DEADLY BUSINESS NEWS NEWS ARCHIVE 2010

USA: Law rejection ‘an insult to their memory’
While US lawmakers did not see the necessity for improved mine safety laws, the US media certainly did. An 11 December editorial in the New York Times noted: “Just eight months after the nation was shocked by the death of 29 coal miners in the Upper Big Branch explosion in West Virginia, Republicans have once again pandered to industry and blocked passage of an urgently needed mine safety reform.”
New York Times • Huffington Post • In These Times • Risks 487
Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Bangladesh: Another tragedy in a garment factory
At least 28 Bangladeshi garment workers are believed to have died and dozens more have been injured after a fire broke out on the 9th and 10th floors of the ‘That's It Sportswear Ltd’ factory, 16 miles outside the capital Dhaka. The factory produces goods for major high street retailers Walmart, H&M, Next, JC Penney, Kohl's, Squeeze, Sears, Target Store, Charming Shoppes, Carrefour, Inditex, Miss Etam, Migros and Celio.
Clean Clothes Campaign news release • BBC News Online • Ha-meem Group facebook page • Risks 487
Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Britain: Excavator firm fined for severed fingers
Heavy plant manufacturer Komatsu has been fined after a worker had two fingers severed when his hand was caught in a drilling machine. John Watson, 55, was drilling holes in steel plates at Komatsu UK Ltd in Birtley, when his right hand became caught in the rotating parts of the machine.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 487
Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Britain: Builder fined for ignoring safety warnings
A Burnley builder whose employees were forced to work in unsanitary conditions, with no toilet or washing facilities, has been fined after ignoring a string of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforcement notices. Michael Connolly, 46, was prosecuted after repeated failures to improve conditions at the site in Littleborough where he had employed contractors to convert a house into flats and shops.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 487
Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Britain: Fencing firm ignored safety notices
A Gloucester fencing company ignored legally binding enforcement orders requiring it to provide access to hot running water for staff and to ensure its local exhaust ventilation system was working. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) served both improvement and ‘stop work’ prohibition notices on Andy Sutton Fencing Ltd, ordering the firm to properly protect its workers from wood dust and dangerous machinery.
HSE news release • Risks 487

Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Britain: Company fined after man crushed by truck
A Buckinghamshire engineering company has been fined £30,000 after a worker was crushed to death at its premises. Bryn Evans, 52, from Milton Keynes was acting as a banksman at Trevett Engineering Limited and was guiding a reversing heavy goods delivery vehicle towards a doorway when he was killed.
HSE news release • Risks 487
Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Britain: Print firm fined after lorry incident
A 10-year-old equipment fault at a Bristol stationery supply firm saw a worker sustain serious injuries after he was caught between a reversing lorry and a loading platform. Nathan Ford, 30, suffered a fractured collarbone and forearm in the incident which happened as he was receiving a consignment of paper reels at the premises of his employer, Business Forms Express.
HSE news release and vehicle loading and unloading webpages • Risks 487
Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Britain: Firm fined after roofer breaks back
A roofing contractor from East London broke his back when falling through the skylight of a building extension, after safety procedures were overloooked. Company owner James Thompson pleaded guilty to a criminal breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £7,000.
HSE news release • Risks 487
Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Britain: Grieving mum warns safety cuts will kill
The mother of a man killed as a result of employer negligence has warned that workers' families will pay a heavy price arising from a government “hell-bent” on slashing health and safety protection. Dorothy Wright was speaking after the two companies responsible for her son Mark's death were fined a total of £440,000.
HSE news release • Dorothy and Douglas Wright’s Victim Impact Statement • Morning Star • Daily Post • BBC News Online • Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) website and the We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 487
Hazards news, 18 December 2010

Britain: Government’s ‘dangerous’ plans for EU law
Government plans to change the way European directives become part of UK law have been condemned by the TUC as “dangerous” and “counter-productive.” Business secretary Vince Cable, who chairs the Cabinet’s Reducing Regulation Committee, said the government intended to end “the charge of ‘gold-plating’ so that British businesses are not put at a disadvantage relative to their European competitors.”
TUC news release • BIS news release • TUC reports: The case for health and safety; The red tape delusion: Why deregulation won’t solve the jobs crisis [pdf]; ‘Flexible with the truth? Exploring the relationship between labour market flexibility and labour market performance [pdf] • Risks 487
Hazards news, 18 December 2010

USA: IKEA charged with labour rights abuses
A major IKEA factory in the US stands accused of serious workers’ rights, discrimination and health and safety abuses. This week trade union leaders from more than 25 countries protested in front of a new IKEA store in Geneva, Switzerland, “to send a message that they were united against workers’ rights abuses” at the wholly IKEA-owned Swedwood plant in Danville, Virginia, USA.
BWI news release and IKEA Swedwood campaign webpage and Facebook group • Machinists news release • Sign up to the BWI xmas message to IKEA chief executive officer and president, Mikael Ohlsson • Risks 486
Hazards news, 11 December 2010

USA: Oil industry regulation still inadequate
The US government’s overhaul of the federal agency that regulates offshore drilling doesn’t go far enough to prevent conflicts of interest and enhance safety, according to leaders of the presidential panel studying the causes of the Gulf oil spill. Under the current inspection programme, inspectors are sent armed with little more than checklists and pencils into the Gulf to ensure the safety of more than 3,500 oil platforms and drilling rigs.
ProPublica news report and related blog entry • Houston Chronicle • Wall Street Journal • Risks 486
Hazards news, 11 December 2010

Britain: McDonalds fined for partial blinding
Fast food giant McDonalds has paid out more than £20,000 after an employee at a London drive-thru was partially blinded by an acid-based drain cleaner. The burger chain was taken to court by Wandsworth Council after the worker suffered burns to his face and eyes that has left him with only around 55 per cent vision in his left eye.
Wandsworth Guardian • Risks 486
Hazards news, 11 December 2010

Britain: Schlumberger fined over North Sea radiation
Offshore industry firm Schlumberger Oilfield UK has been fined £300,000 after workers on a North Sea installation were placed at risk of exposure to radiation. Radioactive material was left lying on the drill floor for about four hours, during which time 14 workers were placed at risk of exposure.
COPFS news release • BBC News Online • Risks 486
Hazards news, 11 December 2010

Britain: Flooring firm fined for finger injuries
A laminate flooring firm has admitted criminal safety offences after a worker’s hand was maimed at its Merseyside factory. Christopher Sillitoe now has difficulty dressing himself, and using a knife and fork, after his hand came into contact with a large circular saw at Universal Mouldings Ltd's site in Aintree on 20 August 2009.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 486
Hazards news, 11 December 2010

Britain: Half of car repair firms are law breakers
Almost half (49 per cent) of motor vehicle repair premises visited across Kent have been issued legally binding Health and Safety Executive (HSE) enforcement notices after inspectors found criminal safety breaches. Inspectors from HSE, Kent Fire and Rescue Service and local authorities have been looking at areas such as asbestos management, electrical safety, chemical use and equipment maintenance as part of the ‘Common Approach to Vehicle Enterprise’ (CAVE) initiative.
HSE news release and MVR webpages • Risks 486
Hazards news, 11 December 2010

Britain: Two die at Sonae board factory
Two workers have been killed in an horrific industrial incident at a Merseyside wood processing factory. Maintenance workers Thomas Elmer, 27, and James Bibby, 25, both from Rossendale, Lancashire, were working for sub-contractor Metso at the Sonae wood processing factory in Kirkby.
Liverpool Echo, follow up letter and related article • Liverpool Daily Post • Nerve website and related back issues of Nerve from 2007 and 2004 • BBC News Online • Parliamentary question reported in They work for you • Risks 486
Hazards news, 11 December 2010

Global: Appeal for deadly jeans sandblasting to end
Unions, safety and labour rights campaigners are demanding that clothing giants stop selling sandblasted jeans, a process linked to deadly occupational lung diseases. At a press conference in Istanbul last week, the Solidarity Committee of Denim Sandblasting Labourers of Turkey and the Clean Clothes Campaign, supported by dozens of trade unions and labour rights organisations, also called on governments to consider a ban on sandblasted products.
Solidarity Committee of Denim Sandblasting Labourers of Turkey website and the Clean Clothes Campaign appeal • Risks 485
Hazards news, 4 December 2010

Britain: Warning on creeping offshore complacency
A cycle of ‘decay’ in offshore safety has afflicted the sector in the past and must be resisted by the industry and its regulators, the chair of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said. Judith Hackitt said the commitment to safety “must be sustained in the long term and it must be spread more broadly if we are to ensure that we don't see history repeat itself with another cycle where improved short-term performance leads to complacency and reduced investment.”
HSE news release and offshore liaison webpages • Risks 485
Hazards news, 4 December 2010

Britain: Employers pay just 3% of work asthma costs
More than 3,000 people develop asthma because of their work conditions but the state and the individual share the costs, with employers picking up hardly any of the bill, researchers have said. Writing in the journal Thorax, they note about 49 per cent of the lifetime costs of occupational asthma are borne by the individual, 48 per cent by the state and just 3 per cent by the employer.
Jon Ayres and others. Costs of occupational asthma in the UK, Thorax, Online First, 25 November 2010. doi: 10.1136/thx.2010.136762 [abstract] • The Telegraph • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Dangerous li(v)es, Hazards, November 2010 • Risks 485
Hazards news, 4 December 2010

Britain: Safety failures led to printer’s death
A printer was crushed to death after being dragged into a machine at a Wakefield firm after a string of safety lapses, an inquest jury has ruled. Unite member William Aveyard, 49, became trapped after trying to clear a blockage in a hand-fed press at printing firm Bezier.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Yorkshire Evening Post • Wakefield Express • Risks 485
Hazards news, 4 December 2010

Britain: Lords safety debate opens old wounds
Construction union UCATT has condemned Lord Young for belittling workplace safety in an address to the Lords. The Tory peer, who was forced to resign as a government health and safety and enterprise adviser last week, was responsible for the government's deregulatory focused health and safety review.
House of Lords debate, ‘Health and Safety: Common Sense Common Safety’, 25 November 2010, Hansard, pages 1 and 2 of the debate • IOSH news release • Morning Star •  We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 485
Hazards news, 4 December 2010

Britain: Derisory fine after death
A Midlands firm has been fined just £1,500 after a man was crushed to death. David Hunt, 49, died from injuries when hooks holding up a metal beam disengaged while he was working at Ark Install Galvanising in Tividale.
Halesowen news • Risks 484
Hazards news, 27 November 2010

Britain: Rail company ordered to improve safety
A report from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch has criticised Eurotunnel's safety procedures and called for major changes in how the firm deals with emergencies. This follows an incident two years ago when a freight train went on fire in the tunnel 7 miles from Calais.
RAIB report • Risks 484
Hazards news, 27 November 2010

Britain: Waste company fined after worker's legs crushed
A London-based waste management firm has been fined after an employee's legs were crushed between two steel frames while unloading a truck. McGrath (Waste Control) Ltd was fined £14,000 and ordered to pay £7,447 in costs.
HSE news release • Risks 484
Hazards news, 27 November 2010

USA: Hyatt hotel chain accused
US trade union UNITE-HERE has accused the Hyatt Corporation of having the worst safety record in the hotel industry. It cites a peer-reviewed academic study published by the American Journal of Industrial Medicine that places Hyatt dead last among the 50 hotels studied.
Union blog • Extract of study • Risks 484
Hazards news, 27 November 2010

Britain: Council cuts begin to hit
Evidence of the effect of the cuts has been highlighted after Liverpool City Council stated that it cannot afford to recruit enough EHOs. TUC head of safety, Hugh Robertson said safety would suffer as unlike food premises, “there is no requirement on them to make regular health and safety inspections on premises,” adding: “This means that many premises are never visited.”
Environmental Health News • Risks 484
Hazards news, 27 November 2010

Britain: Leaked memo reveals safety risks on Tube
A leaked internal London Underground document, passed to the RMT transport union, has contradicted management claims that they have no plans for unstaffed stations as a result of the cuts.
RMT news release • Risks 484
Hazards news, 27 November 2010

Britain: Mariners kept in appalling conditions
A Panamanian flagged vessel has been detained by the UK maritime authorities after an inspection revealed that the crew had to put up with dreadful conditions. The Most Sky, owned by Er-Em Shipping and Trading of Istanbul, Turkey, was held in Birkenhead by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency after the alarm was raised by the pilot.
ITF news • Risks 484
Hazards news, 27 November 2010

Britain: TUC slams child labourer safety fine
Kevin Banks, a building contractor from Stroud, has been fined just £2,000 with 34,052 costs after a 14-year-old boy was seriously injured when he overturned a dumper truck on a construction site while driving down a slope while not wearing a seatbelt. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Here we have a contractor who knowingly flouted the law and who risked the life of a child getting what is little more than a slap on the wrist.”
HSE release • Risks 484
Hazards news, 27 November 2010

Britain: Safety adviser goes - but TUC urges caution
Lord Young of Graffham, the prime minister's special adviser on both health and safety and enterprise, has resigned after claiming most voters had “never had it so good”. Hugh Robertson, TUC head of health and safety, warned: “Lord Young may be gone but his spectre continues to loom over us,” adding: “The fact that the government asked a man like this to be a special adviser on health and safety speaks volumes in itself.”
Unite release • Risks 484
Hazards news, 27 November 2010

USA: Who cares about black lung deaths?
Three coal miners in the US die daily - and needlessly - from black lung disease; over 1,000 coal miners perish every year. And a University of California in Santa Barbara found the industry is not picking up the tab, with the multibillion dollar cost of a government black lung compensation scheme not showing up on the utility bill, but paid for by consumers nonetheless.
Common Dreams • Charleston Gazette • Risks 483
Hazards news, 20 November 2010

USA: Killed someone? Have an award
US health and safety authorities are handing out ‘Sentinels of Safety’ awards to major companies guilty of serious and sometimes deadly safety infractions. According to worker safety advocates, the commendations illustrate the dangers of federal agencies becoming too chummy with the industries they regulate.
Washington Post • FairWarning • Risks 483
Hazards news, 20 November 2010

Britain: Chemical firm fined after fireball horror
An offshoot of a global chemical company that posted £100 million profits in 2009 has been fined £20,000 after a welder suffered serious burns in a dust explosion. David Lightfoot was carrying out welding on a large container containing 380 tonnes of the explosive powder terephthalic acid at Indorama Polymers (Workington) Ltd.
HSE news release and fire and explosion webpages • Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited financial highlights • News and Star • Risks 483
Hazards news, 20 November 2010

Britain: Site firm fined for electric burns
A Solihull groundworks specialist has been fined £13,000 after one of its workers suffered severe burns when his drill hit a power cable. The Pacestone Construction Ltd worker, who asked not to be identified, was using a pneumatic drill to dig a trench at the Taylor Wimpey housing development in Walsall, when he struck an 11kv cable under the pavement on 13 August 2009.
HSE news release and electricity webpages • Construction Enquirer • Construction News • Risks 483
Hazards news, 20 November 2010

Britain: Waste and recycling four times as dangerous
The combined fatal and major injury rate in waste and recycling is still more than four times the average across all industries, latest official figures have confirmed. A total of 416 out of every 100,000 employees suffered a major injury or were killed at work compared with the all industry average rate of 102 per 100,000, according to the latest statistics released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release and statistics • Risks 483
Hazards news, 20 November 2010

Britain: Unions welcome Sellafield body parts report
The government has apologised to the families of dead nuclear workers whose body parts were taken for testing without their knowledge. The Redfern Inquiry was ordered when it emerged in 2007 that organs were taken from 65 workers at Sellafield in Cumbria between 1962 and 1992.
The Redfern Inquiry • Prospect news release • GMB news release • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 483
Hazards news, 20 November 2010

Britain: Time to fight back on safety cutbacks
Unions and safety campaigners must escalate their efforts to combat a government assault on workplace safety regulation and enforcement, a new report from Hazards has warned. ‘Dangerous li(v)es’ condemns a savage funding cut to the Health and Safety Executive combined with a dilution of safety rules as “a political project driven by the business lobby and built around dangerous lies.”
Dangerous li(v)es, Hazards, Number 112, 2010. ‘Want to know about burdens?’ poster • ‘Get shirty: Watch dodge – HSE butchered, safety laws under attack’ feature • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign kit • Risks 483
Hazards news, 20 November 2010

Britain: Tube safety team cut in half
Management plans to axe more than half of London Underground’s (LU) health and safety team have been condemned by rail unions. The unions say they have been informed of plans to cut LU’s health, safety and environment directorate from 127 staff to just 62.
TSSA news release • BBC News Online • Risks 483
Hazards news, 20 November 2010

USA: President's panel slams complacent oil firms
Three major companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill lacked a safety culture and made serious mistakes ahead of the catastrophe, an official inquiry into the disaster has said. The White House oil spill commission said there was a culture of complacency at BP, Transocean and Halliburton.
Statement from Oil Spill Commission co-chair Bill Reilly • National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling • BBC News Online and related story • The Guardian • Dallas Morning News • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

USA: Safety enforcement is the efficient choice
Barriers to enforcement of safety regulations should be removed and enforcement agencies imparted with a sense of urgency, a top US law expert has said. University of Maryland law professor Rena Steinzor believes enforcement is not just the more effective option, it is the more efficient option.
Huffington Post • Capitol Hill Blue • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Global: The story of (electronic) stuff
In under eight minutes, ‘The story of electronics’ video lets you “learn about the electronics industry’s ‘design for the dump’ mentality.” The ‘Story of stuff’ team behind the new video say: “Join us in championing product take back to spur companies to make less toxic, more easily recyclable and longer lasting products.”
The story of electronics and related background materials • The story of stuff • Find a group working on electronics health and safety and e-waste issues • Huffington Post • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Britain: Hard up firm escapes teen burns fine
A West Midlands company has admitted failing to protect its employees after two teenage workers suffered chemical burns – but the firm has been spared a fine because it is broke. Fretus Ltd was given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £4,500 costs.
Coventry Telegraph • SHP Online • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Britain: Farming safety gains ‘wiped out’
A sharp rise in the number of people killed or seriously injured on British farms has wiped out previous safety gains. HSE says although only around 1.5 per cent of the working population is employed in agriculture, it accounted for 1-in-4 work-related deaths last year.
‎HSE news release, statistics webpages, agriculture statistics and Statistics 2009/10 [pdf] • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Britain: A quarter of small sites shut down
Safety inspectors have been forced to stop work on 1-in-4 small building sites during an inspection blitz across London. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors are to continue the enforcement blitz of small refurbishment sites over the next few weeks. So far, close to 25 per cent of the 150 small construction sites visited have had prohibition notices served on them.
HSE news release and blitz statistics • Construction Enquirer • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Britain: Safety alert on unseen sweatshops
Union, safety and anti-poverty campaigners are urging the government to stamp out sweatshop labour in Britain. The call comes after an undercover investigation by the Channel 4 Dispatches programme found “dangerous, pressurised sweatshop conditions,” pay at half the legal minimum wage, and staff forced to work faster under threat of the sack and in cramped, overheated conditions with poor hygiene standards.
Dispatches • War and Want link to full programme • TUC news release • IOSH news release • Morning Star • The Independent • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Britain: Firm with £1bn sales gets £6k fine
A multinational foam manufacturer with global sales worth over £1 billion in 2009 has been fined £6,238 after a lorry driver’s back was broken when a pile of insulating board fell on him. Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates heard that on 21 October 2009 Colin Ball, a 52-year-old lorry driver, was delivering a consignment of insulation board to Recticel Limited’s warehouse in Stoke on Trent when a separate stack toppled onto him and knocked him back into his trailer.
HSE news release • Reticel Ltd financial summary • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Britain: Welcome for Potters Bar crash prosecutions
The decision to prosecute Network Rail and maintenance company Jarvis Rail over the 2002 Potters Bar crash in which seven people died has been welcomed by rail union RMT. Bob Crow, the union’s general secretary said: “RMT has campaigned for criminal proceedings against those responsible for the avoidable and tragic disaster at Potters Bar for eight long years,” adding that the decision to prosecute was “better late than never.”
ORR news release • BBC News Online • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Britain: Worker injured by electrical flame
A Teesside worker suffered burns when he hit an 11,000 volt underground electricity cable while planting trees. Robert Stubbs, 24, was planting trees in Redcar for social housing landlord Coast and Country Housing Ltd when the incident happened.
HSE news release and electricity webpages • The Gazette • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Britain: Cement giant fined after fireball horror
Lafarge Cement has been fined £130,000 after an electrical engineer was engulfed by a fireball.  Contractor Paul Ridings, 39, disturbed a loose connection and exposed a strand of wire, leading to an electrical explosion in which his clothes caught fire and he sustained burns to his face, neck, chest, arms and hands.
HSE news release and electricity webpages • Construction Enquirer • Thurrock Gazette • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Britain: Worker gassed inside a machine
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted a Black Country recycling firm after nitrogen gas, used to stop explosions, made employee Stephen Barnes, 47, pass out. Halesowen Magistrates Court heard that it was usual for workers at Overton Recycling to climb into the chute of a fridge recycling machine.
HSE news release and work in confined spaces webpages • Express and Star • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Global: Don’t base policy on deadly lies
The business lobby both sides of the Atlantic is using “bogus arguments” and “rigged statistics” to push for health and safety deregulation, a new report reveals. ‘Don’t base policy on deadly lies’ warns the business argument relies on inflating its estimates of the costs of regulation and ignoring the human and economic costs of health and safety failures, in “a toxic, but very deliberate, combination of bad science and bad sums.”
Don’t base policy on deadly lies, ITUC/Hazards green jobs, safe jobs blog, 11 November 2010 • We didn't vote to die at work: Campaign briefings, posters and resources • Risks 482
Hazards news, 13 November 2010

Australia: This is why I’m coming home safe
Tasmania’s state government is using the Facebook social networking site as a tool to make Tasmanian workplaces safer. A new ‘Homecomings’ campaign is using Facebook and television advertising to encourage people to post a picture of who they want to go home safely to each night.
Tasmania government news release • WorkSafe Tasmania Homecomings campaign and TV ad • ABC News • The Mercury • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

USA: Deadly mine bosses plead the Fifth
At least six officials at Massey Energy have pleaded the Fifth - asserting their constitutional right against self-incrimination - and have declined to testify in a joint state and US federal investigation into a coal mine explosion in April in which 29 miners died.
AFL-CIO Now blog • Charleston Gazette • NPR report • FairWarnings • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

USA: BP and Halliburton knew of dangers
The US presidential commission investigating the BP oil spill has reached a stark conclusion about a factor that contributed to the deadly 20 April drilling explosion: The cement used to seal the bottom of the well was faulty. Moreover, cement contractor Halliburton and BP both knew it.
New York Times • FairWarnings • Courthouse News • The Guardian • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: Austere times mean more working wounded
Bosses must beware of the signs of ‘presenteeism’ among workers as austerity measures begin to bite across the public and private sectors, safety professionals’ organisation IOSH has warned. It says cost-cutting across government departments, public bodies and suppliers could lead to more working wounded, worried about the implications of taking time off sick.
IOSH news release • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: Fitter dies in loading shovel incident
A Durham company has received a six figure fine after its criminal safety failings led to the death of worker Alan Noddle at its coal processing plant in Immingham. Hargreaves (UK) Services Ltd, a major energy support services company, pleaded guilty at Grimsby Crown Court and was fined £120,000 and ordered to pay £35,000 costs.
HSE news release • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: Wrist snapped as glove was tangled in drill
A Cardiff manufacturing firm has been fined after a worker broke his wrist when his glove became entangled in an unguarded drill. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Elmatic (Cardiff) Ltd following the incident at its factory on 11 March 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: Printing firm injured workers’ hands
An Essex company has been fined after two employees had their hands crushed by printing presses within months of each other. The workers at printing and binding firm Wyndeham Heron Ltd had been working with machines, when their hands became trapped.
HSE news release and printing webpages • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: ‘Shocking violence’ against striking firefighters
Two arrests were made after separate incidents when striking firefighters were struck by vehicles outside stations that were being picketed in south London. One man was arrested after a striker was hit by a car driven by a non-union manager trying to enter Croydon fire station, while a second arrest was made when an executive member of the firefighters’ union FBU was hit by a fire engine returning to Southwark fire station.
FBU news release • The Guardian • Daily Mail • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: Safety probe into fire strike contractor
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is examining a complaint about the competency of contract staff brought in by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to replace striking firefighters in London. Private firm AssetCo was given a multi-million pound contract as part of LFB’s contingency plans to deal with the walkouts by FBU members.
BBC News Online • Waltham Forest Gazette • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: Tube safety strikes continue
Thousands of union members have continued a programme of strikes after Tube bosses refused to suspend their “dangerous and unnecessary” plan to axe 800 safety critical station staff. The engineering and operational staff walked out on 2 November, with further 24-hour stoppages scheduled for 28 and 29 November.
RMT news release • TSSA news release • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: ‘Shocking violence’ against striking firefighters
Two arrests were made after separate incidents when striking firefighters were struck by vehicles outside stations that were being picketed in south London. One man was arrested after a striker was hit by a car driven by a non-union manager trying to enter Croydon fire station, while a second arrest was made when an executive member of the firefighters’ union FBU was hit by a fire engine returning to Southwark fire station.
FBU news release • The Guardian • Daily Mail • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: Safety probe into fire strike contractor
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is examining a complaint about the competency of contract staff brought in by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) to replace striking firefighters in London. Private firm AssetCo was given a multi-million pound contract as part of LFB’s contingency plans to deal with the walkouts by FBU members.
BBC News Online • Waltham Forest Gazette • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: Tube safety strikes continue
Thousands of union members have continued a programme of strikes after Tube bosses refused to suspend their “dangerous and unnecessary” plan to axe 800 safety critical station staff. The engineering and operational staff walked out on 2 November, with further 24-hour stoppages scheduled for 28 and 29 November.
RMT news release • TSSA news release • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: TUC exposes safety inspection crisis
Almost half (49 per cent) of workplaces in the UK have never been visited by a health and safety inspector, new figures from the TUC suggest. The union body says the lack of official oversight is a “scandal” that leaves workers at risk from rogue employers.
TUC news release • Morning Star
TUC safety campaign resources: Fighting the cuts to health and safety • How to lobby your MP on health and safety • The case for health and safety
We didn't vote to die at work: Campaign briefings, posters and resources • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: HSE cuts are the real ‘safety madness’
Drastic cuts in the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) budget are a sure sign the government’s approach to safety has “gone mad”, the union Prospect has said. Prospect deputy general secretary Mike Clancy said: It cannot be in the national interest to reduce investment in a body whose mission is to prevent death, injury and ill-health – saving lives and costs – just days after lauding it as pivotal to the restoration of the UK’s occupational health and safety reputation and practice.”
Prospect news release • TUC news release • Prime Minister’s Office news release • BBC News Online • People Management • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

Britain: Site deaths show folly of HSE cuts
Six construction deaths were killed in the week the government announced the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) budget was to be slashed. Construction union UCATT said the rash of fatalities should be seen as a warning that drastic cuts in HSE’s funding could leave workers entering the industry at additional risk as the sector recovers from the recession.
UCATT news release • HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 481
Hazards news, 6 November 2010

USA: Gun powder maker fined $1.2m for deadly blast
A US gun powder manufacturer is facing fines of $1.2m after an explosion killed two workers who had been employed by the firm for only a month. “Even after a prior incident in which a worker was seriously injured, and multiple warnings from its business partners and a former employee, this employer still decided against implementing safety measures,” said assistant secretary of labour for OSHA Dr David Michaels.
OSHA news release • Industry Week • Risks 480
Hazards news, 30 October 2010

Britain: Farm hand loses leg in harvester
A farmworker’s leg had to be amputated after he attempted to clear a blockage on a harvesting machine operated by his boss while the blades were still rotating.
HSE news release • Risks 480
Hazards news, 30 October 2010

Britain: Firm refused to listen to noise warnings
A Burnley manufacturing company has been fined £16,000 after it ignored a formal warning about noise levels at its factory. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Equestrian Surfaces Ltd for putting its employees' hearing at risk, despite being given two extensions to an improvement notice requiring a reduction in their daily noise exposure levels.
HSE news release and noise webpages • Lancashire Telegraph • Risks 480
Hazards news, 30 October 2010

Britain: Roadworks company fined over M4 death
A Newport traffic management company has been sentenced after a trainee employee was struck and killed by a vehicle when working on the M4 near Cardiff. Sean Luke Hale, 30, a father of two young daughters, was hit by a car while crossing the carriageway to collect traffic cones from the central reservation during road resurfacing of the busy motorway in 2006.
HSE news release • South Wales Argus • Risks 480
Hazards news, 30 October 2010

Britain: Workplace harm up, prosecutions down
The number of people harmed by their jobs increased by 100,000 last year, according to official figures, while the number of prosecutions and convictions reached a record low. The new statistics have prompted a warning from TUC that workplace injuries and diseases could increase as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) struggles to cope with unprecedented budget cuts.
TUC news release • HSE news release and report, Statistics 2009/10 [pdf] • Risks 480
Hazards news, 30 October 2010

Britain: £1 fine over site death 'an insult'
A woman whose husband died after falling from faulty scaffolding has said a £1 fine on one of the firms responsible is “an insult.” Peter Walton, 55, fell five metres on 10 May 2006, while working as a joiner on a site near Accrington; Howorth Scaffolding was fined £25,000, but developer Glenmill Group was fined £1.
HSE news release • FACK news release • BBC News Online • Burnley Citizen • Risks 480
Hazards news, 30 October 2010

Britain: Cuts could jeopardise safety, IOSH warns
Budget cuts could risk the steady year-on-year decline in work-related deaths and injuries in the UK, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has warned. IOSH is concerned that the 35 per cent budget cuts the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) faces following last week’s government spending review could reverse the downward injury trend.
IOSH news release • Risks 480
Hazards news, 30 October 2010

Britain: HSE cuts ‘to lead to self-regulation’
A leading trade magazine has claimed drastic cuts in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) budget could lead to the introduction of self-regulation in the construction sector. Construction News (CN) cites sources who say industry bodies will be asked to ensure their members self-regulate while HSE inspectors focus mainly on high risk sites, although an HSE spokesperson told Hazards: “HSE has no contingency plans for this purpose.”
Construction News • Risks 480
Hazards news, 30 October 2010

Chile: Mine rescue exposes safety shortfall
The release of 33 trapped miners in Chile has been celebrated worldwide, but has also raised troubling questions about the circumstances that led to the workers being entombed for 69 days at Campañia Minera San Esteban Primera’s San José copper mine.
ICEM news report • Morning Star • Huffington Post • Sustainlabour • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

USA: Deadly firms get federal business
A report from the US Government Accountability Office says contractors are routinely receiving lucrative government business even after they had been cited for violating laws designed to protect workers. Colleen M Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said the report underscores “the willingness of some private companies to shortchange the wages and benefits of their employees, to risk their health and safety, and through environmental violations the health of the public at large, in pursuit of federal work.”
Federal contracting: Assessments and Citations of Federal Labor Law Violations by Selected Federal Contractors, GAO report [pdf] • Washington Post • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Zambia: Outrage after bosses shoot miners
Police in Zambia have charged two Chinese mine managers with attempted murder after they allegedly opened fire on a group of miners. At least 11 workers were injured, two critically, in the incident at the Collum coal mine in the southern town of Sinazongwe.
Wall Street Journal • BBC News Online • Financial Times • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: Government fails bereaved families
A government decision to scrap a review of the inquest system and abolish the position of chief coroner before it is even established is a betrayal of bereaved families, campaigners have said.
Reform of coroner system, MoJ response, 14 October 2010. Inquest news release [pdf] • Morning Star • UK Human Rights blog • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: Hose firm injures three in two months
A Chichester rubber hose manufacturer has been fined after three workers were injured on its premises in a two month period. Oldham Seals Limited was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,151.25 at Chichester Magistrates Court after pleading guilty to a criminal breach of safety law.
HSE news release and safety management webpages • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: Plastics firm seriously injured teen worker
A Lancashire plastics company has appeared in court after a teenage apprentice suffered serious injuries when his arm was dragged into a machine. The worker, who asked not be named, dislocated his left shoulder and broke his arm on 6 May 2008 while working at General All Purpose (GAP) Plastic's Blackburn factory.
HSE news release • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: A bad seven days for health and safety
Cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and to local authority budgets announced in the spending review will make it easier for rogue employers to take unacceptable risks with the health and safety of their workforce, the TUC has warned. 
TUC news release • Chancellor’s statement on the spending review, HM Treasury news release, related news release on cuts to the DWP budget and Spending Review webpages • The Scotsman • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: HSE cuts make more deaths ‘inevitable’
Cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) budget will put workers’ lives at risk, UCATT has warned.
UCATT news release • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: Tube maintenance staff fight for safety
London Underground fleet maintenance staff will take industrial action from next week in defence of safety-critical jobs. The RMT members, who returned a massive vote in favour of industrial action short of a strike, are refusing to carry out higher grade working and will not to cooperate with staff movements away from home locations.
RMT news release • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: HSE to ‘actively pursue’ Lord Young’s plan
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has “warmly welcomed” the recommendations of Lord Young’s health and safety review. His report, which was commissioned by David Cameron and which is now the government blueprint for health and safety reform, comes as the safety watchdog faces swingeing cuts as part of the government’s spending review.
HSE news release and Young report webpages • HSE news releases on the consultants register and the office risk assessment tool • Online risk assessment tool for offices • Prospect news release • BOHS news release • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: Unions slam official safety blueprint
Unions have reacted angrily to the government-adopted safety report they say will undermine hard-won safety standards. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said “the moment Lord Young was given the brief to review Britain’s health and safety regime he began ridiculing it, criticising the mythical ‘compensation culture’ and wheeling out ‘health-and-safety-gone-mad’ stories.”
RMT news release • GMB news release • UCATT news release • CWU news release • STUC news release • Morning Star • Daily Mirror • Personnel Today • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: Business glee at the safety reforms
While the unions representing the workers on the rough end of Lord Young’s safety reforms have been dismayed by the new government-approved plan, the business lobby by contrast has been united in its praise for the measures to pare back safety protections.
IoD news release • CBI news release • EEF news release • BCC news release • BRC news release • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: Dangerous double standard for ‘low risk’ work
The government risks introducing a dangerous double standard on safety if it implements reforms proposed by Lord Young, unions and campaigners have warned. Hope Daley, UNISON’s head of health and safety, said: “Despite the review, Lord Young shows no awareness of the problems caused by occupational ill-health and no real understanding of the level of injury or ill-health in schools, classrooms or offices.”
UNISON news release • Usdaw news release • FACK news release • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: School trips could get riskier, unions warn
Government plans to ease the risk assessment requirement on school trips could remove a common sense safety measure and increase risks to pupils, teaching unions have warned.
ATL news release • Daily Mail • The Independent • Risks 479
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: Academics warn of ‘big society’ dangers
David Cameron’s vision of a “big society” is in reality a dangerous illusion which could bulldoze through big reductions in already threadbare safety protection, researchers have warned. Liverpool-based academics Professor Steve Tombs and Dr David Whyte say the prime minister’s big society has “a, quite literally, dangerous flip-side.”
Left Foot Forward
Hazards news, 23 October 2010

Britain: Hospital guilty for worker’s Hepatitis C
A healthcare worker at a Worcestershire hospital contracted the Hepatitis C virus after injuring herself on a needle used to take blood from an infected patient. During the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust over the February 2007 incident, City Magistrates heard the worker, who had been training at the Trust for three weeks, was instructed to take blood from a patient she had not been told was infected with the virus.
HSE news release and the relevant COSHH regulation • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Britain: Safety firm fined after death plunge
A safety testing company’s lax rules for its own employees were exposed after one of its senior engineers fell to his death while inspecting the rooftop safety system at a Bradford DIY store. Nottingham-based First Testing Ltd employee Paul Voller, 31, died after plunging about 30ft through a skylight at the B&Q store.
Telegraph and Argus • Nottingham Post • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Britain: Company fined after cutter hits head
The owner of Bristol lighting company Fineline has been fined £20,000 after an employee was injured by machinery that was not properly guarded. Rolf Weber sustained minor head injuries on 5 February 2010, after going into the working area of the machine to remove a finished work piece and inadvertently hitting his head on the cutter, which was still rotating at full speed.
HSE news release and work equipment webpages • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Britain: Fencing firm didn’t fence machinery
A Manchester fencing manufacturer has admitted putting its employees in danger by allowing them to use unguarded machinery. Fencing Supplies Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the company allowed guards to be disabled on nine fence cutting machines.
HSE news release • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Britain: Textile firm fined after eight foot fall
A man was left with serious injuries after a fall from an unguarded platform, a court heard during the sentencing of a Huddersfield textile retailer. Fifty-seven year-old Dennis Hunter was left with a broken leg and crushed ankle when he fell eight feet onto concrete while dismantling shelving at the Phoenox Textiles site.
HSE news release and shattered lives campaign • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Bangladesh: Three more shipbreakers die
Trade unions in Bangladesh have stepped up demands for safer working conditions in the country’s deadly shipbreaking industry after three workers died and scores more were injured in an incident  at a Chittagong yard. In March 2009, the Supreme Court in the country directed the government to ensure safety of those working at shipbreaking yards.
Morning Star • Daily Star • IMF shipbreaking webpages • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Chile: Miners are rescued, but mines still unsafe
All of the 33 miners trapped deep underground in northern Chile for more than two months have been rescued. The operation, which was completed on 14 October and took 22 hours, ended when the six rescuers sent down to assist the miners were winched up.
The Guardian • Financial Times • BBC News Online • New York Times updates • Christian Science Monitor • UMWA news release • CFMEU video • Daily Mirror • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Global: Gerdau fails to report accidents
A global trade union network is keeping up the pressure on steel multinational Gerdau to improve health and safety. A meeting of the network this month expressed concern at the company’s practice of “hiding” accidents by putting workers back on the job before they are able to do their work.
IMF news release • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Korea: Protesters ‘die-in’ at electronics fair
Members of the public attending a major electronics fair in Korea have found out more about the industry than they might have anticipated – as a ‘die-in’ by campaigners outside the event highlighted the occupational cancer and other risks blighting the sector.
Stop Samsung campaign news release • Good Electronics news release • The Hankyoreh • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Britain: Another voluntary safety system fails
Another attempt to run aspects of the health and safety policing regime on a voluntary basis has failed. The British Occupational Hygiene Society [BOHS] said “with deep regret” it was closing the Asbestos Building Inspectors Certification Scheme (ABICS), a body supported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and intended to ensure asbestos surveyors were certified to have reached the necessary competence standard.
BOHS news release • Industry Today • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Britain: Young Review is a ‘grave disappointment’
The TUC has branded as a ‘grave disappointment’ a government-backed report calling for a relaxed system of accident reporting, measures to address a compensation culture the government itself accepts does not exist and changes to the risk assessment process that do already exist.
Downing Street news release and full report, Common sense, common safety [pdf] • HSE news release • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Britain: Don’t base policy on myths and preconceptions
Safety standards at work could be sacrificed if the government implements Lord Young’s recommendations on reform of the UK health and safety system, the TUC has warned.
TUC news release •  TUC resources: Fighting the cuts to health and safety • How to lobby your MP on health and safety • The case for health and safety • We didn’t vote to die at work: Campaign briefings, posters and resources • Risks 478
Hazards news, 16 October 2010

Chile: Unions issue safety manifesto
Unions have called on the Chilean government to introduce effective health and safety legislation. The unions, from the mining, metals, and energy sectors, say flaws in the existing safety laws include excluding workers and their trade unions from participating in safety matters.
ICEM news report and letter to the Chilean government [pdf] • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Europe: Economic incentives pay dividends
Incentive schemes to encourage companies to invest in safety ‘pay dividends’, a report has concluded. The research by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) suggests the schemes are a cost-effective option for governments looking to cut the numbers of work-related accidents and illnesses. It says used in tandem with regulation and enforcement, the incentives could make it more likely that the EU reaches its workplace accident reduction target.
EU-OSHA news release, factsheet, Economic incentives at a glance, and full report, Economic incentives to improve occupational safety and health: a review from the European perspective • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

India: Death exposes tea worker exploitation
Poisonings and shootings are among the labour and human rights abuses at a tea plantation linked to the multinational Tata group, a new report has claimed. The Powai estate has one of the world's largest tea-processing factories and employs some 1,800 permanent and 1,200 temporary workers.
IUF news release and full report, In cold blood [pdf] • 10 Downing Street news release • Morning Star • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: Veolia fined after another death
National waste and recycling company Veolia ES (UK) Ltd has been fined £225,000 after a worker was killed in a vehicle collision while collecting litter from a busy road. The fine comes less than eight months after it was prosecuted for another workplace death.
HSE news release • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: Site firm fined after telehandler tragedy
Scottish construction firm James Swinton Co Ltd has been fined after one of its workers died four weeks after being struck by a telehandler driven by a co-worker. Charles Wilkinson, 51, from Berwick, was struck by the telehandler as it was being reversed the wrong way along a one-way residential street in Tweedmouth.
HSE news release • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: Couple in court after couple of crimes
The owners of a pine furniture workshop in Bacup have been prosecuted after an employee was seriously injured twice in less than two months. Simon Davies, 21, was cutting a small groove into a pine door on 13 July 2009 when it shot out of the machine, forcing his left hand onto a rotating blade.
HSE news release and woodworking webpages • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Global: BP safety talk is all about shareholders
The creation by BP of a new global safety unit with “sweeping powers” has the safety of shareholders’ money as its “ultimate goal”, the company’s top boss has admitted. BP chair Carl-Henric Svanberg said there were “difficult challenges ahead” but added “we have assembled a strong and able new team and are developing a robust strategy to deal with them and to deliver our ultimate goal – the restoration of shareholder value.” BP news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Houston Chronicle • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: Call for UK equity fines law
A member of the Scottish parliament has said the UK government should introduce a new safety fines system, after the Scottish parliament’s Justice Committee said it did not have the power to implement the measure. The committee said the Criminal Sentencing (Equity Fines) Bill, introduced by SNP’s Dr Bill Wilson MSP, impinged on legislation reserved to Westminster.
Bill Wilson MSP news release • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

USA: Multiple killers face lower penalties
The more people harmed by a corporation’s negligence, the lower the court penalty is likely to be, US researchers have found. The findings came in a US study that examined 136 representative cases between 2000-2009 in which individuals from corporations had been found guilty by juries of negligently exposing members of the public to asbestos, lead paint or toxic mould, and where their victims had all suffered significantly.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Loran F Nordgren and Mary-Hunter Morris McDonnell. The scope-severity paradox: Why doing more harm is judged to be less harmful, Social Psychological and Personality Science, published online 25 August 2010. DOI: 10.1177/1948550610382308 • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: Chancellor hits injury and disease victims
A ‘benefits cap’ announced by the Chancellor will target workers suffering work-related ill-health and injuries. The benefits limit will include consideration of Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) payment, a Treasury news release confirmed this week, despite the benefit being created as a non-means tested payment intended to compensate workers for industrial diseases and injuries.
TUC Touchstone blog and related posting • Treasury news release • BBC News Online • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: Don’t let cost-cutting cost lives
Safety experts are warning government budget cuts could cost lives and place its own staff at risk, while business groups continue to mount an attack on existing safety rules. The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) this week voiced fears the recognised workplace dangers of organisations cutting costs – including excessive working hours, extended use of ageing equipment and lack of training – are the “hidden dangers” of the government’s deficit reduction drive.
IOSH news release • FPB news release • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: RMT calls for action after worker’s death
Rail union RMT union has said Network Rail should be prosecuted in the light of a coroner’s call for new safety checks after in inquest heard how an Essex rail worker was fatally injured when a “poorly welded” basket fell on to him. RMT, which provided representation for Malcolm Slater’s widow at the inquest, had sought a ruling of ‘unlawful killing’, arguing that company’s serious breaches of health and safety were a direct cause of the 64-year-old’s death.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Sunderland Echo • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: Unite forces Network Rail safety review
Network Rail has agreed to an independent review of how it reports workplace accidents following an intervention by Unite. Unite national officer Bob Rixham said: “It's still outrageous that senior directors can walk away with huge bonuses when Network Rail wrongly boosted its safety record.”
Unite news release • The Guardian • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: Tube bosses ‘put passengers at risk’
RMT general secretary Bob Crow has accused London Underground (LU) bosses of putting passengers’ safety at risk by using untrained staff to cover for thousands of Tube workers during a 24-hour strike. Members of RMT and TSSA unions walked out at 7pm last Sunday in a long-running dispute over 800 job cuts which the unions say could have a serious detrimental effect on safety.
RMT news release • Morning Star and related story • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: TUC pans Tory attack on safety
The TUC has warned that a David Cameron-commissioned report into workplace safety is likely to be “seriously unbalanced”. The overdue report has been trailed repeatedly by its author, former Tory cabinet minister Lord Young, who gave his latest preview to last week’s Conservative Party conference.
TUC news release • Lord Young’s speech to the Conservative conference • IOSH news release • The case for health and safety, TUC, 2010 • We didn’t vote to die campaign • Risks 477
Hazards news, 9 October 2010

Britain: Firm fined after spinning screw death
A Preston engineering firm has been fined after a worker was killed when he became entangled in machinery. Michael Lohaza was found dead after becoming trapped in a lathe at Autoy Ltd on 10 January 2009.
HSE news release • Lancashire Evening Post • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: Site giant Kier fined £160k after death
Kier North West has been fined £160,000 after a labourer fell to his death while building Premier League side Everton FC’s new training academy. Karl Davis was working on the first floor when a guardrail gave way and he fell out of an open window frame.
HSE news release and falls webpage • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: Hand deskinned in chicken machine
A chicken deskinning machine tore the skin off the back of a worker’s hand, a court has heard. The Crown Chicken Ltd employee was using the industrial machine to skin chickens when his glove became caught and his hand was pulled onto the cutting blade.
HSE news release • East Anglia Daily Times • Farmers Weekly • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: Walkers fined after toxic gas death
Food giant Walkers Snack Foods Ltd and chemical distributor Omnichem Ltd have been fined after a worker was killed by a cloud of toxic gas. John Marriott, 59, was working for Omnichem on 19 July 2006 when he was seriously affected by chlorine dioxide fumes.
HSE news release • Daily Mirror • Leicester Mercury • BBC News Online • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Australia: Site commission makes sites less safe
An Australian construction commission set up to limit the power of unions in the sector has been politically partisan and has made sites less safe, unions have said. Jeff Lawrence, secretary of the national union federation ACTU said the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) must be abolished and “has been an abject failure which has led to poorer safety standards in the industry.”
ACTU news release • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

China: Bosses use stand-ins to evade mine dangers
Mine bosses in China are using stand-ins to get round a rule requiring them to go down the country’s notorious hazardous mines. Under the rule, the mine leaders must go below ground with miners or be considered “absent without leave” and face fines of up to 80 per cent of their annual income.
China Daily • China Labour Bulletin • The Guardian • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Global: Spanish metalworker death spurs global action
Following the death of a worker at a steel plant in Spain on 5 September, workers and their unions at Gerdau plants worldwide have taken action to demand improvements in workplace health and safety. According to IMF, the global union federation for the sector: “Since the creation of the Gerdau Global Workers' Committee in 2006 the workers, supported by the International Metalworkers' Federation, have been trying to gain recognition from the company of the global committee so as to discuss improving workplace health and safety at all Gerdau plants.”
IMF news release • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: Worker loses leg on offshore wind farm
Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd and Scaldis Salvage and Marine Contractors BV have been fined after a worker lost his leg during work on an offshore wind farm. The incident in August 2006 took place 20 kilometres offshore in the Moray Firth, during construction of the Beatrice Windfarm Turbine B, one of two wind turbine generators which were being built to provide power to the Beatrice AP Oil Platform.
COPFS news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: HSE benchmarking tool ‘a costly flop’
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) corporate benchmarking tool has been branded “a costly flop” after figures obtained from the watchdog showed each use has cost taxpayers over £5,100. HSE said it has paid £582,257 – mostly to Greenstreet Berman – for CHaSPI over seven years, by which time only 114 firms had completed its CHaSPI index.
HSB news report • Review of CHaSPI, HSE Research Report, RR813, 2010 [pdf] • CHaSPI • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: Tube danger from uninspected trains
London Underground Limited (LUL) has been breaking safety rules by running trains that have missed essential safety inspections, rail unions have warned. RMT said train brake blocks, cab equipment, chassis brackets and other critical equipment is supposed to be inspected at 14-day intervals, but the union has evidence that trains that have not been inspected for at least 22 days.
RMT news release and details of the industrial action schedule • Morning Star • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: Coalition attacks ‘the right to be safe’
The coalition government is attacking the most fundamental of workers’ rights - the right to be safe at work, retail union Usdaw has warned. Usdaw general secretary John Hannett said the Tories were doing this “because they are ideologically committed to putting profit before people and the Lib Dems, because they are ideologically committed to clinging to their ministerial limos.”
Usdaw news release • The case for health and safety, TUC [pdf] • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: Deaths expose Network Rail’s ‘ignorance’
Network Rail’s “ignorance” and “irresponsibility” has been condemned by train drivers’ union ASLEF after an official investigation found the company “did not properly understand” the risks posed by a level crossing where three people died.
RAIB news release and full report • ASLEF news release • Risks 476
Hazards news, 2 October 2010

Britain: BP price surges as spill concerns dissipate
The share price of UK oil multinational BP soared this week after it indicated the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico had been “killed”. The share price surge came as more optimistic analysts predicted legal claims arising from the disaster could be significantly below the $20bn (£13bn) set aside by BP and a leading US campaign group, Public Citizen, has ended its call for a boycott of the oil company.
Green jobs blog • BP news release • Risks 475
Hazards news, 25 September 2010

Britain: Director fined over mixer death
A building materials manufacturer and its director have been fined a total of £20,000 after a worker was killed by an industrial mixing machine blade. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Bury-based Building Chemical Research (1984) Ltd (BCR) and company director Stuart Reich, 62, following Paul Palmer's death at the company's premises in Radcliffe.
HSE news release • Bolton News • Construction Enquirer • Risks 475
Hazards news, 25 September 2010

Britain: Firms fined after ferry drowning
A Sussex port and an Italian shipping company have been fined a total of £185,000 for health and safety failings after a worker drowned at Newhaven Docks. Newhaven Port & Properties Limited pleaded guilty to criminal safety breaches and was fined £85,000 and ordered to pay costs of £34,000. Forship S.p.a pleaded guilty and was fined £100,000 plus costs of £43,782.
HSE news release • Risks 475
Hazards news, 25 September 2010

Britain: Fabric roll crushed agency worker’s arm
Leather Limited, a Peterborough fabric manufacturer, has been fined after a worker’s arm was so badly crushed he had to have metal plates inserted to help support his broken bones. Agency worker Robert Dunn, 32, was operating a fabric winding machine on 4 November 2009 when his left arm was drawn into a roll of material and crushed, breaking all three arm bones.
HSE news release, textiles and risk assessment webpages, and guide to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 [pdf] • Risks 475
Hazards news, 25 September 2010

Australia: Migrant victims of cut-price industry
Myung Yeol Hwang, a tiler from South Korea, died on 27 August, the day after he walked into the Sydney office of the country's biggest construction union, destitute and in dire need of medical help. CFMEWU hurriedly arranged an Immigration Department meeting to try to get the sick man a bridging visa and some medical treatment the next morning, but the 51-year-old died before he could make it to those meetings.
Sydney Morning Herald • ABC News • Brisbane Times • Risks 475
Hazards news, 25 September 2010

South Africa: Union mobilises a safety ‘army’
A mining union has marked last week’s anniversary of the 1986 Kinross disaster by launching a R2.7 million (£244,000) health and safety programme and setting out to create an ‘army’ of union safety activists. National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) president Cedric Gina b6 the end of October, Numsa hoped to reach 6,000 shop stewards to create an “army of health and safety reservists.”
Iafrica.com • Risks 475
Hazards news, 25 September 2010

Britain: Business lobby attacks regulation again
Another business lobby group has taken aim at workplace regulation. Manufacturers’ organisation EEF has urged the coalition government to “reverse the rising burden stifling businesses”.
EEF news release, Reforming regulation report [pdf] and related position paper [pdf]. The case for health and safety, TUC, September 2010 [pdf] • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign and facebook group • Risks 474
Hazards news, 18 September 2010

Britain: Bosses fined after digger bucket death
Two construction firm bosses have been fined after a worker died on a Salford demolition job. John Cain, 36, was working on a project to demolish the Albert Park Inn on 22 November 2004 when he was hit by an excavator bucket on a digger.
HSE news release • Bolton News • Risks 474
Hazards news, 18 September 2010

Britain: Family issues safety plea after ‘avoidable tragedy’
The devastated parents of a young engineer killed when a falling digger bucket struck him on the head have urged the construction industry to learn vital lessons from his tragic death. The call from the distraught family of Mark Handford came after a coroner's jury recorded a verdict of accidental death into the incident which claimed the life of the 22-year-old just over a year ago.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 474
Hazards news, 18 September 2010

Britain: MOD censured for asbestos crimes
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has received a formal Crown Censure from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after potentially exposing workers to deadly asbestos fibres. The action relates to criminal breaches of safety law however the ministry, as a government body, cannot be prosecuted in the criminal courts.
HSE news releases on the MoD Crown Censure and the Interserve fine • HSE managing asbestos webpages • Risks 474
Hazards news, 18 September 2010

Britain: Food giant crushed worker’s skull
Premier Foods Group Limited, the UK's biggest food manufacturer with an annual turnover of £2.6 billion, has been fined £14,000 after a 65kg metal pillar fell on a maintenance engineer in Merseyside, crushing his skull. Thomas Williams, 61, was working at the firm’s site at Manor Bakeries in Moreton in July 2008 when the four-metre section of pillar fell on his head.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Wirral Globe • Risks 474
Hazards news, 18 September 2010

Britain: Firm fined for failing its own workers
A North Yorkshire company making innovative machinery fitted with the latest safety devices failed to protect its own workers from the risk of injury as they manufactured them. Tadcaster firm Lambert Engineering Ltd pleaded guilty at Selby magistrates court to a breach of health and safety legislation after a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector found “widespread instances” of protective guards on factory floor machines either being removed or disabled.
HSE news release • York Press • Risks 474
Hazards news, 18 September 2010

Britain: Firm fined after teen is injured in fall
A Croydon company has been fined after a teenage worker suffered multiple fractures and internal injuries when he fell through a rooflight. Lewis Edwards, 17, from Sidcup, had only been at STP Solutions Ltd a few weeks when the incident happened.
HSE news release and fall webpages • Risks 474
Hazards news, 18 September 2010

Britain: Warning on waste and recycling crackdown
Local authorities have been reminded of their crucial safety role in the procurement and management of waste and recycling services. The warning from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) comes ahead of an October programme of official safety inspections.
HSE news release, waste services webpages and guidance [pdf] and WISH Forum • Risks 474
Hazards news, 18 September 2010

Turkey: Government condemned over murdered journalist
Journalists’ unions have hailed a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) which ruled Turkey failed to protect the life of a leading journalist who was murdered three years ago. The ECHR ruling said Turkey should have taken steps to protect Hrant Dink after it was warned that ultra-nationalists were plotting to kill him.
IFJ news release • ECHR news release • Today’s Zaman • Bianet and related article on the ECHR ruling • Risks 474
Hazards news, 18 September 2010

Britain: Hidden toll highlights need for safety laws
More than 20,000 people in the UK are killed prematurely by their work every year, highlighting the need for strong, strongly enforced health and safety regulation, according to a TUC report. ‘The case for health and safety’ smashes the myth that Britain is one of the safest places to work, says TUC.
TUC news release • The case for health and safety, TUC, September 2010 [pdf] • BBC News Online • Personnel Today • Stronger Unions • Morning Star • The Herald • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Network Rail buried workplace injuries
Network Rail's chair Rick Haythornthwaite should claw back directors’ bonuses because the company has systematically under-reported workplace injuries for at least two years, the union Unite has said. Seven directors earned £2.36 million in bonuses last year, with Network Rail’s safety record one of the “key discretionary items” used by its remuneration committee to calculate the payouts.
Unite news release • HSE RIDDOR guidance • ORR webpage • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: BP spreads blame on oil spill
BP was not solely to blame for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the related deaths, injuries and environmental harm, the UK multinational’s own investigation has concluded. Instead, “a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties”, including cementing contractor Halliburton and rig owner Transocean, led to the explosion on 20 April that killed 11 workers and led to environmentally devastating oil pollution across the region.
BP news release, related video and internal investigation report • BBC News Online • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Transocean accused on North Sea safety
Transocean, the American rig owner at the centre of BP's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, has been accused of compromising safety in the North Sea by “bullying, harassment and intimidation” of its staff. The offshore and transport union, RMT, argues that abusive behaviour and racism towards an increasingly multinational workforce in the North Sea are widespread, and it wants a huge shake-up of the system in the light of a worsening safety record.
The Guardian • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Government told to think of the victims
The government should consider the victims of lax workplace safety standards when it fashions its policy on safety regulation, campaigners and bereaved families have warned. The groups, speaking ahead of Lord Young’s report to the government on health and safety regulation, safety tragedies will only be prevented if strong regulation is backed up by strong enforcement.
Hazards Campaign news release • FACK news release • ‘Face the FACKs’ DVD, £10 including p&p, order form [pdf] • We didn't vote to die at work campaign and facebook group • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Scots safety unit gets speedy convictions
A specialist body set up in January 2009 to investigate workplace safety crimes in Scotland has led to more and speedier convictions. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service’s (COPFS) Health and Safety Division was created to examine cases reported to the procurator fiscal by the Health and Safety Executive.
COPFS news release • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Boarding school fined after demolition death
A Shropshire boarding school has been fined £25,000 after a demolition worker was killed when a 2.4 tonne roof fell on top of him. Four of the victim’s colleagues cheated death at Moor Park School, Ludlow, after a dumper truck on the site created an escape route for them when the roof caved-in.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Director fined after dodgy dock plunge
A Scottish shipbreaking and scrap metal company and its director have been fined after a night watchman was injured falling into water from a decrepit quay. RM Supplies (Inverkeithing) Ltd had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two breaches of the Docks Regulations 1988 and was fined a total of £14,000; 56-year-old RM Supplies director Thomas Muir, whose firm was responsible for the condition of the quay, pleaded guilty to safety offences and was fined £2,750.
HSE news release • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Bakeware firm fined after worker burned
An industrial bakeware company has been fined £10,000 after a worker received 60 per cent burns following an explosion at a Nottingham factory. The 33-year-old welder from llkeston, who has asked not to be named, was working for Fluorocarbon Bakeware Systems Ltd on 16 December 2008 at its unit in Beeston.
HSE news release • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Builder fined after hand is disfigured
A London building firm whose employee had his hand mangled has been fined £1,000. Maplestead Limited was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for a criminal breach of safety regulations.
HSE news release • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Britain: Newsagent chain fined over robbery risks
A newsagent chain that failed to protect staff from a known risk of robbery has been fined. Cheshire West and Chester Council took action after the branch manager of a shop in the Martin McColl chain was seriously assaulted in an early morning robbery in November 2008.
Cheshire West and Chester Council news release • USDAW news report • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

USA: Injury reports crackdown snags firm
A promised official crackdown on US firms that fail to report workplace injuries had led to a large fine for a company the US government’s safety watchdog says provided ‘grossly incorrect’ figures for two years.
OSHA news release • Houston Chronicle • FairWarning • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

USA: Explosion hits strikebreaking uranium plant
A US uranium processing plant that shipped in replacement workers after locking out its union workforce has suffered an explosion. Workers at the uranium enrichment facility in Metropolis, Illinois have been locked out for two months after contract negotiations broke down over owner Honeywell's demand that workers give up their retiree health care coverage and pension plans.
Huffington Post • Risks 473
Hazards news, 11 September 2010

Ukraine: Steel worker dies during safety visit
A steelworker has died at an ArcelorMittal steel plant in the Ukraine while the firm’s global safety committee was meeting on the premises. The tragedy at the Kryviy Rih plant on 19 August highlights the “unacceptable” fatality rate at the company, said global metal unions’ federation IMF.
IMF news release • ArcelorMittal/IMF occupational health and safety agreement [pdf] • Risks 472
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

USA: BP quizzed on its safety record
US federal investigators last week pressed senior BP officials about whether the company had a troubled record of safety problems even before the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. Time after time, BP appeared to have gambled with safety, said a chair of the panel, Captain Hung Nguyen of the Coast Guard, noting: “One dot is a point, two dots is a line, and three dots is a trend... There’s a trend there about the safety culture of BP.”
New York Times • Boston Globe • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 472
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Directors get small fine for severed fingers
Two directors in Leeds have been found guilty of safety offences after a worker had his fingers crushed in a hydraulic press. The 57-year-old man, who has not been named, had the ends of two fingers severed in April 2009 at Lupton Fabrications Ltd, a metal fabricating company formerly owned by Dennis Brunt and Peter Critchard.
HSE news release and engineering safety guide • Yorkshire Evening Post • Risks 472
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Director guilty after worker’s plunge
A Cheshire building company and its director have been fined after a worker fell nine metres from scaffolding at a building site in Llanfairfechan, sustaining severe injuries. JBB Homes Ltd - which has subsequently gone into liquidation - pleaded guilty to a criminal safety breach and was fined £20,000 plus costs of £10,835 and director, James Burt, pleaded guilty to breaching section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and was fined £10,000.
HSE news release and Shattered Lives campaign • Construction Enquirer • Daily Post • Risks 472
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Schoolboy died after farm roof fall
A Scottish farming partnership has been fined £13,500 following the death of a 13-year-old boy. Austin Irvine, who was the stepson of a junior partner in the Moray farm, fell through the roof of a farm building on 21 August 2006.
HSE news release • The Sun • Aberdeen Press and Journal • Daily Record • Farmers Weekly • Risks 472
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Bricklayer paralysed by falling steel beam
Doncaster based developer Strata Homes has been fined for a criminal safety breach after a worker was left paralysed from the chest down when he was crushed by a steel beam weighing more than 660 pounds. Anton Burrows, 24, was working as part of a bricklaying team sub-contracted to Strata Homes Yorkshire Ltd, at a Huddersfield development on 7 April 2009.
HSE news release, falls webpage and guide to safe lifting operations [pdf] • Construction Enquirer • Risks 472
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Man brain damaged by falling panel saw
A Keighley haulage company has been fined £5,000 after one of its employees suffered permanent brain damage when he was struck on the head by a 290 kilogram panel saw. Nicholas Holmes, 49, from Bradford, was delivering panel saws to the Saw Centre in Glasgow on 16 August 2007 when one fell off the vehicle, hitting him on the head.
HSE news release • Telegraph and Argus • Risks 472
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Scots sawmill a repeat offender
A Scottish sawmill has been fined £28,000 after two of its employees were severely injured in separate incidents less than three months apart. Adam Wilson and Sons Limited pleaded guilty to multiple criminal breaches of health and safety law in relation to the two incidents and was fined £8,000 for the first incident and £20,000 for the second incident.
HSE news release • Risks 472
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Death shows need for director accountability
Health and safety campaigners have demanded that company directors be held personally accountable for the “serial killing” of workers after the latest death at a Corus steelworks. Barry Shaw died on 28 August in what police described as a “crushing accident” at Corus's Scunthorpe steel mill.
Hazards Campaign news release • More on Corus’ health and safety record • Morning Star • Grimsby Telegraph • BBC News Online • Risks 472
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Offshore deaths rise due to 'cost-cutting'
Deaths and major injuries in the offshore oil and gas industry doubled last year because of cost-cutting, unions have said. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) demanded urgent improvements in safety after revealing that 17 deaths and 50 major injuries occurred in the sector over 12 months.
HSE news release and offshore statistics • Morning Star • STV News • BBC News Online • Risks 471
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Firms fined £125,000 after fall injury
Two construction firms have been fined a total of £125,000 after a worker fell more than 60ft (20m) from a hospital building site in Newcastle. Laing O'Rourke Construction and Expanded Structures, both based in Kent, admitted health and safety breaches at Newcastle Crown Court.
HSE news release and falls webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 471
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Steel cable shoots through shin
A Workington company has been fined £15,000 after a steel cable shot through a worker’s leg, leaving him with a hole through his shin. ACP (Concrete) Ltd, which produces concrete panels, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident, which left worker Jamie Graham, 25, in a hip-to-toe full leg cast for six weeks and on crutches for another four months.
HSE news release • Risks 471
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Britain: Onion firm fined after serious ladder injury
A Spalding onion packing firm has been fined after a worker broke his shoulder falling from a ladder. Moulton Bulb Company Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and was fined £6,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,188.
HSE news release and shattered lives campaign • Risks 471
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Chile: Miners safe, but rescue could take months
The 33 Chilean miners trapped deep underground for over three weeks have been told they may not be rescued for several months. ICEM, the global union federation for the mining sector, cautioned that the rescue of the miners is far from assured.
BBC News Online • ICEM news report • AWU solidarity message • Risks 471
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

Egypt: Safety protesters face military trial
Eight civilian warplane factory workers have appeared before a military court in Egypt after protesting about poor safety conditions, a spokesperson for the Center for Trade Union and Workers' Services (CTUWS) has said. The legal team defending the Helwan Engineering Industries Company workers was denied the right to receive a photocopy of the investigations report.
Daily News Egypt • Al-Masry Al-Youm • Risks 471
Hazards news, 28 August 2010

USA: BP agrees to record death blast fine
London-based oil multinational BP has agreed to pay a fine of $50.6 million (£32.5m) for violations related to the 2005 explosion at its Texas City refinery that killed 15 and injured 170. The company also must pay another $500 million to protect workers at the plant, Labor secretary Hilda Solis said.
OSHA news release, remarks by Labor secretary Hilda Solis and the full agreement [pdf] • USW statement • AFL-CIO Now blog • FairWarning • BBC News Online • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 470
Hazards news, 21 August 2010

Britain: Health and safety gone mad?
An online briefing from the Institute of Employment Rights spells out why decent health and safety regulation and enforcement is a lifesaving necessity. The briefing comes as a Hazards Campaign ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ initiative is attracting increasing support from unions and safety activists.
Health and safety gone mad? An Institute of Employment Rights (IER) briefing, August 2010 [pdf] • We didn’t vote to die at work webpage and facebook group • Risks 470
Hazards news, 21 August 2010

Asia: Deaths undermine ‘social responsibility’ claims
The cancer and suicide scandals that have hit microelectronics firms operating in Asia have cast doubt on the supply chain oversight employed by multinationals. The high profile ‘corporate social responsibility (CSR)’ policies of companies such as Apple and Samsung are not delivering in many of the Asian factories actually producing the goods, says global safety campaigner Garrett Brown.
OHS Online • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • FairWarning • Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network • Risks 470
Hazards news, 21 August 2010

China: Province shuts all fireworks factories
All nine fireworks factories in Heilongjiang province in northeast China were ordered to shutdown on 19 August, days after a blast at one killed 20 people. The factories have been told to dismantle their production facilities by the end of the month, according to a statement on the website of the Heilongjiang Work Safety Administration.
Xinhua • Fox News • Risks 470
Hazards news, 21 August 2010

Britain: Fine just £8,000 after devastating injuries
A construction company has been fined £8,000 after a young worker was seriously injured when he fell from a building's roof. Delme L James Ltd employee Gwyndaf Davies was 21 when he suffered multiple spine and facial fractures and a brain injury and was in hospital for nine months. was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release and falls webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 470
Hazards news, 21 August 2010

Britain: Five foot fall hurts steeplejack’s foot
A Stoke-on-Trent steeplejack firm has been fined after one of its workers fell a short distance from scaffolding, suffering foot injuries that left him in plaster for four months. Rafferty Chimneys Engineering Ltd was operating at a site in Tunstall when Kevin Ford fell 1.5m (five feet) to the ground, causing a serious injury to his heel.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 470
Hazards news, 21 August 2010

Britain: Appeal court backs risky work fines
Big fines for unsafe firms are justified even if they are caught breaking the law before any injury occurs, a Court of Appeal ruling has established. In a case involving the retailer New Look, the Court of Appeal agreed with the sentencing judge that a court does not have to wait until death or serious injury has occurred to express its displeasure at wholesale breaches of the defendant’s responsibilities. 
London Fire Brigade news release • Shoosmiths Solicitors news release • Environmental Health News • Risks 470
Hazards news, 21 August 2010

Britain: Would you laugh at a plane crash?
The boss of a health and safety company has hit back at those who deride the topic as a joke or pointless bureaucracy. Karen Baxter, managing director of the workplace risk specialists Sypol, said people who make jokes about “elf and safety” at work wouldn’t take the same attitude towards an air accident.
Sypol online article •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: We still didn’t vote to die at work
As the coalition government continues with a succession of initiatives to reduce ‘red tape’ on business, the ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ campaign to counter any moves to deregulate health and safety is growing in strength. New resources on the Hazards magazine website are intended to complement the existing Hazards Campaign ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ initiative, which includes a well-received facebook group, campaign materials and very snazzy t-shirts.
We didn’t vote to die at work – facebook group and Hazards webpages •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Global: Microelectronics investors demand better standards
A coalition of over 40 European, Australian and US investment groups has condemned abusive workplace conditions in the global electronics supply chain and is demanding improvements. The group, led by Boston Common Asset Management, LLC, Trillium Asset Management Corporation, As You Sow and Domini Social Investments LLC, have told the electronics manufacturers in their portfolios they most ensure better working standards in their supply chain.
ICCR news release and full statement • Good Electronics news release and resources •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Global: Top retailers in new sweatshop scandal
Gap, Next and Marks & Spencer have all launched their own inquiries into abuses of working regulations at their Indian suppliers. The retail multinationals have also pledged to end the practice of excessive overtime, which is in breach of the industry's ethical trading initiative (ETI) and Indian labour law.
The Observer •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

USA: Metropolis faces deadly work peril
Union members at America’s only uranium conversion plant, in Metropolis, Illinois, say work-related cancers are a central reason the union is refusing to accept the plant operator’s plan to reduce pensions for newly hired workers and health benefits for retirees. On 28 June, Honeywell locked out its 220 union employees after contract negotiations stalled, accusing the union of refusing to give the company 24 hours’ notice of a strike.
New York Times •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

USA: Labour shortages increase offshore risks
The US offshore oil industry is struggling to address the pervasive problem of undertrained and overstretched workers on deepwater rigs like the one used in the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. As the number of huge, high-tech drilling rigs has soared in recent years, finding and keeping experienced staff has become a growing challenge for the offshore industry.
Wall Street Journal •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: Director fined over high lead levels
An employer has been fined after routinely exposed workers to excessive levels of lead at a Norfolk sheet metal manufacturing company. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which brought the prosecution, told Hazards magazine that airborne levels of lead Anglia Lead Ltd exceeded official limits on “various occasions” investigated by the watchdog and blood tests showed a number of workers were “significantly exposed.”
HSE news release and lead webpages •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: Quarry firm fined after machine plunge
A quarry operator has been fined £30,000 after a trainee driver was injured when a 30-tonne wheel loader vehicle overturned and slid almost 16ft down a sand stockpile. Humberside Aggregates and Excavations Ltd of North Cave, East Yorkshire, was also ordered to pay £10,590 in costs after pleading guilty to three separate breaches of Quarries Regulations 1999.
HSE news release • Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: Firm fined £200,000 over vineyard death
A distribution company has been fined £200,000 for safety breaches linked to the death of a Cornish vineyard owner when a delivery of empty wine bottles fell from a lorry tail lift. The Gregory Distribution Ltd vehicle was being driven by an agency driver who had not been give specific safety advice before setting off.
HSE news release and haulage webpages • BBC News Online •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: Maintenance job leads to a broken back
A Staffordshire company has been fined £8,000 after a worker fell more than two metres from a scaffold tower, fracturing one vertebra, crushing another and leaving him immobilised for more than six weeks. Newcastle-under-Lyme Magistrates Court heard that Barry Derbyshire, 61, who was working for Klarius UK Ltd, had been stooping down to try and locate an oil leak when he stood up and possibly overbalanced, falling off the edge.
HSE news release and falls webpages • The Sentinel •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: Jam costs cake worker two fingers
One of the UK's leading food manufacturers has been fined after a worker had two fingers sliced off in one of its mixing machines. McVities Cake Company, part of United Biscuits (UK) Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation into the incident on 9 April 2009 at a cake baking site in Halifax.
HSE news release •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: Deregulation’s deadly reality gulf
A ‘deregulatory blitzkrieg’ by the coalition government could create the conditions linked to incidents like the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster engulfing BP. According to Hazards magazine: “Hand-wringing by prime minister David Cameron over the ‘sadness’ of the Gulf disaster is a seriously unsatisfactory alternative to protecting lives, livelihoods and the environment.”
Abuse of power • Hazards magazine, number 111, 2010 • BIS news release • FPB news release • The Independent • BBC News Online •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: Call to fire ‘abysmal’ leader of safety watchdog HSE
The leader of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has not defended effectively the watchdog’s role and resources and should go, two top safety scholars have said. Dave Whyte said “it is difficult to imagine how the chief of any other public authority could defend such an abysmal record without being thrown out of office.”
Interview with Dave Whyte and Steve Tombs, Hazards Online, 9 August 2010
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: Tube bosses are ‘dicing with death’
Rail union RMT an industrial action ballot of all Tube fleet maintenance staff after London Underground (LU) said it intended to slash the frequency of train safety inspections. “The inspections, of braking systems and other equipment that it is crucial to staff and passenger safety, are being cut in frequency as a blatant cost saving measure which is just part of the overall cuts drive being bulldozed through by Transport for London (TfL),” the union warned.
RMT news release • Morning Star •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

Britain: London fires fuel Tube job cuts concerns
RMT general secretary Bob Crow has warned the two recent fires on the Tube system “show that it is trained staff at station level who are critical when it comes to spotting potential danger - yet these are the very staff that Transport for London are looking to axe in a cull of 800 Tube station posts.” In results announced on 11 August, RMT members voted by 76 per cent for strike action and by 88 per cent for action short of a strike in opposition to the job cuts.
RMT news release • and news release on the ballot results • Morning Star •  Risks 469
Hazards news, 14 August 2010

China: Work death payouts increased
China's basic work-related death compensation award is to nearly double next year to 343,500 yuan (£31,800), state authorities have announced. The State Administration of Work Safety says when funeral expenses and monthly pension payments to the relatives of the deceased are included, the total payment will average around 618,000 yuan (£57,350).
China Labour Bulletin • Risks 468
Hazards news, 7 August 2010

USA: Oil industry ‘malfeasance’ kills hundreds
The US oil and gas industry has been responsible for thousands of fires, explosions and leaks over the last decade, causing hundreds of deaths and widespread habitat and wildlife destruction, a new report has concluded. The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) says its findings underscore “petroleum company malfeasance.”
National Wildlife Federation (NWF) news release and report, Assault on America: A decade of petroleum company disaster, pollution, and profit • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 468
Hazards news, 7 August 2010

Britain: Companies should come clean on safety
Firms should be required by law to report their health and safety performance and any related enforcement action, the TUC has said. The union body was commenting as the government announced a consultation on ‘narrative reporting’ requirements on business.
BIS news release and The future of narrative reporting - a consultation, BIS, August 2010 [pdf] Closing date for comments: 19 October 2010 • Risks 468
Hazards news, 7 August 2010

Britain: Rail dangers persist, warns coroner
The coroner at the inquest into the deaths of seven people at Potters Bar eight years ago has warned of ongoing concerns about safety on the country's rail network. An inquest jury last week blamed points failure for the disaster.
BBC News Online • The Independent • The Guardian • Risks 468
Hazards news, 7 August 2010

Britain: Unions call for urgent rail safety moves
Unions have called for sweeping improvements in railway safety, with one warning of possible industrial action if problems are not remedied. The comments came after an inquest into the Potters Bar rail disaster warned of ongoing safety concerns.
RMT news release and related commentary • TSSA news release • ASLEF news release • Risks 468
Hazards news, 7 August 2010

Britain: Brothers fined over skull crush horror
Two brothers have been fined a total of £13,000 after a worker was left with a caved-in head and permanent brain damage when he fell through an industrial roof in Carlisle. Alan Hind was helping to demolish the building when he fell six metres to the concrete floor below.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Daily Mail • Risks 468
Hazards news, 7 August 2010

Britain: Architects and site firm fined for death
An architects’ practice and a construction company involved in a Somerset development have been fined a total of £195,000 following a site fatality. Express Park Construction Company Limited (EPCC) and Oxford Architects Partnership pleaded guilty to safety offences.
HSE news release and construction design and management webpages • Risks 468
Hazards news, 7 August 2010

Australia: Too many fatalities on the waterfront
Workplace safety on Australia’s waterfront must be overhauled to stem the mounting death toll among stevedoring workers, unions have warned. Three deaths and a spate of serious injuries and near misses in a little over six months is not good enough and suggests that waterfront deregulation has had a detrimental impact on safety, said Ged Kearney, the new president of national union confederation ACTU.
ACTU news release • MUA news release • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

China: Electronics industry labour abuse revealed
Workers in China’s burgeoning electronics sector are enduring poor labour and safety standards in the country’s deregulated Special Economic Zones (SEZs), a new report suggests. The labour standards report released by risk intelligence and rating firm Maplecroft, says with increasing unionisation, worker protests and management initiative, wages and working conditions are being addressed, with some positive results albeit with cost implications for business.
Maplecroft news release • BBC News Online • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Mexico: Copper mine dangers resurface
In the rush to get copper production from the Cananea mine back on world markets at time of major shortages of the metal, Grupo México is disregarding the safety of contract workers. The charge comes from ICEM, the global federation for mine and chemical unions, which says there has been an undocumented rash of on-the-job accidents and injuries in the six weeks since federal police opened the mine in Sonora State for the company.
ICEM news report • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

USA: BP’s clean up safety claims queried
BP monitoring figures that show even the oil clean-up workers in the riskiest jobs in the Gulf of Mexico are generally having minimal exposures to hazardous chemicals have been queried by experts. Eileen Senn, an occupational hygienist and long-time workplace safety official, pointed to 10 separate shortcomings in the quality of the company's data release, which OSHA said concentrated on workers with the heaviest potential exposures, including the move to sample for 11 chemicals when many more substances are potentially present in Gulf air.
New York Times • Labor Notes • Sciencecorps on the Gulf oil spill hazards • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: Call for full inquiry into death of a cadet
A seafarers’ union is calling for an urgent inquiry into the death of a cadet on a British-registered ship. Nautilus International is calling for the UK government to ensure there is a “full and transparent” inquiry into the death of a South African cadet on the containership Safmarine Kariba and subsequent allegations of rape and harassment.
Nautilus news release • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: Oil giant Total must be probed
Multinational Total should face an independent probe into serious safety lapses, the union GMB has said. The union says it is demanding a “full independent safety investigation” into the oil giant’s safety record following the death on 29 June of 24-year-old Rob Greenacre at Lindsay Oil Refinery and the £6.2 million fines and costs penalty on the company on 16 July after it admitting failing to protect workers and the public at the Buncefield oil depot site that exploded in 2005.
GMB news release • Grimsby Telegraph • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: Most rigs are working beyond design life
More than half of the UK’s offshore oil and gas installations “have exceeded their original design life or soon will,” the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has warned. The watchdog said a new inspection programme of installations on the UK continental shelf is underway “to ensure that ageing infrastructure does not adversely affect safety.”
HSE news release • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: BP’s Tony Hayward gets his life back
He’s the casualty of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe least likely to elicit sympathy. BP announced this week that beleaguered chief executive Tony Hayward will go, but will at 53 qualify immediately for a £600,000 annual pension, a £1.045m pay off in lieu of notice, a multi-million portfolio of company shares, and a place on the board of BP’s Russian offshoot as a consolation prize.
BP news release • Robert Peston’s BBC blog • The Guardian • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: Brum car worker injured by robot
A Birmingham automotive firm has been fined after lax safety controls led to an employee being struck by a manufacturing robot running on auto, leaving his voice box damaged and almost paralysing him down one side of his body. Dura Automotive Body and Glass Systems UK was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £20,000 costs in a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution.
HSE news release • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: Firm fined after trainee’s quarry plant plunge
A quarry operator has been fined £30,000 after a 30-tonne wheel loader vehicle driven by a trainee overturned and slid almost 16ft down a sand stockpile. Humberside Aggregates and Excavations Ltd was also ordered to pay £10,590 in costs after pleading guilty to three separate breaches of the Quarries Regulations 1999.
HSE news release and quarries webpages • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: Worker loses leg in paving machine
A Somerset construction firm has been fined £10,000 after a worker's foot was crushed under a paving machine, leading to the amputation of his lower leg. Taunton Magistrates Court heard that Alan Seviour, who worked for John Wainwright & Co Ltd as a delivery driver, was carrying out relief road work on 29 August 2008.
HSE news release • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: Site firm ‘ignored’ falls warnings
A major construction company that ignored a series of warnings has been fined for failing to protect its workers from falls on a site in South Wales. Gee Construction Ltd, the principal contractor on the site in Caerphilly, firm pleaded guilty to a breach of the work at height regulations and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,514.25.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: RMT concern at ‘rigged’ rail injury figures
Rail union RMT is demanding an urgent government investigation into allegations Network Rail has “rigged” injury figures to hit performance targets. The union says it fears a culture of non-recording of incidents is rife at Network Rail (NR) and is directly linked to the senior management bonus culture.
ORR news release and The ORR Health and Safety Report • RMT news release • Rail magazine • Risks 367
Hazards news, 31 July 2010

Britain: Face the FACKS – the human face of workplace killing
“Face the FACK - The human face of workplace killing” is a new DVD from Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK). The resource, which was premiered at this month’s National Hazards Conference, features personal accounts from family members bereaved by work.
FACK resources • Face the FACK - The human face of workplace killing, £10 including post and packing, cheques payable to ‘GMHC’, from: FACK, c/o Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester M16 7WD. Telephone: 0161 636 7557 • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Global: True cost of asbestos is exposed
A global network of lobbying groups is ensuring asbestos, banned or restricted in more than 50 countries, continues to be using in developing nations. A four-continent investigation by the US-based Center for Public Integrity (CPI) reports that many scientists fear the continued use of asbestos could significantly prolong a global epidemic of asbestos-related illnesses.
Dangers in the dust – a Center for Public Integrity investigation • BBC News Online • Toronto Star • Montreal Gazette • Vancouver Sun • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Britain: Oil giants fined for Buncefield blast
Five companies responsible for the 2005 Buncefield oil depot explosion were last week ordered to pay fines totalling more than £9 million. Sentencing the firms at St Albans Crown Court, Judge Sir David Calvert-Smith said: “Had the explosion happened during a working day, the loss of life may have been measured in tens or even hundreds.”
HSE news release • Environment Agency news release • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Britain: Tory MP says Buncefield fines ‘an insult’
Campaigners, lawyers and a Tory MP have criticised the “drop in the ocean” fines levied on oil giants after the Buncefield explosion. Hazards Campaign spokesperson Hilda Palmer said the case for deregulation “has been blown to smithereens in the Buncefield explosion.”
Hazards Campaign news release and We did not vote to die at work campaign • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Channel 4 News • Telegraph • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Britain: Court rejects fatality fine appeal
A company fined £100,000 after a worker was crushed to death has failed in a court appeal against the penalty. London-based Marble City Ltd and directors Gavin and Jamie Waldron were all fined in April after 51-year-old Ronald Douglas was crushed by six tonnes of stone slabs he was helping unload from a lorry.
Local London • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Britain: Frozen food firm fined for finger
A Lincolnshire-based international frozen vegetable supplier has been fined after a man's finger was amputated when his hand was crushed at work. The incident occurred at Pinguin Food Ltd's site in Boston on 10 February 2009 when the worker tried to straighten some boxes on an automatic palletising machine.
HSE news release and safe guarding leaflet [pdf] • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Britain: Pneumatic power press cuts off fingers
A Telford packaging firm company has been fined after an employee lost three fingers while working with machinery. Telford Magistrates Court heard how on 22 September 2008 the I2R Packaging Solutions employee was helping another worker remove aluminium foil from a 130-tonne power press, which had become jammed while making foil food cartons.
HSE news release • Packaging News • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Britain: Engineering firm fined after hand severed
A court has heard how a worker had his hand torn off while working for a Peterlee company. The Conder Solutions Limited employee was working on a metalworking lathe, Peterlees Magistrates' Court heard.
HSE news release • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Britain: Pirelli fined over forklift truck injury
Tyre manufacturer Pirelli has been fined £9,000 after a worker suffered a broken leg when he was hit by a forklift truck. Allan Miller, a 62-year-old contractor, was walking through an area in the curing department at the company's Carlisle factory when he was struck from behind by a pallet being carried on a forklift truck.
HSE news release • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

Britain: RMT warns of ‘great danger’ on railways
Transport union RMT is warning of a “great danger” on the railways if government cuts to the transport budget go ahead. Commenting as Network Rail’s annual meeting kicked off this week in Manchester, the rail union warned that cuts of between 25 and 40 per cent planned by the government would have a “catastrophic” and “lethal” impact on rail infrastructure and operations.
RMT news releases on the Network Rail AGM and the Potters Bar inquest • Potters Bar inquest website • Risks 466
Hazards news, 24 July 2010

USA: ‘Appalling conditions’ on tobacco farms
Tobacco farm workers in the US are enduring deadly conditions, global farm unions’ federation IUF has revealed. Reynolds American Incorporated (RAI), in which British American Tobacco (BAT) holds a 42 per cent share, sources most of its tobacco leaf from the company's home state of North Carolina.
IUF news release • Tell BAT to stop the abuse • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

USA: Campaign wins ban on deadly floor coating
A landmark bill banning the commercial use and sale of a wood floor finishing product linked to fires that left three floor finishers dead has taken effect in Massachusetts. The new law, which was introduced at the urging of an industry-union-community taskforce, targets “lacquer sealer”, a floor finishing product containing nitrocellulose and synthetic resins that can burst into flames at the slightest trigger.
MassCOSH news release, factsheet and report • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: TUC calls for 3R’s – rules, resources and rights
Securing safe and healthy workplaces requires good regulations, proper enforcement and decent rights, TUC has told a government-commissioned enquiry. The TUC comments to Lord Young’s review, which is expected to report in the coming weeks, notes that the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) fatalities figure represents on “a tiny proportion” of those killed by work.
TUC news release • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: There is no compensation culture
There has been a dramatic decline in compensation claims for work-related injury and ill-health, union legal advisers have told a government-commissioned enquiry. They say the government’s own Compensation Recovery Unit (CRU) statistics which show employer liability claims have fallen 69 per cent from 2000/01 to 2009/10 – from 219,183 in 2000/1 to 78,744 in 2009/10.
Thompsons Solicitors submission • Prospect news release • Risks 465Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Coalition not serious on safety
The health and safety of Britain’s workforce is not being taken seriously by the coalition government, Unite has said. Joint general secretary, Tony Woodley, accused former Tory cabinet minister Lord Young, who is heading a government review, of being “offensive”.
Unite news release • Daily Mirror • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Deregulation is already bad for you
The UK’s workplace safety standards have been undermined by changes in the official approach to health and safety regulation over the past decade, a new report has found. Academics from the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University found the policy changes have affected the ability of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to enforce effectively health and safety law.
University of Liverpool news release • Regulatory Surrender: death, injury and the non-enforcement of law, Institute of Employment Rights, July 2010. Purchase details from IER, The People's Centre, 50-54 Mount Pleasant, Liverpool L3 5SD, or call 0151 702 6925 or email IER • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: We didn’t vote to die at work
The Hazards Campaign has launched a national ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ campaign. The initiative, which was premiered at this month’s National Hazards Conference in Keele, has already attracted wide support from unions and safety reps.
Join the ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ Facebook group. If you want to get hold of campaign resources, contact the Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester, M16 7WD, or email  or phone 0161 636 7557. T-shirts cost £6 (that includes postage) and are available in small, medium, large, XL, XXL and XXXL (send a cheque made out to ‘Hazards Campaign’) • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Who pays BP’s disaster bill? You do
If you thought the multi-billion dollar costs of destroying refineries and oil rigs (and killing workers, ruining livelihoods and wrecking the environment in the process), might have a chastening effect on BP, you might need to think again. BP is forecast to pay about $10bn less tax over the next four years as it meets the costs of its huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, hitting the revenues of Britain and the US that receive hundreds of millions of dollars from the company each year.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Lab staff exposed to deadly bacteria
The Health Protection Agency has been fined £25,000 for a spillage of the deadly bacterium E.coli 0157 at its centre in Colindale, north London. Three employees were put at risk of contamination although nobody was infected, the Old Bailey heard.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Cleaner killed at plastics firm
A Rochdale plastics manufacturer has been fined £140,000 after a Portuguese cleaner was crushed to death by a pallet of bags weighing nearly one and a half tonnes. TS (UK) Ltd was prosecuted for failing to ensure the safety of its employees and not having a worker trained in first aid on duty.
HSE news release • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Farm worker crushed in his cab
Farming and haulage company Pearn Wyatt & Son has been fined £21,000 with £54,000 costs after a 24-year-old agriculture worker was crushed to death on a farm in Norfolk. Sam Foley had been using a tractor to tow manure to a field at Grange Farm, in Snetterton, on 8 July 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Roofing firm fined £2,000 after teen’s plunge
A roofing company has been prosecuted after a teenage worker fell three metres through a fragile roof, breaking his arm. Apprentice Shaun Jacob, 18, was removing the ridge from a metal sheet roof when a sheet he was standing on buckled and he fell to the ground.
HSE news release • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

Britain: Cactus sap put worker in hospital
A worker was hospitalised and suffered long-term eye damage after being squirted with cactus juice. Carl Woodbridge, a technician working for Ambius, a subsidiary of Rentokil Initial UK Ltd, was working at a Milton Keynes shopping centre in October 2008, to carry out pruning on several large cacti, one of which had become unstable.
Milton Keynes Council news release • Risks 465
Hazards news, 17 July 2010

China: Steelworkers killed in bus fire
A shuttle bus carrying steel factory workers in eastern China burst into flame, killing 24 of those on board. The tragedy happened in Wuxi, in Jiangsu province near Shanghai, on a bus from the Wuxi Xuefeng Steel Company.
Shanghai Daily • BBC News Online • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

USA: Cheap masks won’t protect Gulf workers
Masks issued to workers in the Gulf of Mexico cleaning up the BP oil spill are not offering the necessary protection, an expert has warned. Industrial hygienist Eileen Senn, writing in The Pump Handle blog, reports the $5 officially recommended masks are “not approved for organic vapours” meaning “this dust mask presumably will remove only small amounts of hydrocarbon vapours, so workers may still be exposed to them.”
The Pump Handle • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Britain: Construction bosses fined after death
Two directors of PIB (UK) Ltd and their company have been fined after a member of the public died on one of their construction sites. John Blankson, 55, and Steven Moore, 44, pleaded guilty to safety charges and were fined, and Moore was also disqualified from being a director for five years.
HSE news release • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Britain: Global firms fined for crushing death
Two global companies have been ordered to pay a total of £160,000 in fines after a man was crushed to death by a rolling lorry. Logistics company Exel Europe Ltd and Imperial Tobacco Ltd both pleaded guilty to criminal safety breaches relating to the death of 42 year-old Exel heavy goods driver Gary Brooks.
HSE news release • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Britain: Comet fined after fatal roof fall
Electrical chain Comet has been fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £24,446 legal costs after the death of a roof worker at a Wrexham store. Comet had previously admitted failing to ensure the safety of Paul Alker, who fell through a skylight in 2007 and whose boss, Steven Smith of Wrexham Roofing Services, was earlier jailed for two years in 2007 after being convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Daily News • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Britain: HSE work death figure falls again
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures on the number of people killed at work in Britain fell last year to a record low. The HSE provisional data, which exclude work-related road, marine and air accident deaths and the entire occupational disease death toll, show that 151 workers were killed between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 compared to 178 deaths in the previous year and an average number over the last five years of 220 deaths per year.
HSE news release, statistics webpage and latest fatality figures • TUC news release • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Britain: Deaths down in construction
There has been a marked decrease in construction fatalities in Britain, the new Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show. In 2009/10 there were 41 deaths in the construction sector, down from 52 fatalities in the sector the year before.
UCATT news release • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Britain: Deaths up in agriculture
There has been a sharp upturn in the number of workers killed in agriculture. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) fatality figures for the period from 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 show 38 agriculture workers were killed at work. HSE says this marks a return to average levels of previous years, in contrast to the record low in 2008/09 when 25 workers died.
HSE news release • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Britain: HSE statistics omit most deaths - official
Unions and campaigners have warned that official workplace death figures only show a small part of the real toll – a point also recognised in an official probe. The UK Statistics Authority checked HSE’s figures against a code of practice for official statistics and indicated they do not make the grade, concluding “HSE does not produce an overall figure for work-related fatalities in Great Britain” and recommends HSE “investigate the feasibility of producing statistics on the total number of work-related injuries and fatalities.”
UNISON news release • Hazards Campaign news release • BIS news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Your Freedom •
Assessments of compliance with Code of Practice for official statistics - 'Statistics on Health and Safety at Work (produced by the Health and Safety Executive), Report Number 42, UK Statistics Authority, 27 May 2010 [pdf] • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Britain: Total safety queried after refinery death
Safety standards at the oil giant Total, found guilty of safety breaches last month related to the Buncefield oil depot explosion, have been questioned by unions after the death of a worker at a Lincolnshire refinery. Unite member Robert Greenacre, 24, died after a fire and explosion at Total’s Lindsey plant on 29 June.
Unite news release • GMB news release • Morning Star • Grimsby Telegraph • Risks 464
Hazards news, 10 July 2010

Ireland: Voluntary fails, inspection succeeds
A dramatic decline in workplace fatalities and injuries has been delivered in Ireland after its safety agency boosted the number of official workplace inspections. A previous policy, where the watchdog introduced a US-style voluntary programme, was abandoned after it was followed by a marked upturn in workplace deaths.
HSA news release • RTÉ News • Risks 463
Hazards news, 3 June 2010

USA: Sometimes deadly behaviour does not pay
Employers and corrupt public officials frequently get away with deadly behaviour – but not always. A contractor is now under house arrest and a crane inspector who accepted bribes is serving jail time after being linked to deadly workplace incidents in the US.
In These Times • New York Times • Risks 463
Hazards news, 3 June 2010

Britain: BP’s unsafe UK record exposed
The troubled oil giant BP has been caught breaking health and safety regulations 54 times over the past five years in the UK, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) records. The official action against the British multinational relates to a series of maintenance and operating lapses which put workers and the environment at risk from major leaks, fires and accidents in the North Sea and elsewhere.
Sunday Herald • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 463
Hazards news, 3 June 2010

Britain: Government to adopt BP business model
John Browne, Tony Hayward’s predecessor as chief executive of BP, has been appointed by the UK government to oversee moves to make Whitehall “more businesslike.” Lord Browne was the architect of the much criticised BP cost- and safety-cutting strategy implicated in the Texas City refinery disaster, which killed 15, and a sequence of other safety and environmental crimes.
Cabinet Office news release • Green jobs, safety jobs blog • BBC News Online • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 463
Hazards news, 3 June 2010

Britain: Man killed in oil refinery blast
A worker has been found dead after a fire and explosion at an oil refinery in North East Lincolnshire. The man, whose name was not released in the immediate aftermath of the blast, was working near a crude oil distillation which exploded at Total’s Lindsey Oil Refinery in North Killingholme on 29 June.
BBC News Online on the 29 June and 19 June fatalities at the Total refinery site • Hartlepool Mail • Peterlee Mail • Risks 463
Hazards news, 3 June 2010

Britain: Company fined £280,000 after horror death
A brick firm worker who had only been on site for two weeks was killed when his head was crushed between concrete blocks and a metal platform. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted brick manufacturing company Hanson Building Products Ltd, after the death of Peter Clarke, 57, at the company's distribution plant in Coleshill on 26 April 2008.
HSE news release • Coventry Telegraph • Risks 463
Hazards news, 3 June 2010

Britain: Directors need statutory safety duties
Most company directors are not taking health and safety seriously at boardroom level, so statutory directors’ duties on safety are the only alternative, the findings of a government commissioned review suggest. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said most firms had done nothing, “so the case for statutory duties is now unanswerable.”
The report of the Steering Group overseeing an independent evaluation of measures taken to strengthen director leadership of health and safety, HSE, June 2010 [pdf] • UCATT news release • Risks 463
Hazards news, 3 June 2010

Britain: Warning on government safety review
A government review of health and safety must not be allowed to undermine essential workplace protection, unions and campaigners have warned. David Cameron last month formalised a government call for Lord Young to review health and safety regulation, a process started pre-election by the Conservatives and which has already faced strong criticism from unions.
FACK letter to Lord Young • Morning Star • Daily Telegraph • Risks 463
Hazards news, 3 June 2010

Britain: Enforcement bad on safety, terrible on health
Enforcement action by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has plummeted on almost all major indicators, the watchdog’s board has been told. The report to the HSE board suggests prosecutions on health issues are especially rare – an HSE guesstimate indicates they are outnumbered 7-to-1 by safety prosecutions - despite work-related diseases outnumbering officially reported workplace injuries by five to one.
Review of enforcement by FOD, paper to the HSE board, 30 June 2010 [pdf] • Risks 463
Hazards news, 3 June 2010

China: Illegal coal mine kills 47
A coal mine in central China's Henan Province where an underground explosion killed 47 people on 21 June was operating illegally, officials said. The operation license of Xingdong No. 2 Mine in Weidong District, Pingdingshan City, expired on 6 June, and the district government cut its electricity supply on 7 June, according to local officials.
Xinhua • BBC News Online • The Independent • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

India: Panel reconsiders Bhopal leak action
Cabinet ministers are recommending that India's government revisit its response to the 1984 toxic gas leak in Bhopal. The fact that the Bhopal tragedy is back in the news at the same time as the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has added to the sense that victims of the 1984 disaster have been terribly let down.
The Guardian • BBC News Online • The Hindu • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

USA: BP disaster victims could lose out
Thanks to a 90-year-old legal loophole, the families of the 11 workers killed on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig may be denied full compensation for the loss of their loved ones. Under the Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA), unlike occupational fatalities on land – where the worker's family can sue for both pecuniary (lost wages) and non-pecuniary damages (recompense for the loss of a loved one) - the families of the victims of the Deepwater Horizon disaster are only able to recoup lost wages.
In These Times • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

USA: Probe to fine ‘root causes’ of BP well disaster
The Chemical Safety Board (CSB), the organisation that investigated BP’s Texas City disaster and pinned much of the blame on the company’s London-based global board, is to investigate the “root causes” of the latest industrial catastrophe blighting BP’s record.
CSB investigation announcement [pdf] • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

USA: Work safety laws are top public issue
Health and safety regulations are the most important workplace issue for the public, new US research has found. A national poll on by the Public Welfare Foundation and researchers at the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center found a massive 85 per cent say workplace safety regulations are “very important”, heading the poll.
Public Welfare Foundation news release • full report and audio release • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: Oil giants guilty in Buncefield blast
A company controlled by Total and Chevron has been found guilty of grave safety failures that led to the Buncefield oil depot explosion. Hertfordshire Oil Storage Limited (HOSL), which was owned by the oil giants, failed to prevent major accidents and limit their effects, a court has found.
HSE/Environment Agency joint statement • HSE Buncefield webpages • The Guardian • Buncefield Investigation website • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: Campaign leads to fewer quarry injuries
Reportable injuries in the quarry sector are down 76 per cent since the 'Hard Target' initiative was launched in 2000, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said, with reportable injuries down from over 500 to below 200 a year.
HSE news release and campaign details • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: Worker loses leg under waste recycling truck
A Cheshire recycling company has been fined £10,000 after a worker lost part of his leg when he was crushed by an 18-tonne truck. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted WSR Recycling Ltd after the incident, which led to the worker’s left leg being amputated below the knee.
HSE news release and waste webpages • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: Council fined after school death fall
A council has been fined £56,000 after an electrician was killed when a work platform collapsed in a school gym hall. Robert McGill suffered severe brain injuries in the 6 April 2009 incident at Kilmarnock Academy, and died later in hospital.
HSE news release and falls webpages • BBC News Online • Glasgow Evening Times • Scotsman • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: Father fined after son’s fall
A sawmill and the father of an injured worker have been fined after the roofing contractor fell through a skylight and suffered serious head injuries. Woodgate Sawmills Limited, and Stanley John Frederick Stephens of The Longhope Welding Company were prosecuted after Robert Stephens, 40, fell through a fragile skylight on 1 June 2007 while working on the roof of a sawmill building in Coleford.
HSE news release • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: ‘Lethal’ plan for driverless Tube trains
Tube union RMT has condemned ‘lethal and unworkable’ plans hatched by Conservatives on the London Assembly to move the entire London Underground train system to driverless operation.
RMT news release • BBC News Online report, including the Tory memo [pdf] • Personnel Today • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: Tory review wrong from the start
The outcome of a government health and safety review, which seems to have been pre-ordained by the time David Cameron kicked off the process last week, has been strongly criticised by the TUC. Five days after the prime minister announcing Lord Young was to undertake the review, the former Tory employment and trade secretary was telling the Times “People occasionally get killed, it’s unfortunate but it’s part of life” and declaring health and safety regulations protecting office workers were “nonsense”.
BBC News Online • Scotsman • IOSH news release • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

Britain: Don't play politics with safety
David Cameron should not play politics with workplace health and safety, a union expert has warned. Roger Kline, from the children’s services union Aspect, notes: “In the year when the cost of cutting corners on health and safety killed oil rig workers, polluted an ocean and threatens the very existence of BP, our prime minister, (without a dissenting squeak from his coalition partners) claims we need to end the ‘compensation culture’ in health and safety.”
The Big Picture, Community Care blog • Risks 462
Hazards news, 26 June 2010

USA: Oil companies all fail the safety test
Members of the US Congress tore into the big energy corporations on 15 June for filing almost identical and identically flawed Gulf of Mexico oil spill response plans. The verbal assault by committee members undermined attempts by the oil giants to suggest that their working practices differ from those of BP; and that the catastrophe, which killed 11 workers, would not have happened if the well had been theirs.
Green jobs blog • Risks 461
Hazards news, 19 June 2010

USA: Corporate greed causes work deaths
As oil mucked the Gulf of Mexico and families mourned 11 dead rig workers, BP officials proclaimed that the corporation’s priority always was safety. This mirrored the tack taken by Massey Energy, whose officials also declared safety was paramount after an explosion in the corporation’s Upper Big Branch mine killed 29 workers.
Campaign for America’s Future • Risks 461
Hazards news, 19 June 2010

USA: 'Nailed' – an enforcement blog with teeth
Many followers of health and safety will be used to official enforcement and compensation agencies adopting one of two voices – a serious and measured tone when things go wrong or enthusiastically extolling the virtues of partnership and cooperation in better times. But in the US, Washington State’s Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has launched a blog that is altogether more pithy.
Nailed blog • Washington State Department of Labor & Industries news release • Risks 461
Hazards news, 19 June 2010

Britain: Bakery bosses exposed workers to flour, power
The directors of a Bedford based DG Bakery Ltd have been fined after a series of health and safety breaches exposed staff to serious danger - including electrocution and exposure to flour dust.
HSE news release • Risks 461
Hazards news, 19 June 2010

Britain: Manager fined after teen trainee is injured
The manager of a Fareham diving company has been fined £2,500 for health and safety breaches that led to teenage trainee Jonathan Holmes breaking his ankle at work. Andrew William Steel Baillie, general manager of Sub Surface Engineering Ltd, pleaded guilty to the charges brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release • Portsmouth News • Risks 461
Hazards news, 19 June 2010

Britain: Government aims to remove safety rules
The TUC has said a review of UK health and safety regulation announced this week by David Cameron will undermine the “already limited” legal protection of UK workers. He said the prime minister was pandering to the businesses that are responsible for hundreds of thousands of workers falling sick each year.
10 Downing Street news release • TUC news release • Stronger Unions blog • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Morning Star • The Guardian • The Independent • Daily Mail • Risks 461
Hazards news, 19 June 2010

Britain: Review must debunk ‘burdens’ myth
Unions and campaigners have warned that essential regulation and enforcement of health and safety must not be abandoned by the government. Hilda Palmer of the Hazards Campaign said: “There is a lack of evidence or fact to support the need or value of cutting regulation of health and safety, a lack of balance in failing to mention the burden on workers hurt or made ill, and on the families of those killed, and a failure to mention the massive cost of up to £30 billion per year of bad health and safety, the majority of which employers externalise onto all of us.”
Prospect news release • NASUWT news release • HSE news release and facts about HSE’s role webpages • Risks 461
Hazards news, 19 June 2010

Britain: Controversial MP is new safety minister
A member of parliament referred to in the press as a Conservative Party ‘attack dog’ and who before becoming an MP worked for a union-busting PR firm that creates front organisations for polluting industries is the new health and safety minister. Chris Grayling, who was shadow Home Secretary before the election, is now minister of state at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).
Green jobs blog • Risks 461
Hazards news, 19 June 2010

Global: Union work gets more deadly
There has been a dramatic increase in the number of trade unionists murdered, with new figures revealing there were 101 killings in 2009 – up 30 per cent over the previous year. The latest Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights, published by global union confederation ITUC, also reveals growing pressure on fundamental workers’ rights around the world as the impact of the global economic crisis on employment deepened.
ITUC news release and survey, video and multimedia resources • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Mexico: States forces back ‘homicide’ mine
Unions have condemned an assault by heavily armed federal riot police on striking mineworkers at the Cananea copper mine near the US border. On Sunday 6 June at about 10pm, hundreds of police surrounded the mine, which has been occupied by the miners, and used tear gas to dislodge the workers.
IMF news release • USW news release • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Britain: Security firm fined for poisoning
Glasgow-based Alpha Group Security Ltd has been fined £7,000 following the poisoning death of a construction site security guard. Thomas Fraser, 37, died of carbon monoxide poisoning at an on-site flat used as a base for employees.
HSE news release • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Britain: Out of control lift kills lift engineer
A defunct Kent-based lift company has been ordered to pay £45,000 in fines and costs following the crushing death of a self-employed lift engineer. J Brown Services Ltd was prosecuted following an investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after 35-year-old Andy Bates died while completing the installation of a new lift at a site near Oxford Street in Central London.
HSE news release • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Britain: Firm guilty after young worker’s death
Flowserve (GB) Ltd has been fined £150,000 following the death of a 21-year-old employee. The prosecution at Lewes Crown Court related to the 7 May 2008 death of Philip Locke, who received fatal injuries when carrying out a pressure test on a high pressure valve.
HSE news release • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Britain: Don’t just criticise BP ‘criminals’, try them
Can you have serial crimes but no criminal? Critics say BP’s directors have proved as slippery as the gulf’s oil smeared coastline, with none so far facing criminal charges relating to the Deepwater Horizon disaster or other deadly incidents.
The White House blog • US Department of Justice news release • The Progressive • Creators.com • ITUC/Hazards green jobs, safe jobs blog and related BP criticism • Think Progress • CNN News • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Global: Olympic suppliers ‘degrade’ workers
Appalling and degrading conditions are being endured by millions of workers producing sportswear and Olympic branded merchandise, unions and campaigners have warned. The TUC, along with Labour Behind the Label, unions and human rights campaign groups, is part of the Playfair 2012 campaign calling on the organisers of London 2012 and the Olympic movement to ensure that workers’ rights are respected.
TUC news release • Labour Behind the Label • Playfair 2012 • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Britain: Derailment shows why guards are essential
Rail union RMT has again demanded Scotrail call an immediate halt to plans to extend Driver Only Operation (DOO) on its services after eight people needed hospital treatment as a result of a train derailment on Sunday 6 June.
RMT news release • Scotsman • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Britain: Unite safety alert after Corus death
The union Unite is calling on all safety reps to make sure employers take all the necessary steps to prevent fatalities after a member was killed at work. The call for vigilance follows the 23 April death of an electrician working for Corus at their Scunthorpe Concast Plant.
Unite news release • Scunthorpe Telegraph • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

Global: UCATT slams Australian ‘show trial’
UCATT has said called on the Australian authorities to abandon the ‘show trial’ of an Australian union rep who stood up for safety. The UK construction union has sent a message of solidarity to its Australian sister union CFMEU and construction worker Ark Tribe, who refused to answer to an anti-union “interrogation squad”.
UCATT news release • CFMEU news release • Rights on site • Find out more about Ark Tribe’s case • Risks 460
Hazards news, 12 June 2010

USA: Rig spill clean up makes workers sick
A chemical dispersant being used to fight the gulf oil spill is making workers sick, recent reports suggest. The disaster, where BP has failed repeatedly to stem the oil gusher and which started with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig that killed 11 workers, has led to an increasing clamour for criminal charges to be levelled at BP, the company that owns the well.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • New York Times • Minnesota Independent • Working In These Times • Truthout • Nola.com • BBC News Online • The Guardian • Fairwarning • Risks 459
Hazards news, 5 June 2010

Britain: Fingers chopped off at plastics firm
A plastics recycling factory in St Helens has been fined £15,000 after a worker had parts of two fingers cut off by blades on a high-speed fan. The Roydon Granulation Ltd employee, who has asked not to be named, suffered serious injuries to four fingers on his left hand including the partial amputation of two.
HSE news release • Risks 459
Hazards news, 5 June 2010

Britain: Premier league club fails on safety
Premier League football club Aston Villa has been fined after a worker was badly injured in a fall through a roof during the redevelopment of its training ground. The club, its contractor and Mechanical Cleansing Services’ director, Damon Roe, all admitted health and safety offences.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • BBC News Online • Risks 459
Hazards news, 5 June 2010

Britain: High voltage shock for stationery worker
A London stationery manufacturer has been fined after admitting removing safety guards and exposing a worker to a high voltage shock that left him permanently disabled. The man was investigating a fault on a plastic welding machine at Chart Design Ltd in Wembley in June 2007 when his fingers came into proximity with components carrying several thousand volts.
HSE news release • Risks 459
Hazards news, 5 June 2010

Britain: Tory ‘attack dog’ is safety minister
Chris Grayling, a member of parliament referred to in the press as a Conservative Party ‘attack dog’ and who before becoming an MP worked for a union-busting PR firm that creates front organisations for polluting industries is the new health and safety minister.
Green jobs blog
Hazards news, 5 June 2010

Britain: Site death fine increased eight-fold
A building firm has had a fine following the death of a worker increased eight-fold by appeal court judges in Scotland. Discovery Homes (Scotland) Ltd was originally fined £5,000 after admitting a criminal safety breach linked to the death of bricklayer Andrezej Freitag, 55.
Scottish Appeal Court judgment • STV News • Risks 459
Hazards news, 5 June 2010

USA: Call for mine manslaughter charges
US legislators and trade unionists last week grilled the owner of a mine where 29 workers died in a blast last month, slamming the “alarming record” of serious safety violations at the Massey Energy mine in West Virginia. Highway billboards calling for a manslaughter prosecution of Massey Energy are appearing around West Virginia and read: “29 Coal Miners Dead, Prosecute Massey for Manslaughter.”
Prosecute Massey for Manslaughter website • Morning Star • USW blog • Counterpunch • Pittsburgh Tribune-Review • Fairwarning.org • Truthdig • New York Times • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Freight firm fined after crushing death
A Leeds freight company has been fined after a 59-year-old worker was crushed to death by a case of glass. Alan Fletcher tried to stop the two-tonne case from falling as it was unloaded at Roadways Container Logistics, Leeds Crown Court heard, fining the firm £250,000 plus £100,000 costs.
HSE news release and Fletcher family statement • BBC News Online • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Waste giant fined after landfill death
A major UK waste management and recycling company has been fined after a driver was killed at a Northamptonshire landfill site. Sita UK Limited was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the death of bin driver Gary Carter, 32, at the Cranford landfill site on 4 January 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Contractor guilty after wall crushed worker
Contractor Keith Gardner, trading as KP Gardner Builders, was fined £7,000 last week for breaching health and safety law after a builder broke his back and ribs when a wall fell on him at a London construction site. Jason Lunnon, 41, was seriously injured when he was struck by the falling concrete blocks on the site in Newham.
HSE news release • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Council fined after dumper truck injury
Bridgend County Borough Council has been fined after an incident that saw a driver injured when his dumper truck overturned. Council employee Mark Morgan was driving the one tonne vehicle through woodland on 25 September 2008 when the truck began to slide.
HSE news release and risk management webpages • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Seven-metre fall stops man working
Construction firm Hartog Hutton Ltd and building owner Fluorocarbon Company Ltd have each been fined after a builder suffered fractured vertebrae when he fell from a factory roof in Hertfordshire. Danny Langdon, 63, injured his spine in the seven metre fall on Christmas Eve 2008 and has been off work since.
HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Firm broke chemicals laws before blaze
The boss of a chemical company that suffered a serious blaze leading to a multi-agency major incident response has claimed the factory had never before had problems with health and safety. However, official papers show Huddersfield-based Grosvenor Chemicals attracted a series of Health and Safety Executive (HSE) improvement notices last year for a catalogue of breaches of safety laws, including regulations covering dangerous, explosive and hazardous substances – and there had been a death at the site.
Environmental Agency news release • Kirklees Council news release • Huddersfield Daily Examiner and related report • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Global: Will BP’s ‘disaster-prone’ board face jail?
Directors of BP’s London-based global board seem to be above justice when it comes to the firm's serial workplace safety and environmental crimes, claims a new report. Campaigning magazine Hazards, which has been monitoring the multinational’s safety performance for years, says if more attention had been paid to BP’s deadly workplace safety record the risks would have been “shockingly apparent”.
ITUC/Hazards green jobs blog and BP webpages • The Daily Beast • Greenpeace BP logo competition • CBS News • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

Britain: Business wrong again on regulation
A business group has published updated estimates of the cost to business of regulations without addressing concerns raised last year that the figures were “rigged”. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) ‘Business Burdens 2010’ estimates these safety regulations lead to a combined recurring annual cost to business of £374 million – but deliberately omits from the calculation the savings accrued from preventive action required by regulation – including the savings made by business from operating safely.
BCC news release and Burdens barometer 2010 [pdf] • Who pays?, Hazards magazine, number 106, 2009 • Risks 458
Hazards news, 29 May 2010

USA: Obama to set up oil spill commission
US President Barack Obama has vowed to end the “cosy relationship” between oil companies and US regulators in the light of the Gulf of Mexico disaster. He also condemned “the ridiculous spectacle” of oil executives “falling over each other to point the finger of blame.”
BBC News Online on the presidential commission and the blame game •   The Guardian • In These Times • Center for Public Integrity news report • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 457
Hazards news, 22 May 2010

Britain: Raleigh fined over worker’s death
Bicycle company Raleigh has been fined £72,000 after the death of a forklift truck driver at its Nottingham depot. John Whittington, 59, was hit by a falling girder when part of his forklift truck, which had its forks raised, struck a door frame at the Eastwood site in September 2007.
Nottingham Post • BBC News Online • Risks 457
Hazards news, 22 May 2010

Britain: Worker crushed in building collapse
Two firms have been fined a total of £7,000 after part of an office block under construction collapsed, seriously injuring one worker. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the building’s designer, Peter Wallace of the Wallace Partnership, and the principal contractor, Jack Smith (Builders) Ltd, following the collapse in Kirkham.
HSE news release • Risks 457
Hazards news, 22 May 2010

Britain: Firms fined after site fall
Businesses are being urged to take proper precautions when their staff work at height after a West Yorkshire worker sustained serious back injuries when he plunged more than three metres from a terrace retaining wall on a construction site. There were no guardrails in place to prevent Graham Parkin falling from height as he accessed a work area.
HSE news release • Ilkley Gazette • Risks 457
Hazards news, 22 May 2010

Britain: Confectioner fined after 1 tonne blow
A Telford confectionery company has been prosecuted after a worker’s head was hit with a one tonne force. Magna Specialist Confectioners Ltd (MSC) was fined a total of £75,000 and ordered to pay costs of £37,500 by Shrewsbury Crown Court.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 457
Hazards news, 22 May 2010

Britain: College fined after window cleaner falls
Lincoln College has been fined £1,500 after a window cleaner fell four metres, suffering broken ribs and a serious back injury. James Theaker, 50, from Lincoln, was employed by A Nicoll & Son Ltd, when he was contracted to clean windows at Lincoln College on 4 November 2008.
HSE news release • Risks 457
Hazards news, 22 May 2010

Britain: Action needed on commercial fishing deaths
Britain’s top marine accident investigator has criticised lax attitudes to safety after the deaths of three fishermen in a two week period. The death rate among fishermen was “consistent and disproportionate,” the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said.
MAIB triple investigation report and 2009 Safety Digest [pdf] • Press and Journal • BBC News Online • Risks 457
Hazards news, 22 May 2010

Britain: Fishing boat firm fined following fall
A Scarborough fishing boat operator has been fined after an electrician suffered serious injuries when he fell from a ladder while aboard the company’s boat. Contractor Philip Parcell, 53, from Newby, broke his back in three places, fractured his skull in two places and sustained nerve damage to the left side of his face after plummeting between decks of the Our Julia when it was moored in Scarborough harbour on 16 July last year.
HSE news release • Risks 457
Hazards news, 22 May 2010

USA: More regulation is the solution
Whether the problem is blood spilled in the workplace or oil spilled in the oceans, a series of recent disasters show why more regulation of profit-hungry industries is needed, a US union leader has said. “Twenty-nine dead coal miners in West Virginia, seven dead workers at an oil refinery in Washington State and 11 dead on a Gulf of Mexico oil rig followed by an ecological calamity, all in the span of a month, illustrate in blood the need for more regulation and stiffer enforcement,” said Leo W Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers (USW).
AFL-CIO Now blog • In These Times • Risks 456
Hazards news, 15 May 2010

Britain: We didn’t vote to die at work
In a pointed reminder to the new Conservatives and Lib Dem coalition government, a stark poster from Hazards magazine warns: ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’. This “fighting for your life’ edition is intended to provide unions and campaigners with the ammunition they need to defend workplace health and safety standards.
Hazards magazine, issue 110, April-June 2010 • Contents list and We didn’t vote to die at work poster
Hazards news, 15 May 2010

Russia: Ninety feared dead in mine blasts
It is feared 90 workers have died in a tragedy at a Siberian coal mine, after a methane gas blast. Russian rescue on 13 May suspended the search for 24 men still missing after the mine disaster that killed at least 66 because of fears of new underground blasts, the emergencies ministry said.
ITAR-TASS news report • BBC News Online • Business Week • Risks 456
Hazards news, 15 May 2010

Britain: Managing director gets four year ban
A managing director has been disqualified from running a firm for four years after a 23-year old worker from Kettering fell more than nine metres, leaving him paralysed from the chest down. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted SDI Group UK Ltd, Construction Ltd and Richard Mark Berwick, the managing director of RM Berwick Steel Erection Services Ltd, after the incident on 8 February 2007 in Glossop, Derbyshire.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 456
Hazards news, 15 May 2010

Britain: Coroner calls for better falls standard
The death of a young roofer whose fatal fall was a result of “inadequate” planning and site supervision has prompted a coroner to call on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the industry’s trade body to introduce improved standards. Daniel Hollington, 21, plummeted to his death on 30 October 2007 after falling through a warehouse skylight and landing on the concrete floor 40 feet below.
Thurrock Gazette • Risks 456
Hazards news, 15 May 2010

Britain: Firm fined after teen has leg crushed
A Wolverhampton manufacturer has been fined £8,000 after a teenage employee was trapped under a load of steel, breaking his leg. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Dranson Ltd after 17-year-old Jamie Meredith was left pinned to the floor in agony after approximately 700 kg of steel fell off a trolley he was pushing.
HSE news release • Risks 456
Hazards news, 15 May 2010

Britain: HSE inspections down to once in a lifetime
A decade ago, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) could be expected to turn up at the average UK workplace once every few years. But unpublished official figures obtained by the trade union safety magazine Hazards show workplaces are now lucky to see the pared back watchdog once in a working lifetime and also show HSE enforcement “has crashed”.
Once in a lifetime - HSE inspection and enforcement drops off the chart, Hazards magazine, number 110, April-June 2010
Hazards news, 15 May 2010

USA: Union called in at anti-union deaths mine
Three weeks after the 29 non-union miners died at Massey Energy’s, Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, the colliery did what other non-union miners have done in recent times when company negligence has caused a disaster. They called in the union participate in the investigation - in the past 15 months in the US, 53 miners have perished; 52 of them worked at non-union operations.
ICEM news report • Washington Times • Risks 445
Hazards news, 8 May 2010

USA: Retailer discouraged accident reports
Californian supermarket chain Raley's Inc has agreed to pay a $550,000 settlement to resolve an unlawful business practices case after pressuring workers out of reporting injuries and claiming compensation. An investigation found Raley's managers routinely attempted to dissuade injured employees from filing compensation claims, suggesting that injured employees use their own health insurance for work-related injuries instead of reporting accidents and injuries as required by state workers' compensation law.
Sacramento Bee • Sacramento Business Journal • Risks 445
Hazards news, 8 May 2010

Britain: Right-leaning lobby ignorant on safety
A leading professional body has joined unions and campaigners in criticising a report by a Tory-linked think tank that calls for health and safety deregulation. The report, ‘Health and safety: reducing the burden,’ produced by the right-leaning Policy Exchange, “is marred by a number of conceptual weaknesses,” according to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).
IOSH news release • Risks 445
Hazards news, 8 May 2010

Britain: Food firm fined for finger loss
A specialist bread manufacturer has been fined after a worker was injured by a dough mixing machine and had his finger amputated. Thambirasaiyah Roy, 39, was using a spiral mixing machine to make dough in October 2006, at the company's factory in Hendon.
HSE news release • Risks 445
Hazards news, 8 May 2010

Britain: Steel beams fall on site worker
A Hertfordshire company has been fined after a worker was seriously hurt when he was struck by steel beams falling from a tower crane. Stephen James, 58, was working as a slinger, a person directing crane drivers, for John Doyle Construction Ltd at a residential development in September 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 445
Hazards news, 8 May 2010

Britain: Water firms fined after roof fall
A water services company and its sub-contractor have been fined after a technician fell through the roof of a pumping station in Cambridgeshire, fracturing his back. Technician Matthew Morgan, sub-contracted to Anglian Water Services, fell through an unmarked fragile roof light while taking a reading from a rain gauge on top of a pumping station in Willingham, near Cambridge.
HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Risks 445
Hazards news, 8 May 2010

Britain: ‘Just’ jail term for teen’s site death
 A builder whose negligence led to the death of a 15-year-old boy has failed in a challenge against his jail term at London's Court of Appeal. Colin Holtom admitted the manslaughter of Adam Gosling at the Old Bailey in July 2009 and was sentenced to three years in prison, with appeal court judges agreeing that although long, the sentence was “justifiably severe.”
Essex Chronicle • Risks 454
Hazards news, 1 May 2010

Britain: Big bonuses for death pit bosses
Directors of the UK’s largest coal producer, which last year killed two mine workers, have received five figure bonuses to top up their six figure salaries. However, the bonuses would have been higher still if health and safety targets had been met.
UK Coal preliminary financial results for year ended December 2009 [pdf] and Financial results presentation [pdf] • Risks 454
Hazards news, 1 May 2010

Global: BP accused over rig safety
Oil giant BP is facing accusations that it lobbied against new offshore safety rules and breached “numerous regulations” at a rig that exploded on 20 April, where 11 workers are missing presumed dead.
Huffington Post • The Guardian • Risks 454
Hazards news, 1 May 2010

Britain: Confectionery giant fined for machine death
The UK's largest confectionery firm has been convicted of two criminal safety breaches and fined £300,000 after an employee was crushed to death in one of its sweet-making machines. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Tangerine Confectionery Limited following the death of employee Martin Pejril at its Poole factory.
HSE news release • Bournemouth Echo • Risks 454
Hazards news, 1 May 2010

[deadly bus] Britain: Family farm fined for crushing death
A family farm in Scotland has been fined £20,000 after a farmworker was crushed to death by a one tonne concrete panel. On 3 June 2008, Colin Hill was helping to build a perimeter wall on an open hay shed at Hamilton Farmers (East Lothian), when the pre-cast concrete panel toppled over and crushed him.
HSE news release • Risks 454
Hazards news, 1 May 2010

Britain: Tories face protests over safety axe plans
Tory plans to cut safety laws and to allow firms to opt for self-regulation have prompted angry protests from construction union UCATT. On 27 April, a union organised demonstration was led by someone in full Grim Reaper regalia, carrying a “thanks for the business Dave” placard; other placards warned “Danger – Tory safety policy: Profit before workers’ lives.”
UCATT news releases on the Millbank and John Penrose protests • Morning Star • Hazards Campaign news release and manifesto for workplace safety [pdf] • Risks 454
Hazards news, 1 May 2010

Korea: Samsung PR push won’t cure cancer woes
Electronics giant Samsung has started a public relations charm offence in a bid to escape a cancer scandal linked to its Korean factories. On 15 April, the company invited reporters to a chip plant south of Seoul to demonstrate its manufacturing process and emphasise its commitment to safety.
Washington Post • USA Today • Global Unions cancer campaign • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Five-year ban for unsafe director
A director of a fuel tank manufacturing business has been banned from directing any company for five years after breaching a raft of health and safety regulations. Brian Nixon, the managing director of Transtore (UK) Ltd was also fined £17,000.
HSE news release • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Britain: Directors fined after slabs kill man
Two directors of a marble and granite manufacturing company have been fined after a worker died and two others were injured when six tonnes of stone slabs fell on them. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Marble City Ltd (MCL) and company directors Gavin and Jamie Waldron following the incident on 20 March 2008 outside the company's site in Wandsworth, London.
HSE news release • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Britain: Scottish courts to probe company finances
Scottish companies found guilty of causing workplace deaths will no longer be able to dodge hefty fines by pleading poverty. Courts in the country will soon be able to order background checks on convicted companies’ accounts.
Bill Wilson MSP news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Britain: Biffa fined for another waste death
The boss of Britain's biggest waste disposal firm quit shortly after a fourth preventable death at its dumps in six years. Biffa Waste Services Ltd received its safety biggest fine yet on 19 April, after admitting safety failings that led to the death of Dennis Krauesslar, 59.
HSE news release • Daily Mirror blog • BBC News Online • Newbury Today • Morning Star • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Britain: Biffa condemned for lack of care
Safety campaigners have joined the family of Dennis Krauesslar, killed as a result of criminal safety breaches at a Biffa waste site, in condemning the company for its lack of care. The firm received a six figure fine after pleading guilty to two safety charges. Thompsons Solicitors news release • Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Britain: ‘Best recycler’ fined £200,000 for death
A global metals and electronics recycling company has been fined after a lorry driver died when a crushed car fell from a scrapheap. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Sims Group UK Ltd, part of the world’s biggest metal recycling company, after truck driver Adrian Turner was crushed by a metal bale which rolled off the heap at the firm’s yard in Newport, south Wales.
HSE news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • BBC News Online • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Britain: Rail firm ‘gloats’ over dangerous jobs cull
Network Rail’s ‘gloating’ over its cull of frontline maintenance jobs has been condemned by rail union RMT. The union has demanded a reversal of cuts in what it says are safety critical jobs.
RMT news release • Risks 453
Hazards news, 24 April 2010

Korea: Samsung worker dies – activists arrested
On 2 April, following a funeral ceremony for Park Ji-yeon – a 23-year-old Samsung worker who succumbed to occupational cancer - Health And Rights of People in the Semiconductor industry (SHARPS), a coalition of trade unions and campaign groups, organised a press conference at Samsung headquarters in Seoul, calling the company to account for semiconductor related cancer deaths; the police broke up the press conference and detained seven activists without charge until 5 April.
IMF news release • Huffington Post • Sign the SHARPS petition • See the SHARPS video • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

USA: Work deaths need not dent your profits
The money men on Wall Street really do not concern themselves with anything other than the bottom line, recent disasters suggest. Just days after 29 workers died at the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch coalmine in West Virginia, Standard and Poor’s Equity Research – a respected adviser to stockbrokers and other financial market players – upgraded the stock of the serial safety offender to “buy” as the mine disaster was “immaterial” to the company’s profitability.
Fox Business News • Firedoglake blog • Huffington Post • Business Week • USW blog • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: HGV driver receives compensation for RSI
An HGV driver has received £13,500 in compensation after developing a repetitive strain injury (RSI) doing her job for a blue chip company. The GMB member from Leicestershire, whose name has not been released, has been left with a seriously strained elbow after being forced to attach brakes on her truck twice a day.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: What will the election bring?
The election manifestos of the major political parties contain precious little on workplace health and safety - and what’s there is less than reassuring, safety campaigners have said.
Hazards Campaign news release • UCATT news release • GMB news release• Labour manifesto [pdf] • Conservative manifesto [pdf] • Liberal Democrat manifesto [pdf] • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: Corus in the dock again after crushing death
Corus UK has been fined £240,000 after a young lorry driver was crushed to death at its site in Staffordshire – the steel multinational’s fourth appearance in the dock on safety charges in just six weeks. The latest prosecution came after 22-year-old Ross Beddow was crushed to death when three tonnes of steel plates fell on him at the firm’s base in Wombourne.
HSE news release • More on Corus’ safety record • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: Corus effect shows need for director rules
Leaders of the main political parties are being asked to state where they stand on employers who kill and injure their workers - especially notorious repeat offenders. The Hazards Campaign question -  “When will senior directors of companies such as Corus be held personally accountable for their serial killing and injuring workers?” – follows the fourth Corus safety fine in six weeks, the latest after the death of lorry driver Ross Beddow.
Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: Plant hire firm fined after fall death
Ashtead Plant Hire Co Ltd, trading as APlant, has been fined £200,000 for health and safety failings that led to employee Phillip Pearce falling five metres to his death. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) showed that the company failed to follow its own health and safety guidelines for work at height.
HSE news release and Shattered lives campaign • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: Poor planning led to fatal hangar fall
A Gateshead building firm has been fined £100,000 after one of its employees fell to his death while dismantling a hangar roof at Bristol International Airport. Rubb Buildings Limited was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after 30-year-old Steven Watson fell through the roof while dismantling the disused Brymon hangar on 16 December 2006.
HSE news release • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: Fine for security guard gassing death
Clyde Valley Housing Association Limited has been fined £70,000 after a security guard died from carbon monoxide poisoning on a construction site in Burbank, Hamilton, Scotland. Hamilton Sheriff Court heard that on 6 February 2008 the security guard was overcome with fumes from a petrol generator used inside the site office.
HSE news release • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: Bakery fined for failing to protect worker
A speciality bread manufacturer has been fined after a worker become entangled in a bagel forming machine and broke his wrist. Leeds Magistrates’ Court heard the Country Style Foods employee was experienced, and familiar with the type of machine he was using, the HSE investigation found the machine itself was new to the plant and no formal training or written instructions had been completed governing its safe use.
HSE news release • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: Defective cut-out caused cut on finger
A Lincolnshire pet food firm has been prosecuted after one of its machines damaged a worker’s hand. Fold Hill Foods Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and was fined £1,250 and ordered to pay costs of £1,545.
HSE news release and food manufacturing webpages
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

Britain: Union probe into firefighter deaths
Firefighters’ union FBU has said it is starting its own inquiry into the deaths of two firefighters, killed tackling a 6 April blaze at a block of flats. James Shears, 35, and Alan Bannon, 38, died from exposure to excessive heat while fighting the fire at the 15-storey Shirley Towers in Southampton.
FBU news release • BBC News Online • Risks 452
Hazards news, 17 April 2010

USA: Killing people at work is not fine
US unions and the US Chemical Safety Board have condemned the oil industry’s cavalier approach to safety after another workplace tragedy. The United Steelworkers (USW) said it was “incredible” that the response of oil industry trade associations to the Tesoro refinery explosion and fire on 2 April that killed five workers was to brag about their safety record.
USW news release and Oil bargaining website • CSB news release • ICEM news report • Seattle Times • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

USA: Deadly mine had poor safety record
A huge explosion on 5 April has killed at least 25 miners in the worst mining disaster in the United States in more than a quarter of a century. Early reports have highlighted a poor safety record at the Upper Big Branch mine, and have criticised a policy operated by mine owner Massey Energy that puts production ahead of safety.
AFL-CIO statement • National COSH news release • UMW news release • Democracy Now • New York Times • The Guardian • West Virginia Gazette • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

USA: Verdict highlights deadly biotech risks
A federal court’s decision to make a $1m plus payout to a sick biotech worker highlights the dangers faced by those employed in cutting edge industries. Becky McClain was awarded $1.37 million by a US District Court last week after saying her serious health problems stemmed from being infected by an experimental virus while working at Pfizer Inc’s Groton laboratories.
The Day • New York Times • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Waste company fine after near fatal fall
A West Midlands waste management firm has been fined £12,000 after a guard rail gave way and a new worker fell nearly three metres, narrowly missing a crushing machine. AB Waste Management Ltd pleaded guilty to a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
HSE news release • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Coffee break saves a worker’s life
Rubber manufacturer Moseley Rubber Company Ltd has been fined £10,000 after a Manchester worker narrowly escaped death in a factory explosion. Dave Lomas, 56, was returning from a coffee break when he saw a five-foot iron girder fly through the factory, smashing his workstation into pieces.
HSE news release • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Machinery firm fine £3,000 for repeat offences
A Cornish firm that continued to use dangerous machinery after a series of warnings from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been fined £3,000 and ordered to pay £3,419.50 costs. Specialist boring equipment manufacturer Rigibore Ltd pleaded guilty at Camborne Magistrates’ Court to breaches of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
HSE news release • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Watchdog ‘interventions’ at major waste firms
Major waste and recycling firms are to be the target of “central interventions” by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in a bid to address the sector’s appalling health and safety record. HSE says “the accident rate is still high (typically 4 times the all industry average for all injuries to workers and typically 9 times the all industry average for fatal injuries to workers).”
Central interventions by lead inspectors to national waste management and recycling companies, HSE Sector Information Minute (SIM) • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Dramatic rise in dangerous sites
There has been a 20 per cent increase in the number of construction sites requiring enforcement action after HSE inspection blitzes. Nearly one in four of the construction sites visited by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) during March 2010 failed safety checks, compared to one in five in an equivalent blitz last year.
HSE news release and equivalent 2009 HSE release • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Directors’ duties on the back burner
The government has said it will not act on two key recommendations of a report into fatalities in the construction industry. The 30 March DWP response to Rita Donaghy’s report into construction deaths, published a week before parliament was dissolved ahead of the general election, accepted 23 of the 28 recommendations of the report, but only said it “would look further” at the report’s call for statutory safety duties on company directors and at the extension of gangmaster licensing to the construction industry.
DWP news release and full response to Rita Donaghy’s report • UCATT news release • One Death is too many – Inquiry into the underlying causes of construction fatal accidents, the Donaghy report, 8 July 2009 • TUC directors' duties briefing document • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: TV footage helps convict fall death firm
Footage filmed for a TV documentary about medics has been used to help secure a safety conviction relating to the death of 25-year-old construction worker Balwinder Kumar. London firm Regentford Ltd was fined £250,000 after being convicted of safety offences, following an eight day trial at Croydon Crown Court.
HSE news release and scaffolding guide • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Steel giant Corus gets its third fine in a month
Corus ended March as it began – in the dock for safety offences. On 31 March, the steel giant was fined £10,000 following an explosion in a 75-metre-tall steel chimney in Scunthorpe, the firm’s third prosecution of the month.
HSE news release • More on Corus and safety • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Court blocks rail safety strike
Rail union leaders are set to reballot thousands of rail workers over industrial action in a row over safety, jobs and working practices. More than 5,000 signal workers and 12,000 maintenance staff across the rail network were due to stage four days of industrial action this week, but the action was halted at the high court, which backed a Network Rail call for an injunction.
RMT news release • TSSA news release • Morning Star • Stronger Unions blog • Herald • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Britain: Serious injury on fan mended with string
A scaffolder lost his leg after falling onto an industrial fan which had not been properly repaired. Unite member Terry Ledger, 43, was dismantling scaffolding at Coryton Oil Refinery in Essex when he fell through wire caging used to protect the fan, which had been damaged in an earlier accident but had only been repaired using a piece of string.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 451
Hazards news, 10 April 2010

Mexico: Tense standoff at danger mine
Tensions remain high at Mexico's Cananea mine where 1,300 miners have occupied a Grupo Mexico copper mine defending their right to strike for health and safety standards on the job. The striking members of the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM) at the Cananea copper mine in Sonora, Mexico, blocked the federal highway between Cananea and Agua Prieta on 16 and 17 March, demanding that the government step in to help broker a peaceful resolution.
IMF news release • Support Cananea miners and their families • Working In These Times • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Global: Would you fly BP Airlines?
The fifth anniversary of the BP Texas City refinery explosion, which killed 15 contract workers and injured over 170 others, fell on 23 March. However, both US regulators and unions have questioned the company’s commitment to improved standards, with John Bresland, chair of the Chemical Safety Board (CSB), saying:“If the airline industry was having the same number of accidents as the refinery industry, I don’t think too many people would be flying.”
USW Tony Mazzocchi Center news release • OSHA news release • CSB news release • Houston Chronicle • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Britain: Firm to blame for worker’s brain damage
The mother of a Derbyshire man who was left blinded and with serious brain injuries when he was hit on the head by a five and a half tonne metal sheet has expressed her relief at the High Court’s decision to hold his employer 100 per cent liable. However, despite the judge finding the company was responsible for serious and numerous breaches of safety legislation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had earlier decided it would not pursue a prosecution.
Irwin Mitchell news release • Sheffield Telegraph • BBC News Online • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Recycling firm fined after arson attack
A York hazardous waste recycling company has been fined £40,000 and £6,110 costs for failing to safeguard flammable liquid that was used in an arson attack on the business. BCB Environmental Management Limited pleaded guilty at Harrogate Magistrates Court to breaches of the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR) after illegally processing drums of volatile chemicals close to unprotected electrical equipment and forklift trucks.
HSE news release • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • York Press • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Britain: Factory fined £100,000 after worker's death
The brother of a dead factory worker has spoken out after a company was prosecuted for his death. Hydro Aluminium Extrusion Ltd, of Caerphilly, which specialises in supplying aluminium extrusion and fabricated products - was fined a total of £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £13,375 at Durham Crown Court after 38-year-old Jens Hinrichs was struck by a rail track mounted shuttle car and killed.
HSE news release • Sunderland Echo • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Britain: Site boss guilty after worker drowns
A West Kent construction employer has been found guilty of health and safety breaches following the drowning death of an employee. At Maidstone Crown Court, Edward James Day (trading as E J Construction) of Longfield Road, Longfield, Kent, was fined £20,000 on charges relating to the death of Mark Wilkin.
HSE news release • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Britain: Tory safety axeman falls short on facts
A Tory appointed health and safety troubleshooter has shown a troubling disregard for the facts, safety professionals organisation IOSH has indicated. Commenting on a speech by Lord Young, IOSH chief executive Rob Strange said “despite meeting him twice to brief him for his review, he quite clearly hasn’t taken in some of the facts.”
IOSH news release • Risks 450
Hazards news, 3 April 2010

Bangladesh: Fire victims need proper compensation
Garment employers must develop a compensation scheme that meets the needs of the victims of a Dhaka sweater factory fire, the global union federation for the sector has said. The call from the ITGLWF comes in the wake of the 25 February fire at the Garib & Garib Sweater factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which left 22 workers dead and another 50 injured.
ITGLWF news release • Risks 449
Hazards news, 27 March 2010

Britain: Wrong-thinking by right-leaning thinktank
A report on workplace safety calling on regulators to go easy on directors, for a “consideration” of safety deregulation and for some businesses to be exempted entirely from controls has been denounced by TUC as out of touch with reality. The author the Policy Exchange report, Corin Taylor, is currently a senior policy adviser at the Institute of Directors and was until recently research director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance.
TUC news release • Policy Exchange news release and report, Health and safety - Reducing the burden [pdf] • FACK news release • Risks 449
Hazards news, 27 March 2010

Britain: Inspectors denounce Tory ‘lunacy’ on safety
Plans by the Conservative party to allow firms to evade safety inspection by trained Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors are “sheer lunacy”, the safety inspectors’ union has warned. Prospect negotiator Mike Macdonald said: “Plans to side-step HSE inspectors amount to plans to side-step safety.”
Prospect news release • Risks 449
Hazards news, 27 March 2010

Britain: Deadly sites expose ‘fatally flawed’ Tory plans
Construction union UCATT is calling on the Conservatives to rethink their plans to “privatise” safety enforcement, after an official inspection blitz of sites in Greater Manchester revealed over a quarter were unsafe.
UCATT news release • HSE news release • Risks 449
Hazards news, 27 March 2010

Britain: STUC welcomes action on workplace gas safety
The UK government has announced measures to boost safety following a factory blast in Glasgow which killed nine workers and serious injured 30 over five years ago. The action comes in the official response to a report into the explosion at the ICL Plastics factory in May 2004.
STUC news release • DWP news release and response to the ICL inquiry report [pdf] • STV • BBC News Online • ICL Stockline campaign website • Risks 449
Hazards news, 27 March 2010

Britain: Network Rail fails on safety again
Rail unions have reissued a call for Network Rail to halt a job cuts programme, including the loss of hundreds of safety critical maintenance jobs, after it emerged the company has been again hit with an official health and safety improvement notice covering safety failings across the South East.
TSSA news release • RMT news release • The Independent • Risks 449
Hazards news, 27 March 2010

Britain: Directors fined £1,000 for brain damage fall
Two directors of a decorating firm have been fined just £1,000 each for safety offences that left a worker brain damaged. Self-employed Trevor Dawson from Ravensthorpe, West Yorkshire, was working as a painter on a student accommodation refurbishment when the incident happened on 15 August 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 449
Hazards news, 27 March 2010

Britain: No prosecution after laundry tragedy
A firm that failed to guard a machine or post warning signs about serious safety risks will not be prosecuted after a novice worker died after being trapped in the machine. Hafiz Abdul Shakoor fell into a coma and died 12 days after suffering a heart attack when he became caught between metal bars in a laundry loading area.
Birmingham Mail • Risks 449
Hazards news, 27 March 2010

Britain: Scots work killers could suffer share hit
A proposal in Scotland to allow courts to force companies guilty of serious safety crimes to issue new shares has passed its latest hurdle in the Scottish parliament. Dr Bill Wilson, the SNP member of the Scottish parliament for West of Scotland, said: “With more than eighteen signatures from MSPs and sufficient cross-party support I now have the right to introduce my Criminal Sentencing (Equity Fines) Bill.”
Bill Wilson MSP news release • Criminal Sentencing (Equity Fines) Bill [pdf] • Risks 449
Hazards news, 27 March 2010

USA: Dust disease settlement for 9/11 workers
 New York City officials have agreed to pay up to US$657.5m (£437m) to thousands of rescue and clean-up workers after 9/11. The settlement would compensate more than 10,000 plaintiffs who say they were made sick by dust at the Ground Zero site of the attacks.
Representative Marilyn B Maloney news release • NYC Mayor Bloomberg news release • New York Times • BBC News Online • NYCOSH news release and  9/11 advice webpages • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010

Honduras: Drive-by killers target journalists
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed fresh concern over the media crisis in Honduras following three murders in two weeks targeting media. The killings of Joseph Hernández Ochoa, a former TV presenter on 1 March, David Meza Montesinos, a radio reporter who died on 11 March and fellow reporter Nahum Palacios Arteaga murdered three days later were carried out in drive-by shootings.
IFJ news release • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010

Britain: Corus gets second safety fine this month
Steel giant Corus has found itself facing the courts on safety charges for the second time in a fortnight. In the latest case, the multinational was fined £100,000 and ordered to pay £9,908.50 costs at Sheffield Crown Court after a worker escaped with minor injuries after the crane he was operating overturned.
HSE news release • More on the Corus safety record • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010

Britain: Hammer firm hit with fine
A Solihull hammer manufacturer has been fined after an employee suffered severe injuries when his hand was caught in an industrial drill. Solihull magistrates heard Aaron Watts was working at the Shirley based Thor Hammer Company when the glove on his right hand became entangled in one of the rotating spindles of an unguarded pedestal drill.
HSE news release • Birmingham Post • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010  

Britain: A quarter of sites fail safety inspections
More than a quarter of the construction sites visited in Greater Manchester during an inspection blitz last week failed safety inspections.
HSE news release • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010

Britain: Royal Mail ‘got off light’ after work death
Royal Mail got away with a “paltry fine” following the horrific death of a member of staff. Commenting on the £90,000 fine, CWU national health and safety officer Dave Joyce said: “When you consider the Postal Regulator fined Royal Mail £11.5 million a few years ago for not delivering enough letters on time, this fine is paltry on an organisation with a £9,560 million turnover and fines like this are no deterrent or incentive to improve safety management and place little value on a lost life.”
CWU news release • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010

Britain: Tory safety opt-out will be a ‘scoundrels’ charter’
Campaigners and unions have dismissed Tory plans to “privatise” safety enforcement as a “scoundrels’ charter.” Under Tory proposals firmed up this week by shadow business spokesperson John Penrose, certain businesses would be allowed to carry out their own safety audits and refuse access to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors.
UCATT news release • Morning Star • Risks 448
Hazards news, 20 March 2010

Britain: Roads continue to kill off the record
Road safety campaigners and industry representatives have challenged the government to start official reporting of work related road crashes. The call came after road safety minister Paul Clark told a road safety conference this month: “Work related driving remains a great concern to all of us involved in road safety because around 75 per cent of all work-related deaths are out on the road.”
Paul Clark’s speech to the Brake Fleet Safety Forum conference • Brake • Risks 447
Hazards news, 13 March 2010

Royal Mail fined over employee death
Royal Mail has been fined following the death of an employee who was crushed by a reversing HGV. Yard shunter Colin Smith, 57, was fatally injured in September 2006 at Royal Mail’s Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre (HWDC).
HSE news release • Risks 447
Hazards news, 13 March 2010

Turkey: ‘Obvious negligence’ in deadly mine blast
A gas explosion on 23 February that killed 13 workers in a Turkish mine was the result of “obvious negligence”, according to a top union official. Tayfun Görgün, president of the mining union DEV MADEN-SEN, said there were clear faults with the mine's ventilation, early warning system and auditing.
Bianet • Risks 446
Hazards news, 6 March 2010

Bangladesh: Anger as garment workers perish
At least 21 workers have been killed in a fire at the Garib & Garib Sweater Factory in Gazipur, Bangladesh. Patrick Itschert, general secretary of ITGLWF, the global union federation for the sector, said: “This tragedy, which echoes so many others in Bangladesh’s garment sector, is a brutal reminder of the grossly inadequate safety measures in place in Bangladesh’s garment factories.”
ITGLWF news release • Morning Star • Risks 446
Hazards news, 6 March 2010

Britain: Campaigners welcome new cranes law
Unions and campaigners have welcomed confirmation that a crane safety law will come into effect next month. Liliana Alexa, the Battersea resident who spearheaded the campaign for a law and whose son Michael Alexa, 23, was killed by a crane collapse whilst cleaning his car, welcomed the new measures.
GMB news release • BCDAG news release • Risks 446
Hazards news, 6 March 2010

Steel giant Corus gets away with a £5,000 fine
Steel giant Corus has been fined £5,000 after a worker was seriously injured while clearing a jam in the production line at a factory in Skinningrove, East Cleveland.  The fine will not make a significant dent in the company coffers: the firm’s website notes: “Corus is Europe's second largest steel producer with annual revenues of around £12 billion and a crude steel production of over 20 million tonnes.”
HSE news release • More on the Corus safety record • Risks 446
Hazards news, 6 March 2010

Britain: Council fined after road worker dies
Rotherham Council has been fined £75,000 after employee Gordon Duffield was killed by a reversing truck. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also prosecuted contractor Brocklebank & Company (Demolition) Limited over the incident during a council road surfacing operation. 
HSE news release • Risks 446
Hazards news, 6 March 2010

Britain: Watchdog confirms RMT rail safety fears
Rail union RMT has demanded an immediate halt to plans to axe up to 1,500 safety-critical Network Rail maintenance jobs after an official probe called for “a significant change in attitudes and behaviours throughout” the company. The call, in a letter from Bill Emery, the chief executive of the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR), to Network Rail boss Iain Coucher, came as a damning report from ORR identified major safety concerns related to implementation of Network Rail’s maintenance restructuring.
ORR news release and letter to Iain Coucher, Network Rail [pdf] • RMT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 446
Hazards news, 6 March 2010

RMT demands action against Network Rail
RMT has demanded urgent legal action against Network Rail after an improvement notice served on the company highlighted “systemic” failings in its track-work safety regime. The improvement notice, issued by railways inspector Liesel von Metz on 23 February, concerns lines between Cardiff Central and the Valleys and fleshes out a prohibition notice served earlier in the month.
RMT news release • Risks 446
Hazards news, 6 March 2010

Mexico: Widows seek justice for 65 mine deaths
Families of coal miners killed four years ago in an explosion at the Pasta de Conchos mine in Coahuila, Mexico, have filed a US-union backed legal case in US federal court seeking damages from Grupo Mexico Inc. The lawsuit was filed by the United Steelworkers union (USW) on behalf of three widows whose husbands were among 65 coal miners killed in the disaster.
USW news release • IMF news report • Pittsburgh Post-Gazette • Arizona Star • Risks 445
Hazards news, 27 February 2010

Britain: Tower crane registration scheme becomes law
A new law to improve the safety of tower cranes on construction sites was laid before parliament this week, paving the way for the start of a statutory registration scheme. The regulations, developed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a high profile campaign by safety activists and unions, will come into force on 6 April.
DWP news release • Risks 445
Hazards news, 27 February 2010

Britain: Hole in ship was plugged with a rag
The UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency has detained a 2,000 ton ship using a rag to plug a hole in its cracked hull. The Russian registered cargo vessel Baltiyskiy 110 has been issued with a Detention Notice due to failure to comply with merchant legislation in Fowey, Cornwall.
MCA news release • Risks 445
Hazards news, 27 February 2010

Britain: Work killers could be forced to advertise crimes
Companies convicted of corporate manslaughter could be forced to take out adverts publicising their conviction as a result of new measures, the justice ministry has said. Courts will now be able to hand out publicity orders to firms and public bodies where gross corporate health and safety failures caused a person's death.
Ministry of Justice news release • Risks 445
Hazards news, 27 February 2010

Britain: Serial offender trumpets safety ‘milestone’
A company that says it is the UK’s leading waste and recycling firm and that parades its environmental and safety credentials has been a serial safety offender over the last five years. Health and safety magazine Hazards charges that while no mention of a conviction in February relating to an employee’s death appears on the Veolia ES website, “the company is less reticent when it comes to boasting about its safety successes.”
Hazards ‘green jobs, safe job’ blog
Hazards news, 27 February 2010

Britain: Boss fined for unsafe work on roof
A roofing firm boss has been fined £4,950 after putting himself and two of his employees at risk of falling more than seven metres from a building. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Dean Paul Shaw, 44, trading as Streamline Guttering and Cladding, of Kirby Muxloe, Leicestershire, for allowing work to take place on a roof without adequate safety equipment to stop him or his workers falling.
HSE news release and Shattered Lives campaign website • Risks 445
Hazards news, 27 February 2010

Britain: Property developer faces the courts
A Bradford property developer has been fined £10,000 for serious safety failings that endangered the lives of workers on a refurbishment project in Hull. HQ Leisure Limited pleaded guilty at Hull Magistrates Court to one breach of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, two breaches of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and three breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
HSE news release • Risks 445
Hazards news, 27 February 2010

Belgium: Train staff strike after fatal crash
Train workers in southern Belgium went on spontaneous strike in protest against what they believe were dangerous working practices immediately after two commuters crashed at Halle, just outside Brussels, killing 18 people. The strike was widely followed and led to widespread disruption to train services in southern Belgium.
Risks 444
Hazards news, 20 February 2010

Britain: Serial offender fined after recycling bin death
A company that says it is the UK’s leading waste and recycling firm and that parades its environmental and safety credentials has been fined £130,000 after a worker was killed when a 1,100-litre recycling bin fell on his head.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog
Hazards news, 20 February 2010

Britain: Construction firm fined after worker run over
Construction giant Carillion has been fined £185,000 after an Oldham worker suffered life-threatening injuries when he was run over by a reversing truck at the Kingsway Business Park in Rochdale in 2008. A Ford Transit truck was reversing on the construction site when it hit Michael Gresty who was helping to build a new track around a large pond.
Press notice • Risks 444
Hazards news, 20 February 2010

Britain: TUC criticises low fines despite new laws
The TUC has expressed concern that courts are continuing to impose ridiculously low fines on employers who are found guilty of health and safety offences despite recent laws that aimed to increase penalties. The health and safety at work offences act, which came into effect last year removed the limit on most offences by allowing them to be tried in higher courts and at the same time raised the maximum fine which could be imposed in the lower courts to £20,000.
HSE press notice • HSE press notice • Risks 444
Hazards news, 20 February 2010

[deadly bus] Britain: Safety campaigners back TUC on sentencing
Safety campaigners have backed the TUC's call for greater penalties against companies that kill workers, following the publication of government sentencing guidelines.
IOSH press release • FACK release • Risks 444
Hazards news, 20 February 2010

Britain: Rail firm issued prohibition notice over staff cuts
Network has been served a Prohibition Notice by the Office of Rail Regulation over a shortage of lookouts to ensure safe track working in South Wales. The notice states that the inspector is 'of the opinion that there is an immediate risk of harm to the trackworkers undertaking foot patrols on the railway line between Cardiff Central and Aberdare, Rhymney, Treherbert and Merthyr Tydfil.”
RMT release • Risks 444
Hazards news, 20 February 2010

Britain: Rail unions to ballot on safety fears
Two rail unions are to ballot their members for industrial action over the threat from Network Rail to axe up to 1500 safety-critical maintenance jobs. The two unions, TSSA and RMT have repeatedly raised concerns over the effect that these cuts will have on the safety of the national rail network.
TSSA release • RMT release • Risks 444
Hazards news, 20 February 2010

USA: Long hours linked to deadly gas explosion
Workers in a Connecticut power plant that was rocked by an explosion which killed five people last week were often working more than 80 hours a week, reports say. It is also alleged that workers at the Kleen Energy Systems plant smelled gas less than an hour beforehand and were told to open doors wider for air.
Risks 443
Hazards news, 13 February 2010

Britain: Guideline on Corporate Manslaughter published
The Sentencing Guidelines Council have published guidance for courts in dealing with companies and organisations that cause death through a gross breach of care or where breach of health and safety requirements are a significant cause of the death. The council guidelines, effective from 15 February 2010, state fines for companies and organisations found guilty of corporate manslaughter may be millions of pounds and should seldom be below £500,000.
Risks 443
Hazards news, 13 February 2010

Britain: Company fined after bowling alley death
A leisure company, Mitchells and Butler Retail Ltd, which ran the former Hollywood Bowl site in East London, has been fined £40,000 after pleading guilty to a health and safety breach in a prosecution brought by Newham Council. Ferdinand de la Cruz was crushed to death by a ten-pin bowling machine he was cleaning because the company had not provided adequate protection - namely a guard that would have prevented the awful accident.
Risks 443
Hazards news, 13 February 2010

Britain: Verdict of unlawful killing reinstated
An inquest has heard that a pit worker died from a gas leak because his employer did not enforce its health and safety policy. Richard Clarkson, 26, died in 2004 in an argon gas-filled pit at Bodycote Ltd metal parts factory in Hereford and his colleague, Stuart Jordan, who tried to help him also died.
Risks 443
Hazards news, 13 February 2010

Britain: Stonemasons suffer long-term lung damage
A York-based company of stonemasons William Anelay Limited, of York, was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £6,000 by York Crown Court after pleading guilty of breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act. The court heard that two employees, who had been working for the company as stonemasons for many years, fell ill after being exposed to uncontrolled levels of respirable crystalline silica, which is caused primarily by dry stone carving without extraction ventilation or use of protective equipment.
Risks 443
Hazards news, 13 February 2010

Britain: Company fined for poisoning its workers
A recycling company and its director have been fined a total of £145,000 for exposing workers to toxic mercury fumes at a site in Huddersfield. Electrical Waste Recycling Group Ltd recycles electrical equipment, including fluorescent light tubes containing mercury and TV sets and monitors containing lead at a plant in School Lane, Kirkheaton.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog
Hazards news, 13 February 2010

Europe: Construction unions reject deregulation
The European Federation of Building and Woodworkers (EFBWW) has denounced European Commission (EC) proposals for health and safety deregulation. The EC’s October 2009 action programme, which forms part of a European Union “Better Regulation” push, calls for certain firms to be exempted from core health and safety requirements.
ETUI-HESA news briefing • Risks 442
Hazards news, 6 February 2010

Britain: Risk assessment may have stopped knife death
A simple risk assessment may have averted an incident when a mental health worker was stabbed to death, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said. Mental health charity Mental Health Matters was fined £30,000 and ordered to page £20,000 costs after admitting failing to protect employee Ashleigh Ewing, 22, who was stabbed to death by a paranoid schizophrenic.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • The Journal • Risks 442
Hazards news, 6 February 2010

Britain: Fined £7,500 after builder’s death
A Bolton housebuilding company has been fined £7,500 after one of its workers fell to his death. DC Kennedy Homes Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after Ian Smith, 64, was killed when he fell from an unstable ladder.
HSE news release and Shattered Lives campaign • Risks 442
Hazards news, 6 February 2010

Britain: Call for vigilance after bridge deaths
Construction union UCATT is calling for increased vigilance and is demanding companies do not take a complacent attitude to safety, after two bridge workers in Scotland were killed within hours of each other. Both men were undertaking painting and blasting duties and both deaths occurred on rail bridges.
UCATT news release • ORR statement • BBC News Online • Risks 442
Hazards news, 6 February 2010

Britain: Firefighters 'arrest' over warehouse deaths
Firefighters’ union FBU has expressed concern after being told three managers were to be arrested in relation to the deaths of four firefighters in a 2007 warehouse blaze.
FBU news release • BBC News Online • Risks 442
Hazards news, 6 February 2010

Britain: Bill calls for safety duties on directors
A Labour MP is pressing for a new law to place legally binding, explicit safety duties on company directors. Aberdeen North MP Frank Doran presented his Health and Safety (Company Director Liability) Bill in a House of Commons debate on 19 January.
House of Commons debate, Hansard, 19 January 2010 • Health and Safety (Company Director Liability) Bill • Theyworkforyou.com • Risks 441
Hazards news, 30 January 2010

Britain: Company finez for Heathrow crush death
A major airport services company has been fined £90,000 following the death of an employee crushed by an electric vehicle at Heathrow airport. Maintenance engineer Mohammed Taj, 52, died in March 2008, when the “tug” used for pulling baggage and other supplies to planes, fell on his head.
HSE news release • Hillingdon Times • Risks 441
Hazards news, 30 January 2010

Britain: Massive cement explosion injures worker
A Scottish oil service firm has been fined £14,000 after an explosion sent five tonnes of cement powder into the atmosphere, injuring a worker. Peterhead-based Cebo UK pleaded guilty to two failures to comply with its pollution prevention and control (PPC) permit when the case was heard at Peterhead Sheriff Court.
SEPA news release • Press and Journal • Risks 441
Hazards news, 30 January 2010

Britain: Confused recycling sector is still deadly
If you work in waste and recycling, you might not be reassured to hear it has a work fatality rate nine times the national average. And you might be even more alarmed when you hear some privatisation-happy local authorities are clueless when it comes to their legal responsibility to keep you safe.
HSE news release and new waste sector resources • Green jobs, safe jobs blog • Risks 441
Hazards news, 30 January 2010

Global: NHS supplies made in very unhealthy conditions
Doctors are calling for action to eliminate child labour and dangerous working conditions in the production of NHS supplies. The BMA’s Medical Fair and Ethical Trade group this week launched an information campaign telling doctors about the labour abuses evident in the production of NHS medical supplies.
BMA news release • Fair Medical Trade website, facebook group and leaflet [pdf] • Risks 441
Hazards news, 30 January 2010

Britain: RMT dossier exposes rail safety failures
RMT has warned that a safety crisis on the rails could get dramatically worse if Network Rail is allowed to proceed with plans to shed 1,500 safety critical maintenance posts. On 27 January, the union handed a damning dossier to MPs, outlining reports of a “serious deterioration in safety” alongside damaging maintenance cuts.
RMT news release • Risks 441
Hazards news, 30 January 2010

Britain: Shock global safety ranking for the UK
The UK does not make Europe’s top 20 for occupational health and safety performance and only just scrapes into the top 30 worldwide, according to a new ranking topped by Denmark. The Health and Safety Risk Index (HSRI) ranks the UK the 30 safest nation; among the 30 OECD nations, the UK is ranked at a lowly 20th – although some other major OECD nations have worse still rankings, including the USA, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Maplecroft news release • Risks 440
Hazards news, 23 January 2010

Britain: BAE fined over woman’s blast death
Defence company BAE has been fined £80,000 over the death of a worker who was killed in a blast at its explosives factory in Lancashire. Lynda Wilkins was working with lead styphnate, a sensitive primary explosive, in March 2005 when she was killed at the Chorley site.
HSE news release • Lancashire Evening Post • BBC News Online • Risks 440
Hazards news, 23 January 2010
         
Britain: Young worker crushed to death
A construction company has been fined after a young employee had his head crushed at a site in Gloucestershire. Macob Administration Limited, based in Bridgend, Wales, was charged by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after 23-year-old Lance Taylor was killed on a Gloucester construction site on 11 February 2005.
HSE news release • Risks 440
Hazards news, 23 January 2010

USA: Better enforcement equals fewer mine deaths
Mining deaths in the US fell to an all-time low last year, and two of the key reasons, said the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), are stronger enforcement of mine safety laws and the tougher mine safety rules passed in 2006 after a series of explosions, fires and other deadly incidents. MSHA figures show 18 coal miners were killed in 2009 and 16 workers in metal/nonmetal mines were killed - a drop from 2008’s total of 53 deaths.
MSHA news release • AFL-CIO Now Blog • Charleston Gazette • Risks 43
Hazards news, 16 January 2010

Bangladesh: Eight workers die in shipyard blast
Bangladesh’s notoriously deadly shipbreaking yards have claimed eight more lives. The workers at the Rahim Steel and Shipbreaking Yard were burned to death on 26 December, when the ship they were dismantling exploded.
NLC’s 11 January 2010 shipbreaking report [pdf] and shipbreaking webpages • USW news release • Risks 439
Hazards news, 16 January 2010

Britain: Shock at work deaths penalty proposals
Not linking fines with turnover is a “gross undermining” of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (CMCHA), trade union law firm Thompsons Solicitors has warned. It says one of the main reasons behind the legislation was public disquiet at large companies who had killed workers receiving minimal or no sentences – but the new proposals fail to address this concern.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 439
Hazards news, 16 January 2010

Global: Another deadly year for journalists
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) is demanding more action from governments and the United Nations to protect media workers. The call came as IFJ announced a grim total of 137 journalists and media personnel had been killed during 2009.
IFJ news release • INSI news release • Risks 438
Hazards news, 9 January 2010

Britain: Fire union warning after deaths verdict
The government must learn the lessons of a tragedy that claimed the lives of two firefighters, the union FBU has warned. The call came after a fireworks factory owner and his son were convicted in December 2009 of the manslaughter of two firefighters.
FBU news release • Risks 438
Hazards news, 9 January 2010

Britain: ‘Lamentable’ Shell fined after worker is paralysed
Oil giant Shell and two of its contractors have been fined after “lamentable failings” led to a “totally avoidable” refinery incident that left a worker paralysed from the waist down. Shell UK Oil Products Ltd, Dalprop Ltd and Hertel UK Ltd were fined at Warrington Crown Court on 4 January for safety offences related to the 9 February 2007 incident at Shell’s Stanlow complex near Ellesmere Port.
HSE news release and video interview with Stephen and Jayne Rizzotti • Liverpool Daily Post • Wall Street Journal • The Times • Personnel Today • Risks 438
Hazards news, 9 January 2010

Britain: Bus company fined for death of driver
A bus company has been fined £400,000 after a driver was crushed to death between two seven-tonne London buses. Robert Cherry, 59, died from massive pelvic injuries at Uxbridge Bus Garage - a depot belonging Centrewest London, part of the First UK group – on 18 May 2004.
HSE news release • Uxbridge Gazette • Risks 438
Hazards news, 9 January 2010

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