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Number 461 - 19 June 2010

Risks

Risks is the TUC's weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 18,000 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

Government aims to remove safety rules

The TUC has said a review of UK health and safety regulation announced this week by David Cameron will undermine the 'already limited' legal protection of UK workers. He said the prime minister was pandering to the businesses that are responsible for hundreds of thousands of workers falling sick each year. The review is to be headed by Lord Young and repackages an ongoing review by the former Tory employment and trade secretary initiated by David Cameron pre-election (Risks 435). The prime minister said: 'The rise of the compensation culture over the last ten years is a real concern, as is the way health and safety rules are sometimes applied. We need a sensible new approach that makes clear these laws are intended to protect people, not overwhelm businesses with red tape.' TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said he was 'surprised the government is addressing the 'compensation culture' again as successive reports show there is no such thing and claims have been falling over the past ten years.' He added: 'This will not be an open and frank review aimed at achieving better regulation. Instead it is an attempt to undermine the already limited protection that workers have by focusing on the needs of business.' The TUC leader concluded: 'Businesses are responsible for a working culture that injures a quarter of a million workers every year and makes a further half a million employees ill. The review should by investigating this instead. Rather than focusing solely on the 'needs of business', the government should protect workers by increasing inspections and enforcement action against employers who put their staff at risk by ignoring existing laws, as well as introducing a legal duty on directors to protect their workers.' The review findings are due in July.

Review must debunk 'burdens' myth

Unions have warned that essential regulation and enforcement of health and safety must not be abandoned by the government. Prospect health and safety officer Sarah Page said the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) union welcomed the review ordered by David Cameron, but said 'it must be clear that there is a world of difference between petty bureaucracy enacted under the label of health and safety and HSE regulation designed to prevent deaths and disease in the workplace.' She added that the review should 'debunk the myth of the 'burden' of health and safety that masks the wider picture; last year alone about 1,180 people were fatally injured at work or in work road incidents, and thousands made ill or diseased.' Chris Keates, general secretary of teaching union NASUWT, said: 'The NASUWT believes that health and safety regulation needs to be strengthened, not weakened by attempts to chip away at the already inadequate health and safety inspection and enforcement regime by prioritising profit and cost over of the safety of teachers and pupils.' Hilda Palmer of the Hazards Campaign was also critical. She said: 'There is a lack of evidence or fact to support the need or value of cutting regulation of health and safety, a lack of balance in failing to mention the burden on workers hurt or made ill, and on the families of those killed, and a failure to mention the massive cost of up to £30 billion per year of bad health and safety, the majority of which employers externalise onto all of us.'Judith Hackitt, the chair of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said in a letter to Lord Young that too many people use health and safety as an excuse. HSE says health and safety is often invoked to disguise someone's real motives - concerns over costs or complexity, or an unwillingness to honestly defend an unpopular decision.

Cash van driver overturns conviction

A security van driver found guilty of assault and a parking offence has had his conviction overturned. The GMB member, whose name has not been released, had parked his G4S van on double yellow lines at Kings Cross Station in central London while collecting in excess of £20,000 from rail firm GNER. In November 2009 he was found guilty of a parking offence and of assaulting a British Transport police officer during the incident. A GMB-backed appeal claimed the conviction was erroneous and if left to stand could affect the driver's registration with the Security Industry Authority. The convictions were set aside in a Southwark Crown Court ruling last week after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) indicated it would not contest the appeal. GMB regional officer Paul Meddes commented: 'It is my view that the case was never properly understood by the District Judge at the original trial. There was a lack of understanding of hazards of criminal attacks on vans delivering and picking up cash to supermarkets and banks and the need to get the vehicle as close as possible to the pickup or drop off points.' He added: 'I am pleased to say that, following detailed representations by GMB to the Crown Advocate and the disclosure of various documents, the Crown Prosecution Service told us that they were not intending to oppose the appeal. The new information they looked at involved materials from GMB on the national campaign to stop the numerous criminal attacks on vehicles carrying cash and valuable and the risks run by drivers to their lives and limbs.' He said it was the second time the union had successfully challenged a security worker's parking conviction.

Workers creaking under the strain

British workers are suffering physical pain as well as stress from working long hours, not taking lunch breaks and going to work when they are sick, research carried out for the physios' union CSP has found. A survey commissioned by CSP found a quarter of people regularly work all day without taking a break, and more than half said they often go to work when they are stressed or physically unwell. Almost half of the workforce (46 per cent) had physical pains caused by working in the same position for long hours, the survey suggests, and 41 per cent of employees said they were too busy with work to exercise regularly. CSP said its new Fit for Work campaign was a bid to combat the problem. It added the new initiative is part of CSP's ongoing Move for Health campaign, and provides information for physios as well as leaflets for workers suggesting ways to improve their health at work and fit exercise into their daily routine. CSP chief executive Phil Gray said overwork was harming workers' health, and also costing employers. 'With advice and support from physiotherapists and other occupational health experts, employers can create healthier work environments and benefit not only society but also their profit margin,' he said.

School support staff at risk

There is a 'hidden epidemic' of violence in Britain's schools, the union GMB has warned. The alert came after it was revealed at the union's national congress in Southport that 526 attacks were carried out by pupils on teaching assistants and support staff in Bradford primary schools in the last 18 months. GMB Bradford convenor Ray Alderman told delegates the union had collated the figure from incident reports filed by schools. He said the attacks in primary and special schools included instances of biting, kicking, butting, chairs being thrown and staff being stabbed with pencils. He said the government must 'pressurise local authorities to offer better support to our members suffering in these attacks, and to work to reduce the attacks in the first place.' Neil Derrick, a senior officer in the union's Yorkshire region, commented: 'There is a hidden epidemic of violence in our schools that it is not being dealt with. The problem is far worse in secondary schools - to such an extent that police officers are deployed in schools to deal with such behaviour. GMB want to see all councils, and schools where they do not report to councils, publish in full all the figures for physical and verbal attacks on staff over the 38 week term. We want to see schools and education authorities making concrete plans with pupils, parents, staff and all other agencies to deal with this epidemic.' He added that the union wanted to see a policy of zero tolerance on assaults.



Scotrail chief 'ignoring reality' on safety

Rail union RMT has accused Scotrail's top boss of 'ignoring reality' after he failed to acknowledge the 'crucial' role played by a full train crew in averting a disaster in a 6 June derailment in Scotland (Risks 460). The union said the 'heroic role' played by the train guard and his colleagues 'nails every last, spurious argument for ditching guards on the company's new Airdrie- Bathgate route.' RMT general secretary Bob Crow wrote to Scotrail managing director Steve Montgomery immediately after the derailment at the Falls of Cruachan seeking assurances that he would intervene to stop the introduction of Driver Only Operation (DOO) on other services. He told the rail boss it was clear only the training and experience of the guard, and the other members of the crew, that prevented a major tragedy. The union said the response from Mr Montgomery accepts that it was the 'robust training' of the guard and the crew that ensured a safe evacuation, but 'carefully avoids any reference to his on-going plans for Driver Only Operation.' Bob Crow said: 'Scotrail bosses need to get a grip. They cannot be allowed to praise the heroic role of their guards in incident after incident, and the 'robust training' that equips guards to deal with emergencies, while at the same time planning to throw these same safety-critical staff off their other services.' He added: 'RMT will not sit back and wait for a major disaster to bring Scotrail to their senses. We will continue our campaign, and will mobilise political and public support, to ensure that safety, and safe staffing arrangements, are an absolute priority on Scotland's railways.'

RMT alert on 'catalogue of derailments'

A 'catalogue of derailments' has blighted Scotland's rail system, the union RMT has revealed. The union said it has written to Network Rail's senior official in Scotland demanding to know what action the firm has taken to remedy flaws identified by a series of reports. In the letter to Paul Taylor, Network Rail's route maintenance director for Scotland, RMT identifies five Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) reports into incidents between April 1997 and December 2008. It says it cannot find a record of actions taken by Network Rail to comply with a long list of recommendations arising out of the incidents. Speaking last week, RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: 'RMT is deeply concerned that there is growing evidence that lessons of derailments prior to Sunday's narrowly-avoided tragedy at the Falls of Cruachan may not have been learned and that key recommendations may not have been actioned.' He added that the union was 'seeking assurances that all recommendations have been actioned and that corners have not been cut. With the on-going threat by First Scotrail to begin axing guards on some of their services, despite the heroic and safety-critical role played by guard Angus MacColl last Sunday evening, and the maintenance cuts programme being rolled out by Network Rail, RMT will be stepping up the fight for rail safety on behalf of both our members and the travelling public.'

Slipped disc costs scaffolder his job

A Scunthorpe scaffolder has had to give up his job after suffering a serious back injury at work. Unite member Kenneth Higgins, 55, suffered the slipped disc while working for Powertherm Access Services in February 2005. He was setting up scaffolding 42 feet above the ground, when he suffered the injury lifting a 14 kilo load up to his work height. He had requested a gin wheel, a type of specialist lifting equipment, on a number of occasions before the injury but it was never provided. Following the injury, he contacted Unite, which instructed personal injury law firm Thompsons Solicitors to pursue a claim for compensation. Thompsons argued if Powertherm had risk assessed the job adequately they would have found the need to provide adequate lifting equipment. The firm did not admit liability, but settled the claim out of court for an undisclosed sum. Mr Higgins said: 'I'd warn other scaffolders to never take on a job without the correct equipment. It's not worth taking the risk to your health and ultimately to your quality of life. There are plenty other jobs out there and good employers will support your decision.' Unite regional secretary Davey Hall commented: 'This member has been left in agony by his bosses' failure to use their common sense and provide appropriate lifting equipment for the job. Pulling a 14 kilo weight up to a scaffolding platform of 42 feet would be enough to damage the back of even the strongest man. Mr Higgins compensation reflects the loss of his career and his pain and suffering.'

Bread sandwiches worker against rail

A bakery worker who was pinned against a safety rail by an 80 kilo stack of bread has received almost £4,000 in compensation for his injuries. The worker, a member of the union BFAWU, was left with soft tissue injuries to his lower back and severe bruising to his thigh following the incident at a bakery in Stockton in December 2009. The man, whose name has not been released, was working on the depot computer getting trolleys of bread ready for delivery. He had his back turned to a ramp when a colleague sent a trolley stacked with bread down towards him at speed. He heard the noise and turned but couldn't avoid being hit and pinned against a safety rail. There was no system in place to stop trolleys from coming down the ramp if an employee was not ready to receive them. In a union backed compensation claim, the unidentified bakery admitted liability and agreed the out of court £4,000 settlement. Joe Marino from BFAWU said: 'This employer failed to implement basic health and safety rules and the work practice wasn't a safe one. Partly because, thankfully, he wasn't too badly hurt and partly because he couldn't afford to be away from work our member wasn't off for long but he has been left with the longer term injury effects of an accident that could easily have been avoided.'

Other news

Controversial MP is new safety minister

A member of parliament referred to in the press as a Conservative Party 'attack dog' and who before becoming an MP worked for a union-busting PR firm that creates front organisations for polluting industries is the new health and safety minister. Chris Grayling, who was shadow Home Secretary before the election, is now minister of state at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP). He reports to DWP secretary of state Iain Duncan Smith. Mr Grayling, who has been MP for Epsom and Ewell since 2001, started his career as a BBC and Channel 4 journalist before moving into public relations. His website notes he became 'a director in the Employee Communication practice at international communications firm Burson-Marsteller. He ended his time there as the firm's European Marketing Director.' The company is well-known in trade union, health and safety and environmental activist circles. Burson-Marsteller is one of the more high profile 'union busting' firms and has acted on behalf of asbestos, tobacco, nuclear and chemical firms on regulatory and compensation issues. It is also regarded as a pioneer in the creation of 'astroturf' organisations, supposedly grassroots lobbying organisations that in fact support industry arguments. In the award-winning book 'Doubt is their product', academic David Michaels - who is now the head of the US government's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) - notes that among the company's creations is the cleverly named 'Foundation for Clean Air Progress.' He writes: 'The organisation is run by Burson-Marsteller, the PR firm, using funds provided by the petroleum, trucking and other polluting industries.'


Job loss digger driver killed himself

A digger driver from Hull hanged himself after losing his job, an inquest has heard.

Patrick McLaughlin, 52, was found hanged at his estranged wife Margaret's home on 14 February. He had been made redundant when the company he was working for went into liquidation in August last year. Mrs McLaughlin told the court: 'He tried everywhere and I think it just got to him. There was nothing out there. He was a proud man who was used to working.' Mrs McLaughlin said he had been due to start a job on the day of his death, but it was delayed because of bad weather. She said: 'He said 'That's the last straw. There's nothing out there'. He was so depressed. He had never been like that before.' Recording a verdict of accidental death, assistant deputy coroner Paul Stott said he was unable to be sure Mr McLaughlin had intended to end his life after hearing he had 'pretended' to hang himself in the past. Insecure work, which is common in construction, has been linked to a wide-range of safety and health problems, included elevated suicide risk (Risks 451). Figures released by the TUC this week reveal that dole claimants outnumber vacancies by five to one, with the situation considerably worse in some 'unemployment blackspots'. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'While the economy is slowly emerging from recession, the jobs outlook for millions of people is still bleak.'

Union welcome for medic hours probe

The TUC has welcomed the findings of a government commissioned independent review, which concludes it is possible to deliver high quality training for hospital doctors within the 48 hour limit on average weekly working time. The report, 'Time for training - a review of the impact of the Working Time Directive on the quality of training', says that changes will be needed to achieve the goal of delivering high quality medical training within a 48 hour week, such as consultants and specialists taking a more hands-on role in patient care and medical training being better planned and rewarded. Commenting on the review, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'This report shows that hospitals will be able to manage the Working Time Directive, providing that a sufficient number of consultants are in post. In medical training, ending long hours can be used as a way of changing medical services to make services better.' He added: 'Implementing the recommendations of this report will mean that NHS hospitals can move away from their reliance on excessive working time.' Stephen Campion, general secretary of the Hospital Consultants and Specialist Association, welcomed the review's recognition that adequate staffing was key. 'Whilst the Working Time Directive is right to say that nobody should be required to work excessive hours, the reality today is that the severe shortage of junior doctors means that senior doctors are having to work excessive hours to cover the shortfall,' he said.

Bakery bosses exposed workers to flour, power

The directors of a Bedford bakery have been fined after a series of health and safety breaches exposed staff to serious danger - including electrocution and exposure to flour dust. Genaro Saiano and Dejan Durkin, the directors of DG Bakery Ltd, appeared at Bedford and Mid-Bedfordshire Magistrates' Court last week facing health and safety charges. The court heard how inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) discovered dangerously exposed live wires on the bakery's bread conveyor belt during an unannounced inspection on 13 January 2009. The inspectors issued immediate prohibition notices ordering the directors to shut down the conveyor belt until the machinery had been made safe. HSE inspectors also issued four improvement notices, ordering various health and safety issues to be resolved by a set deadline. The bakery directors were told to prevent access to dangerous parts of the bread conveyor belt, prevent access to dangerous parts of the bread dough mixer, arrange for electrical testing and to carry out a risk assessment for exposure to flour dust. They failed to comply with the improvement notice requiring a risk assessment be carried out. Mr Saiano was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £500 costs. Mr Durkin was fined £2,500 and ordered to pay £500 costs. Both admitted safety offences. HSE inspector Emma Rowlands said: 'All company directors must remember they have a duty to ensure their staff arrive every day to a safe working environment.'

Manager fined after teen trainee is injured

The manager of a Fareham diving company has been fined £2,500 for health and safety breaches that led to a teenage trainee breaking his ankle at work. Andrew William Steel Baillie, general manager of Sub Surface Engineering Ltd, pleaded guilty to the charges brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Jonathan Holmes, who was 17 years old at the time, was injured in the firm's workshop on 21 April 2008. Mr Baillie had used an improperly secured extension to one of the truck forks of a forklift to move a large sheet of steel. As the plate was being moved both it and the extension slid off the fork and fell onto Mr Holmes, fracturing his ankle. The teenager spent four weeks with his leg in plaster and was awarded £3,700 in a separate personal injury claim. An investigation by HSE found that Baillie had not been trained to drive a forklift truck. He was fined a total of £2,500 Fareham Magistrates' Court and ordered to pay costs of £1,000. HSE inspector Tracey Cartwright said: 'This case emphasises the responsibility that individual managers and staff have for the health and safety of their colleagues, particularly vulnerable young workers. Adequate planning of the lifting operation and the use of suitable equipment would have avoided this injury to a young trainee. It goes without saying that anyone driving a forklift truck should be properly trained.' After the court case, Mr Holmes said: 'I am happy that the general manager pleaded guilty and that he took responsibility for the incident.'

International News

Europe: Have your say on green jobs

As oil laps on the US coast, there's renewed energy in discussions of green jobs. And that means new opportunities and, potentially, new risks, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) says. 'New work situations bring new risks and challenges for workers and employers, which in turn demand political, administrative, technical and regulatory approaches to ensure high levels of safety and health at work,' the Bilbao-based organisation says. In response, its European Risk Observatory (ERO) 'has commissioned a foresight study to explore the potential impact that key technological innovations may have on workers' health and safety, both positively and negatively, in jobs in the green economy ('green jobs') and what new and emerging risks to occupational safety and health (OSH) this may bring by 2020.' The Agency says it wants contributions from 'people involved in the implementation of the greening policy agenda, as well as from any other areas where key drivers of change may impact the introduction of new technologies in green jobs and create new occupational safety and health risks.' It is inviting anyone interested in contributing to complete an online questionnaire - which shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. The results will be available in October.

USA: Oil companies all fail the safety test

Members of the US Congress tore into the big energy corporations on 15 June for filing almost identical Gulf of Mexico oil spill response plans - which included contact details for a deceased scientist and steps to protect marine mammals not found in the region's waters. Exxon-Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell all have identical response plans to BP, said House energy and commerce committee chair Henry Waxman. The verbal assault by committee members undermined attempts by the oil giants to suggest that their working practices differ from those of BP; and that the catastrophe, which killed 11 workers, would not have happened if the well had been theirs. Leading the committee's questioning of energy executives, Democrat Ed Markey focused on their spill response plans. 'They cite identical response capabilities and tout identical ineffective equipment. In some cases, they use the exact same words,' he said. He added: 'Like BP, three other companies include references to protecting walruses, which have not called the Gulf of Mexico home for three million years.' Under pressure from US president Barack Obama and ahead of a congressional grilling for BP's London-based chief executive Tony Hayward this week, BP agreed to the president's demand for the creation of a $20bn (£13.5bn) compensation fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill. The company also told the president it would not pay shareholders a dividend this year - the first time this has happened since World War II. BP's shares rose sharply on news on the deal. The agreement requires BP to pay $5bn into the fund this year, significantly less than its first quarter profits. A week after the rig exploded on 20 April, BP announced profits from January to March 2010 of $5.6 billion (£3.6bn).

USA: Corporate greed causes work deaths

As oil mucked the Gulf of Mexico and families mourned 11 dead rig workers, BP officials proclaimed that the corporation's priority always was safety. This mirrored the tack taken by Massey Energy, whose officials also declared safety was paramount after an explosion in the corporation's Upper Big Branch mine killed 29 workers. Union leaders Leo W Gerard of the United Steelworkers (USW) and Cecil Roberts of the mineworkers' union UMWA, writing for the Campaign for America's Future, contrast safety claims made by BP chief executive Tony Hayward and Massey boss Don Blankenship with the less rosy accounts of workers, who routinely saw profits take precedence over safety. They say Massey CEO Don Blankenship, discussing the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, told stock analysts in a conference call late in April: 'Some of the implications have been that we don't focus on safety or we put dollars in front of safety and nothing could be further from the truth.' They add that shortly after BP named Tony Hayward CEO in 2007, he told the Houston Chronicle: 'I think we have the opportunity to set a new benchmark in industrial safety... We have to have a work environment where people don't get injured or killed, period.' The union leaders put the gulf between the words and deeds down to one factor: 'Greed.' They add that society 'has converted greed from a vice to a virtue,' noting: 'It's one of the seven deadly sins. When it afflicts corporate CEOs, it's deadly to workers. Honest profit is fine. But it's perverse to celebrate greed, to elevate it over human life.'

Resources

Strain injuries in Europe

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) remain the most common occupational disease in the European Union and workers in all sectors and occupations can be affected, a new report from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) has concluded. The findings, following on from the Agency's previous research, include 'a detailed insight into the causes and circumstances behind MSDs,' says EU-OSHA. 'The report highlights the main issues and aims to provide a well-founded evidence base, helping policy makers, actors at enterprise and sector level, as well as researchers and those who record, prevent and compensate occupational diseases in the European Union to set the agenda for the next years.'

'Nailed' - an enforcement blog with teeth

Many followers of health and safety will be used to official enforcement and compensation agencies adopting one of two voices - a serious and measured tone when things go wrong or enthusiastically extolling the virtues of partnership and cooperation in better times. But in the US, Washington State's Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has launched a blog that is altogether more pithy. 'Nailed' contains information on major fraud convictions, surveillance video from investigations and links to fraud-related news coverage - and it is the employers fiddling the system that are in the cross-wires. 'People tend to think fraud only involves workers cheating the workers' comp system, but it's much more than that,' said Carl Hammersburg, the fraud prevention and compliance programme manager behind Nailed. 'Millions of dollars are lost when employers, medical providers and contractors commit fraud. The blog will show how my staff is working to fight fraud and also how we bring cheaters into compliance. I also hope Nailed will attract attention to workers' comp fraud and encourage more people to tip us off to fraudulent activities.'

Events and Courses

TUC courses for safety reps

COURSES FOR SEPTEMBER 2010 to DECEMBER 2010

Asbestos protest, Canada House, London, 1 July

Asbestos and safety campaigners are to protest outside Canada House on 1 July. The event, on Canada's National Day, is to protest at Canada's continuing support for Quebec's exports of asbestos to the developing world. The federal government this year approved a further hand-out to the Montreal-based Chrysotile Institute, the lead organisation lobbying worldwide for asbestos trade. And both the federal government and the Quebec provincial government are supporting a current plan to open a new underground asbestos mine, which would produce millions of tonnes for export to developing nations for decades (Risks 460). The Construction Safety Campaign warns: 'If this goes ahead it means export of 200,000 tonnes of asbestos from this new mine with its vast new deposit of asbestos for the next 25 years. Canada's National Day is July 1st. Therefore, it is fitting that on this day we increase our demands for the Canadian government to halt its production of asbestos.'

  • Asbestos protest at Canada House, Trafalgar Square, London 10am to 12 noon, 1 July 2010. Event details.

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.
  • HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA. Tel: 01787 881165; fax: 01787 313995

Newsletter (5,300 words) issued 21 Jun 2010

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