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Risksissue no 228 - 15 October 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 12,000 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 NEWSNo place for 'cancer rooms' in pubsThe TUC has welcomed indications from the Cabinet this week that the government will agree to ban smoking in all pubs - whether or not they serve food - but is calling on ministers not to attempt a new compromise such as allowing pubs to have 'cancer rooms' where drinks are not served but patrons can light up. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'We very much welcome the news that the Cabinet is likely to scrap the unhappy compromise of allowing pubs that do not sell food to allow smoking.' He added: 'Ministers deserve credit for listening to unions and health campaigners who have said that all staff and customers should be protected from secondhand smoke. This will save up to fifty lives a year. A ban on smoking in workplaces will go down as both a great health and safety advance and a public health breakthrough.' He said, however, that there should be no loopholes, and said the government should avoid another last minute compromise where pubs would be allowed to have smoking rooms. 'Staff will still have to clear and clean cancer rooms, and it cannot be guaranteed that smoke will not leak into the rest of a pub,' he said. He added that members' clubs should not be excluded from the new law.
Another death prompts site action callConstruction union UCATT has warned that Scotland's runaway work fatality rate must be addressed with new laws. The union's Scottish regional secretary Harry Frew said latest official statistics had shown a year-on-year increase of 350 per cent in fatalities in Scotland, with the tally including five construction workers. 'The Scottish Executive is currently gathering evidence to support a separate corporate homicide bill in the Scottish Parliament,' he said. 'UCATT is fully behind the campaign to bring this legislation forward which we hope will result in an improvement to the health and safety of all workers and limit fatalities in the industry.' He was speaking this week after it was reported a worker had been crushed while unloading a beam from his truck at a construction site in Leith. Building worker Nicholas McKellar, 45, suffered fatal injuries. Mr McKellar's colleagues helped to free him before firefighters arrived, and he was taken to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary by ambulance, but died less than an hour after arriving at hospital. A police spokesperson said: 'A report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal and the Health and Safety Executive will carry out an inquiry.' TUC calls for safer apprenticeshipsThe TUC wants union safety reps to make sure apprentices have a safe introduction to the world of work. It says in the past two years, 10 young people on government funded learning schemes have been killed at work. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'The tragic deaths of 10 young people in the past two years were all avoidable. Everyone at work should be fully aware of the health and safety procedures and legislation that are in place to protect them.' Launching a new leaflet for union safety reps on the role of modern apprenticeships, he added: 'Union safety representatives do a wonderful job keeping staff safe at work. This leaflet will help them better understand the role of the modern apprentice and will ensure apprentices know there is someone specifically tasked with looking out for their safety at work.' Over a quarter of a million young people are involved in apprenticeship schemes in workplaces throughout the country. The leaflet, produced with the Learning and Skills Council, provides guidance for safety representatives to ensure that apprentices and other trainees work in a safe environment and are given adequate support and training.
'Zero tolerance' call on workplace dangersUnions in the south-east of England have teamed up with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to push for zero tolerance of workplace fatalities and injuries. A conference this week, organised jointly by the south-east region TUC (SERTUC) and HSE heard 63 people were killed at work in London, the south-east and the east of England in 2004, 9,249 were seriously hurt and thousands more unnecessarily injured. SERTUC regional secretary Mick Connolly told the conference of union safety reps and HSE inspectors: 'This event builds on our on-going work with the HSE to develop a culture of trust, communication and contact between unions and safety regulators.' He added: 'The evidence shows that where there is a serious commitment from employers to work in partnership with workers and their unions to jointly manage health and safety, then accident rates are slashed. The relatively low number of incidents in the construction of Terminal 5 at Heathrow has demonstrated that even on high-risk construction projects, effective consultation and partnership between unions and management can produce real results for worker safety.' HSE's Phil Scott added: 'Workers have a right to be healthy and safe in their work. It is crucial that workers and their employers have the experience, knowledge and support to ensure that risks are properly understood and managed.' Ambulance crews to end 'dangerous' all-night coverAmbulance crews announced plans this week to stop providing standby cover at night for four Welsh ambulance stations from 15 October. Trade union UNISON said it was 'unhealthy and dangerous' for paramedics and other staff to continue on standby after shifts had finished. The dispute affects Bala and Tywyn in Gwynedd and Knighton and Llanfyllin in Powys - the only Welsh ambulance stations not crewed full-time. Dave Galligan, UNISON Cymru's head of health, said they had been trying to find a resolution to the 24-hour cover issue for the last eight weeks. Talks continued through the week with the Welsh Ambulance Trust, which said it hoped to find 'a satisfactory way forward'. According to Galligan, crews could be called on two or three times a night after finishing their shift. 'It's unsafe, it's unhealthy, it's voluntary, it's gone on for too long. We can't condone this practice as being one that's part of a safe 21st century health service.' A Welsh Assembly government spokesperson said this week its officials were in contact with the Welsh Ambulance Trust in a bid 'to try and resolve the issue'. Union says fatigue is a silent assassin
OTHER NEWSFirms fined £13.5m over Hatfield crashBalfour Beatty and Network Rail have been fined a total of £13.5m for safety offences related to the Hatfield rail disaster in 2000. Passing sentence on 7 October, Mr Justice Mackay described Balfour Beatty's breaches of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act as 'one of the worst examples of sustained industrial negligence.' Balfour Beatty was fined £10m and Network Rail £3.5m, the two largest safety fines in an English court. The companies were ordered to pay £300,000 each towards the prosecution costs in a case estimated to have cost £8m. Four people died and 102 were injured when the King's Cross to Leeds train came off the tracks at 115mph on 17 October 2000. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the fines showed 'that the courts are now beginning to take health and safety breaches more seriously. But the families of those killed will still feel cheated that no senior executives are to face punishment as a result of their safety crimes.' He added: 'The government urgently needs to address the fact that all the courts can do in a case like this is to fine a company. What is necessary is both a new offence of corporate killing, with a wider range of penalties available, and new legal duties that make directors directly responsible for the health and safety of their staff and customers.' In July, a corporate manslaughter charge against Balfour Beatty - responsible for track maintenance - was thrown out by the judge (Risks 172). After it was cleared of corporate manslaughter, Balfour Beatty admitted it had broken safety rules (Risks 216). Five rail bosses accused in the aftermath of the crash were cleared in July of manslaughter - on the direction of the judge (Risks 215) - and in September of health and safety breaches by the jury (Risks 223).
Large fines don't add up to real justiceUnions and campaigners have reacted with dismay to the 'paltry' fines for the Hatfield train disaster. 'Justice has simply not been done by the debacle of the Hatfield trial,' RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. 'Compared with the carnage caused, these fines are a paltry amount - and this is recycled public money anyway. Every penny that Balfour Beatty and Network Rail pay will have originated in taxpayers' and fare payers' pockets.' He added: 'Justice will not be done until Britain has a corporate manslaughter law that holds individual executives to account for negligence that kills innocent people.' ASLEF's national organiser Andy Reed said the penalties will 'do little to instil a safety culture in a money-obsessed industry.' He said the fines created an illusion of justice in 'a society that looks for morality in its bank account.' He added: 'I fail to see how the company is guilty, but the people who run it are not. If I drive a car irresponsibly and crash into a bus queue, people don't turn round and blame the motor.' Lawrence Waterman, president of safety professionals' organisation IOSH, said: 'Though we are very pleased that the court has treated these health and safety offences with the gravity they merit, we believe such cases further illustrate the need for urgent legislative reform.' Calling for a corporate manslaughter law and new directors' duties, he said: 'We would like to see health and safety managed with at least the same commitment that companies currently give to their financial affairs.' The fine came on the same week it was announced Network Rail had awarded a Balfour Beatty-Carillion joint venture a £110m rail renewal contract.
Gas blast family want corporate crime lawA couple who lost their daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren in the Larkhall gas explosion are backing calls for a change in the law. Agnes and Adam Hogg want a new offence of corporate killing to be introduced by the Scottish Executive. Transco was fined a record £15m in August for breaching health and safety laws (Risks 222). Andrew and Janette Findlay and their children Stacey, 13, and Daryl, 11, died in the explosion in 1999. Passing sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh in August, Lord Carloway said Transco had not shown any remorse. The following month the company said it would not appeal against the fine and said it was 'deeply sorry' for the tragedy. Agnes Hogg said 'they could have apologised at the beginning rather than putting us through what they put us through for five-and-a-half years.' She added: 'They killed our family and somebody needs to take the blame... Please, please change the law so that it never happens again.' Earlier this year the Scottish Executive set up an expert group to review the law on corporate liability for culpable homicide. The group is expected to report in 2006. Last month, justice minister Cathy Jamieson told an Amicus meeting: 'The outcome of the Transco trial sent out fresh impetus for stricter controls in the area of culpable corporate homicide' (Risks 225). Welfare reforms must help, not penaliseUnions have warned the government that welfare reforms flagged up this week must provide genuine support to help people into work and not be a 'crackdown' on benefits claimants. Work and pensions secretary David Blunkett said he wanted to liberate benefits claimants from dependence, saying where people 'reassociate with the world of work, suddenly they come alive again'. He added: 'That will overcome depression and stress a lot more than people sitting at home watching daytime television.' Responding to the welfare reform speech, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the principles would win wide consensus, adding 'the TUC supports getting more of the working age population into jobs. Reform of incapacity benefit that builds on the Pathways into Work programme and counters employer resistance to giving jobs to those who have been without work is welcome.' He said 'ministers should resist the temptation to talk of sanctions against the workshy, as the vast majority of incapacity benefit claimants want to work. The challenge is to find them jobs, not subject them to a 'crackdown' headline.' GMB acting general secretary, Paul Kenny, said: 'It is essential that Mr Blunkett concentrates on creating new jobs for claimants to go to, rather than using a big stick to force claimants off benefits into non-existent jobs.' Mr Blunkett was setting out his thinking before the publication of the government's green paper on welfare reform, due next month. It will propose tighter conditions on many of the 2.7 million incapacity benefit claimants, as well as on lone parents.
Asbestos victims robbed of compensationAsbestos cancer victims of Turner and Newall (T&N), once the world's largest asbestos company, are to be paid less than a quarter of the compensation they are due. Federal Mogul, the US owners of the company, is responsible for hundreds of cases of cancer linked to asbestos but will pay out just 24p for every pound to which victims are entitled. The US firm went into voluntary administration in 2001 using a legal process which enabled it to continue in business while ring fencing its assets and freezing its debts, including hundreds of millions in asbestos compensation liabilities. The company was among a number criticised last year by the US Environmental Working Group for using a 'business-as-usual-bankruptcy' procedure to jettison its asbestos liabilities while continuing to operate at a substantial profit (Risks 146). After four years of negotiations with representatives of asbestos victims in both the US and Britain a settlement of 24p in the pound was agreed. Solicitors Irwin Mitchell said about 50 mesothelioma victims of T&N it was representing have all died in the four years since payouts were frozen. Solicitor Adrian Budgen said that typically an asbestos victim could expect compensation of £100,000. Of this, £10,000 would have to be paid back for any industrial injury benefits received. The victim will then receive 24 per cent of the remaining £90,000 - less than £23,000. 'It is a pittance,' he said.
Mesothelioma continues its deadly courseThe asbestos cancer mesothelioma is claiming 40 lives a week in the UK and the deaths show no sign of abating. The family of Philip Gibbon, who died of the condition aged 60 in January this year, secured a six figure sum in compensation this week. Mr Gibbon developed the disease whilst working as a shop fitter and joiner for William Nicholson & Son (Leeds) Limited and William Nicholson and Son Limited between 1966 and 1974. Marion Voss of Thompsons Solicitors, who represented the family, said: 'In the last year we have been instructed by a significant number of clients suffering from a variety of asbestos related diseases including mesothelioma, asbestosis, pleural thickening, pleural plaques and asbestos related lung cancer. We are definitely seeing an increase in the numbers of clients with these diseases.' Tom Carden of the Ridings Asbestos Support and Awareness Group (RASAG), who advised Mr Gibbon on benefit payments, said: 'We are seeing more and more mesothelioma cases in workers like Mr Gibbon, people who have worked in industries such as joinery and shopfitting, which you wouldn't necessarily associate with asbestos exposure.' A Teesside inquest last week recorded a verdict of death from the industrial disease on James Dorgan, who died in May from mesothelioma, aged 76. Another inquest last week said retired carpenter James Brown died in May aged 90 from mesothelioma-related ill-health. He had removed asbestos from the Dounreay atomic energy plant, in Caithness, Scotland, where he worked from 1959 to 1964. £12,500 fine after worker disfigured by burnsA steel firm has been fined £12,500 after a worker suffered extensive burns when he fell through a poorly-welded safety gate and landed on hot metal. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) told Newport Crown Court his employer's behaviour 'fell well short' of legally required safety standards. Mark Chard, 30, was working for Alpha Steel in the city when the gate gave way plunging him face first onto a hot slag bed. He suffered burns to his body and face, requiring extensive skin grafts, as well as bone fractures in the fall. Alpha Steel admitted breaches of workplace regulations in the HSE prosecution. Mr Chard had been cleaning a tap hole of a furnace when a safety gate, which had only been tack-welded, gave way under his weight. Judge David Morris said the poorly-welded safety gate was a 'risk that should have been obvious to any prudent employer.' Dale Collins, for HSE, told the judge Mr Chard rarely ventured out of his house because he could not stand people staring at his disfigured face. The company was prosecuted for two breaches of the Workplace Regulations 1992 - failing to install a properly constructed safety gate and for not having proper procedures in place to monitor and maintain the equipment. HSE's Dale Collins said: 'This defendant has fallen far short of the required standard to provide a safe environment in which to work.' Alpha Steel was fined £12,500 and ordered to pay £3,000 HSE costs. HSE issues site mobile plant warningThe Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning the construction industry about possible dangers with two items of mobile plant commonly used by construction companies - mobile elevating working platforms (MEWPs) and telehandlers. HSE's Geoff Cox said recent fatal accidents show 'if you use these types of plant, you need to know what the risks may be and how to check whether you might have a problem yourselves'. HSE is drawing attention to two specific risks. The first is when working from a MEWP there is a danger of the operator being trapped against an overhead or adjacent object that prevents the controls from being released. The second is when working on sites where a telehandler needs to be reversed, or where there is poor pedestrian segregation, there is a risk, due to the driver's limited visibility, of people walking around the site being struck. 'It should be relatively simple to assess whether you might have a problem,' said Cox. 'The management control issues relate to selecting the most appropriate equipment for the task and site, ensuring operators are properly trained and are familiar with the site and the equipment, and setting and enforcing site rules. Physical measures may also be appropriate, but HSE's advice is that users should always contact the supplier or manufacturer concerned before considering taking any physical measures themselves'. INTERNATIONAL NEWSAustralia: Reducing union site access is deadlyThe Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has warned that federal government plans to restrict union access to construction sites could result in more deaths. A spokesperson for the minister of workplace relations, Kevin Andrews, has confirmed that the right of unions to access construction sites for safety reasons will be reviewed as part of its industrial relations reforms. The review is seen by unions as a bid to curtail the power of construction unions. Wilhelm Harnisch, head of the Master Builders Association (MBA), said his organisation would support changes to occupational health and safety legislation that would restrict union power. ACTU secretary Greg Combet highlighted the role union reps play in curbing potentially fatal accidents, running at one a week, by identifying problems on site. 'Unions have played a very important role in the construction industry over a long, long time in saving lives and preventing injuries and... that's what's important at the end of the day,' he said. 'If there are any difficulties or issues or concerns about it, there should be a cooperative effort to try and address them rather than throw out the basic rights altogether, which the government is really doing.' A 2002 survey by the construction union CFMEU found overwhelming public support for the union safety role (Risks 60). Official studies in Australia have also confirmed a marked union safety effect. India: Seven labourers killed as brick kiln collapsesThe manager of an Indian brick kiln has been arrested after the structure collapsed, killing seven workers. Three others were injured, one critically, when a pillar, which was supporting a layer of bricks at the kiln in Guptipara, collapsed. The police arrested the manager and caretaker of the brick kiln on charges of negligence of duty causing death and injury, said Hooghly district magistrate Vinod Kumar. 'There were about 25-30 labourers inside the brick kiln. Suddenly, one of the pillars that was supporting a stack of bricks gave way, causing the bricks to collapse on the workers. We are planning to arrange some compensation for the victims' kin.' Police were called to the site of the accident after tensions ran high among the surviving workers. Four women workers were among the dead. India's brick kilns typically employ child labour. Japan: Asbestos deaths doubled in last decadeDeaths from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma almost doubled to a record 953 in 2004 from 500 in 1995, according to latest Japanese government statistics. The death toll for 2004 rose by 75 from 2003, according to the revised population statistics compiled by the Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry. The statistics highlight an enormous discrepancy between the number of cases and the relatively small number receiving compensation. Only 127 people, or 13 per cent, of those determined to have mesothelioma, were officially recognised for compensation purposes. The statistics showed 729 men and 224 women died from mesothelioma last year. A total of 7,013 deaths from mesothelioma - 5,244 men and 1,769 women - have been recorded since 1995. Asbestos disease victims and their families have been critical of government officials for failing to operate a fair compensation system. Under pressure, the government has drafted a bill to provide financial aid to sufferers of asbestos-related cancers, including mesothelioma. The government hopes the bill will be enacted next year. An editorial in the Japan Times notes: 'The government plans to completely ban the use of asbestos in 2008. It should do so sooner, say in 2006, as health, labour and welfare minister Hidehisa Otsuji has suggested.' USA: Seven figure payout to carpenter with asbestosisA San Francisco jury has awarded over $2.8 million (£1.6m) in damages to a carpenter with asbestosis, a disabling scarring of the lungs caused by asbestos exposure. The compensation payout to 77-year-old Harold Phelps and his wife Neva was for asbestosis, which has left him dependant on oxygen 24 hours a day. He had worked as a mechanic, labourer and carpenter. At no time during his career was he advised to wear any form of respiratory protection. Hamilton Materials, the defendant, manufactured asbestos drywall finishing materials that Mr Phelps was exposed to during his work in the construction trades. The US system generally bars workers from taking court action against their employer, however product liability cases are possible. The jury determined that Hamilton Materials' products were defectively designed, that the company had failed to provide adequate warnings, and that it was negligent. USA: IBM rejects genetic screening at workIBM, the world's largest computer maker, has pledged not to use genetic data to screen employees and applicants in what it said was the first such move by a major corporation. IBM CEO Sam Palmisano sent a memo this week to employees announcing the company was revising its policies to prevent the use of genetic information in making personnel decisions. The pledge came as Congress debated a proposed privacy bill that would bar health insurers and employers from discriminating against people with a genetic predisposition to disease. Four years ago, railroad conglomerate Burlington Northern Santa Fe agreed to abstain from submitting its employees to genetic testing for alleged susceptibility to RSI after being sued by federal regulators (Risks 12). 'Genetic information comes pretty close to the essence of who you are, it's something you can't change,' IBM's chief privacy officer, Harriet Pearson. 'It has nothing to do with your employment, how good your contributions are, how good of a team member you are, so making a policy statement in this case is the right thing to do'. IBM employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. Pearson says she has received inquiries from employer groups wanting to understand how IBM made its decision. A bill curtailing workplace gene screening was passed by the US Senate in February (Risks 196), but needs Congress approval to stand any chance of becoming law. RESOURCESICEM global health and safety webpagesGlobal chemical, energy and mining union federation ICEM has relaunched its website, complete with new health and safety pages. ICEM says: 'As a global union federation with many members in some of the most hazardous and resource intense industries in the world, the ICEM takes its responsibilities very seriously. This is why the ICEM's health, safety and environmental work is grounded in a firm commitment to the greater sustainability of the companies employing our members.' ICEM adds: 'Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and corporate governance (CG) are frequently cited as appropriate indicators of a company's performance, and for this reason the ICEM insists that health, safety and environmental excellence must be among the key parameters on which company CSR and CG performance are judged. This is why the ICEM is committed to the creation and maintenance of healthy and safe workplaces in all of its industrial sectors, and to fully engage employers to this end.' Asbestos, cancer and caringLorraine Kember watched her husband, Brian, deteriorate over two years from a healthy, active man in his early 50s, to being pain wracked and feeble, destined to die aged 54 from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma. In 'Lean on me: Cancer through a carer's eyes' she chronicles their life together and how both she and Brian dealt with his illness, caused by exposure as a child to asbestos dumped around the town of Wittenoom, Australia. She also spells out the lessons they learned on how it was possible to improve quality of life for someone suffering what is acknowledged to be one of the cruellest of cancers. Lorraine takes the reader through her experience of pain management techniques, chemotherapy and palliative care. Although the book is primarily a deeply personal story, it gives a good insight into issues that will face almost 2,000 people diagnosed with mesothelioma in the UK this year, and those who care for them.
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 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. |
Professional drivers from across southern England converged on Dover on 14 October to drive home the message that fatigue kills. The action, part of an international week of action by transport workers, was organised by the Transport and General Workers' Union to reinforce the union's message that long hours means tired drivers and tired drivers are more of a killer on the roads than drunk drivers. Speaking ahead of the day of action Ron Webb, the union's national secretary for transport, said: 'All the surveys and reports I've ever seen show that drivers working long hours behind the wheel put them and other road users at an increased risk of a fatal or other serious accident. That's why our campaign is as relevant today as it always has been.' The union is calling for better conditions for professional drivers, including decent roadside facilities, especially toilets and sleeping accommodation, rigorous enforcement of health and safety regulations, and proper recording and recognition of fatalities as workplace deaths. 'This union remains convinced that a shorter working week with drivers properly recognised by all not some employers and their clients are the best ways to start really reducing deaths on the road,' said Ron Webb. 'We are a fighting back union and we need to fight for our rights and to raise standards across the industry.' Women members of the union are using global action week to launch a campaign to improve toilet facilities for drivers, particularly on bus routes.Newsletter (5,300 words) issued 14 Oct 2005