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Risks

issue no 90 - 25 January 2003

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 6,000 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 statement. The TUC website lists future health and safety events in What’s On - new events are covered below.

FEATURE: safety crimes

MP calls for stiffer penalties for safety crimes

Scarborough and Whitby MP Lawrie Quinn says employers who break safety laws will pay higher fines under his Health and Safety (Offences) Bill. Addressing the 25 January annual meeting of the Yorkshire and Humberside TUC, he said that only 29 employers in the region have had to pay fines of £20,000 or more for safety breaches in the last three and a half years. Most convictions led to fines of less than £5,000. He added 'good employers have nothing to fear from this crackdown on corporate crime.' The TUC backed Bill will raise the maximum level of fines for most health and safety offences to £20,000, so many more employers will have to pay fines at that level. The Bill would also make it possible to imprison employers for the most serious offences, and raise the fine for employers who are not properly insured. Nineteen of the 29 top fines in the region were for breaches which involved fatalities - including one child - with the rest relating to amputations, paralysis below the neck, serious electrocutions and bad burns, or exposing workers to the fatal asbestos fibres. TUC regional secretary Paul Jagger said: 'Everyone who cares about justice for victims should support an increase in the fines courts can impose, to create more incentives for better safety standards. We need to get tougher on safety crimes so that good employers aren’t undercut, and cowboy employers pay the right price for their crimes.'

  • TUC news release, including extra information on the Yorkshire and Humberside safety prosecutions research

Company fined for 'criminal waste' of a life

A Newport company has been fined after a young chemist was gassed to death. Fining waste management company Park Environmental Service £250,000, Judge John Griffith Williams QC said: 'This was a criminal waste of the young life which showed so much promise.' Chemist Dr John Lane, 28, had only been working at the company for seven weeks when he was overcome by the highly poisonous gas hydrogen sulphide. The company - Britain's most advanced toxic waste plant - was fined at Cardiff Crown Court after admitting safety breaches that led to the scientist's death. The court heard that five months before the July 2001 fatality another chemist had passed out after being exposed to the same gas at the plant. Dr Lane had raised concerns about safety at the plant with his family during his short working time there, said prosecutor Philip Marshall. He added that there were 'major failings' in safety measures and systems, concluding: 'This is a multi-million pound company. They should have had in place a system that would avoid anyone being exposed to this gas.'

Asda distributor fined over death

The death of a maintenance worker who fell through a warehouse roof has led to a £35,000 fine for a Chepstow company. Lloyd Fraser (Distribution) Ltd operates two distribution warehouses in the town on behalf of Asda. The man died of head injuries after an 11 metre fall through a skylight. Cardiff Crown Court heard that the company's risk assessments did not include gaining access to or working on the roof. Senior Environmental Health Officer Kim Pugh said the accident highlighted the need for risk assessments to cover non-routine operations such as maintenance and repairs. He hoped that colleagues nationally would flag up this hazard as part of their routine inspections. The company was also ordered to pay costs of £7,489.

Police chiefs 'not guilty' plea on safety charges

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens and his predecessor Lord Condon have both pleaded not guilty to charges alleging breaches of health and safety laws. The case relates partly to the death of PC Kulwant Sidhu and to injuries suffered by PC Mark Berwick in two separate incidents when they were chasing suspects (Risks 51). Both Sir John and Lord Condon, who retired in 2000, deny failing to discharge their duty towards officers and breaching safety rules. The prosecution, brought by the HSE, relates to the 'assessment and management of the risk faced by police officers of falling from or through roofs while assisting in the apprehension of suspects'. Lord Condon has been charged in relation to both officers and Sir John in relation to PC Berwick. A pre-trial hearing will he held on 10 February before the full trial, scheduled for the end of April.

UNION NEWS

Shaky reasoning allows HAVS to have not

A government scheme designed to compensate workers injured by vibrating tools needs shaking up, TUC has said. It says the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit scheme, which pays out to certain groups of workers who develop 'vibration white finger' (VWF), should be extended to workers developing the related condition HAVS, hand arm vibration syndrome. In a Commons debate on 21 January, Labour MP Liz Blackman backed the move, which could increase the number of eligible claimants by 50 per cent. TUC says action is long overdue. The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC) - the organisation charged with advising the government on the list of jobs and conditions that should be eligible for disablement benefit payouts - recommended that HAVS should be added to the list in a May 1995 report. Only mineworkers currently receive government cash for HAVS, after a legal battle fought by their unions, with over half a billion pounds already paid to sufferers. The government should change the rules so HAVS sufferers receive compensation, TUC says. HAVS and VWF sufferers include former miners, construction workers and road diggers, but also women in occupations like sewing machinists and floor polishers.

UNI SON members bag £33m in payouts

Almost 5,000 members of the public service union UNISON received personal injury compensation payouts last year, with the compensation total topping £33 million. The union says its membership legal services unit and its contracted solicitors brought 4,700 cases 'to a successful conclusion' between 1 January and 31 December 2002, securing £33,362,315.73 in settlements for members - or an average of £7,021 for every case settled. Greater London headed the regional list, with 446 claimants receiving a total of £5,104,703.87. The North West region had the most cases settled, with 757 workers receiving a share of £4,169,753.60. Payouts under the scheme, available free to members and their families, included compensation for accidents at work, at home or on the road. Services to members and their families include an 'accident hotline'.

Workers unprepared for terror attack

Workers are totally unprepared for a terrorist attack in the workplace, according to a survey by the GMB union. More than 90 per cent of employees do not know what procedures to follow if a terrorist attack takes place at work and have received no guidance from their employer, the union found. Its survey of 1,000 workers across the UK found 89 per cent of UK employees have no idea what symptoms to look out for if they suspect a colleague has become exposed to a biological or chemical agent. The union wants the government to inform workers better about 'best practice' in the event of a terrorist attack. Kevin Curran, secretary of the GMB’s Northern region, said: 'I am today calling on the government to be much more up-front and honest with employees. We need clear guidance for how companies should look after the health and safety of their workforce. Regrettably if we suffer another terrorist attack the likelihood is that most people will be at work when it happens.'

Mixed response for new transport safety law

Transport unions have expressed reservations about parts of a transport safety bill the government says is intended to 'improve public confidence in the railways and give police greater powers to tackle any alcohol and drug abuse amongst maritime and aviation personnel.' The Railways and Transport Safety (RTS) Bill had its first reading in the House of Commons earlier this month. The bill sets up the new independent Rail Accident Investigation Branch to investigate accidents, a development supported by unions (Risks 82). However, rail unions TSSA and ASLEF say they are 'disappointed' by the lack of detail in the bill. This will be fleshed out in statutory instruments, without going through the same detailed consultative processes required for full blown laws. The unions add they have concerns about how secret the witness statements given to the RAIB will be and about extending charging regimes to recover all the HSE’s expenditure on railway safety. Secretary of State for Transport, Alistair Darling said: 'The Rail Accident Investigation Branch will seek to ensure that the root causes of accidents are understood, the safety lessons learnt, and that investigation reports are published as quickly as possible.'

OTHER NEWS

Depressed workers get little support at work

Medication prescribed for anxiety and depression can affect a worker’s ability to work in a manner that does not put them or others at risk, a study for the HSE has found. It adds that employers are not helping matters. HSE says 'the findings indicate that mental health problems are not well understood by employers and managers, with little support in the workplace for individuals suffering from anxiety or depression.' Professor Cheryl Haslam, who led the research, said: 'People suffering with anxiety and depression experience great difficulties at work managing their symptoms and dealing with unpleasant side effects of their medication. Many were unprepared for the fact that it can take two or three weeks before they see improvement in their symptoms after starting medication. Patients need more information from GPs about the medication and side effects, so they know what to expect.' The report makes recommendations for the prevention and management of anxiety and depression in the workplace, as well as outlining areas for improvement in health care.

HSE moves to end use of 'nuisance' dust masks

Commonly used 'nuisance' dust masks are useless against hazardous substances and shouldn’t be used, the HSE has warned. HSE wants the masks withdrawn from sale, but says the law requires that any ban should come from Europe. For now, it is encouraging the voluntary withdrawal from sale of nuisance dust masks, also known as comfort masks or hygiene masks, and is urging the use of approved CE-marked disposable respirators instead. HSE adds that despite resembling the kind of disposable respirators that should be used, 'nuisance dust masks are not protective devices. They perform badly and do not have to meet basic health and safety requirements' and 'should not be used for protection against fine dusts, welding fumes, asbestos, fine sand, paint spray, gases, vapours or aerosols' and other hazardous substances. The British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF) and HSE’s advisory committees, representing both unions and industry, have backed the HSE call for the masks to be outlawed. Responding to the HSE alert, print union GPMU is urging its union reps to check that all dust masks are of the required standard.

Top pay deal includes workplace health service

Building workers on Heathrow Airport's new Terminal Five will benefit from 'ground breaking' salaries, on-the-job training and a comprehensive occupational health scheme. The deal, covering 3,000 workers on the Terminal Five scheme and which could pay unskilled workers as much as £32,000 with much higher rates for skilled workers, was reached in union negotiations contractor Laing O'Rourke. A key TUC demand has been to improve access to occupational health and rehabilitation services (Risks 89).

Asbestos victims demand payouts

Victims of asbestos-related diseases have taken their campaign to an insurance company’s HQ and to the steps of the High Court to demand compensation payouts. Former workers at Rochdale-based Turner and Newall demonstrated on 23 January outside the firm's insurers, Royal Sun Alliance in Liverpool. The demonstration coincided with a protest in London, where campaigners assembled outside the High Court in London at the start of a case to decide whether the insurer or the company should pay up.

INTERNATIONAL

Australia: Unions call for work deaths action

Three workplace fatalities in 24 hours have highlighted the need for strong action including criminal sanctions against negligent employers, an Australian union body has said. Mark Lennon, assistant secretary of the New South Wales Labor Council, said the deaths in separate workplace incidents of an electrician, a maintenance worker and a farmer 'reinforced union concerns that strong penalties were required to make workplaces safer.' He added: 'The Minister for Industrial Relations, John Della Bosca, has established a specialist unit within WorkCover to investigate every workplace fatality with a view to criminal prosecutions. We would expect the current accidents would be examined closely.' Mr Lennon concluded: 'If there is no action, it will only add weight for calls for specialist industrial manslaughter laws to be introduced.' Last week, unions in the state launched a billboard campaign calling for industrial manslaughter legislation (Risks 89).

China: Let mineworkers organise for safety!

Over 5,000 workers died in reported coal mine fatalities in China last year, with mines tragedies where 10 or more miners are killed up by 12.5 per cent. Responding to the new figures, the campaigning China Labour Bulletin (CLB) commented: 'CLB is simply sick of reporting on accidents that turn human lives into numbers and percentages. In our conversations with the miners and victims' families, CLB seeks to bring the human faces back into perspective - why do unsafe mines still flourish? What does it mean to the families who lose their husbands, sons or brothers?' The figures show that in 2002, 5,791 coal miners were killed. In a special issue of the bulletin 'dedicated to those who have lost their lives because they are not allowed to protect their own safety,' CLB calls on the Chinese government to end the repression of independent trade unions. It adds: 'It is the miners themselves who are best placed to understand the importance of occupational safety and health… The issue is of paramount importance to their families and a matter of life and death to themselves.' Meanwhile the carnage continues. A gas explosion at a coalmine this week left 16 miners dead, the state-run Xinhua news agency reports. The blast was at the Lishu Coal Mine No.7 in Jixi, close to the mine where 115 miners were killed in June last year (Risks 60).

Europe: Plan to increase pilot hours hits storm

Airline pilot organisations across the European Union have warned that proposals from the European parliament to increase pilot working hours were 'unsafe and will put passengers' lives at risk'. BALPA, the UK pilots' union, said that, in its attempt to standardise EU flying hours, the European parliament had refused to listen to air safety medical and scientific experts and had 'made appalling errors'. Captain Mervyn Granshaw, chairperson of BALPA, said: 'Typically the proposals could mean a pilot having his or her 12-hour flying duty increased to 14 hours, not just for one day but several days a week. Pilot fatigue is going to increase dramatically.' He said that if flying duty hours were increased to 14 hours a day, pilots would have to stay awake and alert for 20 hours, including time for stand-by and checks before and after flying. The European parliament initiative has been championed by Brian Simpson, a UK Labour MEP, who said BALPA’s claims were 'misleading'. Italian pilots took industrial action this week, to highlight concerns about the dangers of pilot fatigue.

Ireland: Government pays for asbestos oversight

Eleven workers from Leinster House in Dublin, home of the Irish parliament, have been paid more than €1m (£662,500) compensation in settlement of claims for exposure to asbestos and the risk of fatal lung and chest cancers. The compensation bill is expected to rise quickly. Charles McCreevy, finance minister, has confirmed that 500 claims have been filed so far. The compensation liability was originally estimated at €50m (£33m) but the government believes it may now be far higher. The court making the first awards heard letters sent to contractors in the 1980s inviting tenders for asbestos removal included warnings that protective clothing and masks should be used. But state employees were not told at the time of the need for such precautions.

USA: Simple solutions make sites safer

Simple measures could dramatically reduce the runaway accident rates on construction sites, US researchers have found. A study published in the December 2002 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine says in 1996 the US construction industry comprised 5.4 per cent of the annual US employment but accounted for 7.8 per cent of non-fatal occupational injuries and illnesses and 9.7 per cent of cases involving at least a day away from work. An analysis of workers’ compensation statistics found the most frequently occurring conditions were low back pain (14.8 per cent), foreign body eye injuries (8.5 per cent), and finger lacerations (4.8 per cent). Back pain also accounted for the greatest percentage of construction claim costs (21.3 per cent) and disability days (25.5 per cent), although 'sudden-onset' injuries like broken bones required most time off. The authors conclude: 'The results suggest that these most disabling injuries can be addressed by increasing primary prevention resources in slips and falls and exposures related to injuries of sudden-onset as well as in reducing manual materials handling and other exposures associated with more gradual-onset injuries.'

  • Theodore K Courtney, Simon Matz and Barbara S Webster. Disabling occupational injury in the US construction industry, 1996. JOEM, vol.44, no.12 pages 1161-1168, 2002 [abstract]

USA: Unions react to smallpox vaccination threat

A programme to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of US health care workers against smallpox is being resisted by unions. They say the plan, which was due to start on 24 January and forms part of the Bush administration’s preparations for war on Iraq, does not have the necessary safeguards to protect staff and patient health. Andrew L Stern, president of the 1.5 million member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other health workers across the country, commented: 'If a worker or patient gets sick as a result of this vaccine, they’ll be lucky if they receive a get well card from Washington.' Nursing union the California Nurses Association (CNA) is 'actively encouraging' all California hospitals to not participate in the smallpox vaccination programme, while 'actively discouraging' registered nurse members from receiving the vaccine. To date over 80 hospitals have refused to participate, citing minimal benefit and genuine risks. Kay McVay, CNA president, said 'serious concerns' were not being addressed, adding: 'It puts patients and healthcare personnel at great risk and only serves to fuel public fear for a war we should not be waging.' AFSCME, the 1.3 million strong public sector union, has also called for the programme to be delayed until health and safety issues are addressed.

RESOURCES

TSB - Toxic Substances Bulletin

The latest - 50th - issue of HSE’s Toxic Substances Bulletin is now available online. Editor Carole Sullivan says: 'In this issue, we cover issues ranging from explaining what epidemiology is to alerting you to HSE’s new webpages on stress. Also included are articles on how chemicals can affect different groups of people in different ways (chemical risk assessment and individual susceptibility) and an update on negotiations on a European Commission proposal to amend the Asbestos Worker Protection Directive.' She adds the issue contains an overview of the UK’s occupational health strategy. The next issue will have a 'dangerous substances' theme.

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!

Women transporting the world campaign, 8 March

Global transport workers’ union federation ITF’s Women transporting the world campaign has designated 8 March 2003 as its action day. ITF says: 'Transport unions need women. Changing employment structures in transport mean more jobs are being done by women. A campaign around women's rights will assist the drive to organise and mobilise more members in transport unions, and it will strengthen unions.' The ITF women's committee has identified four campaign priorities: Health and safety for women transport workers; violence and harassment; recruitment and organisation; and family rights.

International Workers Memorial Day, 28 April

This year the theme will be corporate accountability for workers’ health and safety. The TUC will be co-ordinating a series of events around the country. A background briefing on the 2003 theme is available on the page of the TUC website devoted to Workers’ Memorial Day. Order a poster from the TUC (single copies free) or bulk copies at a good price from Hazards

Hazards Conference, 5-7 September

The Hazards Conference will be in London. Margaret Sharkey at the London Hazards Centre is the co-ordinator of the London end of the organisation. You can contact her via e-mail at margaret@lhc.org.uk or on 020 7794 5999.

European Work Hazards Conference, 18-20 September

The next European Work Hazards Conference, where union health and safety reps and union safety officers, specialists and advisers come together to discuss approaches and strategies, will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 18-20 September 2003. European Work Hazards Network

European Week for Health and Safety at Work, 13-19 October

The theme for the Week in 2003 will be 'dangerous substances' (EU Agency press release). The TUC will be stressing the hierarchy of control, and especially the need for substitutes and general toxic use reduction strategies. Key hazards dealt with will include asbestos, asthmagens and solvents. Future years’ themes have also now been decided.

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 JANUARY TO MARCH 2003:

Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, South East and East Anglia, South West, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside

NEW COURSES FOR APRIL TO JULY 2003:

North, 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 (4,200 words) issued 25 Jan 2003

This page http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-6169-f0.cfm
printed 23 May 2012 at 09:38 hrs by 38.107.179.230