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Number 370 - 23 August 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, Hazards Magazine. Comments to the TUC at healthandsafety@tuc.org.uk
- Union News
- Other news
- Trust fined for 'appalling mismanagement'
- Company director jailed for manslaughter
- Scrapyard perjurers cleared of manslaughter
- Firms fined for 'preventable' death fall
- Small fine after three are seriously hurt
- Helpline to tackle Scottish teacher stress
- Council's school asbestos warning
- Women killed by asbestos dust
- International News
- RESOURCES
- Events and Courses
Union News
Work asthma caused mental problems
Electrical engineer Mark Lawrence has been awarded £100,000 - more than six times the original offer - after he developed occupational asthma which led to a psychiatric disorder. The Unite member was working for Lydmet Limited, now Federal Mogul Camshafts Limited, when he experienced shortness of breath at work in April 2001. He collapsed and was taken to hospital by ambulance. Subsequent tests revealed he had developed asthma caused by workplace exposure to metalworking fluids contaminated with bacteria. He recalls thinking he was going to die and whilst at hospital he witnessed a patient dying in front of him. In the following weeks, he became obsessive about his health and although his occupational asthma was being managed effectively with drugs, the emerging psychiatric disorder led to more work absences resulting in him giving up his job and finding alternative employment. When he started a union-backed compensation claim, the company disputed his asthma was connected to his work. The company was also adamant there was no link between its breach of duty and Mr Lawrence's psychiatric condition. However the union's law firm, Rowley Ashworth, was able to present evidence from experts that established the occupational links. Karl De-Loyde of Rowley Ashworth said: 'Given the significant costs issues involved in the case, without the support of Unite Mr Lawrence would probably have accepted the company's initial offer of £15,000. However with the legal protection offered by his union and the persistence of a determined legal team he has secured £100,000 in compensation.'
Council staff 'too scared' to go sick
Workers at Coventry City Council are scared to call in sick because of a 'draconian' sickness and 'health at work' policy, according to a trade union official. UNISON's Sarah Ferguson, quoted in the Coventry Telegraph, said one union member even cancelled a medical appointment because they were too frightened to take time off to attend. She said: 'We have had cases of people coming into work sick, because they are so frightened of coming into the sickness-at-work procedure. People are actually asking to take annual leave instead of sickness. It's frightening.' She said staff feared being caught up in the council's 'promoting health at work' policy under which 75 people lost their jobs last year. Only 35 of those qualified for ill-health early retirement. The newspaper reported that UNISON is taking issue with council rules which mean staff get called in for interviews if they have 10 or more days off sick, or three separate instances of sick leave, in a 12-month rolling period. Sue Iuannantuoni, acting head of human resources at the council, responded: 'The council is a very reasonable employer. It doesn't dismiss people for ill-health or absence issues lightly. We certainly don't bounce people through our promoting-health-at-work procedure.' She added: 'If someone was unlucky and had two bouts of flu in a year, they wouldn't end up being dismissed. If, however, they had an on-going poor absence record, that's a different kettle of fish.'
CWU demands dog attack law
The postal workers' union is pressing for a change in the law to help reduce the number of dog attacks on delivery staff. CWU said up to 6,000 out of 70,000 staff were attacked each year, some seriously. The union says the Dangerous Dogs Act is not offering protection, because of extreme difficulties prosecuting owners of dogs that attack on private land. According to CWU, the problem peaks during the summer months, often because children at home during the holidays allow pet dogs to accompany them to the front door. It wants tighter laws to prevent owners avoiding prosecution and to allow more control orders to be made. CWU national health and safety officer Dave Joyce said: 'The law requires us to deliver to every single address but it doesn't protect our members from out of control, dangerous and aggressive dogs.' He said the union is also calling on the government to bring in stricter sentencing for dog owners convicted of offences. However, a Defra spokesperson said: There are no plans to change the law,' adding: 'Better enforcement of the existing law will reduce the number of incidents.' Postal worker Paul Coleman was attacked at Christmas by two dogs that dragged him about 15ft (4.6m) to a road (Risks 354). Legal action was possible because the attack took place on public land and the owner was jailed for four months. Mr Coleman has yet to return to work because of his injuries.
Union delivers the truth on post perils
Postal union CWU has condemned a media over-reaction to Royal Mail's safety-based decision to suspend postal services to the North Yorkshire village of Booze. Coverage of the Royal Mail move in the press and last week on BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme highlighted the inconvenience to local residents. However, the service is already set to be reinstated after North Yorkshire County Council gave a commitment to complete necessary road improvements. Responding to criticisms on the BBC radio programme, CWU national health and safety officer Dave Joyce said: 'The commitment to the customers has always been second to none, but in the past the welfare and safety of postal workers has been a secondary consideration or given no consideration at all and that had to change. Five years ago we ended up with 40,000 accidents a year, 8,000 of them serious, 25,000 road accidents and 250,000 days lost annually because of accident related sick leave. Unsurprisingly, that poor record drew the attention of the Health and Safety Executive who have been undertaking an annual programme of workplace inspections since then.' He added: 'Firm action has been a long time coming and we commend management's efforts at last to control the risks to our people. We don't want to see deliveries stopped to rural communities but safety is paramount.' He added that the Booze action had prompted road improvements, so 'everybody benefits, residents, postal workers and other visitors to Booze.' Responding to comments by presenter Liz Barclay that delivery suspensions had gone up from 22 in 2004 to 262 in 2007, Dave Joyce said: 'When you consider that postal workers deliver to 27 million addresses in the UK every day, then 262 delivery suspensions is a fraction of nothing and those suspensions are for a whole range of reasons including vicious assaults and dog attacks upon postmen and women as well as accessibility reasons and non-safety reasons.'
- CWU news release. North Yorkshire County Council news release. You and Yours webpages. Yorkshire Post.
Action plan cuts cash van attacks
A partnership between the police, the security industry and the union covering the security sector has led to a dramatic fall in attacks on cash vans, latest figures suggest. British Security Industry Association statistics 'show that the proactive partnership work between the Home Office, Police, the GMB trade union, and the banking, retail and security industries to reduce cash-in-transit crime is continuing to bring results,' GMB said. It added the number of attacks against cash-in-transit couriers fell by 29 per cent in the first six months of 2008 compared to the same period the previous year. Overall there had been a 20 per cent decrease in the number of attacks since the partnership initiative commenced in June last year, the union added. Gary Smith, the GMB national officer covering the sector, welcomed the drop in attacks, but added: 'We all need to do a lot more. GMB's starting point is that we will not be able to eliminate the desire on the part of criminals to get their hands on the cash being transported by our members. We have to put in place a system that makes it all but impossible for them to do so and to get away with it.' He said: 'Where possible we need to engineer the cash in transit system so that there are no opportunities for criminals to get near the cash. Where this is not possible, we need to make it as difficult as possible to carry out attacks, and where attacks are carried out we need to ensure that there is a 100 per cent chance of the criminals being identified and caught.' Offenders must be 'sentenced robustly' to create an effective deterrent to potential criminals, he said.
Nursery nurse gets back payout
A nursery nurse from Newcastle has secured £75,000 damages following a serious back injury at work. Gillian Scott, 42, a member of UNISON, was working at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary when the contents of a box slipped as she was placing it in a cupboard, causing her to fall against the door which sprung back on her. She twisted her back and fell onto equipment in the cupboard. Mrs Scott said: 'I injured my back very seriously and had to have a spinal operation. I was off work for a long time, and then had further relapses. Although they reduced my hours, I haven't been able to resume work as a nursery nurse and alternative employment is being considered.' Gill Hale, UNISON Northern regional secretary, commented: 'Mrs Scott's injuries could easily have been avoided if the correct health and safety procedures had been adhered to. Instead, due to the Trust's negligence, Gillian's world has been turned upside down and she has suffered a lot of pain as well as being forced into giving up a job she enjoyed.' Commenting on the settlement reached with Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Hazel Webb from the union's law firm Thompsons Solicitors said: 'We reached a settlement one day before the trial was due to take place at Newcastle upon Tyne County Court. We're relieved for Mrs Scott that it's all over. At just 42, her career as a nursery nurse has been cut short and she deserves every penny of her compensation.'
Electrician gets £250,000 for back injuries
A Unite member working as a contract electrician has been awarded £250,000 for the back injuries he sustained when he fell at a Tarmac site in 2003. The unnamed worker was walking from a substation to a compressor shed to carry out maintenance work when his right foot broke through a thin skin of hardened cement slurry. He lost his footing and twisted his back. Tarmac Limited's insurers claimed that during his induction training the union member had been told to use a safer route. In fact, Rowley Ashworth lawyers, acting for the worker on behalf of Unite, established he had received no such training and that it was normal practice to walk through the slurry area. There were no physical barriers preventing this and no signs warning people not to walk through the slurry area. To walk via the water recycling tanks, Tarmac's 'safer' route, would have involved stepping over two open drains both of which are two feet wide and one foot deep and under overhead conveyors where bricks were known to fall. Rowley Ashworth rejected the insurer's offer of contributory negligence to agree liability on a 75:25 split in favour of the member and issued court proceedings. A final settlement of £250,000 was achieved three weeks before the scheduled trial.
Asbestos cancers lead to six figure payouts
An asbestos cancer widow and a worker diagnosed with the same incurable disease have both received £190,000 payouts. The widow of Unite member James Rattray received the compensation after he died as a result of exposure to asbestos whilst working as a maintenance engineer at Basingstoke Hospital between 1966 and July 1997. As part of his duties he maintained boilers and pipe work which was covered with asbestos lagging. Mr Rattray died of the asbestos cancer mesothelioma in 2005, aged 64. An unidentified Unite member who also contracted mesothelioma has been awarded the same sum, after being exposed to asbestos while worked for Samuel Pegg & Sons from 1965 to 1973. The company, which made dyeing and finishing machines for the textile industry, at one time used to pack insulation material containing asbestos around parts of the machinery and fitted lagging sheets between the double skins of tank sides to retain heat. The member was diagnosed with mesothelioma in August 2006 and has subsequently undergone radiotherapy and chemotherapy. His life expectancy is considerably reduced. Dave Fisher of Rowley Ashworth, acting on behalf of Unite, said: 'The member now works for Argos Plc as a warehouse operative and suddenly discovers he has mesothelioma as a result of his exposure to asbestos for a period of four years in the 1960s.'
- Rowley Ashworth Solicitors news releases on the Basingstoke Hospital and Samuel Pegg & Son cases.
Other news
Trust fined for 'appalling mismanagement'
'An appalling catalogue of mismanagement' at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital has resulted in a hospital Trust paying out £18,500 in safety fines. Boston Magistrates' Court was told this week how necessary safety measures relating to the use of glutaraldehyde, a chemical used to develop film in x-ray machines, had not been in place. The chemical is a sensitiser which can cause severe skin irritation and can cause asthma and other breathing problems. An investigation in 2006 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed risk assessments had not been carried out, monitoring was not completed, and the necessary control measures for the substance had not been in place in the radiology department at Pilgrim Hospital, said HSE inspector Joanna Anderson. A visit by HSE inspectors to the Pilgrim Hospital at Boston revealed employee Anna Chapman had been cleaning the film processor for several years without proper safety precautions, exposing her to the sensitiser. HSE's Jo Anderson said: 'The Trust placed the health of one its workers at risk by failing to properly identify the risk of exposure and putting appropriate controls in place. In fact, the risk was only identified when HSE staff visited the hospital and banned the use of the film processor until steps were taken to reduce the exposure risks.' On sentencing, chair Sally McCracken said there had 'been a clear failure of management to such an extent they had stopped doing spirometric testing (to test lung function) and failed to identify glutaraldehyde was being used', amounting to an 'appalling catalogue of mismanagement.' She added: 'The fact that there was no injury to employees is considered luck.' United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust pleaded guilty to health and safety offences and was ordered to pay the fine and costs of £3,500. The Trust said it stopped all use of glutaraldehyde in April 2007.
Company director jailed for manslaughter
A company director has this week been jailed for 12 months for manslaughter after a Chinese builder died while working for him. Wu Zhu Weng was pronounced dead at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital after the fall in January this year. He had been working for Alcon Construction on the refurbishment of The Panary, a bakery and café at Trowse (Risks 368). Director Sharaz Butt, 44, pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges last month. Butt also admitted one health and safety breach and three further health and safety breaches on behalf of the company. At the sentencing hearing this week, Judge Peter Jacobs told Butt that his disregard of health and safety procedures was 'total lunacy'. He jailed Butt for 12 months and disqualified him from acting as a company director for five years. He also ordered the company to pay a nominal fine of £10 after hearing that it had virtually no money or assets. He added: 'I would like to make it clear that in normal circumstances the fine would run into tens of thousands of pounds.' Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Peter Nickerson, commenting after the case, said: 'The sentence imposed illustrates the extremely serious nature of health and safety regulations. They have fallen far below the standards expected in this case. In this case a few simple banners would have prevented a tragedy. Health and safety should be managed, not just in the planning stage but then controlled by approved measures.'
Scrapyard perjurers cleared of manslaughter
A Dorset firm where bosses broke criminal safety laws leading to the death of an employee, then pressured staff to give 'false and erroneous evidence' to cover their tracks, has been found not guilty of manslaughter. Thomas Mooney, 64, was helping to cut cylinders of highly dangerous gases when an acetylene cylinder exploded at the site in Poole, Dorset, in 2005. He was engulfed in flames and died at the site. Reliance Scrap Metal Merchants (Parkstone) and one of its directors were cleared of manslaughter charges at Winchester Crown Court last week. The company had previously pleaded guilty to two counts under health and safety legislation and director David Matthews, 56, who was also seriously injured in the explosion, was found guilty of two health and safety offences. Mr Matthews also pleaded guilty to one charge of perverting the course of justice and was found guilty of two further counts. He was cleared of manslaughter. Fellow director Michael Anderson, 48, was found guilty of one count of perverting the course of justice but cleared of a second count. The incident was the subject of an 18-month investigation by detectives from Poole CID, Dorset Police's Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT), investigating officers from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) as well as HSE laboratory staff. This led to the Crown Prosecution Service agreeing that charges of manslaughter, corporate manslaughter and safety offences should be brought, with additional charges of perverting the course of justice added later. Detective inspector Jez Noyce, of Dorset Police's MCIT, said: 'There is nothing that we can do to bring back Mr Mooney but it's my hope that the guilty verdicts on the health and safety counts will act as a warning to all employers to make absolutely sure that they have processes in place to ensure the safety of their staff.' He added: 'In this case, the two defendants used their position in the company to pressurise and manipulate their staff into giving false and erroneous evidence.' Sentencing has been adjourned until September.
Firms fined for 'preventable' death fall
Two firms have been fined more than £100,000 for the 'entirely preventable' death of a Midlands worker and father of two who fell more than 20ft from a tower scaffold. Darren Handley, 36, died in October 2004. Smethwick-based Spanclad Ltd and its principal contractor, Derby-based Westminster Building Co Ltd were both fined at Northampton Crown Court earlier this month for breaching health and safety laws. Spanclad Ltd was fined £80,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 costs after pleading guilty to breaching health and safety legislation. Westminster Building Co Ltd was fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 costs after pleading guilty to safety offences. The two companies were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following an investigation of the incident. The refurbishment worker was one of four employed by Spanclad to carry out the re-cladding of a warehouse on an industrial estate in Northampton in October 2004. Mr Handley was working on a tower scaffold on timber boards, which were placed on top of a fragile cement-sheeted canopy in the warehouse loading bay. The scaffold's top rail was missing and the tower was placed at an angle, causing it to move. Mr Handley fell about seven metres from the tower scaffold, through the canopy on to the yard below, suffering fatal injuries. HSE inspector Richard Lockwood commented: 'This was an entirely preventable incident. Darren Handley was killed when he fell from a tower scaffold, which was not the right equipment for the work he was undertaking and was also erected incorrectly. This tragedy could have easily been avoided if the two companies had properly planned the work to ensure adequate safety measures were in place for people working at height.'
Small fine after three are seriously hurt
A Wolverhampton scaffolding firm has been fined £3,300 after an incident in which three workers were seriously hurt. Pedley Scaffolding was also ordered to pay costs of £5,318 at Stafford Magistrates' Court last week after pleading guilty to safety breaches. The court was told three men in their 20s fell about six metres in June last year when scaffolding collapsed into Station Street in Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire. All three scaffolders suffered fractures, including one who broke his hip, ankle and foot and both knees. Pedestrians and road users were also at risk. Speaking after the case, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Tariq Khan said: 'Pedley Construction failed to provide a safe system of work and adequate training and supervision associated with the erection of scaffolding. All employers have a responsibility to ensure that safe working practices are in place, because failure to do so could well cost lives, as well as enforcement action from HSE. These three men suffered serious injuries, which kept them from work - but it could have been much worse.' He added that falls from height at work resulted in 45 deaths last year, of which 23 were in the construction industry. In addition, 3,750 workers were seriously injured after falling from height, 3,409 of these in construction jobs.
- HSE news release and construction and falls webpages. Sunday Mercury. Contract Journal.
Helpline to tackle Scottish teacher stress
A 24-hour counselling service has been launched to provide Scottish teachers with practical and emotional support. The free service, set up by the charity Teacher Support Scotland, will be staffed by qualified counsellors. Local authority data has shown two sick days per teacher were lost to stress and depression in Scottish schools last year - more than three times the UK average. A trial telephone counselling service found a third of calls related to working conditions (32 per cent), followed by personal issues (24 per cent) and health and wellbeing (18 per cent). The new support line will run 365 days a year and will be accompanied by an online service. Teacher Support Scotland chair, Ivor Sutherland, said: 'We're rightly proud of our education system, but its distinctive nature inevitably means the challenges faced by Scottish teachers sometimes differ from the rest of the UK.' A Glasgow University study in 2004 suggested the most common reason for job stress was pupil indiscipline. Administrative paperwork and relationships with colleagues and parents were also common reasons for work-related stress.
Council's school asbestos warning
Denbighshire County Council could face prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) if it fails to deal safely with asbestos in Prestatyn High School. The council has suspended a staff member after an attempt to remove asbestos failed to meet HSE standards. The watchdog has ordered that the work must be completed by the end of September. The local authority said action was being taken and the work would not affect pupils and staff returning to school at the beginning of September. The work relates to asbestos pipe cladding at the school. An HSE spokesperson said: 'There is an improvement notice on the removal of asbestos at Prestatyn High School. It was issued on June 27. There is a compliance date for the work to be completed by the end of September. If the council fails to do so it is a criminal offence, and it could face prosecution.' A council spokesperson confirmed an HSE improvement notice had been served, adding: 'An action plan is already being implemented and we shall be meeting the HSE to ensure compliance with their requirements.' She said 'that a member of staff has been suspended pending the results of an internal investigation.' Earlier this year, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) called on the government to carry out a survey of all UK schools to check whether asbestos is present.
Women killed by asbestos dust
The recent cancer deaths of two women highlight the risks posed by asbestos even to those in non-industrial jobs. Doreen Brown, who lost her 56-year-old daughter Linda Pyke to mesothelioma in September 2003, has been awarded £160,000 by the High Court in London. Her only child died after inhaling deadly asbestos dust when working as a seamstress for Harmer's clothing factory. Mrs Pyke had sewn firefighters' jackets which were lined with asbestos while working at the factory for seven years. In a second case, June Yeomans died from mesothelioma caused by breathing in dust from the overalls worn by her husband, David. Mr Yeomans, 75, worked for British Rail for 25 years as a fitter and turner. Mrs Yeomans died aged 72 on 31 July after a 10-month battle with cancer. A Nottingham inquest last week was told she had no exposure to asbestos in her career as a school teacher. Recording a verdict of accidental death, Notts coroner Dr Nigel Chapman said: 'We know that she had a cancer and died of an asbestos-related disease. She has not developed it whilst at work but through washing her husband's clothes.'
International News
Canada: How to kill a UN convention
It's not every day that Canada gets to kill a UN convention. Writing in the Toronto Star, one of Canada's most respected newspapers, Kathleen Ruff reveals that with the Rotterdam Convention, which controls trade in the world's most hazardous chemicals and pesticides, Canada is coming close to achieving this result. The human rights expert writes that the Rotterdam Convention gives countries the right to be informed about, and to refuse, extremely hazardous chemicals and pesticides. For more than two years, the committee has called for chrysotile asbestos (white asbestos - the only form used in the world today) to be put on this 'prior informed consent' list. It meets every criterion in the convention. But she writes that in 2006, Canada brought the convention to its knees by blocking a consensus for chrysotile asbestos to go on the list. 'Today, asbestos is a dying industry with one last asbestos company in Quebec and about 700 asbestos miners,' she concludes. Commenting on the new round of the Convention discussions in October, she writes: 'The remaining asbestos miners in Quebec and their community deserve real assistance, environmental cleanup and transition funding. The federal government has given $19 million (approx £9.5m) to market asbestos overseas. Surely it can provide equal funding to help the asbestos miners and stop killing the convention... We are at a pivotal moment. It's time for Canada to stop acting like a rogue state and instead allow chrysotile asbestos to be listed under the Rotterdam Convention.'
- Toronto Star article by Kathleen Ruff and editorial backing a ban and just transition. Rightoncanada.ca.
China: Coal mine explosion kills 26
Chinese rescuers have recovered the last four bodies of miners killed in an 18 August gas blast at a coal mine in northeast China, bringing the death toll to 26. A total of 81 miners were working underground when the incident happened at the Baijiagou colliery in Liaoning Province, said Sun Shikui, head of the general hospital affiliated to the Tiefa coal industry group. Eleven miners were injured in the incident, four of them seriously. A statement from the official news agency Xinhua said family members of 20 dead miners whose bodies were already cremated, had signed compensation agreements with the coal mine. The mine promised each family a minimum of 200,000 yuan (about £7,000) as compensation. China's coal mines are the world's most dangerous with more than 3,700 deaths a year in explosions, fires and floods. Many accidents are blamed on small mines with low safety standards, or those operating illegally. In July, state media reported that safety has improved in the first half of 2008. The death toll for each million tons of coal produced fell to 1.05 people in the first half of 2008, compared to 1.485 for all of 2007 and 3.08 for 2005, officials said. They said this was because of improvements in control of gas in mines.
USA: How manufacturing doubt kills workers
It happens all the time. When a study is published linking a workplace chemical to serious disease, a scientist working for the industry disputes the finding. Writing in the current issue of Hazards magazine, US academic David Michaels reveals industry has taken its lead 'directly from the tobacco industry's playbook', employing the same tactics and the same public relations firms. Michaels, who heads up the Washington DC-based Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP) and is the author of the acclaimed book 'Doubt is their product: How industry's assault on science threatens your health', obtained thousands of secret documents that reveal how this 'product defence' strategy has ensured the continuation of high workplace exposures to substances including chromium 6, beryllium, dyestuffs, lead, benzene and other potent causes of cancer and other occupational diseases. In one example, a DuPont factory in the US, he obtained a letter sent by the firm's medical director admitting 100 per cent of the workers manufacturing a particular chemical developed bladder cancer; as is the norm, the workers were unaware of the risks they faced. Michaels concludes: 'If a scientist is paid by a polluter or a manufacturer of dangerous products, her or his judgment is inevitably clouded by that financial relationship; this is true even for scientists who have great integrity and who try to be honest.' In the future, he says, there must be a strategy designed to 'reduce hazards before people get sick or the environment is irreparably damaged. We don't need certainty to act. It is time to return to first principles: use the best science available, but do not demand certainty where it does not exist.'
- Spin cycle: Product defence - how industry money protects killer chemicals,
- Project on Scientific Knowledge and Public Policy (SKAPP).
- Doubt is their product: How industry's assault on science threatens your health,
RESOURCES
Everything you need to know about Hazards
The new edition of Hazards, the only independent magazine for trade union safety reps, is available now. With features exposing how companies get away with murder, buy science that gives their toxins a clean bill of health and intimidate those who object, it's the essential reality check for safety reps. And it will give your eyes a break from the computer. Union reps qualify for massive discounts too, so you can get award-winning health and safety journalism at a knockdown price. You can get a free taster online - but remember, union subscriptions to the magazine are needed to maintain this essential and unique resource, so make sure you order a subscription too.
Events and Courses
European Works Hazards Conference
If you enjoyed this year's Hazards Conference in Keele then why not try the European Hazards Conference. It is to be held in Bologna October 10th to 12th 2008. The format is similar to that for Hazards Conferences held in UK. The cost is ?510 for single room, ?420 + ?85 for single room extra night and ?105 shared room extra night. Additional meals cost are also available and full details are on page 10 of the information pack attached. Flight costs to Bologna or Milan (about 1-2hrs away) around about £100 to £150 return flight costs including taxes, can be found on the web from most major UK airports. The deadline for registration is 31st August. If you want to attend, or want more information then e-mail mail@gmhazards.org.uk to book your place now [marked for the attention of Caroline Bedale]. If you fancy a weekend in Italy sharing health and safety and related issues with our brothers and sisters from Europe, then don't miss this opportunity
- Details and registration form http://www.ewhn.eu/
TUC Courses & Useful links - as previous issues
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.
- email healthandsafety@tuc.org.uk
Newsletter (5,500 words) issued 22 Aug 2008
