Risks
issue no 130 - 01 November 2003
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Risksissue no 130 - 01 November 2003 |
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Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to Tom Mellish CONTENTS
Risks is the TUCs weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 8,500 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. ACTIONOEDA needs your help!The Occupational and Environmental Diseases Association (OEDA) is facing a financial crisis and urgently needs your support. OEDA has provided an indispensible service to people suffering from asbestos related diseases for many years. However, a decision by the Association of London Government to end its grant support is leaving the essential organisation facing an annual shortfall of £30,000. TUCs Tom Mellish commented: 'OEDA has been a crucial resource in revealing the devastating effect of asbestos on workers and communities and has helped countless workers facing asbestos disease. Britains asbestos disease epidemic has nowhere near peaked, so OEDA is more necessary now than ever.'
UNION NEWSUnion reps get into networking
Union victory on safety lawsUnion have hailed new health and safety laws as a 'significant development' for workers. For the first time unions can directly enforce health and safety laws against employers, backed up with the force of legal penalties where employers fail to comply. Andy Gilchrist, general secretary of the firefighters union FBU, said the new power 'opens up employers to a range of civil and criminal action that we have not seen in this country before. If they ignore what has happened they are in for a very rude awakening.' FBU fought the Health and Safety Executive and the government in Europe to win the right to take direct legal action against employers (Risks 126). Lawyer Frank Maguire, who represented the FBU before the European Commission, said: 'Unions will no longer have to rely on the HSE to enforce health and safety laws. Unions will be able to take court action to seek injunctions and force employers to carry out risk assessments.' He said the injunctions could be used to 'prevent work from starting or halt work that has started until they are complied with. If employers break these injunctions they face unlimited fines and imprisonment.'
Union training is just the jobBeing a union safety rep is not a hobby, so essential training should take place during paid work time, says bakers union BFAWU. Its annual health and safety conference in Cardiff was for the first time held on a weekday and attracted a record attendance. BFAWU regional officer Dave Dash said: 'All health and safety representatives have a right to paid release from work to attend this conference, updating them on any changes to health and safety that may affect their members at work.' The union has run high profile campaigns on issues affecting its members, including bakers asthma and hot work. Unions safety campaign is tops, says MPA union campaign against retail industry violence and abuse is the most effective trade union campaign in parliament, according to an MP. Leigh MP Andy Burnham, the parliamentary private secretary to home secretary David Blunkett, said the year old 'freedom from fear' campaign run by retail union Usdaw 'touched on all the big issues' in every MP's constituency. Speaking the unions retail conference, Burnham said: 'As a society, we need to show that we mean business. We need to fight back and say this is not right. We need to get back some basic standards of respect.' John Hannett, Usdaw's deputy general secretary, said: 'Andy Burnham is one of many MPs, including David Blunkett and prime minister Tony Blair, who have supported our campaign.'
OTHER NEWSCleaners face work asthma riskWorking as a cleaner may more than double the risk of developing asthma and other breathing problems, a study has found. Writing in the November issue of the journal Thorax, researchers warn that anyone doing household chores could come into contact with irritants in cleaning products. The research team asked a sample of 4,500 Spanish women if they had experienced any respiratory symptoms and if they had been diagnosed or treated for asthma in the previous year. Respiratory symptoms that could be attributed to work were more than twice as common among domestic cleaners as in other jobs - 12 per cent among current and former cleaners and 5 per cent among those who had never worked as cleaners. Women working as cleaners in hospitals or health care centres instead of houses also had an increased risk of developing asthma and bronchitis. An October study concluded a quarter of all asthma cases could be linked to work ( Risks 129 ).
Rail union celebrates as maintenance goes in-houseRail unions have welcomed the news Network Rail is to bring the maintenance of Britain's railways back in-house. Network Rail will now stop using private contractors for maintenance work, a decision which will affect seven contracting firms. Unions and passenger groups have long argued splitting up British Rail and passing its work on to private contractors has been inefficient, and detrimental to safety. Bob Crow, general secretary of rail union RMT union, said: 'It will be far better now, with people coming to work dedicated to one company, not working for one contractor one week and the next for another. You will see the dedication being put back into the industry.' Two weeks ago one of the biggest contractors, Jarvis, pulled out of rail maintenance because of 'reputational problems' and the threat to profits. The firm had been criticised after the Potters Bar disaster which claimed the lives of seven people last year ( Risks 108 ). On 27 October, the Health and Safety Commission issued a discussion document on rail safety. It said Safety on the railway - Shaping the future 'is aimed at all those who work in the rail industry and those interested in its safety performance.'
Tube 'failing safety standards'London Underground (LU) is failing to meet engineering safety standards, official reports show. An internal Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report obtained by the BBCs Kenyon Confronts programme exposes thousands of examples of 'substantial non-compliance' - most concerning the condition of the track. Following derailments at Hammersmith and Camden Town earlier this month, LU said inspection procedures were adequate. But in its response to the HSE report - issued in May - it admitted there were problems. HSE blamed the variable quality of track inspections across the network on staff shortages and pressure on resources. Members of rail union RMT are to be balloted over possible strikes and 'go slows' following the derailments. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said drivers would be asked to reduce speeds as part of a campaign of industrial action, and added that the union would not tolerate any compromise on safety. The union says LU should follow the lead of Network Rail and take maintenance work back in-house. Smoking bans work at workThe campaign for smoking bans in public places is gaining converts. Writing for The Independent Stephen Pollard reports from New York, saying that the impact of the Big Apples smoking ban has been wonderful, reclaiming the city from the smokers. Before seeing the ban in action, Pollard had been an opponent of smoking bans. Now though, he is now happy to concede that smoking bans do work and would be OK in the UK. The tobacco lobby, meanwhile, continues to argue for its discredited voluntary approach ( Risks 105 ), described by anti-smoking group ASH as 'pathetic' ( Risks 108 ). Another group, the International Non-Governmental Coalition Against Tobacco (INCAT), has accused the tobacco lobby of jeopardising workers health and the welfare of customers. INCAT director Doreen McIntyre said: 'The hospitality trade are behaving like dinosaurs in this respect. It is the only sector that simply refuses to treat workers' health needs seriously.' Deaths highlight need for needlesticks actionDeaths of health care workers linked to needlestick injuries show the need for the NHS to respond positively to union campaigns for safer needles and work methods. Four UK health workers have died after being injured with needles used on patients infected with HIV, according to official figures. Another nine are living with HIV after suffering similar needlestick injuries while working in the NHS. There are hundreds of reported incidents each year in which NHS staff are exposed to a risk of HIV or hepatitis infection. Lisa Power, a spokesperson with HIV charity the Terrence Higgins Trust said: 'We support the use of retractable needles and any other measures to improve the safety of injecting equipment.' In October, the Commons public accounts committee highlighted the growing problem of needlestick injuries in the NHS ( Risks 128 ). Unions UNISON, GMB and RCN have all called for action on needlestick safety. European blueprint for a chemicals crackdownChemicals found in many household items are set to be more tightly regulated, under plans put forward by the European Commission. Draft proposals published on 29 October would require companies to disclose basic data on all the chemicals they produce. Around 30,000 chemicals will undergo tests to prove their safety if the proposals become law in 2005. The new legislation, known as Reach - Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals - will require chemical companies to subject each substance to official screening before it can be licensed for use. At the moment only 10 per cent of chemicals on the market have undergone such stringent tests. The Reach process will identify potentially harmful chemicals - like those which cause cancer or damage genetic material - and classify them as 'substances of very high concern.' The proposal will need the approval of the European Parliament and the council of ministers if it is to become law.
Nurse's £47,621 back injuryA former nurse who aggravated a spine condition while tending to a patient has been awarded a total of £47,621 compensation. Joyce Rowe, now 59, sued Gwynedd Community Health NHS Trust after suffering serious injuries in the December 1995 incident. Judge Gareth Edwards QC, who delivered his decision at Mold Law Courts, said he was concerned about the delay in resolving the case. Mrs Rowe sued the NHS trust for damages after she says she was instructed to carry out the handling of the patient in a dangerous manner - which was denied by the trust. Judge Edwards found in her favour and ordered that she be paid £47,621 plus all her legal costs. 'What she had been instructed to do was unsafe,' the judge said. 'It was the health trust's duty to be aware of those dangers.' He said the payout was a relatively modest amount but added that it was a fact of legal life that the level of damages 'for personal injury in this country is extremely modest.' Back to work pilot scheme takes offThe governments 'back to work' pilot scheme to get people on incapacity benefit back into the workforce is up and running. The Department for Work and Pensions says the 'Pathways to Work' proposals launched last November ( Risks 81 ) include: Making sure work pays - with a new Return to Work Credit of £40 a week payable for a year for those earning up to £15,000; new rehabilitation services - provided jointly by the NHS and Jobcentre Plus - to manage the conditions that most often stop people working; and early support from skilled personal advisers at Jobcentre Plus, including work-focused interviews. Work and pensions secretary Andrew Smith said: 'The pilots will give people individual help tailored to their needs, provided by a specially trained personal adviser. This is not about forcing ill and disabled people into employment but giving people who can get back to work the support to do so.' The first three pilots are in: Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taf; Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Argyll and Bute; and Derbyshire. They will run until April 2006. INTERNATIONALAustralia: 10,000 march for work death lawsPressure is mounting on the on the New South Wales state government to introduce industrial manslaughter legislation. An estimated 10,000 workers chanted 'jail bosses that kill' as they marched through Sydney and rallied in from of Parliament House to protest at workplace deaths. The secretary of the NSW Labor Council, John Robertson, said the states labour government was re-elected on a policy of being tough on crime. 'The biggest crime in this state is industrial manslaughter,' he said. However, the minister for industrial relations, John Della Bosca, insisted employers found responsible for fatal accidents could already be sent to jail. He said the state government was willing to amend safety laws by adding an offence dealing with 'breach of duty resulting in death' that would include a maximum penalty of imprisonment. Mr Della Bosca said the government would introduce 'fine tuning' legislation early next year. Protocols would also be put in place before Christmas to keep police investigations of workplace accidents open until negligence was ruled out. Unions however say the new law is needed because deaths are not treated seriously by the courts, with no employer ever jailed to date for safety crimes and 75 per cent of workplace deaths attracting less than 20 per cent of the maximum fine.
China: Workplace deaths up by 9 per centThe number of workplace deaths in China has gone up by 9 per cent compared to the same period last year, according to latest official figures. Accidents in mines and factories killed 11,449 people in the first nine months of 2003, despite a nationwide safety crackdown. Fatalities were down slightly in China's coal mines, but the number of deaths in non-mining industries rose by 19.1 per cent, to 5,203. Some analysts blame the rise in accidents on China's shift to a market-style economy. 'Workers are working longer hours since state owned industries were privatised, and they have no knowledge of health and safety issues,' said Han Dongfang, director of the Hong Kong-based China Labour Bulletin. He added that the real number of deaths was much higher than the official figure, because some operators paid local officials and victims' families not to report fatalities. In one of the most recent incidents, a fire at a shoe factory on 19 October in Yueqing City killed five workers and injured another five. Europe: Unions say nothing justifies workplace gene screeningEuropes top union body has called for a ban on genetic screening in the workplace. The ETUC position was spelled out at a 29 October workshop, where it called for the prohibition to be included explicitly in a European Commission directive on the protection of workers personal data. ETUC said gene testing wasnt yet a problem in EU workplaces and said EC legislators should make sure this remains the case. It said the tests would reduce efforts to prevent exposure to occupational hazards 'in particular in the chemical field and to introduce discrimination among workers according to certain genetic characteristics. The United States experience shows that genetic screening could lead to indirect forms of racial discrimination.' ETUC added: 'From the prevention point of view, nothing justifies a genetic screening compared to risks at work.' It added that Austria, Belgium and Finland have already prohibited genetic screening in the workplace. In the UK, TUC has called for a UK ban on workplace genetic testing ( Risks 125 ). In October, the US Senate backed draft legislation to ban gene screening at work ( Risks 128 ). Russia: Disasters prompt calls for mine safety reviewA week long safety drama in a southern Russian coal mine has ended with the rescue of 44 workers. One man is known to have died after being trapped in a flooded mine and another is still missing. The miners were trapped 800 metres (2,600 feet) underground in Zapadnaya coal mine in Novoshakhtinsk. Two days after the 23 October disaster, 33 miners were rescued. A further 11 were rescued on 29 October after rescuers dug though more than 50 metres (164 feet) of rock. On the same day, a powerful explosion hit a mine in the Russian far eastern town of Partizansk, killing at least three miners with up to 40 reported missing. Russian president Vladimir Putin said he would discuss the accidents with his prime minister. 'Unfortunately, these sort of events are becoming systematic in character. We have to carefully look into this,' he said. Apart from the natural hazards associated with the work, miners complain of deteriorating safety conditions.
South Africa: Productivity pressures blamed for mine deathsUnions are blaming production pressures and poor enforcement of safety laws for the high number of fatalities and injuries in South Africas mines. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said all mining groups use bonus schemes to stimulate productivity and questioned if these schemes are compatible with efforts to reduce accidents. NUMs Peter Bailey told a tripartite mine safety seminar the union would not tolerate a system that instead of complementing wages, ended up 'exceeding them.' He said: 'Such target-driven compensation is bound to result in accidents.' Eric Gcilitshana, the NUM's health and safety secretary, said the union was concerned that little was being done to avoid preventable accidents. He said there was a feeling within the union that a law compelling mining houses to shut down after fatal accidents was not being enforced. Last year about 288 people died in mine accidents, according to government figures. Reports also show cases of the industrial disease silicosis have increased in the last two years. USA: Official asbestos warning is under attackThe US government's 17-year effort to warn motor mechanics of the dangers of cancer-causing asbestos in brakes is under attack. The international law firm of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius has petitioned the governments Environmental Protection Agency to stop distributing warning booklets, posters and videotapes that give mechanics guidance on the need to protect themselves from asbestos. The petition says the science on which the material was based is unproven and irrational. The challenge, using an obscure legal process, comes as latest figures show imports of asbestos to the US have tripled in the last decade and had a value of $208.9m (£123m) last year. More than $124 million (£73m) worth of asbestos brake material was imported into the US last year. Dr Barry Castleman, an authority on asbestos and health issues, condemned the legal action. 'In making this move on EPA, the law firm seeks to justify corporate suppression of warnings in the past with government suppression of warnings today,' he said. 'The loser in this gambit is the public.' He indicated the Canadian asbestos industry ( Risks 129 ), a major asbestos exporter to the US, was behind the manoeuvre.
Zimbabwe: Minister defends asbestos tradeA Zimbabwean government minister has claimed asbestos is 'environmentally friendly' and the countrys asbestos mining industry is a 'critical' source of US$40 million (£23.6m) in foreign revenue each year. Minister of mines Edward Chindori-Chininga told an asbestos industry-organised media workshop in Harare: 'The mining and export of asbestos is critical to our economy. Not only in terms of foreign currency earnings, but also because of thousands of jobs it sustains.' He added: 'The chrysotile fibre from Zimbabwe is highly sought after in the developing world because it provides an environmentally friendly and a cost-effective roofing and water transportation solution.' The workshop, organised by the Zimbabwe National Chrysotile Asbestos Taskforce (NCATF), was aimed at devising a marketing strategy for the troubled asbestos industry. Zimbabwe exports 93 per cent of its asbestos production, with exports this year expected to exceed 190,000 tonnes. Critics say the media workshop is part of an asbestos industry drive to put a healthy gloss on its deadly product ( Risks 129 ), and which has seen Zimbabwean asbestos companies send top executives on numerous promotional trips to South Africa and the Far East.
RESOURCESHSE targets Asian workersAn HSE 'Worksmart' television series goes live this month and will bring health and safety communication to thousands of UK Asian viewers. Four leading TV satellite channels are to run a series of 45 second real-life mini-programmes on health and safety - all featuring Asian participants. Chris Bisson, star of East is East, and formerly Asian taxi boss Vikram in Coronation Street, has lent his support to the campaign. He said: 'Health and safety issues are a vital part of everyones life. Im delighted to be able to help in getting the message across to the Asian community in Britain.' EVENTS AND COURSESTUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2003Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside COURSES FOR JANUARY TO MARCH 2004Construction Safety Campaign AGM, Liverpool, 8 NovemberThe Construction Safety Campaigns 2003 AGM and national meeting is to be held in Liverpool on 8 November. Key issues are corporate killing, asbestos risks, employee consultation and roving reps. Further details from CSC, PO Box 23844, London, SE15 3WR, email or phone 07747 795954. IIAC public meeting, Glasgow, 18 March 2004The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council (IIAC), the body that advises the government on which accidents and diseases should qualify for industrial injuries payouts, is giving members of the public a chance to find out about its work. A day of presentations and structured workshops at the 18 March 2004 meeting in Glasgow will: Describe the process of 'prescribing' occupational diseases - picking the ones that get added to the list; seek opinions about new issues of concern in occupational health; and will provide an opportunity to contribute ideas on IIACs future work programme. IIAC says individual cases or claims cannot be discussed at the meeting, however. Admission free, by ticket only. To apply for tickets or to get further information, contact Neil Davidson, IIAC Secretariat, tel. 0207 962 8066. IIAC website TUC courses for safety repsCOURSES FOR SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2003Midlands, North, North West, Scotland, South East, South West, Wales, Yorkshire and Humberside [update text here] USEFUL LINKSVisit the TUC http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/ website pages on health and safety. See whats on offer from TUC Publications and Whats On in health and safety.Subscribe to Hazards magazine, supported by the TUC as a key source of information for union safety reps.Whats new in the HSC/E and the European Agency.HSE Books , PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA. Tel: 01787 881165; fax: 01787 313995. |
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