Risksissue no 37 -19 January 2002Now read by over 3,000 subscribers a week! |
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Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to Owen Tudor. PLEASE FILL IN OUR FIRST EVER ONLINE READER’S SURVEY AND SEND IT BACK (BEFORE 1 FEBRUARY PLEASE) BY PRESSING 'SUBMIT' AT THE END - CLICK HERE TO START! CONTENTS
Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 3,000 subscribers and 1,000 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 Privacy The TUC website lists future health and safety events in What’s On - new events are covered below. FEATURE - ASBESTOSMPs slam asbestos firms and insurance companiesMPs have labelled asbestos companies 'spivs,' 'crooks' and 'killers' using bankruptcy and other ruses to evade compensation payouts. A 16 January adjournment debate in the House of Commons heard a series of MPs demand action. The MPs believe companies that have negligently exposed workers to asbestos are now trying to dodge their liabilities and escape millions in compensation payouts. Leeds Labour MP John Battle said the unscrupulous acts were a 'classic example' of "corporate manslaughter". He said the latest in a serious of scandals involving asbestos companies and their insurers involved Turner and Newall, once Britain’s largest asbestos company. 'Games are being played in the world of insurance. We are in murky waters when we consider Turner and Newall's insurance cover. It now claims to be self-insured. I have a copy of the ‘General Report and Background to the Proposals of the Joint Administrators’. The company went to the administrators and asked, ‘Please make us bankrupt,’ even though it is trading, getting millions of contracts every week and making millions of pounds.' His Labour colleague Tony Lloyd MP added: 'The real concern is that many crooks are involved, some of them in high places in the insurance and other companies.' Portsmouth Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock said: 'The directors of those companies are nothing short of corporate spivs, as they have given people no support, no protection under the law and little or no opportunity to get decent compensation.'
TUC calls for tougher EU laws on asbestos exposuresThe TUC has said a planned European asbestos law should be beefed up. It says the draft directive 'does not go far enough' and is calling for: further reductions in the permitted exposure levels for asbestos in removal, repair and renovation work; a requirement that employers should survey all their buildings for asbestos, and make the results of those surveys publicly available; and the Commission to bring forward further proposals to deal with second-hand use of asbestos, and improving compensation for asbestos related diseases. TUC says it welcomes other provisions in the draft Euro law that would: improve the competence of contractors; improve the training provided to workers likely to be exposed; and require that materials being demolished, repaired etc are identified before they are worked on, so that risks can be assessed and controlled better. TUC is urging safety reps to write to their MEPs in support of the TUC position. ABB asbestos claims 'set to soar'Ballooning asbestos litigation and clean-up expenses in the US could cost Swiss-Swedish electrical engineering giant Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) $3 billion - six times more than company estimates - according to an analyst report obtained by BBC News Online. The BBC cites a report saying asbestos claims could grow tenfold over the next decade to 660,000. BNP Paribas industry analyst Thomas Ringkvist says in the report: "The final cost to ABB of pending and future asbestos claims could be substantial compared to the $595m sum currently provisioned in its balance sheet." ABB spokesperson Thomas Schmidt dismissed the BNP Paribas report as just "one of a very wide range of analyst opinions of our asbestos exposure ... It is really an opinion." Australian company "smuggled" asbestos inUnions have threatened action against chemical giant Orica, accusing it of smuggling interstate workers on to a Melbourne site to fit asbestos gaskets banned by Victoria's Trades Hall Council. Angry Melbourne construction workers had walked off the job, only returning after assurances from the Trades Hall that action would be taken. Trades Hall building boss Brian Boyd said the union body had a 20-year-old health and safety policy that banned the fitting of new asbestos products in buildings. Orica was aware of the union position and was working with them to find an alternative, he said. "There was a clear breach of faith," Mr Boyd said. ACTIONDoes your MP support the safety motion?Join the union campaign to secure additional resources for health and safety! Paul Noon, joint general secretary of the HSE inspectors’ union Prospect told the All Party Parliamentary Occupational Safety and Health Group on 15 January that HSE needs an extra £35 million for more inspectors and to deliver the government’s Revitalising health and safety strategy. The All Party meeting attracted the highest ever turn-out of MPs, who agreed to urge their parliamentary colleagues to sign Early Day Motion 454 calling for extra government resources for safety. TUC is urging safety reps to make sure their MPs are backing the motion.
The small business of safetyResearchers in the UK, Spain, Sweden and Italy are to examine how union and workforce participation can improve safety in small firms. 'Participation in prevention in small enterprises: Identifying, evaluating and disseminating good practice' is a European Agency for Safety and Health at Work-funded research project for the European TUC. TUC-backed UK researchers David Walters and Pete Kirby of South Bank University 'are asking unions and safety reps for examples of schemes of worker representation (and other representative structures) designed to raise health and safety standards in small workplaces.'
UNION NEWSEmployers are getting it wrong on asthma, says TUCEmployers are paying out billions in lost staff, lower productivity and high compensation payouts because they are failing to substitute asthma-causing substances in their workplaces. No substitute for action on asthma reports the findings of a TUC survey of almost a thousand union safety reps that shows fewer than one in 10 employers are substituting asthma causing substances with safer alternatives. Over the economy as a whole, asthma could cost £3 billion over the next decade, concludes TUC. TUC general secretary John Monks says: "Enough is enough. Asthma is simple to control in the workplace because unlike the things that cause asthma in children, employers can control what their workers are exposed to. Employers need to wake up and stop their workers suffering needlessly." The TUC survey findings will be presented on 21 January to the first meeting of a HSE Project Board. The board has set up to oversee a programme of action to reduce rates of occupational asthma ahead of the introduction of a legally-binding code of practice on asthma in the summer (Risks 23). Every year, between 1,500 and 7,000 adults develop asthma because of their work. Recent research suggests that workplace exposures cause a third of all adult-onset asthma.
TUC praises "Labour website of the year" - www.hazards.orgThe TUC-backed Hazards magazine has won the sixth annual 'Labour website of the year' award, voted for by trade union e-activists, for its website at www.hazards.org Over three thousand trade unionists voted in the online poll organised by LabourStart, the main international trade union website, and the Sheffield-based grassroots trade union safety site beat a field of 22 other shortlisted union web-sites from around the world. TUC general secretary John Monks said: 'Hazards is an invaluable tool for trade unionists in Britain and, as this poll shows, around the world. Health and safety is now a global concern, and trade unions need to take a world-wide view of protecting people in every workplace.' Hazards web editor Jawad Qasrawi said: 'Our information targets unions because unions make workplaces safer. When unions are fully consulted on workplace safety the ‘safety rep effect’ kicks in, and the workforce is half as likely to suffer a serious injury. Safety reps convert information into action.'
Clerics back Workers’ Memorial DayThe Clergy and Church Workers’ section of trade union A micus is supporting Workers’ Memorial Day, Sunday, 28 April 2002. The union has produced materials for distribution to churches including a briefing about the Day and a prayer, and so far, over eight thousand churches have ordered them. The intention is to get Workers’ Memorial Day covered in church newsletters, sermons and services all over Britain. Risks readers with links with local churches should draw these materials to the attention of their church community.
Euro MPs crack down on safety fine evasionThe TUC has welcomed a decision by the European Parliament to support measures designed to stop firms that are found guilty of breaking health and safety laws escaping their fines. MEPs backed a report on mutual recognition of fines that would prevent companies based in one EU country refusing to pay fines imposed in another. Corporate fine dodgers have cost the taxpayer and the HSE millions (Risks 20). The TUC and employers’ organisation the Construction Confederation launched a joint campaign in September 2001 to establish mutual recognition of fines for breaches of health and safety laws. TUC general secretary John Monks said: 'We are delighted that the European Parliament has backed the call from unions and employers. Common sense and natural justice demand that employers shouldn’t be allowed to flee over the border to escape their responsibilities. When this becomes law, honest companies won’t lose contracts to unscrupulous employers who can undercut safe, sensible bids because they don’t have to pay any fines when their corner-cutting lands people in hospital and the employers in court.'
CWU tackles cycle deaths head onConcerns about the safety of postal workers on bikes has led to agreement between Royal Mail Service Delivery and the Communication Workers’ Union on cycle safety. The move follows five cycling deaths in the company’s workforce in a three year period. Royal Mail has a fleet of 30,000 cycles, by far the largest cycling workforce in the UK. In an initial trial, Royal Mail will supply high visibility garments and cycle helmets to bike-borne staff at three workplaces. The union says most cycle fatalities would be prevented by the use of helmets, something confirmed by Royal Mail commissioned research. CWU wants all workers on bikes provided with helmets and suitable high visibility garments.
Jobcentre dispute: PCS calls in ACAS, safety reps call on MPsAfter more than four months of industrial action, including a 48 hour national strike in December and another planned later this month, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) has called in ACAS to break the stalemate. The union wants the conciliation service to force benefits office management back into talks. PCS action follows concerns about possible violence in new open-plan Jobcentre Plus offices. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary elect, said: "We have done everything possible to settle this dispute and prevent further strike action but management will not engage in constructive talks. On management's request we put forward detailed proposals for safety measures we felt would protect our members in Jobcentre Plus offices, they were dismissed without further discussion… We are ready to develop a flexible solution to solve this dispute and begin to deliver Jobcentre Plus, but we will not gamble with the safety of PCS members." The union is holding a rally for members and a lobby and briefing for MPs on 29 January. The drop-in brief for MPs will run from 3pm-5pm in Room P in Portcullis House - Risks readers should urge their MP to attend. OTHER NEWSBid to curb sicknote demandsA campaign to urge employers not to request a doctor's note every time a worker is off sick could prevent 2.4 million unnecessary consultations, health minister John Hutton has claimed. Sick pay regulations mean that employees do not have to get a doctor's certificate until they have been off work for seven days or more. However, many bosses are still demanding the note for shorter absences. This not only means that a sickly worker has to drag themselves to the surgery unnecessarily, but also that the GP has to waste time writing out the certificate. TUC disability officer Richard Exell said: "The TUC supports this campaign. Some employees have to get a doctor's note to claim sick pay from their employer's scheme, even for short periods of sickness. This wastes the time of doctors and patients, and doctors will often charge workers for notes in these circumstances." Five charged in dock death protestFive people have been charged by police after a peaceful picket at Euromin's Shoreham docks. The protest followed the acquittal in December of Euromin and its general manager, James Martell, on charges of manslaughter relating to the death of casual worker Simon Jones ( Risks 31 ). The five were charged under section 241 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992 for 'besetting.' One of the accused, Carly North, 25, said: "I just wish the police and the powers that be would put more effort and resources into arresting managers who risk their employees lives without people having to organise protests to make them. I'm no legal expert, but it seems to me that that would make a lot more sense than charging people who are trying to prevent more deaths." Injured farmworker awarded £3 millionA Tyneside farmworker who was left severely head injured after falling through an unsafe roof has been awarded £3million compensation by Newcastle High Court. The money is being paid into a trust fund by the National Farmers Union’s insurers to meet the costs of the care and treatment he will require for the rest of his life. After the 1994 accident John Cook, now aged 35, was treated for a fractured skull. He required emergency surgery, including a tracheotomy, and remained in a coma for several days. Speaking on behalf of the Cook family, John Davis of solicitors Irwin Mitchell, said: 'This is a large compensation payment but it reflects the fact that John Cook has been left permanently injured through no fault of his own and will require care for the remainder of his life.' Workplace transport safety views requiredThe HSC has published a discussion document on workplace transport. Dr. Alan Whitehead MP, minister with responsibility for health and safety, told a London HSE conference: "Safe workplace transport is not just good for the health of the workforce, but also the wealth of the management. I welcome the publication today of the discussion document has been published, which will take forward the work that is already underway." GMB’s Kim Sunley said her union also welcomed the document, but added: 'We don't need more regulation, just enforcement of existing regulations and for employers to consult safety representatives on all issues relating to workplace transport including vehicle design, driver training and workplace layout.' She added: 'The GMB will be advising its safety representatives to issue Union Inspection Notices where employers fail to carry out risk assessments or persistently ignore their concerns about workplace transport safety.' The Discussion Document seeks views on what role workers’ representatives should pay in improving workplace transport safety (para 33).
RESOURCESGMB guide on care home safetyThe union GMB has published guidance for safety reps on health and safety in care homes. The guide includes a summary of the main hazards and action points for safety representatives. It says safety reps should: ensure their employer is aware of new HSE guidance; check that the recommendations made in the guide are being implemented; ensure safety reps are consulted on all health and safety issues workers in care homes; and use the HSE audit checklist to help in carrying out inspections.
INTERNATIONALAustralia: Hands off our genes!Australia’s unions say employers should 'be prohibited from requiring, requesting, collecting or disclosing information derived from genetic testing of current or potential employees.' In a submission to an official commission of enquiry, union federation ACTU says: 'Although sometimes justified in terms of protecting workers' health and safety at work, the ACTU submits that this is an inversion of the fundamental principles; employers are responsible for providing employees with a safe and healthy workplace, while work-related illnesses and injuries are caused by hazards in the workplace, not by employees' genetic make-up.' It adds that 'the focus in workplace health and safety needs to be on hazard removal, not on a mathematical calculation of risk based on genetic testing.' In the UK, a March 2001 report from the TUC called for a ban on 'unfair screening'. And in July a US court said workplace gene tests for strain injury susceptibility were illegal (Risks 12).
Australia: Employers 'irresponsible over stress' say unionsAustralia’s unions have accused employer groups of behaving irresponsibly by questioning the impact of stress on the health of workers. Industry group the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) says it wants more research into the issue, claiming there's no conclusive evidence stress is making workers sick. But Sharan Burrow, president of union federation ACTU, said: "What they're really saying is we take no responsibility for the health impact on working families in Australia - (that) we simply want to be able to exploit people's hours to dangerous levels if that's what we choose. Well, that's not the approach that responsible employers would want their representatives to take, I believe. It's certainly not a humane approach." Australia: Union concerned at smoking exemption plansThe hospitality union LHMU in the Australian state of Victoria has welcomed a proposed statewide ban on smoking in poker machine venues, but has warned that the proposals do not go far enough. Smoking will be banned at all Victorian gaming venues from 1 September this year, if new anti-tobacco laws are passed in the next sitting of parliament, but Health Minister John Thwaites has hinted that high rollers who visit the Crown Casino may be exempt. Brian Daley from the LHMU union commented: "If it doesn't deal with smoking in the workplace generally, then the union's campaign to promote health and safety workplaces will clearly continue." Canada: Correctional staff fight for their livesOntario correctional staff are in a fight for their lives, their union says. "The job of a corrections worker has never been more stressful or more dangerous," said Rick Dagenais, regional representative of the union OPSEU’s corrections bargaining team. " We're saying 'Enough is Enough.'" The union team has yet to table a wage demand with the Ontario government. "All the money in the world doesn't do you any good if you aren't alive at the end of your shift," Dagenais said. A union study last year found that problems including poor training, violence, stress, and ‘'rampant' infectious diseases posed an increasing threat to workers. The union sought public support at a 17 January rally outside the province’s Sudbury Jail. China: Authorities persecute work accident lawyerA Chinese lawyer renowned for defending and housing victims of work-related accidents has been ordered to shut down his practice in the manufacturing boomtown of Shenzhen. The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), has urged the authorities to ensure that Zhou Litai is allowed to continue defending workers. ITGLWF general secretary Neil Kearney said in a letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin: "Rather than preventing him from practicing, the authorities should be providing every encouragement to allow him to expand his practice and bring justice to workers facing gross exploitation." China has an appalling workplace health and safety record. According to the state media, some 47,000 people died in 350,000 industrial and transportation accidents in the first half of 2001. Many of Zhou’s clients have lost limbs in factory accidents. Global: Mines massacres continueMining disasters in China and Congo have reinforced the industry’s deadly reputation. An explosion at an unlicensed coalmine in Wenshan county, China, has killed 25 miners, bringing the death toll from three separate coal mine disasters in two days to at least 50, state media reported. The government has shut down tens of thousands of dangerous mines, but illegal mining continues. Last month a manager was sentenced to five years in prison after a blast in his mine killed 11 people. A collapse at a coltan mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least 30 people. Coltan is used in the manufacture of mobile phones. Some human rights activists have said the coltan boom has been one reason for the three-year conflict in DR Congo. They have launched a "No blood on my cell-phone" campaign in Europe.
EVENTSOnly newly announced events, events next week and very important events will be listed here in future. But there is a comprehensive listing of health and safety events on the TUC website - bookmark it for easy reference! About time: TUC conference on working time, 5 FebruaryA TUC conference in London for trade unionists, employers, HR and personnel professionals, academics and policy makers.Keynote speakers: Patricia Hewitt MP, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and John Monks, TUC General Secretary. The conference will be chaired by Sheena MacDonald. Application form in text and pdf versions. Union members wishing to attend this conference, please contact your head offices which are co-ordinating numbers from each union due to the limited number of places available for this conference. Stop insurers robbing asbestos victims meeting, 8 FebruaryAsbestos victims face debilitating and often deadly disease - and recent moves are robbing them of their compensation as well as their health. Turner and Newall, once Britain’s biggest asbestos company, is insolvent. And a compensation appeal, the Fairchild judgement, could mean many thousands more workers will not be compensated. A public meeting to discuss the crisis has been called by the Bradford, Cheshire, Merseyside, West Yorkshire, Sheffield & Rotherham and Greater Manchester asbestos support groups. Tony Lloyd MP, who worked at T&N, will be speaking, along with trade unionists, campaigners and solicitors who are petitioning the House of Lords. The meeting will discuss a possible lobby of parliament and other action to get justice for asbestos victims. Friday 8 February 2002, 7-9pm, Friends Meeting House, Manchester. For more information see the meeting leaflet and briefing, telephone 0161 953 4037 or email Tony Whitston HSC Advisory Committee on Dangerous Substances open meeting, 14 FebruaryThe ACDS advises the HSC on issues like gas safety, major hazards (eg chemical plants), flammable substances (eg petrol) and explosives. The TUC has four representatives on this tripartite Committee (government-unions-employers). Its first open meeting will take place at HSE headquarters, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge, London SE1 9HS from 10.30am on Thursday, 14 February and will include presentations on the work of ACDS and the policy issues it deals with, plus the opportunity to ask members and officials questions. To register for a place, contact Tarla Patel at or at the above address. International RSI Day conference, 28 FebruaryWork-related upper limb disorders under the spotlight - a national conference organised by GMB in conjunction with Derby City Council and Derbyshire County Council to mark International RSI Awareness Day, 28 February 2002. Venue: Mackworth College, Derby. Agenda and registration form. Further information from Jake Jackson, GMB East Midlands health and safety officer. Workers' Memorial Day 2002, 28 AprilTUC 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. Hazards 2002, National Hazards Conference, 6-8 SeptemberThe National Hazards Conference will be held in Manchester for the second year running. Further details from Greater Manchester Hazards Centre. There is a financial appeal to keep registration costs down, backed by the TUC. European Week of Health and Safety 2002, 14-21 OctoberNext year’s week will take place in Britain from 14 October, on the theme of stress. USEFUL LINKSVisit the TUC health and safety website or the main TUC website pages on health and safety. See what’s on offer from TUC Publications and What’s On in health and safety.TUC courses for safety repsJanuary to March:South East Wales South West North West East Midlands West Midlands ScotlandFor details of courses in the Northern, Yorkshire and Humberside regions, contact the TUC Regional Education OfficerSubscribe 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.DisclaimerAlthough the web links were all checked at the time of posting this bulletin, we are not responsible for most of the websites you will be taken to. Sometimes they are temporarily offline (so try again!) or change so that the links no longer work. Privacy statementInformation provided by you will be used by the TUC for the effective administration of this site and to record user patterns. We will not disclose any details to any third party, except to any service provider managing or administering the site on the TUC’s behalf. We may contact you with details of TUC initiatives, services and products but will never pass your e-mail address or other details to another organisation, other than our service providers for management and administration purposes. |
Newsletter (4,800 words) issued 19 Jan 2002
