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Risksissue no 57 - 8 June 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 4,000 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 and Privacy statement. The TUC website lists future health and safety events in What’s On - new events are covered below. UNION NEWSTraining - 60% of safety reps not getting enoughThe majority of union safety reps are not getting the training they need, according to a new TUC report - and it says the lack of training could be leading to thousands of major injuries every year. A survey of safety reps for the report, Training and action in health and safety, found that after attending the advanced Stage II course, 89 per cent of safety reps had initiated health and safety initiatives on returning to work. But the numbers were far lower for those who had only completed Stage I. However, the research found only 40 per cent of reps had completed Stage II training. TUC general secretary John Monks said: "Safety reps make a major contribution to health and safety standards at work. Too many employers are putting their workers' health and their business' reputation at risk because they aren't letting safety reps have the time to get the training they need. Good corporate reputations often depend on good safety reps." The TUC will be launching a campaign later this year to ensure more safety reps take up their right to training. The TUC will also press the HSE to ensure employers fulfil their legal obligation for release with pay, and to publicise safety reps' rights to training with pay.
Workplace bullying fuels NHS jobs crisisWorkplace bullying will fuel an ongoing recruitment crisis at Lothian hospitals as people leave the NHS, union officials have warned. UNISON says that unless health chiefs act to stamp out harassment of health workers by colleagues, staff shortages will increase. The warning follows a survey that found one in 10 workers claimed to have been bullied or harassed in the past year. The survey also showed that more than half of staff were stressed in their jobs, with most reportedly swamped by heavy workloads. More than 6,000 NHS Lothian staff answered the survey of workplace standards. One in 10 reported experiencing bullying or harassment, generally verbal intimidation, in the past year. Just over 50 per cent felt stressed at work, with 82 per cent blaming excessive workloads. Equity wins compensation for dancerA young dancer forced to quit for good after being injured during a US tour of the Spirit of the Dance show has received a substantial payout after Equity claimed the company had been negligent. Alison Booth experienced appalling conditions - un-sprung dance floors, travelling for hours sitting in the gangway of an over-crowded bus, working a packed programme with no days off and no formal warm-up or warm-down. The pressure was increased by the number of injuries in the company. Alison, a talented dancer who trained at the Royal Ballet School, had developed pains in her shins and ankles while in rehearsal, but the punishing schedule in the USA exacerbated the problem and forced her to return to England. Heads threaten action over workloadsHeadteachers are vowing to take industrial action unless the government acts to cut workloads. Delegates at the National Association of Head Teachers' annual conference have voted overwhelmingly in favour of the move unless something is done by the end of the year. NAHT general secretary David Hart said the action would probably take the form of a work-to-rule. Headteachers would "unilaterally" boycott any orders from the Department for Education and Skills, or local education authorities, which they felt amounted to "excessive workload," he added. Mr Hart said 'we would certainly be talking about anything, which, in our judgment, contributes to the excessive workload. It would be a work-to-rule and it would impact quite heavily on local authorities and central government." OTHER NEWSWhen a crime is not a crimeWorkers injured or made ill by their employers and passengers injured in rail crashes are to be denied the right to be treated as victims of crime. Ministers have decided that the new bill of rights for victims will exclude offences that are not being prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service. This could mean thousands of passengers and workers whose injuries are caused by criminal failings investigated by the HSE or local authorities will be denied the right to present a victim statement to the court. In submissions to last year’s Home Office consultation on crime victims’ rights, both TUC and victims’ organisations had called for the new system to be extended to victims of health and safety crimes (Risks 7) - breaches of health and safety law are criminal acts. The Home Office said: "We are not bringing in health and safety victims at this stage although we have not ruled them out for the future." The government has also failed to progress long-promised corporate crime legislation (Risks 50), adding a double insult to injury for workplace victims. Asbestos firm warns of claims riskA UK-owned multinational that has agreed to pay £20m to South African miners over asbestos-related claims, has warned it may be hit for further payouts if bankers scupper the deal. Cape plc has urged shareholders and lenders to support a compensation package agreed after a long battle with representatives of 7,500 South Africans with asbestos-related diseases. "If litigation resumes... if the case is decided in favour of the claimants, there may be a materially adverse effect on the group's financial position," chairman Paul Sellars said. "It is not possible to provide a reliable estimate of the amount or range of potential losses that could result from an unfavourable outcome." The firm has budgeted for £4.4m in legal costs alone. Cape’s full-year losses doubled to £32.4m it was announced earlier this week. Safety watchdogs launch race equality schemeThe HSC and its enforcement arm the HSE have launched a joint scheme 'to ensure that racial equality fully informs their activities.' Bill Callaghan, HSC chair, said: "The scheme sets out for the first time how HSC and HSE will take account of the need for racial equality when dealing with our stakeholders - employers, workers, the self-employed, and where appropriate the general public. It also details what we will do to ensure racial equality amongst our own staff.' TUC's Owen Tudor said: "This strategy is a major step forward for HSE and will lead to real action to improve the working conditions of ethnic minorities. But it is only a start and only really a draft. Unions in the HSE need to have their views heard, and unions and community groups representing black workers also need to look at the strategy and suggest improvements." A 1991 report from the Sheffield-based Black and Ethnic Minorities Occupational Health Initiative found workers from ethnic minorities were more likely to be exposed to work hazards and more likely to have suffered an occupational injury or developed occupational deafness.
COSHH Essentials guide is a hit with firmsThe HSE chemical control initiative COSHH Essentials would be recommended to others by nearly 95 per cent of those firms who brought the product into their businesses. A telephone survey of 500 purchasers found 79 per cent had actively used COSHH Essentials since purchasing it - for example, to carry out or review risk assessments, provide information or train workers, with: 82 per cent reporting the innovative risk assessment system easy or fairly easy to use; 89 per cent able to find the right control guidance sheet and felt they contained the information they needed; and 94 per cent they would recommend COSHH Essentials to other businesses. John Thompson, head of HSE's chemical policy division said: "This report shows that COSHH Essentials is helping firms control the health risks from chemicals. The design has involved a large investment of effort by HSE, trade unions, industry and external experts and this survey was important to find out how well COSHH Essentials works in practice."
Working on the precautionary principleThe government is seeking comments on the use of 'precautionary principle' to reduce exposure to risks. Policy guidelines agreed by the Interdepartmental Liaison Group on Risk Assessment (ILGRA) and posted on the HSE website say t he 'purpose of the precautionary principle is to create an impetus to take a decision notwithstanding scientific uncertainty about the nature and extent of the risk.' The document says the precautionary principle should be invoked when there is good reason to believe that harmful effects may occur to human, animal or plant health or to the environment, and the level of scientific uncertainty is such that the best available scientific advice cannot assess the risk with sufficient confidence to inform decision-making. TUC will be consulting unions on this paper, but the TUC is keen that health and safety should be about managing new risks, before they start hurting people, not just about cleaning up after the damage is done. 'Workaholic' parish priest found hangedA workaholic Roman Catholic priest took his own life after driving himself to exhaustion, according to his family. The body of Father Gerry Prior, 37, was found at his home in Livingston, Scotland, where he was a parish priest at St Peter's Church. His parents Owen and Agnes Prior said: "To his family, friends and all who knew him he was an extrovert, a workaholic and a deeply committed man, committed to his vocation, the priesthood, his diocese and his parish. He made himself available to all who asked, but this giving was at his own expense, leaving him exhausted, burnt out and in need of rest." INTERNATIONALAustralia: Drug and alcohol tests for workersThousands of workers in the Australian state of Victoria face on-the-spot drug and alcohol tests under an employer crackdown on workplace safety. The tests for drugs such as cocaine, amphetamines and marijuana are to be implemented across the transport industry and plans are being drawn up for testing the state's 50,000 construction workers. Under the plans, which have the backing of the employers’ organisation VECCI, private testing teams would swoop on workplaces, take saliva readings with a swab and getting instant test results. Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) state secretary Martin Kingham said: "We would oppose it because we believe what we have in place now works,' pointing to counselling, rehabilitation and peer support. US research supported this line, with union led programmes most effective at combating drink and drugs problems (Risks 3). Last year TUC called for employers to introduce fair and comprehensive drug and alcohol policies rather than testing (Risks 33).
China: Mine boss sentenced to death for disasterChina sentenced one county official to death and three others to lengthy prison terms for a tin mine flood last year in which 81 people were killed, the official Xinhua news agency has said. Wan Ruizhong was given the death penalty after being convicted of taking bribes and abusing power, it said. After allegations emerged that the mine's bosses tried to cover up the tragedy by bribing survivors to keep quiet and, at least on one occasion, threatening journalists with weapons, Beijing ordered a top level investigation. Others found to have been involved in the cover up received jail sentences. Tang Yusheng, former county magistrate of Nandan, was sentenced to 20 years in jail, deputy party secretary Mo Zhuanglong was jailed for 10 years and deputy county magistrate Wei Xueguang for 13 years. More prosecutions are to follow. China: VP calls for action on work diseasesChinese vice-premier Li Lanqing has reminded officials of the serious spread of occupational diseases and urged them to take responsibility for protecting workers' health. Li added that changes in industry meant rural migrant workers and temporary employees were the worst victims, the official Xinhua news agency reports. It says Li also 'called for the faithful enforcement of the law on occupational disease control and regulations concerning labour protection at dangerous working sites, as well as more decisive punishment of lawbreakers.' Enterprises that failed to protect workers from serious dangers and failed to improve should be closed down, he said. Europe: Extra work risks in EU wannabe nationsWorkers in candidate countries for membership of the European Union believe that they are more at risk from work hazards than workers in the European Union. A survey by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions found 40 per cent of workers in EU wannabe nations believed they were exposed to work risks, compared to just 27 per cent in the EU. Major problems were higher levels of fatigue and musculoskeletal problems, and longer working hours (Risks 56). Raymond-Pierre Bodin, the Foundation's director, commented: 'Work organisation tends to be less client-driven and more hierarchical in the candidate countries.' He added that in candidate nations a much lower proportion of the workforce was employed in the service sector than in the EU, but they were more than four times as likely (21 per cent) to be employed in agriculture.
ILO launches World Day Against Child LabourThe International Labour Organisation (ILO) says the first World Day Against Child Labour will be observed worldwide on 12 June 2002. It 'is intended to help spread the message that child labour remains a serious problem and that we must do more to combat it," said ILO's Director-General Juan Somavia. "We are asking everyone to join together in working towards a world where no children will be deprived of a normal, healthy childhood, where parents can find decent jobs and children can go to school. Our goal is a world free from child labour." New Zealand: Workers "in dark" over occupational illnessesWorkers are being kept in the dark about their right to claim compensation for occupational illnesses such as asthma, Ross Wilson, president of the Council of Trade Unions has warned. He said authorities have cut costs by failing to publicise people's right to claim for occupational illnesses. He added that the official safety standards agency was not rigorous in its enforcement in the area of occupational disease. Mr Wilson said 400 people died each year from work related exposure to hazards like cancer-causing asbestos, and research suggested one in five asthma sufferers got their asthma from their work. "Employers are not being visited by inspectors, or are getting away with warnings not prosecutions," he added. USA: Ill-health costs billions in lost productivityLost work time due to illness or long term or periodic health problems is costing US employers hundreds of billions of dollars a year, a new study has found. The top five health conditions alone - including headache, depression and the common cold - cost employers more than $180 billion (£123 billion) annually, according to study sponsor AdvancePCS. The annual financial toll for all health conditions is at least $250 billion, or roughly $2,000 per worker per year, the company said. The problem of lost worker productivity goes well beyond absenteeism, with many individuals reporting to work even when they're not feeling well, the study reveals. The phenomenon, called "presenteeism," is often invisible to employers, yet it accounts for more than two-thirds of health-related lost labour costs, the study found. RESOURCESPreventing back injuries in health careUS health care union AFSCME has produced a short guide to the prevention of back injuries in health care. The guide concludes that injuries can be prevented by eliminating tasks that require lifting, using equipment to perform lifts, having enough staff, employing lifting teams that use lifting equipment, and prohibiting single-person lifts. The union says be wary of back belts and safety lifting techniques - the answer is to not be exposed to the risk at all. 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! TUC/CCA Conference on safety law enforcement, 8 JulyIn January 2002, a coalition of trade unions, safety groups and families, bereaved from work-related deaths and disasters, came together around a series of demands for reform on safety, law enforcement and corporate accountability. This conference will explore this and the Government's agenda for reform. Registration costs £25. 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 OctoberThis year’s week will take place in Britain from 14 October, on the theme of stress - there is a special page on the TUC website devoted to the week. Unions and union branches planning Euroweek activities should contact the TUC’s stress week co-ordination team at Worksafe, tel. 01535 664462, with details of what they are doing and what support they would like. More background: European Agency and HSE Euroweek webpages. World's road unions: 15 October Day of ActionThe date for the global transport workers’ union federation ITF's next International Road Day of Action has been confirmed as Tuesday 15 October 2002. This will be the sixth of the worldwide days to publicise the message that 'fatigue kills.' A quarter of a million professional drivers took part in last year's event, which was held in 90 countries, making it one of the world’s biggest ever union safety campaign events.
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 (3,500 words) issued 8 Jun 2002
