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Risksissue no 201 - 9 April 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 11,000 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. UNION NEWSFire union exposes cover up of 'dangerously high' risksOfficial research showing firefighters are facing 'dangerously high' levels of heat exhaustion and suggesting many more firefighters are needed to cope with the strains of the job has been buried by civil servants, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has warned. The union says the lack of action is putting the lives of firefighters and the public at risk. FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist accused officials at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) of 'breathtaking complacency'. The union says the Buildings Disaster Advisory Group (BDAG) research, commissioned after 9/11, found that a mix of heavy workload and heat from fires leads to dangerously high levels of heat exhaustion in firefighters, even in normal firefighting conditions. It concluded firefighters can only fight fires for between 13-16 minutes before unsafe body temperatures are reached. Calling for a national action programme, Andy Gilchrist said: 'The most important safety research in 50 years is being swept under the carpet because it shows we need more firefighters. They asked the questions and now they don’t like the answers. The inaction of the ODPM is breathtakingly complacent. It is putting the lives of firefighters and the public at risk.' He added: 'The research clearly shows that firefighting is dangerously exhausting even for very fit individuals. We also need proper rest periods to recover. This clearly suggests that more firefighters are needed in the first response to fires with more needed throughout the incident.' Bar staff given choice between fines and threatsBar staff serving customers who are drunk could be hit with an £80 fixed penalty notice, under new rules introduced by the government. Bar workers’ union TGWU is concerned, however, that the introduction of on-the-spot fines will place bar workers in a dangerous quandary. TGWU national organiser Brian Revell said the union could understand the government’s intentions but said: 'Bar staff are more often than not low paid workers who are already under enormous pressure from the pub companies and breweries to maximise sales. There are real concerns about the physical danger they will be placed in when dealing with customers who continue to demand service when refused.' He added: 'Placing the onus of dealing with binge drinking on low paid bar staff may well backfire. The prospect of £80 fines may lead staff to vote with their feet and leave the pub or club.' Culture secretary Tessa Jowell said the fines 'send out a clear message.' She added: 'If the law is broken, both parties must pay a price.' Rail strike threat wins safety concessionsRail union ASLEF has called off a safety strike by train drivers. The union said talks with Network Rail reached a settlement in a dispute over safety systems. Thousands of train drivers had agreed to take action by refusing to pass through areas with a new communications system. ASLEF threatened action after the breakdown of long-running talks about the ability of drivers to alert other train drivers and signal operators to an accident or other problem on the track. The union said the Interim Voice Radio System (IVRS), introduced two years ago as a trial, had failed on a number of occasions. ASLEF’s acting general secretary Keith Norman says the union’s immediate safety concerns had been met, adding it had received assurances there would be further discussions to comprehensively resolve the issue. He said rail companies had now withdrawn previous instructions about 'working normally' through systems failures, and had agreed to a 40 miles per hour speed limit in areas with suspected IVRS problems. Postie delivers lifesaving treatmentA Luton postie and trained first aider has saved the life of a member of the public. CWU member John Hannah had just completed his delivery round when a concerned crowd called for help for an unconscious man lying face down on a petrol station forecourt. He was lying in a pool of blood with head injuries, and he had turned blue. Using first aid resuscitation training and lifesaving skills learned at workplace courses run by a CWU area safety rep, he helped the man regain consciousness. The man, who had suffered a heart attack and had stopped breathing, subsequently underwent major heart surgery and made a full recovery. John said: 'I momentarily froze, due to the shock I suppose, but I mustered my thoughts and what triggered me was our regular first aid resuscitation training with Andy McArthur, area safety rep Eastern No 6 branch, who is also the chair of the First Aid Association.' CWU national health and safety officer Dave Joyce said if first aiders like John and trainers like Andy weren't around then this man wouldn't be here now. 'First aiders play a really important role and the CWU is keen to support and encourage participation of our members,' he said. OTHER NEWSConstruction blitz reveals widespread lawbreakingConstruction sites remain havens for safety lawbreakers despite firms being pre-warned of a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforcement 'blitz'. HSE construction inspectors issued 214 enforcement notices across Great Britain during a March 2005 enforcement campaign which had received heavy advance publicity. Over 1,170 construction projects of all sizes were visited during the blitz in which inspectors targeted site order and organisation, risks from manual handling, the use of wet cement and hand held vibrating equipment and tools. As well as the 214 enforcement notices, in a further 244 cases inspectors agreed a voluntary cessation of work activity until improvements had been made. HSE construction boss Kevin Myers commented: 'I am pleased to note that on many sites visited by inspectors during this initiative all parties involved in the project were working together to address these health risks by applying the simple precautions set out in the pre-blitz publicity. However there were still far too many sites where this was not the case; where the standards were such that the inspectors had to stop the work or issue enforcement notices to address the shortcomings found. There is clearly still much to be done by the industry to make the most basic precautions more commonplace.'
Window cleaner’s death highlights fall perilA window cleaner plunged to his death from a block of flats after trying to clean a fifth floor kitchen window, an inquest has heard. Stephen Wainwright was working at a flat in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, when a balcony railing gave way, Bradford Coroners Court was told. He fell approximately 50 feet to his death. The inquest was adjourned by coroner Roger Whittaker for a report from the Health and Safety Executive. 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. Commenting after the tragedy, HSE’s David Powell said work at height must be properly planned, assessed and controlled for the risks involved. He added: 'Don't underestimate these - simply ‘taking care’ is not enough and proper precautions must be in place. Making do without the right equipment to minimise expense can lead to injury or death, as well as prosecution if the law is broken.'
Actor awarded £7,500 for injuriesAn actor who complained of being injured while starring in an Andrew Lloyd Webber theatre production has been awarded compensation. Dean Collinson, 36, said he suffered a hernia and back, rib and hip injuries while performing in Whistle Down the Wind at London's Aldwych Theatre. Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group had denied liability but was ordered to pay £7,500 at Central London County Court. Mr Collinson said after the hearing he had missed more than 100 shows because of injuries received during the production. He said he had had to pick up a motorbike with a pillion passenger still on the back to avoid them being crushed by a 12-tonne stage set. He had also 'had to push the female lead out of the way of a train that was being pushed towards the audience, giving myself a hernia'. In another show, he added, 'I fell from a ladder that had had oil used on it to stop it squeaking'. Welcome for new gangmaster watchdogThe Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) has welcomed the 1 April launch of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority. ETI director Dan Rees said: 'This is a critical step towards stamping out the exploitative working practices of some temporary labour providers. To avoid a labour shortage, the entire industry from plough to plate needs to act now to ensure labour providers are prepared when licensing comes into force in 2006.' The authority was set up to develop and operate a licensing scheme, set licensing conditions and maintain a register of licensed labour providers - gangmasters - in the agriculture, shellfish and related processing and packaging industries. Rees, who is also chair of the Temporary Labour Working Group (TLWG), an alliance representing the entire food chain, trade unions and labour providers, said: 'We were shocked and alarmed at the scale and severity of the exploitation suffered by some temporary workers and set up the Temporary Labour Working Group to tackle the problem.' The union TGWU was at the forefront of the campaign for legal controls on gangmasters (Risks 191). The government announced last month that the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, which includes representatives of the TUC and TGWU, is to have its enforcement role absorbed into the Health and Safety Executive (Risks 199).
Computer use linked to blood clotsPeople who sit for hours in front of a computer may be at risk of developing blood clots in their legs, a study suggests. The condition has been associated with long-haul air travel, where it has been dubbed 'economy class syndrome', but a paper published in the New Zealand Medical Journal suggests sitting still for long periods at a computer could also cause deep vein thrombosis (DVT). The researchers, led by Professor Richard Beasley of the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, have proposed the acronym ‘SIT’ - seated immobility thromboembolism - to cover all forms of seated immobility associated with DVT. But they caution that the link between sitting still and developing a DVT in the five case studies investigated could be coincidental. Further research is planned. The subjects spent eight to 15 hours a day sitting for work and recreation and included a computer worker, graphic designer and a chef, who spent much of his free time at a computer. The subjects reported sitting for between three to six hours without getting up. 'The likelihood of a young adult without underlying risk factors developing a DVT or pulmonary embolism would be considered to be extremely low, suggesting the importance of immobility as a provoking factor in these subjects,' the researchers said. Professor Beasley first reported the possible link two years ago (Risks 91).
Job pressure is breaking heartsThe longer hours, faster pace, and insecurity typical of many new jobs is taking a toll on workers' hearts, according to a growing body of occupational health research. And researchers say the damage is cumulative and will become more apparent and costly over time. 'I think we're dramatically underestimating the impacts of these changes,' said Peter Schnall, a clinical professor of medicine at the University of California, Irvine's, School of Medicine. ''There are enormous health effects, but they don't make it into the calculations.' The latest research in the field, presented at an international forum in California, hinted at the potential scale of the problem. 'Just think about globalisation, what that can mean to millions of people around the world,' said Tage Kristensen, who directs Denmark's occupational health programme. John Howard, the director of the US government’s occupational health research body NIOSH said work stress hasn’t had the attention it deserves. 'Sometimes employers don't understand that workers are their real asset, especially in a service economy,' he said. ''If we're going to keep improving productivity, we have to make sure that we keep workers healthy.' A paper this week in the British Medical Journal reports that stress-related mental health problems have for the first time topped physical ailments as the chief cause of long-term sickness in Britain. Depression and anxiety now account for more claims for incapacity benefit than problems such as back pain.
Industry is setting low standards on chemical risksStandards for chemical exposures worldwide are heavily influenced by those originating in the US - which is bad news for workers, because new research shows those standards are heavily influenced by industry. Using the carcinogen vinyl chloride as an example, US academics found industry influence on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standard-setting process had led to 'weakened safeguards'. Writing in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, the researchers conclude 'the efforts of the regulated industries often outweigh the ability of the public, unions and public interest groups to participate in developing regulations.' They say in the case of vinyl chloride, the external peer review system that vets the evidence for bias or flaws found 'at least seven of the 19 external peer reviewers… were chemical industry employees and consultants, four were government representatives, none represented unions or public interest groups.' Despite this, EPA had subsequently given industry even greater influence over certain standard setting activities, notably on pesticides. The authors conclude: 'The trend towards increasing industry participation allows corporate interests with products under regulation to more effectively recommend acceptable limits of public exposure to their own products and wastes,' adding: 'Public confidence is undermined when commercial interests, instead of scientific evaluations, shape public health policy.'
INTERNATIONALAngola: Health workers fighting Marburg virus 'need protection'Health workers in the Angolan capital, Luanda, are complaining of not having enough protective clothing to combat the deadly Marburg virus. They say there is a serious shortfall of goggles, face masks and headgear. Latest figures put the death toll at 155 people, from a total of 175 cases, the country's health ministry has said. The outbreak, which began in October, is the most serious ever recorded of the virus - which is spread through contact with bodily fluids. The virus is a fast-spreading haemorrhagic fever related to Ebola and causes headaches, nausea, vomiting and bloody diarrhoea. Mario Ferrari, UNICEF chief in Angola, said a nationwide public awareness campaign, led by the ministry of health and supported by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO), would target health workers at the frontline of the epidemic, as well as the population at large. But he said there was still a serious shortfall in protective clothing for health workers, including goggles, face masks and headgear, and said that UNICEF and WHO were coordinating a 'flash appeal' to mobilise more resources. 'We need materials to protect people working in direct contact with patients who may be infected and also kits with essential drugs to make sure health centres in other provinces are prepared in case the virus spreads,' he added.
Australia: Cash and commitment cuts work tollProper backing for workplace safety enforcement has achieved a massive reduction in workplace deaths and disease in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW). Releasing new official statistics showing fatalities and injuries were at a 15-year low, NSW minister for commerce, John Della Bosca said: 'The government has made a substantial effort to reduce the incidence of accidents and injuries in the state's workplaces by introducing modern, flexible and cooperative safety laws and ensuring that WorkCover has the resources to tackle the problems.' He added: 'Our state has the best resourced and most active occupational health and safety body in Australia. WorkCover NSW has 301 inspectors with practical experience and technical expertise in a wide range of industries and occupations.' Official safety watchdog WorkCover has also provided grants to companies to address safety issues. A 'ShearSafety' scheme provided rebates to assist shearers change to more ergonomic shearing tools. WorkCover rebates also helped woolshed owners to incorporate safe design when upgrading their sheds. Australia: Union says stimulant abuse rife among truckiesMajor Australian retailers have been accused of forcing long distance truck drivers into stimulants abuse in order to meet tight deadlines. Coles Myer and Woolworths are to be asked to give evidence before the New South Wales Stay Safe Committee inquiry into road safety following claims by the Transport Workers Union (TWU). Giving evidence to the inquiry, TWU state secretary Tony Sheldon said major retailers and manufacturers were to blame for an estimated 80-90 per cent of truckies abusing stimulants. He said drivers were taking stimulants in order to meet unsafe delivery schedules. 'The horrific thing is it's an epidemic in this industry which makes it a sweatshop on wheels in the long distance area,' Mr Sheldon told reporters outside the inquiry. The trucking industry had 10 times the national average of suicides, he said, a figure the union attributes to exhaustion and occupational drug use. Previous surveys showed one-third of long-distance drivers took illegal stimulants, but the TWU puts the figure at between 80 and 90 per cent, he said. Stay Safe Committee chair Paul Gibson said the TWU statistics were frightening and said the retailers would be asked to give evidence before the inquiry. Coles Myer and Woolworths both denied the TWU allegations. Global: Norwegian building giant backs worldwide union rightsA global deal with a Norwegian construction giant will guarantee workers’ health, safety and employment rights on all its projects worldwide. The latest global framework agreement is between the firm, Veidekke, and global construction union federation IFBWW and Norwegian unions. 'We use global agreements as a tool to improve working conditions on building sites wherever a multinational company is active in the world,' said Anita Normark, IFBWW general secretary. 'Our global network of affiliated unions is the best way to secure that multinational companies are living up to their commitments'. The agreement stipulates all Veidekke projects will respect human and trade union rights. It includes a specific clause on health and safety, including a company commitment to 'involve and work with the employees, their representatives and trade unions, to continually improve the company's health and safety performance in compliance with ILO Guidelines for Occupational Health Management Systems. All workers shall be given training on occupational hazards and their prevention. The aim related to health and safety is to eliminate work-related accidents and injuries throughout the facilities of Veidekke.' There are additional clauses on working hours, use of toxic substances, HIV/AIDS and environmental issues. USA: Strain injuries flourish in lawless workplacesUS business doesn’t like regulation, any regulation, but health and safety laws are seen as a particular irritation. That was why the first legislative act in the first presidential term of the supremely business-friendly George W Bush was to axe the brand new ergonomics standard, a measure introduced by his predecessor to check the USA’s strain injuries epidemic (Risks 160). The result has been that strain injuries stubbornly remain the number one workplace injury. Despite four years of outreach, enforcement, and research - the Republican alternative to regulations - latest official figures show ergonomic injuries are not only stuck at one-third of all serious workplace injuries and illnesses that involved days away from work, but they are also more severe than other injuries, causing workers to stay away from the job longer. According to Jordan Barab, editor of online safety news report Confined Space: 'In the last four years, OSHA has issued three wishy-washy ergonomics guidelines - for the nursing home, grocery and poultry processing industries - done no research, issued fewer than 20 ergonomics-related citations and formed over 70 ergonomic-related alliances. And hundreds of thousands of seriously disabled workers is all they have to show for it.'
USA: Steel yourself for Bloody Pocket Syndrome In the USA’s lean-and-mean steel industry fewer workers are being forced to do a lot more, as productivity goes up and staffing goes down. And as the workload increases, so has the accident rate, reports the steelworkers’ union USWA. Not only are workers under increased pressure, they are having to take on jobs in their downsized workplaces for which they have little training and experience. And the situation could be much worse than even the rising accident figures suggest (Risks 172), because blame-the-worker behavioural safety and other new management approaches mean reporting an injury might invite disciplinary action - with USWA reporting some injured workers having been fired for their trouble. The situation has got so bad, steelworkers have coined a name for it - 'Bloody Pocket Syndrome,' which USWA health and safety director Mike Wright says occurs when a worker with, for example, a cut on their hand will out of fear of retribution hide it and wait until after their shift to go to the hospital. 'People are working very large amounts of overtime, crew sizes are (smaller) and people are being put into jobs that are insufficiently staffed,' he said, adding that the phenomenon isn’t limited to the steel industry. 'When people believe they are going to be disciplined as a result of reporting an accident, they are not going to report the accident. That's just human nature. They believe the company will add insult to injury.' RESOURCESSafety reps’ rights - the law onlineThe legal rights of union safety representatives are spelled out in the ‘Brown Book’ - the one-stop source for the regulations, code of practice and guidance on safety representatives. The TUC has produced a version of this essential reference guide for training purposes, available online for the first time.
New report on chemical sensitivityThe Danish Environmental Protection Agency has released a report on multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS). It says the report is based on a study of the scientific literature on Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS), which in Denmark is called odour and chemical hypersensitivity. The abstract to the report says: 'It is concluded that MCS - a new health disorder which has been described during the last 20 years - is a real condition. MCS differs from the common scientific understanding of illness because the condition is always manifested by multiple non-specific symptoms from different organs at the same time and because these symptoms may occur after exposure to chemicals at very low concentrations.' Canadian union CAW last year produced an exceptionally useful workers’ guide to the causes and prevention of MCS (Risks 160).
EVENTS AND COURSESTUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR APRIL TO JULY 2005Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside Are you ready for Workers’ Memorial Day, 28 April?Are you ready for Workers’ Memorial Day, the 28 April health and safety event when unions worldwide 'remember the dead, and fight for the living'? Unions in well over 100 countries have already announced activities on the day. Make sure you are involved locally - you can obtain free posters from the Hazards Campaign to draw attention to the biggest union safety event worldwide and to advertise your local activities. Workers’ Memorial Day is the day when unions - locally, nationally and globally - demand employers pay for safety crimes and recommit themselves to organise for safe and healthy work.
CIEH conference on occupational asthma, 3 May, LondonThe Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has organised a conference on occupational asthma to raise awareness of the most frequently reported occupational respiratory disease in Great Britain. The event will coincide with World Asthma Day, 3 May. CIEH says with up to 3,000 new cases of occupational asthma reported each year, rising to 7,000 cases of work-related asthma, asthma made worse by the workplace, the estimated cost to society over ten years is £1.1 billion. It says its one-day conference aims to raise awareness of occupational asthma and will involve workshops aimed at identifying the difficulties faced by dutyholders, practitioners and employees in the workplace, providing appropriate solutions. Ronnie Draper, national president and safety officer of the bakers’ union BFAWU, commented: 'As supporters of the asthma charter and seasoned campaigners for the reduction of occupational asthma, the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union is pleased to endorse the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health’s conference to commemorate World Asthma Day on 3rd May 2005.'
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 8 Apr 2005
