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Risksissue no 220 - 20 August 2005 |
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Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to the TUC at healthandsafety@tuc.org.uk. CONTENTS
Risks is the TUC's weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 11,000 subscribers and 1,500 on the TUC website. To receive this bulletin every week, click here. Past issues are available. This edition contains Useful links TUC courses for safety reps Disclaimer and Privacy statement. UNION NEWSHospital asbestos killed nurseThe family of a nurse who died after being exposed to asbestos dust in a hospital has been awarded £175,000 in damages from the Department of Health. Rebecca Little, 53, of Catterick, died in February 2002 from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma (Risks 182). Her family, with legal support from Mrs Little's union Amicus, had fought to prove her illness was caused by exposure to the dust at a London hospital in the 1960s. The Department of Health admitted liability for breach of duty of care, the family's solicitors said. Mrs Little trained as a nurse at the former Charing Cross Hospital between 1968 and 1970. Her husband, Dr Julian Little, also worked at the hospital and was able to provide evidence about the presence of poorly maintained asbestos. He said his wife's motive in starting the case was to highlight the dangers of asbestos in old hospitals. Adrian Budgen, a partner with Irwin Mitchell solicitors, represented the Little family. He said the number of mesothelioma cases are expected to increase for at least a decade and added: 'Particularly shocking, however, is that mesothelioma, once thought to be an 'old person's disease', is now increasingly claiming younger victims and in a wider range of occupations, including hospital staff. Rebecca Little is a tragic example.' Amicus national officer Gail Cartmail said: 'We would advise anyone who is concerned about symptoms such as breathlessness or chest pains to consult their GP. Amicus members who are worried that they may have been exposed to asbestos at work can add their names to an Amicus database that registers details of buildings with a confirmed presence of asbestos.' Teaching union issues voice loss warning
Union rep designs drivers' body mapNovel techniques to identify work-related health problems are putting union safety reps in the driving seat, says George Partridge, chair of the Northern TUC Health and Safety Forum. He is highlighting the case of a member of the forum who set out to investigate 'the hidden dangers that professional drivers face on a daily basis', including musculoskeletal disorders, work-related upper limb disorders and, possibly, deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The unnamed union rep said: 'On average, drivers spend in excess of eight hours in the driving seat per day. This means that there is significant pressure placed on their joints and spine arising from working in a cramped position and from twisting their backs and shoulders. Also poorly maintained roads and potholes lead to shocks sent up into their hips and spines.' As his assignment for the TUC Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety, the union rep designed his own drivers' body map. 'The body map can also be used by all professional drivers, HGV, driving instructors - in fact anyone who spends a large proportion of their working day behind the wheel of a vehicle,' he said. He added that display screen workers had legal standards for their workstations spelled out in detailed regulations, so it was wrong that no similar legal protection was extended to professional drivers.
Union issues MDF safety alertThe TGWU has issued a safety warning to operatives working with medium density fibreboard (MDF). The union says workers should always wear a mask when cutting MDF and should use protective clothing and barrier creams to protect skin. A report in Contract Journal says TGWU wants workers to ensure their employer provides adequate information on the make up of the MDF board in use. MDF is a composite material made up of various wood fibres bonded with formaldehyde-based resin. Both wood dust and formaldehyde have been linked in to asthma and cancer. TGWU says even short term exposure exceeding the legal limit in the UK can affect workers' eyes, nose, and throat. Last week, teaching union NASUWT reported that an arts and crafts teacher who worked with wood and MDF had been awarded £150,000 compensation after developing nasal obstruction, headaches, nasal discharge and receiving the eventual diagnosis of rhinosinusitis ( Risks 219). The UK exposure standard for MDF is under review. Postal union bites back at dangerous dogsThe union representing postal workers is calling for urgent action to protect delivery staff from poorly controlled dogs. CWU national health and safety officer Dave Joyce made the call after reports of two more serious attacks on postal staff. One needed reconstructive surgery on a hand after he was attacked by a Bull Mastiff dog on his round in Newbridge, south Wales. A Southampton delivery worker suffered a severe bite to one of his testicles and is off work on long term sick. Dave Joyce said 'these are just two examples and with 5,000 to 6,000 incidents a year, dog attacks on UK postal workers continue to be a serious problem for our members.' He said a recent programme of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspections led to inspectors expressing concern about dangerous dog procedures in Royal Mail. HSE added there should be for more liaison with local authority dog wardens. CWU's Dave Joyce concluded: 'We want dog owners to be responsible and control their pets but for those who are irresponsible and display the level of negligence that leads to one of our members being unnecessarily injured in an attack then we support such people being prosecuted in order to set an example to others and we want Royal Mail to take a hard line.' He added: 'I have further discussions lined up with Royal Mail and the HSE on dog attacks and want a fresh, nationwide campaign launched.' No pee for parking attendantA parking attendant has been suspended for going to the toilet. The GMB member, employed by APCOA and who works in Kensington and Chelsea, has been barred from work since 29 July and is facing disciplinary action. The company accuses him of going into a hamburger shop to relieve himself but failing to write down the details of the visit in his pocketbook. GMB organiser Bert Schouwenburg commented: 'I have to deal with outbreaks of bullying, harassment, victimisation, anti-union action and general bad employment practices at APCOA almost every week but this takes the biscuit. It is no wonder that APCOA employees only last for an average of six months and that, in Kensington and Chelsea, there has been a 600 per cent turnover of staff.' He added: 'When the parking contract comes up for renewal, the council should give APCOA's application the treatment it deserves by flushing it down the pan.' A report from the TUC and Hazards highlighted the serious health consequences of being denied access to a loo at work (Risks 94). The groups are calling for a legal right to go. ASLEF red light to 'monster' lorriesTrain drivers' union ASLEF is warning the government that allowing 'monster' lorries onto Britain's roads would be an unpopular and dangerous move. A NOP opinion poll for the union found over two-thirds of the public are opposed to a proposal - currently under consideration by government - to increase by one-third the length and weight of lorries permitted on the UK's roads, with a trial of 60 tonne lorries. ASLEF general secretary Keith Norman said: 'I hope the results of this poll will convince the government to tell the road haulage industry immediately, and in no uncertain terms, that there will be no increase in the length or weight of lorries using UK roads. At the moment the maximum allowed is 44 tonnes: to increase this by a third in the face of enormous public opposition would be irresponsible in the extreme.' He added: 'The biggest lorries allowed on UK roads are 44 tonnes and are 16.5 metres long. The ones being touted by SCANIA are 60 tonnes with an overall length of 25.25 metres. The proposal has got 'hazard' written all over it. How safe would it be to overtake one of these road-train monsters?' ASLEF says existing lorries are involved in 22 per cent of fatal crashes but only account for 7 per cent of road traffic. It says bigger lorries can only mean more deaths. Safety campaigners in the US refer to the 'overkill potential' of the larger vehicles, with deaths per accident increasing with the size of the lorry involved. Support for factory blast inquiryTrades unionists have given their backing to the campaign for an inquiry into the Stockline Plastics explosion in Glasgow. Five men and four women died and dozens were injured when the explosion demolished much of the factory on 11 May last year (Risks 208). The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) has launched a petition supporting a call by the families of those killed in the disaster for a public inquiry. STUC's Ian Tasker said people should not have to face death in the workplace. He said: 'Certain things might come out that will mean health and safety standards will be raised throughout Scottish, Welsh, English and Irish workplaces. The families feel that would be an appropriate way to help them go forward, knowing that the deaths of their loved ones had not been totally in vain.' Professor Andrew Watterson, of Stirling University's department of public health, told Radio 4's 'Fact the Facts' programme last week: 'Workers weren't well protected and conditions of work weren't safe. A proper public inquiry is the only way to determine why more wasn't done in the period leading up to the incident itself.' Professor Phil Taylor, from Stirling University's department of management, took statements from a number of workers and claims management took a 'Victorian workplace' attitude towards staff.
OTHER NEWSBP disaster probe reaches LondonThe top government chemical safety body in the US has told BP's London-based chief executive, Lord John Browne, there must be an 'urgent' independent review of its refinery safety. The unprecedented call from the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) comes after a series of explosions at its US facilities, including the massive blast in March that killed 15 (Risks 218). Lord Browne has accepted the call and says the panel will have an independent chair and employee representatives. CSB said 'safety management lapses' in BP's US refineries can be 'considered to be an imminent hazard' with 'the potential to cause serious harm unless rectified in a short time frame.' Its interim findings contradict company claims that worker error was to blame for the March blast, and identify instead widespread and prolonged neglect of correct safety management procedures. Speaking at a 17 August news conference, CSB chair Carolyn Merritt, said: 'Today, the Chemical Safety Board is issuing an urgent safety recommendation to BP America and BP's Global Board of Directors. This is the first urgent safety recommendation in the Board's eight-year history. The Chemical Safety Board recommends that BP immediately convene an independent panel of experts to examine BP's corporate safety management systems, safety culture, and corporate oversight of its refineries. The panel should report its findings and recommendations to the BP workforce and the public.' BP global chief executive Lord Browne responded: 'We will move speedily to appoint an independent panel and offer it every help to do its job. When it reports, we will act with equal speed to deal with its recommendations.' Browne said the panel's findings would be made public. United Steelworkers (USW) president Leo W Gerard said the CSB move 'reveals grave concerns about BP's culture of indifference to deadly safety hazards.' He added USW 'will appoint safety experts to the independent investigative team who will make absolutely sure that BP honours the spirit, as well as the letter, of the CSB's directive.'
British companies face US welding fume test caseTwo major British companies have been named as defendants in a US welding fumes test case that could result in compensation claims running into billions. Lawsuits over the health effects of welding fumes are to go before an Ohio court this month. Defendants include British welding product manufacturers BOC Group plc and Esab, a unit of British engineering group Charter plc. US firms Lincoln Electric, Illinois Tool Works, and AO Smith are also named. Lawyers for thousands of welders, and others exposed to welding fumes, have alleged that manganese fumes, released during welding, cause severe damage to the central nervous system, including Parkinson's disease and Parkinson's-like symptoms. The plaintiffs' lawyers say 10,000 welding fume cases have been filed and another 50,000 may follow. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say the companies knew of the health dangers since the 1930s but suppressed evidence. A trial set to start on 29 August in Cleveland pits a former Mississippi welder, Charles Ruth, against the companies whose products allegedly caused his severe neurological damage. The federal judge in the case ruled this month the plaintiffs can present evidence of a link between welding fumes and Parkinson's disease. Thousands of cases have been consolidated in the federal judge's jurisdiction. BOC says as of 30 June this year, 11,329 plaintiffs had filed manganese claims naming the company as a defendant. Long working hours boost risk of illness and injuryLong working hours drive up the risk of injury and illness regardless of the job you do, according to a new study. Research published this week in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows the greatly increased risk has nothing to do with how hazardous the job is. US researchers analysed the responses of almost 11,000 Americans to the annual National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. After adjusting for age, gender, type of industry and job, employees working overtime were 61 per cent more likely to sustain a work related injury or illness than employees who did not work overtime. Working at least 12 hours a day was associated with a 37 per cent increased risk of injury or illness, while working at least 60 hours a week was associated with a 23 per cent increased risk, compared with those who worked fewer hours. Report co-author Allard Dembe commented: 'The results of this study suggest that jobs with long working hours are not more risky merely because they are concentrated in inherently hazardous industries or occupations. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that long working hours indirectly precipitate workplace accidents through a causal process, for instance, by inducing fatigue or stress in affected workers.' The more hours worked, the greater was the risk. The authors say their findings support government initiatives, such as those espoused by the European Union, to cut working hours. TUC policy adviser Paul Sellers said the findings were unsurprising. 'It is clear that working long hours is not good for you. And what is important is to realise that it is not fair on other people. If you are involved in an accident whether at work or because you are tired from work it can involve other people.' He added: 'Often it is the case of a workplace not being organised properly that people work long hours.'
Report confirms unions save lives on siteA report for a top Health and Safety Commission (HSC) committee has confirmed the lifesaving impact of unions and safety reps in the construction industry. The paper for HSC's Construction Industry Advisory Committee (CONIAC) concludes: 'Unions are making a vast difference in industry as a whole, and we would like to improve the relationship in the construction sector, it has been shown they reduce injuries improve incidents of ill health and help change the culture to a positive one.' The report, authored by Amicus safety and education officer Rob Miguel, says consultation with employees and their union safety representatives is essential if accidents and ill-health are to be reduced in this high risk sector. The report, which includes proposals for extending the union safety role, says there is strong public support for union safety work. 'Perception by the public is an important issue, for trade unions, HSC/E, and employers in construction,' it says. 'A compelling NOP poll found 98 per cent of those polled thought workers should have the right to be represented by trade unions on health and safety.'
Making the boss hand over the infoSafety reps can use employment law to force employers to hand over crucial safety information, a workers' health and safety watchdog has said. Employment advisers from the London Hazards Centre (LHC) say some employers are using the Data Protection Act as a legal smokescreen to deny safety reps access to information to which they are clearly entitled under the safety reps' regulations, including accident reports filed under RIDDOR, the reporting regulations. LHC says the only information reps are not allowed by regulation 7 of the safety reps' regulations is that 'consisting of or relating to any health record of an identifiable individual'. LHC says: 'Obviously, a RIDDOR report in not a 'health record', it is a report of an incident, disease or dangerous occurrence that is work-related.' It adds a government 'fudge' requiring an affected worker's permission before a full RIDDOR report can be released - the employer has to provide anonymised information regardless - is providing hazardous employers a 'get out of jail free card' and can mean 'the employer will have days if not weeks to clean up the accident site before a safety rep can properly carry out an investigation'. According to LHC: 'Unions who have safety reps facing this problem should consider, if the matter cannot be resolved under their workplace disputes or grievance procedure, taking the employer to Employment Tribunal for causing the safety rep 'a detriment' contrary to section 44 of the Employment Rights Act 1996.'
MPs back comprehensive smokefree lawMore than two-thirds of MPs would back a law to make all workplaces and enclosed public places smokefree, without the government's suggested exemptions for pubs that do not serve prepared food and for private membership clubs. A new survey of parliamentary opinion, commissioned by Cancer Research UK and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), found 69 per cent of the MPs questioned would support a smokefree law covering all workplaces, without the exemptions currently proposed by the government. The groups say their findings will increase pressure on health secretary Patricia Hewitt to drop the proposed exemptions from the Health Improvement and Protection Bill, after the current consultation period ends on 5 September. Deborah Arnott, director of ASH, said: 'The survey shows that most MPs share our view that anything less than a comprehensive smokefree law would be an ineffective and timid disappointment.' UNISON health and safety officer Hope Daley said under the current proposals 20 per cent of workers in the hospitality industry would continue to be exposed to tobacco smoke at work. 'This is dangerous, unfair and unjust treatment for an already vulnerable group of workers,' she said. A report in the August issue of Tobacco Control concludes smoking bans do not adversely affect hospitality industry profits. A second report in the same issue concludes New York's smoking ban is well adhered to and has succeeded in reducing exposures to secondhand smoke among the city's hospitality workers.
PAHs increase work laryngeal cancer riskOccupational exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) markedly increases the risk of developing laryngeal cancer, according to new research. A study reported in the 1 September issue of the International Journal of Cancer examined data from 257 laryngeal cancer patients and 769 population controls to examine the possible role of occupational risk factors in the development of laryngeal cancer. Workers in road construction, painters, unskilled workers, paper mill workers, workers in the chemical industry, carpenters and bricklayers faced significantly higher risks of laryngeal cancer, the authors report. After adjustment for smoking and alcohol use, exposure to PAHs - minute sooty particles found in diesel exhaust and other combustion products - was associated with a 5.2-fold increased risk for laryngeal cancer. The occupational groups identified as being at increased risk for laryngeal cancer were also among the groups classified as PAH exposed. 'Doctors should ask about occupational history and should learn which occupations go with PAH exposure,' report co-author Dr Heiko Becher told Reuters Health. 'We are currently analysing our study with respect to other occupational exposures,' he added. 'There are some indications that wood dust, in particular from hard wood, also increases laryngeal cancer risk.'
INTERNATIONAL NEWSAustralia: Government staff to be robbed of safety rightsThe right of 250,000 employees working in Australian federal government departments to help from unions on health and safety issues will be watered down by government workplace changes introduced to parliament this week. The bill had previously been rejected by the Senate three times but the notoriously anti-union Howard government now has the votes to push through the measures. Sharan Burrow, president of the national union federation ACTU, said: 'The government's changes to health and safety laws will allow employers to control the election of workplace health and safety representatives and make it harder for employees to be represented by unions in health and safety issues for their workplace.' She said the move 'could lead to lower health and safety standards for federal police, people working in the defence forces, scientists, researchers, technicians, employment advisers and other staff in government departments and agencies.' She added: 'To top it all off, these unnecessary changes to OHS [occupational health and safety] laws appear to violate Australia's ILO obligations including the Occupational Health and Safety Convention 1981 and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention 1949. The government should think again before it cuts the rights of working people to healthy and safe workplaces and withdraw the new legislation.' Australia: Row erupts over asbestos payoutsFears that Australian multinational James Hardie Industries may abandon an asbestos compensation scheme have led to angry exchanges. Press reports last week claimed some American directors of the company, including its new chief executive Louis Gries, have favoured abandoning Australia rather than paying Aus$1.7billion (£0.72bn) to thousands of asbestos victims. The NSW government is understood to be worried the company's board is split, with one faction prepared to ditch a historic compensation deal which has still not been finalised. James Hardie Industries has said the rumours are 'untrue and unsupported' speculation however. In a statement, the company said: 'James Hardie is continuing negotiations with the NSW government to achieve a long-term compensation arrangement in the best interests of claimants and the future growth and viability of the company.' Australia now only accounts for a small proportion of the company's US-dominated profits. Several years ago James Hardie moved its operational headquarters to California and has transferred its official corporate seat from Sydney to the Netherlands for tax purposes. China: Coalmine deaths running over 100 a weekChina's coal mines, the most dangerous in the world, have left nearly 700 workers dead or missing in just the past six weeks, the State Administration of Work Safety has said. The grim statistics came out as 122 miners remained trapped and presumed drowned in a mine in southern Guangdong province that flooded more than a week ago. 'Since the start of July, more than 218 deadly accidents have struck China's coal mining industry, killing or leaving missing 693 people,' the Chinese news website www.sina.com.cn said, citing an administration report. That toll was 286 deaths, or 70 per cent, higher than in the same period of last year, it said. China has pledged some 3 billion yuan (about £206m) to improve safety standards at mines, but has been unable to stop the tide of accidents, which killed 2,700 people in the first half of 2005 alone. At the flooded Guangzhou mine, one body had been recovered but heavy rains this week forced rescuers to suspend efforts to reach the 122 miners still underground, official news agency Xinhua news agency said. Malaysia: Unions fuming over haze dangersUnions in Malaysia have accused businesses of making a 'mockery' of emergency measures to deal with the haze from massive fires blighting the country. The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) said businesses that had required their staff to report for work had no respect for the authorities and were not concerned for the health of their employees. 'We have received many calls from factory workers and staff of shipping and forwarding companies who complained that their employers had refused to shutdown operations and were forcing them to report for work, failing which their salary or annual leave would be deducted,' said MTUC secretary-general G Rajasekaran. He said the government should act against companies which blatantly ignore its directive on the haze emergency. Rajasekaran advised workers to heed the government directive and go home if the air quality in their areas posed a danger to their health. 'Employers should also respect this and give the employees the day off,' he said. Human resources minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn said: 'If employers do not follow the regulation, we will take action.' However, he said the government would allow work at firms where the workplace is enclosed and the air quality is clean and healthy. USA: OSHA concedes inspections beat adviceA top official in the US safety enforcement agency OSHA has conceded that formal inspections could be almost three times as likely to result in fewer work-related injuries and illnesses as official advice alone. In a speech to the National Maritime Safety Association, OSHA deputy assistant secretary, Steve Witt, cited the example of OHSA's Site Specific Targeting Programme (SST). Under the programme, OSHA sends letters to 14,000 sites in high hazard industries that have been determined to have higher than average injury and illness numbers. The letter warns that their rates are significantly higher than average and suggests strategies for reducing injuries and illnesses among their workers. Several thousand of the targeted firms are then inspected over the year. According to Witt, a 2004 evaluation sponsored by the Department of Labor 'found that companies that received our letter, but were not inspected, reduced injuries and illnesses about 5 per cent over the three years following the letter. But the sites that were actually inspected had injury and illness declines ranging from 12 to 13.8 per cent over the three years following our inspection.' OSHA has been ignoring this evidence, and has been actively promoting, in the US and worldwide, voluntary programmes and self-regulation as an alternative to official enforcement activities (Risks 169). It has been suggested the US hands-off approach has influenced the Health and Safety Commission's current '2010 and beyond' strategy. EVENTS AND COURSESTUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2005Midlands, Northern, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, Yorkshire and the Humber National Stress Network conference, Midlands, 19 November 2005The National Stress Network's annual conference will be on the theme of 'Ensuring a life-work balance'. Speakers include TUC working time officer, Paul Sellers.
USEFUL LINKSVisit the TUC http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/ website pages on health and safety. See what's on offer from TUC Publications and What's On in health and safety.Subscribe to Hazards magazine, supported by the TUC as a key source of information for union safety reps.What's new in the HSC/E and the European Agency.HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA. Tel: 01787 881165; fax: 01787 313995. |
Teaching
union NASUWT is warning education employers to work closely with union
safety reps to remedy the 'archaic working conditions' that are causing
voice loss and other health problems. The call came this week after the
union negotiated a £150,000 settlement for a teacher left with permanent
damage to her vocal chords. The Nottingham primary school teacher worked
for three years in a Victorian classroom that had no ventilation and was
overheated - a combination that an expert concluded was directly responsible
for the deterioration in her voice. The ear, nose and throat surgeon,
called in by NASUWT's solicitors, Thompsons, said dry air had led to grossly
inflamed vocal cords and eventually the development of a number of cysts.
The surgeon concluded that the teacher's voice box will never recover
fully. Chris Keates, NASUWT general secretary, said: 'Although our member
is due to return to work in September on a job-share basis her career
may end prematurely and this was a key factor in the settlement. Much
more needs to be done by employers to ensure that the working environment
is regularly checked and to train school management that constant vigilance
is needed to secure and maintain a healthy working environment.' The union
leader added: 'It would be of positive benefit to all concerned if all
local authorities worked closely with NASUWT local health and safety representatives
and pooled expertise to ensure the employer's key resource, its workforce,
has a healthy working environment.' Hazards magazine warned last
year that millions of UK workers were at risk of occupational voice loss
(Newsletter (5,400 words) issued 19 Aug 2005
