed the Court of Session ruling supporting the pleural plaques law that came into force in Scotland last June.
Court of Session opinion on the Judicial Review • Unite news release • GMB news release • UCATT news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • . Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • ABI news release • The Herald • STV News • Daily Mirror • Risks 439 • 16 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

Bangladesh: Eight workers die in shipyard blast
Bangladesh’s notoriously deadly shipbreaking yards have claimed eight more lives. The workers at the Rahim Steel and Shipbreaking Yard were burned to death on 26 December, when the ship they were dismantling exploded.
NLC’s 11 January 2010 shipbreaking report [pdf] and shipbreaking webpages • USW news release • Risks 439 • 16 January 2010

 

Hazards news, 9 January 2010

 

Britain: TUC advice on snow days
As a blanket of snow descended on much of the country this week, TUC issued advice for workers and their employers on what to do when the weather turns bad. The union body says while workers should make every reasonable effort to get into work, employees shouldn't attempt to travel if it's not safe to do so, particularly if they live in isolated areas.
TUC news release • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

USA: Poisoned BP workers get $100m payout
A federal jury in Texas has ordered UK-based multinational BP plc to pay $100 million (£62.5m) to 10 workers who were sickened by a 2007 chemical release at its Texas City refinery. Tony Buzbee represents another 133 workers suing BP over the chemical release and says originally his clients asked BP for $5,000 each in damages, but went to trial when BP wouldn't budge from a $500 settlement offer to each worker.
Buzbee Law Firm news release • Houston Chronicle • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Britain: FT staff campaign for safe staffing
Journalists at the Financial Times have taken the latest step in their campaign to combat unsustainable workloads. Journalists’ union NUJ says cutbacks to editorial staffing levels mean the pressures on journalists have become too great.
NUJ news release • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Britain: Unions back social care swine flu jab
Social care organisations must ensure that all eligible staff are given access to swine flu vaccination during working hours to protect themselves, their families and those they care for, unions have said.
UNISON news release • GMB news release • TUC pandemic flu guide • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Global: Another deadly year for journalists
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is demanding more action from governments and the United Nations to protect media workers. The call came as IFJ announced a grim total of 137 journalists and media personnel had been killed during 2009.
IFJ news release • INSI news release • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Britain: Official boost for rail union on train guards
Rail union RMT has welcomed “positive progress” after Scottish transport minister Stewart Stevenson accepted a key part of the union argument for a guard on every train. The dispute relates to staffing on Scotrail’s new Edinburgh to Glasgow via Airdrie route which is due to begin operating this year.
RMT news release • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Britain: Snow exposes ‘dangerous’ rail gamble
Rail union RMT says the severe weather problems on the railways have exposed the “dangerous gamble” posed by Network Rail’s plans to axe nearly 1,500 maintenance jobs. The union said it will be “closely monitoring investigations” into weather related incidents which it says have “reinforced the priority that has to be given to safety and the essential role of the maintenance crews.”
RMT news release • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

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 2010

Britain: Union casts doubt on official plaques dossier
Construction union UCATT has said the author of a key government report recommending that pleural plaques victims should not receive compensation is not an expert in the field and has not met any pleural plaques sufferers. Professor Robert Maynard, an expert in air pollution, wrote ‘Medical aspects of pleural plaques: a review for the Chief Medical Officer’.
UCATT news release • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Britain: Broken limbs and scaly skin at JCB
Unsafe workplaces can hurt you; unhealthy workplaces can make you sick. And it appears the JCB factory at Rocester in Staffordshire is guilty of a bit of both.
Thompsons Solicitors news releases on the broken arm and dermatitis payouts • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Britain: Hovis maker pays out for fall injury
A bakery worker has received £17,500 in compensation after he fell from an unsafe ladder at work. The 28-year-old member of bakery union BFAWU, whose name has not been released, was unable to do heavy manual work for two years as a result of the injury in April 2006.
BFAWU news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Britain: Train worker gets needle injury payout
An RMT member who was injured by a dirty needle has received £8,500 in compensation. The 34-year-old from Sunbury on Thames, whose name has not been released, was stuck by a needle in his knee while attempting to fix lights on a train carriage at Paddington Station.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Britain: Fire union warning after deaths verdict
The government must learn the lessons of a tragedy that claimed the lives of two firefighters, the union FBU has warned. The call came after a fireworks factory owner and his son were convicted in December 2009 of the manslaughter of two firefighters. FBU news release • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Britain: ‘Lamentable’ Shell fined after worker is paralysed
Oil giant Shell and two of its contractors have been fined after “lamentable failings” led to a “totally avoidable” refinery incident that left a worker paralysed from the waist down. Shell UK Oil Products Ltd, Dalprop Ltd and Hertel UK Ltd were fined at Warrington Crown Court on 4 January for safety offences related to the 9 February 2007 incident at Shell’s Stanlow complex near Ellesmere Port.
HSE news release and video interview with Stephen and Jayne Rizzotti • Liverpool Daily Post • Wall Street Journal • The Times • Personnel Today • Risks 438 • 9 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 2010

Britain: Bus company fined for death of driver
A bus company has been fined £400,000 after a driver was crushed to death between two seven-tonne London buses. Robert Cherry, 59, died from massive pelvic injuries at Uxbridge Bus Garage - a depot belonging Centrewest London, part of the First UK group – on 18 May 2004.
HSE news release • Uxbridge Gazette • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

Britain: New cancer prevention alliance launched
The UK’s cancer establishment is ignoring the environmental and occupational risk factors for cancer, says the newly formed Alliance for Cancer Prevention – and in doing so is ignoring thousands of the most easily prevented cancers. Campaign coordinator Helen Lynn said despite the “mountain” of scientific research pointing to environmental and occupational risk factors for cancer playing a major role in the disease predisposition, onset and development, the cancer establishment is choosing to ignore this evidence, adding government policy has been overly influenced by polluters and the manufacturers of dangerous products.
Hazards Campaign news release • SHP Online • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

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 2010

Europe: New Euro magazine on workers’ health
The European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) has launched a new free magazine devoted to occupational health and safety. HesaMag, a twice-yearly glossy, “aims to show that occupational health is not just a matter for the specialists, it is equally a question of everyday life and a major political issue,” said Laurent Vogel, the director of the ETUI’s health and safety department.
ETUI publication alert • Risks 438 • 9 January 2010

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