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Risksissue no 157 - 22 May 2004 |
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Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to Tom Mellish CONTENTS
Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 9,500 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. UNION NEWSLatest round to the unions in working time fightUnions have won a major victory in the ongoing fight for an end to the UK opt-out clause from Europe’s 48 hour working week ceiling. The European Commission this week warned it was considering proposals to abolish Britain's opt-out. Europe's new employment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said the current arrangement, exempting UK workers from the maximum 48 hour week if they sign away their rights, should at least be tightened up to halt abuses, if not phased out completely. The Commissioner issued a challenge to unions and employers across Europe to negotiate an update of the 10-year-old Working Time Directive - otherwise the Commission would produce its own revised proposals. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the Commission decision 'is a defeat for the UK government who have been arguing that the opt-out should simply stay. The Commission has clearly seen through the misleading evidence provided by the UK government. This is great encouragement to our campaign to end the individual opt-out, the only way to stop employers pressurising staff to work long hours.' An earlier letter from TUC to Commissioner Dimas revealed that a UK government submission in support of the opt-out was 'riddled with errors' and 'has seriously misrepresented the situation' in the UK.
Deadly site dangers prove case for killing lawAn National Audit Office (NAO) report showing building workers are three times more likely to suffer a serious workplace injury and that the industry accounted for over 30 per cent of all workplace deaths in 2002-03, has led to renewed union calls for laws on corporate killing and directors' responsibilities. A letter to the Home Secretary from general secretaries Tony Woodley of TGWU and George Brumwell of UCATT concludes: 'The government, as one of the biggest customers of the construction industry, should take a lead for the rest of the industry to follow to improve workplace safety. We would seek an early opportunity to meet with you to discuss this issue to see what can be done to expedite the publication of a draft Bill, to understand any problems that are arising and to see if we can work with others to overcome any obstacles that exist.' Sir John Bourn, head of NAO, said the report showed 'further and sustained improvements in the health and safety performance of the industry are required. The Health and Safety Executive must be better able to assess and measure the impact of its own strategies for ensuring that the industry takes ownership of its risks and manages them in order to reduce avoidable injuries to people and burdensome costs to the economy.'
Protective equipment 'must be free'General union GMB is reminding workers that their employers must pay up for any necessary workplace personal protective equipment. The move follows complaints from catering staff who had been told by their employers that safety shoes were part of their uniform and had to be paid for. This prompted the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to reiterate that personal protective equipment (PPE) must be provided free of charge. The GMB alert says section 9 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 prohibits employers from charging employees for protective equipment which is required under regulations. The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992 state that every employer must provide suitable PPE where a risk assessment has shown that there are risks to health and safety that cannot be adequately controlled by other means. GMB gives these action points for safety reps: Ensure that your employer is not charging anyone for PPE; ensure that you are consulted on the choice of PPE; ensure that you are consulted on risk assessments and that your employer is using PPE as a last resort; and report any cases of charging to the union.
Stressed out lecturers demand actionUniversities and colleges must tackle causes of academic stress, says further education union NATFHE. The union was responding to a report from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy which showed a major increase in the number of academic staff in further and high education seeking counselling. NATFHE is calling for more funding to expand counselling services in colleges and universities, but says employers should act to tackle the causes of stress. Roger Kline, head of NATFHE's universities department, said the findings were not surprising. 'Workloads have more than doubled in the period of the survey, because of the huge rise in student numbers and sharp increases in the student-teacher ratio,' he said. 'Student discipline, bureaucracy, long working hours and the insecurity of casual working make stress one of the biggest causes of occupational ill-health in further and higher education.' He added that any increase in student numbers would have to be accompanied by more staff and resources 'otherwise, college and university employers may find themselves liable for putting the health of their staff at risk.' More teachers fear pupil assaultsAlmost a quarter of nursery, primary and secondary school teachers in Scotland have been assaulted by pupils, according to teaching union NASUWT. The union said many children 'were out of control.' It is calling for a national standard for pupil behaviour and is urging parents to take more responsibility. The survey found that 64 per cent of secondary teachers and 46 per cent of primary teachers were verbally abused and three out of five nursery teachers were abused or assaulted. The union’s Scottish president Ian Clydesdale said he was 'appalled' by the statistics and added NASUWT wanted all assaults on teachers by pupils met with permanent exclusion and criminal charges. A Scottish Executive spokesperson said: 'Teachers have the right to do their jobs without fear of abuse and violence will not be tolerated.' Casinos gamble with Scots workers’ healthScotland’s casino workers are being made to gamble with their health according to GMB union research. Its survey of members at Scotland’s 12 casinos found workers are suffering the adverse health effects of long hours, night working and poorly designed workstations. The survey took place two years on from the first GMB survey of casino workers in Scotland. It revealed a rise in the number of gaming workers in Scotland experiencing violence and sexual harassment at work, with as many as 35 per cent saying they had experienced violence at work. The number of people reporting sexual harassment has doubled in the last two years. Half of those surveyed (50 per cent) complained of recurrent backache and 35 per cent of recurrent neckache. Amongst croupiers, 80 per cent reported musculoskeletal disorders. Passive smoking was identified as a serious problem and two-thirds said their workload had increased. GMB Scotland casinos organiser Richard Leonard said the union wanted proactive health and safety partnerships, including 'risk assessments which cover stress, violence, the impact of shift working and the risks of secondary smoking.' He added: 'We also need to see an end to 12 hour shifts and greater job rotation.' Unions can protect migrant workersThe first step to avoiding exploitation for migrant workers is the trade union movement, a top union official has said. On the eve of the report stage for the Sheridan Bill on gangmasters, Transport and General Workers Union national secretary Peter Allenson said: 'The TGWU has a fine record in working with and for many groups who need protection against exploitation in the workplace.' He told a Capita conference on migrant and illegal workers: 'We have worked hard with Portuguese workers, for example, in food industry and we continue to be heavily involved in the gangmaster issue to make sure that workers know they can look to the TGWU for support, representation and advice. Migrant workers can and should look to trade unions.' Drawing attention to the Charter of Rights for Migrant Workers in Agriculture, which had recently been agreed by global agriculture union group IUF, he said this was an example of how trade unions could act on the European and global stages to make sure people knew their rights. 'Now more than ever people need the protection trade unions offer,' he said. 'Now more than ever, the TGWU is at the forefront of fighting back for migrant workers.'
OTHER NEWSGovernment failing on gangmastersThe government has failed to respond 'sufficiently urgently' to illegal activities by gangmasters, a parliamentary committee has concluded. The criticism comes in a new report by the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. A lack of government action meant thousands of people were 'vulnerable to both exploitation and personal danger,' committee chair Michael Jack MP said. He called for a single minister to be in charge of gangmaster activities. The report says the action take so far had been driven by Jim Sheridan MP's Gangmasters (Licensing) Bill and the February tragedy in Morecambe Bay where it is now thought 23 Chinese cockle pickers drowned (Risks 155). 'Temporary workers operating in safe conditions and paying their taxes are of vital importance to British agriculture and horticulture today,' Mr Jack said. 'If this labour is to operate safely in the future then the government needs to get its act together fast and appoint a minister with sufficient seniority to ensure that the elimination of illegal gangmasters becomes the story, rather than the tragedies of those who work for them.' The Transport and General Workers Union (TGWU), which helped draft the Sheridan Bill, welcomed the committee’s support for gangmaster licensing and registration. · Environment, Food and Rural Affair Committee news release and 8th report. BBC News Online. TGWU news release . Questions raised about Glasgow blast tragedyAn investigation by a leading Scottish newspaper has raised serious concerns about the safety regime in place prior to the deadly 11 May explosion at a Glasgow plastics factory (Risks 156). Sunday Herald reporter Neil Mackay writes: 'An oven made from the back of a bin lorry. Factory air filled with chemical powder and the mist of spray paint guns. Gaps in oven doors that a hand could fit through. Staff working stripped to the waist in sweltering temperatures. Volatile chemicals next to sources of extreme heat. That’s what it was like on the shopfloor of ICL Plastics Ltd - the factory which exploded on Tuesday in Glasgow’s Maryhill killing nine people.' The report continues that while company bosses are clearly in the firing line, 'a shadow also hangs over the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which is supposed to ensure that industry doesn’t endanger employees’ lives.' It adds: 'The Sunday Herald has learned that the firm was told in advance when HSE inspectors were to visit, giving managers time to prepare staff. The HSE also identified to managers a staff whistleblower who had reported poor working conditions in the factory. The HSE is now fighting to prove it isn’t operating a pro-business agenda that risks workers’ safety.' Timothy Smith, 31, was named as the ninth victim of the tragedy. Tories talk out safety penalties billThe TUC has condemned the Conservatives for talking out a bill calling for stiffer workplace safety penalties. The 14 May second reading of Andy Love MP’s Ten Minute Rule Bill, which was unopposed at its first reading stage (Risks 143), called for larger fines and the possibility of prison sentences to cover all offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act and for increased penalties for non-insurance. Prior to the debate, the Labour MP for Edmonton said: 'The recent Morecambe Bay cockling tragedy reminds us in the most shocking terms of the need to protect workers from some of the harshest and most dangerous working conditions where workers are exploited by a system thriving on the taint of illegality.' However, Tory MPs, including ex-safety minister Eric Forth, talked the Bill out. The debate is now scheduled to continue on 16 July, although it seems the Conservatives have already signalled their intention to block further progress. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson condemned the manoeuvre by Conservative MPs, saying: 'The Tories should not be playing politics with people’s lives. We need a consensus over the need for stronger enforcement and greater penalties for those that break the law.' GP hanged herself through stressA family doctor hanged herself because of stress at work, an inquest has heard. Bury coroners' court was told Dr Dawn Harris, 38, who worked at the Lever Chambers practice in Bolton, became 'angry, very distressed and quite hurt' by problems at the busy medical practice. The inquest heard that Dr Harris was one of four GPs working at the NHS surgery, which has 6,700 people on its register. Although she loved caring for her patients, she was worried by the increasing governmental red tape and demands to meet an escalating number of targets. Recording a verdict of suicide, the coroner, Simon Nelson, said that statistically there were a high number of cases of self-harm in the medical profession and questioned whether there existed systems to deal with the problem. 'That is a matter for the governing body of that profession,' he said. According to a recent study, GPs' suicides run at two to three times that of the general population, with young women particularly at risk. Last year Hazards magazine estimated there were at least 100 work-related suicides in the UK every year (Risks 118).
Unions watch Tesco sick day planShopworkers’ union Usdaw is keeping a wary eye on a pilot scheme by supermarket chain Tesco aimed at cutting sick days. The company is considering plans where workers would get extra holiday or benefits if they did not take days off. More controversial is the idea of only giving sick pay if people are off for more than three days and provide a doctor's note. A letter to Usdaw union reps from Pauline Foulkes, Usdaw national officer with responsibility for Tesco, says: 'Let me make it absolutely clear from the outset that there are no proposals to remove payment for the first three days of sickness from existing Tesco staff who are entitled to this benefit.' She added: 'Usdaw are supporting this trial because we want to have an input and share the learnings, and have a say in shaping and influencing the outcomes.' The trial is being run on a purely voluntary basis, says Usdaw. Tesco, which recently reported profits of £1.7bn, said it was looking to cut levels of unplanned absence and is introducing the pilot in about 20 stores. However, the approach has been slammed by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI). 'Employers should be able to trust their staff when they phone in, unwell, and positive approaches to managing absenteeism are more likely to reduce its occurrence,' said Christine Hayhurst, CMI director of professional affairs.
Passive smoking at work 'kills hundreds'Secondhand tobacco smoke at work kills hundreds of Britons each year - including almost one hospitality industry worker a week, a study says. A team led by Professor Konrad Jamrozik of Imperial College London looked at the number of people who died from lung cancer, heart disease and stroke in England and Wales in 2002 and calculated the proportion due to passive smoking. According to Professor Jamrozik's calculations, approximately 700 people die from lung cancer, heart disease or stroke because of passive smoking at work. He also estimated that passive smoking kills one person working in the hospitality industry every week. 'In the absence of a direct observational study, I feel this research is the best evidence we have in this country to show the effects of passive smoking in the workplace,' he said. Recent reports suggest the government is losing patience with the hospitality industry favoured approach, using voluntary measures rather than legal bans (Risks 156).
Councils 'slow' on asbestos rules
Nine 'apprentices' die on government backed schemesIn the last 20 months, nine apprentice workers - all under the age of 23 - have been killed on the work placement component of government funded courses, the Centre for Corporate Accountability has revealed. One of the deaths has resulted in a director and company being prosecuted for manslaughter. The trial is due to take place later this year at Exeter Crown Court. One other death has resulted in companies pleading guilty to health and safety offences, whilst five of the deaths are still under investigation. At the time of the deaths, all of the apprentices were on workplace placements for vocational courses funded by the government's Learning Skills Council - which funds all post-16 training and education for young people. David Bergman, director of the Centre for Corporate Accountability, said: 'The manner in which these young people have come to their deaths is truly shocking. The high numbers of deaths of young people on apprenticeships needs to be taken very seriously by the government, and of course by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).' He added: 'The government's recent funding decisions - which are forcing the HSE to reduce the number of inspectors - will inevitably make it more difficult for the HSE to ensure that those companies that employ apprentices are complying with health and safety law.' Blind staff 'at risk in factory blunder'Blind and partially-sighted workers at an Edinburgh factory were at risk of becoming trapped in dangerous machinery when a safety guard was removed, a safety watchdog found. A routine inspection by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at the council-run BlindCraft factory found workers were exposed to the moving parts of a machine used to bend wire. HSE ordered bosses at the Craigmillar factory to immediately stop work on the machine after spotting the 'safety interlock' device had not been replaced after repairs. A spokesperson for Edinburgh City Council confirmed HSE had issued a prohibition notice and an improvement notice. 'With regard to the prohibition notice, the HSE inspector was satisfied that appropriate action was taken immediately to rectify the matter, and the notice was lifted the same day,' she said. 'With regard to the improvement notice, the HSE inspector is of the opinion that this notice has been complied with. All these matters have been brought to the attention of our health and safety committee.' INTERNATIONALAustralia: Federal government axes safety bodyUnions have reacted angrily to an Australia federal government move to replace the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) with a trimmed-down 'ministerial advisory group.' Victorian Trades Hall Council secretary Leigh Hubbard said the move, which will see the end of Australia’s only tripartite national health and safety policy and research coordinating body, was 'tantamount to winding back the clock on national standards in health and safety in the workplace and could put workers' lives at risk.' Hubbard added 'there can be no excuse' for a cash rich government 'to abolish a body which is the only national forum in which state governments, employers, unions and the federal minister can sit down together and work on making Australia's workplaces safer.' He added: 'To suggest that the work on health and safety is done and can be relegated to a small committee is an insult to those who have been injured or died on the job. This latest move is simply another example of how little this government cares for Australian workers.' Australia’s work fatality rate is several times that of the UK and is one of the worst in the developed world. Australia: Safety must be central to union organisationWorkplace health and safety must be integrated into trades union organising activities, Australia’s top union body ACTU has said. It adds that representatives of twenty-seven unions and trades and labour councils at an ACTU 'integrate health and safety or perish' seminar 'expressed their disgust that over 4,500 people died each year in Australia because of work.' Union reps at the seminar agreed that the protection of health and safety requires an approach integrated with other industrial relations issues, and stressed industrial agreements must incorporate provisions on safety consultative frameworks, health and safety representatives, working hours and workloads. Other priority concerns are workplace fatigue, drug and alcohol testing and fitness for work measures, they said. Unions also supported 'comprehensive measures to improve health and safety,' including: industrial manslaughter legislation; increased penalties for poor health and safety performers, including ineligibility for government contracts; guaranteed rights to representation and participation in health and safety at work, including the right to issue Provisional Improvement Notices (PINs); and rights of entry for union officials to investigate health and safety deficiencies.
Global: International Olympics Committee ducks responsibilityThe International Olympics Committee (IOC) is flouting its responsibility to millions of people by ignoring the exploitation of workers producing sportswear marketed around the Athens Olympic Games, say campaigners. Oxfam, Clean Clothes Campaign and Global Unions say the IOC continues to duck responsibility, stating that control lies with the National Olympic Committees, while the national committees refer back to the IOC. 'The IOC has the authority and the obligation to help improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers who generate enormous wealth for the Olympic movement,' said Guy Ryder, general secretary of Global Unions member organisation ICFTU. 'They should face up to these responsibilities.' The IOC has cancelled a planned meeting with representatives from the Play Fair coalition and missed agreed deadlines to respond to concerns. Campaigners say workers are working long hours for slave wages at breakneck speed, frequently employed by aggressively anti-union companies (Risks 146).
USA: Bush launders dirty campaign moneyMajor contributors to the Bush campaign are earning favours from the Bush administration - and guaranteeing workers remain exposed to deadly hazards as a result. Richard T Farmer and his wife have over the past 15 years given $3.1 million (£1.74m) to Bush campaigns, the Republican Party and Republican candidates. Farmer's family controls Cintas Corp, a $2.7 billion (£1.5bn) company that rents and launders uniforms and industrial shop towels. Commenting on a Washington Post feature that alleges official safety rules and procedures regarding toxic solvents have under Bush favoured Cintas, Bruce Raynor, president of the garment union UNITE, said: 'Cintas mismanagement has repeatedly put both workers' safety and our public waterways at risk. Cintas' abuse of its workers is unconscionable. Laundry workers at Cintas have repeatedly alerted us about disease and injury they have suffered from gross exposures that were known to Cintas' managers.' He added that laundry workers 'trust the government to protect them with safety regulations that stop employers from sacrificing the health of workers for the health of their profits.' The union leader concludes, however, that the latest revelations have 'implicated the Cintas Corp in particular in endangering workers' health - while subverting the safety of our water supplies,' all this aided and abetted by the Bush administration.
USA: More wriggle room for dangerous employersUS Republicans are seeking employer-friendly changes to workplace health and safety enforcement. If four proposed bills become law, a violations review commission will be given more powers and there will be extended deadlines for companies to challenge safety citations. The proposals would allow more companies charged with safety offences to recoup lawyers' fees from the safety enforcement budget, even where officials were 'substantially justified' in pursuing the case. The bills, passed in the House of Representatives, may face a tougher journey through the Senate, however. Democrats have said the legislation is an election-year gift to big business, intended to weaken regulation and that ultimately would hurt workers. National union federation AFL-CIO lobbied to defeat the bills. 'We think the bills do nothing to improve worker safety and in fact would weaken enforcement,' said Peg Seminario, AFL-CIO safety and health director. The US Chamber of Commerce supported all four bills. 'These are commonsense reforms that will make important improvements in the way small businesses work with OSHA,' said Randell Johnson, the Chamber's vice president for labour policy. EVENTS AND COURSESTUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR May to June 2004Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, 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. |
Newsletter (4,800 words) issued 23 May 2004
