Risks

issue no 12 - 28 July 2001

Risks is the TUC’s weekly e-bulletin. Risks aims to keep safety reps and others informed about TUC, union and other health and safety news. Edited for the TUC by Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Send views about this bulletin to Owen Tudor. If you know anyone who might want to receive this or future issues, copy this to them or ask them to check out www.tuc.org.uk/risks/ where all issues are archived. To register to receive this bulletin every week, click here.

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CONTENTS - click to see this week’s stories!

• Government will act on safety law, Minister tells TUC

• Progress on roving safety reps

• Employers must learn the lessons of workplace accidents

• Workers' Memorial Day, 28 April 2002

• UNISON demands better protection after paramilitary attacks

• Cabin staff are sick of air rage stresses, says T&G

• Company boards must accept corporate responsibility

• Asbestos victim featured in HSE video dies, age 57

• HSE puts its safety message on the box

• Tell HSE what you want from the European safety strategy

• Passive smoking clogs healthy hearts

• Judge criticised for dropping child death manslaughter charges

• Australia: another worker wins passive smoking payout

• South Africa: union barred from meeting on vanadium deaths

• USA: watchdog says gene tests for strain susceptibility illegal

• USA: union training initiative to curb workplace deaths

• Building a better asbestos register

UNION NEWS

Government will act on safety law, Minister tells TUC

New Minister for health and safety Dr Alan Whitehead MP has assured unions the government will honour commitments to introduce improved safety laws. The Minister told the 19 July TUC health and safety specialists meeting: 'Revitalising health and safety proposed changes to the law. We intend to consult before legislating, but I can assure you that the idea has not fallen off the agenda.' The exchange between the Minister and safety officers from the national trade unions covered specifics including crown immunity, provisional improvement notices, roving reps, charges for HSE materials, occupational health services in construction, corporate responsibility for workplace injuries and illness, passive smoking and workplace stress. The Minister will make the keynote address at the next annual TUC Safety Convention in February 2002.

• TUC press release

Progress on roving safety reps

A voluntary roving safety reps pilot scheme is to go ahead after the HSC found the majority of respondents to be in favour of extending safety reps to cover workplaces without consultation arrangements. The introduction of "worker safety advisers," a variant of the roving rep, follows an HSE discussion document on employee consultation. A TUC briefing notes that over half (55 per cent) of respondents to the HSE discussion document said the law should permit a system of roving safety reps, with fewer than a third (30 per cent) opposed to this idea. All the major employers' organisations were opposed to roving reps; the TUC and unions were supportive. Because of the divergent views, HSC is first introducing voluntary pilot schemes in the construction, leisure (public houses), light automotive manufacturing, retail and voluntary sectors. Each of the 10 to 20 roving rep guinea pigs will receive about 20 days training. Unions are discussing how to ensure how to select, train and support the new reps.

• TUC briefing on Worker Safety Advisers

Employers must learn the lessons of workplace accidents

Lives would be saved if employers were compelled to investigate all significant workplace accidents, including road traffic accidents and bullying, the TUC has said. In its response to an HSC consultative document, the TUC calls for the proposed legal duty to investigate to include: an absolute duty to investigate incidents covered by the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR); a duty to investigate road traffic accidents involving their employees while at work, and all incidents of workplace violence including bullying; and a discretionary duty to investigate near misses where these have the potential, if they happened again, to cause serious or widespread injury or illness. TUC general secretary John Monks said: "The law needs to be flexible, but it must make sure lessons are learnt and tragedies aren't repeated. The law mustn't be a bureaucratic paper chase, or an exercise in shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. RIDDOR provides an objective benchmark that Inspectors can use to identify whether investigations are being used properly, but sometimes employers should go beyond that to prevent history repeating itself with tragic consequences."

• TUC news release

• TUC response to the HSC consultative document

UNISON demands better protection after paramilitary attacks

Violent attacks on hospitals and a community centre in Belfast have been condemned by UNISON. The health service union is demanding better security after attacks on staff at a Belfast hospital's casualty department. Loyalist paramilitaries were blamed for the incident at the Royal Victoria Hospital in which staff were beaten, spat upon and threatened. The threats followed another similar incident when staff at the Mater Hospital in north Belfast were threatened by loyalists in February. After those threats, UNISON held a series of public protests. A separate violent incident in Belfast, this time a gun attack on a community centre, drew further criticism from the union. UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis, said: "It is shocking that innocent children have been caught up in the attack and I would like to send my support to all the UNISON members working at the centre and to the many people who use it everyday.'

• Meeting over threat to hospital staff - BBC coverage

• UNISON comment on the community centre attack

Cabin staff are sick of air rage stresses says T&G

Three quarters of aircraft cabin crew are suffering illness because of the stress brought on by violent and abusive passengers, a study by the T&G union has found. T&G’s survey also found nearly half of cabin staff, 49 per cent, face aggressive passengers regularly. Cabin crew say alcohol is the most common trigger for attacks, involved in 80 per cent of incidents. T&G’s Brendan Gold said: "The survey clearly reflects the concerns of our members in respect of what is fast becoming an epidemic." T&G circulated 1,500 questionnaires among members from different airlines and based its findings on the 765 replies. Air rage has become a safety priority for cabin staff unions worldwide. A 6 July special Day of Action highlighted "the need for governments and the air transport industry to take action against disruptive passenger behaviour." The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), co-ordinating the global campaign, says only half of airlines have policies on air rage, two-thirds provide no training in tackling disruptive passengers and fewer than one in five provide disruptive passenger training for ground crew.

• Staff fear 'air rage epidemic'. BBC news item

• Trouble in the air. BBC online briefing

• ITF Zero Air Rage Campaign page

OTHER NEWS

Company boards must accept corporate responsibility

New HSC guidance on the health and safety responsibilities of company directors and the board members of public sector and voluntary organisations says each Board needs to accept its collective role in providing health and safety leadership in their organisation. The new guide adds that company boards should nominate a director to champion health and safety issues, should review its safety performance regularly and should encourage workers at all levels to become actively involved in health and safety. TUC general secretary John Monks said: "This guidance is a timely reminder that the health and safety buck stops at the top. Unions still want legally binding rules for Directors, but this is a valuable wake up call, and it makes a cogent case for partnership with trade unions. We also want to see versions of this guide produced for the people who run schools and hospitals, because no one at the top is exempt." A formal TUC response to the consultation says separate codes covering health, education and other public and voluntary bodies should be introduced.

• HSE news release

• Directors’ responsibilities for health and safety in priced packs of 10 or individually free of charge can be ordered online from HSE Books. Free on the web [in pdf format]

• Directors' duties for health and safety: getting the board on board. The TUC's response to HSC consultative document CD 167 - Health and safety responsibilities of Directors

Asbestos victim featured in HSE video dies, age 57

Clive Cullender, a sufferer of the asbestos cancer mesothelioma featured in an HSE construction safety video earlier this year, has died age 57. John Flanagan of the Liverpool Victims of Asbestos, paying tribute to Clive, said: 'Mr Cullender gave a graphic account of what life was like as a sufferer from the terminal illness. The video was a collection of personal accounts of those injured and families affected by the industry’s appalling record on health and safety and set the pattern for the conferences sombre duty to make radical changes… It is hoped his appearance in the video will be a fitting and positive tribute to a man who sacrificed his life for others and faced death with fortitude and faith.'

• Tribute by John Flanagan

HSE puts its safety message on the box

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to broadcast 50 TV shorts on real-life issues in the workplace. The safety watchdog has joined forces with Granada TV 'to pioneer a new form of public service broadcasting, by presenting important social issues in a snappy 45-second documentary format, broadcast to prime time TV audiences.' The series runs from 23 July for six months, in the Granada region.

• HSE news release

• Details of the advertising campaign, including some of the personal stories and schedules for the adverts.

Passive smoking clogs healthy hearts

Following a new study showing that 30 minutes of passive smoking exposure can have a substantial impact on the heart arteries of non-smokers, anti-smoking campaign Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) says it will step up pressure on the government to introduce an Approved Code of Practice on passive smoking in the workplace. Accusing the government of dithering over the code, agreed by the HSC last September, Clive Bates, director of ASH said: 'It is as if the blood vessels in the heart react suddenly to small doses of tobacco smoke - almost like an allergic reaction or spasm. This can have the same impact on blood flow as active smoking. For non-smokers with existing heart conditions, other people’s smoke could be particularly dangerous.' He added: 'If something as hazardous as cigarette smoke was leaking from a pipe in a factory, inspectors would close it down, yet there are still 3 million non-smokers in Britain that are frequently or continuously exposed to tobacco smoke at work.' Responding to the new research, the Greater London Authority announced this week it is to investigate the issue of smoking in public places.

• · News item

• ASH press release

• · ASH on the passive smoking ACoP; TUC briefing on the ACoP

• Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) passive smoking and heart disease risk report

• GLA press release

• Another worker wins compensation in Australia

Judge criticised for dropping child death manslaughter charges

Two companies have been fined a total of £50,000 following the death of a 12-year-old boy killed by a reversing lorry while he was tying his shoe laces. Gerard Byrne was killed on 22 June 1999 when he was run over by a HGV reversing out of an animal feed mill (Risks 11). The owner of the mill, Oakes Millers Limited, and the owners of the lorry, H J Lea Oakes Limited, both pleaded guilty to health and safety offences and were also ordered to pay a total of £10,000 in costs. However, the decision of the judge, Mr Justice Holland, to dismiss a manslaughter charge against company director Michael Jepson and a charge of corporate manslaughter against both companies was criticised by the Centre for Corporate Accountability. CCA director David Bergman, who has been advising Gerard Byrne’s parents, said: 'The failure of the judge to allow this case to be put before the jury is a serious setback for those who want to ensure that company directors are held to account for their serious health and safety failures.' He added that directors can evade manslaughter charges 'simply because the immediate cause of the death was the act of an ordinary worker.'

• HSE news release on the fines

INTERNATIONAL

AUSTRALIA: another worker wins passive smoking payout

The official Australian compensation agency has paid substantial compensation to a teacher who claimed smoke-filled staff rooms contributed to chronic lung disease. Melbourne art teacher Owen Brown requires a lung transplant because of a condition which a court described as involving "emphysema, asthma, chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis." Smoky conditions in the staff rooms of three schools the 54-year-old non-smoker taught at over 30 years contributed to the condition. A court awarded around $100,000 compensation (£35,600). Workcover, responsible for the compensation payout, said the case would not be considered a precedent. This is the second six-figure payout to a passive smoking victim in two months. Bartender Marlene Sharp, a non-smoker, recently received a settlement equivalent to £170,000 after developing throat cancer caused by passive smoking at work.

• News item

• Marlene Sharp’s case led to her union campaigning for smoke free pubs

SOUTH AFRICA: union barred from meeting on vanadium deaths

A meeting to discuss the deaths of workers from over-exposure to vanadium pentoxide at Vantech in South Africa failed to get off the ground last week. A Business Report news item says the meeting between South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the department of minerals and energy and the management of Vantech, a vanadium mining company, was planned to discuss the findings of a report following the deaths. But the NUM delegation said it was denied access because of concerns raised by David Msiza, the department of minerals and energy's senior inspector. Moferefere Lekorotsoane of the NUM accused Msiza of having vested interests in the company. "The department is playing hide and seek with us, and this has become apparent in its watered down recommendations in the report," said Lekorotsoane. He added that the action by Vantech's management and the government to exclude the union delegation from the meeting was a clear indication of the two parties working in cahoots. An NUM-commissioned report found that the level of exposure to vanadium dust was 50 times above the prescribed levels in some areas of the plant.

• Business Report news item

USA: watchdog says gene tests for strain susceptibility illegal

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has told Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad that its use of secret genetic testing of some employees violated federal law. An EEOC official said Burlington Northern broke the Americans with Disabilities Act by treating employees with carpal tunnel syndrome as disabled and then discriminating against them. EEOC's regional director in Milwaukee, Chester V. Bailey, said Burlington Northern had acted "with malice or reckless disregard" for the rights of workers. The Washington Post reports that at least a dozen employees who were tested are still negotiating a compensation settlement with Burlington Northern. Bailey asked the railroad and the workers to negotiate a settlement to their dispute. If the railroad declines to negotiate or can't reach a settlement, the EEOC could sue on behalf of the employees or let the workers file their own lawsuit. The US federal disabilities law generally limits punitive damages to $300,000 per worker.

• Washington Post report

• TUC Ban unfair screening report

USA: union training initiative to curb workplace deaths

On average, 150 to 200 people in the US die and 100,000 are injured each year because of falls, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In one state, though, union training skills are being used in an attempt to curb the falls injury and death toll. The Ohio State Building Trade Council, along with local unions, is trying to combat the problem with more training. Through grants from the US Labor Department, the council provides $500,000 for training programs across the state annually. The courses vary from high-work training, lead abatement and asbestos training and everything in between, said Gary Schaeffer, secretary of treasury for the trade council. He told the Columbus Dispatch: "When working on high work, we teach you to have a net underneath or tie off with a harness to make sure you won't fall,'' Schaeffer said.

• Columbus Dispatch news item

ACTION

Workers' Memorial Day, 28 April 2002

Workers’ Memorial Day next year, 28 April, will have an international theme of Improving public health through stronger health and safety, global union confederation ICFTU has announced. The TUC is planning to highlight of occupational health, including access to occupational health services, and rehabilitation. Opening a call for safety reps to suggest how trade unionists should mark the WMD 2002, the TUC's Owen Tudor said: "Workers' Memorial Day is a day for activists, so we want your ideas for 2002 - how should we translate the international theme into British activity?" Meanwhile, the campaign for official recognition goes on. At the 28 April ceremony held last year at the International Labour Organisation (ILO) the Director-General, Juan Somavia expressed full support for the call of a UN-proclaimed commemoration day and he launched a "yellow-black" ribbon as an official symbol for 28 April. The ILO is currently engaged in a process to have the United Nations eventually proclaim 28 April, officially.

• Send ideas for how to mark the 2002 Workers' Memorial Day to Owen Tudor

• See events

• Order copies of De ad but not forgotten, a photo catalogue of workers' memorials around the world, from the TUC

• Hazards magazine round up of Workers’ Memorial Day resources

Building a better asbestos register

The TUC-backed national asbestos location register, AsbestosRegister.com, launched in March this year, needs your input. If a register exists of locations where asbestos can be found in your workplace, TUC would like to see that information added to the national listing. If you want to know more - and there is more, including a 'building profiles database,' a free guide to asbestos materials likely to be found in buildings of various types and ages - look at the website. There’s a 'demo' of how the system works.

• Contact Ross Udall at AsbestosRegist e r.com

• Try the demo

Tell HSE what you want from the European safety strategy

The HSE has published its draft proposals to the European Commission for inclusion in a European Union-wide safety strategy. HSE is now inviting comments on the draft. HSE says: 'The HSE approach will be to welcome the strategy as an important way of signalling the positive contribution of good health and safety to broader economic agendas. The HSE notes the existence of a substantial body health and safety law and the key task of how to build on that and make it effective in practice.' The HSE says it intends to suggest the new European safety strategy has a focus on: delivering measurable improvements for EU citizens; making sure enforcement across the EU is effective dealing with high risks, small and medium enterprises, and changing work patterns: and the role of indicators in getting better OSH - on the basis of a sound understanding of current performance, what is practicable, and what will yield the best outcomes.

• Comments by 3 August to Peter Apostolou, International Branch, HSE, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS

• HSE news release

• EU Occupational Safety and Health Strategy - draft UK submission

• The ETUC’s policy, together with several other background documents, are on a special page of the European Agency for Safety and Health website

EVENTS

European Work Hazards Conference, Vienna, 21-23 September

A worker-sympathetic Europe-wide conference for academics, safety professionals, union reps and shopfloor workers. Conference details. To express an interest, e-mail the delegation co-ordinators for England and Wales (Caroline Bedale) or for Scotland (Jim Swan).

NEW! ECOHSE 2001 Symposium, 26-29 September

The European Centre for Occupational Health, Safety and the Environment (ECOHSE) is holding its second conference, intended to encourage the exchange ideas between representatives of academia, NGOs, trade unions and public policy makers, in Romania. More information from Charles Woolfson at ECOHSE

European week, 15-22 October

European Health and Safety Week 2001 will have the theme 'Success is no accident'. The TUC is backing the week and will be preparing resources to help safety reps in workplace inspections, investigations and reporting. Details from the European Agency, including factsheets on accident prevention, and the HSE’s newsletter (in pdf format).

Law enforcement and corporate accountability, 21 November

The TUC is teaming up with the Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA) for a joint conference to be held at Congress House in London, sponsored by Russell Jones & Walker. Registration costs £25 (£5 unwaged). Details and a downloadable registration form.

Stress, 1 December

National Work Stress Network Conference, NASUWT Hillscourt Conference Centre, Birmingham. This year the theme is 'Revitalising safety and action on workplace stress.' Contact: Ian Draper.

NEW! Workers' Memorial Day 2002: 28 April

TUC is planning to highlight occupational health, including access to occupational health services, and rehabilitation. Ask your union for details of Workers’ Memorial Day events or organise your own. Hazards magazine round up of Workers’ Memorial Day resources

Women, work and health 3rd international congress, 2-5 June

The 3rd international congress will take place in Stockholm in 2002, and registration before 1 March 2002 costs £164 including VAT (not too bad for three days) - but hotel costs for single rooms range from £78 to £184 a night. President of LO Sweden Wanja Lundby-Wedin will be making the keynote address, and we are keen to ensure a bigger trade union presence than at previous events. Details and registration forms.

European Week of Health and Safety 2002: 14-21 October

Next year’s week will take place in Britain from 14 October, on the theme of stress.

LINKS

Visit the TUC health and safety website or the main TUC website pages on health and safety. See what’s on offer from TUC Publications.

Find out about TUC courses for safety reps from September to December:

Wales Scotland East Midlands West Midlands

Southern and Eastern South West North West

Northern or Yorkshire and Humberside - contact the TUC REO

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.

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