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Risksissue no 135 - 6 December 2003 |
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Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to Tom Mellish CONTENTS· Action: what do you think of the draft heights law? · Union news: EU report exposes UK working time abuse * GMB says 'burn out Britain' is a reality * sober workers fired under 'zero tolerance' policy * Tube safety go-slow still on * Amicus say UK workers deserve Oz style law * Shell 'admits' death rig shortcomings * balloon protest for workers’ safety * acting can be hazardous * global cabin crew unions call for government support · Other news: workplace snoopers face legal clampdown * campaigns continue against asbestos profiteers * CCA challenges flawed corporate killing plan * Corus fined after another workplace death * smoke signals bad for UK, good for NZ * UV cure for sick building syndrome * new union face on the HSC · International news: Austria: the tills are alive with the sound of muzak * Canada: unions launch safer needle campaign * USA: compensation cases link welding to Parkinson's * USA: workers need workplace violence education. · Events and courses: TUC courses for safety reps Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 8,500 subscribers and 1,500 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. ACTIONWhat do you think of the draft heights law?The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) is seeking views from industry, unions and workers on draft work at height regulations and guidance. HSC chair Bill Callaghan this week opened a four-month consultation period and launched a consultation document that sets out the proposed new regulations and guidance to improve the planning, organising and management of work at height. He said: 'Despite recent improvements, falling from height remains the single biggest cause of workplace deaths and the second biggest cause of serious injuries.' He added: 'These draft regulations are designed to ensure that people work at height safely in Great Britain across all industries. The consultation document sets out the draft regulations and guidance and we welcome views from all those with an interest.' The consultation period will run until 2 April 2004. It is expected final proposals will be put to ministers by late 2004.
UNION NEWSEU report exposes UK working time abuse
GMB says 'burn out Britain' is a realityAlmost one in four men works longer than the European limit, according to a GMB analysis of the most recent census data. GMB general secretary Kevin Curran said: 'You simply can’t be at your best if you are continually working more than 48 hours a week. I am disappointed that the new Employment Bill to be tabled this week does nothing to address this growing problem. By persisting in allowing people to work longer than they are capable of we are holding back our competitiveness with Europe. By practically encouraging longer working hours, the CBI and the government is burning out Britain.' The EU working hours ceiling was introduced as a health and safety measure. Overwork has been linked to high levels of heart disease, stroke, depression and suicide, dubbed by TUC the deadly diseases of the modern workplace ( Risks 118 ). Sober workers fired under 'zero tolerance' policyFive maintenance workers cleared by tests of any drug or alcohol use have been fired after facing what their union warned would be a 'kangaroo court' ( Risks 132 ). The rail union RMT says there could be industrial action after the workers were sacked over the discovery of empty alcohol cans and bottles in a mess room. Maintenance company Metronet said the five had been sacked because there was 'reasonable belief' that its policy of zero tolerance of alcohol had been breached. RMT union said the evidence against the sacked workers was circumstantial. Bob Crow, the general secretary, said none of those dismissed had tested positive for alcohol. 'The cabin where evidence of drinking was allegedly found is freely accessed by at least 60 people, including contractors, yet no-one else was investigated or tested,' he said. 'Our members are being used as scapegoats for management's own complete incompetence in investigating serious allegations.' Mr Crow said he would recommend staff be balloted on industrial action if the five were not reinstated.
Tube safety go-slow still onNext week’s Tube safety go-slow remains on after the infrastructure companies failed to remove ambiguities from proposals tabled following the latest round of talks. 'The RMT has accepted proposals put to us in writing by London Underground, but found that those tabled by the infrastructure companies contain too many ambiguities,' RMT general secretary Bob Crow said. 'We need clear and unqualified commitment to increasing inspections and improving standards. We are now waiting for the infracos to respond once more, and the RMT executive will meet again on Monday to consider the changes that we hope the employers will now make to their proposals.' The safety go-slow, prompted by recent accidents on the Tube system, has been re-scheduled by RMT to Tuesday 9 and Wednesday 10 December to avoid clashing with the England rugby squad’s London victory parade. Amicus say UK workers deserve Oz style lawThe trade union Amicus has reacted angrily to news that an Australian state has implemented the corporate manslaughter laws ( Risks 134 ) that were missing from last week’s Queen’s Speech ( Risks 134 ). Amicus said that workers in the UK should be celebrating the same industrial manslaughter protection as their counterparts in Australia, especially as corporate manslaughter laws were a UK Labour Party manifesto pledge in 1997. Derek Simpson, Amicus’ general secretary, said: 'Australian politicians have implemented laws that mean that employers whose negligent health and safety practices leads to the death and injury will be prosecuted.' He added: 'Amicus believe that UK workers deserve exactly the same protection at work as their Australian counterparts.' Canada passed a national industrial manslaughter law last month ( Risks 131 ).
Shell 'admits' death rig shortcomingsOil workers say their employer has admitted shortcomings on one of its North Sea platforms where two men died in a gas escape. Shell has briefed staff about its internal inquiry into September's tragedy on Brent Bravo. Sean McCue, 22, and Keith Moncrieff, 45, suffocated ( Risks 124 ). In October, Shell denied suggestions from workers in the Brent Field that the company's interim report appeared to blame the two men for the accident. Shell says it will not comment on the issue while the Health and Safety Executive is continuing its investigations. A spokesperson for the rig union Amicus was more forthcoming, however: 'There was a series of events which led to the fatalities and nothing the workers involved did, or did not do, should have made a difference to the outcome. Amicus is pleased rumours that Shell was placing responsibility on the dead workers are therefore proved to be unfounded.' The union is still pressing for a fatal accident inquiry into the deaths. The Shell admission came a week after a top Shell executive shared a platform with Minister for Work Des Browne at an HSE-sponsored conference, where the minister praised the offshore industry’s safety record. Balloon protest for workers’ safety
Members of the Transport and General Workers’ Union (TGWU) have released 400 balloons over Manchester city centre to highlight the risks to safety at work from employer negligence. The union said each balloon released in the 3 December protest represented someone killed at work in the construction industry in the last 10 years. The event was organised by a group of TGWU members in Manchester, who were working as skilled and fully qualified electricians for subcontractors DAF on a £25 million council project, when they were sacked and replaced by unqualified workers. The TGWU is warning that employing unskilled workers to do safety critical jobs such as electricians is a threat to safety. The members have collected a 20,000 signature petition protesting at the use of unskilled labour and demanding the council investigate the matter to prevent similar abuses in future. Dave McCall, regional secretary for the TGWU, said: 'Employer negligence costs lives. The TGWU is pressing the government at the highest level to honour their manifesto commitment to make corporate killing a crime.' Acting can be hazardousMore than threequarters of actors in the UK have suffered some discomfort or injury during their career, according to research by physios’ union the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). Four out of five of those surveyed blamed work in the theatre. With the help of performers’ union Equity, CSP surveyed 100 actors chosen at random from Equity's membership. The problems they listed included back, neck and shoulder pain, joint pulls and sprains, bruising, torn ligaments, tendon injuries and skin abrasions. One-seventh (14 per cent) of respondents believed safety measures backstage presented a real hazard to their health, often as a result of tight budgets where not enough money is allocated to ensure activities and sets are safely designed. Christine Payne, Equity assistant general secretary, commented: 'Acting on stage can be very physically demanding. Equity has been working with employers both on proper warm-up and warm-down techniques and on good practice when working on raked stages. We are very much in support of the CSP's suggestion that actors have access to physiotherapy so that problems can be addressed before they become chronic.' Global cabin crew unions call for government supportRepresentatives of a quarter of a million cabin crew staff in over 100 countries have urged UK Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling to help persuade the European Union that cabin crews need a professional qualification to ensure safer and more secure flights. On 2 December, global transport union body ITF delivered a letter to the Secretary of State calling on him to throw the UK's support behind the proposal to introduce a common European qualification for cabin crew. The move came ahead of a 3-4 December European Union Council of Transport Ministers meeting in Brussels. ITF’s Shane Enright said: 'Ground engineers are licensed and so are pilots. The post-September 11th change to locked cockpits leaves cabin crew effectively in charge of everything except the flying of a plane, making it crucial that all of them are qualified to the high level that many countries now demand.' He added: 'This is the first step of a campaign to achieve a universal standard of competence first in Europe and then in the rest of the world.' OTHER NEWSWorkplace snoopers face legal clampdownThe growing employer taste for drug and alcohol tests, genetic screening and snooping into personal medical histories could be ruled out of order by the government. Information Commissioner Richard Thomas says the latest phase of the consultation on the Employment Practices Data Protection Code will cover information about workers’ health. This section of the code will cover areas including: The operation of occupational health schemes; medical examination and testing of workers; drug and alcohol testing; and genetic testing in the workplace. Although the code will be guidance and not regulation, lawyers have warned that breaches of the code are likely to be cited in employment tribunals. The draft code says drug and alcohol testing should be limited to workers in jobs that pose particular safety risks. It says it will be deemed 'intrusive' to obtain information about workers' health,' and adds: 'Workers have legitimate expectations that they can keep their personal health information private and that employers will respect this privacy.' Employers should gather information about staff health only if they can satisfy a 'sensitive data condition,' most likely for health and safety reasons, to prevent discrimination on the grounds of disability, or if a worker has given consent. The code also makes clear that companies must not use genetic testing to make predictions about workers' future general health.
Campaigns continue against asbestos profiteersThe company sent in as administrator for T&N, the asbestos giant that opted for bankruptcy to avoid asbestos payouts to dying workers, is making millions in fees while sufferers receive nothing. T&N went into administration on 1 October 2001, when its US parent company, Federal Mogul, sought protective bankruptcy. Since that date not one penny in compensation has been paid to T&N asbestos victims, many of whom have died since the administration process began. Kroll Buchler Phillips, the UK administrators, has however charged £17 million in fees to date and their solicitors have charged £6 million. Campaigners say excessive professional fees are eating into a fund that was supposed to compensate sufferers. Tony Whitston, a spokesperson for the coalition of asbestos support groups that last week lobbied Kroll’s UK HQ, said: 'T&N are responsible for the deaths of countless numbers of their workers, poisoned by asbestos. Their insurers, Royal & SunAlliance and Lloyds, have refused to pay on their policies and we have rightly condemned them for this. Now we find that the administrators are making a financial ‘killing,’ significantly reducing the fund they are supposed to help to establish! We think this is another example of corporate greed at its worst.' CCA challenges flawed corporate killing planThe government’s plans for a corporate killing law, already under attack for delays and for not bringing dangerous directors to book (Risks 134), could also breach human rights laws by excluding public bodies from its scope. Ministers plan to grant their departments blanket immunity from legislation on corporate killing to be published this month. However, independent advice from barristers at Matrix chambers says such a move would breach the European Convention on Human Rights. David Bergman, head of the Centre for Corporate Accountability which asked Matrix - the chambers of Cherie Booth QC - to prepare the advice, said the government's proposals would in effect block criminal investigations into ministers' departments. The Matrix advice warns that Crown immunity 'gives rise to a clear risk of a breach of the European Convention of Human Rights.' Mr Bergman said: 'There are good public policy reasons why any new manslaughter offence should apply to all employing organisations ... The government is required by its own human rights laws to ensure that any such offence should apply to them.' Corus fined after another workplace deathCorus UK Ltd has been fined £150,000 and £50,000 costs following an incident in which a worker was killed. Locomotive driver, Michael McGovern, was killed on 15 September 2000 when the train he was driving at the Corus steelworks in Scunthorpe derailed. The company pleaded guilty at Grimsby Crown Court to criminal safety breaches for failing to maintain their railway system. HSE inspector Dave Bradley, the investigating inspector, said: 'Our investigation concluded that the company's system of inspection, maintenance and repair was deficient. There were faults with the vehicle involved, intermittent faults in the points mechanism, as well as defects in the track and signals.' He added: 'This incident demonstrated the dangers of relying on reactive maintenance when dealing with plant and machinery. Workplace transport is the second biggest cause of fatal accidents in British workplaces, killing around a hundred and injuring thousands of people every year. The vast majority of these accidents are preventable.' The incident is one a series at Corus plants country wide, including the death of Gary Birkett, killed at the Scunthorpe plant on 5 November 2002.
Smoke signals bad for UK, good for NZMore than half of UK non-smoking employees are being exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace, according to research. Campaign group SmokeFree London said around eight million non-smokers (51 per cent), many working in bars and restaurants, were exposed to smoke in the workplace. Three million of these worked every day in premises where smoking was permitted. The survey of 1,958 adults across the UK found that 88 per cent of those asked, including 91 per cent of non-smokers, wanted legislation to regulate smoking in the workplace. The news comes as research shows smoking is not just bad for your health - a third of UK businesses would employ a non-smoker over a smoker. The Smoking in the Workplace Survey found one in seven recruitment consultants and one in five employers believe smoking has a negative impact on job prospects. The New Zealand parliament passed legislation this week that will require all its workplaces, including pubs and clubs, to be smoke-free within 12 months. New Zealand follows Ireland, Norway, the Philippines and six US states which have all made similar moves. The NZ parliament acted after research showed bar and restaurant workers in smoke-allowing venues ended their shifts with nicotine levels comparable to smokers. UV cure for sick building syndromeMillions of people who suffer from sick building syndrome could be cured if ultraviolet lights were installed in office ventilation systems, according to a new study. The lights kill the germs that breed in air conditioning systems and cause health problems including breathing difficulties, headaches, sore throats, stuffy noses and itchy eyes. Researchers writing in medical journal The Lancet tested three offices where people suffered from sick building syndrome. Where UV lights were introduced there was a 20 per cent reduction in all symptoms. There were 40 per cent fewer complaints about respiratory problems and a 30 per cent reduction in people complaining of stuffy noses. Muscular complaints also halved, according to the study. Dick Menzies, the lead researcher, said the cost of installing the lights 'could, in the long run, prove cost effective compared with the yearly losses from absence because of building related illness.' Around 70 per cent of people in the West now work in air-conditioned offices, and sick building syndrome is estimated to cost companies millions of pounds a year in reduced productivity and sick days.
New union face on the HSCThe country’s top safety body, the nine person Health and Safety Commission, now has a member with the highest possible workplace safety qualification - she’s been a union safety rep. Liz Snape, head of policy at the public service union UNISON, has been selected as the Commissioner representing the concerns of workers. The post has a term of three years. TUC safety officer Tom Mellish welcomed the appointment: 'Liz will bring a wide range of personal trade union experience - from TUC General Council member to union safety rep - to the TUC team on the Commission, as well as the collective experience of UNISON's members in the public sector many of whom are in low paid, part-time work. Her experience as an executive council member of the European Public Services Union will also be an asset for the Commission in its dealings with the European Commission. We wish Liz every success and look forward to working with her in the future.' INTERNATIONALAustria: The tills are alive with the sound of muzakShop workers in Austria are demanding compensation for the 'psychological terror' of being subjected to hours of piped Christmas music. A union study found that listening to endless hours of Silent Night and Jingle Bells made shop staff 'aggressive and confrontational.' Union spokesperson Gottfried Rieser said: 'By the time Christmas comes around there are large scores of abused shop workers who hate the very idea of it. They cannot bear to listen to Christmas songs and completely lose their temper at the slightest mention of anything to do with Christmas.' Union lawyers had been instructed to see whether legal action can be taken to stop stores constantly playing Christmas jingles, but it appeared there was little they could do. But he added the unions were now calling on employers to voluntarily introduce a code of practice where Christmas music was limited to a few hours a day in peak shopping hours.
Canada: Unions launch safer needle campaignA coalition of Canadian health care unions has launched a national campaign for a new law that would mandate the use of safer equipment and virtually eliminate needle-stick injuries among Canada's 750,000 health care workers. Ted Mansell, the health and safety director at the Service Employees International Union Canada, said: 'What is happening to health care workers - almost 70,000 accidental needle-sticks a year - is a horrendous nightmare, and no one should accept this is normal.' He added: 'I think health workers deserve a law that says there should be safety-engineered devices in every workplace. This isn't a luxury; it's a necessity.' In the US where 24 states have enacted legislation, the rules had a dramatic impact. According to a study conducted by the International Health Care Worker Safety Center at the University of Virginia, injuries declined by more than half at hospitals that replaced one-quarter of their sharp objects with safety-engineered alternatives. The research suggests that 70 per cent to 90 per cent of injuries are preventable. USA: Compensation cases link welding to Parkinson'sA US welder who claimed he developed a Parkinson’s-like condition caused by exposure to welding fume has received a massive compensation payout. Larry Elam said his health problems stemmed from years of using welding rods made and sold by major companies across the US. The companies denied the claims and said there is no link between welding and Parkinson's. A jury awarded Elam $1 million (£58m) in an Illinois court last month, marking the first time a plaintiff won a case in 10 such trials. Cleveland attorney John R Climaco and other attorneys for the welders say workers suffered neurological damage from welding-rod fumes that contain manganese, which stabilises and hardens the weld. In documents, the attorneys say the fumes can lead to brain damage. 'The industry has known since at least 1932 that welding could lead to manganese overexposure, and that welders needed effective protection from fumes,' the attorneys said in legal briefs. Elam, 65, of Collinsville, Ilonois, developed symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease - known as 'manganism' or 'parkinsonism' - after working for years at Union Electric in Missouri, where he welded and worked near welders, said his attorney, Robert Bosslet. USA: Workers need workplace violence educationWorkplace violence rarely strikes without warning, but employees are not being given the training required to recognise when they are at risk. A new US study commissioned by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN) 'found that nearly 20 per cent of the entire workforce claimed they have experienced an episode of workplace violence first-hand, yet the majority still do not know what to look for when it comes to determining potential offender characteristics,' said AAOHN president Susan A Randolph. 'These findings alone define a significant need for companies to commit to and implement workplace violence education and prevention programmes. Without employee education, a company will be far less able to diffuse a potential violent situation before it arises.' Eugene A Rugala of the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime commented: 'Companies that have a workplace violence prevention and education programme are much better prepared to catch and prevent a dangerous situation before it occurs.' A new FBI monograph on workplace violence will be available from 1 January 2004, he said. RESOURCESGMB guide on mobile phones and driversGMB has issued new guidance to coincide with the legal ban on the use of hand-held mobile phones. The guide includes these action points for safety representatives: Ensure that your employer has an internal policy in place banning the use of hand held phones when driving; ensure that your employer makes all drivers and their managers aware of the new law and that they should not use a hand held phone when driving; get members to report any incidents where they are being pressured to break the law and use a hand held phone when driving; press for all mobile phone equipment issued by the company to have a message facilities and press for a policy on mobile phone use which allows drivers to park safely and only receive calls, pick up messages and return phone calls when the engine is turned off and ensure that driving schedules allow for this; where hands free phone systems are fitted ensure that they comply with relevant standards; and ensure that your employer carries out risk assessments on all driving activities. EVENTS AND COURSESTUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2003Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside COURSES FOR JANUARY TO MARCH 2004South West, Wales Scotland Southern and Eastern East and West Midlands Northern Yorkshire and Humberside 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. |
An unpublished European Union research report exposes widespread working hours abuse by UK employers. The report was commissioned from three Cambridge University academics in the run up to the European Commission's review of the UK opt-out from the Europe-wide 48-hour working week ceiling. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'This report only surveyed 13 employers, and they were largely put forward by trade bodies so might be expected to be above average. Yet even in this small and unrepresentative sample there is widespread abuse of the rules, straight lawbreaking and widespread confusion about the regulations.' He added: 'Much of the long hours working appears to reflect bad work organisation and poor productivity. Staff may say they want the long hours to earn the overtime, but it is possible to work shorter hours, be more productive and still earn the same pay as workers across Europe know. This report confirms that the UK's individual opt-out has blown a huge hole in working time protection. It is a key contributor to our long hours culture. Only its abolition will start to make a difference.' The UK is the only EU country that allows everyone at work to sign away their right to a 48 hour average week ( 
Newsletter (4,800 words) issued 7 Dec 2003
