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Risks

issue no 103 - 26 April 2003 NOW WITH 7,000 SUBSCRIBERS!

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 7,000 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 Disclaimer and Privacy statement.

ACTION

Remember the dead

To mark International Workers’ Memorial Day 2003 - Monday 28 April - the TUC will launch an online 'book of remembrance' for employees killed by their work. TUC says trade unionists around the world will on the day 'remember the dead and renew the fight for the living, and the TUC web-based resource will be a permanent reminder of the importance of both.' Visitors to the virtual book of remembrance - which will be online at www.tuc.org.uk/remembering - can enter details of the work-related death of their loved one or colleague. Every year in Britain, about 300 workers are killed in their workplace, about a thousand die while driving for their work and thousands more die from occupational diseases. Trade unionists across the UK are commemorating these deaths, most of which TUC believes could have been prevented.

  • Add an entry to the TUC book of remembrance (which goes live on Monday)

What did you do to fight for the living?

Across Britain and the world (see below) there will be thousands of events and initiatives to mark Workers’ Memorial Day on Monday, 28 April 2003. The list of events in Britain has been updated by Hilda Palmer of Greater Manchester Hazards Centre, but if you are doing something that doesn’t appear on that list, we still want to know (and we want to know how the events have gone) so we can produce an updated list after the event for use in future years.

  • Send details of events and initiatives not yet listed, or let us know how they went

FEATURE

Global fight for safer work

Trade unions in over 100 countries are organising 28 April events to mark Workers’ Memorial Day. 'Poor health and safety and unsustainable work practices are leading killers in modern times,' said Guy Ryder, general secretary of ICFTU, the global union federation coordinating the events. 'At the same time, many governments are cutting back on enforcement of standards, and allowing unscrupulous employers to cut corners and operate in a way that puts the lives of working people at constant risk and jeopardises broader social and environmental objectives.' Starting with events in the Asia Pacific region in the morning of 28 April, commemoration activities will unfold across the different time zones, culminating in the Americas. A major ceremony at the ICFTU’s Brussels headquarters will involve senior union leaders from throughout Europe. In Brazil, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Portugal, Spain and Taiwan, 28 April is being recognised as an official national observance day. Union bodies in several countries, including Sweden, Bermuda and China, are backing Workers’ Memorial Day activities for the first time. The International Labour Organisation is also supporting the day. The TUC will mark the event with a small event after the TUC Executive Committee meeting on the day, addressed by health and safety minister Nick Brown MP and TUC general secretary elect Brendan Barber.

Campaigning for corporate accountability

Trade union activists will gather in Gateshead on Workers’ Memorial Day to commemorate the thousands of workers that have been killed in workplace accidents and to campaign for better laws to protect working people. A 28 April corporate accountability conference will be followed by a memorial service and a banner blessing ceremony. Northern TUC regional secretary, Kevin Rowan, who will be chairing the event, said: 'Poor health and safety in the workplace costs employers billions every year, it also leaves families without loved ones and continues to maim and injure thousands every year. We need a stronger deterrent for employers to act more responsibly in managing health and safety in the workplace.'

  • TUC news release. Memorial service and banner blessing ceremony in Saltwell Park, Gateshead at 1pm

London memorial to site workers killed at work

The London Hazards Centre has produced an online Workers’ Memorial Day memorial - www.lhc.org.uk/kaw - to construction workers killed in the City of London since 1988. LHC says on average each year 22 people lose their lives at work in London 'in what are mostly predictable and preventable incidents,' but says there are few memorials to the deceased. LHC adds that official statistics indicate that 'almost three quarters of accidents at work are directly the responsibility of employers,' but penalties remain insultingly low - in 2002 the average fine for a health and safety offence was just £12,194 while the average salary of the UK’s top 100 bosses was £1.5 million. It says no employer in London has ever been sent to prison for negligence leading to the death of a worker.

  • London Hazards Centre Workers’ Memorial Day factsheet and online memorial to construction workers killed in the City of London

HSE backs Workers’ Memorial Day

The official workplace safety enforcement agency in Britain, the Health and Safety Executive, is promoting Workers Memorial Day as the top item on its website homepage. It says: 'Workers Memorial Day on 28 April is intended to remember all those killed at work or by work, and to strengthen our resolve to reduce risks and protect people.' A more detailed briefing on HSE’s 'workers’ webpage' says: 'We all need to work together so that people’s working lives are not cut short by disabling illness or injury. Take a moment to think about those who have lost their lives through their work and think what you can do to protect yourself, your workers and your colleagues. This website is full of information to help you reduce risks and protect people.' It adds HSE will for the first time holding a commemoration service where it can 'reflect on those who sadly had lost their lives at work as well as commit ourselves to ensure that people’s experience of the workplace is free from accidents and ill health.'

  • HSE commemoration service, Monday 28 April, Church of the Precious Blood, O’Meara Street, Southwark, London, 1.05-1.40pm

UNION NEWS

Safety reps’ charter gets official backing

A safety reps’ charter for the education sector has received official backing. The initiative is the brainchild of the TUC nominees to the two HSC committees for education, the Higher and Further Education Advisory Committee (HIFEAC) and Schools Education Advisory Committee (SEAC). John Cullen, HSC’s chair of both committees, is encouraging all educational establishments to follow the charter. He says in the foreword to the charter: 'The Safety Representatives’ Charter seeks to promote the benefits and emphasise the importance of consulting with and involving safety representatives, in order to ensure that they can make a contribution towards effective health and safety management in education establishments. Employers in the education sector will benefit from following the valuable guidance on good practice that the charter represents.' He adds the charter, which is published on the HSE website, 'seeks to promote the benefits and emphasise the importance of consulting with and involving safety representatives, in order to ensure that they can make a contribution towards effective health and safety management in education establishments. Employers in the education sector will benefit from following the valuable guidance on good practice that the charter represents.'

£1.3m payout follows £1m penalties after bridge deaths

A court has approved a seven figure compensation settlement for the families of four workers killed when they fell 80 feet from a motorway bridge. The case was brought by the workers’ union, GMB, on behalf of their families. Under the settlement, the families will receive £1,372,500. A judge sitting at Bristol Crown Court approved the deal from Kvaerner Cleveland Bridge UK Ltd - now known as Yarm Road Ltd - Costain Ltd and Technitube Ltd. The men, Paul Stewart, Ronald Hill, Andrew Rodgers and Jeff Williams, died when they fell from a gantry while carrying out strengthening work to the M5 Avonmouth bridge near Bristol in September 1999. Kvaerner Cleveland Bridge UK Ltd and Costain Ltd were fined £250,000 each and costs totalling £525,000 in November 2001 after pleading guilty to breaches of health and safety regulations (Risks 30). In December 2002, legal action by victims’ rights advocates forced a coroner to agree to an inquest into the death of one of the victims, Paul Stewart (Risks 84). Avon coroner Paul Forrester had previously ruled that a hearing was unnecessary because of the earlier HSE prosecution.

Stressed, overworked and under attack

A survey by the rail union TSSA has revealed that 73 per cent of rail industry health and safety reps consider overwork or stress to be the No.1 workplace hazard. The TSSA/TUC safety reps’ survey found that 46 per cent of respondents consider long hours of work to be the second biggest health and safety problem, with violence or threats and the use of display screen equipment tied in third (42 per cent of reps). TSSA says the findings - which show that stress has increased in the sector since a 1999 TUC survey - will be used to help employers devise measures to reduce workplace hazards. TSSA general secretary Richard Rosser urged the industry to adopt the union’s model stress policy, adding: 'This includes identifying causes of stress and conducting risk assessments to eliminate or control stress among employees.'

New strike dates set in guards rail dispute

Train crew members at 12 rail companies will strike for 48 hours on 6-7 May and on 27-28 May in their campaign to restore the full safety role of train guards. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: 'The employers know that it will cost them nothing to settle this dispute, but they have made no effort whatsoever to come to an agreement.' He added: 'This is a dispute about safety, pure and simple. The guard’s role has been watered down and it needs to be restored to the rulebook in full - no ifs, no buts and no maybes. Our members and the travelling public have the right to know that the safest working practices are in place on our railways.' RMT says eight companies have already reached agreement with the union to reinstate the safety role of train guards. It adds that an official cash bale out to companies affected by industrial action over safety was 'shameful.' Bob Crow said: 'We will now also be taking advice on the legality of the Strategic Rail Authority’s shameful use of public money to underwrite operators against losses on strike days - especially given the clear public interest in the matter of safety.' A demonstration outside SRA’s London HQ has been arranged for May Day.

  • RMT demonstration, 1 May, outside the offices of the SRA, 55 Victoria Street, SW1H (Victoria or St James Park Tube), 10.45-11.45am (finishing before the TUC May Day event)

Get tough on health service violence

Health union UNISON is calling for a twin track approach to tackling violence in the NHS - zero tolerance and tougher penalties. Karen Jennings, UNISON head of health, welcomed new measures to protect staff, but said more needs to be done. She said: 'The special legal protection unit aimed at helping trusts pursue private prosecutions against violent offenders, is a very welcome step forward.' Commenting on the many damaging consequences of workplace attacks, she said the victims experience 'both the physical and mental damage from the assault itself, and then from the unwillingness of trusts and police to prosecute and finally, to add insult to injury, if they do get the case to court, the penalties meted out are pathetic.' Delegates to the union’s health conference called for tougher sentences for violent offenders, more money for better training and for further government advice to trusts on violence, especially in relation to mental health patients. UNISON Scotland this week launched what it says is the most comprehensive survey on violence in the public sector and utilities ever carried out in Scotland. Jim Devine, UNISON’s Scottish organiser, said: 'Our survey will cover various subjects including racial, sectarian and sexual abuse. Members will be asked to fill in a questionnaire, contact our website or participate in one-to-one interviews.'

Teachers may create a class ceiling

A teaching union has warned it may take industrial action that could see thousands of children being sent home from school as part of its ongoing campaign for survivable workloads. Delegates at the National Union of Teachers’ annual conference backed a call to refuse to teach oversized classes or cover the lessons of absent colleagues for more than a day. The vote was in protest at proposals in the government’s reform package that would allow classes to be doubled up and taken by a qualified teacher with a classroom assistant and for classroom assistants to take over lessons. Delegates also said the government’s proposals would lead to a 'two-tiered system,' with struggling inner-city schools filling teaching vacancies with classroom assistants.

OTHER NEWS

Company doctors could give sick notes

Plans to help reduce the workload of GPs could see company doctors and occupational health nurses given the power to sign employees off sick. Among proposals set out in new GP contracts is a scheme to look at ways of cutting the bureaucracy faced by family doctors. Simon Fradd, joint deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s GPs’ committees, commented: 'An occupational health system would benefit everyone.' He said: 'The current system fails everyone. The aim is to get a patient better and back to work. An occupational health service is in the best place to see both sides - the patient’s condition and how the job might contribute to the problem.' TUC’s Owen Tudor commented: 'We want people at work to get unbiased and independent advice on treatment - that means unions need to be involved in selecting, managing and running workplace occupational health services.' During 2002, GPs issued around 2.4 million sick notes to employees who had been off work for fewer than seven days.

Restaurant workers 'in quarantine'

A Chinese restaurant in Manchester has told staff returning to the UK from the Far East not to come to work amid fears over the spread of SARS. Yang Sing, in Princess Street, said it had told any of its 100 staff returning from the region to stay at home for a week. The restaurant’s co-owner Gerry Yeung said the right precautions had been taken. 'The general feeling is that we want to be aware and alert but not alarmed,' he said. 'Insofar as the staff that have travelled abroad what we have asked them to do is have a self-imposed quarantine for a week after they come back to the UK. Obviously it is serious and I think it is tragic that many people are dying from it. But I think you have to still say, providing the right action is taken, it is not an epidemic over-running the whole world.'

Military’s silent attack on the media

David Mannion, the editor of ITV News, is still waiting for answers regarding the death in Iraq of Terry Lloyd, his star reporter and friend of 30 years. It is thought Lloyd was killed in a 'friendly fire' incident, when US troops fired on his vehicle on 22 March (Risks 99). Lloyd was killed; one colleague escaped with minor injuries and two are still missing. For the past four weeks, ITV News colleagues have been working ceaselessly to find answers. Mannion has assigned his deputy to work full-time on the inquiry. Stewart Purvis, chief executive of ITN, said the American military authorities and the British Ministry of Defence have consistently refused to shed any light on the matter. Clearly angry, he said: 'ITV has not received any information of any kind, at any stage, from any of the military.' The National Union of Journalists - Terry Lloyd’s union - has called for an enquiry into the incident and has denounced attacks on journalists in Iraq as 'war crimes' (Risks 101).

Tackling deaths is still top construction priority

The HSE construction division says addressing the major causes of accidents and ill health in the construction industry will remain a top priority for 2003/04. Its annual work plan, which stresses the 'crucial' role of workplace reps, says special attention will again be given to 'falls from height and management of site transport, which together cause most fatal injuries. Occupational ill-health problems caused by manual handling, hand-arm vibrations (HAV) and noise induced hearing loss will also be targeted.' New priorities include slips and trips, which last year caused 26 per cent of major injuries, and temporary traffic management standards at road works on high speed roads. TUC’s Tom Mellish welcomed the emphasis on occupational health and the recognition in the plan that 'the involvement of, and consultation with, the workforce and their representatives is crucial in improving the construction sector’s deplorable safety record.' He added: 'The establishment of the construction division was a positive move towards improving the safety record of the construction industry.'

INTERNATIONAL

Australia: Staff in isolation as SARS fears rise

Companies in Australia are quarantining employees who have returned from visiting countries affected by the SARS virus. Workers at Macquarie Bank in Sydney have the choice of remaining at home or working in a quarantined office 'bunker' for a week on their return. PricewaterhouseCoopers, Telstra, Westpac, Lend Lease, HSBC, QBE and ING are among companies that have a quarantine period in place. Business Council of Australia communications director Mark Triffitt said companies were generally applying a seven-day quarantine period to people returning from affected countries such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam and Canada.

Canada: Economic fallout of SARS grows

Unions are calling for swift action to deal with the 'dire' health and economic consequence of Canada’s SARS outbreak. Leah Casselman, president of Ontario public service union OPSEU, said: 'For public sector workers who come into contact with the public every day, the uncertainty and stress of dealing with SARS is severe.' He added: 'Hospital workers need to be assured they are safe at work. They need to know they will be compensated for any reduced staffing due to SARS. Members shouldn’t have to worry about losing pay during a time when they fear for their personal safety' (Risks 102). The outbreak has also hit Toronto’s tourist industry. 'This is really a dire situation for workers in the tourism and hospitality industry,' said Paul Clifford, president of Local 75 of the hospitality union HERE. He estimated that thousands of workers, from bell boys and cleaning staff to waiters, have already been laid off. And with the recent WHO announcement advising against travel to the city, those numbers are widely expected to climb. SARS has killed 18 people in Canada, all from Toronto. The illness has eluded containment despite massive efforts that have strained Toronto public health officials and hospital workers.

  • SARS guides from Canadian unions CAW and CUPE

China: Unions needed to end workplace carnage

A top workers’ rights group has said independent unions are the solution to China’s horrific workplace fatalities toll. Hong Kong-based Han Dongfang, director of China Labour Bulletin, said he believed the main obstacle to improving occupational safety in China was the inability of workers to form unions or independent work groups. If they were able to form unions, they could balance the power of private managers or business owners, he said. He added that China’s officially sanctioned unions often serve the interests of management and do not really reflect workers’ rights. In the first quarter of this year, 31,035 were killed in 258,597 industrial accidents, according to new figures released by the State Administration of Work Safety. China includes traffic accidents in its industrial accidents figures. Zhao Tieque, the new director of the bureau, vowed to cut the rate of accidents even further during his five-year term. 'Both the Chinese Communist Party and the central government have been very concerned about accidents and have ordered workplace safety be improved, putting an end to serious accidents,' Zhao said. In the first three months of 2003 there were 611 mine accidents in China, killing 1,090 miners.

Singapore: Unions bid to tackle SARS hit economy

Singapore’s labour movement is using this year’s May Day celebrations to get workers to rally together and tackle the impact of the SARS outbreak in the workplace and on the economy. 'We have done it in the past, we can do it today,' said Halimah Yacob, assistant secretary general on the national union federation NTUC. 'I don’t think we should take cover under the table just because we are affected by SARS.' She added that the May Day theme this year is 'protection and progress' for those in the workforce. Trade unions and companies hit by the downturn in business have worked out cost-cutting measures so that lay offs can be avoided - or at least be carried out only as a last resort. NTUC is advising union members who feel unwell to stay away from the May Day events.

Thailand: Union heads to pursue case in court

Union leaders in Thailand want to pursue a court case relating to the Kader toy factory fire that killed 188 workers 10 years ago, to make sure the victims get justice. A working group is monitoring the case after the Nakhon Pathom Provincial Court last month sentenced one defendant - a worker - to 10 years in prison and fined the factory 520,000 baht (£7,635). The court acquitting 14 other defendants, including all the managers, a director and a shareholder who had faced charges. The fire broke out at the toyl factory of Kader Industrial (Thailand) Co. on 10 May 1996, killing 188 workers - 174 women and 14 men - and injuring 469 more. Jadet Chaowilai of the Friends of Women Foundation, said the case would now go to the Appeal Court. Unions and campaigners want to know why all those with responsibility for the company were acquitted, when an investigation found the high death toll was in part caused by the poor structural condition of the factory building, which collapsed easily and contained no fire escapes.

RESOURCES

Read, get mad, do something!

'Blogging', the latest phenomenon in cyberspace, has reached Planet Safety. Jordan Barab, a long-time US health and safety activist who has held top union safety positions, has created 'Confined Space', a web log giving daily updates on health and safety. The log is witty, political and incisive, and succeeds in translating sanitised 'safety speak' into grim truth. One recent entry looked at an official news release from the US HSE, OSHA, on two deaths in confined spaces. It concluded: 'Why does this press release say: ‘Contractor Cited for Exposing Workers to Confined Space Hazards?’ The contractor didn’t ‘expose’ workers to confined space hazards. The contractor killed two workers in a confined space.' Confined Space is an acute reminder that workplace health and safety isn’t about parts per million and policies, it is about real people and the value of human life.

Workplace safety project in Indonesia

The report of a project to develop better safety skills and systems in Indonesia is now available on the web. The initiative involved training sessions run by the US-based Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network (MHSSN) and the Labor Occupational Health Program (LOHP) at the University of California at Berkeley. The two four-day training sessions in Jakarta, Indonesia involved more than a dozen trade unions and two dozen non-governmental organisations. MHSSN says: 'The goal of the workshops was to build the knowledge and skills of the participants to understand basic concepts of workplace health and safety, to be able to understand and critique reports of organisations monitoring the labour practices of multinational corporations, and to build networks within Indonesia to expand the occupational health resources available to workers and community-based organisations.' The work follows a similar project in China (Risks 56).

EVENTS AND COURSES

TUC courses for safety reps

COURSES FOR APRIL TO JULY 2003:

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

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!

Law enforcement and corporate accountability, 7 July

Government ministers, MPs from all main political parties, trade unions, employer organisations, bereaved families and the Health and Safety Executive are all speaking at the TUC-Centre for Corporate Accountability 3rd joint conference on 'Law enforcement and corporate accountability.' Speakers Include: Rt. Hon. Nick Brown MP, minister for work; Brendan Barber, TUC; Janet Asherson, CBI; Anne Jones, Simon Jones Memorial Campaign; Neal Stone, HSE; Lord Falconer; Home Office minister; Patricia Peters, Institute of Directors; Tony Lloyd MP, chair, TU group of Labour MPs; Ross Cranston QC MP, former Solicitor General; and many more…

  • Registration/further details for the Law enforcement and corporate accountability conference, Monday 7 July 2003, TUC, Congress Centre, Great Russell Street, London WC1. Standard fee £25 (£40 for lawyers and businesses). Further enquiries, contact Sugar Munthali at CCA on 0207 490 4494

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 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.

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 (4,900 words) issued 26 Apr 2003

This page http://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace/tuc-6593-f0.cfm
printed 23 May 2012 at 09:53 hrs by 38.107.179.232