Risks

issue no 20 - 22 September 2001

Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by 2000 subscribers and 1000 on the TUC website. To register to receive this bulletin every week, click here. Edited by Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Send views about this bulletin to Owen Tudor. Past issues are available. This edition also contains Useful links TUC courses for safety reps Disclaimer Privacy And there is a new service on the TUC website listing all future health and safety events: What’s On - in future only newly announced events, those coming up next week and very important events will be listed in Risks.

CONTENTS

FEATURE: Off the rails?

Cullen reports on safety on the railways

A new rail accident investigation body should be set up to examine causes of accidents and prevent them happening again, Lord Cullen's final report into the Paddington rail crash has stated. Cullen recommends the creation of two independent bodies to improve safety, one to investigate accidents and the other to provide leadership across the industry on safety matters. Transport Secretary Stephen Byers said he would bring forward proposals to act on the Cullen recommendations. He said: "I have asked the Health and Safety Commission to ensure that the recommendations are acted upon and to report to me within six months… we owe it to the victims and survivors to take forward these recommendations as swiftly as we can." The Cullen report recommendations include:

  • more cash for HSE's Railways Inspectorate (HMRI) so that it can prevent railway accidents, rather than spend most of its time and money on after-the-event investigations - in future investigations will be run by a separate Railways Accident Investigation Board;

  • a new relationship between unions and management. Union safety reps should be involved in developing safety cases (the legally required safety plan), and unions should have places on the new Railway Industry Safety Board (RISB), deciding the rules for running the railway safely; and

  • the train operating companies should lose overall control of the safety rules that govern the industry to the RISB - and those safety rules should become legally binding. They should stop putting profits before safety.

While these proposals have been welcomed by unions, others - particularly Cullen’s claim that privatisation was not up for discussion as a safety issue, but giving the private industry a clean bill of health anyway - have caused anger, with the report criticised as a 'whitewash' and a 'sticking plaster.'

  • The Ladbroke Grove Rail Inquiry Part 2 Report, ISBN 0-7176-2107-3, price £20. Get it from HSE Books. Free as a pdf file

Rail unions’ response to Cullen report

Rail unions have been critical of what wasn’t in the Cullen report on railway safety which failed to address the dangers of rail privatisation. RMT, the largest rail union, says the report 'addresses the symptoms rather than the disease of fragmentation.' Acting general secretary Vernon Hince said: 'The break-up into Railtrack, train operating companies, engineering maintenance, engineering renewals, leasing companies, train maintenance, sub-contractors, sub-sub-contractors and sub-sub-sub-contractors means that no workable command structure is in evidence. This is the root cause of many of the industry’s problems. It’s time for the government to take back control of the track together with responsibility for its maintenance.' Mr Hince added: 'We are pleased that Lord Cullen has accepted our argument that safety cases should not be extended to contractors. This would have diluted Railtrack’s involvement and allowed the company to avoid its responsibilities. Lord Cullen has also endorsed RMT’s view that safety representatives should have greater involvement in the production of safety cases,' he said.

Mick Rix, general secretary of the train drivers’ union ASLEF, said the report was a "whitewash of the privatised railway industry." Mr Rix added the report 'is a green light for the bosses of the privatised industry to do no more than make cosmetic changes to the way they work… I find it disgraceful that today Lord Cullen and the HSE seemed prepared to see all the blame for the industry's failings heaped on Her Majesty's Rail Inspectorate while the fat cats who have actually run the industry get off scot free. It is also disgraceful that Lord Cullen should have declared that the ownership of the industry was outside the remit of his enquiry, and then to declare that privatisation has a clean bill of health as far as safety is concerned."

Richard Rosser, general secretary of the white collar rail union TSSA, said the proposals 'will simply prove a sticking plaster… Until the number of industry players is drastically reduced and Railtrack employ their own maintenance and renewal staff, the industry will lack a structure where leadership and co-ordinated decision making can prevail. If Railtrack's responsibility for safety is further diluted, this will simply allow Railtrack to pass the buck even more on safety than it does already. A general principle of health and safety in the workplace is that the organisation that creates the risk is responsible for managing that risk. That must continue to be the case for the railway.'

TUC general secretary John Monks said: "The government needs to give the HSE the money it needs to get tougher, sooner with safety failures by the railway companies, rather than merely investigate after the disasters occur. Railway companies need to accept that unions should have a say from top to bottom in making sure that the travelling public is protected."

Inspectors and HSE reply to Cullen

The government’s safety watchdog and the union representing HSE inspectors have both given cautious support for the rail safety recommendations in the Cullen report, but want to be assured that new resources will be made available. Timothy Walker, director general of the HSE, said: 'The last two years have been difficult for us with unprecedented workloads… This Report makes it clear it is vital that the HSE has adequate resources to fulfil its role; we are working through urgently the implications of Lord Cullen’s report for HMRI’s workload but there will need to be significant increases.' Richard Hardy of the rail inspectors’ union IPMS said: 'We welcome moves to reduce fragmentation within the railway industry and the promise of extra resources - identified in Lord Cullen’s first report as under-resourced for years - as long as this is new funding for the HM Railway Inspectorate. Previous investment in railway inspectors has been at the expense of other inspectorates - a case of shifting the deckchairs around the Titantic.'

  • News release from IPMS

UNION NEWS

Union leaders Revitalise their commitment to safety

The leaders of Britain's trade unions have made personal commitments to back the HSE campaign to prevent slips and trips. General secretaries made the pledge at the annual TUC conference earlier this month, when they attended an HSE demonstration of its injury prevention work. Slips and trips result in over 8,000 workers suffering broken bones every year in Britain's workplaces. TUC general secretary John Monks said: "Unions committed themselves to the Revitalising health and safety strategy when it was first launched. But union leaders wanted to reinforce that commitment at our Congress this year, and wanted to focus on everyday hazards." The HSC has made preventing slips and trips one of its eight "priority programmes," with a target of reducing all slip and trip injuries by 10 per cent by 2010. In 1999/2000 there were 8,680 workplace major slip and trip injuries and 26,236 over-three day injuries.

No hiding place in Europe for construction’s safety criminals

The TUC and the construction employers’ organisation the Construction Confederation are to work together to ensure penalties for safety offences in any country of the European Union can be enforced and pursued in every country. A joint briefing calls for no hiding place for people who break health and safety laws and for a level playing field so that foreign companies cannot escape the obligations that apply to domestic employers. The move follows cases where companies have walked away from guilty verdicts, leaving fines unpaid. TUC and the Construction Confederation say responsible firms are losing contracts and are being forced to shed jobs, as unscrupulous contractors cut costs at the expense of safety. In addition, the Exchequer has lost out on £1.85 million in fines, and the HSE has directly lost out by over a third of a million in unrecovered costs. TUC and the Construction Confederation are to push the European Parliament to introduce new measures to make penalties enforceable across the European Union.

  • Lobby your MP and MEP - see Action

IPMS proves unions pay for white collar workers

Professionals and managers union IPMS has secured almost £2 million compensation for members so far this year, exceeding the total for the whole of last year. The 74,000 member union says: 'Legal assistance from IPMS has again proved a boon for scores of suffering union members.' Since 1990 IPMS has successfully concluded over 2,000 cases, resulting in nearly £21m being awarded to members.

T&G is tired of long drivers’ hours

Working drivers are going to rally against driver fatigue. Transport union T&G is organising a 15 October national lobby of parliament and rally to mark International Road Transport Action Day. T&G says: 'The situation facing professional road transport drivers, after 20 years of deregulation and commercialisation in the bus and lorry sectors, has reached crisis point. The only positive way to ensure a high standard of safety is adequate regulations with appropriate levels of enforcement.' T&G is campaigning for the UK government to back the European Commission's draft Directive on Road Transport Workers’ working time, without any watering down of the provisions, and it wants the new law to cover urban transport workers and self-employed lorry drivers. Speakers at the 15 October event include TUC general secretary John Monks, Stuart Howard of the international transport union ITF and transport minister John Spellar.

OTHER NEWS

First wheezy lung payouts for pit workers

A Yorkshire miner and a miner’s widow have received compensation for the severe breathing disorders mining unions NUM and NACODS proved through the courts are caused by the job. John Hunter, a former miner from Castleford, has received an undisclosed sum as part-payment of the full compensation due to him for the emphysema and bronchitis he contracted at work. Denise Holmes, of Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, acts for Mr Hunter and for many other miners. She said: 'Mr Hunter is among the very first we know of to receive his interim payment without having to fight his way through court.' In another case settled by Irwin Mitchell, the widow of a former Rotherham miner received £10,000 as part-payment for the early death of her husband. Audrey Alford lost her husband Cyril in July 1997 aged 78 and has since been fighting for compensation for the pain and suffering he endured due to the emphysema that killed him. A former Nottinghamshire miner who is suffering from emphysema and who has not been identified, this week received £350,000 in compensation from the government. For decades, miners have been receiving compensation for black lung, a 'restrictive' disease caused when dust scars the lungs. Unions, however, only recently won recognition that 'obstructive' diseases are caused by the job.

  • Irwin Mitchell miner and widow compensation news releases

Commuter jailed for pushing rail worker into path of train

A commuter who shoved a station guard into the path of an oncoming train has been jailed for 18 months. Frederick Coltman was angry after missing his own service a moment earlier. Colleagues pulled Connex worker Philip Hunt clear with seconds to spare at Bromley South station in Kent. Coltman insisted Mr Hunt had deserved it and failed to show any sympathy, Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court was told. Doctors put 16 stitches into two deep gashes in the back of Mr Hunt's head. He suffered post-traumatic stress and was off work for nearly four months.

Looking for work diseases down on the farm

Thousands of men in Britain's countryside are to take part in one of the largest-ever studies into rural health. The three-year survey will look at levels of occupational illness and injury and the impact that these have on employment. The researchers say rural workers are often self-employed and do not have access to the kind of occupational health services larger employers provide, yet they frequently do demanding and dangerous jobs. Professor David Coggon, the specialist in occupational and environmental medicine at the Southampton University who will lead the study, said rural worker health problems include back pain, vibration white finger, noise-induced hearing loss, asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Agricultural workers also have high death rates from accidental injury and are prone to arthritis of the hip, probably due to repeated heavy lifting. The TUC has called for the Government’s industrial injury benefit scheme to be extended to cover self-employed farmers, and for osteoarthritis in farmers to become a compensable disease.

Traffic wardens 'keeping diary of attacks'

Traffic wardens in Brighton are being issued with diaries to record physical and verbal attacks by motorists. A Brighton and Hove City Council spokeswoman said: "The attendants are keeping a note of events for operational reasons. The parking manager does not want to reveal their contents because there is concern it could lead to copycat incidents." She added the diaries would also allow managers to monitor incidents. Risks 13 reported that a death threat in Edinburgh had led to all traffic warden services being suspended. UNISON health and safety officer Hugh Robertson said staffing cuts and pressure to raise revenue by issuing more tickets was exacerbating the violence problem.

Probation staff to get health checks to cut sick leave

A probation service is to provide health checks for staff in a bid to cut sick leave, estimated to cost nearly £1 million a year countrywide. Staff of officer grade level at Birmingham-based Probation West Midlands call in sick an average of three weeks a year, more than double the target set by the Home Office. From next month, a mobile screening van will tour offices offering occupational health checks and advice. The Home Office has set a sick leave target of nine days to be reached by 2004. Chief Probation Officer Hilary Thompson said the mobile screening service was one initiative to bring down sickness levels. "We are not complacent about this. We are trying to assess why people become ill in the early stages rather than waiting until something happens." Unions have previously expressed concern at the government’s drive to cut sickness absence. They say punitive sickness absence policies can lead to 'presenteeism', where the working wounded are too concerned for their jobs to take time off sick.

Birse Construction pays £100,000 after work death

Birse Construction has been fined £80,000 with £20,000 costs after pleading guilty to failing to ensure the safety of 23-year-old contract labourer Daniel Goodman, who died when he fell from a height of five metres. Two and a half weeks before the death, HSE inspectors visiting the same site found that workers on the roofs of two other units were at risk from falling, because the gaps between the roofs and the rails were also too large. HSE’s investigating inspector Emma Davies said: 'The preventive measures Birse could have taken were straight forward and should have been obvious to a company of that size. My investigation revealed a catalogue of failure within the company including inadequately staff training, to supervise work and to take simple measures to prevent danger to workers on the roof. Anyone taking the view that ‘it won’t happen to me’ should think about Daniel’s family who were in court to hear the sentence. Nothing will bring Daniel back, and they could take little comfort from these proceedings.'

Mixed response for new safety rules for school trips

New government guidance on safety on school trips issued after the death of several pupils in the summer has received a mixed response from teachers’ unions. Launching the guide, Young People and Learning Minister Ivan Lewis said: "Many dedicated teachers and youth workers take thousands of children and young people on trips each year. It's an important part of children's education and development and we don't want to stop this happening.' A spokeswoman for the National Union of Teachers described the government announcement as "very helpful,' adding: 'We would certainly not say to our members 'don't go on school trips’. They are frequently very educational and help teachers forge links with their pupils. To damage this would be damaging to their education." However, Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of teaching union NASUWT said: 'While I am sure the handbook will be very sound, it would be most unlikely to change the NASUWT advice. This is that members should no longer go on school trips, especially abroad.' He added that while trips continue 'teachers will always be at great risk of disciplinary and legal action, since the regulations and guidance are now so comprehensive and detailed that it is virtually impossible for any normal human being to follow them all the time.'

  • Health and safety of pupils on educational visits is available from DfEE Publications, PO Box 5050, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 6ZQ. Tel: 0845 60 222 60. Quote ref: HSPV2.

Going it alone doesn’t work on the night shift

New research published by the HSE exploring ways to help workers cope with the unique stresses of nightwork has found that providing advice to nightshift workers in a standard health promotion booklet had little impact. HSE’s Trevor Shaw said: 'This research suggests that simply distributing advice to shiftworkers in the hope it will influence their coping behaviour is not enough.' HSE concludes that 'organisations need to adopt a more proactive and intensive programme of behaviour change to educate shiftworkers on how to improve their health, rather than simply giving them information.' TUC’s Owen Tudor said the focus should be on managements’ dozy habits: "The real lesson of this research is that focusing on what individuals should do is only half the story. Nightworkers' welfare is the responsibility of their employer, who needs to make provision for problems like healthy eating and rest and recuperation. If workers on the nighshift only have access to a vending machine, it's not surprising their diet suffers!"

  • An intervention using a self-help guide to improve the coping behaviour of nightshift workers and its evaluation, Ref CRR 365/2001, ISBN 07176 2093x, price £15.00, can be ordered from HSE Books. Free on line [the document is a large pdf file - our link takes you to a text intro page]

Employers should shift on nightwork

New shiftwork research would seem to support the TUC line that employers have a duty to address the root causes of shiftwork ill-health, rather than concentrate solely on changing workers’ lifestyles. University of Surrey researchers say in the 22 September edition of the medical journal The Lancet that employers should act to minimise the poor health effects of overnight working. They add that as the proportion of shift workers increases there is a greater onus on employers to ensure that these detrimental health effects are minimised. Suggested improvements include better lighting during night shifts, advice on scheduling sleep before work and naps during working hours. They also urge employers to be sensitive to the social disruption that may be caused by overly demanding shift patterns. The researchers suggest that if employers fail to take notice of current scientific evidence, they could be held liable for accidents after work caused by tiredness or even longer-term health effects.

INTERNATIONAL

France: 'Many dead and injured' in chemical plant explosion

A fertiliser plant in the French city of Toulouse exploded on the morning of 21 September. The toll is provisionally put at 12 dead and 180 injured, of whom about 30 are in a very serious condition. The blast happened at the AZF fertiliser plant, owned by TotalFinaElf. Workers at the AZF plant include members of the chemical unions Fedechimie CGT-FO and FCE-CFDT. Fred Higgs, general secretary of the international chemical unions’ federation ICEM expressed shock and sorrow over the disaster. On behalf of ICEM-affiliated workers worldwide - both affected unions are affiliates - Higgs pledged full support and solidarity to the French chemical workers. A cloud containing toxic chemicals, including ammonia, is reported to be spreading across Toulouse. Both the mayor and French President Jacques Chirac have asked the people of the city to remain indoors. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin visited the scene on the day of the disaster. Safety services at the plant may have been contracted out, Fedechimie CGTFO said.

USA: Disaster workers face dangers in the debris

US authorities and worker safety organisations have acted quickly to pull together safety guidance for emergency crews working at the site of the World Trade Center collapse in New York. A 'World Trade Center catastrophe worker health factsheet' from the union-supported New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) gives commonsense advice on the many safety, dust, fume and communicable disease risks facing emergency workers. The latest newsbrief from the Worker Education and Training Program of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences summarises available resources. As it becomes clear the death toll from the 11 September terrorist attacks may exceed 6,500, US unions are continuing their appeal for financial support for bereaved families.

Global: Change in attitudes will make flying safe

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is calling for an unprecedented level of global cooperation to build a worldwide air security system - and says to do this, the crucial safety role played by transport workers in the air and on the ground must be recognised. Responding to safety concerns after the hijacking of four planes in the terrorist attacks on the US on 11 September, the global transport worker unions’ umbrella group said: 'Firstly, industry and government need to recognise the safety professional role of crews and ground staff to ensure that the industry has the personnel equipped and motivated to deliver safety and security. Secondly, we need to reassess the deregulation and restructuring of our industry, which may have undermined the safety oversight capabilities of government airline regulators.' ITF says it will be calling for 'a sea change in attitudes' at the International Civil Aviation Organisation General Assembly, to run from 24 September to 4 October 4 in Montreal, Canada.

China: Illegal mining companies face new safety crackdown

Chinese authorities have begun a fresh attempt to clamp down on illegal mining operations using untrained workers and shoddy safety equipment, say state media reports. The move follows a series of mine disasters in which hundreds of miners have been killed. Land and Resources Minister Tian Fengshan told an emergency national conference that such mines were a serious problem that had 'never effectively been corrected,'' the China Daily reported on 14 September. The emergency conference decided to set up a system by next summer under which mining firms have to prove to officials they are properly licensed and are not exploiting workers, or face closure. China's mining industry has an appalling safety record, with more than 10,000 deaths a year. Previous clampdowns on illegal mines appear to have achieved little. Despite the dangers, would-be miners are attracted to the work by wages often well above what they could otherwise earn.

Canada: Roads paved with asbestos

Quebec Natural Resources Minister Jacques Brassard has said asbestos is safe for use in roads, despite warnings from his own health advisers. "Some specialists in the Health Department have expressed concerns about using asbestos-asphalt," Brassard said at a meeting of Canada’s national and provincial mines and energy ministers in Quebec City. "I would like for us to conduct further tests to alleviate this uncertainty." Brassard said that Quebec will draw up an asbestos policy by the year's end.

ACTION

Web first for HSE: Bookmark the workers web site

The TUC has welcomed a new "workers web page" on the HSE website - the first example of a government body creating a portal specifically for workers. TUC general secretary, John Monks, said: "Workers now have their own way onto the HSE website, where they can find out their rights, check out whether their employer is playing fair and, if necessary, blow the whistle on the web." Described by HSE as a 'first portal of call' on its site, the new web page - www.hse.gov.uk/workers - 'puts access to relevant information at everyone's finger tips. Modelled on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) site in the United States, it is designed to improve the way in which HSE communicates with the workforce and their representatives.' HSE adds there are links to the TUC website and to HSE’s InfoLine contact centre, 'both important sources of workplace safety information.' A 'Small Firms Focus Point' will be introduced to the HSE website in the near future. The TUC says the workers web page forms the next step in its health and safety internet strategy 'which already provides specific health and safety information on the TUC website, and Risks, the TUC's weekly online bulletin.'

Lobby your MP and MEP on safety fines

The TUC and the Construction Confederation are backing the Government’s proposals to prevent employers found guilty of safety offences escaping the fines just because they are based in another EU country (see story in this issue). The European Parliament is allowed to comment on the issue, and the House of Commons will also be looking at the proposal. So we want you to let your MP and MEPs know that you back the Government proposal (explained in the TUC/Construction Confederation briefing). And please let the TUC know what they say!

EVENTS

Only newly announced events, events next week and very important events will be listed here in future. But there is a comprehensive listing of health and safety events on the TUC website - bookmark it for easy reference!

Seeking justice, ACTSA event, 26 September

A benefit evening of music, poetry and visual art in support of South African mining communities, particularly those devastated by UK asbestos multinational Cape plc. All proceeds will be split equally between Action for Southern Africa - ACTSA, the UK campaigning organisation that has highlighted the case - and the cost of purchasing essential diagnostic x-ray equipment for use in the affected communities. 7pm for 7.30pm start, St James' Church, Clerkenwell Close, London EC1R 0EA. Places at the event are limited and must be booked in advance. Contact Cyrus Bulsara, ACTSA.

European week, 15-22 October

European Health and Safety Week 2001 will have the theme 'Success is no accident'. The TUC is backing the week and will be preparing resources to help safety reps in workplace inspections, investigations and reporting. Details from the European Agency, including factsheets on accident prevention, and the HSE’s newsletter (in pdf format).

International Road Transport Action Day, 15 October

International Transport Workers’ Federation international union day of action. ITF says that as a result of deregulation in the industry, road transport unions worldwide are confronting deteriorating working conditions, including dangerously excessive working hours. On the day of action unions will again promote the message that Fatigue Kills. The aim is 'to build a mass organising campaign to unite road transport workers for the struggles ahead.' More information from Mac Urata, ITF, or from the ITF website.

Law enforcement and corporate accountability, 21 November

The TUC is teaming up with the Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA) for a joint conference to be held at Congress House in London, sponsored by Russell Jones & Walker. Registration costs £25 (£5 unwaged). Details and a downloadable registration form.

International RSI Day conference, 28 February

Work-related upper limb disorders under the spotlight - a national conference organised by GMB in conjunction with Derby City Council and Derbyshire County Council to mark International RSI Awareness Day, 28 February 2002. Venue: Mackworth College, Derby. Further details, Jake Jackson, GMB East Midlands health and safety officer. Related information: International RSI Day website

3rd International Railway Workers' Action Day, 26 March

International Transport Workers’ Federation international union day of action, theme rail safety. More information from Mac Urata, ITF, or on the railways section of the ITF website.

Workers' Memorial Day 2002, 28 April

TUC is planning to highlight occupational health, including access to occupational health services, and rehabilitation. Ask your union for details of Workers’ Memorial Day events or organise your own. Hazards magazine round up of Workers’ Memorial Day resources.

European Week of Health and Safety 2002, 14-21 October

Next year’s week will take place in Britain from 14 October, on the theme of stress.

USEFUL LINKS

Visit the TUC health and safety website or the main TUC website pages on health and safety. See what’s on offer from TUC Publications and What’s On in health and safety.

Find out about TUC courses for safety reps from September to December:

Wales Scotland East Midlands West Midlands

Southern and Eastern (plus COSHH Essentials courses)

South West North West Northern Yorkshire and Humberside

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.

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Newsletter (5,400 words) issued 22 Sep 2001

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