Risksissue no 193 - 05 February 2005 |
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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 10,500 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 NEWSNew 'healthcheck' for the printing industryPrint union Amicus-GPM has received government backing for a new internet-based 'healthcheck' for printing companies. The initiative, a partnership between the union and the British Printing Industries Federation, is to receive £70,000 of government cash, said employment relations minister Gerry Sutcliffe. The online one-stop-shop will provide advice on training and related support materials and on protective equipment and occupational health services. Tony Burke, head of Amicus-GMP, said: 'This will be a great way of getting key health and safety information to employers and safety reps in the printing industry, and help them assess their performance. We want to see employers and representatives working together to improve safety and health in the workplace. The results will have great significance throughout the industry, and in other sectors.' Announcing the cash support, minister Gerry Sutcliffe said: 'Health and safety at work must always be a priority so I am pleased to be able to back such a good example of partnership in the workplace that makes the best of modern technology to share information and best practice.'
Shop union demands work free of fear
OTHER NEWSCautious welcome for incapacity benefit proposalsThe TUC has given a cautious welcome to the government’s 'sensible' incapacity benefit proposals, announced this week in the Department of Work and Pensions’ five year plan. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said it looked as though the reforms 'are on the sensible end of the spectrum.' He added: 'There has never been any disagreement that many people claiming incapacity benefit (IB) want to and could work. The dumping of large numbers on to IB in order to keep unemployment figures down was always a national disgrace.' He said that many others found it impossible to work, either because of poor health or because of employer prejudice. 'It is right therefore that the government should reform IB so that those seeking work get more help to find work, and those who cannot work get more financial support,' Barber said. 'The government’s Pathways to Work pilots have been remarkably successful in helping people find work.' He said the TUC found the proposals 'mostly sensible, and although there are still some areas of detail to be filled in, we can give the package a cautious welcome. In particular we welcome that there will be no time limits for Incapacity Benefit, that claimants will not have to meet the job availability tests currently applied to JSA claimants and that there will both be incentives that help people get to work and increased benefits for those with the most severe impairments.' He said TUC would be meeting with secretary of state for work and pensions Alan Johnson to seek more details about the fine print.
New scheme will provide firms free adviceA ground-breaking £20 million pilot scheme will give free health and safety advice to smaller businesses, the government has announced. Workplace Help Direct will give small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) free expert advice for the first time as well as offering support on preventing work-related ill health and getting people back to work. The help includes a free problem-solving service, which will signpost employers to specialist help, and a national free advice line. The scheme, to be run by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), was announced by secretary of state Alan Johnson in the Department for Work and Pensions new five year strategy. Alan Johnson said: 'Work-related illness and injury accounts for around 39 million working days lost every year and more than 2 million people attribute their health problems to their work. Given the right support many conditions, such as back pain, can be managed before becoming a barrier to work.' The minister added: 'Workplace Help Direct will play a vital role in helping people return to work quickly, reducing the burden on the NHS and lowering the chance of people ending up on incapacity benefit.' The new service will provide free telephone advice on safety and return to work, free workplace visits and advice on specialist support. DWP says it will go live in the pilot regions in early 2006. Work illness hits half UK staffMore than half the workforce believe they suffer ill health due to work, a study suggests. Symptoms reported included severe tiredness, headaches, depression and even panic attacks. More than 8 in 10 people felt unable to cope with the demands placed upon them to the point that it harmed their health at least some of the time. Work was seen as the sole source of this problem by more than half of respondents (57.3 per cent). Six out of 10 (60 per cent) felt their workloads to be out of control occasionally, while an unfortunate fifth (19 per cent) felt this way most or all of the time. The Work Life Balance Centre quizzed 1,200 people about their work habits and attitudes. According to Julie Hurst, director of the centre, the findings of the ‘24-7 survey’ indicate a split attitude amongst workers to their jobs. 'On the one hand people feel very positively towards work, enjoying the challenges and sense of fulfilment it provides,' she said. 'On the other hand there are high levels of work related illness, resentment of long hours, feelings of being out of control and signs that workloads are continuing to increase.' TUC has called a ‘work your proper hours day’ for 25 February. Unions welcome action on school indisciplineUnions have welcomed a government move to stamp down on classroom disruption. Education secretary Ruth Kelly this week underlined her support for a 'zero tolerance' approach to tackle the classroom disruption caused by a minority of pupils. Chris Keates, general secretary of teaching union NASUWT, said: 'Teachers will be particularly gratified by her recognition of the damaging and corrosive effects of persistent low-level disruption which NASUWT has highlighted consistently. Constant challenges to authority, refusal to co-operate, failure to accept reasonable instructions, flouting of school rules and verbal abuse can be as devastating to the health and wellbeing of teachers as a violent attack.' Steve Sinnott, NUT general secretary, said: 'So called zero tolerance offers pupils clear guidance on what is unacceptable and what they can expect if they break the rules. Young people like to know what is and what is not acceptable: they know where they stand and their parents know what will and will not be tolerated.' Announcing the new approach, which will apply to schools in England, education secretary Ruth Kelly said: 'Every pupil and every teacher has the right to expect a safe, secure and orderly classroom, so that teaching and learning can flourish.' Businesses alerted to bogus mailshotsThe Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging businesses across Britain to ignore all correspondence from a firm calling itself the 'Health and Safety Registration Enforcement Division'. HSE has received complaints from businesses who have received requests from the 'Health and Safety Registration Enforcement Division' for payment in order to achieve compliance with the law. HSE says the requests, sent from a Bradford address and quoting £199 for registration if 'compliant' or £249 if 'non-compliant', should be reported to HSE or to the police. HSE’s Justin McCracken said: 'The Health and Safety Registration Enforcement Division is not connected to HSE and is not an official body. Businesses should ignore any approach from this firm, and any similar offers. HSE would never write indiscriminately to firms seeking advance payment for services. Many of our services are provided free of charge and much of our guidance is on our website. For businesses who would like more detailed information, our Health and Safety Starter Pack is available for £30.'
HSC’s enforcement talk is 'misleading' says CCAOfficial Health and Safety Commission documents spelling out when it will take enforcement action under-play the range of circumstances in which the safety watchdog should intervene. In a letter to HSC, the Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA) says HSC documents are 'misleading and needs amending.' It says HSC implies in a number of key strategy documents that only those who 'wilfully disregard the law' will have formal enforcement action taken against them. CCA argues that this language fails to reflect HSC's actual policy in which formal enforcement is supposed takes place in a much wider set of circumstances. David Bergman, director of the CCA said: 'The way in which the HSC presents its enforcement policy is crucial to how it is perceived by business and, to imply, as we think the HSC does, that it will only impose enforcement notices or prosecute when companies or individuals intend to breach health and safety is problematic, when supposedly formal enforcement should take place in a much wider set of circumstances.' In the HSC strategy document, ‘2010 and beyond’, HSC says: 'We want to develop channels of support and advice that can be accessed without fear of enforcement action while allowing the regulators to continue to be tough on those who wilfully disregard the law.' Similar wording appears in its September 2004 statement, ‘Providing accessible advice and assistance.’
Workplace passive smoking risks confirmedA study has confirmed that passive smoking is a cancer and lung disease risk, with the problem possibly worse in those exposed at work. Using data the EPIC study, a Europe-wide cancer investigation, researchers examined the link between exposure to passive smoking and the development of respiratory conditions including cancer in over 300,000 individuals from the EPIC study group. The findings were backed up by blood measurements of cotinine, a nicotine metabolite that can confirm tobacco smoke exposure. The research team, whose findings were published online in the British Medical Journal, said: 'We found that respiratory conditions and lung cancer alone were associated with self reported environmental tobacco smoke exposure… The association, however, was limited to exposures related to work, possibly because of higher levels of exposure.' The authors say the findings reinforce the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) assessment that environmental tobacco smoke is a human carcinogen (Risks 161).
Mondays cause bad blood pressureThe stress of returning to work on a Monday morning can trigger a dangerous increase in blood pressure, according to a study in Japan. The Tokyo Women's Medical University study shows blood pressure readings are higher than at any other time of the week. It may explain why deaths from heart attacks and strokes tend to peak on a Monday morning - 20 per cent higher than any other day. To see how blood pressure changed over the course of a week, researchers fitted 175 men and women with a device that would measure their blood pressure round-the-clock. A week later the recruits returned the devices so that researchers could assess how blood pressure had changed. The results, published in the American Journal of Hypertension, showed a surge in readings in those getting ready to go back to work on a Monday morning. Volunteers who stayed asleep did not experience an increase, which suggests work-related stress is most likely to blame. 'Most people are free of the mental and physical burdens of work on a Sunday and experience a more stressful change from weekend leisure activities to work activities on Mondays,' said Dr Shuogo Murakami, who led the research. 'There was a distinct peak on Mondays in this study.'
Company pays £25,000 for fatal safety lapseThe owners of a London cash and carry warehouse have been fined £25,000 after a court heard how their negligence allowed an employee to fall to his death. Sudesh Patel went onto the roof of Dhamecha Foods wholesale warehouse in Barking on 23 June 2003 to clean out the guttering. He was making his way across the roof with a colleague - both warehouse forklift truck drivers - when a piece of plastic corrugated sheeting collapsed under his weight. Patel fell an estimated 35 feet onto the concrete floor below, sustaining injuries that proved to be fatal. Members of Barking and Dagenham council's health and safety team carried out an investigation into the incident, including interviewing company directors under caution. Representing the family-run company, chief executive Pradip Dhamecha pleaded guilty to safety offences. The company was found to have failed in its duty of care to its employees and to have failed to carry out a proper risk assessment. Magistrates ordered that the company pay the maximum fine available to the court for these offences, sums of £20,000 and £5,000 respectively. The company was also ordered to pay costs of £4353.81. Councillor Milton McKenzie commented: 'This sad case clearly underlines the fact that company managers cannot neglect the duty of care they owe their employees. Mr Patel put his safety - and eventually his life - in the hands of his employers who failed to fulfil their obligation under the law.' Two firefighters die in tower block blazeTwo firefighters have died trying to rescue a woman from a blaze. Michael Millar, 26, and Jeff Wornham, 28, died in the tower block fire in Stevenage. A woman who also died in the fire on Wednesday has not yet been named. Seven other people were taken to hospital, one said to be in a critical condition. Roy Wilsher, deputy chief fire officer with Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service, said the tragedy had caused 'deep shock for the fire service.' He added: 'We know one person escaped and our firefighters knew there was somebody else in there. They were trying to rescue that person when that tragic event occurred.' Fire Brigades Union (FBU) leader Andy Gilchrist said later: 'Such tragedies are felt very deeply across the entire UK fire service. It sounds old fashioned but we all hurt at times like this.' Between 1995 and 2004 nine firefighters were killed in action, from 1985 to 1994 14 were killed and another 22 died from 1977 to 1984, the FBU said. The tragedy came in the week two men were jailed for starting a blaze that killed firefighter Richard Jenkins (Risks 158). Jamie Evans, 20, and Christopher Raisis, 25, were found guilty of starting the fire deliberately and manslaughter. Raisis was jailed for ten years and Evans ten years in a young offenders' institution. They were also found guilty of witness intimidation, robbery and two charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. INTERNATIONALAustralia: Killer companies attack safety lawsAustralian mineworkers’ union CFMEU has warned of a significant industrial backlash in the nation’s coal mining industry as two of the biggest coal producers in Australia attempt to overturn criminal provisions in occupational health and safety laws. The warning comes as Xstrata and Centennial Coal announced that they will challenge health and safety laws in New South Wales under which they have been successfully prosecuted. Xstrata received a criminal conviction after the death of four miners at the Gretley Colliery in 1996. Centennial Coal was convicted after the death of Barry Edwards at Awaba Colliery in 1998. Tony Maher, general president of the CFMEU’s mining section, said that if Xstrata and Centennial Coal were successful in their applications it would invalidate prosecutions for criminal negligence. 'They are seeking to exempt themselves from laws that apply to everyone else in the community. If successful, their appeals would have wide implications on the application of criminal laws throughout the whole of Australia'. He added: 'Let these companies tell the miners face to face why they consider their health and safety not worth the protection of the law and why they consider their lives of no value.' Swiss multinational Xstrata faced a South African government investigation in 2001, after workers at its Vantech plant were poisoned with Vanadium (Risks 12). It was also criticised in 2003 for 'failing' dying asbestos miners in South Africa (Risks 121).
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Retail union Usdaw is supporting a crackdown on violent crime after discovering shopworkers are being assaulted or threatened every minute of the working day. An Usdaw national survey found more than half of Britain’s shopworkers are concerned about violence and verbal threats. The union says the six per cent rise in violent crime revealed last month leaves shopworkers vulnerable to a range of physical attacks ranging from stabbings to violent assaults so serious that shopworkers are scared to go back on the shopfloor. Usdaw general secretary John Hannett said: 'In the course of one week we found a sample of 660 shopworkers experienced 887 cases of verbal abuse, 224 threats of violence and 107 physical assaults.' He added: 'We support the Home Secretary’s pledge to make the reduction of violent crime his number one priority. Although we have done some good work in reducing this problem the scale of the problem is still astonishing. Ten per cent of the UK’s workforce is employed in retail and they deserve to work without the fear of being victims of abuse and violence.'Newsletter (4,900 words) issued 4 Feb 2005
