Risksissue no 49 - 13 April 2002 |
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Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to Owen Tudor. CONTENTS
Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 3,500 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 and Privacy statement. The TUC website lists future health and safety events in What’s On - new events are covered below. ACTIONHave you broken it like Beckham?English football fans (and others) are on tenterhooks over whether Manchester United’s David Beckham will be fit again in time for the World Cup in June, after he broke a bone in his foot this week. He’ll be getting the best of medical care followed by rehabilitation, and the TUC wishes him well (and not because TUC general secretary John Monks is a lifelong Manchester United fan!) But, if David Beckham were an ordinary trade unionist, would he get all that care and attention to get him back to work? The TUC wants to find out - so we are looking for anyone who has recently broken a bone in their foot at work, to chart their experiences (anonymously or publicly) over the next seven weeks as David Beckham fights for fitness. TUC senior policy officer Owen Tudor said: 'the TUC wants employers to have rehabilitation policies for when the worst happens and a crucial member of their team is out of action. If it’s good enough for David Beckham, it’s good enough for any worker.' HSE statistics reveal that over twenty bones are broken at work every week.
UNION NEWSSelf-employed need real safety rights, says TUCThe European Commission's voluntary approach to the health and safety of self-employed workers is not enough, says the TUC. New Commission proposals for a Council Recommendation - a non-binding measure - will only urge Member States to extend protections for employees to the self-employed, with legislative action put off for at least four years, leaving the self-employed, who have higher fatality and major injury rates than employees, as second-class workers. In Britain, the self-employed are covered by most safety laws, but they have no right of access to safety reps and cannot claim state industrial injury benefits. TUC general secretary John Monks said: "This is surely a step forward, and reinforces that health and safety is for everyone. But it isn't enough - far too many people in Britain and the rest of Europe are excluded from health and safety not by the law, but because their employers have forced them into bogus self-employment. We need a legal framework from the European Commission, not mere words."
We’re unshiny, unhappy people, air rage victims sayAmicus, the union representing the cabin crew involved in the REM air-rage incident, have expressed disappointment at the jury's decision to clear REM guitarist Peter Buck, and called for people to have zero tolerance of air-rage offenders. Sir Ken Jackson, general secretary of Amicus, said: "There should be no excuses and we should have no tolerance for passengers who abuse airline staff." He added: "Air rage is an increasing problem for our members. We need a zero-tolerance approach to air-rage this summer.' Both of the stewards involved in the incident are Amicus members. The union says it will be pursuing a separate legal claim on their behalf for trauma suffered as a result of the incident. Mr Buck allegedly overturned a trolley, assaulted a steward, and told the pilot "You're just a f*****g captain - I am REM". PCS members accept safety gainsJobcentre and benefit staff have voted overwhelmingly to accept a new agreement on safety in open-plan Jobcentre Plus offices, ending the largest dispute in the civil service for over 15 years. The 65,000 staff, members of the union PCS, are backing the deal that, among other safeguards, ensures that high risk transactions will continue to be delivered in a screened environment and that contains a commitment to undertake a review of safety before new offices are built. Mark Serwotka, PCS general secretary elect, said: "PCS members are satisfied that their genuine safety fears have now been taken seriously but it is regrettable that it has taken 300,000 strike days to achieve these safeguards.' He added: "PCS will be fully involved in the impending safety review to ensure that staff in Jobcentre Plus are protected from violent assaults." The union recruited thousands of new members as a result of its safety stand. Teachers united on workloadImprovements to teachers' contracts and more support staff to tackle excessive workload are called for in a joint resolution agreed by teaching unions ATL, NASUWT and NUT. NUT says the joint resolution is a call to the government for specified limits to pupil-contact time; for guaranteed time for preparation and assessment; and for time to meet parents and undertake other professional duties. In Scotland, the McCrone Report adopted by employers, teachers and the government already limits the working week to 35 hours. NUT general secretary Doug McAvoy said: "The most important issue for teachers at the moment is excessive workload. We are near to achieving agreement on changes that could greatly improve the conditions of teachers and which would aid significantly recruitment and retention…The teachers' organisations will not accept a continuation of excessive demands and workload leading to stress." More police in schools is regrettable but necessaryAn increase in the number of permanent police patrols is regrettable but necessary, Eamonn O'Kane, general secretary of teaching union NASUWT, has said. "Increasing the number of police in schools is highly regrettable but, in some circumstances, entirely necessary. Violence against teachers has gone up, as has the number of pupils who attack each other.' He added: "The survey by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found only this week that almost half of Britain's secondary school pupils admit to having broken the law. Most worryingly, one in 10 boys aged 11 and 12 admit to carrying a knife or other weapon while one in five 15 to 16 year olds admit they've attacked another person with the intent of causing serious harm. If the presence of full-time police in schools helps reduce violence and protects innocent teachers and pupils, then it is a welcome step." Climbie murder 'will not be the last'It is only a matter of time before there is a repeat of the Victoria Climbie murder, public service union UNISON has warned. It says a chronic shortage of skilled staff and funding has left social workers "stretched beyond the limit". The union's national officer for social workers, Owen Davies, told an enquiry into the Climbie death that the government and local authorities must "face up to their responsibilities". Eight-year-old Victoria died in February 2000 with 128 injuries on her body inflicted by a relative and her boyfriend. A UNISON survey on typical working conditions in social services teams found an overwhelming majority of 96 per cent said caseloads were too heavy, while 88 per cent said new staff were "thrown in at the deep end". More than nine out of 10 reported acute levels of stress and staff "burn-out," while a similar number said they had to take work home. The survey was sent to the 120 UNISON local authority branches with members in social services children and families teams, and 53 replies were received.
Workers’ Memorial Day building fastThe UK is going to have its largest ever commemoration of International Workers’ Memorial Day. Union organisations nationwide have told the TUC they plan events on or about the day, 28 April. The Brussels-based international union confederation ICFTU is coordinating events worldwide.
OTHER NEWSCorporate killing could hit share pricesA MORI poll for the British Safety Council has found a third of senior businessmen in the UK would expect to see a "substantial fall" of between 10 and 25 per cent in their company's share price if they were successfully prosecuted under planned legislation on corporate killing. They say the reaction of institutional shareholders to a successful prosecution under the new laws would be: to demand corrective action be taken (63 per cent); to demand increased investment in health and safety (34 per cent); or to sell part of their investment in the company (25 per cent). They also thought investors would demand major board changes (22 per cent), and that some of them would sell all or a majority of their investment (9 per cent). TUC senior policy officer Owen Tudor said: 'This shows that corporate killing laws would hit home hard, and would add significantly to the incentives for better safety behaviour.'
HSE inspectors focus on health and safety prioritiesThe HSC has reorganised and re-focused HSE’s inspection effort so that 60% of inspection effort is on the Commission’s eight priority programmes. New priority sectors are construction, agriculture and the health services; the priority topics are workplace transport, falls from height, musculoskeletal disorders, stress and slips, trips, and falls. Inspectors will also deal with matters immediately obvious or of concern during inspections, such as any risk of injury or ill-health, or issues raised by managers or safety reps. Adrian Ellis, HSE's director of field operations, said: "These focused visits are expected to take longer, not least because the issues can be complex, but I believe this approach is essential if we are to ensure that industry achieves this objective." Inspectors’ union Prospect is campaigning for additional resources so the number of inspectors can be increased.
Two more join the HSC magnificent sevenHealth and Safety Minister Alan Whitehead has announced two new appointments and two re-appointments to the Health and Safety Commission, the union-employer-government organisation that oversees the HSE and advises government on safety matters. Dr Whitehead has appointed Judith Hackitt, director general of the Chemical Industries Association, and John Longworth, a director of Tesco PLC, for a period of three years. Abdul Chowdry, director of Blackburn/Darwen Racial Equality Council, and Owen Tudor, senior policy officer at the TUC, have been re-appointed to the Commission for a further three years. The other union representatives on the nine-person HSC are Maureen Rooney of AMICUS and George Brumwell of construction union UCATT.
Alert at PFI hospital after workers are electrocutedUnions have criticised the government’s Private Finance Initiative after two workers were received "severe electric shocks" while working on a PFI-backed hospital project. Managers delayed the opening of the prestigious multi-million pound hospital after the incident. The safety scare occurred at the new Bishop Auckland hospital. HSE officials are now reviewing whether the hospital can open and accept patients. Head of health for the public sector union Unison, Liz Twist, said: "Yet again we have another example of a hospital built under PFI showing problems right from the start." Managers are now waiting for a risk assessment to be carried out by Criterion Healthcare, a consortium of private companies in charge of the PFI scheme. Crown court to sentence teacher over boat deathA teacher who led a school boating trip on which a nine-year-old girl died has been sent to Crown Court for sentencing after admitting a charge under health and safety legislation. Paul Dove, 66, pleaded guilty to failing to take adequate precautions of protecting the health and safety of people in his care. Elizabeth Bee, a pupil of Boundary Oak School, Fareham, died when a motorboat carrying nine children from the school capsized in Portsmouth Harbour in September 1999. Representatives for the school also pleaded guilty to one charge under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 relating to the safety of pupils. Government urged to target smokersMore than 20 health organisations are demanding the government spends more tobacco tax trying to help low-income smokers to quit. It coincides with evidence suggesting more than a thousand Londoners die from coronary heart disease every year because of passive smoking. People visiting smoky public places two or three times a week and those working in the hospitality industry are at high risk, according to the report from the London Assembly's Smoking in Public Places Committee which called for the Government to adopt the HSC’s proposed Code of Practice on passive smoking after receiving evidence from the GMB and TUC. These places can include pubs, clubs, restaurants, casinos, concert halls or sports clubs. Chief executive of Cancer Research UK, Sir Paul Nurse, said the tax hike incentive to quit should "be coupled with first class help from the NHS, including developing the cessation services and ending the uncertainty over their long term funding." Workplace dissatisfaction to blame for UK productivity gapBritain will fail to bridge the widening productivity gap unless employers address the growing disaffection of their employees, argues The Work Foundation. Working capital, intangible assets and the productivity gap reveals how employee job satisfaction has plummeted over the past decade. In 1992, 22 per cent of employees stated that they were very or completely satisfied with job prospects, but by 2000 this figure had fallen to 15 per cent. Those expressing satisfaction with job security fell from 43 to 39 per cent; hours, 44 to 24 per cent; and with the work itself from 54 to 41 per cent. Will Hutton, chief executive of The Work Foundation, said better use of the creativity and talents of the workforce was the answer, but added 'we need a cultural shift and a new kind of manager that can make use of this resource and transform our working lives."
More working days lost due to sicknessOfficials figures show that more working days are being lost due to sickness. Almost 2.2 million days were lost every week in the autumn of 2001, compared with 1.9 million a week the previous summer. Sickness absence levels have remained fairly constant in the past 20 years, according to the Office for National Statistics.
INTERNATIONALAustralia: Unions target Esso for Workers’ Memorial DayThe Victorian Trades Hall Council is to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day - and draw attention to the Industrial Manslaughter Bill - by holding a union protest outside Esso head office in memory of workers killed in the1998 Longford disaster. At the prosecution of Esso last year, Justice Philip Cummins of the Supreme Court said Esso's failure to accept responsibility for the explosion was "lamentable". He added: "The events of 25 September 1998 were the responsibility of Esso; no one else. Their cause was grievous, foreseeable and avoidable. Their consequence was grievous, tragic and avoidable." Esso is part of Exxon, one of the companies that successfully lobbied to block a planned chemical safety bill in the US (see below). Many of the other companies working against the law have been responsible for major occupational or environmental disasters including Phillips Petroleum, where 23 died when its Pasadena, USA plant exploded and Occidental Petroleum, where 167 died in the Piper Alpha oil rig fire.
Australia: 'Barbaric' company told to reinstate union advocateA Melbourne plastics company has been accused of "barbaric" human resources behaviour and ordered to reinstate a worker fired after raising safety concerns. The Australian Industrial Relations Commission has directed Foster Plastics Industries to pay Emil Warda of Fawkner more than $18,500 in lost wages and to re-employ him. Commission member Domina Whelan said there the company’s approach was 'barbaric', adding there was little credible evidence to suggest that Mr Warda had done anything but seek to encourage workers to join the Australian Workers Union and to improve health and safety conditions at the plant. Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten said it was a classic case of a small business growing commercially but not updating its human resources skills to communicate with unions in China: Thousands more mines to be shut in safety crackdownChina is to close thousands of small coal mines this year in an attempt to reduce the appalling death toll among workers in the industry. Around 30 per cent of mines currently operating will be targeted during 2002, mining safety officials say. China aims to cut its annual mining death toll - officially more than 5,000, although foreign experts put the figure at more than double that - by 10 per cent during the year, the report said. However, critics says earlier crackdowns have had limited success, with many mines secretly reopened with the knowledge of officials who received bribes to turn a blind eye. Many miners are migrant workers - if they die owners simply bury them and pay off the relatives without reporting the accidents, one group said last year.
Global: Trade unions call for workplace health measuresThe International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) says the workplace is a leading source of the world’s health problems and is pressing for wide-ranging preventive action. Speaking on World Health Day, 7 April, ICFTU general secretary, Guy Ryder said drastic workplace measures were needed to address the contribution of workplace hazards to the poor state of the world’s health. He said work-related health problems even by conservative estimates cost more than 4 per cent of the world’s gross national product, with 160 million new cases of work-related diseases every year and 1.2 million fatalities - over 3,300 per day. Calling for a global asbestos ban and action to curtail chemical, HIV/AIDS and strain injury risks, Ryder said the surest way to improve the state of the world’s health is to beef up programmes for occupational health and safety. He called on the World Health Organisation (WHO) 'to live up to its promises made in 1999 to integrate workplace health and safety with public health programmes'.
Palestine: Punish Israel for "reckless war on media" says IFJ"The Israeli army is waging an appalling campaign that has targeted media and journalists," Aidan White, general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists, has said. "Reporters continue to be detained, shot at and victimised. It is an unprecedented campaign against press freedom and a reckless war on media that should not go unpunished." The IFJ, together with other leading press freedom groups, has signed a statement by the Foreign Press Association in Israel calling again on Israel to accredit Palestinian journalists working for the foreign press out of the Palestinian territories, 'not in the least under the current circumstances, to be able to identify themselves, for their safety, to Israeli soldiers as journalists.' The IFJ says there has been 50 incidents of violence and intimidation of media during the current Intifada, and has launched a global solidarity appeal. South Africa: New accord draws tough line on work safetyUnions, business and the government in South Africa have signed an occupational health and safety accord, pledging their commitment to improving safety at work. The accord is a continuation of labour minister Membathisi Mdladlana's hands-on approach to safety, which involves the inspection of workplaces. Mdladlana said: "Workers should go to work to work, and not to die." The agreement requires the government to provide a legislative framework, while business will offer the infrastructure for implementation and organised labour is expected to raise workers' consciousness to health and safety issues. Congress of SA Trade Unions (COSATU) second vice-president Joyce Pekane said the intention of the accord was to "debunk the misconception that occupational health and safety is the sole responsibility of government". She said that ultimate responsibility rested with the employers. The Federation of Unions of SA (FEDUSA) and National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU) also pledged support for the accord. USA: Bush administration kills chemical safety proposalIndustry backers of President Bush have had their reward - the killing of a modest workplace chemical safety rule. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration quietly abandoned the proposed rule, which focused on reactive chemicals that, between 1992 and 1997, caused the deaths of 66 workers. Eric Frumin of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, charged that the decision to drop the proposal shows how "regulated industries are determining administration policies." UNITE has been in the forefront of efforts by industrial and firefighters unions to have more chemicals covered by the OSHA standard. Bush donors who opposed the chemical safety rule include ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, ChevronTexaco, Shell Oil, BP Amoco, Halliburton, Conoco and Phillips Petroleum. George W Bush was an oilman in the 1980s, and Dick Cheney, his vice-president, was the head of Halliburton before joining the presidential ticket.
USA: Health care worker shortages pose safety riskHealth care worker shortages are leading to safety risks to patients and staff, a survey for AFT Healthcare has shown. Candice Owley, who chairs AFT Healthcare, the healthcare division of the American Federation of Teachers union, said: "The quality of patient care is suffering tremendously because of unreasonably high workloads, poor staffing levels and job stress." In the coming months, AFT Healthcare will be developing and recommending safe staffing ratios. The collective bargaining unit also released a list of proposed patient-to-nurse staffing ratios for every unit of a hospital. It developed the ratios after last year's nursing survey found that one in five nurses is considering quitting in the next five years because of understaffing and poor working conditions. RESOURCESEurope’s work risks by genderEurostat, the European Commission’s statistical boffins, have prepared a paper giving a short analysis by gender of the 1998 European accident and ill-health at work figures. It shows that although men are more likely to suffer injuries than women (the difference is least in Sweden, where there is arguably more equality in work anyway), women are more likely to suffer ill-health (and in particular are more likely to suffer from stress).
Asian networkThe Asian Network for the Rights of Occupational Accident Victims (ANROAV) will be holding its annual meeting from 7-11 May 2002 in Bangkok. The meeting is timed to coincide with the 10 May anniversary of the fire at Thailand’s Kader Toy Factory in 1993; 188 workers died in the fire and 500 were injured. The network includes union-backed groups from across the region. 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! GMB managing asbestos conference, London, 16 April 2002The GMB is holding a conference, Managing asbestos in buildings: The new challenge, at Congress House on Tuesday 16 April 2002. It will be commercially run and is targeted at housing managers, health and safety managers, housing associations and building facilities companies. Price £150 for the day. Further details: Nigel Bryson, GMB health and environment director. Employment agencies action, 24 AprilThe Simon Jones Memorial Campaign is calling a national day of action 'against profiteering employment agencies' on Wednesday 24 April 2002, the fourth anniversary of Simon's death. The campaign says: 'We are asking supporters of our campaign across the country and internationally to mark the anniversary of Simon's death by demonstrating, in whatever way they see fit, at an employment agency in their area that profits from the casualisation that killed Simon.'
Workers' Memorial Day 2002, 28 AprilThere is a full list of the events we know about in a special new section of the TUC website. TUC is planning to highlight occupational health, including access to occupational health services, and rehabilitation (see our briefing). Ask your union for details of Workers’ Memorial Day events or organise your own. There is a Hazards magazine round up of Workers’ Memorial Day resources and if you are organising an event, let the TUC know by email. MSF Amicus section are encouraging their clergy members to spread the word through church newsletters, sermons and services on the day - a briefing is available including a prayer written specially for the day. 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 http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/ website pages on health and safety. See what’s on offer from TUC Publications and What’s On in health and safety.TUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR APRIL TO JULY:Wales, Scotland, North West, Midlands, South East and East Anglia, South WestFor 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. |
Newsletter (4,700 words) issued 13 Apr 2002
