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Risks Newsletter
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Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to the TUC at healthandsafety@tuc.org.uk
Risks is the TUC's weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 13,000 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 NEWS
- Action plans to keep young workers safe
- Depressing shifts to blame for disability
- TGWU threat on bullying of oil tanker drivers
- Union secures brain injury payout
- New baggage rules leave workers over-burdened
- Work death inquests must have juries
- OTHER NEWS
- Young worker was unlawfully killed
- Teenage squaddie crushed to death
- Police probe into young worker electrocution
- Boy, seven, dies in farm tragedy
- Firm fined £3,500 after slurry pit death
- Company pays £10k after mechanic's death
- TUC warning on take-it-or-leave it nanotech scheme
- Union scepticism on migrant worker project
- Raised lead levels linked to heart disease risk
- Is workplace stress a fad or just plain bad?
- INTERNATIONAL NEWS
- Japan: Deadly wait for asbestos compensation
- Pakistan: Journalists and their families under threat
- Ukraine: Gas leak kills 13 coal miners
- RESOURCES
- Challenging the chip
- EVENTS AND COURSES
- Corporate killing lobby, London, 10 October 2006
- TUC courses for safety reps
- USEFUL LINKS
UNION NEWS
Action plans to keep young workers safe
The TUC is stepping up its campaign to protect young people in the workplace. A new TUC guide, published ahead of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work's 'Safe Start' themed Euro safety week in October, says: 'As a safety representative, you can help protect any young workers in your workplace.' A checklist for reps recommends action including: Encouraging young workers and trainees to join the union; making young workers a standing item on the safety committee agenda; ensuring young workers have the extra legal protection afforded by the law; checking there is adequate supervision; making sure young workers have the necessary induction and ongoing safety training; and making sure safety reps are consulted on issues related to the recruitment and employment of young workers. TUC is also backing a campaign by health and safety experts' organisation IOSH. Its 'Wiseup2work' initiative sets out a six-point action plan, including school and workplace based initiatives, to reduce the number of workplace fatalities and injuries among young people. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Young people are being killed and seriously injured at work because employers are failing to take simple steps to protect them. This campaign is a welcome addition to efforts to ensure young people can learn a trade and earn money without risking their health or life.' Neil Budworth, president of IOSH, said the organisation would also be campaigning for improved legal protection. 'Our campaign calls for a strengthened Code of Practice for the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations which will help to enhance the health of the working age population,' he said.
- Young workers - a guide for safety representatives [pdf]. IOSH news release.
- TUC young workers' webpages. IOSH Wiseup2work campaign.
- TUC and European Agency 23-28 October European Week 2006 webpages.
- Hazards young workers news and resources.
Depressing shifts to blame for disability
A North East factory worker who became depressed because of the wearing effect of alternating shifts was discriminated against by his employer, a tribunal has found. Craig Routledge, 41, became depressed after working alternate day and night shifts for TRW Systems in Washington. The punishing routine left him registered disabled after the sleep deprivation led to depression. A Newcastle employment tribunal upheld claims of disability discrimination brought against TRW Systems by Craig's union GMB and its lawyers, Thompsons Solicitors. The tribunal ruled that the company, which manufactures car parts, had indirectly discriminated by not giving Craig assurances it would provide a full-time day job for him after he became too ill to work nights. It also ruled that TRW Systems had discriminated on disability grounds by not offering to make adjustments in the workplace to allow him to return to work. Craig, who has worked as a manufacturing technician for the firm for 12 years, was signed off sick in May 2005 with depression, caused by lack of sleep. The 11-hour shifts and disturbed sleep pattern left him unable to function and he often found himself falling asleep at the wheel of his car on his way home from work. His doctor told him he needed to take time off work to allow his sleep pattern to return to normal and later advised that he should not work night shifts until he had had made a full recovery. Paul Shevlin, a solicitor at Thompsons Solicitors, said: 'In partnership with the GMB we have been able to ensure that Craig's rights are maintained. We hope he can now go on to make a full recovery and can return to work at his own pace.' The tribunal will resume later this year for a remedies hearing to decide compensation. Craig is still employed by TRW Systems but is on sick leave. Research published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in July concluded people who work rotating shifts face a greater risk of developing heart disease than those who work fixed days or fixed nights only. The effect was not explained by lifestyle factors ( Risks 266 ).
- Thompsons Solicitors news release. Sunderland Today.
- Y Fujino and others. A prospective cohort study of shift work and risk of ischemic heart disease in Japanese male workers, American Journal of Epidemiology, volume 164, number 2, pages 128-135, 2006 [abstract].
- Hazards get-a-life webpages.
TGWU threat on bullying of oil tanker drivers
Tanker drivers who deliver the nation's oil and petrol supplies will not tolerate the bullying and intimidation culture in the industry, their union TGWU has said. TGWU national secretary Ron Webb, commenting on feedback from the union's oil trades conference last week, said if the bullying continued, industrial action would be on the cards. Shop steward had been particular targets for the employer bullying, the union said. 'Many delegates reported instances of bullying,' Mr Webb said. 'We take those issues very seriously and will be investigating them with vigour. There have also been a growing number of cases of late when our shop stewards have been bearing the brunt of this.' He added: 'We don't rule out the industrial action route by any means and the industry should take heed.'
Union secures brain injury payout
Trade union Amicus has secured 'substantial' compensation for an industrial worker who suffered a brain injury at work. Richard Howells, 40, suffered serious head and other injuries in July 1999 when he stumbled and hit his head at work. In a complicated legal case, the plater was employed by Davies Middleton and Davies (DMD) on hire to Rowecord Ltd, working on site at the Slag Crushing Plant in Port Talbot. As a result of the brain injury, he was not able to recall the circumstances of the accident, however a witness testified Mr Howells stumbled at ground level and struck his head heavily against the flange of a large pipe. The injury affected Mr Howells' brain function, especially his motivation and initiative. He has developed a major reactive depressive disorder and suffers double vision and tinnitus. Richard Howells, commenting on the free legal support provided by the Amicus personal injury firm Thompsons Solicitors, said: 'People who go to work where there is no union representation shouldn't be deterred as they can join a union independently. I'd like to thank my friend Glen Jones for persuading me to do so just a few years before my accident.' Allan Card from Amicus said: 'This was a difficult and serious case that without the support of his union and Thompsons may never have succeeded. The risks of litigation and the serious nature of the injuries meant that many firms of solicitors may not have offered to take on the claim.'
New baggage rules leave workers over-burdened
The government's decision last week to relax hand baggage restrictions at airports will not help the airline industry's overloaded staff, transport union TGWU had said. Brendan Gold, TGWU national secretary for the civil aviation sector, said the paramount issue was security at UK airports and safety not just for passengers but also for airport workers. 'What we need to see is the government taking a robust line on the time it takes to turn aircraft round between flights as well as the focus on hand luggage,' he said. 'The airlines oppose minimum safety standards on turn around times but really we need these as well as tackling the hand luggage issue. We are acutely aware of the problems facing aviation, but the industry must not dictate the way we fly according to business-only considerations.' The Department for Transport said the relaxation of the baggage rules was designed to 'lessen the burden on passengers, while maintaining a rigorous security regime'.
Work death inquests must have juries
A jury must be able to consider inquest evidence on work-related deaths, communication workers' union CWU has said. The call comes its response to a government consultation on the Coroners Service Reform Bill. The draft law proposes the removal of the automatic right to a jury at inquests following a death at work. In June, TUC expressed 'grave concern' at this proposal ( Risks 261 ). Now CWU national health and safety officer Dave Joyce has said: 'The proposal is an assault on civil liberties and a removal of a human right of bereaved people as well as a removal of a basic protection for fairness.' The union says it is 'strongly of the opinion that inquests are not only a crucial part of ensuring that a bereaved family is fully involved in the inquiry into the death and comes to understand fully the circumstances of the death; they also provide an important opportunity for a public airing of the circumstances and allow policy-makers to be forced to consider what steps need to be taken to prevent similar deaths in the future.' The change has also been opposed by advocacy organisations the Centre for Corporate Accountability and Inquest.
OTHER NEWS
Young worker was unlawfully killed
A young factory worker was crushed to death after vital safety equipment was switched off on a stone cutting machine, a Hampshire inquest has heard. The Southampton Coroners Court inquest followed a court case in August, when company boss Michael Shaw was found guilty of the manslaughter of David Bail, 22, but escaped with a two-year suspended sentence ( Risks 269 ). Mr Bail suffered massive head injuries when he was crushed by a stone-cutting machine at the Change of Style factory in Totton on 13 May 2003. Detective Sergeant Steve Edbury, of Hampshire Police, who led the investigation, told the inquest the automated machine, which cut stone for fireplaces and kitchen worktops, had light sensors around it that immediately stop the machine when someone breaks the continuous beam. It also had hinged guards that, if lowered when the machine was working, would break a circuit and stop it. But DS Edbury said these safety devices had been bypassed because if the machine was stopped the programme had to be started again, costing time and money. A jury accepted directions from coroner Keith Wiseman to rule that Mr Bail was unlawfully killed. A TUC-backed report published last month in Hazards magazine revealed nearly 4,500 workers aged 16 to 24 were seriously injured or killed at work last year, over 20 per cent more than five years ago ( Risks 269 ).
- Redhill and Reigate Life.
- TUC and European Agency 23-28 October European Week 2006 webpages.
- Hazards young workers news and resources.
Teenage squaddie crushed to death
A 19-year-old soldier has been crushed to death at a base in Wiltshire as he took part in a military exercise. Private Michael Minns was performing a check on an eight-wheeled military vehicle with another soldier at the base in Ludgershall. Wiltshire Police say the tragedy is being treated as an 'industrial accident'. The incident is being investigated by both the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Wiltshire Police. A spokesperson for HSE said the soldier became trapped between the vehicle and a mobile flatbed transporter, adding the accident happened when one of the pair raised the bed so that they could perform the checks at a site near the Tidworth Barracks. 'The same soldier then got back into the cab and lowered the bed, and the next thing he heard was someone shouting to him to raise it. For whatever reason, the other soldier was between the raised bed and the bottom of the vehicle,' she said. A statement from Wiltshire Police said: 'The police can confirm that inquiries are being made into the tragic death of a 19-year-old serving soldier on Salisbury Plain. This is being treated as an industrial accident and a joint investigation is under way with the HSE.' The private was from the 9 Supply Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, which is based at a military base in Hullavington.
Police probe into young worker electrocution
Police and safety experts are investigating how a scaffolder was electrocuted while working on a London council estate. Father-of-two Ralph Kennedy, 24, died on 15 September after touching a live light fitting. Mr Kennedy, who had gone into cardiac arrest, was pronounced dead at the scene. His body was then left on the scaffolding platform for at least eight hours until it was taken away around 10pm. Complaints about safety on the Gee Construction site in Camden had been raised at least verbally prior to the tragedy, reports say. Detective Inspector Carol Andrews told the Camden New Journal: 'I am looking at whether it was done on purpose - was he murdered? I am looking at what maintenance has taken place. I am looking around the light fitting that was clearly live.' She added: 'I have to find out what caused it to be faulty. I am investigating who, if anyone, is responsible for his death. If someone's tampered with it, it's manslaughter.' Investigators will be following up suggestions that another worker on the site survived a shock from the same light days before, together with other safety concerns that have emerged about the site. Mr Kennedy's relatives said they had not been allowed to see the site's accident log.
Boy, seven, dies in farm tragedy
A seven-year-old Devon boy has been crushed to death under machinery on his family's farm. Lewis Brook died under a roller attached to a tractor believed to have been operated by a family member at Mount Pleasant Farm near Winkleigh. Police and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) are investigating the incident which took place on 23 September. Lewis was freed from the machinery by emergency services, but was pronounced dead at the scene. The family said in a statement: 'We are sure he would have followed in his dad's and granddad's footsteps as he lived for the farm.' The statement added: 'He was enthusiastic to take over the business when he grew old enough, being the fifth generation who worked on the farm.' Agriculture union TGWU warned in June that 46 children under 18 years old had died in accidents on farms in the last 11 years ( Risks 263 ). Of the 46 reported deaths in the last 11 years, 19 were under 6 years old; six between 6 and 10; 11 between 11 and 15; and 10 were 16 and 17 year olds. TGWU is making four key demands as part of its child farm safety campaign: Raising the age for driving tractors and operating machinery on farms from 13 to 16; providing affordable childcare in rural areas; ensuring supervision of farms and prevention of access to hazardous working areas; and the creation by HSE of a project group to examine how the poor record on child safety can be improved.
Firm fined £3,500 after slurry pit death
A Gretna firm has been fined £3,500 after it admitted breaching health and safety regulations over the death of a worker at a farm near Annan, Scotland. Arthur Graham, 42, died and Brian Reilly, 23, was injured when a wall collapsed. It happened while they were building a slurry pit at Hurkledale Farm near Cummertrees last July. Thomas Powley and Son Ltd of Gretna admitted in court at Dumfries failing to provide a safe system of work. Sheriff Kenneth Ross voiced concern that the method of construction was widely used and did not seem to be covered by building regulations. Depute procurator fiscal Pamela Rhodes said that a fatal accident inquiry was to be held where this could be brought to light. She said that a structure of this size should have been designed by competent civil engineers and Powley had no such qualifications. Solicitor Arnold Brazenall, for the firm, said that while Mr Powley had no formal qualification, during the past 10 to 12 years he had been constructing two or three pits of this type each year. To his knowledge a wall had never collapsed before.
Company pays £10k after mechanic's death
A company has been fined £10,250 for breaking health and safety laws following the death of a worker at a depot it had not registered with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Mechanic Alan Garner died on 1 September last year after a steel frame carrying a lorry engine fell over and hit him on the back of the head. Plant hire firm Go Plant, where Mr Garner had worked for more than 20 years, appeared before Loughborough magistrates and admitted three counts of breaching health and safety laws. HSE inspector Michelle Mannering told the court an 'A frame' gantry used to shift the engine across an inspection pit was designed only to move heavy items up and down, not sideways - but the company had not produced a risk assessment document warning employees not to use it in that way. Mrs Mannering said the firm did not have an adequate risk assessment. 'No mention was made of A frames,' she said. 'It should have identified moving engines on a gantry as high-risk.' Go Plant was fined £250 for not registering the depot with HSE, £2,000 for not having a proper risk assessment and £8,000 for failing to ensure the health and safety of an employee. The firm was also ordered to pay £3,342 in costs.
TUC warning on take-it-or-leave it nanotech scheme
The TUC has said that a new voluntary scheme on reporting of nanotechnology related risks is not sufficiently robust a system. The TUC warning came after last week's Defra launch of its Voluntary Reporting Scheme. Defra admits it has little information on the possible health risks from nanoscale substances. It said: 'There is currently very little information available on the potential risks that these materials may pose to the environment and human health. The scheme is designed, together with a programme of government research, to address this knowledge deficit.' It said a two-year voluntary reporting scheme was its preferred approach, adding it 'invites industry, research organisations and others to provide government with information on the engineered nanoscale materials with which they are working - materials that are so small they are measured in billionths of a metre.' Defra minister Lord Rooker said: 'The nature and focus of Defra's efforts to understand the potential risk posed by engineered nanoscale materials will be greatly improved by a better understanding of the properties and characteristics of the materials with which industry and research organisations are working.' He added: 'Defra's Voluntary Reporting Scheme will provide an important means of co-ordinating this agenda, and it is critical that as many companies and organisations as possible get involved.' The initiative was welcomed by the nanotech industry. Dr Michael Pitkethly, chair of the Nanotechnologies Industry Association (NIA), said: 'The safety of these materials is of paramount importance to the NIA and the scheme aligns with the NIA's advocacy of a measured and responsible approach and has our full support.' However TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said: 'The TUC has argued strongly against a voluntary scheme saying that a robust reporting system, with statutory backing, is needed in this field.' TUC points out that the Health and Safety Executive guidance states that 'as the risks arising from exposure to many types of nanoparticles are not yet completely understood, control strategies should be based on a principle of reducing exposure as much as possible.' Commercial nanoscale products are already produced industrially and used in sunscreens, paints, diesel fuel additives, clothing and other products.
- Defra news release and nanotechnology webpages. Voluntary Reporting Scheme [pdf].
- TUC nanotech factsheet and Hazards nanotech news and resources.
Union scepticism on migrant worker project
A government-sponsored pilot project to curb the exploitation of migrants and other vulnerable workers in the construction industry has been dismissed as 'rubbish' by a union. The scheme is scheduled to launch early next year in London docklands and will run for two years. It aims to bring together unions, local authorities, business groups and advisory bodies to tackle the problems faced by vulnerable workers. However, a report in Personnel Today magazine says the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) has given the project a sceptical reception. Bob Blackman, national construction secretary at TGWU, said: 'This is rubbish. These workers haven't got any rights. They need to be employed by the same firm for a year before they acquire employment protection rights. And that just doesn't happen.' He added: 'If they complain about low pay or unsafe working conditions they are sacked. What the government seems to be looking for is employers who will confess that they are exploiting their workers. It's unrealistic.' The government has insisted that businesses will benefit as the project will look at the help given to employers to meet their employment law obligations. The pilot projects were announced by employment relations minister Jim Fitzpatrick on 11 September ( Risks 274 ). In addition to the London scheme focussing on the building and cleaning sectors, a second pilot targeting the hospitality industry will run in Birmingham. The minister said: 'These pilots will ensure that the most vulnerable workers have better access to support and advice about their employment rights and responsibilities. They will bring together unions, advice groups and businesses to raise awareness of employment rights, and help workers develop their skills.'
- Personnel Today. Socialist Worker.
- DTI 11 September 2006 news release announcing the pilot projects.
Raised lead levels linked to heart disease risk
Two new studies have linked even relatively low lead exposures to a higher rate of heart disease. A report this month in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association found blood lead levels 'generally considered safe' may be associated with an increased risk of death from many causes, including cardiovascular disease and stroke. Researchers studied lead levels below 10 micrograms per decilitre (µg/dL) of blood - this level is a quarter the current US occupational limit. The researchers used data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Mortality Follow-Up Study, involving 13,946 adults whose blood lead levels were collected and measured between 1988 and 1994. When researchers studied those who died by 31 December 2000, they found that death from any cause, cardiovascular disease, heart attack and stroke increased progressively at higher lead levels. The levels studied are common and considerably lower than lead levels perceived by the US government as a concern to public health, said Dr Paul Muntner, author of the study and an associate professor of epidemiology and medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans. In a separate study of South Korean workers published in the journal Epidemiology, Dr Barbara S Glenn, from the US government's Environmental Protection Agency and colleagues found that blood pressure responds relatively quickly to changes in lead levels. The study involved 575 people in South Korea who had worked for an average of 8.5 years in a job that exposed them to lead. The researchers measured lead levels and blood pressure in the subjects, whose average age was 41, from October 1997 to June 2001. The authors found that as lead levels changed on a yearly basis, so did blood pressure. They concluded this suggests that it is not just the cumulative lead dose over a lifetime that influences blood pressure. A recent study linked occupational lead exposure to an increase in brain cancers ( Risks 273 ).
- Andy Menke, Paul Muntner, Vecihi Batuman, Ellen K Silbergeld and Eliseo Guallar. Blood lead below 0.48 µmol/L (10 µg/dL) and mortality among US adults, Circulation, volume 114, issue 13, pages 1388-1394, September 2006 [abstract]. American Heart Association news release.
- Barbara S Glenn and others. Changes in systolic blood pressure associated with lead in blood and bone, Epidemiology, volume 17, number 5, pages 538-544, September 2006 [abstract]. Reuters Health.
Is workplace stress a fad or just plain bad?
Workers are being asked about how modern work practices are affecting their health and well-being. Researchers conducting this year's '24-7 survey' say they 'hope employees in the UK will share their good and bad experiences in an attempt to discover more information about the true nature of modern working life'. The survey is an annual research project conducted by the Work Life Balance Centre and the universities of Keele, Staffordshire and Coventry. Julie Hurst, director of the Work Life Balance Centre, said: 'There is some debate at present as to whether poor work-life balance is a major headache for British business or a modern fad that finds problems where they do not actually exist.' She added: 'Last year's survey found that tired workers were making mistakes that cost money, compromise safety and even put lives at risk through a catalogue of mistakes. These included road traffic accidents, medical mishaps, and workers being contaminated with dangerous chemicals.' Steve French, an industrial relations lecturer at Keele University, said: 'We know that there are many problems associated with the stress of high workloads, while at the same time many people enjoy the role work plays in their lives. We want to highlight examples of good practice in the workplace for making the most of the positive aspects of work and also mitigating against the negative. The survey has an important role to play in informing future policy in this regard.' Denise Skinner, professor of human resource management at Coventry University, added: 'Many people feel that the cost of sickness absence caused by work related stress represents one of the biggest commercial and industrial challenges we face and that modern policies do little to help. Others feel that the problem has been exaggerated. By asking people for their first hand experience of their own working lives and about the interplay between work and family life we want to draw up a fuller picture of what is really happening.'
- Work Life Balance Centre news release [pdf] and website.
- Tell them what you think about stress at work - complete the confidential 24-7 survey.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Japan: Deadly wait for asbestos compensation
At least 170 people have died in Japan in the six months since a compensation law took effect while waiting to hear if the qualify for asbestos disease payouts, a survey has found. The government-affiliated Environmental Restoration and Conservation Agency (ERCA) research also showed that only 242, or 20.9 per cent, of the 1,160 applicants were given official approval for medical expenses and other benefits as of 12 September. The law enacted in February this year stipulates that the government will offer medical expenses and other benefits to those suffering from mesothelioma or lung cancer caused by asbestos. According to ERCA, 764 of the applicants were found to have mesothelioma while 343 had developed lung cancer. The 170 who died accounted for 14.7 per cent of the applicants. They had all been suffering from mesothelioma or lung cancer, according to the survey. If the ERCA decides that the dead claimants had been suffering from diseases caused by asbestos, their bereaved families can request medical expenses and other benefits, including 200,000 yen (£900) for funeral costs.
Pakistan: Journalists and their families under threat
Pakistan has reached 'a new low' in its attempts to silence the press, including killing members of journalists' families, the international journalists' union IFJ has said. The dead includes the young brother of a BBC reporter. Last month Taimur Khan, the 16-year-old brother of BBC correspondent Dilawar Khan was killed, apparently because of Dilawar's reporting. This week, IFJ said it was 'stunned and sickened' by another incident, the murder of Bashir, the child brother of slain journalist Hayatullah Khan. According to IFJ affiliate, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ), it appears Bashir's murder was a message to his family, who had been active in trying to expose Khan's killers. IFJ president Chris Warren said the organisation would be writing to President Pervez Musharraf 'to demand immediate action to prevent relatives of journalists being attacked and killed as a sickening way of silencing journalists.' He added: 'These latest attacks on children who are relatives of journalists have pushed the safety situation in Pakistan to a new low. While the IFJ is deeply concerned at how frighteningly common is has become for journalists in Pakistan to be violently targeted for their work, we are even more alarmed at the disturbing new trend emerging where journalists' family members, particularly children, are being targeted.'
Ukraine: Gas leak kills 13 coal miners
At least 13 miners have been killed by a deadly gas leak at a coal mine in eastern Ukraine, officials have confirmed. They said more than 60 other miners were injured in the incident at the Zasiadko mine in Donetsk on 20 September. Ukraine's emergencies ministry said 'an unexpected eruption of a coal and gas mixture' happened at a depth of more than 1,000m (3,300ft) underground. The Zasiadko mine - one of Ukraine's biggest - has a reputation as one of the most deadly. In 2002, a methane blast killed 20 miners. A similar explosion a year earlier left more than 50 miners dead. In 1999, 50 people were killed in a blast at the mine. A Ukrainian government statement said an inquiry into the disaster would be led by vice prime minister Andriy Klyuyev. It added that criminal proceedings had begun. More than 4,000 miners have been killed at work since Ukraine became independent in 1991.
RESOURCES
Challenging the chip
Challenging the chip: Labor rights and environmental justice in the global electronics industry is the first comprehensive examination of the impacts of electronics manufacturing on workers and local environments from Silicon Valley in California to Silicon Glen in Scotland, from Silicon Island in Taiwan to Silicon Paddy in China. The book not only documents the unsustainable and often devastating practices of the global electronics industry but also describes the creative ways activists, government agencies, and others have attempted to reform the industry - through resistance, persuasion and regulation. The lessons go beyond microelectronics, and give a crucial insight in how to take a safer, more sustainable approach to new industries like nanotechnology, biotechnology or the next 'ology' down the line. There are insightful contributions from labour rights and environmental campaigners, grassroots safety activists, international union experts and top academics.
- Challenging the chip: Labor rights and environmental justice in the global electronics industry, Edited by Ted Smith, David A Sonnenfeld and David Naguib Pellow, Temple University Press , 2006. ISBN 1-59213-330-4. US$25.95. Foreword, contents and chapter 1 and order details. Question and answer with co-editor Ted Smith.
EVENTS AND COURSES
Corporate killing lobby, London, 10 October 2006
Families Against Corporate Killers (Fack) is co-ordinating a lobby outside the Houses of Parliament on 10 October calling for improvements to the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill to make dangerous directors accountable for workplace safety crimes. Relatives bereaved as a result of workplace tragedies will hold photographs of the members of their families who have been killed and will talk to MPs and the press. The event - at Old Palace Yard/St Stephen's Green outside the Houses of Parliament at 10.00am to 11.30am on Tuesday 10 October - marks the Second Reading of the Bill. From 1pm to 2pm the families will meet with MPs in the House of Commons. Fack is urging trade unions and victim support groups to support the event and 'for MPs to attend the meeting in the House of Commons.'
- Fack lobby alert and website . Corporate killing lobby, Old Palace Yard/St Stephen's Green, House of Commons, London, 10.00am to 11.30am, 10 October 2006. Directions .
TUC courses for safety reps
COURSES FOR SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2006
USEFUL LINKS
- Visit 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
Newsletter (5,500 words) issued 29 Sep 2006
