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Risksissue no 197 - 5 March 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 NEWSHopping mad union members attack 'kangaroo courts'
UCATT calls for action as the killing goes onMembers of the construction union UCATT marched down Whitehall last week, carrying a coffin representing the 300 site workers who have died since a government-convened construction safety summit in 2001. The initiative marked the kick off of last week’s follow-up summit in London. UCATT says the previous safety summit, called by deputy prime minister John Prescott in February 2001, agreed targets to cut deaths and major injuries in construction by 40 per cent by 2004/05 and by 66 per cent by 2009/10. 'But it is now clear that neither the 2004/05 targets nor the targets set for 2009/10 are going to be reached,' says UCATT. 'Deaths on building sites are still running at about six a month - more or less the same each year since 1998/99.' According to UCATT general secretary Alan Ritchie: 'If six teachers or police officers or nurses were killed every month there would be a national outcry. But because they are building workers no-one seems to care.' Speaking at last week’s summit, Ritchie called for 'radical action' including: A safety rep on every building site and an extension of the Worker Safety Adviser network; agreed minimum standards on government and public sector building contracts; union recognition, safety representation and no false self-employment; a corporate killing law; a law to make directors responsible for health and safety in the workplace; and more government money for the HSE's inspection and enforcement teams. In her keynote speech to the summit, minister for work Jane Kennedy said the industry 'is falling short of the challenging targets it set itself in 2001.' She added: 'I want to see stakeholders to take ownership of the health and safety challenges, show leadership in taking action and forge new partnerships to accelerate health and safety improvements.'
Rail safety 'lost in bureaucratic treacle', says union chiefThe Old Bailey trial into the October 2000 Hatfield rail disaster shows no one is taking responsibility for safety on Britain’s privatised railways, a top union leader has claimed. Speaking about the manslaughter trial, which began in January and which could run for a year (Risks 190), Keith Norman, acting general secretary of train drivers’ union ASLEF, said: 'Whenever there is an accident on our railways, three things happen: managers disappear into the distance, politicians wash their hands and lawyers book their next holiday in the Caribbean.' According to Norman, the 'mass of accusation and counter accusation serves one useful purpose. It clearly shows that action needs to be taken to bring the UK’s railways back under a single authority. The alternative is playing politics with the safety of every passenger who travels on British rail.' Balfour Beatty managers Anthony Walker and Nicholas Jeffries, and Railtrack managers Alistair Cook, Sean Fugill and Keith Lea all face individual manslaughter charges. All five men, along with four others, are also accused of breaches of health and safety laws. Balfour Beatty Rail Maintenance faces a corporate manslaughter charge. New law could deliver safety and justice for workers
OTHER NEWSScaffolding firm fined £30,000 following death of workerA London scaffolding firm is facing a fines and costs bill of £42,000 after a worker died and another was seriously injured on a poorly planned job. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Crowe Fabrications Ltd, before the Old Bailey, London, following an investigation into a fatal incident on 12 July 2002. Joseph Phillips from was killed and Leigh Williams was seriously injured when the scaffold rig they were dismantling became unbalanced and fell approximately 60 feet into the street. Following the sentencing, HSE inspector Kevin Shorten said scaffolding work 'remains inherently dangerous if it is not properly planned and carried out, especially during dismantling work.' He added: 'This type of work should have a site-specific method statement to ensure that the scaffold remains stable during the dismantling process with suitable measures in place to prevent falls from height.' The company received fines totalling £30,000 and was ordered to pay costs of £12,000. HSE says falls from height are the most common cause of fatal injury and the second most common cause of major injury to employees, accounting for 15 per cent of all such injuries. Multiplex sniper threat on London sitesWork has continued as usual on the Wembley Stadium construction site despite reports of death threats against crane operators. Reports in the Australian press say snipers have threatened to open fire on building sites across the world if Australian company Multiplex fails to hand over £20 million. Alan Ritchie, general secretary of the construction union UCATT, said the union had been in touch with both the company and Scotland Yard. 'There’s no reason to believe that workers on Multiplex sites in the UK are under threat but we have taken steps to ensure their safety,' he said. 'All workers on Multiplex sites are to have a briefing on security and all workers are being offered counselling to raise any individual concerns with the company directly. We will continue to monitor the situation and will take appropriate steps to safeguard the safety of workers on all Multiplex sites.' A spokesperson for Amicus, which has 400 members working on the new stadium, said: 'We have had assurances from the police and from the company that every security precaution has been put in place.' Multiplex said it had tried to inform all staff after extortion demands were made in a letter last month to its Sydney office. The threats said sniper attacks could target crane drivers on any of the company’s sites worldwide. As well as the Wembley development, there are Multiplex projects in White City and Knightsbridge, London. Hundreds of workers walked off Melbourne construction sites after being told of the sniper threats. Their wages were protected because the walk-out was prompted by safety fears. Nurse gets £144,000 latex allergy payoutA nurse at Bolton Royal Hospital has received £144,000 in compensation after her allergy to latex gloves went untreated for years. In its worst stages, Bernadette Chouchene’s allergy saw her going to work with sore and bleeding hands. Despite the allergy developing over nearly 10 years and regular visits to Bolton Royal Hospital's occupational health service, at no time did her employer provide her with alternative gloves. According to her legal advisers, her employer also failed to carry out a simple test for latex allergy or provide her with alternative vinyl gloves. Sarah Brumpton, a solicitor with law firm Irwin Mitchell and who represented RCN member Mrs Chouchene, said this amounted to clear breaches of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) and Personal Protective Equipment Regulations. She added: 'It seems incredible that despite the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations, the hospital made no attempt over the years to monitor this lady. She tried to do the right thing by going to her occupational health department but she was never properly tested and provided with an alternative nor was her condition ever monitored.' Mrs Chouchene said: 'It got to the point where I was finding it very difficult to do my job. Occasionally, it was so bad blood would run down my hands. By 2000, I could only tolerate wearing the gloves for 5 minutes before I had to rip them off run my hands under the tap to try and soothe them and get rid of any traces of latex.' In December 2004, UNISON member and former nurse Alison Dugmore received a £330,000 payout for life-threatening latex allergy (Risks 186). Asbestos dust kills daughterA widower whose wife died of asbestos disease caused by her exposure as a little girl has received a £107,500 compensation payout. When Sylvie Tapley was a child she used to sit on her father's knee when he returned from the asbestos factory where he worked. Dust inhaled from his clothes would eventually prove fatal. Sylvie was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 2000 and died from the disease less than a year later in April 2001, aged 59. Husband Terry Tapley said: 'I would never have believed the obstructions put in our path in what seemed to us an obvious case. Anyone else facing the same situation should do as I did and seek the specialist legal advice needed to succeed with a claim. I have had to go over Sylvie's death every three months and I have not been able to grieve properly because of taking this case forward.' Sylvie’s father, William Harknett, used to work at the Central Asbestos Company Ltd in Bermondsey, south east London, in the 1950s and early 60s where he ground and bagged blue asbestos. He came home at lunchtime in his work clothes and Sylvie would sit on his knee. Solicitor Pauline Chandler, from Pannone and Partners, said: 'We had to prove that Sylvie's father's employers should have been aware of the dangers employees' family members faced.' She added that Sylvie had not been eligible for industrial injuries benefit because she did not develop the asbestos cancer as a result of her employment. UK orders another nanotech reviewDemands for action on the potential health risks of nanotechnology have been met with another government review. Science minister Lord Sainsbury said this would ensure current regulations that safeguard the environment and people's health remained robust. He said he wanted the UK to be a 'world leader' in the development and regulation of nanotechnologies, but stressed it was vital that concerns and gaps in knowledge about nanoscience were covered at an early stage. Lord Sainsbury said a new cross-government group would co-ordinate all aspects of research into nanoscience to underpin safety assessments. 'The UK needs safety and regulatory systems that address public aspirations and concerns and which command public confidence during the development of nanotechnologies,' he said. The Health and Safety Executive’s current guidelines will continue to apply. These say 'control strategies should be based on the principle of reducing exposure as much as possible.' A review last year from the Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineers recommended tighter UK and European regulation. TUC called for the 'precautionary principle' to be applied to ensure workplace safety (Risks 167). And research for HSE last year concluded that 'there is little evidence to suggest that the exposure of workers arising from the production of nanoparticles has been adequately assessed' (Risks 179).
Panic buttons pressed as solution to NHS violenceNHS staff who work on their own in the community are to receive high-tech protection from violent attacks. Staff in England will be able to use the Identicom device, which looks like a normal ID card holder but is fitted with the latest mobile technology. If they find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation, they can secretly activate the alarm which connects them to a 24-hour call centre. The device also allows a phone line to be opened so sound from a violent incident is recorded and could be used in any legal action. Announcing the decision to make the device available, health secretary John Reid said: 'I am determined to do everything within my power to stop NHS staff suffering from violence and abuse.' He added: 'Anybody who attacks our staff will face tough action and the possibility of jail. Up to 100,000 staff work alone in the NHS every day and thanks to this device they will have the knowledge that help is only a button away.' The Department of Health has also published advice on how staff working alone in the community can be protected, including ensuring all those in that situation are trained to deal with potentially violent situations. There were 116,000 incidents of physical and verbal abuse in the NHS in 2002/2003.
Work smoking ban would save thousands of lives a yearPassive smoking kills more than 11,000 a year in the UK - many more than previously thought, a study has found. The British Medical Journal study also gives a figure for people dying from second-hand smoke exposure in the workplace, putting the total at over 600 a year. Researchers at the University of Queensland in Australia compiled the report from UK databases of causes of death, employment, structure of households and levels of active smoking and exposure to passive smoking. They found 617 deaths were caused by workplace passive smoking, including 54 in the hospitality industry. The report suggests that exposure at work might contribute up to one fifth of all deaths from passive smoking in the general population aged 20-64 years, and up to half of such deaths among employees of the hospitality industry. Adoption of smokefree policies in all workplaces in the United Kingdom and reductions in the general prevalence of active smoking would prevent several thousand premature deaths each year, report author Konrad Jamrozik concludes. Commenting on the findings, British Medical Association chair James Johnson said: 'As doctors we see first-hand how secondhand smoke kills. I don't know how John Reid [the home secretary] can continue to serve the public half-measures on health. We need a total ban and we need it now.' Belgium’s workplace smoking ban law entered the statute books this week and will take effect next year.
Cancer patients failed by 'ignorant' employersCancer patients are unnecessarily losing out in the workplace as a result of a 'culture of ignorance' among employers, a report by charity Cancer Bacup has said. It found less than half of the 300 cancer patients questioned had been offered flexible working arrangements, adding that the government, health professionals and employers should act to help the 90,000 people of working age diagnosed with cancer annually. BACUP’s survey found four out of 10 cancer patients felt their overall working life had deteriorated. More than a third felt their career prospects had deteriorated and a quarter feared disclosing their cancer to a new employer. The survey also found that almost a third (31 per cent) of cancer patients did not return to work after cancer treatment and nearly two-thirds (61 per cent) experienced financial difficulties. Joanne Rule, chief executive of Cancer Bacup, said: 'There is a culture of ignorance among employers about the true needs of employees with cancer.' She added: 'Flexible working, return to work policies and the provision of high quality information and support must be enshrined in organisational policy and championed by senior managers.' She warned that organisations must make sure they understand their obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act.
Striking airport firefighters agree dealStriking firefighters at Glasgow Airport have returned to work after reaching a settlement. The 59 officers overwhelmingly accepted a BAA deal which will see the recruitment of eight specialist officers. The firefighters walked out on 29 January following safety concerns (Risks 192). A TGWU spokesperson said: 'This dispute was always about health and safety and we feel this settlement does not compromise that.' The firefighters had voted to take strike action over BAA’s plans to remove onsite firefighting cover. The TGWU members said the move would increase response times and jeopardise safety at the airport. INTERNATIONALAustralia: Compensation body profits should benefit workersThe body providing workers’ compensation payouts in the Australian state of Victoria has made a massive profit this year - and this money should be ploughed back into improving working conditions, say unions. State-wide union body the Victorian Trades Hall Council said the profit should be used to increase spending on preventive programs and to improve workers' entitlements under the scheme. The fund is based on a workers’ compensation levy of employers. These insurance operations realised a profit of Aus$287 million (£117.5m) for the six months to 31 December 2004. This is the eighth consecutive positive half yearly result, and means the compensation scheme is now operating at an 8 per cent surplus. Trades Hall secretary Leigh Hubbard said the news 'proved that an injured workers’ compensation system that delivers access to common law and decent permanent injury benefits and provides employers with the second lowest premiums in Australia can be sustainable.' He added, however, that the money should go into improving conditions, not employer discounts. 'Since January 2000, more than 160 workplace deaths have occurred. These figures are appalling and lowering employer premiums is not going to reverse this malaise. Instead, the government needs to fund programmes aimed at lowering this toll.' China: Mine safety push reaches ministerial levelChina’s government has elevated to ministry level the body charged with the task of improving the country’s appalling mine safety record and has tapped a senior official to run it. Li Yizhong, currently vice-chair of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which oversees the mainland's state-owned enterprises, has been named to head the new State General Administration of Work Safety. Both Li and his agency will have more clout, at least on paper, than their predecessors at the State Administration of Work Safety, the agency it replaces. The central government has come under increasing pressure to reduce the number and severity of coal mine disasters. Official figures show that more than 6,000 died last year in mine accidents, though independent estimates go as high as 20,000. A total of 214 died in a coal mine blast in Fuxin last month (Risks 195). And reports on 3 March said 20 people, mostly children, were killed when explosives stored at the home of a private mine operator blew up in Shanxi province. The blast caused a neighbouring primary school to collapse. The mine operator is among the dead. Japan: Unions target unpaid overtimeThe Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) has made the elimination of unpaid overtime a key pillar in its spring wage negotiations. The issue of unpaid overtime has risen to prominence because there has been a rise in work-related accidents and deaths linked to long working hours. Statutory working hours are set at eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. Any work beyond the daily limit is considered overtime and employers are required to pay allowances. In the 2003 fiscal year, 705 compensation claims were lodged for death from overwork, a sharp rise from the 493 claims lodged in fiscal year 1999. The number of successful claims rose from 81 to 312. According to results of the ministry's monthly survey of workers, corporate employees of companies with payrolls of 30 or more worked an average of 14.9 hours overtime per month last year, 3.4 per cent more than a year earlier. The average number of days worked per month stood at 20.2, 0.1 day more than a year earlier. USA/Australia: Hardie’s compensation dealings span continentsAustralian asbestos exporter James Hardie is lobbying the US Congress for cut-price 'no fault' legislation in a bid to limit its US compensation liabilities. The building products company has hired Washington influence peddling firm Shea and Gardner to push its powerful Republican contacts to back legislation establishing a capped $140 billion (£73bn) scheme to eliminate asbestos lawsuits. Unions maintain the fund is too small. Late last year the Hardie agreed to create a $1.5 billion (£0.62bn) compensation fund, but it has since come under pressure to extend the deal to cover victims outside Australia (Risks 193). The latest move by Hardie follows news of a secret payout to an American victim from one of Hardie’s former subsidiaries. Steve Kazan, whose law firm represents US asbestos victims, says it will be 'quite happy' to sue Hardie’s registered US subsidiaries on behalf of the sick and dying when and if the Australian trust fund is exhausted. James Hardie is putting pressure on the Australian government to restrict payouts from the Australian fund to Australian asbestos disease victims. RESOURCESAmicus resources for Workers’ Memorial Day 2005Amicus has created a new resources webpage for Workers’ Memorial Day, the 28 April event each year when unions 'remember the dead, and fight for the living.' Amicus says: 'The 20th century contained two World Wars lasting a total of 10 years. An estimated 58 million people died during those conflicts and the nation rightly remembers the war dead on 11 November each year. The 21st century is just five years old and already in excess of 10 million people worldwide have been killed as they have gone about their daily work or as a direct result of it.' It adds that so far this century, 'an estimated 6,200 people have been killed at work in the United Kingdom.' The webpages include examples of needless, preventable workplace deaths, details of the Amicus-backed corporate manslaughter campaign and resources for Amicus reps and members. The Amicus clergy and church workers' section is urging everyone to observe Workers' Memorial Day, with special services on that day or on the nearest weekly day of prayer in churches, chapels, synagogues, mosques and temples.
EVENTS AND COURSESTUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR JANUARY TO MARCH 2005Midlands, North, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside COURSES FOR APRIL TO JULY 2005North, Scotland, South East, Yorkshire and Humberside International Railway Workers’ Action Day, 7 March 2005
Asbestos public meeting, Rochdale, 16 March 2005A public meeting on asbestos is to be held in Rochdale on 16 March. The event, co-organised by the Greater Manchester Hazards Centre (GMHC) and the Greater Manchester Asbestos Victims Support Group (GMAVSG), will highlight the toxic history of the Turner Brothers asbestos plant, which killed generations of workers in the town and which still presents a dangerous environmental threat. Speakers include Tony Whitston of GMAVSG, Geoffrey Tweedale, author of ‘From magic mineral to killer dust: Turner and Newall and the asbestos history’, and Jason Addy of the Save Spodden Campaign, which is campaigning for safe redevelopment of the asbestos-contaminated site. For several decades, the company treated the site as its own private dumping ground.
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. |
Trade union members donned convict outfits this week and chained themselves together outside Tower Hamlets town hall after council bosses put two union safety activists before 'kangaroo courts'. The protest was held in support of UNISON assistant branch secretary John Gray who was disciplined after representing a parking warden shop steward and safety rep, Kevin Travers, in a safety-related case. Kevin could have been killed in a 'drive away' incident, when he was badly injured as a motorist sped away to evade a ticket. He was docked a day’s pay for cancelling an appointment with the council’s occupational health department, the only person to ever have been penalised in these circumstances. The union adds that John Gray, who is the branch’s joint health and safety officer and who represented Kevin, was targeted the day after serving a 'Union Safety Inspection Notice' on workplace stress on Tower Hamlets CEO Christine Gilbert. UNISON branch chair John McLoughlin said managers bypassed agreed mediation procedures in their haste to discipline John Gray. 'We are suspicious that senior management have seized the opportunity to attack an effective union official,' he said. A 2 March council appeal process upheld disciplinary action against John Gray. Both John and Kevin Travers have submitted employment tribunal cases, claiming victimisation due to trade union activities. TUC and Hazards revealed last month that hundreds of safety reps are victimised illegally each year for the safety activities (
Families of workers and members of the public killed or injured in a work-related incident have called on the government to back a 'directors’ duties' safety law. The plea came in a letter to minister for work Jane Kennedy and to all MPs to urge them to support the union-backed Health and Safety (Directors' Duties) Bill at its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday 4 March. The Bill would introduce positive health and safety duties for company directors. Stephen Hepburn, the MP for Jarrow who is promoting the private member's bill, said: 'The safety of workers and the British public should be a top priority for every company and every director. Legislation to hold directors to account is long overdue and I urge all my parliamentary colleagues to lend this Bill their support.' He said work minister Jane Kennedy was 'very supportive in principle'. Tony Woodley, TGWU general secretary, said: 'MPs have a real opportunity to deliver justice for workers who have been killed or injured at work. Their families are right to ask why no one is being held to account for their loss. Labour gave its support to directors' duties eight years ago. Workers and their families should not have to wait a day longer for the law to be reformed.'
RMT members will be out in force on International Railway Workers’ Action Day, the 7 March global campaign day for safer, better, publicly run railways. The union says members will be distributing 'Rail against privatisation' postcards calling on MPs to support public ownership of the railways and an end to the part-privatisation of the London Underground. The safety-focussed annual event is coordinated worldwide by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF).Newsletter (4,900 words) issued 4 Mar 2005
