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DEADLY BUSINESS
NEWS ARCHIVE 2002-2004
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South
Africa: NUM excluded from mine deaths probe
Leaders from South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) say they
have been excluded from the investigation into the deaths of seven miners
at a mine in Brits. The mineworkers were killed in an underground accident
at the Hernic Ferrochrome mine.
Risks 188, 24 December 2004
Britain:
Fines for "serious" and fatal failures
Two companies have been ordered to pay fines and costs totalling £100,000
in the Central Criminal Court, London after pleading guilty to what were
described as "serious failures" to comply with safety duties,
leading to a worker's death.
Risks 188, 24 December 2004
Britain:
Sick pay runs out for blast injured workers
Workers from the Stockline factory in Glasgow are facing an anxious Christmas
after their sick pay entitlement ran out, seven months after surviving
an explosion which killed nine colleagues.
Risks 188, 24 December 2004
Britain:
More delays for workplace death law
Plans to make it easier to prosecute companies following fatal accidents
have suffered a further setback, with the Home Office now admitting draft
legislation might not be published until shortly before next spring's
expected general election.
Risks 188, 24 December 2004
Australia:
New law ups safety penalties and reps' rights
The Australian state of Victoria has introduced a new safety law that
creates the new offence of "exposing a person to risk of serious
injury or death" with a possible jail term of up to five years. Another
provision gives union occupational health and safety representatives the
right to make surprise inspections of even non-unionised work sites.
Risks 187, 18 December 2004
Britain:
MPs call for more site inspection and enforcement
An MPs' committee has said the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) should
do more to reduce the "unacceptable" toll of construction site
injuries. The Commons public accounts committee called for higher penalties
and for HSE to change its inspection regime to include more unannounced
visits - to investigate whether these reveal more serious breaches of
health and safety than notified visits.
Risks 187, 18 December 2004
Britain:
Action call on workplace deaths
A £20,000 fine after the death of a 20-year-old worker in a forklift
truck accident has led to calls for tougher penalties. The HSE prosecution
of EW Pepper Ltd related to the death of Hungarian employee Ezther Nagy
who died after her forklift truck overturned.
Risks 187, 18 December 2004
Britain:
Hospital knife attacker gets life
A murderer has been jailed for life for two knife attacks committed at
a hospital while he was out on licence from prison. Lord Drummond Young,
sentencing the man for attempted murde, said: "Any assault in hospital
premises, whether on patients or staff, must attract a very severe sentence."
Risks 187, 18 December 2004
Britain:
Scaffolding collapse sparks anger
Workers at a Nottinghamshire power station staged a walk out last week
after a colleague was badly injured when scaffolding collapsed. Union
officials said the scaffolding at Cottam power station near Retford was
installed by Portuguese workers and added they were concerned the workers
had not been trained up to UK standards.
Risks 187, 18 December 2004
USA:
Trench warfare is killing workers
Dozens of labourers die in the United States every year while working
in trenches on construction sites, most unvisited under a threadbare system
of official safety inspection. Industry experts say the reason for the
carnage is simple: too many employers, especially owners of small construction
companies, ignore safety rules.
Risks 186, 11 December 2004
Australia:
Workers die in official bid to rub out unions
A scathing official report into mine safety in West Australia has exposed
the human cost of a drive by Australia's federal government to reduce
union power by introducing individual contracts as an alternative to collective
bargaining. The five month Ritter Inquiry, prompted by a spate of workplace
deaths, found mining multinational BHP Billiton's aggressive use of individual
contracts had compromised workplace safety.
Risks 186, 11 December 2004
Britain:
New bill hopes to make safety a boardroom priority
Senior Labour backbenchers and former ministers are backing a private
member's bill which would see company directors held to account for negligent
health and safety practices that cause injuries or fatalities.
Risks 186, 11 December 2004
Britain:
Haulage boss jailed after fatal crash
A haulage boss who taught truckers how to cheat vehicle logs so they could
travel "as far and as fast as they wanted" was given a seven
year jail term this week after three men died when one of his drivers
fell asleep at the wheel. Drivers at Keymark Services - where Melvyn Spree
was director - regularly falsified records so that it would appear that
they were complying with the law when they were actually working grossly
excessive hours.
Risks 186, 11 December 2004
Britain: Workers can't be
victims of the war on red tape
A government plan to reel in red tape must not remove safety protections,
campaigners have warned. They were responding after Gordon Brown announced
"the regulatory focus should be on advice not inspection."
Risks
186, 11 December 2004
Britain:
Zoo fined after worker is killed by elephant
The mother of a zoo worker who died after he was struck by an elephant
said she was "very pleased" after his employer was fined £25,000.
Risks 185, 4 December 2004
Australia:
"Abominable" banker earns union wrath
Commonwealth Bank CEO David Murray has launched
a blistering attack on New South Wales' health and safety regime, describing
proposed jail sentences as "absolutely abominable." He added
that the existing system that allows successful prosecutors to recoup
costs in safety cases was "corrupt," charges that attracted
strong condemnation from unions.
Risks 185, 4 December 2004
Britain:
Call for global accountability for UK firms
British companies whose serious negligence causes deaths abroad will not
be brought to account under the provisions of a draft manslaughter bill
due to be published this month.
Risks 185, 4 December 2004
China:
Global bid to improve deadly mines
A global deal aimed at improving the health and safety of China's mining
industry was signed this week in Beijing. The agreement, which involves
global union federation ICEM, comes in the week that China suffered its
worst coal mine disaster in recent history, with 166 confirmed dead.
Risks 185, 4 December 2004
Britain:
Put directors in the dock over workplace casualties
Unions TGWU and UCATT are promoting a private member's bill that would
hold individual directors to account for workplace casualties.
Risks 185, 4 December 2004 • How
the Health and Safety (Directors' Duties) Bill would look
[pdf]
Global:
Clouds of injustice hang over Bhopal
The failure of the Indian government and Union Carbide to tackle the after-effects
of the Bhopal disaster has left a legacy of pollution and inadequate medical
care for survivors, according to an Amnesty International report.
Risks 185, 4 December 2004
China:
Owners arrested after 61 die in mine fire
Chinese police have detained nine people in connection
with a massive blaze at an iron ore mine that killed at least 61 people
and left four missing, according to the official news agency Xinhau.
Risks 184, 27 November 2004
Britain:
Company fined for subbie's death
Defence company BAE Systems has been fined £250,000 after a sub-contracted
welder died while working on a North Sea platform.
Risks 184, 27 November 2004
Britain:
Manslaughter law should hit bad bosses too, says TUC
Companies will be more likely to face manslaughter charges if workers
or members of the public die as a result of their neglect, under measures
announced in the Queen's speech. However, the government said it would
only publish the bill in draft, meaning it has no commitment to turn it
into law, and has not included new legal duties on dangerous directors.
Risks 184, 27 November 2004
Britain:
Union anger at manslaughter law delays
Unions have expressed dismay at continuing delays in progress towards
a new corporate manslaughter law with legal duties on company directors.
Risks 184, 27 November 2004
Britain:
Scotland plans "corporate homicide" law
An offence of "corporate homicide" could be introduced in Scotland.
Plans have been announced for a specific offence for corporate and public
bodies which cause death through failures of management - this would take
the scope beyond that of the Westminster draft bill, which would not apply
to Crown bodies.
Risks 184, 27 November 2004
Global:
Strong enforcement action is the key to safety
A real threat of enforcement action by official safety agencies is the
best way to secure improved safety standards, a major international review
has found.
Risks 184, 27 November 2004
Britain:
TUC call for new powers to save workers' lives
A further rise in workplace deaths and injuries
exposes Britain's failing safety enforcement regime, says the TUC. TUC
general secretary Brendan Barber said: "The fact that deaths and
serious injuries at work have risen again this year is a damning indictment
on the levels of safety and the enforcement regimes in British workplaces."
Risks 183, 20 November 2004
Britain:
HSE board "eroding safety" say inspectors
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) frontline staff
say cutbacks and a move to leaflet rather than legislate pushed through
by senior management is eroding workplace safety. In a devastating indictment
of top HSE bosses, 96.4 per cent of HSE inspectors, scientists and other
professionals supported a "no confidence" motion in HSE's board.
Risks 183, 20 November 2004
Britain:
HSE report shows a dramatic drop in enforcement
Health and safety enforcement dropped off dramatically
last year according to latest Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures.
Total HSE enforcement action last year - prosecutions taken or HSE enforcement
notices issued - dropped by approaching 1,000.
Risks 183, 20 November 2004
Britain:
TUC looks forward to work manslaughter bill
TUC says it expects a draft of the promised corporate
manslaughter bill to be included "for pre-legislative scrutiny"
in next week's Queen's Speech. A TUC online briefing says the effectiveness
of the bill will depend on its content and says the new offence of corporate
manslaughter should cover all employers, including the government itself.
Risks 183, 20 November 2004
New
Zealand: Call for "decisive action" on work deaths epidemic
New Zealand's unions have said "the shockingly
high toll of decades of neglect" revealed in a new official report
requires "decisive action." The call from Council of Trade Unions
president Ross Wilson came after the first National Occupational Health
and Safety Advisory Committee report revealed that every year up to 1,000
workers in New Zealand died from occupational disease - up to 10 times
more than died from accidents.
Risks 182, 13 November 2004
Britain:
Union chief dismayed at lack of progress on site deaths
The new leader of construction union UCATT says drastic action needs to
be taken to reduce a construction death toll still running at approaching
two fatalities a week. Alan Ritchie, UCATT's new general secretary, says
the latest information from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) shows
there have been 42 deaths in construction since the beginning of April
- exactly the same number as this time last year.
Risks 181, 6 November 2004
Australia:
New investigation unit to tackle work deaths
A world's first coroner's court investigative unit to probe the causes
of work-related deaths has been set up in Australia. A specialist team
of investigators and safety experts in the Work-Related Death Investigation
and Resource Unit is to examine all workplace deaths in the state of Victoria
in a bid to prevent further loss of life.
Risks 180, 30 October 2004
Australia:
Company guilty of driving worker to death
A fine imposed on an Australian transport operator whose exhausted driver
was incinerated in a major highway smash has sparked calls for safety
watchdog WorkCover to go after the "Mr Bigs" of road transport.
Tranport union TWU says 37-year-old Darri Haynes was killed in a 1999
fireball, after doctoring logbooks and consuming methamphetamines in a
bid to meet schedules.
Risks 180, 30 October 2004
China:
Over 140 feared dead in mine blast
A 20 October gas explosion at a coal mine in central China has killed
at least 60 people. Earlier reports said 88 others were missing.
Risks 179, 23 October 2004
Britain:
First Engineering fined £200k after sleeper horror
Rail maintenance company First Engineering Ltd has been fined £200,000
at Glasgow Sheriff Court following the death of an employee nearly two
years ago.
Risks
178, 16 October 2004
Britain:
"Ongoing failures" led to Chunnel death
"Basic and simple precautions" could have saved the life of
a construction worker, a court has heard. Instead, three construction
companies have been prosecuted and fined a total of £100,000 after
pleading guilty to breaches of health and safety legislation.
Risks
177, 9 October 2004
Britain:
Government "nobbled" on death penalties
The death of Michael Mungovan has highlighted the inadequacy of UK law
to reflect the seriousness of workplace safety crimes. Guardian columnist
George Monbiot says a promised law to make directors responsible has been
"nobbled" by employers' organisations.
Risks 177,
9 October 2004
Britain: Six figure
fines on rail death firms
Two companies have been fined on charges relating
to a workplace death that was ruled to be "unlawful killing"
at an earlier inquest. The six figure fines imposed on rail maintenance
company Balfour Beatty and the McGinley Recruitment Services agency, the
companies responsible for a 22-year-old casual rail worker Michael Mungovan's
death, have once again raised questions about the adequacy of UK law to
match the punishment to the crime.
Risks
177, 9 October 2004
Britain: Rail workers killed
after being hit by repair truck
Two rail workers were killed this week when
they were hit by a repair truck at a project involving three firms under
contract to Network Rail. The accident happened days after latest Health
and Safety Executive figures revealed a 50 per upturn in track deaths.
Risks
176, 2 October 2004
Britain
HSE upbeat on rail safety as nine workers
die
The Health and Safety Executive's annual rail
safety report has put a positive spin on Britain's rail safety record.
The report's assessment came despite a 50 per cent increase in the number
of rail employees killed at work.
Risks
175, 25 September 2004
Britain
HSE strategy shift threatens lives says
Amicus
A sea change in strategy by the Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) will reduce the number and frequency of workplace inspections,
is reckless and will endanger lives, says the union Amicus.
Risks
174, 18 September 2004
Turkey
Nineteen die in mine fire
At least 19 workers died and 17 were injured
in a fire at a copper mine in north-western Turkey. Reports say that serious
questions will be asked about the incident as at first it seemed many
more of the men would be saved.
Risks
173, 11 September 2004
South
Africa
Lax safety standards blamed for deadly chemical
blast
Unions are demanding answers after a blast ripped
through the Sasol ethylene plant in Secunda, South Africa. So far, the
company has refused to say whether it will allow unions to participate
in an investigation into the tragedy, which killed seven and injured over
100 workers.
Risks
173, 11 September 2004
Britain
Port operator fined £250,000 over
trainee's death
Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company, the operator
of the UK's largest container port, has been fined £250,000 after
a trainee dockworker plunged nearly 120ft to his death from a crane.
Risks
173, 11 September 2004
Britain
More delays to corporate killing law
The government has insisted it will press ahead
with plans for new corporate killing laws, but conceded there will be
further delays.
Risks
173, 11 September 2004
Britain
UK fails to learn occupational health lessons
The UK safety watchdog has ditched crucial occupational health functions
despite its own evidence showing it is failing to meet its targets to
reduce occupational ill-health. A new report in the International Journal
of Occupational Safety and Health (IJOEH) warns that moves by the Health
and Safety Commission, including a decision to axe the post of HSE medical
director, “broke the link with the periodically radical and innovative
work of occupational physicians dating back to Sir Thomas Legge in 1898.”
Risks 172,
4 September 2004
Japan
Nuke plant head apologises for fatal accident
The boss of a Japanese nuclear power company has been ordered to apologise
for an accident that killed five workers.
Risks 172,
4 September 2004
Britain
Death charges dropped against Railtrack
Charges of manslaughter against the now defunct Railtrack and one of its
senior managers over the Hatfield disaster have been dropped. In June
this year, Railtrack paid out £1 million to the widow of Hatfield
victim Stephen Arthur, after admitting liability for the crash.
Risks 172,
4 September 2004
China
Bosses buried miner to conceal accident
Bosses at a private coal mine in China have been detained by police for
concealing a fatal mining accident on 7 July. In a bid to conceal the
accident, bosses asked a miner to bury the body and agreed to pay him
a “hiding fee.”
Risks 172,
4 September 2004
USA
Steel union questions accident surge
So far twice as many members of US steelworkers’ union USWA have
died this year as in all of last year – and the union suspects radical
changes in the industry during a recent downturn may have made mills more
dangerous places to work. Now that demand for steel has increased sharply
and the industry has a chance to make money, steelmakers have to produce
more with fewer workers and many workers are performing jobs that are
new to them.
Risks 172,
4 September 2004
Australia
Mining giant BHP makes a killing
A record profit for the world's largest mining company has come at the
cost of 17 workers' lives, says a union group. BHP Billiton made a profit
of $3.38 billion for the last financial year.
Risks 171,
28 August 2004
Britain
Manslaughter charges follow workplace deaths
Two bosses are facing manslaughter charges
after workers were killed in separate incidents in February this year.
Risks
171, 28 August 2004
India
Bhopal victims continue compensation fight
Thousands of compensation claims relating to
one of the world's biggest industrial disasters, at the Union Carbide
factory in Bhopal in 1984, are being taken to India's Supreme Court.
Risks
170, 21 August 2004
USA
Safety a casualty of Bush deregulation fetish
Workplace safety has been a major victim of
the US government's business friendly policies. The Bush administration
has always favoured a retreat from regulation and enforcement, but new
reports in the Washington Post and New York Times suggest this preoccupation
has been especially evident in the area of workplace health and safety.
Risks
170, 21 August 2004
USA
Guilty Disney pays $6,300 for a life
Walt Disney Entertainment has been fined $6,300
(£3,455) for the death of a Florida worker dressed as Pluto who
was run over and killed by a float as it entered the Magic Kingdom parade.
Risks
170, 21 August 2004
Australia
Mine deaths prove the case for work deaths
law
An Australian union is seeking a new industrial
manslaughter law after an inquiry found a company and its bosses were
responsible for a deadly 1996 mine disaster. CFMEU union president Tony
Maher said: "For far too long companies and management have literally
gotten away with murder."
Risks
170, 21 August 2004
Britain
BT to be prosecuted over engineer's death
British Telecom is to be prosecuted by the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) over the death of CWU member Tara Whelan. The
BT engineer was killed at work in May 2001.
Risks
170, 21 August 2004
USA
How to get fewer accidents? Don't count
them
A subsidiary of Weyerhaeuser, a company that
is one of the US government's flagships for the "voluntary protection
programmes (VPP)" introduced as a business-friendly alternative to
official safety enforcement, has been found to have fiddled its accident
reports.
Risks
169, 14 August 2004
USA
Judge orders safety watchdog to name worst firms
A US federal judge has ordered the government's
national health and safety watchdog to disclose for the first time the
company names and the worker injury and illness rates of the American
workplaces with the worst safety records.
Risks
168, 7 August 2004
Britain
Court bans two directors for "horrific"
safety crimes
A demolition firm and two of its directors will
pay out over £300,000 in fines and costs after workers were exposed
to asbestos at a Birmingham factory. The directors both received bans
from running a company.
Risks
168, 7 August 2004
Britain
Developer pays £100,000 following subbie's
death
London-based development company Cherren III
has been fined £75,000 plus costs of £25,000 at Southwark
Crown Court, London, for safety offences relating to the death of heating
engineer Mark Butler.
Risks
168, 7 August 2004
Australia
First test of work death law
The tragic death of a union member will provide
an early test of Australia's first industrial manslaughter law.
Risks
167, 31 July 2004
Britain
Deaths law delayed because of ministers' court
fears
Plans to introduce a corporate manslaughter
law have been repeatedly delayed because government ministers fear they
could be held personally liable for deaths.
Risks
167, 31 July 2004
Britain
Boss jailed over apprentice death
Managing director Alan Mark has been jailed
for 12 months after 21-year-old apprentice Ben Pickham was killed in a
boatyard explosion.
Risks
167, 31 July 2004
Britain
HSC hands-off safety plan in total disarray
Union concerns about the government's hands-off,
business-friendly workplace safety plans have been vindicated after all
the key points of the new Health and Safety Commission safety strategy
were rubbished by a top all-party committee.
Risks
167, 31 July 2004
Britain
Unions say the government must act now
Unions say the government must act now to put
Britain's faltering safety system back on track, and improve safety enforcement
and introduce new rights for union safety reps.
Risks
167, 31 July 2004
Britain
TUC calls for action as work deaths rise
Rising numbers of workplace deaths are a clear
indication that more resources must be put into safety enforcement, says
TUC.
Risks
167, 31 July 2004
Ukraine
Gas blast kills 31 coalminers
At least 31 coalminers have been killed in a
20 July explosion in a shaft in Ukraine. The government declared a three-day
period of mourning as rescuers sought five men believed to be trapped
deep underground in a dangerous fog of smoke, methane gas and fire.
Risks
166, 24 July 2004
China
Major work fatalities keep rising
Industrial and road accidents killed about 64,000
people in China in the first half of this year while its mining industry
remained the world's most dangerous, officials says. The government's
efforts to stem runaway mining deaths, including mine closures and a clampdown
on illegal mines, have so far failed to make the dramatic inroads hoped
for.
Risks
166, 24 July 2004
Britain
Corporate manslaughter law slips again
The government now says the long overdue corporate
manslaughter law, a manifesto promise since 1997, will not appear until
late this year. Speaking in a 14 July House of Commons debate on construction
safety, minister for work Jane Kennedy MP said: "the aim is to have
that published towards the end of this year perhaps the back end
of autumn."
Risks
166, 24 July 2004
Britain
Workplace killers - best laws briefing
The lacklustre UK government proposals on corporate
manslaughter - which do not include measures to bring about jail terms
for dangerous employers - can now be compared to better laws elsewhere.
The Centre for Corporate Accountability has prepared a web briefing laws
already in operation in Canada and in Australia's capital territory.
Risks
166, 24 July 2004
Britain
Carnaud Metal Box guilty of another death
The widow of a man electrocuted at a Nottinghamshire
metal working plant has won an admission from his employer that it was
responsible for his death - but only after an inquest, a safety trial
and a civil compensation case. In another case, the company was last month
fined £17,000 for safety offences related to the deaths of two workers
in a fireball.
Risks
166, 24 July 2004
DR Congo
Fatal collapse of illegal uranium mine
Part of a uranium mine has collapsed in eastern
Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least nine people. The Shinkolobwe
mine was officially closed earlier this year but people still mine there
for cobalt, used in mobile phones.
Risks
165, 17 July 2004
Britain
Safety standards "not sufficient" as
three die
Three men drowned in a slurry tank this week
because not enough had been done to make the job safe.
Risks
165, 17 July 2004
Britain
Fine after worker baked to death
A laundry company has been fined £325,000
after one of its employees baked to death in a giant washing machine.
Paul Clegg became trapped after he entered the machine to clear a blockage
- even though there was an escape hatch that could have saved his life.
Risks
164, 11 July 2004
Britain
Three charged over cockler deaths
Three people have been charged over the deaths
of 21 Chinese cocklers in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire Police have said.
Risks
163, 3 July 2004
Britain
HSE public safety policy is "unlawful"
The Health and Safety Executive's new policy
on public safety - which stops HSE inspectors enforcing public safety
duties upon employers in certain circumstances - is "unlawful,"
according to a legal opinion obtained by the Centre for Corporate Accountability.
Risks
163, 3 July 2004
Britain
Factory blast workers to receive final wages
Injured employees of ICL Plastics, whose factory
was destroyed in the Maryhill explosion that claimed nine lives, will
cease to have their normal wages paid after next week.
Risks
163, 3 July 2004
Britain
Anger at plan to scrap rail safety watchdog
Relatives of those who died in some of Britain's
worst train crashes have criticised the government over its plans to scrap
the independent regulator in charge of rail safety. The government proposal
has already been condemned by the TUC.
Risks
163, 3 July 2004
Britain
Rail worker killed by train "lacked proper
training"
A 21-year-old railway worker was hit and killed by a train in London because
a construction company and a recruitment agency failed to train him properly,
a court heard. Balfour Beatty and McGinley Recruitment Services both denied
they had employed Michael Mungovan.
Risks
162, 26 June 2004
Britain
Killer chimney bosses escape with a fine
Company bosses criticised in court for a series
of fatal safety blunders have escaped with fines totalling £17,000.
They were originally charged with manslaughter after the fireball death
of two steeplejacks, but these charges were later dropped.
Risks
162, 26 June 2004
Britain
Waste industry wastes lives
HSE says fatality rates in the waste industry
are over 10 times the national average in the waste industry, which is
now more dangerous than construction. HSE does not mention any plan to
enforce higher standards, however, but instead says it will be "good
partners" with the industry, encouraging self-regulation.
Risks
162, 26 June 2004
USA
Workers' advocates call for work deaths action
Commenting after a spate of migrant worker deaths
in New York, Susan McQuade of the New York Committee for Occupational
Safety and Health (NYCOSH) said while the official safety enforcement
agency OSHA has focused on training programmes, what was really needed
was stricter enforcement and larger fines and penalties. "Without
strict enforcement, there's no onus on the contractor," she said.
Risks
161, 19 June 2004
Britain
Father hits out at "joke" fine after
deaths
A grieving dad has hit out after a firm was
fined £15,000 over his son's death. The employer and the safety
enforcement agency had both been strongly criticised in an earlier report.
Risks
160, 12 June 2004
Britain
Unions provide legal support for blast tragedy
families
The Maryhill victims' families and survivors
of the factory blast which killed nine workers are to be given free legal
advice and support by Scotland's top union body - even though they are
not union members.
Risks
160, 12 June 2004
Australia
Working for a living can kill you
For more than 2,000 Australian workers every
year, something goes fatally wrong on the job - sometimes catastrophically,
but more often in ways that are slow, insidious and unseen. The Australian
Workers Union's Yossi Berger says the toll is more like 8,000 when you
consider "all those silent occupational diseases" that might
take 30 years to kill someone.
Risks
159, 5 June 2004
Britain
HSE abandons some death and injury probes
Deaths and injuries to members of the public,
which until recently would have been investigated by the Health and Safety
Executive, will no longer be subject to inquiry, the Centre for Corporate
Accountability (CCA) has said. It adds that under the new system HSE will
also no longer inspect hospitals, the police, local authorities and others
to see whether they are complying with their public safety duties.
Risks
159, 5 June 2004
Britain
Corporate responsibility scheme is "not working"
The government's global framework for corporate
social responsibility is not up to the job and has been "effectively
ghost-written by the CBI." The criticism of the government's voluntary
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) International Strategic Framework
comes in letter to ministers from CORE, a corporate responsibility coalition
including charities, unions and campaign and business groups.
Risks
159, 5 June 2004
Australia
BHP under attack for deadly mine safety record
An official inquiry is investigating multinational
mining giant BHP Billiton after a series of deaths and injuries to iron
ore workers.
Risks
158, 29 May 2004
Australia
Support for NSW work deaths law
The state government in New South Wales (NSW)
is under pressure to jail killer bosses in the wake of a Legislative Council
committee recommendation that corporate manslaughter should be written
into the Crimes Act. The cross party committee also wants to give courts
the power to make delinquent employers face up to bereaved family members.
Risks
158, 29 May 2004
Britain
Questions raised about Glasgow blast tragedy
An investigation by a leading Scottish newspaper
has raised serious concerns about the safety regime in place prior to
the deadly 11 May explosion at a Glasgow plastics factory. The Sunday
Herald says "a shadow also hangs over the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) which is supposed to ensure that industry doesn't endanger employees'
lives."
Risks
157, 22 May 2004
Britain
Deadly site dangers prove case for killing law
A National Audit Office (NAO) report showing
building workers are three times more likely to suffer a serious workplace
injury and that the industry accounted for over 30 per cent of all workplace
deaths in 2002-03, has led to renewed union calls for laws on corporate
killing and directors' responsibilities.
Risks
157, 22 May 2004
Britain
Unions mourn blast victims and call for answers
Nine workers are known to have been killed and 40 injured, many seriously,
in a devastating 11 May plastics factory blast in Glasgow. Early indications
are that an industrial oven exploded at Stockline Plastics in the Maryhill
area of the city.
Risks
156, 15 May 2004
Britain
HSC needs "less self-congratulation and more
enforcement"
General union GMB is demanding a radical overhaul
of the way health and safety regulations are enforced, and says the UK
watchdog should stop telling us how good it is and should actually do
some real enforcing.
Risks
156, 15 May 2004
Britain
TUC warning on dangerous talk
The TUC is warning that the new style safety-speak
from the government and the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) is a dangerous
development.
Risks
156, 15 May 2004
China
Workplace deaths up, accidents down
The death toll in workplace accidents throughout
China is rising so far this year though accidents dropped slightly,"
Chinese government officials say.
Risks
155, 8 May 2004
Britain
Centre for Corporate Accountability
Papers from the Centre for Corporate Accountability's
29 April conference on corporate safety crimes are now available online.
Risks
155, 8 May 2004
Britain
The brutal reality of a death at work
Maureen O'Sullivan's father, Patrick, died on
the Wembley Stadium construction site on 15 January 2004. Maureen told
a 600-strong 28 April Workers' Memorial Day rally and work stoppage at
the site: "How many fathers, sons, brothers must be maimed or killed
before governments say enough is enough?"
Risks
155, 8 May 2004
Britain
Firms agree Potters Bar liability
Network Rail and the rail maintenance company
Jarvis have accepted legal responsibility for claims brought over the
Potters Bar rail crash. In a joint announcement the two firms said accepting
liability would provide "comfort and assistance" to victims
of the May 2002 crash.
Risks
154, 1 May 2004
Britain
Over 3,500 deaths; not one jail term
Leaders of construction unions TGWU and UCATT
have called for an end to the "outrage" of workplace deaths
- and for prison terms for dangerous negligent employers. They say "hearing
the clunk of the cell doors behind the first jailed director will result
in immediate changes to safety practices on sites."
Risks
154, 1 May 2004
Britain
No justice yet for dead and dying workers
The TUC has expressed concern at government
stalling on the promised corporate killing law. TUC's Frances O'Grady
called on ministers to bring to justice those employers who, through negligence
and a callous attitude to health and safety, put the lives of their workers
and members of the public at risk.
Risks
154, 1 May 2004
USA
Voluntary work safety isn't safe
Company efforts to avoid safety regulation and enforcement by introducing
voluntary safety schemes aren't working, according to new research. US
Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) researchers found chemical facilities
owned by companies enrolled in the industry-sponsored voluntary safety
programme have had more than 1,800 accidents per year since 1990.
Risks
152, 17 April 2004
USA
Mexican lives come cheap in Florida
Florida is operating a racially-driven compensation system which defaults
to breaking the law rather than pay full death compensation when Mexicans
are killed in its workplaces.
Risks
152, 17 April 2004
Britain
Jail law call after firm's £2m disaster fine
Rail union RMT has said killer bosses should
face the prospect of jail time. The union was commenting after a court
fined Thames Trains a record £2 million for its part in the deaths
of 31 people in the 5 October 1999 Paddington train.
Risks
151, 10 April 2004
Britain
TGWU welcomes fresh call for corporate killing
law
TGWU has welcomed a Bill which would introduce
greater accountability for corporate safety criminals. Frank Doran MP's
10 minute rule Bill on corporate killing was put before parliament on
30 March.
Risks
150, 3 April 2004
Australia
Serial killer escapes with fine
A fine of just Aus$60,000 (£24,500) following
the death of a construction worker has sparked renewed calls for harsher
penalties for Australia's killer employers. Pat Preston of construction
union CFMEU said: "We need to send the message home to employers
who are serial killers, who don't take into account their employees health
and safety, that they will face hefty fines and jail sentences."
Risks
148, 20 March 2004
Britain
Six figure fine and safety award for killer company
A company awarded a top safety honour has been
fined £100,000 for safety offences that contributed to the death
of a worker. JDM Accord Ltd was awarded the British Safety Council's "sword
of honour" in November 2003 in the same week the court proceedings
commenced.
Risks
148, 20 March 2004
Britain
Manure attack farmer jailed
A Cornish farmer has been jailed for two years
for plunging an animal health inspector and a vet into a slurry pit. Roger
Baker, 61, was found guilty in January of attacking Jonathan McCulloch
and Susan Potter on his land at Ventongimps, near Truro, last year.
Risks
146, 6 March 2004
Britain
Official support for Scots corporate killing law
The Scottish Executive is committed to bringing
forward laws to deal with corporate killing, Cathy Jamieson, the justice
minister, has said.
Risks
146, 6 March 2004
Britain
Most companies say directors should be responsible
Most company directors believe a senior director
should be responsible for safety and over half think they should be criminally
liable for safety failings.
Risks
145, 28 February 2004
Australia
Unions call for work death law
Families and friends of workers killed at work
have told a parliamentary enquiry in New South Wales (NSW) that the low
fines for workplace deaths are a "disgrace." industrial manslaughter
law will take effect in the Australian Capital Territory on 1 March 2004.
Risks
145, 28 February 2004
Britain
Campaigners call for end to "joke" work
death penalties
Unions and legal experts have renewed calls
for a work death law. The move comes after continuing UK government delays
in bringing forward promised corporate killing legislation.
Risks
145, 28 February 2004
Britain
Manslaughter probe follows 19 migrant deaths
Police investigating the deaths of 19 people who drown picking cockles
have arrested a number of people on suspicion of manslaughter. Critics
are asking why government safety watchdog HSE had not intervened to stop
what was evidently a highly dangerous practice.
Risks
143, 14 February 2004
 Britain
Migrant deaths force government about face
Tough new laws to drive unscrupulous "gangmasters" out of business
were promised by the government in the wake of the Morecambe Bay cockling
tragedy. The move represents a total about face by the government, which
has consistently resisted union pressure, spearheaded by rural workers'
union TGWU.
Risks
143, 14 February 2004
Britain
TUC supports bill on penalties
The TUC is backing a Bill by Andy Love MP which
would see companies that commit health and safety crimes paying much higher
fines for injuring or killing their employees. The ten minute rule bill
received its first reading on 10 February and if successful would see
magistrates courts fine employers guilty of health and safety offences
up to £20,000, compared to a £5,000 maximum now.
Risks
143, 14 February 2004
USA
"Cavalier" boss gets jail term for scaffold
deaths
A US judge has jailed construction boss after
five immigrant workers were killed in what was a "tragic certainty"
rather than an accident. Philip Minucci, 32, received a 3½ to 10½
year sentence. The judge added that the case also illustrated how "astonishingly
ineffectual" the federal government's safety watchdog OHSA has been
in protecting workers' lives.
Risks
140, 24 January 2004
South Africa
Minister "angry" at site deaths
South Africa's labour minister says he is saddened
and angry about the continuous death and injury of workers in the construction
sector.
Risks
140, 24 January 2004
Britain
Scotland's judges develop corporate homicide law
Scotland's High Court has ruled for the first
time that companies can be prosecuted for the offence of "culpable
homicide." It has also established a principle of law that allows
companies to be prosecuted without needing to prosecute a director or
senior manager.
Risks
140, 24 January 2004
Britain
Six figure fine after teenager dies
Conder Structures Limited, the company that
designed a steel column that fell on a 16-year-old worker, killing him
instantly, has been ordered to pay £160,000 in fines and costs.
Risks
138, 10 January 2004
USA
Employers getting away with "wilful"
deadly violations
The official US workplace safety watchdog is facing a storm of criticism
after revelations about its lax approach to safety enforcement. The Occupational
Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) scarcely ever seeks prosecution
after the 100 plus workplace fatalities each year accepted to be caused
by "wilful" safety violations by employers.
Risks
138, 10 January 2004
Britain
"Utterly reckless" boss jailed for worker's
death
An "utterly reckless" boss has been
jailed for a year for manslaughter after one of his workers was crushed
to death. Peter Pell pleaded guilty to manslaughter after it was found
he removed all the safety features on the machine that killed Shaun Cooper,
27.
Risks
138, 10 January 2004
Britain
More delays for the corporate killing law
The UK government has confirmed the timetable
for the promised corporate killing law has been delayed again, but says
it still intends to publish a draft bill in the Spring of 2004.
Risks
138, 10 January 2004
USA
Prison threat for managers arrested at work
Four managers at US company Atlantic States
Cast Iron Pipe Co., allowed to get away with intimidation and serious
and sometimes deadly safety violations for years have been arrested at
work, and could face lengthy jail terms if found guilty.
Risks
137, 20 December 2003
BRITAIN
Widow joins fight against Crown Immunity
A south Wales widow has joined a national campaign
to scrap the Crown Immunity which prevents her suing the Royal Mint over
her husband's death. The reform campaign is being spearheaded by the Centre
for Corporate Accountability.
Risks
136, 13 December 2003
BRITAIN
Management failures cost CSG £650,000
Cleansing Services Group Ltd (CSG) has been
fined £250,000 and ordered to pay £400,000 costs for breaches
of environmental and health and safety regulations involving fires and
radioactive and other hazardous wastes.
Risks
136, 13 December 2003
BRITAIN
Corus fined after another workplace death
Corus UK Ltd has been fined £150,000 and £50,000 costs following
an incident in which locomotive driver Michael McGovern was killed on
15 September 2000 when the train he was driving at the Corus steelworks
in Scunthorpe derailed. The incident is one a series at Corus plants country
wide, including the death of Gary Birkett, killed at the Scunthorpe plant
on 5 November 2002.
Risks
135, 6 December 2003 • Also
see Hazards' Corus webpage
BRITAIN
CCA challenges flawed corporate killing
plan
The government's plans for a corporate killing law, already under attack
for delays and for not bringing dangerous directors to book, could also
breach human rights laws by excluding public bodies from its scope.
Risks
135, 6 December 2003
BRITAIN
Balloon protest for workers' safety
Members of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) have released
400 balloons over Manchester city centre to highlight the risks to safety
at work from employer negligence. Dave McCall, regional secretary for
the TGWU, said: "The TGWU is pressing the government at the highest
level to honour their manifesto commitment to make corporate killing a
crime."
Risks
135, 6 December 2003
BRITAIN
Amicus say UK workers deserve Oz style law
The trade union Amicus has reacted angrily to news that an Australian
state has implemented the corporate manslaughter laws that were missing
from the UK government's legislative plans. Amicus said that workers in
the UK should be celebrating the same industrial manslaughter protection
as their counterparts in Australia, especially as corporate manslaughter
laws were a UK Labour Party manifesto pledge in 1997.
Risks
135, 6 December 2003
BRITAIN
Unions call for jail for workplace killers
Construction unions have renewed their call
for jail terms for company directors who endanger their staff by flouting
health and safety laws. The appeal came after Murli Thadani and his company,
Marketing Exchange for Africa, were handed fines of £99,000 as a
result of the New Cleveland Street warehouse collapse, which killed three
Hull workmen.
Risks
134, 29 November 2003
AUSTRALIA
First industrial manslaughter law passed
A new law industrial manslaughter law has been
passed in the Australian territory that includes Canberra, the home of
the business-friendly national government. The move, which has been welcomed
by unions, came despite the strong opposition of business and the national
government.
Risks
134, 29 November 2003
BRITAIN
Dismay at further deaths law delay
Laws aimed at making it easier to prosecute
businesses responsible for deadly safety crimes have been left out of
the government's legislative timetable.The move has angered unions, as
the government had previously indicated a "corporate killing"
law would be introduced in 2004.
Risks
134, 29 November 2003
NEW ZEALAND
Unions call for corporate manslaughter laws
Company owners who show reckless disregard for
the lives of their workers should face corporate manslaughter laws, New
Zealand's top union body has said. Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president
Ross Wilson was commenting on a case involving property developer Brent
Clode and his companies, fined a total of NZ$89,000 (£33,400) following
the death of Te Rue Tearetoa, an incident that saw Clode described by
the prosecutor as "reckless in the extreme."
Risks
133, 22 November 2003
BRITAIN
Will the UK get tough on the safety criminals?
A law to aid the prosecution of companies responsible
for fatal accidents is expected to be enacted before the next general
election. A 10 November 2003 article in The Independent says Home
Secretary David Blunkett has won approval from the Cabinet to publish
a draft Bill on corporate manslaughter - but there is no mention of jail
time for dangerous directors.
Risks
132, 15 November 2003
CHINA
Firework factory blast kills child labourer
A firework factory explosion in a Chinese
village has killed a 14-year-old child labourer and left 11 seriously
injured. The 19 October factory blast occurred in Dapingling village,
Hunan Province.
Risks 131, 8 November 2003
CANADA
Corporate killing law passed
A union backed corporate killing law has been been passed in Canada. United
Steelworkers' national director Lawrence McBrearty said the passage in
the Senate of the "Westray Bill" is a victory for working people,
11 years after the death of 26 miners at the Westray coal mine in Stellarton,
Nova Scotia.
Risks
131, 8 November 2003
AUSTRALIA
Unions condemn criminal logic
Unions in Australia are stepping up their campaign to collar the workplace
safety criminals. Workers Online editor Peter Lewis concludes that "to
argue that there should not be criminal sanctions for workplace deaths
is to argue that workers are somehow worth less than other people. And
that's an offensive argument, as offensive as $1800 for a life."
Risks
131, 8 November 2003
It's official - life is
cheap
The Health and Safety Executive's top
boss has slammed low penalties, down 21 per cent on last year, for workplace
safety criminals. The average fine for health and safety cases across
the UK fell by 21 per cent, from £11,141 in 2001/02 to £8,828
in 2002/03 - partly because there were fewer of the larger fines.
Risks
131, 8 November 2003
BRITAIN
Outrage as workers lose on penalties
Last year's dramatic drop in the average penalty
for criminal health and safety offences has been labelled an "outrage"
by a top safety organisation. Mick Holder said: "Nothing will change
until errant employers face real sanctions in the Crown Court, such as
prison and much higher fines that reflect the seriousness of the crimes."
Risks
131, 8 November 2003
AUSTRALIA
10,000 march for work death laws
Pressure is mounting on the on the New South Wales state government to
introduce industrial manslaughter legislation. An estimated 10,000 workers
chanted "jail bosses that kill" as they marched through Sydney
and rallied in from of Parliament House to protest at workplace deaths.
Risks
130, 1 November 2003
AUSTRALIA
Striking builders to march over workplace death
Construction workers angry over the death
of a 16-year-old labourer will stop work on 27 October to march on the
New South Wales (NSW) parliament and demand jail sentences for bosses
who are slack on safety.
Risks
129, 25 October 2003
BRITAIN
Bereaved families criticise Scots justice
The criminal justice system in Scotland
has been criticised by families bereaved as a result of workplace fatalities.
Risks
129, 25 October 2003
BRITAIN
Dangerous directors get off scot free
Only two company directors or senior
managers in Scotland have been convicted of health and safety offences
since April 1999, according to the Centre for Corporate Accountability
(CCA). It adds that no director or company in Scotland has ever been convicted
of a homicide offence following a work-related death, compared to eight
company directors and five companies convicted of manslaughter in England
and Wales.
Risks
128, 18 October 2003
BRITAIN
Manslaughter charges over yard death
Police have charged a man with manslaughter over the death of Plymouth
yacht yard worker Benjamin Pinkham. Mr Pinkham, a 21-year-old heating
engineer, of Saltash in Cornwall, died six days after suffering serious
burns in a 3 February explosion at Princess Yachts International.
Risks
128, 18 October 2003
THAILAND
Fatal accident jail sentences too lenient
The bereaved relatives of 36 people who died in an explosion at a Thai
canning plant have called on justice minister Pongthep Thepkanchana to
monitor their appeal against the "too mild" sentences handed
down to the factory's management team. Two managers received six and four
month jail terms.
Risks
127, 11 October 2003
AUSTRALIA
Jail back on the menu for bad bosses
Deadly Australian employers could soon
face jail time as industrial manslaughter proposals resurface with strong
political and union support. Negligent bosses face up to 25 years jail
if their workers are killed under industrial manslaughter laws before
the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) Legislative Assembly, one of Australia's
regional governments. "We plan to have this legislation passed by
November," says ACT industrial relations minister Katy Gallagher.
"We take this very seriously."
Risks
127, 11 October 2003
 |
BRITAIN
Amicus to "twist government's arm" on corporate
crime
A trade union says it intends to increase the pressure on ministers
if the government fails to introduce a corporate killing law. Mike
McCartney, Amicus AEEU's head of education, commented: "If the government
will not honour their commitment to legislate for corporate killing
then Amicus will twist their collective arm until it does."
Risks
126, 4 October 2003 |
BRITAIN
HSE sets individual prosecution criteria too high
Official guidance for safety inspectors
could mean some guilty parties are not prosecuted. A briefing by the Centre
for Corporate Accountability (CCA) says HSE inspectors have been told
that the prosecution of directors, managers and other individuals should
only take place in certain, very limited, circumstances.
Risks
120, 23 August 2003
BRITAIN
Boss jailed for workers' deaths
The head of paint stripping firm ENG
Engineering has been sentenced to nine months in jail for the manslaughter
of two of his workers. Mumtaz Hussain, 43, and 22-year-old Ghulum Sarwar
died after being overcome by toxic fumes. Company boss Ian Morris was
found guilty of manslaughter at an earlier hearing.
Risks
117, 2 August 2003
THAILAND
Talking responsibility is not taking responsibility
Unions in Asia have accused Thai multinational
Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group of "window dressing" after the company that
co-owned the deadly Kader toy factory that burned causing 188 deaths boasted
at a human rights conferences of its corporate responsibility.
Asian
Food Worker, July 2003 • Risks
116, 26 July 2003
USA/INDIA
Dow told to accept responsibility for Bhopal
Eighteen members of the US Congress
have sent a letter to Dow boss William Stavropoulos demanding that his
company assume liability for the wrongdoings of Union Carbide in Bhopal.
The group are demanding that Dow - the company took over Union Carbide
after the disaster - provide medical rehabilitation and economic reparations
for the victims of the tragedy, undertake an environmental clean up, and
ensure the company appears before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court
in Bhopal where it faces charges of culpable homicide.
ICJB
news release, 22 July 2003
BRITAIN
Will the government deliver on corporate killing?
Corporate killing legislation may take
longer to deliver than campaigners hope. Reports say when draft legislation
is published at the end of the year it will be sent out for industry-wide
consultation - the third corporate killing consultation in nine years,
leading to accusations that the government is "consulting us to death."
Risks
115, 19 July 2003
BRITAIN
Hatfield crash accused in court
The two companies and six men charged with manslaughter
after the Hatfield rail crash have made their first court appearance.
If found guilty, the individuals could face life imprisonment and the
two companies could be ordered to pay unlimited fines.
Risks
115, 19 July 2003
AUSTRALIA
New law can jail dangerous employers
Employers will face jail if their negligence
causes death or serious injury to a worker, under tough new laws unveiled
by the Western Australia state government.
Risks
114, 12 July 2003
BRITAIN
Rail bosses to face crash death charges
In a move welcomed by unions, Network
Rail, the maintenance firm Balfour Beatty and six senior managers are
to face manslaughter, gross negligence and safety charges over the October
2000 Hatfield train crash in which four passengers died.
Risks
114, 12 July 2003
SOUTH AFRICA
Business and labour should ensure safety at work
The time has come for both employers
and employees to improve safety standards in the workplace, a top South
African safety official has said. Esther Tloane, the Labour Department's
executive manager for safety, said: "Employers who put profit first before
human life must be exposed so as to ensure that corrective measures are
enforced." She said her department would not hesitate to close any business
where workers' lives were put at risk.
Risks
113, 5 July 2003
BRITAIN
Factory boss guilty of manslaughter
A factory boss has been found guilty
of manslaughter after his negligence led to the deaths of two employees
who were overcome by solvents. Ian Morris had denied failing to implement
a safe working environment at his paint-stripping factory, ENG Industrial
Services.
Risks
113, 5 July 2003
BRITAIN
Ford death fine "not justice" says family
Car giant Ford has been fined £300,000 after contract worker Christopher
Shute, 30, fell into a vat of hot paint and drowned. Two contract managers,
Peter Preston, 51, and Paul McKenzie, 55, were also fined £5,000 each
for failing to ensure the safety of staff. The family of the dead man
criticised a decision to drop charges of manslaughter prior to the case
coming to court.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
AUSTRALIA
Work deaths campaign wants better communication
Employees and employers will be urged to improve communication in an Aus$1
million (£0.4m) advertising campaign aimed at cutting workplace injuries.
WorkSafe, the official safety watchdog in the state of Victoria, says
its newspaper, television, radio and billboard ads will tell employees
to speak up if something is wrong in the workplace.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
BRITAIN
Public backs union corporate killing drive
Two-thirds of people in the UK believe there should be a new corporate
killing law and that directors should be accountable for safety crimes,
according to a poll for the Transport and General Workers’ Union. The
poll also found "nearly two-thirds of people believe company directors
should be able to be prosecuted for a serious criminal offence like manslaughter."
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
BRITAIN
Don’t let work killers off the hook, CWU says
Communications union CWU says the government must beef up its corporate
killing proposals to make company directors liable for safety crimes.
CWU's Dave Joyce said: "If reckless corporate behaviour is really to be
challenged, directors must be held personally responsible, not just the
company as a whole, with prison sentences and disqualifications for dangerous
directors."
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
BRITAIN
Cuts play "Russian roulette" with workers’ safety
The HSE is "playing Russian roulette" with workplaces safety in an effort
to meet 5 per cent budget cuts, HSE inspectors' union Prospect has warned.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
USA
Safety accountability to change, for better or
worse
Dangerous US employers could face jail
time under a proposed new law - or could get be given a get out of jail
free card if an alternative proposal goes through. Jon S Corzine, a US
Democratic senator from New Jersey, says he intends to introduce a "Wrongful
Death Accountability Act" to increase criminal penalties for employers
who willfully violate safety laws. Meanwhile, a proposed "Occupational
Safety and Health Fairness Act" that would make it much harder to cite
a willful violation of safety regulations is set to go before a 17 June
Congress subcommittee.
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
CANADA
Union-backed safety accountability bill moves forward
Corporations will be held criminally
responsible if they fail to provide a safe work environment, under a union-backed
proposed Canadian safety law.
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
Westray updates from Canadian unions
NUPGE
and USWA
Canada
BRITAIN
Go director to jail
Pressure is increasing on the UK government
to supplement its corporate killing proposals with measures to make it
possible to jail employers. Unions Aslef, UNISON, TGWU, GMB and UCATT,
Amicus and CWU have all made explicit call for directors as well as companies
to be made more accountable. And a 7 June 2003 editorial in The Lancet
said: "until chief executives are made directly responsible for decisions
that lead to injury, it is unlikely that the huge toll of work-related
injuries will fall."
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
BRITAIN
Transco gas deaths charge dropped
Appeal court judges in Scotland
have thrown out a culpable homicide charge brought against gas pipeline
firm Transco following the deaths of a family of four. If the company
had been convicted, it would have been the first time in Scottish legal
history that a charge of corporate killing had been successful.
Risks
109, 7 July 2003
BRITAIN
Safety in danger!
Health and safety enforcement could
be scaled back dramatically if planned funding cuts go head (Risks 104).
Prospect, the union representing HSE inspectors and specialists, says
planned cuts in HSE’s budget "cannot fail to have a detrimental impact
on workplace safety."
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
BRITAIN
Slap on the wrist for dangerous directors
Just fifteen people who are either company
directors or very senior managers were convicted of health and safety
offences between April 1999 and January 2003, according to research conducted
by the Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA). The convictions, following
offences committed between October 1996 and October 2001, resulted in
fines averaging £2,656, said CCA.
CCA
news release and reports
on director safety and manslaughter
convictions • Risks
108, 31 May 2003
BRITAIN
Unions angry as government commutes workplace death
sentences
A commitment by Home Secretary David
Blunkett to bring forward corporate killing proposals this year has drawn
criticism from unions and campaigners for letting negligent company directors
off the hook.
Hazards
briefing on the Home Office proposals • Risks
107, 24 May 2003
BRITAIN
Bosses charged over chimney deaths
Two company bosses have been charged with manslaughter
after a pair of steeplejacks were killed by a fireball which engulfed
them while demolishing a chimney in Greater Manchester. Paul Wakefield,
40, and Craig Whelan, 23, were working inside the 200ft tower in Westhoughton,
near Bolton, when there was an explosion.
Risks
107, 24 May 2003
USA
Three strikes and you’re out
Borrowing from the controversial punishment
for multiple street crimes, opponents of corporate crime in California
are trying to create a three-strikes-and-you're-out law for businesses.
A proposed Bill, which would cover illegal financial dealings, consumer
and environmental protection, civil rights, union rights and employment
laws, passed its first hurdle at the start of March.
Risks
105, 10 March 2003
BRITAIN
Back the corporate killing amendment
The TUC is urging trade unionists to
get their MP to back an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill which would
create a new offence of corporate manslaughter. The amendment would establish
that "a corporation is guilty of corporate killing if (a) a management
failure by the corporation is the cause or one of the causes of a person’s
death; and (b) that failure constitutes conduct falling far below what
can reasonably be expected."
Risks
99, 29 March 2003
BRITAIN
TUC backs new duty on companies to have safety
directors
The TUC is backing a new Bill that would make
company directors more accountable in law for the safety of their workplaces,
which went before MPs on 29 March. The Company Directors (Health and Safety)
Bill, presented to the Commons by Labour MP Ross Cranston, for Dudley
North, gained an unopposed first reading but is unlikely to become law.
Risks
99, 29 March 2003
AUSTRALIA
Government wants safety equally bad nationwide
Australia’s federal government has launched an investigation into how
occupational health, safety and compensation laws could be set nationally,
because existing state systems "add to business costs." Unions and some
state governments however say the new inquiry is an attempt to introduce
a "lowest common denominator for safety" with the states with the worst
standards setting the benchmark nationwide.
Risks
98, 22 March 2003
AUSTRALIA
Workplace minister says "bad employers do more
good than harm"
Australia’s national workplace relations minister Tony Abbott has claimed
industrial manslaughter laws are not needed because 'a bad boss is a little
bit like a bad father or a bad husband - notwithstanding all his faults,
you find he tends to do more good than harm.'
Risks
98, 22 March 2003 • Stop Abbott’s war on workers - guide
from construction union CFMEU [pdf
format
USA
Bush embarrassed into action on safety
The Bush administration says a new enforcement
policy will give the safety watchdog OSHA more power to crack down on
companies that persistently flout workplace safety rules, with the possibility
of automatic inspections at all their worksites when an egregious safety
violation, for example a fatality, occurs at one. Critics say jail time,
not fines, will better focus the minds of dangerous employers. Democratic
Senator Jon Corzine is seeking support for a proposed Wrongful Death Accountability
Act, which would increase to 10 years from 6 months the maximum criminal
penalty for employers who cause the death of a worker by willfully violating
safety laws.
Risks
97, 15 March 2003
BRITAIN
Corporate killing is bad business
The TUC, campaign groups and MPs from
the three main political parties have called on the government to honour
its 2001 election manifesto pledge to introduce a corporate killing law.
A corporate killing briefing, published by the TUC, the Centre for Corporate
Accountability and Disaster Action says good employers have nothing to
fear. Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary elect, said: "A law against
corporate killing will be good for business, good for safety and good
for workers and members of the public whose lives are currently being
put at risk."
Risks
97, 15 March 2003
BRITAIN
Second British Sugar death in one month
A worker has been killed in a boiler room explosion
at a British Sugar factory just a month after a worker died at another
of the company’s plants.
Risks
96, 8 March 2003
BRITAIN
BT criticised by coroner, police and union after
worker’s death
A British Telecom engineer was killed
when she was thrown from the top of a telegraph pole, an inquest has heard.
British Telecom employee Tara Whelan, 30, died in hospital on 2 June 2001,
a week after the incident. BT, one of the world's largest telecommunication
company, faced criticism from the police, coroner and CWU, Tara's union,
for it actions in relation to the case.
Risks
96, 8 March 2003
BRITAIN
HSE report backs "corporate killing" law
A new HSE backed research report says
new corporate manslaughter legislation "should act as a powerful deterrent
to help prevent needless injuries and deaths whilst at the same time punishing
the grossly negligent."
Risks
94, 22 February 2003
USA
A week of death
If the 18 people who die every
day in America's workplaces all died at the same time, there would be
national headlines. Most, however, die one at a time, hardly noticed by
anyone except their family, friends and co-workers. What about heroism?
Does the fact that you "knowingly" face danger for a higher cause make
you a hero? Exploring the frontiers of space? Knowingly working in a dangerous
workplace to feed your family?
Full
article by Jordan Barab, 5 February 2003
BRITAIN
Work killers escape through legal loopholes
Since Labour gained power 2,000 people
have died at work, but government promises to clampdown on corporate safety
criminals have not been matched by action, says David Bergman of the Centre
for Corporate Accountability. He adds that "only 11 companies have been
prosecuted for manslaughter, only four of which - all very small firms
- were convicted. The number of directors who have ever been jailed for
such offences is just two."
Risks
92, 8 February 2003
BRITAIN
Transco charged over gas blast deaths
The gas supply company Transco has been
charged with culpable homicide following a December 1999 explosion in
Larkhall, South Lanarkshire that killed four members of one family. It
is the first time in Scotland that a company has been accused of culpable
homicide.
Risks
92, 8 February 2003
BRITAIN
Work penalties bill on hold
The Health and Safety (Offences) Bill
was not reached in debate in the House of Commons on 7 February and will
now continue its second reading on 7 March. Scarborough and Whitby MP
Lawrie Quinn's ten minute bill would raise the maximum level of fines
for most health and safety offences to £20,000 and make it possible to
imprison employers for the most serious offences, and raise the fine for
employers who are not properly insured.
Risks
92, 8 February 2003
USA
A week of death
If the 18 people who die every day in
America's workplaces all died at the same time, there would be national
headlines. Most, however, die one at a time, hardly noticed by anyone
except their family, friends and co-workers. What about heroism? Does
the fact that you "knowingly" face danger for a higher cause make you
a hero? Exploring the frontiers of space? Knowingly working in a dangerous
workplace to feed your family?
Full article
by Jordan Barab, 5 February 2003
AUSTRALIA
The writing's on the wall for manslaughter law
Unions in New South Wales are making a big claim
for a corporate killing law. Massive billboards call for the introduction
of industrial manslaughter legislation into state law. The union-backed
billboards feature the body of "A Worker", with a toe tag stating the
cause of death as poor occupational health and safety practices.
Risks
89, 18 January 2003
Dead wrong
As the Trades Union Congress and the Centre
for Corporate Accountability launch a national work deaths campaign, Hazards
ask why companies and their directors are still getting away with murder.
Hazards
77, Jan-March 2002
BRITAIN
Corporate safety criminals get Blair reprieve
Tony Blair's crime blitz to safeguard the victims of crime, will not include
measures to bring justice to those killed or injured by workplace safety
criminals. Responding to the absence of corporate killing legislation
in this year's work plan, TUC general secretary John Monks said: 'The
TUC believes that corporate killing legislation is as important now as
it was a year ago when it was included in Labour's manifesto.'
Risks
80, 16 November 2002
AUSTRALIA
Coroner highlights Esso's guilt for deaths explosion
A coroner's finding that "Esso is solely responsible
for the disaster and tragedy that is known as Longford" confirms the explosion
in which two workers died was avoidable and a gross failing by management,
a union body has said. The finding is a further blow to Esso as it continues
to battle a Aus$500 million (£174m) class action in the Victorian Supreme
Court. The multinational already has been fined Aus$2 million (£714,000)
arising from the 11 criminal convictions related to the explosion, and
has paid out more than Aus $1 million in compensation to 10 victims.
Risks
80, 16 November 2002 • The
Australian
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