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Risksissue no 108 - 31 May 2003 |
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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 7,000 subscribers and 1,500 on the TUC website. To receive this bulletin every week, click here. Past issues Useful links Disclaimer and Privacy statement. UNION NEWSAmbulance driver pleads not guilty to speedingUnion solicitors have entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of GMB member Mike Ferguson. GMB says it has been 'overwhelmed' at the support from the UK and abroad for Ferguson, the ambulance driver who is facing police prosecution for driving too fast whilst delivering a life-saving organ to a waiting transplant patient in Cambridge on 16 January. GMB has written to Home Secretary David Blunkett and the health minister Alan Milburn asking them intervene. The union says Mr Ferguson has received support from medical consultants and the police, as well as from his employer, the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service. GMB officer Gary Baker said: 'We are asking the government to intervene because we fear that this sort of action could have an adverse affect on the NHS and the transplant programme and there is a serious danger that lives could be lost.' He added: 'The public understands the absurdity of this legal action. We just hope the court does as well. Mike’s job and hundreds of lives could depend on it.' The case has been adjourned until 11 June.
Usdaw’s freedom from fear campaign goes continental
Union warns that safe offshore work takes experienceA leading contractor to the oil and gas industry has been accused of risking lives by recruiting unqualified trainees from eastern Europe. Rail and maritime union RMT has raised its health, safety and employment concerns with Stolt Offshore management but the company rejected the criticism, saying that all its employees are adequately trained and competent for their jobs. The original accusations were made to the Press and Journal newspaper in a letter said to be from a diver for the company, which has about 1,000 people working offshore and another 450 at its base in Aberdeen. He claimed the company was employing inexperienced trainee technicians from Poland as part of a restructuring programme to cut costs. 'There have been several serious incidents,' the letter said, alleging one diver had been injured due to language problems. Steve Todd, RMT regional organiser, said: 'We know of our members’ concerns and have raised them with the company… if people in critical positions have language problems this is a serious concern.' But a company spokesperson refuted the allegations, denying there had been any accidents and adding: 'Stolt Offshore is an international offshore contractor, employing an international workforce. We respect and adhere to all union agreements.'
CWU elects new health and safety officerDave Joyce has been elected as the new health and safety officer for the Communication Workers Union (CWU). One of the few elected national union safety specialists, he said on his election: 'I want this union to clearly demonstrate a commitment to campaign and fight for better protection at work for its members because I know that the commonly shared concern amongst members is that health and safety standards are treated less seriously than they ought to be by employers and the courts.' A former safety rep, branch and regional secretary, Dave was elected to the union's National Executive in 1995. He became chair of the union's Health and Safety Committee the same year. He takes over the post on 12 June following the retirement of Kevin Shaw. His priorities will be tougher enforcement of safety laws, and more support and powers for safety reps.
OTHER NEWSPotters Bar points were 'poorly maintained' not sabotagedThe points that caused the fatal Potters Bar rail crash were 'poorly maintained', the official HSE report has concluded, ultimately blaming poor management of the railways. Seven people died and 76 were injured when the train derailed just outside the station on 10 May last year (Risks 53). No evidence has emerged to suggest the crash was caused by sabotage or vandalism, the HSE’s third progress report said. The engineering firm Jarvis, which had responsibility for track maintenance in the area, has always insisted that sabotage could not be ruled out (Risks 55). Responding to the report, Mick Rix, general secretary of the train drivers' union ASLEF called for maintenance work to be brought back in-house, adding: 'Jarvis should be booted out of the industry'. He said the company was 'condemned twice over,' to blame for the poor maintenance and because 'it has tried to obscure its own failings by raising entirely unsubstantiated allegations about sabotage - a move designed to prop up its share price rather than help get at the truth.' Steve Coe of the rail union TSSA, commented: 'A unified organisation running the railway, like British Rail, would almost certainly result in a much faster, co-ordinated response across all elements of design, engineering and maintenance. Under the fragmented privatised regime that now exists, the lessons of Potters Bar are only now emerging.' The HSE report confirms the conclusion made in its second report issued last July. The crash happened because nuts on a vital set of points were missing, and other parts in poor condition, causing the points to fail catastrophically and the train to derail. A police investigation into the incident is continuing.
Slap on the wrist for dangerous directorsJust fifteen people who are either company directors or very senior managers were convicted of health and safety offences between April 1999 and January 2003, according to research conducted by the Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA). The convictions, following offences committed between October 1996 and October 2001, resulted in fines averaging £2,656, said CCA. None of the company bosses were sent to prison. CCA adds that most of the directors convicted were from small companies. Four of these convictions resulted from investigations into a fatality; seven followed injuries and the other five resulted from circumstances where the safety of workers was endangered. CCA said it findings suggest only 0.5 per cent of the 2,600 HSE prosecutions in this period ended in the conviction of a director, with the great majority of the penalties for safety offences borne by companies. In addition to health and safety offence convictions, only eight directors have ever been convicted of manslaughter offences, CCA said.
Met safety case jury dischargedThe jury deciding whether two of England's most senior police figures breached safety laws has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens and his predecessor, Lord Condon, pleaded not guilty to charges under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act. Last week Sir John Stevens was cleared of two of three charges brought by the HSE and Lord Condon was cleared of two of four charges (Risks 107). The charges were brought following the death of one officer and serious injuries to another after both fell through roofs while chasing suspects. A statement by HSE deputy director general Justin McCracken said the watchdog was considering whether to proceed with a retrial on the outstanding charges, adding: 'The charges upon which the jury has failed to agree were the most important charges on the indictment.' He added that HSE’s investigations into the incidents had led to six improvement notices and better safety procedures in the Met.
'Pathetic' campaign is failing to tackle pub smoke risksWorkplace smoking ban campaigners say the government must act now and legislate to stop workplace exposures to passive smoking after a new report found less than half the country’s pubs and bars are complying with a voluntary code. The hospitality industry introduced the code, the Public Places Charter, in 1999 in a bid to head off calls for a passive smoking law. Charter supporters say it encourages bars and restaurants to inform potential customers about their smoking policy by placing signs outside the premises and having a written policy available. However, an independent report, commissioned by the Department of Health and trade groups, this week said just 43 per cent are doing this. The report, based on a survey of 3,000 premises across England and Wales, shows key targets set by the industry when the charter was launched four years ago have been missed. Anti-smoking charity ASH described the progress as 'pathetic.' Deborah Arnott, the campaign’s director, said: 'For pub leaders to claim that the voluntary approach has been a success is a joke. Merely putting up signs declaring that smoking is allowed does nothing to protect the health of patrons or staff.' ASH called on the government 'to officially disassociate itself from this Charter and to bring forward legislation to make smoke-free environments a legal requirement.' A Department of Health spokesperson commented: 'More must be done and rapidly. The government will be considering the issue of second-hand smoke in light of these findings.'
Gadget keeps tabs on smokeA device that allows people to monitor the damage passive smoking is doing to them could help campaigners pushing for smoking to be banned in public places. Dublin-based researchers at the Media Lab Europe are developing a wearable gadget that takes readings of the amount of carbon monoxide and other particles given off by cigarette smoke. Up to now, anti-smoking campaigners wanting to demonstrate exposure to environmental tobacco smoke have relied largely on lab tests on levels of tobacco smoke breakdown products in exposed workers. These findings have been used effectively in union anti-smoking campaigns, but the technique can be costly, time consuming and requires lab back-up. Media Lab Europe say the new device will allow people, especially those that work in smoky environments, to see how much damage passive smoking is doing them. 'Once a bartender knows how much he is inhaling, it might change his opinion on a ban,' Jamie Rasmussen, a researcher at Media Lab Europe told the BBC's Go Digital programme. The company says it may be possible for workers to see how much damage is being done to their lungs or even how it is affecting their life expectancy. £5 million safety study of Airwave police radio systemA £5 million health study on the safety of Airwave, the new digital police radio system, has been announced by Home Office minister Bob Ainsworth. In what the Home Office describes as the largest ever study of its kind in the UK, Imperial College London will monitor more than 100,000 police officers for any impact on health in both the short and long term. A detailed study involving 150 officers to determine whether Airwave signals have any effect on the well-being of users and whether Airwave headsets affect brain function. And a national 15-year health monitoring programme involving up to100,000 police Airwave users in England, Wales and Scotland will look for any link between officers’ long-term health and their use of Airwave. Bob Ainsworth said: 'The health and safety of officers is our top priority. We have already undertaken research that shows that Airwave is safe to use. We are investing in this groundbreaking health-monitoring programme to provide further reassurance to users about long term safety. We are listening to officers on the ground and taking positive action.' The government move follows concerns raised by the Police Federation. Mopping up cleaning health risksUsing mops with short handles and emptying buckets into high level sinks are just some of the inappropriate working practices which cause backaches and strains to cleaners, the HSE has said. Announcing a new Caring for cleaners guide, HSE’s Percy Smith said: 'By focusing on a case study approach using real life examples where success has been achieved, we hope everyone involved with cleaning work will be able to find ways of reducing what is known to be a massive problem.' Ideas on how to prevent strain injuries include using mops with longer handles, buckets with wheels, trolleys for moving laundry, proper maintenance of equipment, low level sinks for bucket emptying and properly located and designed materials and equipment storage. Other case studies focus on work organisational changes such as job enlargement, team working and better training, says HSE. UNISON's national health and safety officer, Hope Daley, said: 'We welcome this guidance and hope that employers of cleaning staff will use it to actively reduce musculoskeletal injuries to their staff. The case studies show that simple methods of prevention can be effective. In many instances it was the cleaners themselves who suggested improvements to avoid the risk of injury. The benefits of a partnership approach are clear.'
Unions mock 'voluntary' long hours cultureUnion leaders have made light of a new report by a bosses’ organisation that claims most people work long hours voluntarily. The Institute of Directors said campaigners who argued for a better balance between work and home life often distorted the truth. The IoD report's author, Ruth Lea, said it was untrue that UK had a 'long hours culture' and was full of 'overworked workaholics.' Ms Lea said it was not true that people in the UK worked the longest hours in Europe because Greeks worked longer hours. 'But the work-life balance protagonists ignore this and run an anti-business agenda that seems hell-bent on demonising the workplace with a collection of, for want of a better phrase, ‘urban myths’,' she said. Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, commenting at the weekend, said: 'If the IoD are right, millions of workers would clamouring outside their workplaces today demanding to be let in and furious at being forced to take a Bank Holiday off.'
Studies find there is no escaping work stressWork-related worries threaten the well-being of the UK’s workforce, with two-thirds of employees unable to leave work stress in the office. A survey of a cross-section of employees by IT services company Parity found the top three reasons given for high stress levels are unrealistic workloads (16 per cent), job insecurity (14 per cent), and long working hours (14 per cent). It found the workplace stress burden left 60 per cent of the working population looking stressed, tired and overworked to people outside of the workplace. Rick Bacon, managing director at Parity Resourcing Solutions, said: 'As staff are the most important asset of a company, managers simply can’t afford to take a laissez-faire approach to tackling employee stress.' He added 'employers should encourage staff to take holiday regularly and offer flexible working hours if appropriate to make for a more effective working environment.' A larger study from Royal and SunAlliance found that one in three men and one in six women were too busy to go on holiday. The study urged companies to make sure their staff take all their holidays.
Are you sick of work too?Flexible working is a top way to reduce workplace sickness absence, according to a new survey. The research by software company Crown Computing found a third of people would be less likely to take an unauthorised day off if they could work more flexibly, while 40 per cent would think again if they knew their company was keeping a record of their absences. Managing director of Crown Computing Mike Hawkesford said: 'While keeping an eye on absences can help identify trends and patterns among specific areas of a workforce, developing an understanding that you have a problem is not good enough. Businesses need to manage absence as and when it happens.' TUC’s Owen Tudor commented: 'Two measures would have the most immediate and dramatic reduction in sick leave - creating better, flexible, safer, more satisfying and properly staffed jobs and introducing supportive sickness absence and rehabilitation policies in consultation with unions.' He added: 'All the evidence shows that the great majority of sick leave it taken for genuine reasons - actual sickness or family emergencies. Frog-marching sick workers through the gates is certainly not the answer.' Injury benefits body meets its publicThe Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), which proposes the prescription of diseases for benefit purposes, has published a report of its first ever public meeting in Sheffield in March covering how the Council is dealing with asbestos related diseases, hand arm vibration syndrome and asthma. Council chair Professor Anthony Newman-Taylor declared the meeting a success: 'It was intended to allow members of the Council to hear the concerns of interested members of the public and enable those present to obtain a greater understanding of the work of the Council.' Attendees, mostly from the trade union and welfare rights movement, quizzed Council members and pressed for more take-up activity. TUC Council member Owen Tudor commented: 'constructive engagement with the people who represent injury victims is vital for the Council - it reminds us that our work is about real people with real problems, not just epidemiological research papers.'
INTERNATIONALAustralia: Researcher says unionisation is the only safe wayStrong, unionised workplaces are the only way to ensure occupational health and safety is properly reactivated, according to an Australian researcher. Kathryn Heiler of the University of Sydney’s workplace research centre ACIRRT said that with a Labour government in every Australian state - only the federal government is still to go Labour - it was time to win back some of the conditions that had been lost over the years. And unions were 'the only way we can do it,' she said. Speaking at the May health and safety seminar organised by national union federation ACTU (Risks 107), she added: 'We have more rights under occupational health and safety (OHS) legislation than we do under industrial legislation and there is no replacement for what happens at the workplace level.' But she said many unions were missing out on the opportunity to organise around workplace safety issues because of poor communication between industrial and OHS officers. Heiler said it was time to 'realign industrial relations and OHS conceptually and industrially' and to use opportunities provided by workplace bargaining. This included acknowledging issues such as inadequate staffing as OHS issues and refusing to be intimidated by 'technical language experts and pseudo scientists'. Canada: Young people at risk at workOver the past four years, 50 workers under the age of 25 have lost their lives at work in Quebec according to a report by the province’s workplace health and safety board CSST. It says in 2002, close to 24,000 young people were injured on the job, and half of the injuries occurred between May and September, when most students are working. The study found half of those injured were hit by an object and 16 per cent were injured through excessive exertion. Young people were most often injured in jobs in the retail and service sectors, especially in grocery stores, delis and restaurants, the sectors where the largest number of young people work. CSST recommends that employers and employees, especially young people, take special precautions.
Indonesia: Few workers getting occupational health careFew of the 24 million workers covered by Indonesia’s government-run social security programme receive the free medical care they are entitled to after being injured at work. Most do not know that medical costs for such incidents are fully covered, says Jamsostek, the state-owned insurance company that runs the programme. Instead, many low income workers take loans from their neighbours or colleagues to get medical treatment or miss out on treatment entirely. Jamsostek's operation director Joko Sungkono admitted his company was not proactive about letting people know about their entitlement to free care, but said it was developing trauma centres in its partner hospitals for injured workers. The Jakarta Post reports that many people who have suffered serious injuries at work have had their hands or legs amputated because of belated medical care. The 2002 data from Jamsostek reveals that an average of 443 occupational accidents befell its 24 million workers every day, and the death toll for its members averaged eight per day. The number of occupational accidents is expected to double in the next 10 years, it adds. ILO this year rated Indonesia worst for workplace safety in south east Asia (Risks 104). Malaysia: Four deaths a dayAn average of one thousand deaths occur every year in Malaysian workplaces, according to the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (Penang Division). Health and safety chair N. Balakrishnan said 95,006 industrial accidents were reported for the year 2000, and he revealed that the number of deaths had risen by 9% since the previous year. He was speaking at a Workers Memorial Day rally organised by MTUC, the umbrella body for 122 unions. Flowers were laid at a Workers Monument in Prai, constructed specially to remember 30 workers who died while building the Penang bridge. Balakrishnan also said that upper limb disorders had remained at an average of 37,168 cases per year for the last seven years, and tuberculosis among workers was increasing alarmingly. "The average occurrence had been about 33 cases per year for the last six years. Now the figure is 367 cases in 2000 alone," he said. USA: An ergonomic mess in the grocery aislesShopwork is a pain. The repetition of movements, standing for long periods and stocking shelves can result in injuries to the arm, wrist and back that qualify as musculoskeletal disorders or injuries. Not that you’d realise it was a major problem from the low priority it receives in the US. After the Republican administration ditched a legally-binding ergonomics law, safety watchdog OSHA opted instead for chummy voluntary agreements with industry. This approach, of course, irks labor unions and is more palatable to business groups. Commenting on the latest draft proposals for the grocery industry, Peg Seminario, director of union federation AFL-CIO's safety department, said the guidelines are too general. 'There is no sense of priority. It ignores that real problems are there. This is a dumbing down of the guidelines.' The shopworkers’ union UFCW says the grocery store guidelines are toothless since there is no way for OSHA to enforce them, a claim seemingly conceded by OHSA. USA: Compensation cuts will hurt workersChanges to Florida’s state compensation laws will mean most injured workers, already faced with one of the country’s most tight-fisted systems, will not be able to afford proper legal advice. Press reports say the move, pushed through by the business-friendly Republican majority, has left the insurance industry giddy and unions dejected. Under the US system, you can’t sue for damages for work-related health problems, so the workers’ compensation system is the only chance you’ve got - and has to cover medical costs too. Florida Democrats said the bill eroded workers' protections by introducing measures including a $1,500-per-incident limit (£915) on the legal fees available to workers in claims disputes. They say the bill does not cap how much insurance companies can pay their lawyers when opposing a claim. The measure also cuts medical benefits and reduces the amount of paid psychological care to six months. 'The insurance companies made out like bandits,' said Dwayne Sealy, an official of the union federation AFL-CIO. Other states, notably California and West Virginia, are also looking to slash their compensation budgets. RESOURCESShaking all over?The Health and Safety Executive’s vibration exposure calculator can help you to work out your overall daily exposure to vibration. HSE says it is able to take into account up to six different activities, and just needs you to input the vibration levels and the exposure duration (in hours/minutes) for each activity. HSE’s new chemical safety dataThe HSE has published the latest supplement to update EH40 - the list of occupational exposure limits (OELs) on the internet. The main changes are three new maximum exposure limits (MELs) for substances for which Occupational Exposure Standards (OESs) were previously set: chloroethane, hydroquinone and manganese and its inorganic compounds; and amendment of the MELs for benzene and vinyl chloride.
EVENTS AND COURSESTUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR APRIL TO JULY 2003:Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, South East and East Anglia, South West, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside Law enforcement and corporate accountability, 7 JulyGovernment ministers, MPs from all main political parties, trade unions, employer organisations, bereaved families and the Health and Safety Executive are all speaking at the TUC-Centre for Corporate Accountability 3rd joint conference on 'Law enforcement and corporate accountability.' Speakers include: Rt. Hon. Nick Brown MP, minister for work; Brendan Barber, TUC; Janet Asherson, CBI; Anne Jones, Simon Jones Memorial Campaign; Neal Stone, HSE; Lord Falconer; Home Office minister; Patricia Peters, Institute of Directors; Tony Lloyd MP, chair, TU group of Labour MPs; Ross Cranston QC MP, former Solicitor General; and many more…
Hazards Conference, 5-7 SeptemberThe Hazards Conference will be in London. Margaret Sharkey at the London Hazards Centre is the co-ordinator of the London end of the organisation. You can contact her via e-mail at margaret@lhc.org.uk or on 020 7794 5999. European Week for Health and Safety at Work, 13-19 OctoberThe theme for the Week in 2003 will be ‘dangerous substances’ (EU Agency press release). The TUC will be stressing the hierarchy of control, and especially the need for substitutes and general toxic use reduction strategies. Key hazards dealt with will include asbestos, asthmagens and solvents. Future years’ themes have also now been decided. 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.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. |
Usdaw’s national 'Freedom from fear' campaign on workplace violence is being picked up by service sector unions Europe-wide and has hit the Commons too. John Hannett, deputy general secretary of the UK shopworkers’ union, won support from union delegates from across Europe when he introduced the campaign at the UNI-Europa commerce conference in Stockholm. UNI-Europa’s commerce section 'will be raising the issue at a European level with employers, the European Commission and European Works Councils.' On 17 September, Usdaw is holding the first Respect for Shopworkers Day, Hannett also told delegates. Thousands of UK stores will be putting up permanent signs urging customers to treat staff with respect and warning that abusive behaviour will not be tolerated. The day won backing from Home Office Minister Bob Ainsworth earlier this month when MP Tom Watson used an adjournment debate to raise the issue. The member for West Bromwich East said: "we have to dispel some myths about retail crime. It is not a victimless or faceless crime. Retail crime has become an occupational hazard. Violent thieves, aggressive shoppers and abusive customers are making life a misery for retail staff.'Newsletter (5,100 words) issued 31 May 2003
