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Number 406 - 16 May 2009

Risks
Hazards
 Asbestos - the hidden killer
 Hazards at Work

Risks is the TUC's weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 16,000 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

Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to the TUC at healthandsafety@tuc.org.uk

Union News

Move to stop blacklisting of union reps

The government intends to introduce new regulations to prevent union members being denied employment by secret blacklists, business secretary Peter Mandelson has said. In March, the Information Commissioner reported that 40 construction companies had subscribed to a database used to vet construction workers, which has now been closed under data protection law. It is believed many of those on the blacklist were targeted because of their union health and safety role. Unions in the construction sector had for years pressed for legal protection for union reps and activists. Announcing the decision to legislate, Lord Mandelson said: 'People should not be victimised at work or denied access to employment opportunities because of their trade union membership.' He added: 'We now plan to strengthen the law by introducing new regulations to outlaw the compilation, dissemination and use of blacklists in this way.' The government is to launch a short consultation in the early summer on the revised regulations. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber commented: 'It is outrageous that unscrupulous employers have been victimising trade unionists through shady blacklisting practices that have no place in a democratic society. I am glad that the government is now consulting speedily on this issue which will, I hope, lead to quick and effective action to outlaw this utterly unacceptable practice.' It is thought the revised regulations could be put before parliament in the autumn.

UCATT welcomes blacklisting action

Construction union UCATT has welcomed the government's commitment to outlaw blacklisting but says it is disappointed that the process will be delayed as a result of a fresh consultation exercise. The Information Commissioner announced in March that over 40 major construction companies were paying a company called the Consulting Association to routinely blacklist workers. UCATT general secretary Alan Ritchie, who was blacklisted, said: 'The government has partially listened to the union's demand that blacklisting must be outlawed once and for all. But it is very disappointing that the process will be dragged out due to an unnecessary consultation.' Provision to make blacklisting illegal was included in the 1999 Employment Relations Act, but the related regulations were never enacted because the government said there was not 'hard evidence' the practice occurred. Mr Ritchie said: 'Blacklisting should have been outlawed 10 years ago. The government were mistaken in believing it was no longer a problem. Our members were all too aware that blacklisting still occurred. During the last decade thousands of workers have been illegally denied work.' The union says a large number of UCATT officials and activists have now obtained their Consulting Association files from the Information Commissioner. A 'great deal of the blacklisting related to the raising of health and safety concerns on sites,' the union said. It adds that the companies who blacklisted workers should be prosecuted. 'The companies involved broke existing laws,' Mr Ritchie said. 'They are serious crimes and these companies deserve the maximum possible punishment.'

Victimised union activist seeks justice

Construction giant Sir Robert McAlpine is facing a compensation claim from a blacklisted bricklayer who believes he was turned down for work by the company. UCATT activist Mick Dooley has lodged his claim with the Employment Tribunal. It is believed to be the first legal action taken by a construction worker in the wake of the industry blacklisting scandal. Dooley was one of the 3,213 workers contained in a blacklist compiled by the Consulting Association. He has now read his 16-page file and believes McAlpine refused him a start on site because he was involved in a previous industrial dispute on one of its jobs. He said: 'I heard stories of a blacklist but it was a situation where either I accepted the unacceptable and keep my head down or said no. That's not right.' He added: 'I wanted to make sure that conditions were safe and wages were paid correctly so there is inevitably a conflict with some employers. It is the more sinister information contained on my blacklist that I am very angry about - information of a personal nature.' The Information Commissioner's investigation into blacklisting found Sir Robert McAlpine spent £30,000 last year alone for information to vet potential employees.

Call to tackle asbestos in schools

Teaching unions have renewed their call on the government to remove asbestos from schools when they are refurbished under the Building Schools for the Future programme. The call came in private meeting with Gordon Brown this week. Three quarters of schools in England and Wales contain asbestos, and nearly 300 teachers and lecturers have died of the asbestos cancer mesothelioma since 1980. It is likely a greater number have died of other asbestos related cancers. And the real toll is likely to be much higher still, as the Health and Safety Executive does not record occupation on those dying over the age of 74, when many of the asbestos related deaths occur. Mary Bousted, general secretary teaching union ATL, said: 'We've known about this issue for a while and have been campaigning for the last two years but it's really coming together now.' She was joined by Paul Rowen, Liberal Democrat MP for Rochdale, a former deputy headteacher who has raised the issue in parliament, and asbestos expert and campaigner Michael Lees, whose teacher wife died of mesothelioma in 2000, to urge Brown to carry out a national audit of asbestos in schools. They told the prime minister there should an independent public body to be set up to look into and advise on asbestos in schools. At a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Health and Safety in the Commons the same day, campaigners repeated their call and were joined by NASUWT member Carol Hagedorn, a teacher suffering from mesothelioma. Dr Bousted said there should be air sampling to investigate potential asbestos exposures in schools, adding: 'At the moment, there's no robust evidence of the state of asbestos in schools.' MP Paul Rowen said: 'I was responsible for building in my secondary school and I know first-hand that management of asbestos is not up to scratch. Building Schools for the Future doesn't automatically remove asbestos and local authorities aren't treating it seriously. Teachers are dying of asbestos-related diseases, which should not be happening.'

Global campaign pushes for good work

Unions, businesses, academics and development organisations have launched a new group aimed at improving the employment conditions of workers around the globe. At the event at TUC's London HQ this week, TUC deputy general secretary Frances O'Grady said while the global slowdown was causing much pain and misery amongst UK workers who have lost their jobs, the impact on workers in poorer countries was devastating. The Decent Work and Labour Standards Forum aims to work closely with the UK government to help push 'decent work' up the agendas of governments, employers, unions and development agencies. Frances O'Grady said 'we need decent work and decent social services to rebuild the economy, narrow inequality, put food on everyone's table and strengthen social cohesion from the factories of Bangladesh to the farms of Ghana. The new forum will bring together the expertise and passion of UK unions, development agencies and businesses to help workers and governments in the developing world deliver this vision.' She was joined at the launch by international development minister Gareth Thomas. He said: 'In a global economic downturn it is more important than ever that workers in developing countries have jobs which enable them to feed and clothe their families. The Decent Work and Labour Standards Forum is important because it brings the government together with NGOs, business leaders, trade unions and academics to examine what needs to be done to help the most vulnerable people in developing countries to work in a safe and secure environment and have access to social protection measures.'

Other news

Death case may affect site fatalities probe

The chair of the government convened inquiry into construction industry fatalities has indicated the prosecution last week of a construction giant could influence her findings, a trade journal has reported. Rita Donaghy was present at last week's Old Bailey judgment against Laing O'Rourke, when the firm was fined £135,000 and told it should be 'thoroughly ashamed' over a workplace fatality. Kieron Deeney died in August 2004 at the £55 million Discovery Dock scheme in east London. Irish born Mr Deeney died when he fell more than 9m through a hole in the floor which had not been covered over. In handing down his ruling, Judge Richard Hone warned the construction giant that it must eliminate a 'casual attitude to risk'. Trade paper Construction News reported that Mrs Donaghy has spoken to Kieron's widow, Jennifer Deeney. Mrs Deeney - who had only been married three months before her husband's death - told Construction News: 'The fine should have been much, much more - but the system doesn't allow for that. That is why it is good to see the government doing this inquiry. I have spoken to Rita and she has been extremely receptive. She seemed to really want to take in as much as she could.' Mrs Deeney said losing her husband had been devastating. 'It just destroys your life. You have to start all over from scratch.' Commenting on the six figure fine against Laing O'Rourke, Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) founder Hilda Palmer said: 'For a company with multi-billion pound turnover and an offence that the judge said the company, from top to bottom, should feel thoroughly ashamed of, it is an amazingly low figure. Unless fines are set at significant percentage of turnover they will not have any effect.' The firm's 2008 annual review boasts a 76.1 per cent increase in profits before tax to £81.2m, 'with a strong order book of £9.3bn'. FACK is also pressing for new directors' safety duties, and jail terms where directors let safety standards slip.

Families remember ICL blast victims

Families who lost loved ones in a Glasgow factory disaster gathered this week for an emotional church service to mark the fifth anniversary of the tragedy. Nine people died and 33 others were injured, many of them pulled from the rubble, in the 11 May 2004 blast at the ICL/Stockline Plastics factory in Maryhill. Following the service at St Columba's Church, near the site, families walked to the memorial garden which is dominated by nine standing stones - one for every life lost. The anniversary comes as families still wait for answers following a public inquiry which ended in October 2008. STUC safety officer Ian Tasker said: 'This anniversary is significant as it is five years since the tragedy and the families are still awaiting the outcome. They have heard what may have caused the tragedy, but are still waiting for the final report and until they receive that, it will be very hard for them to actually move on.' Patricia Ferguson, Labour MSP for Maryhill, and local MP, Ann McKechin, released a joint statement, saying: 'We hope that the outcome of Lord Gill's report into the circumstances of this incident, which the families campaigned for and contributed to, will be that workplaces in Scotland become safer.' The blast occurred when liquefied petroleum gas leaked from a corroded pipe and ignited. ICL Plastics and ICL Tech, the factory's operators, were fined £400,000 in 2007 after a hearing at Glasgow High Court found them to have breached health and safety laws. Last month a victim of the blast was awarded an out-of-court settlement after suffering horrific injuries in the tragedy. The payout to the unnamed former worker is thought to be one of several that have been concluded.

Two suffocated on fish farm barge

Two men have died after suffocating in a fish farm barge. Maarten Pieter Den Heijer, 30, and 45-year-old Robert MacDonald died on Loch Creran, a sea loch north of Oban, on 11 May. A third man, aged 42, survived after being airlifted to hospital. The emergency services were alerted after reports that three men had collapsed. It is thought they suffocated as a result of rusting metal in a confined space removing oxygen from the air. Scottish Sea Farms, which owns the barge, has about 300 employees and 44 sites across Scotland. The barge is permanently moored on the sea loch, which means that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has joined the police in an investigation. The Norwegian owners of the fish farm, Scottish Sea Farms, are already working with HSE and the police to piece together fully the sequence of events. A Clyde Coastguard spokesperson said: 'There was a problem with the crane on the barge and the men went to look at some hydraulic pipes in a hold. They vented it for about 15 minutes, but when the first man went down he became unconscious almost immediately. An engineer then went down but could feel himself starting to lapse out of consciousness and came back up. A third man went down with some sort of respiratory mask and he too became unconscious. Because the barge is made of metal and steel, it rusts, and that depletes oxygen levels.' A Strathclyde Police spokesperson said the incident is 'being treated very seriously.'

New rights plan for agency workers

Agency workers are set to get the same pay and conditions as permanent staff, the government has said. Launching a consultation on the changes, the government said the new rights would build on last year's agreement between TUC and Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Welcoming the launch of the Department for Business (BERR) consultation on implementing the Temporary Agency Worker Directive, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'This new Directive is the result of six years of committed campaigning by unions. It is good news for agency workers across the UK, who often lose out on pay, holiday pay and working time rights. The Directive also means that temps will have improved access to training, to permanent jobs and to childcare.' He warned that the 12-week qualifying period for equal rights for agency workers must 'be tightly defined, so employers cannot get round the law by hiring temps on a series of short-term contracts, or moving them to different assignments in the same workplace.' Unite's joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, said: 'The government must act swiftly to introduce protection for agency workers as agreed with the unions. That includes rights to notice periods and redundancy pay. Unite will vigorously oppose any attempt to dilute the original spirit of the directive.' And UCATT general secretary Alan Ritchie said: 'If the government are serious about improving conditions for agency workers, then they must introduce tougher rules in construction. A one size fits all approach will fail. There is a vast difference between agency workers operating in static, regulated, offices and the conditions in construction where workers operate in a highly casualised environment and are frequently moved from site to site.' He said the extension of the Gangmasters Licensing Act to cover the construction industry would have a far greater impact than the proposed new agency worker rights.

Scots transport workers welcome safety bill

A draft law intended to reduce violence to transport workers in Scotland has been welcomed by unions. Kevin Lindsay of train drivers' union ASLEF said it was six years since his union and Unite 'launched a joint campaign for better protection for Scotland's transport workers. We're pleased to say that as a result Hugh Henry MSP has now produced a draft Bill defining what we are seeking.' The unions demanded for transport workers equal protection in law as a nurse, doctor or any emergency service worker, but up to now have been unable to convince the Scottish government to act. Mr Lindsay said the unions hoped the relaunch of the union campaign would now bear fruit. 'This time we secured the support of three Labour MSPs - Hugh Henry, Karen Whitefield and Cathy Jamieson,' he said. 'We held a rally in Glasgow at the beginning of the year and leafleted Glasgow Central station, with high media coverage. The public were clearly supportive and the demands for a safer transport system grew. In addition the STUC held a summit to discuss various union campaigns demanding better protection for workers.' Mr Lindsay said the unions would now seek the backing of as many MSPs as possible with the aim of introducing legislation. 'The momentum is growing,' he said. 'If we keep up the pressure the Scottish people will soon have laws which give greater protection to all public employees carrying out their duties.'

HSE action on one in five sites

One in five construction sites failed health and safety checks during the latest national inspection blitz carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Inspectors visited 1,759 refurbishment sites during March and checked on how 2,145 contractors were complying with health and safety regulations. HSE took enforcement action on 348 sites where serious safety risks were discovered - the equivalent of almost 20 per cent of all sites visited. And inspectors issued nearly 500 enforcement notices. Phillip White, HSE's chief inspector of construction, said: 'This inspection initiative was well publicised and for our inspectors to still find this level of disregard for basic health and safety standards on refurbishment sites is disappointing. While any improvement has to be welcomed, our inspectors still found practices so far below the acceptable standard that they felt it necessary to take enforcement action on one in five sites. This is still very worrying.' Over half of the enforcement action taken during the March inspection initiative was as a result of dangerous work at height, which led to the death of 34 construction workers in 2007/08.

Worker paralysed in site fall

A Surrey construction firm has been fined £15,000 after a worker was paralysed in a fall of over three metres. Fine Construction UK Ltd was prosecuted at City of London Magistrates Court. The firm was also ordered to pay costs of £8,091.99. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation followed the incident on 22 February 2008. The worker, whose name has not been released by HSE, was involved in building an extension to a domestic property when he fell through a roof light void. There was no boarding to cover the roof lights and no crash deck underneath to limit the impact of a fall. He suffered serious back injuries as a result of the fall and no longer has use of his legs. HSE inspector Kevin Shorten said: 'Forward planning, vigilance and a willingness to spend time and money on suitable safeguards could prevent incidents like this one and avoid the personal and financial trauma associated with them.'

Tesco fined £20,000 for worker's injury

Tesco has been fined £20,000 after a 17-year-old worker severed her Achilles tendon at a Cambridgeshire store. South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC) prosecuted Tesco Stores plc a safety breach. At Cambridge Magistrates' Court last month, the supermarket giant was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay £8,285.37 costs. The company pleaded guilty. A council investigation was initiated after employee Rachel Harris severed her Achilles tendon at the Fulbourn Tesco store in June 2007. She was injured when a roll cage used to move goods around the store rolled back into her leg, resulting in several weeks of incapacity. Cllr Sue Ellington, who heads up the council's environment committee, said: 'Whatever the working environment, employees need to be given the correct information and training to keep themselves and their colleagues safe. In this instance, the employee wasn't familiar with how the roll cage should be used, through no fault of her own. Unfortunately this led to a serious injury.' She added: 'I hope that this case spurs all employers on to take their health and safety responsibilities seriously and ensure that all employees are given the tools to keep themselves safe.' The company has faced a number of actions for workplace health and safety failings. In 2005 it was ordered to pay £50,000 in fines and costs after a court heard a 'culture of carelessness' led to a worker losing a finger at its Norwich store (Risks 213).

Company fined for crush death

A paper firm has been ordered to payout £125,000 in fines and costs after a worker was crushed to death. Avery Dennison Materials UK Ltd was sentenced last week at Aylesbury Crown Court. The court fined the company £100,000, which was reduced to £75,000 to take into account its early guilty plea. It was also ordered to pay costs of £50,000. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation followed an incident in June 2005, at the company's Milton Keynes Distribution Centre, when employee Simon Cowan, 32, was crushed between a large roll of paper weighing over one tonne and a paper slitting machine. He later died of his injuries. HSE inspector Andrew Moore said: 'Avery Dennison Materials UK Ltd had an unblemished health and safety record until this incident. This case shows that being lulled into a false sense of security by the fact that an incident has never occurred before can prove fatal.' He added: 'This preventable fatality shows the need for rigorous risk assessments. Employers must consider and assess how heavy loads with the potential for serious injury are moved and restrained. We would urge senior managers in such large organisations to remain vigilant in order to ensure a good health and safety culture is maintained and that necessary precautions are put in place to protect workers from injuries and even death.'

Overworked to death making Makro jeans

Low-priced jeans sold by cash and-carry giant Makro are being produced in horrific conditions in a sweatshop factory in Bangladesh. Workers toil up to 14 hours a day seven days a week for wages as low as 8p an hour, a report from the US National Labor Committee has found. It says exhausted staff who fall ill at their machines have told investigators they are routinely beaten up by managers at the RL Denim factory. Teenager Fatema Akter was hit when she begged for a rest. The 18-year-old died three days later after collapsing as she sewed the Youkon brand of jeans destined for Makro's 33 British stores. Other cases detailed in the report include a 17-year-old boy who collapsed and was violently attacked by a manager as he lay unconscious and a pregnant woman was sacked after she asked for maternity pay. Workers who fail to sew belt loops on up to 60 jeans an hour in the sweltering dirty factory must finish the job in their own unpaid time. Makro is part of the German-owned Metro Group - the third largest retailer in the world with £2 billion profits last year. Charles Kernaghan, director of the National Labor Committee, said: 'Would we still look at a bargain the same way if we knew an 18-year-old woman was overworked to death sewing our cheap jeans?' It is not uncommon for the workers to do 97 hours a week. And the pace is frantic - workers have to sew a belt loop on jeans every ten seconds. The investigators found independent checks on the conditions were wholly ineffective. The NLC report notes: 'The audits are known in advance. In preparation for the big day, the factory is cleaned, especially the dirty toilets. Any worker who does not lie about conditions will be fired the minute the auditors leave the factory. Managers also have phoney time cards and pay records.'

International News

Australia: Unions push for tougher laws

Tougher national health and safety laws are needed urgently to tackle the terrible toll of death, disease and injury facing Australian workers, unions have warned. Families of victims of workplace tragedies and unions this week launched a hard-hitting new advertising campaign that aims to lift health and safety standards and improve legislative protections for workers. The campaign comes ahead of a meeting of all state, territory and federal government workplace relations ministers to discuss new national workplace safety laws. More than 7,000 Australians are estimated to lose their lives from workplace injuries or disease each year - a total four times greater than the annual road toll, say unions. Launching the 'Don't risk second rate safety' campaign, ACTU president Sharan Burrow said: 'The move by the Council of Australian governments to develop consistent workplace health and safety laws across all states and territories is a positive one, but it is vital that protections for workers are lifted, not lowered. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect workers with the world's best workplace safety laws. But the proposed new national occupational health and safety (OHS) laws being considered by federal, state and territory ministers will actually undermine standards, putting Australian workers - and their families - at risk.' She added: 'It is unacceptable not to strive for the best possible safety standards in our workplaces with these new laws.' Unions say there must be a clear onus on employers to provide a safe workplace, the burden of proof in any prosecution must lie with the employer, and unions should be able to initiate a prosecution. In New South Wales, where third parties have the right to initiate prosecutions, there were just 12 of these prosecutions in the past 30 years, all of which were successful and which led to some important safety improvements. A proposal to place legal duties on union occupational health and safety representatives is also being opposed by unions, as it could lead to their being targeted with legal action in the event of an accident.

China: Bosses cover up mine deaths

Seven people died of gas poisoning in a central China coal mine earlier this month, but the management attempted to conceal most of the deaths. A local government investigation found that five bodies had been removed to other places and one who died in a hospital went unreported, reported the city government of Dengfeng, where the incident took place. According to the official news agency Xinhua, police have detained the manager, Liang Zhanwei, and four other production and management directors of the privately-owned mine. The mine only reported one death to authorities on 2 May, when carbon monoxide filled a shaft where 69 miners were working underground. Investigators were told that one worker died at the site and 54 escaped, but they discovered that five died on the way to hospital and another died after medical treatment failed. Eight others recovered, said Yang Zhanwei, head of the city's coal industry bureau. The investigation team questioned workers' families and miners who were at the site, and checked work attendance records after receiving public reports about the alleged cover-up, They confirmed the mine had concealed six deaths.

Norway: Rail workers win violence protection

Railway workers in Norway have won improved protection against violence at work, following their unions' lobbying efforts. Workers represented by Norsk Jernbaneforbund and Norsk Lokomotivmannsforbund won an amendment to existing criminal law after the union engaged the government in talks to improve the plight of railway workers who were experiencing increasing violence, particularly at night. The amendment comes into force before July and is set to extend protection to workers in the private sector, including railway, bus, metro and taxi firms. Previously, only state-owned companies' workers were covered. Øystein Aslaksen, president of the Norsk Lokomotivmannsforbund, said: "Many unions from different industrial sectors have been working on this. For the railway unions it has been important to achieve the same protection for workers employed in a private company as they would have had when these companies were state-owned. In this respect, this is an important achievement, neutralising one of the negative effects of privatisation.'

USA: WR Grace escapes justice on asbestos crimes

A federal jury in Montana has acquitted chemical giant WR Grace and Company and three of its former executives of knowingly exposing mine workers and residents of Libby, Montana, to asbestos and then covering up their actions. Hundreds of miners and residents of Libby have died, and at least 1,200 more have developed cancer or lung disease from exposure to the asbestos-containing ore from WR Grace's vermiculite mine. The verdict has was greeted with disappointment in Libby, where residents had already seen to their increasing dismay a hostile judge repeatedly attack prosecutors and rule inadmissible key evidence of WR Grace's culpability. Journalist Andrew Schneider, who first exposed the scandal in a series of articles a decade ago, commenting on the role played by Judge Donald Molloy, wrote: 'Most of the observers in the court gallery expected, at the most, a guilty verdict on only one of the eight counts, such as obstruction of justice. The heavy charges of conspiracy and knowing endangerment that carried long prison sentences were taken out of play early as Molloy imposed repeated restrictions and limitations on what evidence and witnesses the prosecution could use.' David Uhlmann, who led the US Justice Department's environmental crime section when the Montana US Attorney's office sought to bring the charges in this trial, said: 'It's unfortunate that so much evidence was withheld from the jury by the district court's evidentiary rulings, including some of the most compelling internal memos written by WR Grace officials about the harmful effects of their mining operations.' Uhlmann, who is now professor and director of the Environmental Law and Policy Program at the University of Michigan Law School, added: 'Many questions now linger about what would have happened if the trial had been conducted in a manner that was fair to everyone involved.' Shares of the company rose more than 30 per cent on the news of the acquittal.

Events and Courses

CCA safety enforcement conference, 3 July 2009, London

A Centre for Corporate Accountability conference in London on Friday 3 July will examine directors' duties, corporate manslaughter and safety enforcement issues. Speakers include: TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson; safety minister Lord McKenzie of Luton, Linzi Herbertson of Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) and others from unions, HSE and safety and legal bodies.

  • CCA conference, Friday, 3 July 2009, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London. Cost: £50 (trade union representatives); £100 (public bodies); £150 (lawyers, private companies); £20 (unemployed). Registration programme [pdf].

TUC courses for safety reps

COURSES FOR APRIL TO JUNE 2009

Northern, North West, Southern & Eastern, Yorkshire & Humber, South West, Midlands, Scotland, Wales

Useful Links

  • Visit the TUC 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.

Newsletter (5,400 words) issued 18 May 2009

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