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Risksissue no 180 - 30 October 2004 |
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Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to the TUC at healthandsafety@tuc.org.uk. CONTENTS
Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 10,000 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. SPECIAL REPORT - Why the government is wrong on safetyTUC dismay at safety’s 'missed opportunity'
Government 'green light for killing', says Prospect
Directors get off scot free, says CCAThe government’s rejection of key recommendations of the Work and Pensions Select Committee is a 'knee-jerk deregulatory' response, says The Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA). The select committee had called on the government to impose safety duties upon directors, double the number of inspectors, and increase the numbers of inspections and investigations. All were rejected in this week’s government response. CCA director David Bergman said he was disappointed at the government's response. 'The government seems to be looking at this issue from a knee-jerk deregulatory perspective, rather than considering the great safety advantages that imposing safety duties on directors would have,' he said. 'There is also clear evidence that inspections and investigations backed up by the threat and reality of formal enforcement are effective, but in order to have maximum deterrent effect they need to be at higher levels.' He added that 'the research evidence suggests that formal enforcement needs to be significantly increased, rather than kept at the status quo. The government seems to be ignoring this key research finding' (Risks 174). Last week, TUC revealed that almost 40 per cent of safety reps it surveyed had never seen a safety inspector (Risks 179). UNION NEWSOutsourcing dangers illuminated by fairy lightsAn offshore company running premises used by civil servants is wasting taxpayers’ money and putting staff in danger, says the union PCS. Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise properties are now run by the private firm Mapeley, after being sold off three years ago. PCS says the result has been a bill to the public purse almost twice the original estimate, accompanied by a catalogue of mismanagement. PSC says after the lights failed in one office, Mapeley used a fairy light-style arrangement of bulbs suspended from the ceiling. In another, a dodgy fire alarm was not replaced on cost grounds. PCS says this problem was only remedied after reps raised the matter as an emergency health and safety issue. The union is calling for an investigation and a halt to any further privatisation in the civil service. Mark Serwotka, general secretary of PCS, said: 'It is a disgrace that we have people who are working in the war against drugs, as well as delivering flagship government policies such as tax credits, working in conditions that breach health and safety. Is it right that these people as well as those who collect taxes so the government can build more schools and hospitals, are faced with substandard offices and the joke of working under a fairy light-style arrangement of bulbs?' NUT calls for sprinklers in schoolsTeaching union NUT is campaigning for the mandatory installation of sprinkler systems in all new schools. The move, which it wants to include extensions and refurbishments of existing schools, comes as a spate of arson attacks has hit UK schools. NUT says that every week 20 schools are damaged or destroyed by arson - with 90 per cent of these fires started by pupils. It adds that the number of major school fires rose by 55 per cent in 2003. An NUT briefing says: 'Not only are the lives of children, teachers and firefighters endangered but the knock-on effects of considerable disruption can also cause huge distress. What’s more, a third of school fires now take place in school hours, posing an unacceptable risk to pupils and staff.' It says research 'indicates that fitting sprinklers virtually eliminates fire deaths and injuries. The mandatory installation of sprinklers in new school developments would not only create safer school environments, but also significantly reduce the financial costs of arson.' NUT has joined forces with the Local Government Association, the Chief Fire Officers’ Association, the Fire Brigades Union, the National Fire Sprinkler Network and and major insurer in a campaign for school sprinklers.
High degree of support for maximum temperatureMore than 95 per cent of voters in an online poll by retail union Usdaw said they believe there should be a maximum workplace temperature. The poll asked: 'Do you think there should be a maximum workplace temperature?' Out of 699 votes cast, a total of 671 - a massive 96 per cent - said ‘yes’.' Usdaw wants the government to set an upper limit, as it believes workers are facing an unnecessary health risk. Usdaw says it receives thousands of complaints every year from workers who are struggling to cope with intense heat at work. In response to an August approach from the union, the government earlier this month pledged to look again at the issue in spring 2005 (Risks 177). At Usdaw's annual delegate meeting this year, delegates called for a change in the law to introduce a maximum temperature of 27ºC. An official code of practice includes a minimum temperature of 16ºC, or 13ºC for strenuous work, but there is no maximum temperature in the workplace. OTHER NEWSHealthier approach to work sicknessA drive to help people who become ill to stay in their jobs and to prevent them leaving the workforce prematurely has been announced by the government. Minister for work Jane Kennedy said: 'We are embarking on a new approach to helping people who have developed a health condition, impairment or injury to maintain their employment rather than facing enforced withdrawal from the workplace.' Launching 'Building capacity for work: A UK framework for vocational rehabilitation,' the minister said: 'The framework will initially focus on how to help people in work to maintain their jobs.' She added: 'The government wants to enable more people with a health condition, impairment or injury to access, remain in or return to work for the benefit of all concerned, not least individuals themselves, and their employers.' Commenting on the new framework, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Ill-health and injury caused by work forces thousands of employees to leave their jobs every year. Too many of them give up work completely because, although they may win compensation from employers, they don’t get help getting fit for work.' He added: 'We need to fine and jail employers that injure workers but we also need a comprehensive occupational health system to help employees get well and keep their jobs.'
HSE enforcement campaign for manufacturingThe Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched a new enforcement campaign to reduce the 'unacceptable high number of fatal and serious injuries in the manufacturing sector.' The nationwide campaign will see HSE inspectors target scrap metal, rubber, paper and wood industries over the next three years to ensure that correct procedures are in place for working on machinery. HSE says during the past three years over 40 people have died in the manufacturing sector, most commonly when cleaning machinery blockages or carrying out running repairs without the correct safeguards. Properly managing isolation and lock off procedures to secure machinery and ensure there is no power feed to the equipment lowers the risk of serious or fatal injury. HSE’s Chris Flint said: 'People need to be carefully trained in the procedure and supervised by a competent manager. Senior management must carry out regular checks to confirm the procedure is always followed. Anything less and people will continue to be killed.'
Rail unions welcome fire safety rethinkRail unions have welcomed the government’s decision to drop plans to scrap sub-surface rail station fire safety regulations brought in as a direct result of the 1987 Kings Cross fire ( Risks 168 ). 'Tube and rail workers and passengers alike will be enormously relieved that the government has accepted the need to keep these regulations in place,' said RMT general secretary Bob Crow. 'We argued that scrapping minimum standards, allowing management to conduct their own risk assessments and effectively leaving fire precautions to their discretion would be a recipe for cost-driven corner-cutting. It would have led to a weakening of fire precautions, fewer station staff and more risk to our members and the public.' Andy Reed, national organiser with train drivers’ union ASLEF, said the rethink was 'a good decision. He added: 'It would have been a mistake to allow management to carry out their own safety monitoring. Maintaining these vital regulations means that the minimum standards introduced following the tragic 1987 Kings Cross fire will stay in place.' Employers 'fail to stop bullying'Few employers take adequate steps to safeguard against bullying in the workplace, new research has found. More than 1,000 employers took part in the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) survey and most admitted they did not do enough to tackle the problem. Instead, they left the causes of the bullying unchallenged, with some managers admitting they were ill-equipped to stop it. While 83 per cent of employers have a clear anti-bullying policy in place, when bullying does happen the focus is almost exclusively on supporting the victim, with little support, advice and guidance being offered to those accused of bullying, CIPD found. The survey found that while 75 per cent of employers surveyed were training their human resources managers in tackling bullying and harassment at work, only 55 per cent were training their line managers. Over 80 per cent of policies contain a definition of intimidating behaviour but only 38 per cent define positive behaviour. Sixty per cent of all bullying was by line managers or department managers, the survey found. Britons want a national smoking banNearly seven out of 10 Britons want to see smoking banned in restaurants, pubs and offices, according to a new poll. Sixty-six percent of respondents to the ICM poll, commissioned by The Guardian, said they would support a national ban on smoking in all enclosed public places. And 61 per cent said the government was justified in regulating 'for the benefit of others' the country's drinking, smoking and gambling habits. Health secretary John Reid has been warned by health campaigners not to try a 'British bodge' on workplace smoking restrictions. The warning comes after Reid was reported to be resisting pressure from No.10 for legislation ending smoking in the workplace. Deborah Arnott, director of anti-smoking charity ASH, said smokefree workplaces are a public health necessity but the health secretary 'is standing in front of an open goal, with the keeper tied up in a corner, and with a big white arrow helpfully pointing in the right direction. And yet he seems determined to blast the ball miles over the bar.' She added that Reid 'risks going down in history as the health minister who missed the chance to save thousands of lives and to help end the biggest cause of preventable death in the UK.' Last week, Liverpool councillors became the first in the UK to vote for a city ban (Risks 179). Tribunal changes could hush up whistleblowersThe government is facing a battle with MPs and peers over new rules for employment tribunals which keep whistleblowing claims over corruption, fraud, disregard of public safety and other misdeeds under wraps. A report in The Guardian says in a little-noticed change in the rules, which came into force on 1 October, details of 100,000 employment tribunal claims a year, including those for whistleblowing, are now kept secret from the public. Claims come to light only if and when they go to a tribunal hearing, which is open to all. MPs, peers and the whistleblowers' charity Public Concern at Work point out that only one in three whistleblower claims ever reaches a tribunal hearing - the others are privately settled. They argue that the blanket of secrecy encourages employers with something to hide to buy off a whistleblower with a settlement, preventing valid concerns about safety and corruption reaching the ears of industry regulators. Ministers argue that publicity can hinder the conciliation service in trying to settle cases before they reach a hearing. They also claim that publishing details exposes claimants and employers to ambulance chasers, and could lead to the blacklisting of employees with a history of bringing claims. More work at height consultationThe Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has launched a six week consultation on further changes to the draft Work at Height Regulations. The additional regulation would retain a provision already in construction safety law that requires employers in the construction industry to provide particular work equipment and fall protection measures where work is undertaken at or above two metres. HSC says the new consultation is the result of representations made by the construction industry, which wants to retain the current two-metre rule in the new regulations. Bill Callaghan, chair of HSC, said: 'There has already been extensive consultation on these regulations, although not on this particular point and because it may have implications for our stakeholders generally, we felt it was important to seek their views now on this issue.' He added: 'The Commission is keen to address this issue and make its recommendations to ministers by Christmas. This is why the consultation period lasts only six weeks, ending 3 December 2004.' INTERNATIONALAustralia: Survey finds unlawful intimidation of safety repsOne in three health and safety reps has been intimidated into not raising health and safety concerns, a survey in the Australian state of Victoria has found. The same number reported being bullied after raising a health and safety issue in the workplace. The view from the frontline, a report from state-wide union body VTHC, highlights the need for stronger regulatory support for reps, including more training, said Leigh Hubbard, the group’s secretary. 'OHS reps are on the frontline every day speaking up for workers' rights to injury free workplaces. We have an obligation to ensure that they can carry on their important work free of intimidation and harassment,' he said. 'The lynchpin in that system is the OHS reps, and the new OHS Act must make it clear to employers that retribution for raising health and safety concerns is simply not on.' The state’s Labour government plans to push health and safety laws through parliament by Christmas. Greater employer liability for health and safety - including possible jail terms for a first serious offence - roving reps, and allowing unions to enter and shut down any work site considered dangerous are among the changes expected. The new law is expected to closely mirror the recommendations of Chris Maxwell QC, who was hired to review the safety laws (Risks 151). Australia: New investigation unit to tackle work deathsA world’s first coroner's court investigative unit to probe the causes of work-related deaths has been set up in Australia. A specialist team of investigators and safety experts is to examine all workplace deaths in the state of Victoria in a bid to prevent further loss of life. The unit will be led by state coroner Graeme Johnstone and staffed by a team of investigators and experts from the Coroner's office, Victoria Police and the state’s safety watchdog, Victorian WorkCover Authority. The Work-Related Death Investigation and Resource Unit has been initially allocated Aus$2 million (£815,000) for its work over the next four years. Johnstone said the initiative would help discern patterns and trends in industrial deaths, and allow coroners to make far-ranging recommendations to slash the workplace death toll in the future. 'The vast majority of what we call accidental deaths are preventable, and the cost to society of those deaths and of the injuries caused by accidents are in the billions,' he said. 'With a proper system in place to improve practices and procedures at home, at work, and on our farms and roads, it's possible to reduce that number of deaths significantly.' Australia: Company guilty of driving worker to deathA fine imposed on an Australian transport operator whose exhausted driver was incinerated in a major highway smash has sparked calls for safety watchdog WorkCover to go after the 'Mr Bigs' of road transport. Scott Connelly of transport union TWU said 524 people had died in New South Wales (NSW) truck accidents since 37-year-old, Darri Haynes was killed in a 1999 fireball, after doctoring logbooks and consuming methamphetamines in a bid to meet schedules. 'This is a step in the right direction,' Connelly said, commenting on the Aus$55,000 (£22,400) fine. 'But WorkCover needs to go after the clients if it is serious about road safety.' Connelly said the decision by International Relations Commission (IRC) vice-president Michael Walton was a 'landmark ruling' because it established that highways were workplaces for safety purposes. It also gives the safety watchdog access to rosters, log books and records, allowing them to write prohibition notices before accidents occur. Walton found long-haul driver Haynes had been making deliveries fuelled by methamphetamines, because he was afraid he would lose his job if he didn't meet schedules set by his employer, Jim Hitchcock. Labor Council secretary John Robertson said: 'If you drive a truck for a living then that truck is your workplace and enforced excessive work hours are a legitimate industrial issue.'
Australia: Millions for ousted bosses as asbestos fund runs drySeven figure pay-offs to two bosses forced to resign in a major asbestos scandal (Risks 175) have been condemned by unions. A fund set up to compensate asbestos disease victims, meanwhile, faces a Aus$2bn (£815m) shortfall and could run dry as early as April next year. Greg Combet, secretary of national union federation ACTU, said the Aus$10 million (£4m) payout to disgraced James Hardie Industries executives Peter Macdonald and Peter Shafron were 'utterly disgusting and obscene.' He said they had 'played pivotal roles in removing assets from the claims of Australian asbestos victims' (Risks 178). The union boss added: 'At the very time when Australian asbestos victims are fighting for their right to just compensation from James Hardie, these two disgraced executives are to receive close to Aus$10 million in payouts from the company plus bonuses and share options. That money should be immediately returned to victims. It should be donated to the asbestos compensation foundation so that it can go to asbestos victims.' Combet said ACTU will be 'examining any way in which these two executives might be held to be personally liable so that this money can be returned to the asbestos victims who rightly deserve it.'
Europe: Better planning could prevent site deathsUp to 60 per cent of the accidents on Europe’s construction sites and over 25 per cent of fatalities could be avoided by more careful design, planning and procurement before construction starts, according to a new report from the Bilbao-based European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. With over 820,000 accidents and 1,200 fatalities in the European Union’s construction industry each year, it says this would cut the annual number of accidents by almost 500,000 and save over 300 lives. Drawing on 16 case studies from 14 EU member states, including four from the UK, the report highlights different ways that architects, engineers and others involved in the construction industry could cut the risks that builders and maintenance staff face. The agency says the industry has one of the highest rates of accidents in Europe, nearly twice as high as the EU industry average, costing up to €75 billion (£52bn) in health costs, lost time and other expenses.
Germany: Are your genes up to the job?Top level consideration of a law that would allow limited genetic testing for employees is causing consternation in Germany. Advocates say the bill, which is still being discussed by the German cabinet, clearly regulates how far employers are allowed to go in determining how genetically fit someone is for a job. In jobs such as construction or public transportation, the law would allow for genetic testing for symptoms of colour blindness among other things, according to a report in the magazine Der Spiegel. But some fear that track could lead to genetic discrimination. Last year, Europe's top union body ETUC said the practice could not be justified and called for a ban on genetic screening in the workplace (Risks 130). In the UK, the TUC also called for measures to block genetic discrimination at work (Risks 125). Many countries have taken the step of outlawing access to genetic tests for employers and insurers outright. France, Norway, Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands and Austria have passed laws that either severely limit or forbid the use of a person's genetic information for anything other than medical or scientific purposes. The UK currently has a moratorium on gene testing at work. USA: Company admits falsifying safety dataSouthern California Edison Co. used faulty workplace safety data - and in some cases may have suppressed reports of workplace injuries - over the last seven years to win performance-related bonuses from the state, the company has admitted. Edison told staff from the industry watchdog, the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC), it would forgo or return to the agency $35 million (£19m) in safety performance-related payments that the company conceded were based on flawed safety ratings. In some cases, Edison found evidence that supervisors had contacted outside medical personnel to influence treatment, change medical records or downgrade the seriousness of an injury. Edison admitted that behavioural safety schemes - including financial compensation and recognition lunches - 'may have discouraged the reporting of some incidents' and may have produced 'pressure to not report injuries.' In some instances, employees delayed reporting injuries to keep them out of year-end results, Edison told the PUC.
RESOURCESUsing lifting and handling aids at workHSE has issued a new free leaflet, Are you making the best use of lifting and handling aids? It says 'frequent and heavy lifting and handling can cause back injuries. But using lifting and handling aids can remove or reduce that risk and keep workers healthy and at work.' The 12-page guide is intended for managers, employees and their representatives and others involved in the selection of lifting and handling aids. The guide says: Back injuries can often be prevented; preventive measures are cost-effective; and where back injuries cannot be prevented, early reporting of symptoms, proper treatment and suitable rehabilitation is essential. The guide, which includes case histories and examples of safer ways of working, adds: 'Consult employees and safety representatives during assessment and when considering possible solutions.'
Practical alternatives to using stepladdersThe Electrical Contractors' Association (ECA) has published new guidance for electricians and other engineering contractors on eliminating or reducing the risk of falls from stepladders. The guidance, Practical alternatives to using stepladders, provides information on planning, risk assessment, competency, training and choosing temporary access equipment, and gives advice on the safe use of stepladders, if they are the chosen means of access. The guidance has been produced by the ECA with support from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Amicus and several leading trade associations.
EVENTS AND COURSESTUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2004Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside National Stress Awareness Day, 3 November 2004National Stress Awareness Day, Wednesday, 3 November, has a theme this year of 'working together to reduce stress at work.' Event organiser the International Stress Management Association (ISMA) will be running free local workshops in around 50 towns and cities throughout the UK, to explain the HSE's approach to work-related stress, outline the responsibilities of employers, managers and employees, and provide practical help and advice on how everyone can identify, manage and reduce the effects of work-related stress. HSE will launch new stress management standards, together with a toolkit for businesses. TUC conference on the future of HSC, 8 November 2004A major TUC conference will mark the 30th anniversary of the Health and Safety at Work Act and the establishment of the Health and Safety Commission. TUC says the event, '30 years on - the future of the Health and Safety Commission,' is intended for policy makers, trade unionists, managers, health and safety professionals, academics, and others with an interest in health and safety. Speakers include minister for work Jane Kennedy, HSC chair Bill Callaghan, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber and prominent safety academics and representatives of unions, HSE, and campaign and employers’ organisations.
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. |
The government's dismissal of a select committee call for adequate resources to safeguard UK workers will give rogue employers the green light to continue maiming and killing employees, the HSE inspectors' union has warned. Prospect general secretary, Paul Noon, commenting on the government’s response to the Work and Pensions Select Committee report on the work of HSC and HSE (Newsletter (5,300 words) issued 29 Oct 2004
