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Risks

issue no 67 - 17 August 2002

Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to Owen Tudor. EUROPEAN WEEK OF HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK: 14-20 OCTOBER If you have information about what is happening locally or in your branch, send it to tuc@worksafe.org.uk

CONTENTS

Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 4,500 subscribers and 1,000 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 statement. The TUC website lists future health and safety events in What’s On - new events are covered below.

FEATURE ON STRESS AND BULLYING

The TUC will be holding a joint conference with the UK National Stress Network on Monday, 14 October at TUC headquarters in London, to launch European Week for Health and Safety. Further details and a booking form should be available in next week’s issue.

GMB warns against trivialising killer stress

General union GMB is calling on employers and enforcement authorities to take workplace stress more seriously. The union is concerned that with the current trend of promoting alternative therapies such as massage and aromatherapy in the workplace, there is a danger of trivialising what is a workplace killer. Nigel Bryson, GMB director of health and environment, said: 'Many employers are bringing in masseurs, having lunchtime yoga sessions and even bringing in clowns for employees who are working in stressful environments. Whilst there may be a place for these types of activities they should not detract from addressing the organisational causes of stress.' In one case this month, Scottish hospital workers almost crashed their computer system after sending angry replies to emailed poems meant to keep them calm. Professional 'stress-buster' Lynn Ogilvie caused the reaction by sending staff at Lothian University Hospitals Trust the daily poems.

Bullies face the sack under zero tolerance regimes

The UK workplace is increasingly becoming a zero tolerance zone for bullies, according to a new report from The Work Foundation. The Employee codes of conduct report says that eight out of 10 organisations responding to the organisation’s survey now have a code of conduct on bullying and harassment. And although these codes are relatively new in UK workplaces, they are taken seriously - with a third of respondents saying that workers breaking the code would be fired. A third (32 per cent) of respondents consider codes on bullying to be a priority for a well-run workplace, topped only by work safety (41 per cent).

Japan: Stress ups women’s heart disease risk

Women who feel stressed on a day-to-day basis are more likely to die from stroke and heart disease, even when they do not have other risk factors, researchers report. The study found Japanese women reporting high levels of mental stress were more than twice as likely to die from stroke and heart disease than women reporting low stress levels, over the following eight years. Stressed-out women were on average younger, more educated, less active and thinner, and were more likely to have a history of high blood pressure and diabetes. They also smoked more and were more likely to have a full-time job compared with more relaxed women, reported Dr Hiroyaso Iso and colleagues in the journal Circulation. 'The present study provides...evidence that perceived mental stress has the potential effect of increasing the risk of stroke and coronary heart disease,' they conclude.

UNION NEWS

TUC wants cooler workplaces, not sweatshops

As Britain’s workers swelter in another August heatwave, the TUC is calling for a legal maximum for workplace temperatures. While there is a legal minimum temperature below which no-one should have to work, there is no limit when the going gets too hot. TUC says too much heat can cause fatigue, extra strain on the heart and lungs, dizziness and fainting, or heat cramps due to loss of water and salt. It adds that hot, dry air can increase the risk of eye and throat infections, and breathing problems such as asthma and rhinitis. It wants a maximum working temperature of 30oC, or 27oC for those doing strenuous work. When the heat hits the maximum, employers should reduce the temperature with, for example, fans or air conditioning. Workers whose exposure to heat cannot be reduced, should be provided with adequate breaks and offered job rotation. TUC general secretary, John Monks, said: 'It is farcical that we have a legal minimum but no legal maximum for workplace temperatures. Extreme heat can be just as dangerous as extreme cold. While there is no legal maximum working temperature, Britain’s workers are not protected from sweatshop conditions.'

Unions back US nuclear staff over BNFL toxic racism

UK unions have demanding action after it was revealed that British Nuclear Fuels is being sued by black workers at an American plant who claim it shares responsibility for assigning them jobs that exposed them to almost twice as much radiation as their white colleagues. A statement from the TGWU, GMB, Amicus, UCATT, PCS and Prospect called on BNFL, which has a 40 per cent interest in the Westinghouse Savannah River Company in South Carolina, to intervene and fire managers responsible for allegedly racist practices at the plant. BNFL is named in lawsuits being brought by 32 black workers who say they were assigned jobs exposing them to higher risks, and where they faced on the job harassment and discrimination. The move follows a report by Professor James Ruttenber of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. He found: 'When all annual dose measurements are grouped by race, the doses for blacks are higher than for whites in all dose categories ... The annual penetrating doses for blacks are about 1.8 times as high as the doses for whites.' TGWU’s Jack Dromey, speaking for all the unions representing BNFL workers, said: 'The company must act now against racists in its ranks, ensuring equal treatment and sacking those responsible.'

Union advice on schools violence

A teachers' union is so concerned about violence and disruption in schools, it has issued its members with new guidance for their own protection. For the first time, diaries sent to all National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) members will outline how teachers can best tackle the problem. The guidelines urge teachers to report all incidents of actual or threatened assault or criminal damage to the police. The advice also recommends staff be given training in avoiding and managing dangerous situations and calls on head teachers to introduce a code of ‘zero tolerance’ towards pupils who have been excluded and to violent parents. NASUWT general secretary Eamonn O'Kane said: 'It is unacceptable that teachers should face violence at work. NASUWT guidance highlights options available to limit the threat. By including this in the diary, every member can carry round details of the steps necessary to protect themselves in school.'

Workers demand city admits asbestos risk

Workers at an Edinburgh waste depot where asbestos was discovered are demanding official recognition that they have worked in a dangerous environment. Staff at Powderhall waste depot have called on Edinburgh City Council to issue written confirmation they may have been exposed to asbestos and other dangers such as legionella bacteria. The recognition would help workers to claim compensation if they developed asbestos-related diseases in the future. Scott Foley, a TGWU convener representing the Powderhall depot staff, said: 'We want a letter for each member confirming the potential risk of exposure to asbestos. I think it would be responsible for the council to take a pro-active approach. It would be useful as a paper trail.'

Phone forethought on the forecourt

Civil service union PCS is warning members about the dangers posed by mobile phone use in petrol stations. The union says: 'Reps will want to ensure that any member who uses a vehicle for business, and is issued with a mobile phone, or who may use a mobile phone whilst working away from the building, is fully aware of the risks associated with their use in petrol filling stations.' PCS points to latest HSE guidance and an alert from oil giant Shell, which has reported three recent incidents where mobile phones have ignited fumes whilst being answered or ringing.

TGWU Wolves wins £3m

The Wolverhampton district of the Transport and General Workers’ Union has given significantly more back to members this year than it receives in subscriptions, latest figures show. John Walsh, TGWU regional industrial organiser for the Black Country, said the union had won almost £3m in personal injury settlements for members. 'For the less than the price of half a pint of beer (in the case of our part-time members), or less than the price of a pint of beer (in the case of our full-time members), the TGWU provides specialist solicitors, barristers and, on occasions, Queen's Counsel, to fight for justice for those injured at work,' he said. 'At a time when so-called ‘No Win No Fee’ companies are going bankrupt, the true value of membership of the TGWU is underlined yet again.' The local union recovered £2,911,349.70 on behalf of 793 members injured at work in 2001. Mr. Walsh confirmed the sum recovered was 'significantly more' that the total yearly subscriptions of the 20,000 T&G members in the Black Country.

OTHER NEWS

Fishing heads GB deadly work top 10

Workers employed in commercial fishing and merchant seafarers have by far the most dangerous jobs in Great Britain, according to experts. A study by researchers at Oxford University has found people working on the sea are up to 50 times more likely to die while working, compared those in other jobs, and run a 1 in a 1,000 chance of dying in a workplace accident. The study found Britain’s top 10 deadliest jobs were: commercial fishing; merchant seafarers; aircraft flight deck officers; railway lengthmen; scaffolders; roofers and glaziers; forestry workers; quarry and other mine workers; dockers and stevedores; and lorry drivers. Dr Stephen Roberts analysed official death statistics from different professions between 1976 and 1995. He reports in The Lancet that 103 in every 100,000 fishermen died while working. This is 50 times higher than other workers. The figures compare to rates of 2 per 100,000 for the rest of Britain's working population.

  • BBC News Online and Ananova. Stephen E Roberts, Hazardous occupations in Great Britain, The Lancet, Volume 360, Number 9332, pages 543-44, 17 August 2002

We’re coming, HSE warns construction firms

The HSE has warned the construction industry to improve in the key areas of its health, safety and welfare performance, before inspectors call. The warning comes in a new work plan construction inspectors will use in the year ahead. Richard Boland, HSE principal inspector, said: 'If duty holders, suppliers, site managers, and workers know what we will be looking out for before we come, then there can be no excuses if our inspectors uncover breaches of the law and poor health, safety and welfare standards.' He added: 'Our priorities for the year are to help the industry reduce the toll of serious accidents caused by poor transport management and falls from height; reduce the incidence of cement dermatitis; reverse the increased incidence of HAVS [hand arm vibration syndrome]; and reduce worker exposure to noise and the risk of musculoskeletal injury.' Provisional figures show that there were 79 fatal injuries to construction workers in 2001/02, accounting for 32 per cent of all worker fatalities. TUC revealed last week that the presence of union safety reps is the best way to deliver better safety performance on sites (Risks 66).

Rubber gloves action reduces asthma

A dramatic reduction in occupational asthma cases caused by latex has been reported in Germany thanks to ‘straightforward and practical’ prevention measures. Researchers found a drop in cases followed the introduction of decreased powder natural rubber latex (NRL) gloves, education aimed at physicians and administrators and a regulation mandating that healthcare facilities only use powder-free, low protein NRL gloves. Writing in the August 2002 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the researchers say there was a two-year lag between the switch to safer examination gloves and the decline in cases of occupational NRL asthma. They conclude that prevention of occupational NRL allergies can be achieved by straightforward and practical interventions. June Chandler, national officer with the UK public service union UNISON, said: 'In Germany they appear to be doing all the things we have called for - underpinning education with mandatory regulation. Just think of the numbers of NHS workers we could keep in work and the money the NHS could save if the same approach was adopted here.' The TUC warned last year that as many as one in 10 NHS workers could be suffering from latex-related health problems (Risks 14).

Worker compensated for illegal overtime

A 51-year-old woman has been awarded compensation for working an average of 71 hours a week in a newsagent's shop. Maureen Lumbard, worked 12-hour days almost every day at a branch of Martin's newsagents in Thetford, Norfolk, when a manager went on sick leave. It is believed to be the first time a UK company has been prosecuted for breaking the 48-hour working week rule, introduced across the European Union as a health and safety measure. Breckland Council prosecuted Martin's, part of the Forbuoys chain, after finding Mrs Lumbard was working an average of 71 hours a week over a 17-week period. Forbuoys admitted breaching the 1998 Working Time Regulations that limit workers to an average of 48 hours a week, over a 17-week period. The firm was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £2,150 costs. Mrs Lumbard was awarded £1,200 compensation.

Some compensation for the loss of a father to asbestos

The daughter of a man who died from the asbestos cancer mesothelioma says that the £80,000 compensation her family has received has come too late to help her father. Sydney Bailey died on 23 December 2000 aged 80, after years of deteriorating health through illnesses including pleural thickening, asbestosis and a tumour in his lungs, all caused by asbestos exposure at Sheffield-based coach builder Craven Tasker. He was 100 per cent disabled when he died. The payment was delayed because Craven’s insurer, Iron Trades, later known as Chester Street, entered into liquidation in February 2001. His daughter, Margaret Stones, said: 'He was determined that his former employers, Cravens, pay compensation for the fact that his illness shortened his life and we promised that we would fight on after he died.' Adrian Budgen of Irwin Mitchell solicitors represented Mr Bailey’s family. He warned 'there are other people who simply have not claimed for compensation because they are not aware that they can.'

New treatment for asbestos cancer

The results of a preliminary study suggest that a new chemotherapy combination may be a promising treatment for mesothelioma, British researchers have reported. The asbestos cancer mesothelioma affects 1,700 people in the UK each year and is normally resistant to chemotherapy. But the combination of a new drug called pemetrexed and an existing drug called carboplatin could be an effective treatment, according to the researchers. The researchers administered the two drugs to 27 patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma in a range of doses. They report their results in the 13 August 13 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The median survival time in the study was 451 days, or over 14 months. A handful of patients have survived for 3 years or more. Previously, people diagnosed with mesothelioma could expect to survive for 6 to 8 months, the researchers said.

  • Reuters Health. Andy Hughes and others. Phase I clinical and pharmacokinetic study of Pemetrexed and Carboplatin in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Vol 20, Issue 16 (August), pages 3533-3544, 2002 [abstract]

Potters Bar victims to get £12m

Railtrack is expected to offer £12m in compensation to the victims of the Potters Bar rail crash (Risks 53). The company has stressed the payout, which is likely to mean £1m for each family of the seven victims, is not an admission of guilt. The money will come from the collapsed network operator's accounts. The remaining £5m will be shared by the 67 people injured in the crash on 10 May. The families of the victims have called for a public inquiry into the crash, as have the TUC and RMT rail union.

INTERNATIONAL

Australia: Bosses unfit to manage sickness say unions

An Australian union body has called for new standards for workplace fitness to stop employers using health grounds as an excuse to shed staff. The Labor Council of New South Wales is proposing a clear code of workplace fitness, to be overseen by the official WorkCover authority. 'We have no problem with the idea of employers ensuring workers are fit to carry out their duties,' NSW Labor Council secretary John Robertson said. 'Our concern is that fitness requirements are being used to push other agendas, such as shedding staff without going through established procedures.' This week the state’s Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union claimed victory after the Industrial Relations Commission ruled that 39 workers suspended because they were deemed too overweight to work must receive sick pay. Australia Post has placed 259 postal workers - suffering from ailments including diabetes, obesity and varicose veins - on forced sick leave since 1998 when it introduced a policy of modified employment if a worker fell sick. Some, including a breast cancer sufferer, have gone almost a year without pay.

Australia: Petty theft, go to jail; kill at work, go free

The jailing of an Australian worker for making a false workers’ compensation claim while killer employers still walk free shows that official safety agencies have lost touch with reality, the New South Wales Labor Council has said. Labor Council secretary John Robertson blasted the jailing of a 24-year-old man for six months after he pleaded guilty to making a false physiotherapy claim worth Aus$1,018 (£360). 'No-one condones workers compensation fraud, but this is a joke,' Mr Robertson said. 'We have WorkCover crowing about locking a young man up over $1,000 at the same time they are telling us there are no legal grounds to jail employers and company directors implicated in workplace deaths.' He added: 'The justice system is telling workers that $1,000 is worth more than a worker's life. It's an insult to every family who has lost a loved one at work.'

Chinese mine blast kills 10

Rescue teams have recovered the bodies of 10 workers killed in a gas explosion at a coal mine in China’s north-eastern province of Heilongjiang. A further worker is missing. The official Xinhua news agency said the Lixin Coal Mine in Jixi was being run illegally and should have been closed for safety checks at the time of the blast. More than 3,500 workers have been killed so far this year in Chinese mines. While thousands of operations are closed down each year in regular safety crackdowns, many reopen as soon as inspectors leave.

France: Junior doctors safety strike wins more rest

Junior doctors in France should finally see their number of rest hours increased after unions blamed a series of traffic accidents, including two fatal ones, on fatigue. Junior staff went on strike in the winter, denouncing the number of hours they had to work while the French government introduced a 35-hour week for other professions. The Ministry of Health now says a law requiring junior doctors to have at least 11 hours rest after a night shift should be ready by the end of August. Unions had denounced the delay, claiming several road accidents involving trainees, including two fatal ones, could have been caused by tiredness.

USA: NY mayor proposes wider ban in the Big Ashtray

New York’s Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is avidly anti-smoking, has said he wants to toughen the city's anti-smoking law by banning cigarette smoking in all restaurants and bars to protect workers. 'It is just a health risk that workers should not be exposed to,' Bloomberg said at a news conference. 'If there were asbestos in the air we would immediately close the place down ... this is just as dangerous.' If the New York City Council passes the amendment to a 1995 law that forbids smoking in all restaurants with more than 35 seats, America's biggest city would join two states - California and Delaware - and scores of towns that ban smoking in almost every workplace, including bars and restaurants. Bloomberg says the new measure is intended to provide a smoke-free environment for bartenders, waiters and waitresses.

USA: Miners’ union wants hearing on flood

The US miners' union says public hearings are needed to determine what caused a flood that trapped nine coal miners underground for more than three days after an accident at the Quecreek mine. In calling for hearings, Joe Main, national health and safety administrator for the United Mine Workers of America, said the number of US coal miners killed on the job has risen each of the past three years. 'This year started out worse than last year and we came as close as you can come to another disaster at Quecreek…It has to raise questions about what's going on in coal mine safety in this country.' Federal statistics show 29 US coal miners were killed in 1998, 34 in 1999, 38 in 2000, 42 in 2001 and 17 so far this year. The union criticised President Bush for praising the miners on public platforms, while repeating last year’s attempt to slash the budget of the mines safety agency (Risks 66). The union’s call for a public hearing has been backed by J Davitt McAteer, who headed the Mines Safety and Health Administration in the Clinton presidency. An explosion at an Alabama mine killed 13 miners on 23 September last year (Risks 21).

RESOURCES

NYCOSH - top class union-friendly safety website

NYCOSH - the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health - has the most extensive listing of worker-friendly health and safety resources to be found anywhere (probably). You'll find news, a wonderfully broad range of factsheets by hazards topic and great links. NYCOSH is supported by local and national union bodies in the USA.

New improved NIOSH website

The US government’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has redesigned and updated its already impressive website. The easy to navigate site has new topic pages on agriculture, bloodborne pathogens and chemical safety. There’s also a new report on work, smoking and health.

Bullying and stress e-newsletter

The August 2002 BullyOnline e-newsletter on bullying, harassment, stress and related issues is now available, in email format and on the web, and includes news and resources from the UK and abroad.

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!

Hazards 2002, National Hazards Conference, 6-8 September

The National Hazards Conference will be held in Manchester for the second year running. Further details from Greater Manchester Hazards Centre. There is a financial appeal to keep registration costs down, backed by the TUC.

RSI Association annual conference, 28 September

Speakers at the conference which is on a Saturday at TUC headquarters include: Dr Michael Hutson, consultant physician and president of the International Federation of Musculoskeletal Medicine; Trevor Shaw, head of the musculoskeletal, ergonomics and performance section in HSE’s Human Factors Unit; Richard Southorn, Employers’ Forum on Disability; and Owen Tudor, TUC health and safety specialist and Health and Safety Commissioner. For more details, see the RSI Association website.

TUC/UK Work Stress Network Conference, 14 October

The TUC will be holding a joint conference with the UK National Stress Network on Monday, 14 October at TUC headquarters in London, to launch European Week for Health and Safety. Further details and a booking form should be available in next week’s issue.

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

This year’s week will take place in Britain from 14 October, on the theme of stress - there is a special page on the TUC website devoted to the week. Unions and union branches planning Euroweek activities should contact the TUC’s stress week co-ordination team at Worksafe, tel. 01535 664462, with details of what they are doing and what support they would like. More background: European Agency and HSE Euroweek webpages.

USEFUL LINKS

Visit the TUC http://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.

TUC courses for safety reps

COURSES FOR SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER:

Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, South East and East Anglia, South West, Wales, 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.

Newsletter (4,700 words) issued 17 Aug 2002

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