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Number 427 - 10 October 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 17,000 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

Air crew protest sky high fatigue levels

Long flying hours are 'putting lives at risk', airline crew have warned. European air crew unions say current rules that govern flying hours are unsafe, with fatigue a factor in up to 15 per cent of accidents. New rules due to take effect in the UK in 2012 could make matters worse, UK pilots' union BALPA says. Because pilots are banned from protesting on UK airport property, British pilots joined 5 October demonstrations at major airports on mainland Europe. The protest action spanned 35 countries. BALPA has written to all UK MEPs asking them to stand up for UK standards. The problem stems from EU rules aimed at standardising flight time rules. Pilots say rules are potentially unsafe and would result in more pilot fatigue. 'The European Parliament responded by instructing the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to send the rules to a team of safety experts working with the research body Moebus Aviation,' BALPA general secretary Jim McAuslan said. 'At the beginning of this year the scientists - some of the most noted fatigue experts in the world - presented their report which concluded that the EU rules were indeed unsafe. But to its shame EASA has ignored this, and is now putting passenger lives at risk.' Fatigue is a big and growing problem for airline pilots, he added. 'Fatigue is a factor now in 10 to 15 per cent of all air accidents, and pressure on pilots is growing.' The union leader says the UK has a choice. 'Bring the rest of Europe up to its standards or join a drive to the bottom. This is a defining moment in how passengers will be protected.'

Site employers lie to evade gangmaster rules

Major construction contractors have lied about possible costs of applying the Gangmasters Licensing Act (GLA) to the sector, UCATT has charged. The construction union says a claim by the UK Contractors Group (UKCG) that the extension of the law would mean 'a lot of cost for contractors' is without foundation. The introduction of legal controls on gangmasters operating in the sector has been attracting widespread support, with Oxfam, the Home Affairs Select Committee and Rita Donaghy's government commissioned report into construction fatalities all backing the move. UCATT's criticism of contractors came after UKCG director Stephen Ratcliffe, commenting on the Donaghy report's recommendations, told Construction News: 'There were some things that would add a lot of cost for contractors, like the extension of the Gangmasters Act.' He added that the lobby group would be 'very keen' to raise the issue with the government. UCATT general secretary Alan Ritchie responded: 'Any increased costs to contractors for using respectable gangmasters would be miniscule. However extending the Act to construction would force rogue operators who exploit workers out of business. The only increased costs would be that employers would not be able to save money by hiring exploited workers.' He said the government should take the UKCG comments 'with a pinch of salt', adding: 'There is growing evidence that unregulated gangmasters in construction are making workers' lives a misery and that criminal gangs are also targeting the sector in pursuit of quick profits. By opposing the extension of the Gangmasters Act the UK Contractors Group is effectively condoning these nefarious activities.'

Wrong tool led to tendon injury

A Unite member who suffered a serious hand injury at work has received £25,000 in an out of court compensation settlement. Manual worker Tom Offer, 57, needed surgery on his hand after a tendon was severed at DSV Road Ltd in Harwich. The firm admitted liability. Mr Offer suffered the injury while taking a tractor apart for shipping. He needed to use a specific type of hammer for part of the job, but the correct tool hadn't been supplied. Despite complaining, he was told to complete the job so the tractor could loaded. The piece of metal he used instead had, unknown to Mr Offer, developed a sharp, serrated edge when used earlier by another worker. Despite wearing safety gloves he caught his right hand on the edge and severed his tendon. He was forced to take three months off work and required intensive physiotherapy. He has lost grip in his hand due to permanent nerve damage. He also suffers permanent numbness and intolerance to the cold. Mr Offer said: 'I am no longer able to do a manual job and I am very aware that the work I am currently doing will not last forever. I know that I will struggle to find alternative employment if I do find myself out of work and it is a real concern.' Steve Hart from Unite commented: 'Manual workers like Mr Offer rely on their hands to undertake their highly skilled jobs. He has alternative work with DSV Road as a driver, but his earning capacity in the future has been affected by this accident.'

Two days vibration causes permanent harm

A GMB member has received a £17,500 out of court settlement after his shoulder was permanently damaged by using a vibrating tool at work. John Sides, 44, suffered the injury when removing paint from a floor. The team leader with Barrow-based cleaning products manufacturer Robert McBride Ltd had used the grinder for just two days when he began to suffer from shoulder pain. He severely strained his right shoulder and has been left with permanent symptoms. It was the first time he had used the grinder and he wasn't given any training on how to use it safely. His injury means he can no longer lift his arm above shoulder height. Mr Sides said: 'My shoulder still hurts when I lift up my arm and as a result I'm limited in the type of jobs I can do. I've also had to give up playing darts at a high level because of the pain.' GMB regional secretary Tom Brennan said: 'Mr Sides was exposed to dangerous levels of vibration which has resulted in him suffering from a long term injury. Had his employer taken more care to give him training on how to use the tool correctly to minimise vibration this accident could have been avoided.' Paul Morpeth from Thompsons Solicitors, who the union brought in to act in the case, said: 'Mr Sides was doing a job which was new to him. A risk assessment should have been carried out and training given before he started the task.'

Union wants brake on rail cutbacks

Transport union RMT has called upon the government to intervene to stop planned cuts in Network Rail maintenance it says would put safety and 2,500 jobs risk. The union made the call on the 10th anniversary of the 5 October 1999 Paddington rail disaster, in which 31 people died. The tragedy, along with disasters at Hatfield and Potters Bar, was a key factor in the breakup of Railtrack and the handing of rail infrastructure to the not-for-dividend Network Rail. But RMT says now Network Rail, under heavy financial pressure, is looking at major cutbacks. It says 28 per cent of the rail renewal programme has already been deferred and further serious reductions in maintenance staffing are threatened. This prompted the union to last week launch a maintenance cuts hotline (Risks 426). RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: 'RMT has repeatedly demanded that the risk assessments associated with these cuts be published and put in the public domain and we have warned Network Rail that the dash for savings increases the risk of another Paddington, Hatfield or Potters Bar. Those warnings have come directly from our members whose job it is to keep the tracks, signals and overhead lines safe and they cannot be ignored.' He added: 'RMT would urge the government mark the tenth anniversary of the crash at Paddington by intervening to reverse the Network Rail maintenance and renewals cuts and deferrals programme.'

Other news

Business wants inspection tip-offs

The business lobby is using the economic downturn to push for a removal of safety 'burdens' - and is calling for appointment-only inspections by workplace regulators. In a new policy paper launched ahead of the Conservative Party conference, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) singles out health and safety as 'the biggest burden on small businesses in terms of time.' The business lobby group acknowledges 'efforts have been made to reduce the regulatory burden' but says these haven't had an impact. As well as a moratorium on new regulations, the FSB says it wants a 'cessation of routine inspections during national emergencies.' Calling for 'compulsory booked inspections', it says: 'All routine inspections should be booked in advance, so that a business is able to prepare for the meeting. This is not an opportunity for businesses to change what they are doing in order to suddenly comply, rather if they are only given a few days notice it is simply a chance to ensure that they have enough staff, gather paperwork, or re-arrange meetings.' FSB adds: 'The government should consider the cost of inspections as an integral part of the cost of regulation and seek to reduce this burden,' calling for a reduction in inspections in the order of 25 per cent. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the country's second largest regulatory agency, after the Environment Agency. These agencies are already subject to the Regulators' Compliance Code, which in effect compels agencies to undertake fewer inspections. A report last year from Hazards magazine revealed in the preceding five years inspections, investigations, prosecutions and HSE inspector numbers had plummeted. FSB, though, wants further inspection cuts. 'There also needs to be a complete review of all regulators to consider whether they deliver value for money and if they truly make a positive impact on the inspection environment. It needs to be considered where cuts can be made and where regulators can be merged to ensure that a variety of regulators do not duplicate inspections,' it says.

Call for blacklisting inquiry

The author of a UCATT response to the government's plans for legislation to combat blacklisting of trade unionists for their safety and other union activities has said the proposed measures 'are hardly worth the paper they are printed on'. Keith Ewing, professor of public law at King's College London, believes 'this belated gesture - to implement a power first contained in the Employment Relations Act 1999 - does not go nearly far enough. Blacklisted workers might also want to know why their files were shown to the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).' Writing in the Morning Star, he adds: 'Any regulations introduced by the government must provide a retroactive compensation scheme for the people on the Consulting Association's blacklist, funded by a special levy imposed on companies known to have used the lists. The law must clearly lay down that keeping and using blacklists is a criminal offence. Anyone appearing on a blacklist should be entitled to a minimum award of compensation without the need to establish loss but with compensation being increased where loss is established.' A packed 6 October meeting at the House of Commons heard a call for a public inquiry into the practice endorsed unanimously by MPs, leading human rights academics, barristers and blacklisted building workers. Addressing the meeting, John McDonnell MP said: 'This is one of the worst ever cases of organised abuses of human rights in the UK. I fully support your campaign for justice and I will be raising the issue of a public inquiry in parliament. There is already considerable support in the House.' Professor Ewing, who also addressed the meeting and who authored UCATT's 'Ruined lives' response to the government blacklisting consultation (Risks 424), said: 'The proposed regulations as put out to consultation by BIS are so full of holes that they are hardly worth the paper they are printed on.'

Job fear will depress sickness rates

A leading workplace stress expert has forecast that sickness absence will decline by up to a quarter over the next year across public and private sectors, but only because people will be too scared not to show up for work. Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at Lancaster University, told a Working Families conference last month that employers would witness a reduction in sickness absence, as employees fearing for their jobs would start to attend work when ill. Professor Cooper told human resources magazine Personnel Today: 'I predict that over the next six months to a year we are going to start seeing sickness absence decline because people are becoming too frightened of being off ill because it makes them more vulnerable for job cuts. It will happen across sectors, private and public. The public sector is beginning to manage changes and they will have big budget cuts next year, the Civil Service, NHS, all of it.' Professor Cooper told the magazine sickness rates 'will drop dramatically. There will be an element which is not stress- or 'presenteeism'-related, but it will drop by 20 per cent to 25 per cent at a time when it's been rising steadily.' He said the decline would be most marked 'in those industries where job losses or mergers have already occurred or something has occurred as a result of the downturn,' adding 'I think people are giving up sick leave already.'

Arthritis should not stop work

Employer support is a key factor in helping workers with arthritis to keep their jobs, new research has found. A survey by UK charity Arthritis Care found where bosses fail to offer supports like flexible working and an accessible environment, employees with arthritis are more likely to end up leaving their jobs. Of the respondents still in work despite having arthritis, an 'emphatic' 75 per cent said their employer had provided reasonable adjustments when requested, the charity found. But of the respondents not now in work, only 39 per cent said they had received such adjustments. 'Arthritis Care's poll shows an inescapable link between an employer's support for someone with arthritis and their ability to stay in work,' said the charity's director of public affairs, Rachel Haynes. 'Arthritis is the UK's biggest cause of physical disability, and more must be done to enable people with the condition to have a full working life, not existence on disability benefit by default.' The survey, published ahead of World Arthritis Day on 12 October, found a 'worrying' 70 per cent of the survey's non-working respondents directly blamed leaving their job on their arthritis. Almost two-thirds of these (64 per cent) said they had requested reasonable adjustments from their employer but only one in three of these (36 per cent) got them. In a bid to combat this problem, the charity is launching an 'Employers' Pledge', urging employers across the UK to affirm their commitment to improving life at work for people with arthritis.

Delivery driver developed asbestosis

A former driver who for four years delivered asbestos products developed asbestosis, a condition normally associated with long-term, high level exposures to the fibre. The 75-year-old from Leeds, whose name has not been released, was diagnosed with the lung scarring disease in June 2008 after years of difficulty breathing. Asbestosis can cause progressive breathlessness and disability and is responsible for over 100 reported deaths each year. It is also associated with a greatly increased risk of lung cancer and the fatal asbestos cancer, mesothelioma. The granddad was exposed to asbestos while working as a driver for W Madden Insulation Limited from 1958 until 1962. The company supplied asbestos products which he was responsible for delivering. On occasions he removed asbestos from buildings and was regularly exposed to asbestos dust in the workplace. He later left the company and worked as a driver for a number of different employers before becoming a garage supervisor. He took early retirement in 1999 because of a chronic heart condition. Oliver Collett from Thompsons Solicitors, who negotiated a £17,500 compensation settlement, said: 'We had to overcome some significant legal difficulties in this case in order to obtain compensation for our client. I am glad that we have been able to assist by bringing his claim to a successful conclusion.'

Firms fined for 'unpardonable' asbestos job

Two companies have been prosecuted after workers and members of the public were exposed to 'unacceptable' levels of asbestos during a removal project. Southwark Crown Court heard an unlicensed contractor carried out the specialist work in November 2005 at a warehouse in Enfield. Noble Gift Packaging Ltd contracted A&T Roofing Ltd to remove the roof from a building. The roof was lined with 3,000 square metres of asbestos insulating board that contained amosite -brown asbestos. This requires removal in highly controlled conditions by licensed asbestos contractors. Workers from the roofing firm spent 12 weeks removing and smashing the boards before sweeping the dust and debris into bags. They were not provided with effective protection, even after the company found out the material being cleared contained amosite. Managers allowed work to continue after employees complained and a tested sample showed the presence of asbestos. A&T Roofing Ltd pleaded guilty to breaches of safety and asbestos laws. It was fined £25,000 and ordered to pay costs of £33,844.30. Noble Gift Packaging Ltd had earlier pleaded guilty to a safety offence and was fined £40,000 with £19,223.65 costs. Following the hearing, HSE inspector Sarah Snelling said: 'A&T Roofing Ltd's cavalier attitude towards the removal of the asbestos has put the future health of their employees, their employees' families and members of the public in general at serious risk. The exposure suffered by the men working on this project is the worst our specialist inspector has seen in over 15 years of dealing with asbestos cases.' She added that A&T Roofing's actions were 'unpardonable'. Alan Ritchie, general secretary of the construction union UCATT, commented: 'Given the scale of the exposure to asbestos that workers were subjected to and the complete disregard for safe working practices these fines appear to be very lenient.'

Icing machine cut off baker's fingertips

A cake maker had two fingertips cut off as she cleaned a dangerous sponge cake icing machine at an Oxford bakery. Paulina Lleshi, 24, saw the fingertips 'pop out of the top' of the equipment as she heard a noise and felt something wrong with her hand. Spread Newco Four Ltd, the company which used to run the bakery, was fined £6,000 and costs of £2,751 at Oxford Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to breaches of the work equipment and management regulations. The firm, formally known as Queen of Hearts (UK) Ltd, admitted that a full risk assessment had not been completed on the machine. After the incident on 22 January, surgeons at the John Radcliffe Hospital attempted to reattach the fingertips, but were unsuccessful. Presiding magistrate Brian Carter said that as a specialist catering company, Spread Newco, should have been aware of the risks of the machine. Polish-born Mrs Lleshi was off work for four months but returned to work at the bakery for its new owners. After the incident the company fitted additional guarding on the machine. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector Matthew Lee commented: 'The risks associated with these types of cleaning machines should be properly assessed as this is one of the major causes of machinery accidents in the food industry. In this case any basic assessment would have identified that access to the dangerous part of the machine was possible and this was easily preventable by a very simple modification to the machine.'

Chemical firm fined after repeat injury

A Welsh chemical company has been fined £26,000 after two workers suffered serious hand injuries in near identical incidents in less than a month. Magistrates heard the two men needed skin grafts after being injured by a bagging machine at the Warwick International site at Mostyn. Both workers had their hands trapped by a conveyor belt roller. Flintshire Magistrates Court in Mold heard the first injury occurred on 20 December 2007 and the next on 13 January 2008. Both men, Clwyd Roberts and Allan Breeze, had been working on a machine that bags washing additives at the bleaching chemical supplier. Following the December incident, the court heard that a safety review was carried out and modifications to the machine were made. But magistrates were told that work that should have made sure rollers were released under pressure in fact had the opposite effect, tightening the machinery on any trapped material. Rob Elvin, defending the firm, said Warwick International was embarrassed, disappointed and angry at what had happened, and wished to publicly apologise. In addition to the fine, the firm was ordered to pay costs of £1,947.20. HSE inspector Jo-Anne Michael commented: 'The company clearly failed to learn from the first incident and it took a second similar incident before the necessary guarding was put in place on this machine. Their risk assessment was not adequate and both incidents could have been avoided.' She added: 'Both employees needed substantial time off work following this incident and while their injuries were significant, the potential for much more serious injury was always present.'

Director guilty after roof fall

A Lancashire company and its director have been convicted of safety offences after a worker fell seven metres through a fragile roof. Lucasz Czuba, 26, fell when carrying out refurbishment work on the roof of a building at 'Shoe City' in Gateshead in July 2007. Burnley-based Webber Trading Ltd was fined £6,000 and £2,838.20 costs at Gateshead Magistrates Court last week after pleading guilty to two safety charges. Jeffrey Robinson, director of Webber Trading Ltd, who was present on the roof directing the work at the time of the incident, was fined £1,000 after also pleading guilty to two criminal safety breaches. He was ordered to pay £200 costs. During the course of the work, Mr Czuba stepped onto an unprotected fragile plastic rooflight which gave way and he fell seven metres to the warehouse floor, sustaining serious injuries. HSE inspector Martin Smith, commented after the case, said: 'The measures which should have been taken in order to prevent this incident happening are straightforward and well documented. It is clear that the director and the company failed to recognise the risks posed in working on the fragile rooflights. This serious incident could have been avoided.'

Worker crushed by one tonne plate

A Kent firm has been fined £150,000 after a vehicle spray painter was crushed to death. North Kent Shotblasting Ltd was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court last week following the death of Nigel Harrison on 20 October 2006. The firm was also ordered to pay £24,000 costs. Mr Harrison had been due to seal and paint a metal plate weighing 975kg. However, the plate was left unsecured and unstable causing it to fall on top of him. The company pleaded guilty in February to a criminal safety breach. After the sentencing, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector David Fussell, commented: 'The fatal injuries to Mr Harrison were easily preventable, and the incident came about through a combination of events, which included the reliance on a fatally flawed system of work and the company's complete lack of control over employee's safety. This resulted in employees deciding for themselves on how best to secure these heavy metal plates.' He added: 'If North Kent Shotblasting Ltd had carried out an assessment of the risks when working in close proximity to the heavy metal plates, and carried out the cheap and simple safety requirements that were subsequently implemented after the issuing of prohibition and improvement notices, then this incident could have been avoided.' HSE says more than 8,000 injuries and 24 deaths have occurred in the motor vehicle repair industry in the last five years.

International News

Europe: Recession could up work risks

Six out of every 10 workers in Europe expect working conditions to deteriorate as a result of the economic crisis, new research has found, with health and safety a particular concern. The Europe-wide opinion poll by the Bilbao-based European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) also found 'a significant majority of respondents (75 per cent) across member states believe that ill health is caused at least to some extent by the job that people have.' EU-OSHA director, Jukka Takala, commented: 'The financial crisis may lead organisations to ignore or minimise the importance of workplace safety and health. And there is a risk that companies will consider cutting back on their investment in occupational safety and health. The challenge to us, as the Agency, is to convince them that there is no point in making short-term gains at the cost of long-term problems. All of our work shows that the more healthy workplaces are, the more productive they also tend to be'. The agency said there was some encouraging news, with 57 per cent of respondents saying they believe health and safety at work has improved over the last five years. There was a gender difference, however, with 62 per cent of males perceiving an improvement compared to barely half of women (52 per cent). Men were more like to feel better informed on safety and health matters (71 per cent) than women (61 per cent). Jukka Takala said this highlighted the need for a more 'gender sensitive' approach to health and safety at work.

Finland: You are making my brain hurt

Companies are showing a baffling disregard for the impact of work on their employees' minds, a top brain researcher has said. Professor Kiti Müller, the director of the Brain and Work Research Centre at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, said the problem is compounded by the absence of any way to measure objectively and reliably the overall 'brain load' level. However, Müller believes experts will soon have the means to measure brain loads. She said her centre will apply the technique to ascertain the impact of work factors. She added that the reluctance of managers to deal with the stresses of work would be broken down 'little by little' as a result. The downside is that before that happens innumerable working people will continue to suffer burnout and other negative consequences of brain overloads. Müller said she wants workplace safety representatives and experts from leading companies in the brain load assessment field to meet and develop working life models that utilise the findings of brain researchers.

France: Firm moves to end work suicides

After union protests over 24 workers killing themselves in 18 months, France Télécom boss Didier Lombard says he wants a 'new social contract' with trade unions. Suicide notes have blamed high levels of work stress on workers' decisions to end their lives and Lombard - whose number two, Louis-Pierre Wenes, resigned this week after intense criticism of the company's handling of the crisis - has promised to ease up on workforce mobility, which has been a bone of contention. A major restructuring project at France Télécom has led to employees being moved across the country. Now Lombard has announced a freeze on compulsory moves until December and promised workers that they can stay put for three years after changing area. Workers within three years of retirement age will not be forced to move. The response from unions has been cautiously optimistic. Sandrine Leroy, from the Force Ouvrière (FO) union, said 'the tone had changed,' adding that the management proposals are 'a basis which we will try to improve'. The management concessions came after protest stoppages this week at the firm. The latest suicide victim was a 51-year-old father of two, who jumped to his death at the end of last month. Jean-Paul Rouanet left a note blaming the 'atmosphere' at work. Colleagues said he had recently been moved from a back-office role to work in a call centre, and had struggled to cope with handling customer complaints and attempting to sell new services. They also said thousands of other workers have experienced this kind of upheaval.

USA: Biotech health risks cause concern

The mother of a worker who believes his health was ruined as a result of working in California's cutting edge biotech industry has expressed her anger at the refusal by the firm's health insurers to pay his medical bills. Sandi Trend's son, David Bell, was sickened at the Davis based company AgraQuest. She says the firm's owner, Pam Marrone, and its health insurer Liberty Mutual have refused to provide his healthcare despite evidence that he had the genetically engineered products in his body. She says these products have wrecked her son's immune system. The campaigning mother has also accused the California Fraud Assessment Commission of failing to bring fraud charges against the firm. She alleged the watchdog and district attorneys care more for wealthy companies in the state than for sick workers. David Bell says the lack of proper health and safety protection at AgraQuest led to his contamination and sickness. He also alleges the company sought to cover-up their responsibility for his illness. A US poll published last week found 90 per cent of Americans think that the public should be better informed about the development of cutting-edge technologies including synthetic biology. Two-thirds of the respondents supported regulation of this emerging technology. 'Regardless of their awareness of synthetic biology, or where they come down on the risk-benefit tradeoff, a strong majority of adults think this research should be regulated by the federal government,' said Geoff Garin, president of Peter D Hart Research, the organisation that conducted the poll.

Events and Courses

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Newsletter (5,300 words) issued 9 Oct 2009

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