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Number 364 - 12 July 2008
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Risks is the TUC's weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 16,000 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
Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to the TUC at healthandsafety@tuc.org.uk
Union News
'Lax' offshore safety enforcement warning
An offshore union has warned that the industry still does not pay enough attention to safety, two decades after the Piper Alpha disaster took the lives of 167 workers. RMT said safety enforcement is lax, and the number of safety inspectors has fallen by almost 40 per cent since 1994. It added that despite 'significant' safety measures introduced after the 6 July 1988 tragedy, workers are still under threat of being told they are 'Not Required Back' (NRB) if they raise safety issues. There is a feeling among parts of the workforce that the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) Offshore Division has been 'captured' by the industry, the union added. 'This is an industry in which millions in profits are made by the hour, but also one in which the threat of NRB still hangs over workers who dare to challenge their employers on safety issues,' RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. 'The Offshore Division of the HSE responsible for enforcing safety standards has dragged its feet on taking formal enforcement action to the extent that many offshore workers see it more as a poodle than a watchdog. In more than half the 83 offshore visits they made between 2004 and 2007 the installations were considered to be in a poor physical state, but where is the formal enforcement action?' The union said HSE also appears 'reluctant to take any enforcement action' to ensure the appointment and training of safety reps, or to ensure they are properly consulted and protected from victimisation. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Trade unions have been pressing for safety to be given a far higher priority in this sector for many years. Workers have been killed on the rigs in eight of the last ten years and, because of the high price of oil, many installations are operating well beyond their planned life-span.' TUC welcomed the government's announcement of a review of offshore safety progress. 'A full review of the infrastructure and procedures in the offshore industry, including the levels of worker involvement and support for safety representatives, is needed to prevent further tragedies,' Mr Barber said.
- RMT news release. TUC news release. DWP news release. HSE news release. Commons debate, 2 July 2008. Press and Journal and follow up article on the industry response.
HSE relocation risks health and safety
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) administrative staff began a campaign of industrial action this week to protest at plans to move hundreds of staff out of London. The union PCS said so far only 10 out of more than 300 staff had expressed an interest in relocating to HSE's new Bootle HQ. PCS said HSE's business case for this single head office assumed the number opting to relocate 'would be more like 130.' The union said: 'Given this loss of vital skills and expertise, and threats of disciplinary action if staff don't make alternative arrangements, 73 per cent of members voting in a ballot opted to take action short of a strike.' HSE has already seen total staff numbers fall below 3,000, the union said. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: 'Staff in London HQ play a vital and active role in HSE's efforts to keep people healthy and safe at work. Their technical knowledge of health and safety and understanding of the political environment, magnified by years of experience in building relationships with other government departments and stakeholders, makes HSE the modern, world recognised and relevant organisation that it is today.' The union leader added: 'Already, nearly 100 staff and four senior managers, including both deputy chief executives, have left. We believe the risks to the organisation of losing this vital expertise are now too great, which is why we are calling on the HSE and the government to think again.'
Freelance gets injury payout
A freelance screen engineer from Bradford who was injured by a crane at Chester Race Course has secured £35,000 damages. Paul Bowling, a member of the entertainment union BECTU, was working for LED Screen Hire Company at the course. He was dismantling large video screens at the end of a race meeting when he was hit by a Crane Hire Direct Limited crane being used to move the equipment. The 33-year-old explained: 'It was agony. I suffered serious leg injuries - including fractures to my knee and ankle. I'm so angry because it was a complete catalogue of errors. None of the usual briefings were given at the start of this job, and there was a lack of guidance from the crane driver. Also, the steel wasn't properly secured prior to being moved.' BECTU legal liaison officer Andy Egan commented: 'As a result of this accident, our member Paul Bowling has been unable to return to the same level of physical activity required as a screen engineer and he has been forced to take an office-based job within the same industry. Clearly checks should have been made to confirm that the crane was safe and the driver was competent. We hope that other contractors will now take note.'
Six figure settlement for crushed hand
A factory worker whose hand was crushed at work and had to be rebuilt by surgeons has received a £130,000 settlement. A pallet had jammed in the machine Michael Pattison was operating at Carlisle firm Crown Bevcan. The GMB member followed the usual practice of switching the machine to manual to straighten the pallet. When he put his hand into the machine it suddenly and without warning started up again, lifted the pallet and crushed his hand. After surgery and intensive physiotherapy he regained some but not all use of his hand, and has had to give up work and his hobby, golf. The 60-year-old had hoped to continue working until he was 65. Negotiations between union law firm Thompsons Solicitors and the insurers for Crown Bevcan failing to reach a settlement, so proceedings were issued. Commenting on the six figure settlement, Mr Pattison's solicitor Fiona Belgian said: 'The insurers initially refused to agree the right level of compensation however as soon as proceedings were issued an agreement was reached.' Willie Carroll, Mr Pattison's GMB branch secretary, said: 'The company failed to make sure Michael Pattison was kept safe at work. His injuries could have been a lot worse. He was a loyal and dedicated member of staff who could not get back to work because of his injuries.'
Action needed on hours at sea
Port authorities need to get tough on seafarers' working hours, the union Nautilus UK has warned. Opening a Cardiff University seminar this week on fatigue in shipping, general secretary Brian Orrell told delegates that much more effort must be made to enforce maritime work and rest hour regulations. Fatigue is literally killing seafarers, he warned, with excessive working hours having an appalling impact on health and safety - as well as undermining efforts to recruit and retain maritime professionals. The seminar, coordinated by the university and supported by the union, was arranged to discuss the findings of a six-year government-industry research project. The union said the research 'reveals the huge scale of the problem.' Nautilus UK's Andrew Linington presented the meeting with the results of further research carried out by the Nautilus Federation to examine the reasons why many watchkeepers are unable to comply with working time rules.
No sell off for road safety
Unions have welcomed last week's announcement by under-secretary of state for transport Jim Fitzpatrick MP that vehicle safety testing will not be privatised. The news follows a long campaign by members of the unions PCS, Prospect and Unite working in the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA). VOSA is responsible for checking the safety of heavy goods vehicles, public service vehicles and the monitoring of MOT garages. The unions feared outsourcing these functions would go against the government's road safety objectives. Helen Stevens, Prospect negotiations officer welcomed the announcement, but added: 'It is just a shame, however, that the government didn't listen sooner and save the taxpayers millions wasted in consultants' fees.' Jerry Pickford, Unite negotiations officer, said he was 'delighted', adding: 'We have always believed that privatising VOSA was wrong, and would lead to less safe roads in Britain. Virtually every interested part of the industry agreed with us.' And PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: 'This is fantastic news. Not just for our members in VOSA who showed their determination to keep their jobs and the services they provide in the public sector, but also for the travelling public who will be assured that road safety is not for sale.'
Other news
Bus bosses jailed for death cover-up
Two bus firm directors who lied about the hours their drivers worked following a crash in which a 27-year-old worker died have been jailed. Sign writer Martin Pilling died when his cherry-picker was involved in a crash with a bus in Rusholme, Manchester in November 2006. Managing director Vincenzo Casale, 44, and his transport manager David Ellis, 37, both directors of UK North and GM Buses Enterprises, were each jailed for 15 months and were banned from being company directors for ten and five years respectively. Mr Pilling was thrown out of the cabin and under the wheels of the double decker as he erected a sign on a building. His death triggered an inquiry by the Traffic Commissioner and the company was ordered to take its fleet off the road over safety fears. As a result the company went bust. Manchester Crown Court heard how the pair provided fake spreadsheets and deleted databases in a bid to cover the excessive hours worked by their drivers. Following the fatal crash in November 2006, police arrested the driver of the bus, 47-year-old Krzysztof Ociepa. He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but the case was dismissed by a judge. During the course of the joint Greater Manchester Police (GMP) and Vehicle Operator Services Agency (VOSA) investigation, officers discovered the driver had been working for 19 days without a rest when the collision occurred. Under UK driving regulations, drivers must take a minimum of 24 hours rest in any two-week period. The inquiry also revealed that 27 of the 130 drivers employed by the firm, many of whom were Polish immigrants unfamiliar with double deckers, had been in breach of the fortnightly rest rule. Sergeant Alan Johnson, of GMP's traffic section, said: "This investigation has highlighted the unscrupulous working practices of these directors. They had a total disregard for working conditions, allowing many of their drivers to work for days and days without a period of rest.' He added: 'This prosecution shows that GMP will work together with VOSA to expose working practices that exploit employees and put people's lives at risk.'
Widow's anger at crane 'accident' verdict
The widow of a Polish construction worker crushed to death on a Liverpool building site has expressed her anger at an inquest's accident verdict. Father-of-two Zbigniew Roman Swirzynski was struck by a 2.4-ton concrete counterweight which fell from the crane on 15 January last year. He had been employed on the site since December 2003. The inquest heard a 'massive overload' in high winds caused the crane to snap just below the driver's cab. Katarzyna Swirzynski, 34, speaking through her husband's niece Monika Litwin, said outside the court she had thought the UK was 'safe' but the inquest had not told her who was responsible. 'She wants to know who is responsible for taking him away from her and his kids. She is angry because it leaves questions unanswered.' Liverpool coroner Andre Rebello said he would be contacting the government safety minister, Lord McKenzie, under Section 43 of the Coroner's Rules, to alert him to the danger. 'It is up to him to decide whether to raise this matter with the European safety authorities,' he said. Campaigners from The Battersea Crane Disaster Action Group (BCDAG) and Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) held placards outside the inquest with the words 'no more crane deaths'. FACK spokesperson Hilda Palmer said: 'The government need to examine safety standards on these cranes very closely. The law needs to be strengthened and we hope the coroner's letter to Lord McKenzie will be taken up so that further tragedies can be prevented.' BCDAG's Liliana Alexa said: 'We will continue our campaigning until crane collapses and crane deaths end. We will also continue our fight for a central register of cranes. The government say this is unnecessary but we believe it would save lives' (Risks 363).
- FACK/BCDAG news release. Liverpool Daily Post. Contract Journal. Preston Citizen. Eastern Daily Press.
Polish worker died in fireball
A Polish worker who died after a blast at a Sheffield metals factory was not wearing protective clothing that could have saved his life and had not received proper training. Patrycjusz Handzel, aged 24, suffered 80 per cent burns in the explosion at Transition International on 17 March last year. An inquest jury ruled that wearing a protective jacket and trousers would have 'significantly improved the chances of survival.' The jury also found he had not received any induction training in the correct use of the gear, and highlighted errors in enforcing use of protective clothing. No warning signs had been put up in the workplace, there was a lack of disciplinary procedures for those flouting the rules, and there was a dependency on verbal rather than written instructions. Mr Handzel was working the night shift as a melter at the factory. His duties included loading scrap metal into an electric induction furnace. The inquest jury found he had not received training warning him about the dangers of getting water or other contaminants inside the furnace. The jury found the probable cause of the fire was water introduced to the furnace from drums of metal which had been stored outside. That caused the 'huge explosion,' co-worker Anthony Brough said. He was the only other staff member on duty that night. He told the inquest he was so concerned about health and safety issues at the factory - including the language barrier that existed between him and Mr Handzel - he had met his union rep for advice and wrote a letter to the firm's managing director.
Firm fined £10,000 for trainee's fall
A housing organisation has been fined £10,000 after a trainee council plumber fell 3 metres through a skylight onto some stairs. The Haringey Council employee, who was working for arms-length agency Homes for Haringey Ltd, was changing a water tank at a flat on 18 January 2007 when he fell through the skylight, which was covered by loft insulation material, and injured his spine. He was unable to work for 12 months. Homes for Haringey was found guilty of a health and safety breach in the City of London Magistrate's Court and fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £3,562 in costs. The company is an 'Arms Length Management Organisation' (ALMO) working for the council. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector John Crookes called the accident 'totally unacceptable.' He said ALMO responsibilities include 'effectively managing the health and safety of their employees. This unfortunate accident could have been prevented had a simple safe system of work been followed, such as using secured boards to create a stable working platform, and crawling boards where access across the unboarded parts of the loft was required.'
Warning on buried cable dangers
A Yorkshire construction firm has been fined after a worker escaped with burns after coming into contact with a live cable. Hogarth (Construction) Ltd of South Cave was fined £4,000 plus £1,616 costs at Beverley Crown Court for failing to ensure the safety of an employee. In September 2006, Mark Dougherty suffered burns to his hand and face after making contact with a live underground 400v cable on a construction site at North Ferriby, East Yorkshire. The firm pleaded guilty to breaches of the management regulations and the electricity at work regulations. The company was aware that live underground cables were present on site but had not told the workforce. HSE inspector David Stewart said: 'Mr Dougherty was extremely fortunate to only receive superficial burns. This type of incident often has fatal consequences. Nationally, there were 18 worker fatalities due to contact with electricity in 2006-7, nine of these involving workers in the construction industry.'
Government u-turn hits disease sufferers
Workers developing occupational diseases could lose out as a result of a government u-turn on retention of insurance records by employers. The government is pressing ahead with a move to drop the requirement on firms to keep their employers' liability insurance records for 40 years - despite opposition from workplace health groups, lawyers, unions and insurers (Risks 362). It has instead laid before parliament an order to revoke the recording keeping requirement. Critics argue that many occupational diseases, for example occupational cancers, may only develop decades after a worker was exposed to risks. The current requirement on firms to retain their Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance details for 40 years was designed to ensure the insurer responsible for a payout for one of these 'long-tail' diseases - the one covering the firm at the time the negligent exposures occurred - could be identified. Tony Whitston, chair of the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK criticised 'the government's manic determination to reduce administrative burdens on business', which he said was hurting occupational disease victims. 'Retaining insurance records costs each employer next to nothing but the burden and the cost of losing compensation is incalculable: it is not simply a question of financial compensation, but a question of justice and fairness.' He added: 'Introducing voluntary measures rather than a statutory central database for employers' liability insurance instead of the current regulation is totally unsatisfactory: there has to be a statutory requirement to retain and to record employers' liability insurance in a central register.' The forum is urging MPs to sign a 9 July early day motion calling for compulsory registration of employers' liability insurance.
- Asbestos Forum news release [pdf] and briefing [pdf]. DWP ELCI review webpage. DWP employers' liability insurance proposals [pdf].
- Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance, EDM 2010. Has your MP signed the EDM? If not, ask why not: you can find out how to contact your MP here - all you need is your postcode.
Government extends meso benefits
The government has closed a loophole in the disease benefits system that meant that people developing mesothelioma but not exposed at work missed out. On 7 July, the House of Lords approved a law that means from 1 October those with non-occupational mesothelioma - for example, through exposure to contamination on a relative's work clothing - will be entitled to a lump sum compensation payout, in the region of £10,000 per case. The Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) Regulations 2008 set out how and when a claim must be made. This is the latest in a series of measures extending asbestos compensation to differing groups. The general industrial injuries benefit scheme covers most workers. The Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers' Compensation) Act 1979 currently provides lump sum payments to those who have work-related dust disease but who can't claim through the courts. And the Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 this year extended the compensation to cover those with mesothelioma caused by exposure to asbestos as a result of unsafe removal work.
- House of Lords report for 7 July 2008, Hansard.
Port worker gets payout at last
A Felixstowe port worker has received a compensation payout nine years after being serious injured at a container terminal. Doctors said Alan Thorne, 49, from Felixstowe, would never be able to work again because of the back injuries he suffered. He was employed as a terminal operator by Hutchinson Ports (UK) Ltd when he was injured on 8 July 1999. His solicitor Belinda Craig said Mr Thorne was in a steel cage being lowered in a ship's hold when it became tangled against the side, throwing him violently about. He suffered a wedger fracture and regional pain syndrome. Doctors and an employment consultant agreed he could never work again because of the injuries. Mr Thorne's legal team claimed their client was subjected to more than 119 hours of surveillance by Hutchinson Ports, between May 2004 and November 2007, in a bid to undermine medical reports on the extent of his disability. The undisclosed settlement offer only came as the case was being prepared for trial. Solicitor Belinda Craig, from law firm Irwin Mitchell, said: 'Mr Thorne not only suffered a very serious and painful back injury as a result of his accident at work, but he was also subjected to nearly 120 hours of surveillance as the defendants in the case tried to continually discredit his claim.'
More public workers getting stab vests
The growing fear of knife crime in Britain is forcing hospital trusts and local authorities to supply body armour to frontline workers, including accident and emergency (A&E) staff, hospital porters, teachers, benefits officers and traffic wardens. The Observer quotes stab vest supplier Body Armour Company as saying it had received about 10,000 orders for protective vests from local government, with front line NHS staff accounting for most of them. The firm said it had also received orders for body armour from teachers. Company spokesperson Peter Warren said: 'Councils are becoming aware of the need for armour and protecting their staff. We have had many private enquiries from teachers and the rate is going up. Headteachers are aware that teachers are at risk and knife crime is getting worse.' Schools were its biggest growth market, he said. The Observer article said experts believe councils are responding to the new corporate manslaughter law. Peter Warren of the Body Armour Company said: 'If a schoolteacher can sue for £300,000 for stress, what price a school that failed to protect its staff from knives?' He said an order had also been placed by a railway operator for 'ballistic body armour' to protect workers.
International News
Australia: Bust up beckons on safety law
Big business in Australia is set for a bust up with unions over occupational health and safety laws, with the Australian Industry Group calling for a shake-up of standards and enforcement regimes. Australia's safety regulation is currently set at state level, with safety rights for workers and unions and safety duties on employers varying markedly between states. But national prime minister Kevin Rudd last week signed a deal to harmonise occupational health and safety laws country-wide. AIG is urging the government to reject New South Wales' (NSW) tough safety standards, which force employers to prove they are not to blame for workplace accidents. But the proposal will put businesses on a collision course with unions, which want tougher obligations imposed on employers and to be able to prosecute safety breaches themselves, as they can in NSW. The harmonisation plan is set to take effect in 2011.
Europe: ETUC wants paint stripper outlawed
Europe's trade union confederation ETUC is calling for a blanket ban on paint strippers that contain dichloromethane. The union made its position clear as the European Parliament's (EP) Environment Committee prepares to publish its opinion on a Commission proposal to restrict the sale and use of products containing the chemical. The European Commission wants to outlaw all sales to the public, who are often least aware of the dangers of dichloromethane and have least access to protective equipment. Some professional users working away from industrial premises will also be banned from using these products. ETUC, however, says the provisions on professional users are inadequate. The trade union body wants a total ban on dichloromethane-based paint strippers. 'Most professional users of dichloromethane-based paint strippers are self-employed painters and decorators, so member states will have difficulty in stopping unlicensed professionals from using this kind of paint remover,' notes ETUC in a letter to the European Parliament. Dichloromethane damages the central nervous system, mimics carbon monoxide poisoning when inhaled and is a suspected carcinogen. ETUC says Europe's dichloromethane market amounted to 138,000 tonnes in 2003.
- ETUC news release. European Commission proposal [pdf].
Global: Asbestos industry resorts to threats
A top asbestos campaigner in France is facing libel action from an industry lobby group. Unions have vowed to support François Desriaux, a driving force behind the French asbestos victim support group Andeva. This autumn he is scheduled to appear in the Paris regional lower criminal court to answer libel charges brought against him by the Montreal-based Chrysotile Institute. The organisation is claiming 'public criminal libel of a private individual'. It says the institute is described on the Andeva website as 'a body highly active in propaganda and subornation' [inducing others to commit an illegal act]. An alert on the website of the ETUC's health and safety research arm, HESA, notes: 'It takes some gall to attack the 17,000 sufferers of diseases caused by asbestos who are grouped together in Andeva, and to brand their condemnation of those who are responsible for their suffering and their accomplices as libel!' It adds that the institute 'divides its activities between promoting asbestos and harassing the industry's opponents through the media, politics and the law,' giving recent examples. At least one union organisation critical of the institute has also received a recent letter warning the lobby group could resort to legal action. The Chrysotile Institute is heavily reliant on funding from the Canadian federal and Quebec provincial governments. HESA says as a consequence the Canadian government is implicated in the 'mass crime of asbestos use.' The online alert notes: 'Political responsibility for these repeated attacks attaches to the Canadian authorities, which subsidise the asbestos lobby.' It adds: 'The Canadian authorities are not blind to the dangers of asbestos. They have slashed its use in their own country. Almost the entire output is for export, mainly to countries where working conditions are not conducive to effective prevention - chiefly India, Thailand and Indonesia.'
South Africa: Union plans safety strike at Gold Fields
South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has said it is planning industrial action at Gold Fields' four mining operations, in protest at its worsening safety record. Gold Fields is responsible for about a quarter of South Africa's 85 mine fatalities this year. Two weeks ago, two workers were killed at its Kloof mine after a tremor. Peter Bailey, the NUM's head of health and safety, said the union would seek a strike permit from authorities to force the firm to focus on safety. 'The strike could be in mid-August at the latest, or it could be sooner depending on how fast we can prepare,' he said. 'You have to take into cognisance the workers that have been killed at the company's mines. We have to bring to the attention of the public and investors how this company is run.' He said the NUM intended to bus the company's workers to demonstrate at Gold Fields' offices in Johannesburg. A Mine Health and Safety Amendment bill, still to be debated in parliament, is intended to improve safety in mines and would impose bigger fines for safety offenders. The government said mineworker deaths rose by 11 per cent last year, up to 221 fatalities.
Resources
Production and reproduction - the risks
A new guide from the ETUC's safety thinktank, HESA, sets out to improve awareness of work-related reproductive hazards. 'Production and reproduction: Stealing the health of future generations' says potential risks include chemicals, ionising radiation, vibration, heat, biological agents and stress. Adverse effects include male and female infertility, miscarriages, birth defects and impaired child development. The 84-page book includes details of European legislation and workplace reproductive risk prevention case histories.
- Production and reproduction: Stealing the health of future generations, ISBN 978-287452126-6, 10 Euros. Order online.
Events and Courses
TUC courses for safety reps
COURSES FOR APRIL TO JULY 2008
Useful Links
- Visit the TUC 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.
Newsletter (4,900 words) issued 11 Jul 2008
