Risks

issue no 24 - 20 October 2001

Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to Owen Tudor.

CONTENTS

  • Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 2000 subscribers and 1000 on the TUC website. To register to receive this bulletin every week, click here. 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 new events will appear in Risks.

UNION NEWS

GMB demands safer work

The general union GMB is calling on the government to use the Revitalising health and safety initiative to press for closer working relationships between union health and safety officers and companies. The union’s blueprint is spelled out in two new briefings: Revitalising health and safety: The GMB strategy and action plan and Enhancing life not endangering health: GMB occupational health strategy. Proposals include: a greater role for safety representatives in preventing occupational accidents and ill-health; a legal right of access for all workers to occupational health support; promoting the GMB’s 'Working well together' initiative; establishing centres of excellence on the prevention and treatment of occupational diseases and disorders; and introducing increased penalties for employers who breach health and safety law, including custodial sentencing. GMB director of health and environment, Nigel Bryson, said: 'We have been able to achieve accident reductions of between 50 and 100 per cent in two or three years by working with companies. Through the millions of pounds saved, these companies know the value of working with trained GMB safety representatives to make their workplace safer and their employees healthier.'

Asthma lessons

Woodwork teacher Eric McCreery has won £200,000 for chronic allergic rhinitis and occupational asthma. Cardiff City Council agreed the payout to the NASUWT member on the eve of a trial to determine liability. The union says Mr McCreery developed the condition after 10 years of exposure to wood dust in workshops at Llanishen High School. Despite his repeated complaints about excessive dust and requests for better cleaning procedures, Mr McCreery was not even given protective clothing. Nigel de Gruchy, NASUWT general secretary, said: 'On health and safety, the £200,000 secured for Eric McCreery should act as a warning to all schools and Local Education Authorities that they must take the physical conditions under which teachers work much more seriously than they have done in the past. It is much better to be safe than sorry.'

£1.4m payout for brain injury

A man who "died" for five minutes after being crushed by machinery at an engineering firm in south Wales has been awarded almost £1.4m in compensation. Mark Hamilton, 33, was awarded the compensation after being crushed by a machine at Lucas Industries car brake plant at New Inn in 1996. He suffered respiratory failure and, because of oxygen starvation to the brain, has lost his short-term memory and will never be able to work again. Mr Hamilton said: "Thanks to the AEEU I was able to afford the legal support that after nearly six years has secured an admission from the company of liability for the accident and an award that will enable me to rebuild my life." AEEU regional officer Bryan Godsell said: "We hope that the level of compensation awarded will act as an incentive to companies to treat health and safety issues with the true seriousness they deserve."

HSE’s paper policy

Print and paper union GPMU is circulating an HSE inspectors’ guide spelling out the safety improvements it is seeking in paper mills. HSE has sent inspectors the 'Sector Information Minute' which summarises HSE’s accident prevention priorities and publishes for the first time a complete list of the accident records of each mill for the last two years. It also identifies a target list of the companies where inspectors will be seeking accident reductions as a priority. GPMU general secretary Tony Dubbins says paper mill union reps 'should seeks discussions with their employers about the implementation of the HSE SIM… In particular all employers need to be aware of the continuing need to cut accident rates and the new targets that are being established.'

  • HSE Sector Information Minute (SIM 4/2001/09): "Paper Mills in 2001/2002 - Beyond the PABIAC Initiative', on the GPMU website

Ban on asbestos is only the beginning, says TUC

Trade unions are to step up their UK and international campaign on asbestos, TUC General Councillor Maureen Rooney has said. Speaking to trade unionists in Gateshead, she said asbestos is still killing over 4,000 people a year in Britain and called for a global ban on asbestos, a legal duty on employers across Europe to establish a public register of asbestos in their workplace, and a fair deal for the victims of asbestos. Maureen Rooney, who is a national officer at the AEEU, said: 'We want a public register of asbestos, so that everyone can find out easily and readily where they are likely to come across asbestos.' She added: 'The TUC is also calling on governments with domestic bans in place now to turn their attention to other countries, to help spread the bans and protect countless generations in other countries too.' The TUC is also backing a South African miners’ union campaign for compensation from British company Cape plc for asbestos-related disease sufferers in South Africa. Maureen Rooney said: 'We will mobilise unions and union members to press Cape plc to negotiate a deal with the victims’ lawyers before more of the victims die.'

OTHER NEWS

Shifts cause breast cancer

Two independent studies have concluded that sleep interruption, especially in women working the graveyard shift, is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. Both papers are published in the 17 October edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In a related editorial, Dr Johnni Hansen of the Danish Cancer Society said no occupational exposures with known or potential cancer-causing potential are as common as work at night and that during the last few decades society has increased the amount of irregular work hours, including work at night.

Firm fined £25,000 after worker is crushed to death

A company has been fined £25,000 after one of its employees was crushed to death. Father-of-three Christopher Mason, 48, was working as a press setter for Europressings Limited when he died in an accident at the Cardiff plant. At Cardiff Magistrates Court on 21 August the company admitted liability for the accident. Magistrates referred the matter to crown court for sentencing as they considered their powers insufficient. Brian Thomas, prosecuting for the HSE, told the court: "this was an accident waiting to happen."

That was the (Euro) week that was

Thousands of British businesses have taken part the European Week for Safety and Health, the HSE has said. Demand for HSE campaign packs for the week, themed this year on workplace accident prevention, 'topped a record-breaking 100,000 requests.' Bill Callaghan, chair of the HSC, said: "the week is very much an integral part of HSE's revitalising campaign programme which aims to deliver a marked reduction in fatal accidents, major injuries and ill-health incidents by the year 2010. I am encouraged to hear that so many people have sent for action packs and I look forward to hearing about their campaigns. This initiative is a good opportunity for organisations to put health and safety where it should be all year round - at the top of its agenda." Unions undertake a wide range of creative Euroweek actions. UNISON's safety representatives had a National Inspection Day during the Week, and Musicians' Union reps inspected orchestral pits. Labour MEP Peter Skinner said: "I am thrilled that so many projects this year have taken off with trade unions and businesses all taking advantage to promote awareness and best practices amongst firms and employees. There can only be positive results from such a campaign and I look forward to examining the results. The European Parliament has played an important role in developing this initiative across Europe, by providing the budget to fund the Health and Safety Agency, and supporting many of its valuable initiatives, including Europe's Health and Safety Week."

Site deaths concern 'not turned into action'

The HSC has warned the construction industry, Britain’s top workplace killer, that the time for improvements is running low. Chair of the HSC, Bill Callaghan, speaking at a Docklands safety conference, urged companies 'to take stock and agree what needs to be done to commit to the changes necessary to meet the targets. Time is not on your side. I recognise that action has started in some parts of the industry, but from the fatality reports crossing my desk, concern has not yet been properly turned to action.' Mr Callaghan added: 'Every week I learn about one or two fatalities in the construction industry. On this basis we are still some way off the step change that the industry promised.' Health and safety minister Nick Raynsford said: "I look to those in the most senior positions in the industry to take full responsibility for the management of health and safety at all stages of the construction process. Government will continue to keep a close watch on progress as well as setting an example as a construction client - hence today's announcement about the new OGC Construction Procurement Guidance for Government Bodies". HSE published two new construction guides to coincide with the conference.

  • Working Well Together (WWT) is a campaign led by CONIAC (the HSC’s Construction Industry Advisory Committee)

  • Absolutely Essential Health and Safety Toolkit for the Smaller Construction Contractor, (IND G 344 - single copies free). Health and Safety in Construction, (HSG 150), ISBN 07176 21065, £9.95. Both can be ordered from HSE Books

TERRORIST ATTACKS

Union provides hazards training at WTC site

Union skills are being employed to protect workers from deadly hazards in the rubble of the World Trade Center, destroyed in the 11 September terrorist attacks on New York. The International Union of Operating Engineers’ National Hazardous Materials Training Program has been active on the scene in Lower Manhattan since 15 September, distributing respirators and training workers on the spot in the safest methods to deal with potentially lethal materials. Union staff are also training steelworkers and other laborers on the debris piles, the police who control the scene, the firefighters on hand to search for bodies, National Guard troops, federal emergency workers, federal law enforcement personnel and volunteers. The union gets about $1 million a year for training from the National Institute of Environmental Health Science, a government agency.

Anthrax and the workplace

Seven confirmed cases of anthrax infection in US mailroom and media workers, including one death, have led to union demands worldwide for safe work policies to protect workers who might handle suspect mail. In the UK, where all scares so far have been found to be hoaxes, both the Communication Workers’ Union and UNISON have issued guidelines for members. The International Federation of Journalists, the umbrella body for journalists’ unions worldwide has called for sensible precautions. "We want people not to be frightened by the latest developments concerning exposure to anthrax, but it is the time to be cautious and to ensure that health and safety regulations are being followed," said Aidan White, IFJ general secretary. "There is no need to panic, but acting prudently and with caution at a time when journalists and news staff are being targeted is necessary."

INTERNATIONAL

GLOBAL: Quarter of a million show that overwork kills

Professional drivers in 60 countries have 'proved that fatigue kills', says an international union umbrella group. On International Road Transport Action Day, 15 October, drivers and other transport staff used everything from a lobby of parliament to border closures, demonstrations of traffic accidents and a video lorry to demonstrate that being forced to work long hours at the wheel endangers every road user. Trade unionists in Africa, the Americas, the Asia-Pacific region and Europe took part in the day, the fifth annual action organized by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). Mac Urata, secretary of the ITF's Inland Transport Section, said: "Overworked drivers are everybody's problem. This is an issue that no one can afford to ignore."

  • Photos and extensive details of initiatives used to demonstrate that fatigue kills, on the ITF website

India: Protest over trapped Indian miners

Hundreds of people gathered outside a collapsed mine in the Indian state of West Bengal to press for the rescue of more than 150 trapped miners. Reports say at least 1,000 relatives of the miners had gathered in front of the Ranibandh mine near the city of Asansol. The authorities were said to be reluctant to mount full-scale rescue operations because the mine had been abandoned and the miners were said to be illegally extracting coal. Hundreds of miners who were laid off when the mines were shut down continue to work there, risking their personal safety. Last February at least 14 miners died when a government-run mine flooded in the eastern state of Jharkhand. Three officials of the government-run coal company were suspended soon afterwards for allegedly overlooking safety measures.

Ireland: Get safe or get shut

Ireland’s Health and Safety Authority has issued 'a serious warning' to all developers backed up by widespread site closures in a national crackdown on unsafe construction employers. Michael Henry, Chief Inspector with HSA said: "We cannot allow a situation to persist where construction activities pose a threat to life. Where there is a serious risk to health and safety as a result of any work activity, and as an alternative to seeking recourse to the High Court, the Authority is willing to accept an immediate stoppage of work by means of an agreed closure. But where this stoppage does not result in serious risks being adequately addressed, the Authority will apply to the High Court to request that the site be shut down with immediate effect." The safety clampdown was welcomed by Ireland’s construction unions.

Finland: It’s work that makes wheezes

Work causes far more adult asthma cases than previously thought, researchers have found. While previous studies suggested that work-related factors were responsible for 5 to 10 per cent of asthma cases, a new study has led five Finnish researchers to conclude the real contribution could be up to three times higher. Antti Karjalainen and colleagues found that of the 50,000 new asthma incidents in 1986-1998, work related factors were to blame in 29 per cent of the male cases and 17 per cent of the female cases. The biggest risks occur in the foodstuffs sector, agriculture, painting and engineering jobs, with roughly twice the risk of office work.

Australia gets tough on corporate killing

An Australian state is on the verge of introducing an industrial manslaughter law. The Victoria state government's Crimes (Industrial Manslaughter) Bill will have its first reading on 31 October. The law will introduce a new crime of industrial manslaughter and a crime of causing serious injury. A guilty employer could be convicted in cases of gross negligence. A union briefing on the proposed law, which includes a series of recommendations to beef up the Bill, concludes: 'We don't allow killing in our homes or on the road. Employers should not be allowed to get away with manslaughter in the workplace.'

Australia: Unions welcome asbestos ban

The National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) has confirmed an Australian asbestos ban will take effect from the end of 2003. The delay in introducing the ban the importation and use of chrysotile (white) asbestos is to allow for a change-over from asbestos-based products, largely brake pads, to non-asbestos materials. Australia has one of the world's highest rates of mesothelioma, an asbestos-caused cancer of the lining of the lung and abdomen. NOHSC estimates 16,000 mesothelioma deaths and 40,000 lung cancer deaths between 1987 and 2010. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has welcomed the decision to cease the use of chrysotile asbestos. Bill Mansfield, ACTU assistant secretary, said: "Asbestos has had a terrible impact on Australian workers and their families…Corporations have also failed to act responsibly in a number of cases to stop using the product when alternatives were readily available." Australia currently imports around 1,500 tons of chrysotile asbestos and an estimated one million products are produced each year containing asbestos.

ACTION

Speak up on noise!

The TUC wants you to lobby your MEP in supportive of a new, improved European noise law. A TUC briefing on the Noise Directive spells out the changes trade unionists want to see, covering protective equipment, health surveillance and worker consultation. TUC says the existing proposals place far too much faith in hearing protectors.

Get the new HSE stress leaflet for employees

The revised HSE stress leaflet for employees is available on the web and should be ordered and used with the TUC’s full support.

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!

No excuse - beat bullying at work seminars, November

TUC organised seminars aimed at union and workplace reps, employers and managers, intended to help make everyone take workplace bullying seriously. The seminars will take place in Bridgend on 6 November, Manchester on 14 November, Bradford on 19 November and Leeds on 23 November. Further dates are being arranged for the Midlands and London. £11.75 TUC member organisations; £23.50 employers. Complete the registration form on the web or contact Liz Wood, TUC, Congress House, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LS.Tel: 020 7467 1250. Fax: 020 7467 1265. Price: For more background on TUC’s bullying at work campaign, see the Hazards Psychoterror! Factsheet.

The gender dimension in health and safety, 16 November

Seminar in Brussels on the gender dimension of workplace health with experts from the 15 countries of the European Union. The seminar is being held at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, 51 rue Belliard, 1040 Brussels (7th floor) from 09.30 to 16.00. To register, contact: Ms F. Goffinet, Equal Opportunities Department, Ministry of Employment.

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.

Construction Safety Campaign, 24 November

Affiliates and supporters of the Construction Safety Campaign are invited to their national meeting that will be discussing roving safety reps, corporate manslaughter, site deaths, and asbestos. 24 November 2001, Lyndhurst Hall, Camden, London. Contact: CSC, PO Box 23844, London, SE15 3WR. Tel: 0774 779 5954.

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 NEW TUC courses for safety reps from January to March:

Wales North West South West East Midlands West Midlands

Courses from September to December are at:

Wales Scotland 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.

Disclaimer

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Newsletter (3,800 words) issued 20 Oct 2001

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