DEADLY BUSINESS NEWS NEWS ARCHIVE 2011

Britain: UK Coal fined for four separate fatalities
UK Coal Mining Ltd has been fined after its safety failings cost the lives of four mineworkers in separate incidents at two collieries. UK Coal was ordered to pay a fine of £112,500 and £187,500 costs for each fatality, totalling £1.2m.
HSE news release • Safety in the pits, Hazards, number 116, 2011 • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Safety concerns raised ahead of Swanland sinking
A cargo ship which sank in the Irish Sea off Gwynedd with the loss of six crew had been at the centre of repeated safety concerns. The 34-year-old British-managed ship had a history of defects, according to safety inspections by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
BBC News Online • ITF news release • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Firms fined over forklift death
Two companies have been fined a total of £100,000 following the death of a maintenance worker who fell from the forks of a forklift truck at a Macclesfield factory. Martin Denton, 60, was being lifted in a metal container, known as a stillage, on 10 June 2006 when it slipped off and he fell approximately four metres to the concrete floor below.
HSE news release • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Director banned after worker falls from balcony
A Welsh construction company has been fined and its director banned after a labourer suffered serious injuries on a construction site. Karl Kraus, 31, was employed by Preseli Construction & Maintenance Ltd, and was working on the build of a large domestic property when he fell backwards on to the balcony and then seven metres to the ground below.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Workers burned as drill vaporises
A company and its manager have been fined after two workers were engulfed in a fireball when they cut through a live 1,000 volt electrical cable at an industrial unit in Telford. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Birmingham firm RVB Investments UK Ltd and manager Clifford Leigh following the incident on 10 August 2010.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Bus crush apprentice needed plastic surgery
One of South Yorkshire's main bus operators has been fined after a teenage apprentice was trapped under a 14 tonne bus when its air suspension failed. Ben Burgin, who was 17 at the time, needed restorative plastic surgery to his nose and eye socket following the incident at Stagecoach Yorkshire's garage in Wakefield Road, Barnsley, on 7 September 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Companies fined after worker breaks back
Anson Packaging Ltd and Cambs Compressor Engineering Ltd have fined after a 24-year-old worker broke his back in a fall from a roof void. Anthony Strong, a pipe fitter employed by subcontractor Cambs Compressor Engineering Ltd at the time, suffered fractures to his spine, skull and ribs.
HSE news release • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Council fined for lost fingers
Warwickshire County Council has been fined after a self-employed heating contractor lost most of two fingers in poorly guarded machinery. John Shields, 64, who traded as Shieldson Heating, was checking a heating pump in a basement plant room on 4 October 2009 when his hand was pulled into the running belts of a hot water pump. HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Canada: Warning on China-owned mining firms
Authorities in British Columbia, Canada, must conduct a full inquiry into the safety standards of Chinese-owned coal mining companies before allowing them to operate in the province, the United Steelworkers (USW) union has said. China's “horrific” record of coal mine disasters warrants a full-scale review of the safety records and practices of any Chinese-owned coal-mining companies seeking to invest in BC, said Stephen Hunt, the USW's Western Canada director.
USW news release • Energetic City • Metro News • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Europe: Crisis exposes need for new safety strategy
Unions across Europe are calling for a new European Union health and safety strategy and have reaffirmed their resistance to an official proposal to weaken workplace safeguards. Commenting on proposals to exempt smaller businesses from some legal workplace safety rules, ETUC general secretary Bernadette Segol said: “All workers have a right to working conditions respecting their health, safety and dignity regardless of the size of company they work for.”
ETUI news report • European Parliament report • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: HSE asbestos campaign is resurrected
The Health and Safety Executive’s award-winning ‘Hidden Killer’ asbestos campaign is to recommence, after being put on hold for over a year on government instruction. A phase of the campaign due to start in October 2010 was abandoned when the government introduced a blanket freeze on government-funded campaigns.
UCATT news release • HSE ‘Hidden Killer’ campaign • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

Britain: Union fears after site deaths upturn
Construction union UCATT has warned that a rise in construction deaths is “deeply troubling” as it as it has occurred at a time of depressed activity in the industry. According to the union: “The rise in fatalities was particularly disturbing as the industry remains in the doldrums with workloads relatively low, it is feared that as activity increases, deaths will further rise.”
UCATT news release • Risks 536
Hazards news, 17 December 2011

USA: Settlement won’t bring mine deaths justice
A record penalty imposed following the deaths of 29 miners in a US coal mine explosion has been given a qualified welcome by unions. In a deal agreed between the US Attorney’s office and Alpha Natural Resources, the new owner of the West Virginia Upper Big Branch coal mine, will pay nearly $210 million in a historic settlement arising from the worst US coal mining disaster in decades.
UMWA news release • USW news release • Charleston Gazette • Los Angeles Times • Pump Handle • MSHA report • The agreement in full • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Europe: Deregulation a threat to work safety
A European Commission plan to weaken health and safety protection in the majority of Europe’s workplaces will leave workers in jeopardy, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has warned. A letter from the union body to The European Union’s Heads of State and Government expresses “serious concerns” about a European Commission report, ‘Minimising regulatory burden for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises)’, to be discussed at the next European Council.
ETUC news release and letter to the EU Heads of State and Government • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Global: Brands promise to ditch hazardous chemicals
Six major international clothing brands have announced a ‘joint roadmap’ intended to dramatically reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in their supply chains. Adidas Group, C&A, H&M, Li Ning, Nike Inc and Puma say the initiative will lead the apparel and footwear industry towards zero discharge of hazardous chemicals by 2020.
ChemSec news report • Joint  roadmap [pdf] • Dirty Laundry • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: Worker's arm crushed in a conveyor belt
A Cheshire factory worker could have lost his arm when it was dragged into an industrial conveyor belt, a court has heard. The 56-year-old from Northwich, whose name has not been released, suffered a broken elbow, crush injuries to his left hand and bruising down the left hand side of his body in the incident at the Amcol Minerals Europe Ltd's plant in Winsford.
HSE news release • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: Firms fined for cherry picker road death
Two construction companies have been fined following the death of worker Peter Cole who fell from a cherry picker on a dual carriageway in Liverpool. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Amey Infrastructure Services Ltd and Mouchel Parkman Services Ltd following the incident on 20 August 2006.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: Coal mine death rate hits a 50 year high
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been instructed to spell out its mines safety strategy, after a series of fatalities this year and revelations Britain’s coal mine fatality rate has hit a 50-year high. Union representatives raised concerns about the industry’s record at HSE’s December board meeting, which agreed the watchdog should prepare a paper for the board on its strategy to address safety in the mines.
Safety in the pits, Hazards, number 116, 2011 • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: Mother’s anger as death fine is halved
The mother of a man killed in a workplace fireball has expressed dismay after a court cut his employer’s fine in half. Mark Wright, who worked at Deeside Metals, was told to crush and bale 4,000 sealed aerosol containers, but a cloud of volatile vapour was released and ignited by an electric spark, blowing the roof off the building and burning 90 per cent of Mark’s body.
FACK news release • Morning Star and Dorothy Wright’s Victims Impact Statement • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: TUC calls for action on safety
The TUC is calling on unions and safety campaigners to challenge a government safety strategy that “will lead to more work-related deaths, injuries and ill-health.” TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said: “TUC wants to use 28 April 2012 as the day when workers up and down the country take action to protect our health and safety.”
TUC calls for action • Hazards magazine, number 116, 2011 • TUC Workers’ Memorial Day webpages • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: Cuts endanger workers' health
The government decision to slash workplace safety regulation and to skew the system away from employer responsibility and towards 'personal responsibility' is attracting continued criticism. The official response to the government-commissioned Löfstedt report, which concluded Britain's workplace safety laws 'are broadly right', was to press ahead with a deregulatory programme the report considered unwarranted.
PCS news release • CWU news release • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: Will Nick Clegg admit he was wrong?
The deputy prime minister should fess up and admit he was wrong to question the need for health and safety regulation and enforcement, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) union Prospect has indicated.
Prospect letter to Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister [pdf] • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: Workplace reps save lives and money
The prime minister’s threat to remove funding for the time public sector union reps take to do their union work ignores the life- and cash-saving role these reps play, the TUC has said. David Cameron told the Commons: “I do not think full-time trade unionists working in the public sector on trades union business, rather than serving the public, is right, and we will put that to an end.”
SHP Online • BBC News Online • UNISON Active • TURC website • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: Government ‘dicing with death’ at sea
Maritime union RMT has accused the government of “dicing with death in British waters” after it emerged in parliament that one in twelve UK coastguard jobs have already been cut, with worse to come.
RMT news release • Risks 535
Hazards news, 10 December 2011

Britain: Massive blade cuts off three fingers
A Rochdale engineering firm has been fined for criminal safety breaches after an unsupervised young worker had three fingers cut off by an industrial saw. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the prosecution against Adelaide Engineering Company Ltd after the 21-year-old from Bury, whose name has not been released, lost parts of three fingers on his left hand.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Illegal distillery gang jailed
Five men who masterminded a major counterfeit vodka manufacturing and bottling plant in Leicestershire, have been sentenced to a total of 17 years and ten months. The plot was uncovered in “an unregulated and fire hazardous” industrial unit by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) when they carried out raids in September 2009.
HMRC news release • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Litany of mistakes led to 16 helicopter deaths
Confusion, mistakes and miscommunication led to plans to replace a helicopter’s faulty gearbox being scrapped – a week before the system suffered a catastrophic failure, claiming the lives of 16 workers. An official report said the Super Puma helicopter disintegrated as it plummeted from 2,000ft into the North Sea at 170 knots, after its main rotor gearbox failed and its massive rotor blades ripped from the body of the aircraft and severed the tail from the fuselage.
AAIB report • Scotsman • BBC News Online • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Demolition body suspends death firm
The National Federation of Demolition Contractors has suspended Essex demolition member Micor pending the outcome of a probe by its accident investigation committee into the death of one of the firm’s workers in 2006. Gary Drinkald, 43, was killed when a concrete beam fell and crushed him on a site in Basildon.
Construction Enquirer • NFDC listing • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Defunct firm fined £5,000 over fatal crushing
A south Wales company has been fined after a worker was crushed to death by falling machinery in 2009. Gareth Young, a 60-year-old grandfather from Beaufort in Ebbw Vale, was working at Moulded Paper Ltd on 4 August 2009, when an unsecured electrical control cabinet weighing just over half a tonne, fell on him.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Serious safety failings blight basement jobs
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors took enforcement action on more than a third of sites visited during an initiative last month to improve standards on basement construction sites. They took enforcement action at 40 sites (37 per cent) after discovering criminal breaches of safety regulations, serving a total of 78 notices, two-thirds of them the more serious prohibition notices.
HSE news release • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Companies fined after Arsenal stadium amputation
Three construction companies have been fined after a worker helping build Arsenal’s Ashburton Grove stadium was injured so badly his leg had to be amputated. A dumper truck drove over the right leg of Michael O’Donovan, 41, while he was kneeling to clean steel shuttering used to form reinforced structures and pillars.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Australia: Strike victory at deadly chicken plant
Staff who had to hide serious injuries at an Australian poultry plant or risk dismissal, have won protection from victimisation and better wages after taking action. The agreement came after a 13-day blockade of the Baiada Poultry plant by picketers and supporters.
NUW news release • The Age • Sydney Morning Herald and related opinion piece • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Report supports safety law; ministers see red tape
A government commissioned report that concluded Britain’s workplace safety laws “are broadly right” and which found “little evidence” they are “goldplated” is being used by the government to attack those laws and to skew the system away from employer responsibility and towards “personal responsibility”.
DWP news release • Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety legislation, report of the Lofstedt Review [pdf] and the government response [pdf] • Autumn statement documents and statement • HSE news release • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Safety report ducks the real issues, says TUC
The TUC has welcomed the Lofstedt report's conclusion that the UK's health and safety laws “are broadly right”, but it says it has major concerns that the proposals to exempt some self-employed workers could have a “devastating impact” on their safety. The union body is also disappointed that the report makes no suggestions as to how the protection of employees in the workplace could be improved.
TUC news release • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Ruse to ‘smuggling in’ safety reforms condemned
Unions have condemned government proposals to remove over a third of Britain's health and safety regulations as part of a raft of legal reforms planned for 2015.
Unite news release • UCATT news release • STUC news release • FACK news release • Hazards Campaign news release • Morning Star • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Serious questions after Irish Sea tragedy
Transport union RMT has said the investigation into the sinking of a cargo vessel in the Irish Sea must answer some “serious questions” about the adequacy of maritime safety regulation and enforcement. Six of the eight Russian crew members on the Swanland died after it was hit by a huge wave on 27 November.
RMT news release • MCA news release and update • BBC News Online • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Britain: Ferry victimisation vote goes ahead
A ballot for strike action and action short of a strike by all members on Wightlink’s Portsmouth routes is underway, over what the union RMT describes as the victimisation and unfair dismissal of an RMT union representative who raised safety concerns.
RMT news release • Risks 534
Hazards news, 3 December 2011

Qatar: FIFA challenged over World Cup work hazards
Trade unions are intensifying their campaign to get football's governing body FIFA to address poor working conditions in Qatar, host the 2022 World Cup. The Gulf state's preparations for the tournament include building nine football stadiums in the next 10 years, using primarily migrant labour.
ITUC news release • BWI news release • BBC News Online • Risks 533
Hazards news, 26 November 2011

South Africa: Mining companies put profits first
The drive for profits by mining companies operating in South Africa is undercutting safety, unions have charged. The union call for corporate executives to take the industry’s safety performance as seriously as they do the bottom line has won the backing of the country’s mining minister.
ICEM news report • Mineral resources minister Susan Shabangu’s speech • Risks 533
Hazards news, 26 November 2011

USA: Call for a US workplace homicide law
US law should be amended to reverse the decline in prosecutions for criminal safety offences and to allow grossly negligent employers to face workplace homicide charges, a law expert has said. Jane Barrett, a former state and federal state prosecutor who currently teaches environmental law at the University of Maryland,  says the US should pass a federal industrial homicide law modelled after the Seaman’s Manslaughter Statute.
Corporate Crime Reporter • Counterpunch • Jane Barrett. When business conduct turns violent: Bringing BP, Massey, and other scofflaws to justice, American Criminal Law Review volume 48, number 2, pages 287-333, 2011 • Risks 533
Hazards news, 26 November 2011

Britain: Site firm fined after worker scarred for life
A construction company has been fined for criminal safety failings after a young worker was left permanently scarred when he struck an underground cable during digging work. Richard Baisley, 26, from Scunthorpe, received severe burns to his hands, arms, face and chest when he drilled through concrete and pierced a 415 volt cable.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Construction Enquirer • Risks 533
Hazards news, 26 November 2011

Britain: Feed firm fined for severed fingers
A North Yorkshire animal feed company has been fined for criminal safety offences after a supervisor suffered severe injuries to his hand. The man, who does not want to be named, had his right hand crushed and two fingers severed when he attempted to clean an air slide under a large machine used for mixing animal feed.
HSE news release • Risks 533
Hazards news, 26 November 2011

Britain: Government sticks with ‘dangerous’ coastguard plans
Government ministers plan to press ahead with station closures, despite overwhelming opposition from coastguards and the public, the union PCS has said. The union believes proposals to close eight coastguard stations around the UK and cut more than 140 jobs will result in the loss of life-saving local knowledge around our coastline.
PCS news release • Risks 533
Hazards news, 26 November 2011

Britain: Call for dramatic changes in Scotland
Scotland needs a wholesale revision of its approach to workplace safety, according to a new paper. Writing in the Scottish Left Review, Professor Andrew Watterson of Stirling University and colleagues are critical of HSE, but add 'it is politicians, governments and some employer bodies, driven by ideology and lacking in sound evidence, that explain the real crisis in workplace health and safety not HSE pusillanimity.”
Andrew Watterson, Tommy Gorman and Jim McCourt. Work is killing us • Scottish Left Review • Risks 532
Hazards news, 19 November 2011

Britain: Grayrigg tragedy exposes rail’s profit-led system
A Network Rail management system more concerned with bonuses and profits and where maintenance took a back seat have been clearly exposed by the Grayrigg tragedy, unions have said. Margaret Masson, 84, from Glasgow, died after the Virgin train derailed on the West Coast Main Line, in February 2007.
RMT news release • TSSA news release • ASLEF news release • BBC News Online • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Call for dramatic changes in Scotland
Scotland needs a wholesale revision of its approach to workplace safety, according to a new paper. Writing in the Scottish Left Review, Professor Andrew Watterson of Stirling University and colleagues express concern about government cuts in regulation and enforcement and a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) failure “to champion workplace health and safety”.
Andrew Watterson, Tommy Gorman and Jim McCourt. Work is killing us, Scottish Left Review, issue 67, 2011
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Scottish business lobby has concerns for HSE
Scotland’s business lobby is facing a quandary about health and safety, torn between concern about the rapidly diminishing support provided by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and its more traditional opposition to regulatory controls. The Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) said it was concerned by the prospect of an “increasing disconnect” between the HSE and businesses operating in lower or medium-risk sectors. SHP Online • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Dad still angry 10 years after son’s death
The father of a steelworker killed in an explosion 10 years ago says he is still angry nobody has ever been brought to justice. Michael Hutin's 20-year-old son Andrew was one of three workers who died at the Corus plant in Port Talbot on 8 November 2001.
BBC News Online • FACK website • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Safety fears lead to cockle beds closures
Cockle beds off the Lancashire and Wirral coast have closed after authorities passed an emergency byelaw. The emergency services have been called out at least 26 times since the Ribble Estuary bed opened on 1 September.
NWIFCA letter of notification to cocklers [pdf] and emergency byelaw [pdf] • BBC News Online • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Industrial waste firm caused permanent injuries
A firm that treats industrial waste has been fined after one of its employees suffered life-threatening injuries when he was hit by a forklift truck. Collier Industrial Waste Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the 35-tonne vehicle reversed into a worker at its plant in Trafford Park on 14 January 2010.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpage • BBC News Online • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Labourer burnt in football ground fireball
A labourer was badly burned in a gas explosion at Macclesfield Town’s training ground. Local Stephen Rowley, 43, suffered burns to his face, neck and both arms at Egerton Youth Club in Knutsford on 18 September 2009. His employer, Paul Leonard, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following an investigation into the cause of the explosion.
HSE news release and construction webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Community service for ‘frightening’ roofers
Two roofers have received suspended sentences after a Derbyshire office worker was injured when a roll of roofing felt crashed through the ceiling of her office. Kathleen Philipson was sitting at her desk when the metre-long, 37kg roll fell through a roof light and came through the ceiling, hitting her on the shoulder.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Firm fined for not insuring itself
A kitchen and bedroom furniture manufacturer from Corby has been fined for failing to insure the company against liability for employee injury or disease. HSE inspector Sally Harris said: “Alina Trade Limited had many opportunities to produce a valid insurance certificate, so many in fact the firm appeared to be deliberately flouting the law.”
HSE news release • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Vehicle recovery firm fined for taking no notice
A vehicle recovery business has been fined for using an unsafe forklift truck after being served with an official prohibition notice barring its use. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted John Lang, sole trader of J Lang 24HR Recovery, over the illegal use of the forklift truck, which took place at 3.20pm on Wednesday 19 January 2011.
HSE news release and enforcement approach • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Global: Dock operator must live up to fine words
One of the “big four” global network terminal (GNT) dockside operators has been urged to prove its award-winning public corporate responsibility commitment by improving dock health and safety. In an open letter to DP World on 28 October, Frank Leys, the dockers’ section secretary of the global transport unions’ federation ITF, congratulated the company on winning the awards and reminded DP World of its duty of care to its own workers.
ITF news release and GNT campaign. DP World news release on the Lloyd’s List award [pdf] • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

USA: DuPont victimised safety whistleblower
Chemical giant DuPont Co victimised a worker who raised concerns about potentially deadly safety problems in a chemical reactor. A New Jersey Superior Court ruled this week in favour of John “Jack” Seddon, and a $500,000 (£312,000) punitive damage settlement awarded by a lower court in a whistleblower lawsuit.
NJ.com • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

USA: Mine safety crackdown hasn’t hurt growth
An official safety crackdown in the US mining sector has not impeded the industry’s growth or harmed profits, a top official with the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) has said. In his two years at the helm, MSHA director Joe Main has stepped up inspections of mines with a history of problems and creating criteria for identifying, listing and delisting violators, bolstered the number and the training of inspectors, expanded worker safety programmes and put resources into the prevention of miners’ lung, or black lung disease.
Business Week • USW Blog • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Zambia: Persistent safety abuses at Chinese-owned mines
Chinese-run copper mines in Zambia are dangerously unsafe and owners routinely flout the rights of workers, according to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). The report, ‘You'll be fired if you refuse,’ highlights “persistent abuses” in the Chinese state-owned mines.
HRW news release and report, You’ll be fired if you refuse: Labor abuses in Zambia’s Chinese state-owned copper mines • BBC News Online • Allafrica.com • The Guardian • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: ASLEF dismisses driverless trains ‘fantasy’
Train drivers’ union ASLEF has said the Transport for London (TfL) board is ‘living in a fantasy world’ if it believes it can introduce driverless Tube trains in the next eight years. The union’s general secretary Keith Norman said: “To put the safety of millions of passengers a year in the tender hands of a system that doesn’t work would be folly of titanic proportions.” 
ASLEF news release • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: RMT demands an end to ‘dangerous’ Tube plan
London Underground (LUL) plans to halve the frequency of maintenance checks on Metropolitan line Tube trains to once every two months, the union RMT has discovered. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “This is yet more damning evidence of LUL’s increasingly cavalier attitude towards the safety of passengers and staff in its blind determination to cut costs on all fronts.”
RMT news release • Risks 531
Hazards news, 12 November 2011

Britain: Engineering firm fined after crushing death
An engineering firm has been fined £180,000 after an employee was crushed to death by a 1.5-tonne steel frame. Parker Plant Ltd, a Leicester-based manufacturer of quarrying plant and equipment, was prosecuted after the incident on 13 December 2008 that claimed the life of Michael Tilley, 55.
HSE news release • Leicester Mercury • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Pet food firm fined after crushing death
A factory worker was killed when his neck was crushed by a pneumatic hatch on a pet food mixing machine. HG Gladwell and Sons Ltd, which manufactures animal feed and pet food at Copdock Mill just outside Ipswich, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to ensure the sliding hatch on the top of the machine was safe.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Cambodia: Mass fainting follows use of insecticide
The latest mass fainting incident at a Cambodian factory supplying major high street stores has been linked to the use of an insecticide. More than 100 workers collapsed at the Anful Garments Factory in Kampong Speu on 24 October after the cloth they were working with was sprayed with insecticide the previous day, a senior provincial health official said.
Phnom Penh Post • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

China: Gas explosion kills 29 in coal mine
A deadly blast at a coal mine in southern China has killed 29 people. The gas explosion took place at a colliery in Hunan province, Chinese state media reported. Six miners were being treated in hospital after being rescued from the Xialiuchong Coal Mine, owned by the Hengyang city government.
China Daily • BBC News Online • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: DC deaths expose driverless train dangers
London Underground is on the verge of plunging the Capital’s tube system into the same “lethal combination” of safety cuts and automation that led to nine people being killed on the Washington DC Red Line service just over two years ago, Tube union RMT has warned.
RMT news release • ASLEF news release • Washington Post investigation into the Red Line crash • The Guardian • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Guns onboard are not the only answer to piracy
Seafarers’ union Nautilus has cautiously welcomed the prime minister’s announcement that British-flagged vessels will be able to carry armed guards to protect them from pirate attack - but believes there are still “questions to be asked and concerns to be addressed.”
Nautilus news release • ITF news release • BBC News Online • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Two deaths in four days at Tilbury dock
A second death has occurred at Tilbury docks just days after an earlier fatality prompted the union Unite to call for action. Unite’s Julia Long called for health and safety action across all ports to reflect the dangers within the industry, complaining “the government has set the ports as a 'low risk' industry.”
Unite news release • Thurrock Gazette • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: TUC warns that safety cuts will mean more injuries
The TUC has warned that cuts in enforcement could lead to an upturn in work-related deaths, sickness and injuries. The union body was commenting after official figures showed a fall last year in work-related ill-health and injuries – but the figures have been contested.
HSE news release and statistics summary • [pdf] and Annual health and safety statistics report 2010/11 [pdf] • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: HSE statistics ‘spin’ disputed by campaigners
Campaigners have disputed a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) headline claim that there has been a ‘continued fall in workplace ill health and injury’. Hilda Palmer of the campaign group Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) said a fall in reported injuries at a time of rising fatalities “should be ringing alarm bells rather than activating the spin cycle at the HSE.”
Hazards magazine • Morning Star • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Clegg invited to find out the facts on enforcement
Nick Clegg’s promise to small businesses that he will stop regulators “breathing down your necks” is based on a damaging ‘caricature’, the union representing Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors has said. Prospect deputy general secretary Mike Clancy said the speech “reinforced the need for a debate informed by facts rather than impression.”
Prospect news release and related release and open letter to Nick Clegg • Unite news release • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Tory self-regulation threat re-emerges
Ideas for business self-regulation floated by the Conservatives prior to and immediately after they won the election have resurfaced. Top Tories had talked of introducing a system of ‘earned autonomy’, where firms with better safety records could opt-out of official health and safety inspections.
BIS news release • Prime Minister’s Office news release • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Half of workers are ill-treated at work
Half of British workers have been ill-treated at work in the last two years, researchers have found, with several million also suffering from “impossible workloads”. Professor Ralph Fevre of Cardiff University, one of the report's authors, said: “Many managers saw staff welfare as low on their list of priorities, while some even felt ill-treatment of staff was expected of them.”
Ralph Fevre, Duncan Lewis, Amanda Robinson and Trevor Jones, Insight into ill-treatment in the workplace: patterns, causes and solutions, 2011 [pdf] and Appendix: Respondents to the British Workplace Behaviour Survey [pdf] • BBC News Online • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Justice bill will ‘punish innocent victims’
The government's controversial legal aid and sentencing changes have cleared the Commons, despite opposition from MPs of all parties and stern criticism from disability organisations and unions. AVSGF chair Tony Whitson said: “This bill misses the target: it punishes innocent victims instead of tackling real issues with the system, such as irresponsible claims marketing and fraudulent claims.”
BBC News Online • Morning Star • AVSGF news release [pdf] • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: LibDems oppose safety rep protection
LibDems in the European Parliament have voted with centre right parties to ensure the failure of a proposal to protect workplace safety reps from blacklisting and victimisation. The vote in Strasbourg followed a debate on a mid-term review of the European Union’s health and safety strategy.
Blacklist Support Group report • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Firm fined after slow motion fatality
A firm has been fined after an employee suffered mortal injuries in a workplace fall, but this death will not appear in the Health and Safety Executive’s statistics because the worker took too long to die. J Mills (Contractors) Ltd was fined £145,000 plus £7,700 costs after Alan Kerwin, 32, fell 10 metres through a fragile roof onto a concrete floor and died two years later from his injuries.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Engineering firm fined after crushing death
An engineering firm has been fined £180,000 after an employee was crushed to death by a 1.5-tonne steel frame. Parker Plant Ltd, a Leicester-based manufacturer of quarrying plant and equipment, was prosecuted after the incident on 13 December 2008 that claimed the life of Michael Tilley, 55.
HSE news release • Leicester Mercury • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Britain: Pet food firm fined after crushing death
A factory worker was killed when his neck was crushed by a pneumatic hatch on a pet food mixing machine. HG Gladwell and Sons Ltd, which manufactures animal feed and pet food at Copdock Mill just outside Ipswich, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to ensure the sliding hatch on the top of the machine was safe.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

Cambodia: Mass fainting follows use of insecticide
The latest mass fainting incident at a Cambodian factory supplying major high street stores has been linked to the use of an insecticide. More than 100 workers collapsed at the Anful Garments Factory in Kampong Speu on 24 October after the cloth they were working with was sprayed with insecticide the previous day, a senior provincial health official said.
Phnom Penh Post • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

China: Gas explosion kills 29 in coal mine
A deadly blast at a coal mine in southern China has killed 29 people. The gas explosion took place at a colliery in Hunan province, Chinese state media reported. Six miners were being treated in hospital after being rescued from the Xialiuchong Coal Mine, owned by the Hengyang city government.
China Daily • BBC News Online • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

USA: Death mine security boss guilty of cover-up
The former director of security at Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine has been found guilty of lying to US federal agents and destroying documents sought by investigators looking into a deadly blast. Twenty-nine miners were killed in a 2010 explosion at the West Virginia Mine.
AFL-CIO Now blog • Charleston Gazette • FairWarning • Risks 530
Hazards news, 5 November 2011

New Zealand: Global backing for safe fishing regulation
A call for a complete overhaul of the way the fishing industry is regulated in New Zealand and beyond is being backed by the global transport workers’ union federation ITF. Unions in the country have been pushing for action following the case of the Oyang 75, a Korean fishing vessel abandoned in Lyttleton, New Zealand, with the Indonesian crew claiming underpayment and physical and verbal abuse.
ITF news report and 'From catcher to counter' campaign. MUNZ news release • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

USA: Union accuses mine firm of ‘industrial homicide’
The US mine workers’ union UMWA has accused Massey Energy Co and its managers of ‘industrial homicide’ for creating the conditions behind the 5 April 2010 explosion that killed 29 men at a southern West Virginia coal mine. The union says there were many factors that led up to the deadly blast, but the union’s scathing ‘Industrial Homicide’ report concludes “there is only one source for all of them” - a “rogue corporation” that established conditions “that can only be described as a bomb waiting to go off.”
UMWA news release and full report, Industrial homicide: Report on the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, October 2011 [pdf] • AFL-CIO Now blog • ABC News • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: Chicken firm’s safety bypass led to injuries
A major European food business producing raw and prepared chicken products has been fined after two incidents at its Suffolk factory, one of which led to an employee losing his right hand. At Norwich Crown Court, 2 Sisters Food Group admitted two criminal safety offences including bypassing safety systems and was fined £230,000 and ordered to pay costs of £24,350.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: Food worker injured in unguarded machine
A food processing firm has been fined £10,000 after one of its employees suffered serious injuries in a machine that had gone unguarded for more than a decade. The worker, who has asked not to be named, needed a metal plate in her left arm after it became caught in a potato blanching machine at the Bakkavor Foods Ltd plant in Ince, where the multinational packages salads and fresh vegetables for major supermarket chains.
HSE news release • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: Seven years after Morecambe Bay, cocklers still at risk
Cocklers have had to be rescued from the Ribble estuary in Lancashire 23 times since its cocklebeds were opened in September. Fylde Conservative MP Mark Menzies this week called for cockling in the estuary to be banned unless greater controls are introduced. 
BBC News Online, report on the GLA investigation and related earlier report • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: Bad bosses are bad for business
Employers that neglect concerns about trust in senior leaders, stress in the workplace or job satisfaction risk losing key staff, new research has concluded. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) quarterly Employee Outlook survey has found that employees are much more likely to be among the 22 per cent currently looking for a new employer if they express low trust in their senior managers, are dissatisfied with their job or are under excessive pressure every day.
CIPD news release • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: RMT to take action over Tube train safety
Tube train drivers are to refuse to follow what the union RMT considers to be “cost-led” and dangerous new instructions from London Underground Limited (LUL). The decision came when members voted by a margin of four to one for industrial action over train safety.
RMT news release • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: Tube blueprint for ‘safety carnage’
A leaked London Underground report is “a blueprint for jobs and safety carnage,” the rail union RMT has said. The union said the confidential “Operational Strategy” paper spells out cuts-led proposals that include the axing of more than 1,500 jobs and the introduction of automated, driverless trains.
RMT news release • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: Save our railways campaign goes to parliament
Rail unions, passenger groups and community supporters descended on parliament on 25 October as part of a national campaign to stop the government from implementing the cost- and job-cutting recommendations of the McNulty Rail Review.
RMT news release • TSSA news release • Morning Star • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: University condemned for safety ‘nuisance’ claims
The University of Sheffield has come under fire after labelling a union’s call for adherence to health and safety regulations as a ‘nuisance’. Lecturers’ union UCU had told its members, who are working to rule as part of a pensions dispute, to be extra vigilant and “to undertake no duties in breach of health and safety policies,” including refusing to use equipment that has not been safety-checked.
UCU News release and Sheffield University guidance • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: TUC warning on Clegg’s call for inspection cuts
A new system of regulation which could cap the number of workplace inspections of small businesses has been criticised by the TUC as dangerous and unwanted. Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg announced this week that the government is set to cap workplace inspections for small companies to just two a year to cut back on ‘red tape’.
Deputy Prime Minister’s news release and speech extracts • TUC news release • SME Business Barometer, BIS, October 2011 and related TUC Touchstone blog posting • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

Britain: Campaign and safety groups back TUC line
Concerns about the latest government move to reduce workplace inspections and enforcement activity have been echoed by safety groups and campaigners. The union-backed Hazards Campaign accused the deputy prime minister of talking “utter cobblers”. Hazards Campaign news release and We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Morning Star • SHP Online • Risks 529
Hazards news, 29 October 2011

USA: The deadly Big Business ‘four dog defense’
The ruses used by Big Business to frustrate, evade and stall regulation on toxic chemicals have been exposed in a new report. ‘The chemical industry delay game’, published by the Washington DC-based Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), uses three case histories - formaldehyde, trichloroethylene (TCE) and styrene – which it says illustrate a larger systemic breakdown in desperate need of a fix.
NRDC blog • The Chemical Industry Delay Game : How the Chemical Industry Ducks Regulation of the Most Toxic Substances, NRDC, October 2011 • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

USA: Study shows safety inspections pay off
Official workplace safety inspections lead to dramatically reduced injury rates and big savings for firms, a US study has found. The findings come in an analysis of a decade’s worth of data on safety inspections by the Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) in Washington State.
L&I news release • The Effect of DOSH Enforcement and Consultation Activity on the Compensable Claims Rates in Washington State, 1999-2008, Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 2011 [executive summary, pdf] • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Europe: Draft EMF law not good enough
A draft law to protect workers from electromagnetic fields (EMF) could leave workers at deadly risk, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has warned. The European Commission’s draft directive, published in June, is “short-changing workers” ETUC has charged and only looks at short-term effects of the possibly cancer causing exposures.
ETUI news release • ETUC response to the consultation [pdf] • ETUI’s new health and safety webpages • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Britain: Questions remain about work cyanide death
Lawyers representing the devastated daughter of a man killed by exposure to cyanide at a major chemical firm have called for lessons to be learned. At the inquest into the death of Lucite International employee Steven Murtagh, 52, a jury returned an open verdict, but confirmed the cause of the death on 7 September 2009 was cyanide poisoning.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Britain: Cemex fined after man killed in explosion
A multinational cement firm has been fined £200,000 following the death of a worker in an explosion at its Rugby premises. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Cemex UK Operations Ltd, which makes cement and building products, after the death of 28-year-old Peter Reynolds on 15 January 2008.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Britain: CPS apologises to workplace victim's family
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has apologised to the family of a man killed at work, after admitting a catalogue of failings in its investigation into the death which meant manslaughter charges could not be brought. Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer issued an unreserved apology to the family of Mark Wright, who died in March 2005 at the Deeside Metal site near Chester after aerosols he had been ordered to crush exploded.
Katy Clark MP news release • Morning Star • More on the Mark Wright case • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Britain: Thor hammered over major chemical incident
A multinational chemical manufacturer has been fined after a major incident at its factory in Cheshire put workers’ lives in danger. Thor Specialities (UK) Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a chemical reaction got out of control at its plant in Northwich, releasing toxic and flammable substances into the production area.
HSE news release and chemicals webpages • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Britain: BP’s repeated offshore safety failures revealed
The British oil giant BP has repeatedly breached criminal safety regulations on all its rigs in the North Sea over the last year, according to the government watchdog, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The multinational company has kept failing to comply with the HSE’s statutory instructions to improve risk assessments after a series of alarming near-misses on several oil platforms.
Robedwards.com • CPR Blog • Hazards magazine • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Britain: UK Coal families told to expect low death fines
A judge has indicated he will not impose heavy fines on UK Coal after four miners died following criminal safety breaches at what is the UK’s biggest mining firm. Justice Alistair MacDuff adjourned sentencing of UK Coal, which admitted offences under health and safety laws in relation to the deaths of Trevor Steeples, Paul Hunt, Anthony Garrigan and Paul Milner.
BBC News Online • Morning Star • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Britain: Mine manager held on suspicion of manslaughter
A pit manager who survived a flooding incident in which four miners died has been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter. Malcolm Fyfield, 55, was held by officers from South Wales Police investigating the tragedy at the Gleision Colliery near Swansea last month.
South Wales Police news release • Morning Star • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Britain: Safety minister was part of Fox’s organisation
Health and safety has been sucked into a scandal which has seen the prime minister accused of letting a secret rightwing, business-driven deregulatory agenda flourish within the highest levels of his party. Atlantic Bridge, an organisation created by former defence secretary Liam Fox which was wound up last year following a critical Charity Commission report, formed a partnership with an organisation called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
FACK letter • The Guardian and related article on Tory links to ALEC • The Observer • Background on ALEC • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Britain: Unions raise concerns over HSE charging scheme
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) fundraising scheme due to be come into effect next year must be fair, unions have said. In response to HSE’s plans for a comprehensive cost recovery scheme, where safety breaches uncovered by the watchdog would trigger a series of charges, both Prospect and UNISON say a cash-strapped HSE has no option but to raise extra cash but warn that a flat rate scheme would be disproportionately hard on smaller firms.
Prospect news release and full response • UNISON response [pdf] • Risks 528
Hazards news, 22 October 2011

Canada: Authorities use health and safety to stop strike
The Canadian Government has asked the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) to halt a proposed strike by Air Canada cabin crew on the grounds of health and safety. The CIRB has temporarily suspended the strike while they review the dispute.
CUPE press release • Risks 527
Hazards news, 15 October 2011

South African: Mine workers strike for safety
Thousands of South African miners took strike action on 4 October to protest against the conditions in South African mines. South African mines have a very poor safety record and there are around 100 deaths from injuries every year.
ICEM press release • Risks 527
Hazards news, 15 October 2011

Britain: Fine for company that risks workers lives
A building contractor from South East London has been fined £19,300 and ordered to pay costs of £7,654 for running a construction site which led to workers being exposed to asbestos-containing materials. Fadil Adil of Bromley was in charge of a construction site on which a building was demolished using sledgehammers and hand-operated breakers.
HSE press notice • Risks 527
Hazards news, 15 October 2011

Britain: STUC names and shames insurance giants
The Scottish TUC has named and shamed the five insurance giants who went to the Supreme Court to try to overturn Scottish legislation giving pleural plaques sufferers a right to compensation. The five culprits have been named as AXA General Insurance Limited, AXA Insurance UK plc, which operates companies like Swiftcover.com, Norwich Union Insurance Limited (Aviva), Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance plc and Zurich Insurance plc.
STUC press release • Risks 527
Hazards news, 15 October 2011

USA: When they slam ‘regulations’, they mean ‘safety’
US Republicans are putting the blame for the country’s faltering economy at the door of ‘regulations’. Steve Benen, writing in the Washington Monthly, concludes: “What, in Republican lawmakers’ eyes, will boost the economy? Workplaces in which Americans are more likely to be injured. That’s the plan.”
Washington Monthly • New York Times • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

China: Seventeen die in coal mine blast
At least 17 workers have died in a coal mine explosion in southwestern China. The official Xinhua News Agency says 28 miners were in the shaft when the blast occurred at 7.53 am on 4 October at the Anping Coal Mine, the Lihua Township in the county of Libo, Guizhou province.
Xinhua • Time • Shanghai Daily • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Global: Secretive PR firm pushes asbestos
A major US public relations company is attempting to derail a move to ban asbestos in Malaysia, but has refused to reveal who is funding its activities. Washington DC-based APCO Worldwide, whose previous credits including working for the tobacco industry to frustrate US government cancer prevention efforts, “is seeking to undermine an initiative to protect people in Malaysia from cancer caused by asbestos,” said Kelle Louaillier, president of Corporate Accountability International.
RightonCanada news release • Letter sent to Margery Kraus, President & CEO, APCO Worldwide, Washington, DC: Disassociate yourself from the discredited and deadly propaganda of the asbestos industry, health defenders tell APCO Worldwide • Montreal Gazette • Vancouver Sun • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Car parts firm guilty after crushing death
A County Durham engineering firm has been fined £100,000 after a worker was crushed to death while clearing a jam on a production line. Father-of-two Paul Clark, 52, was a multi-skilled fitter at Tallent Automotive Ltd-Gestamp Automoción, where he died after becoming trapped between a moving carriage and its tracks.
HSE news release • Northern Echo • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Forklift fall could have killed
A Serviceplan Contracts Ltd employee could have been killed when he fell off a forklift truck while trying to climb onto its roof, a court has heard. The 29-year-old man from Tyldesley, who has asked not to be named, struck his head on the ground and was knocked unconscious for several minutes in the incident at Moss Industrial Estate in Leigh.
HSE news release and falls webpages• Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Box factory fall caused severe head injuries
A cardboard box manufacturer in Kent has been fined after an incident in which a delivery driver suffered severe head injuries in a fall from his vehicle. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) brought the prosecution against WE Roberts (Corrugated) Ltd.
HSE news release • The Argus • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: New warning on upwards work deaths trend
Last year’s sharp increase in deaths at work looks set to continue and could be accelerating, latest Health and Safety Executive (HSE) statistics suggest. HSE figures published online show 51 people died at work across the UK from April to June 2011, up 20 per cent on the quarterly average in 2010/2011.
Irwin Mitchell news release • HSE statistical summary April-June 2011 • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Cameron makes safety his whipping boy again
The prime minister’s inclination to blame safety for the ills of the economy and society has surfaced yet again. After first blaming health and safety for August’s riots, David Cameron has now decided “the shadow of health and safety” is holding back Britain.
David Cameron’s 5 October 2011 speech to the Conservative Party Conference • TUC news release • SHP Online • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Safety minister again snubs safety victims
The government’s health and safety minister has been accused of treating the families of those killed at work with contempt as he yet again ignored a request to meet them. Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) has requested meetings with DWP minister Chris Grayling three times in recent months so it can explain its grave concerns over cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the government’s push to further reduce regulation and enforcement.
FACK news release • Morning Star • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Oil giant Talisman challenges official safety notice
A North Sea oil company is challenging a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) improvement notice issued because the safety watchdog said workers were living in overcrowded conditions on an offshore platform. The improvement notice was issued to Talisman Energy (UK) Ltd after an inspection of the Tartan Alpha platform.
BBC News Online • HSE notices issued to Talisman • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Three seriously hurt in recycling firm blast
Eight people were injured in a blaze at Hobbs industrial estate in Newchapel, near Lingfield, on 3 October. The fire is believed to have started in a unit which recycles IT and electrical items and printer ink cartridges, and spread to neighbouring units.
Surrey Police news release • BBC News Online • Surrey Advertiser • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Warning on ‘dangerous and unregulated’ site work
Almost one in every five workers is now classified as ‘vulnerable’, a report for construction union UCATT has found. Based on a review of the current enforcement regime and interviews with construction workers, ‘The hidden workforce building Britain’ says many are working in “slavery like” conditions, wait in car parks to get work as day labourers and are typically employed in dangerous and unregulated work.
UCATT news release and the full report, The hidden workforce building Britain: Exposing exploitation and protecting vulnerable workers in construction [pdf] • Risks 526
Hazards news, 8 October 2011

Britain: Lib Dems hypocrisy on work well-being
Large employers should be required to report on “employee satisfaction” levels, with directors struck off where there is a “serious failure to protect employees’ wellbeing”, the Liberal Democrats have said. The policy recommendations in a Quality of Life Policy Paper also call for a new National Institute for Wellbeing – but come as the coalition government guts the Health and Safety Executive and stages an unprecedented attack on safety regulations and enforcement.
A new purpose for politics: Quality of life. Policy Paper 102, Liberal Democrats, September 2011 [pdf] • Simon Hughes MP news release • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

Britain: Pub landlords failed to insure safety
The former landlords of a Chorley pub have been convicted after they failed to buy insurance to protect their employees. Stephen and Karen Martin were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after they employed staff at the Hinds Head pub in Charnock Richard without purchasing the legally required Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance.
HSE news release • Lancashire Evening Post • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

Britain: Unapologetic M&S fined £1m for asbestos crimes
Marks and Spencer plc and three of its contractors have been fined after putting members of the public, staff and construction workers at risk of exposure to asbestos-containing materials during the refurbishment of M&S stores.
HSE news release and asbestos webpages • Daily Telegraph • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

Britain: Firm fined over cooling tower drowning
Scottish maintenance contractor Epsco has been fined £35,000 after a man drowned in a water filled sump at a North Wales power station. Employee Michael Benn, 37, was one of a team of three working to remove sludge and debris from part of a cooling tower at Connah's Quay Power Station on 27 August 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

Britain: Head blow changed worker’s personality
A 56-year-old self-employed construction worker suffered permanent personality changes after a 10kg stone fell nearly three metres and hit him on the head. Paul Hinton had been hired by Elegance Building Contractors Ltd to work at a domestic property, which did not have brick guards on the scaffolding to stop materials falling below.
HSE news release and working at height on site webpage • Construction Enquirer • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

Britain: Builder thrown from telehandler bucket
A construction worker was severely injured when he was catapulted from a telehandler bucket while dismantling a redundant aerial mast. David Thomson, 22, was working as part of a Ness Engineering team removing the mast at the former RAF remote radar installation at Unst, Shetland, on 23 August 2010.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

Cambodia: Union members ‘dismissed’ over safety fears
A garment factory hit by two mass fainting incidents in August has been accused of trying to get rid of workers who subsequently joined the Free Trade Union to push for better working conditions. FTU president Chea Mony has written to the Ministry of Labour alleging that 20 employees who had joined the union at the M&V factory in Kampong Chhnang province had been told their contracts were expiring at the end of September.
Phnom Penh Post and related story • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

China: Watchdog threatens to close dusty gold mines
China’s top work safety watchdog has threatened to close down dangerously dusty gold mines after discovering that 95 per cent of mines surveyed violated national safety standards. The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) has ordered state-owned gold mines to take concrete measures to improve safety and curb emissions by August 2012 or face closure.
China Labour Bulletin • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

Thailand: Union leaders fired for safety stand
Thailand’s state railway has dismissed seven union leaders who demanded urgent safety improvements. It follows an earlier ruling by the Thai Labour Court that the sackings could proceed, a decision condemned by union bodies worldwide.
Bangkok Post • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

USA: Refinery union gives safety strikes warning
The union representing employees at 69 US oil refineries is prepared to strike if companies don’t agree to stricter safety procedures. The union says process safety “the main issue” during this bargaining round, with Gary Beevers, who heads USW’s oil bargaining programme, commenting: “I’ve been to a lot of memorial services in my career, but I’ve never been to one for a CEO.”
USW news release • Bloomberg • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

Britain: MP calls for an inquiry into pit safety
A Labour MP is calling for an independent inquiry into safety at Kellingley Colliery in North Yorkshire following the death of a miner, the third to die at the colliery in four years. Gerry Gibson was killed on 27 September and a colleague was injured when a roof collapsed.
NUM statement. UK Coal statement [pdf] • BBC News Online and related article • Morning Star • Daily Mail • The Independent • Financial Times • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

Britain: Courts put journalists in danger
Journalists’ union NUJ has condemned the courts for forcing media organisations to supply riot footage and photographs to the police, a move it says could leave journalists at a heightened risk of attack.
NUJ news release • Risks 525
Hazards news, 1 October 2011

USA: Cutting regulations shortens lives
US conservatives have stoked their war against “big government”, bidding to freeze federal actions to protect the public by introducing an anti-regulation regulation. According to award-winning journalist Michelle Chen: “The proposed ‘Regulatory Time-Out Act,’ which would impose a one-year moratorium on ‘significant’ new regulations, takes aim at regulations that keep industry from dumping poison in rivers or accidentally blowing up factory workers—in other words, policies that capitalists call ‘job killers’.”
In These Times • Related information: We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Colombia: Seven killed in gold mine disaster
Seven miners were killed in a cave-in at a gold mine in a remote area of western Colombia, officials have confirmed. Ingeominas, Colombia's national mining institute, said five of the victims of the 14 September incident were women.
Latin America Herald Tribune • Yahoo News • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Betting shop fined for armed raid dangers
A betting shop that was raided by an armed gang has been fined £10,000 for failing to increase security before the attack – despite being advised by officials to do so. Two female workers were opening a betting shop owned by national chain William Hill in Netherton, Merseyside, on the morning of 17 April last year when a man armed with a knife burst in and ordered the terrified staff to hand over cash.
Liverpool Echo • Crosby Herald • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Site manager ignoring safety notices
A Cardiff construction site manager has been fined after ignoring two legally binding safety orders issued to protect workers from injury. Haider Zaman, 53, trading as Pride Builders, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for ignoring two improvement notices served while he was refurbishing two residential properties.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Contractor convicted over dangerous scaffold
A Hastings scaffolding contractor and erector have both been fined after handing over unsecured scaffolding to a client, putting builders at risk. Totalscaff (GB) Ltd was found guilty and Christian Ball, 35, pleaded guilty to a breach of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007, and were £20,000 plus £10,000 costs and £2,500 and £2,274 costs respectively.
HSE news release and working at height in construction webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Foodie Farm fined over potato harvester horror
Farming partnership GJ Orr has been fined £112,500 after a worker was crushed to death in a potato harvesting machine in Scotland. Keith Wannan, 34, died en route to hospital after he was pulled from the machine, where he had been stuck for up to 30 minutes, at Foodie Farm near Cupar, Fife.
HSE news release and agricultural machinery webpages • The Sun • BBC News Online • The Courier • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Worker catches on fire on London site
A construction worker sustained serious burns when the top half of his body was set ablaze in an electrical explosion at a poorly managed London building refurbishment. The 35-year-old subcontractor for Pineview Interiors Ltd, whose name has not been released, was injured on 30 April 2010 after cutting through the main 415 volt electrical cable to the construction job with a hammer and chisel.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Tory MPs rebuked for asbestos ‘contempt’
A support group for sufferers of asbestos related diseases has condemned the behaviour of two Tory MPs during a committee debate on the impact of legal aid cuts. The group, which attended a hearing of the public bill committee on 13 September to hear the debate on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Prosecution of Offenders Bill, said that Conservative MPs Ben Wallace and Ben Gummer had behaved like “rowdy public schoolboy” and displayed “contempt” for working people.
Asbestos Forum news release [pdf] • Morning Star • Public Bill Committee hearing, 13 September • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Rail cuts heighten terror ‘threat’
Rail union RMT has called on the government to “wholly reject” the McNulty Rail Review proposals to axe station-based staff and guards on trains in the light of a warning that the railway system faces a “substantial” terrorist threat. RMT says a “stark intelligence report” from Southeastern Railways setting out a strategy for dealing with a Mumbai or Norway style “Active Shooter” attack on the railways includes a warning that such an attack is a “strong possibility.”
RMT news release • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Unions condemn axing of marine safety units
The government’s decision to axe two key maritime safety services has been condemned as “short-sighted” and “dangerous” by unions. TUC and Nautilus were responding to the announcement by shipping minister Mike Penning that the government will stop funding the Maritime Incident Response Group (MIRG) and the Emergency Towing Vessel Service (ETV), which were set up to ensure an effective response to serious incidents at sea.
TUC news release • Nautilus news release • DfT statement • BBC News Online• The Coastguard, Emergency Towing Vessels and the Maritime Incident Response Group: Government Response to the Committee's Sixth Report of Session 2010-12 [pdf] • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Journalists must be protected from attacks
Journalists must be protected from violent attacks from groups like the English Defence League (EDL), unions have said. Delegates to TUC’s annual congress, held this month in London, supported an emergency motion presented by National Union of Journalists (NUJ) executive member Anita Halpin, who explained how journalists going about their jobs had been abused and assaulted by members of the far-right organisation.
Morning Star • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: FBU criticises dangerous riot report
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has criticised a report by the London Fire Brigade (LFB) which claims it had enough resources to cope during last month’s riots. The union’s regional secretary, Joe MacVeigh, said: “Publishing one-sided, self-congratulating and disingenuous reports is neither in the interests of Londoners nor firefighters who too often during the riots were exposed to real dangers because of a lack of resources.”
FBU news release • LFB news release and full report [pdf] • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Lack of resources not safety hampers schools
School students are missing out on science practicals and school trips because of a lack of resources and appropriately trained staff and not because of safety concerns, the Commons Science and Technology Committee has concluded. The committee found there “was no credible evidence” that safety concerns were contributing to a decline in practicals and school trips.
Commons Science and Technology Committee news release and full report [pdf] • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Britain: Unions will fight safety cuts
Unions have reaffirmed their commitment to fight cuts in the Health and Safety Executive and attacks on safety laws. Delegates to TUC’s Congress called on the the TUC to “continue to be actively involved in campaigning with all affiliates affected by any watering down of health and safety imposed through the government’s health and safety reform” and to do the groundwork on a legal challenge to “prevent harm” prior to any damaging policies being implemented.
UCATT news release • Health and safety motion carried at TUC Congress 2011 • Risks 524
Hazards news, 24 September 2011

Global: Dramatic rise in work-related deaths
The number of people dying as a result of work-related injuries and diseases has soared, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has found. Although workplace injury deaths had fallen between 2003 and 2008, there had been a dramatic increase in deaths from work-related diseases.
ILO news release and questions and answers on global trends • Full report: Global trends and challenges on occupational safety and health, ILO, September 2011 [pdf] • BWI news release • World Congress on Safety and Health at Work • Risks 523
Hazards news, 17 September 2011

Britain: Directors fined for disregarding HSE warnings
The owners of a packaging manufacturer have been fined after deliberately ignoring formal safety warnings for more than three years. Company directors Anthony Smith and Yvonne Barrett were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after failing to install guards on machines used to produce packaging for fast food outlets.
HSE news release • Bolton News • Risks 523
Hazards news, 17 September 2011

Britain: Site manager sentenced after forcing drill use
A worker was left with permanent damage to his arm after being instructed by his site manager to use a heavy-duty core drill by hand on a construction site in Huddersfield. The 32-year-old worker from Rochdale, whose name has not been released, was ordered by Matthew Saville to remove a 34 kilogram, one-metre high, diamond core drill from its stand and hand-hold it to tackle a job, even though the drill's instructions specifically prohibit hand-held use.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 523
Hazards news, 17 September 2011

Britain: Company fined after man dies in machine
A firm which admitted criminal safety failures over the death of a worker at its Slough factory has been fined £200,000. Mitesh Prashar, 24, was killed while operating machinery on a night shift for Manchester-based company Duco International Ltd.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Print Week • Risks 523
Hazards news, 17 September 2011

Britain: Garage worker killed by exploding drum
A garage has been fined after an employee was fatally injured when a metal oil drum exploded. Martyn Massie, 23, was cutting a drum that had previously stored used engine oil at the premises of Pitmachie Garage Ltd, in Insch, Scotland.
HSE news release • Risks 523
Hazards news, 17 September 2011

Britain: Liverpool dock workers get high voltage shock
Crane maintenance firm Carrylift Materials Handling Ltd has been fined for criminal safety offences after two dock workers suffered injuries in a high voltage electric shock at the Seaforth Container Terminal in Liverpool. One of the men was temporarily blinded and both were burned in the 6,600 volt surge after climbing up a dockside crane to check the electricity supply on 12 March 2008.
HSE news release and electricity webpages • Risks 523
Hazards news, 17 September 2011

Britain: HSE says talk to the machine
Most workplace injuries and dangerous incidents are no longer reportable by phone - and in a couple of weeks official safety advice will be consigned to the web too. Critics say the move could amplify a ‘digital divide’ on health and safety.
HSE news release and reporting changes Q&A and making complaints guide •   Construction Enquirer • Risks 523
Hazards news, 17 September 2011

Britain: Rush job warnings after major site incidents
Three serious incidents as contractors rushed to finish work on a major retail complex have prompted safety warnings from campaigners. Construction union UCATT called for far higher levels of safety awareness on the final stages of major retail projects, following the spate of incidents at London’s Stratford City Shopping Complex, which opened on 13 September.
UCATT news release • The Independent • Construction Enquirer • Risks 523
Hazards news, 17 September 2011

USA: Walkout exposes chocolate maker’s abuses
Over 300 foreign students sat in and then walked off the job at a distribution plant in Palmyra, Pennsylvania in August, bringing into the spotlight a sordid trail of exploitation and abuse leading to premier US chocolate manufacturer Hershey. The students, from countries as diverse as China, Moldova, Nigeria, Turkey and Ukraine, had come to the US on J-1 visas – a programme ostensibly established to enable foreign students to learn about the US through a two-month work and travel programme.
IUF news report • Labor Notes • In These Times • Risks 522
Hazards news, 10 September 2011

Cambodia: Workplace health tops factory failings
Problems with work-related ill-health, work security and overtime continue to plague the garment sector in Cambodia, according to a new study. The findings of a survey of 186 factories by the International Labor Organisation’s ‘Better Factories Cambodia’ project led the labour standards body to conclude problems in the sector will be “difficult” to resolve.
Better Factories Cambodia website • VOA News • Phnon Penh Post • Risks 522
Hazards news, 10 September 2011

Britain: Power firm fined £300k after worker electrocuted
A national power company has been fined £300,000 for failings which led to the electrocution and death of a poorly trained worker. Father-of-four Jonathan Crosby, 45, was working as an electrical overhead linesman at UK Power Networks, formerly known as EDF Energy Networks Limited, in Diss when the incident happened on 9 November 2007.
HSE news release • Norfolk Eastern Daily Press • Diss Express • Construction Enquirer • BBC News Online • Risks 522
Hazards news, 10 September 2011

Britain: Boss pays for teen’s lost fingers
A partner in a Somerset firm has been fined after 18-year-old employee Kyle Bishop lost four fingers while working on a milling machine. Nigel Ashley of precision engineering firm Ashley's of Yeovil, appeared at the town’s Magistrates Court in a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release • Risks 522
Hazards news, 10 September 2011

Britain: Business owner fined over workers' facial burns
The owner of a Liverpool electrical firm has appeared in court after two of his employees suffered facial burns in a flash fire at the city's ferry terminal. Terence Hayes, the owner of Hayes Electrical and Building Services, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found electrical work had been allowed to go ahead without the power being cut.
HSE news release and electricity webpages • Crosby Herald • Construction Enquirer • Risks 522
Hazards news, 10 September 2011

USA: New report shows ‘Prevention Pays’
A new report from a US safety group pulls together arguments demonstrating that good safety standards aren’t just in the interests of workers, there’s a big pay off for employers too. ‘Prevention pays: Solutions to help workers and businesses thrive,’ published by San Francisco-based Worksafe, tallies the costs – human, financial, and social – of failures to protect workers’ health and safety on the job.
Worksafe news release • Prevention pays: Solutions to help workers and businesses thrive [pdf] • Risks 522
Hazards news, 10 September 2011

USA: Surprises in the deadliest jobs list
Ten occupations in the US have a death risk at least five times the average for all jobs. Fishing tops the deadliest jobs list, with a fatality rate higher than 1 in 1,000. But these jobs did not account for the greatest number of deaths - employment trends mean some of the top slots for overall numbers of fatalities go to jobs traditionally considered “safe”.
Aol News • Risks 521
Hazards news, 3 September 2011

China: Disney faces oppressive sweatshop claims
Disney's best-selling Cars toys are being made in a factory in China that uses child labour and forces staff to do three times the amount of overtime allowed by law, according to an investigation. UK paper The Guardian reveals one worker is believed to have killed herself after being repeatedly shouted at by bosses.
The Guardian • SACOM • Risks 521
Hazards news, 3 September 2011

Britain: Demolition worker dies dismantling plant
A Glasgow demolition contractor has been fined after a worker was killed when a weight from an excavator fell on him. Bernard McCarroll, 68, was dismantling a hydraulic excavator at the yard of Whiteinch Demolition Limited in Glasgow.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 521
Hazards news, 3 September 2011

Britain: Roof fall results in suspended jail term
A self-employed roofing contractor has been given a suspended prison sentence after a friend fell through the roof of a domestic garage and later died of his injuries. Steve Mason had been contracted to replace a flat roof on a double garage at a house in Essex, and James Waughman was accompanying him.
HSE news release • Risks 521
Hazards news, 3 September 2011

Britain: Two firms fined over ‘appalling’ building site
Two construction companies have been fined for overseeing “appalling” standards at a London building site. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted principal contractor Kubik Homes Ltd and subcontractor Bellway Developments Ltd after visiting the site in Wimbledon on several occasions.
HSE news release • Risks 521
Hazards news, 3 September 2011

Britain: Worker hurt by 600kg bag of fertiliser
A fertiliser company has been fined after a worker was seriously injured when a 600kg bag of ammonium nitrate fell on him. Robert Dearlove, 32, was part of a team clearing up a spillage after several bags of ammonium nitrate fell from a stack at a Fertiliser Solutions Ltd warehouse in Middlesbrough.
HSE news release • Evening Gazette • Risks 521
Hazards news, 3 September 2011

Britain: Bread firm fined £1 after fall death
A London bread wholesaler has been fined £1 after a worker died of injuries sustained when he fell from a stepladder. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Ovenpride Wholesale Ltd and site manager Amjad Mahmood for failing to provide a safe system of work which, led to the death of handyman Rocco Carofalo.
HSE news release • London Evening Standard • Risks 521
Hazards news, 3 September 2011

Britain: Politicians not safety prompted the riots
The prime minister’s attempt to link health and safety and human rights to the August riots have been dealt a blow – with politicians themselves put in the frame. Researchers at Essex University and Royal Holloway University of London found instead a major cause of the riots was the bad example set by politicians and bankers.
Sarah Birch and Nicholas Allen, “There will be burning and a-looting tonight”: The social and political correlates of law-breaking, Political Ethics and Integrity project, Essex University/Royal Holloway University, August 2011. The Independent and earlier report • Risks 521
Hazards news, 3 September 2011

Britain: HSE’s draft manufacturing strategy slammed
A dramatically revised Health and Safety Executive (HSE) strategy for the manufacturing sector has been criticised by Unite as an “unfortunate” approach “heavily based” on the government’s cutback, enforcement averse ‘Good health and safety, good for everyone’ blueprint.
Unite news release • Hazards magazine • Risks 521
Hazards news, 3 September 2011

Britain: Union uncovers oil rig dangers
Poorly managed oil rigs operating in British waters may have come perilously close to catastrophic explosions, documents obtained by an offshore union suggest. RMT’s offshore organiser Jake Molloy said the internal Health and Safety Executive (HSE) documents, obtained by the union in freedom of information (FoI) requests, show the industry is demonstrating “a blatant disregard for workers’ health and safety.”
The Scotsman • Risks 521
Hazards news, 3 September 2011

Britain: Coroner criticises recovery trucks dangers
Equipment used by recovery truck drivers should be reviewed after a mechanic was killed trying to restart a car in Hampshire, a coroner has said.  Terry Booth, 58, died when he was hit by a car after he was not able to park his truck in a safe position while using jump leads.
BBC News Online • Risks 520
Hazards news, 27 August 2011

Britain: TUC concern at HSE’s bizarre bans list
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) list citing the most 'bizarre' uses of 'safety' concerns to cancel activities or events in the past year has prompted a stiff rebuke for the safety watchdog from the TUC. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber responded: “Every listed in the HSE top ten relates to public safety or insurance issues and has nothing to do with health and safety as it applies to workers.”
TUC news release • Top 10 bizarre health and safety “bans” • BBC News Online • Risks 520
Hazards news, 27 August 2011

Britain: Minister takes workers for a deadly ride
While safety minister Chris Grayling felt no need to comment on a sharp increase in workplace fatalities in his first year at the helm, or this month’s £1 fine for criminal safety failings linked to a worker’s death, or even the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) failure to investigate 95 per cent of all reported major injuries, one thing did compel him to take up the ministerial pen. And that was the decision by holiday firm Butlins to instruct staff to stop customers crashing into each other in dodgem cars. Hazards magazine • Chris Grayling’s letter to Butlins • FACK news release and letter to the minister • Morning Star • Risks 520
Hazards news, 27 August 2011

Britain: Minister ignores work’s ‘inconvenient corpses’
An investigation by Hazards magazine has discovered the government minister responsible for workplace safety deliberately misled MPs on “the terrible human and economic cost of health and safety failings at work”. The ‘Firm Favourites’ report says Chris Grayling was “spoon-fed” a £20bn figure by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in a “suggested reply” to a parliamentary question but failed to mention the estimate “does not include the costs of long-latency disease” or that “these costs could be considerable.”
Firm favourites: HSE would rather listen to business than reason, Hazards, number 115, 2011 • Risks 520
Hazards news, 27 August 2011

Britain: Food firm fined for forklift fatality
A food firm has been fined £100,000 after a worker was run over and killed by a forklift truck in West Lothian. George Hardie, 60, died at the Vion Food Group-owned Halls of Broxburn meat factory two years ago after being hit by a badly loaded forklift truck.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 520
Hazards news, 27 August 2011

Britain: Warehouse worker run over twice by forklift
Construction materials giant SIG has been fined after a worker was seriously injured when he was run over twice by a forklift truck. Livingston Sheriff Court heard a SIG Trading Ltd forklift driver needed major surgery after the 31 March 2010 incident, including six pins and two steel plates in his shin, and screws in his ankle and toes. 
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • Construction Enquirer • STV News • Risks 520
Hazards news, 27 August 2011

Britain: Timber firm fined for lost thumb
A Lincolnshire timber company has been fined after employee Ben Clipston had part of his left thumb severed while using a circular saw. The injury occurred when the 20-year-old production operative at Kestrel Timber Frame Ltd in Market Deeping was cutting insulation foam.
HSE news release • Lincolnshire Free Press • Construction Enquirer • Risks 520
Hazards news, 27 August 2011

Britain: Move towards reporting of fewer work injuries
A move proposed by a former Tory cabinet minister to slash the number of workplace injuries employers are required to report has been given the backing of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) board. The seven day plus reporting requirement suggested by Lord Young would reduce the overall number of injuries reported by an estimated 30 per cent.
Outcome of the Consultation on the Common Sense, Common Safety Proposal to Amend the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), paper to HSE board meeting, August 2011 [pdf] • Risks 520
Hazards news, 27 August 2011

Global: Unions pact with steel firm saves lives
A safety pact between unions and the world’s largest steel producer has resulted in a dramatic reduction in workplace injuries. A report launched by metals giant ArcelorMittal and union bodies the European Metalworkers’ Federation (EMF), United Steelworkers (USW), and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) reviews how unions and management have been working together to deliver better safety results for ArcelorMittal.
IMF news release • joint report and full text of the global health and safety agreement [pdf] • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

New Zealand: Tragedy leads to high hazards action
Unions in New Zealand have welcomed the creation of a new High Hazards Unit in the official health and safety enforcement agency, focusing on petroleum production and mining industries. The Council of Trade Unions (CTU) saying a beefed up inspectorate is absolutely necessary, as has been evident from the first phase of the official inquiry into the November 2010 explosion at Pike River in which 29 miners died.
NZCTU news release • NZ Department of Labour news release and Pike River webpages • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

USA: Report shows safety regulations save lives
Five major US workplace health and safety rules, most of which were initially opposed by industry, have saved thousands of lives, prevented tens of thousands of injuries and in at least one case dramatically improved productivity, a new report has shown. The analysis by thinktank Public Citizen comes as the US business lobby ramps up efforts to gut the USA’s regulatory system.
Public Citizen news release and full report, Regulations at Work: Five rules that save workers’ lives and protect their health • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Australia: New research explores work bereavement
The impact of workplace fatalities on the families left behind has been considered for the first time by researchers. A team led by Michael Quinlan, a professor in organisation and management at the Australian School of Business, found a significant impact on families, both emotionally and financially.
UNSW Knowledge publication • Workplace Tragedy Family Support Group • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Britain: Handyman cheats death in factory fall
A Burnley handyman escaped with his life when he fell through a fragile roof at a factory in the town. Engineering firm Lupton and Place was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident on 23 September 2010.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Britain: Pork giant fined after worker severs fingers
The UK's biggest producer of pork products has been fined after a worker severed two fingers in an unguarded mixing machine. The 60-year-old, from Branston, Lincolnshire, lost the index and middle fingers on his right hand and damaged his ring finger in the incident at Tulip Ltd's factory in Ruskington on 10 December 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Britain: Hope for swifter justice after work deaths
Moves to speed up the justice system following the death of a worker have been welcomed by construction union UCATT. The union says changes to the Work Related Deaths Protocol (WRDP) to take effect in October 2011 may significantly reduce this time lag.
UCATT news release • Morning Star • HSE guidance on the Work Related Deaths Protocol • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Britain: Prospect slams ‘irresponsible’ government
Health and safety legislation is neither excessive nor damaging to innovation, Prospect has told an independent review ordered by the government. Prospect, which includes 1,500 Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors and specialists in its membership is warning that it is not regulation but non-compliance and poor interpretation of the rules that should be of greatest concern.
Prospect news release and submission to the Löfstedt review • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Britain: Safety should be the top riot concern
The police and employers must ensure that if there is any repeat of last week’s riots the safety of shopworkers, customers and local residents is their number one priority, the retail union Usdaw has said.
Usdaw news release and advice to members • Retail Trust guidance • BRC news release • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Britain: PM’s riot act exposes his anti-safety obsession
The extent of David Cameron’s antipathy to rules protecting people from sometimes deadly injuries and diseases at work has been exposed in a speech. Campaigners have accused the prime minister of being “crass and insulting” after he claimed “health and safety” bore some of the responsibility for this month’s riots.
David Cameron’s speech, 15 August 2011 • Conservative Party news release • Hazards Campaign news release • Morning Star • The Guardian • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Britain: Satellite dish firm fined £1 after fatal roof fall
Satellite TV installation firm Foxtel Ltd has been fined £1 following the death of a worker who fell while working on a roof. Engineer Noel Corbin, 29, suffered fatal head injuries after falling 13.5 metres from a four-storey house onto a side patio in Belsize Park, London on 3 February 2008.
HSE news release • Camden New Journal • Construction Enquirer • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Britain: Confectionery death firm maims worker
A major sweet manufacturer that was last year convicted and fined £300,000 after the death of worker has been fined again after an employee had a finger severed. Both Tangerine Confectionery Limited employees were clearing machine blockages.
HSE news release • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Britain: ‘Intolerable’ safety get-out in Wales NHS
Construction union UCATT believes health service employers in Wales will escape criminal proceedings for safety offences, as a result of legislative errors made in a recent NHS reorganisation.
UCATT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 519
Hazards news, 20 August 2011

Global: Unions target 'most dangerous' fishing sector
A ‘From Catcher to Counter’ programme to build worker representation and improve conditions in the fishing industry worldwide has been launched by global union federations ITF and IUF. The new initiative is designed to cover the whole industry from ‘catcher to counter’ with the aim to increase union membership and power.
ITF news release • IUF news release and From Catcher to Counter website • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Brewery in court twice in a day
An international brewery giant has appeared twice in a day before Cannock magistrates for criminal health and safety breaches. Molson Coors Brewing Company (UK) Ltd said the incidents, when three workers were sprayed with caustic chemicals and one was run over by a forklift, were “a matter of great regret”.
HSE news releases on Burton Brewery caustic soda and forklift injury news releases • Burton Mail • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Unguarded print machine mangled hand
The hand of a print worker was mutilated by an unguarded machine, a court has heard. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation at Ancient House Press found a fixed guard that would have prevented access to the underside of the machine had been removed, and around 20 other guards and safety devices on machines around the factory were also missing or disabled.
HSE news release • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Unguarded bandsaw removed three fingers
A County Durham manufacturing firm has been fined after a contract worker had three fingers severed while using a bandsaw. John Houston, 39, was working as a contractor for Derek Parnaby Cyclones International Ltd, which manufactures and installs mineral processing and effluent treatment systems and equipment.
HSE news release • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Worker stung by scorpion at ‘low risk’ grocer
A Scottish shop worker is recovering at home after being stung by a scorpion while opening a box of bananas at a Farmfoods store. It is at least the third time in three years grocery workers in the UK have been confronted by a scorpion at work.
STV News • BBC News Online • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Wrist crushed in defective machine
A metal roofing company has been prosecuted after a Cardiff worker suffered a serious wrist injury while operating defective production line machinery. Darren Gillard, 46, was employed by Euro Clad Ltd to make metal roof panels.
HSE news release • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Lorry cab fell on worker
A Suffolk truck dealership has been fined after a technician was trapped when the cab of a lorry fell on him, causing him to be off work for six weeks. Trevor Muffett, 60, was carrying out a routine vehicle check at Orwell Trucks when a metal prop holding up the cab gave way.
HSE news release • East Anglian Daily News • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Third worker dies at Sonae chipboard factory
The third worker to die at the Sonae chipboard factory since December 2010 has been named as demolition worker James Dennis Kay, 62. Local Labour MP George Howarth, an outspoken critic of the factory, commented: “There is still little, if any, evidence that Sonae has resolved the underlying problems with safety and stability at the plant.”
Statement from George Howarth MP • Liverpool Daily Post • BBC News Online • BBC Radio Merseyside • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: UNISON calls for safety action now
Union members must ‘act now’ to protect workplace health and safety rights and standards from an unprecedented attack, public sector union UNISON has said. Its short guide on ‘The threat to health and safety’ says the system protecting workers “is under greater threat now than at any other time.”
The threat to health and safety: Act now to fight the government cuts, UNISON, August 2011 [pdf] • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Journalists targeted in civil unrest
 Journalists covering civil unrest in the UK need to plan accordingly and take appropriate precautions, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has warned. Its guidance came on 9 August, after reports of a number of journalists having been targeted as riots affected several cities.
NUJ news release •  INSI civil disturbance checklist for journalists • The Guardian • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: FBU calls for an end to attacks on fire crews
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is warning that attacks on fire crews are creating “a very real risk” of deaths. Commenting on 9 August, after three days of riots in a number of cities, FBU assistant general secretary Andy Dark he said: “There is a very real risk that this will result in a significant loss of life if it goes on.”
FBU news release • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Dedicated workers deserve calm, says Unite
Rioting is achieving nothing other than ruining lives and putting workers at risk, the leader of the union Unite has said. Appealing for calm, general secretary Len McCluskey said: “Workers also need to know that they can go about their business in the community in safety, particularly in the transport sector where bus drivers have been placed in the most dreadful and dangerous of situations in recent days.”
Unite news release and related release on transport safety • Morning Star • Risks 518
Hazards news, 13 August 2011

Britain: Labourer fell off unguarded stair
A building labourer broke two ribs after falling off the edge of a temporary staircase after a guardrail was removed. David Tourish, 38, was working for Walker Group (Scotland) Ltd on a house build in Edinburgh, when he and a colleague were asked to carry some doors upstairs to keep them out of the way during building work.
HSE news release • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: Lorry reversed into worker's head
Tufnells Parcels Express Ltd has been fined £150,000 and ordered to pay £19,000 in court costs after an employee was seriously injured when his skull was crushed by a reversing lorry at the company's depot. Simon Mason, 22, was working the nightshift as a warehouse porter.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: Massive factory blaze put lives at risk
Two firms held criminally responsible for a huge fire which ripped through a factory putting lives at risk have been ordered to pay a total of £224,530 in fines and costs. At its height, the fire at the Greenaway Environmental site in Crewe spread to more than 10,000 square metres - nearly one and a half times the size of a Premiership football pitch.
HSE news release and fire and explosion webpages • Staffordshire Sentinel • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: Site firms fined £300,000 for motorway death
Birse and Serco have been fined a total of £300,000 after a roadworker died as a result of a 12 metres fall while working over the M5 motorway. Cecil Grant, 42, was repairing CCTV cameras used to monitor one lane of the motorway near Clevedon during the night of 24 January 2006, when he fell off a wall into bushes below, suffering serious injuries.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Japan: Fukushima radiation discovered at lethal levels
Pockets of lethal levels of radiation have been detected at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in a fresh reminder of the risks faced by workers battling to contain the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.
The Guardian and earlier report on heat stress • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Thailand: ‘Disbelief’ at labour court safety ruling
Unions worldwide have responded with ‘shock and disbelief’ to a Thai Labour Court decision to allow the dismissal of seven leaders of the SRUT railway workers’ trade union for their part in safety-related industrial action two years ago. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “The decision of the Thai Labour Court is a politically motivated attack on a rail union that has done nothing other than fight for safety on their rail network.”
ITF news release and study of safety standards at SRT • ITUC news release • RMT news release • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: IOSH calls for strong laws and duties on directors
There is “no scope” for cutting laws but safety could be improved if there were “positive directors’ duties”, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has said. The comments came in the IOSH response to the government-commissioned Löfstedt review.
IOSH news release • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: Dad-to-be's death exposes safety flaws
A Sheffield crane driver died from massive crush injuries just weeks before he was due to become a father, a court has been told. Alan Winters, 28, was killed when he and colleagues attempted to unload a four-ton crate from a shipping container at the DavyMarkham Ltd factory in Sheffield, on 15 July 2008.
HSE news release • We Didn’t Vote to Die at Work campaign and Want to know about burdens? poster • Sheffield Star • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: Firm pays £30,000 for three fingers
A St Helens napkin and tablecloth manufacturer has been fined £30,000 after mother-of-three Cheryl Bridge lost three fingers when her hand was crushed between two printer rollers. Emboss (Europe) Ltd, which produces paper tablecloths, napkins and placemats was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident on 7 January 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: Worker was dragged through CD-sized gap
A South Yorkshire engineering firm and a German machine supplier have been sentenced for safety failings after a worker sustained horrific injuries but miraculously escaped with his life after being dragged through a gap no wider than a CD case. Compass Engineering Ltd and Kaltenbach Ltd were jointly prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at the Compass Engineering factory in Barnsley, on 19 December 2008.
HSE news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: Letwin wants more deadly job insecurity
The government’s policy chief has revealed the government's determination to instil a real “fear” of job losses in public sector workers. The comments from Oliver Letwin, architect of the coalition's plans to reform public services, came as new research highlights the deadly consequences of job insecurity.
The Guardian • Pekka Virtanen, Urban Janlert and Anne Hammarström. Exposure to temporary employment and job insecurity: a longitudinal study of the health effects, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, volume 68, issue 8, pages 570-574, 2011 • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: Safety report damns London fire brigade
London Fire Brigade bosses must demonstrate a greater commitment to the safety of its firefighters, their union FBU has said. The call came after a damning report by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) identified “recommendations for improvements” on 13 key safety failings.
FBU news release • Risks 517
Hazards news, 6 August 2011

Britain: Skip firm fined over work death
Skip hire company C Bialek Ltd, trading as CB Skips, has been fined £150,000 after one of its employees was killed on his 33rd birthday. Salisbury Crown Court heard how on 12 February 2008, Jozef Trhan, from Slovakia, was fixing the split rim wheel on a large industrial waste removing machine called a loading shovel when the incident happened.
HSE news release • Risks 516
Hazards news, 30 July 2011

Britain: Pupils narrowly escape falling roofer
A roofer who plunged through a school roof narrowly avoided landing on pupils who had walked underneath moments earlier. Ploughcroft Building Services was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at Reddish Vale Technology College on 14 June 2010.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 516
Hazards news, 30 July 2011

Britain: Man jailed for attacking nurse
A Carlisle man who punched a nurse while she tried to treat him at the city’s Cumberland Infirmary has been jailed for 90 days. Edward Partridge, 39, was told his behaviour was ‘extremely unpalatable’ and that prison was the only option.
News and Star • Risks 516
Hazards news, 30 July 2011

Britain: Boss gets home renovation, worker gets hurt
A Somerset firm has been fined after a man broke his back, arm and ribs after falling three metres whilst working on a barn conversion at his boss’ home. Mark Clarke was helping to renovate Heathfield Barn at North Petherton, Bridgwater when the incident occurred on 11 October last year.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 516
Hazards news, 30 July 2011

Britain: Firms not so bothered by safety regulations
Health and safety and employment laws have dropped down the list of the business lobby’s moans about regulation. The Forum of Private Business (FPB) says its survey found administering tax has become “the top regulatory burden” for small business owners.
FPB news release • Risks 516
Hazards news, 30 July 2011

Britain: RMT anger at return of ‘outrageous’ disaster boss
Rail union RMT has called for tighter regulation of company directors as it emerged that Paris Moayedi, the boss of rail maintenance company Jarvis at the time of the Potters Bar train smash, is floating a new “green energy” company on the stock market. The union says “not a single Jarvis director received any punishment for their role in the seven deaths at Potters Bar even though the company were found partly responsible.”
RMT news release • CBI news release • Risks 516
Hazards news, 30 July 2011

Britain: RMT pledges to defend signals safety
Confirmation from Network Rail that it intends to reduce dramatically the number of signallers it employs has been met with concern by rail union RMT. The rail firm told the union it is looking to reduce signallers from the current level of 6,000 to 2,000 over the next 30 years.
RMT news release • Risks 516
Hazards news, 30 July 2011

Britain: HSE goes fundraising after government cuts
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is seeking views on its proposals for “cost recovery”, the scheme it hopes will help fill the gaping hole in its finances left by a massive government cut. HSE has opened a three-month consultation on how “cost recovery for intervention” will operate, having already agreed the underlying principle with government.
HSE news release and consultation document • Construction Enquirer • Risks 516
Hazards news, 30 July 2011

Britain: TUC warns that safety must not be undermined
The TUC has said it will “strongly oppose” any government moves to undermine workplace health and safety protection. The statement comes in a written submission to the government commissioned Löfstedt review of workplace health and safety.
TUC submission to the Löfstedt inquiry • Risks 516
Hazards news, 30 July 2011

New Zealand: Seafarer abuse an ‘embarrassment’
The New Zealand government has announced an inquiry into the abuse of crews on foreign fishing charter vessels in the country’s waters. Unions said the move was ‘long overdue’, adding ongoing problems with the abuse and underpayment of overseas crews on joint venture vessels in New Zealand waters have become “an international embarrassment.”
MUNZ news release • TVNZ • Risks 515
Hazards news, 23 July 2011

Britain: Workers survive electrical fireball
Global packaging firm Innovia Films Ltd has been fined £90,000 and £26,790 costs after two workers suffered life-threatening injuries when they were engulfed by a fireball at a factory in Cumbria. Gordon Metcalf, 62, and apprentice electrician Raymond Crumpler, were about to clean debris from a damaged fuse box when a ball of fire shot out, setting their clothes alight.
HSE news release • News and Star • Construction Enquirer • Risks 515
Hazards news, 23 July 2011

Britain: Industrial 'corkscrew' removes arm
A Leicestershire manufacturing firm has been fined after an employee's arm was torn off by a giant industrial 'corkscrew' as he was carrying out repairs. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted London Concrete Ltd after a manager accidentally turned on an auger - a large corkscrew-like machine which moves dry materials from one level to another - while it was being repaired at a factory in Gerrards Cross.
HSE news release • Risks 515
Hazards news, 23 July 2011

Britain: Worker injured by falling truck
Nottingham cleaning products manufacturer Revelholme Marketing Ltd has been found guilty of criminal safety offences after an employee was seriously injured when a powered industrial truck toppled and fell on him. The worker, who has asked not to be named, suffered a fractured cheekbone, multiple skull injuries and long term impaired vision after the incident, which happened when he was helping load a lorry using a semi-electric stacker truck.
HSE news release • Risks 515
Hazards news, 23 July 2011

Britain: Network Rail still getting it wrong, says regulator
Network Rail has been singled out for stinging criticism in a new report from the rail regulator, labelling its systems “ineffective” and its performance “disappointing”. The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) summarises the rail giant’s performance as: “A disappointing year with clear evidence of a poor safety culture, patchy implementation of procedures and slow progress on some key risks, often requiring formal enforcement.” ORR news release and full report • Risks 515
Hazards news, 23 July 2011

Britain: Boston fire’s Lithuanian victims identified
Five men killed in an explosion at an industrial unit in Lincolnshire have been identified by police. In response to questions from Hazards magazine, the Health and Safety Executive indicated they were not involved in the investigation and were not treating the incident, involved an industrial process in industrial premises, as an industrial accident because it was a criminal activity.
Lincolnshire Police news release and earlier release • BBC News Online • Hazards magazine • Risks 515
Hazards news, 23 July 2011

Britain: Offshore improvements need to be faster
The offshore industry needs to “pick up the pace” if it is going to meet its target to reduce potentially catastrophic oil and gas leaks, the offshore regulator has said. The warning came as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) released figures showing the number of offshore oil and gas leaks that could potentially lead to a major incident fell in 2010/11.
HSE news release and Offshore Safety Statistics Bulletin • Risks 515
Hazards news, 23 July 2011

USA: 'Model' workplaces escape scrutiny then kill
Since 2000, at least 80 workers have died at ‘model workplaces’ the USA’s official safety watchdog OSHA has designated the nation’s safest, and which under the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) it exempts from some inspections. This is the conclusion of an eight month investigation by the Center for Public Integrity that found in 47 of these cases, inspectors subsequently found serious safety violations and, sometimes, tragedies that could have been averted.
i-Watch News and related story • Risks 514
Hazards news, 16 July 2011

New Zealand: Unions call for recovery of mine dead
Unions in New Zealand and worldwide have called for the recovery of the bodies of 29 miners killed in a November 2010 methane gas blast at Pike River Coal Ltd’s colliery. Local union EPMU, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) of Australia and global mining unions’ federation ICEM want the miners’ remains returned to families before New Zealand’s largest underground mine is sold and reopened.
ICEM news report • Risks 514
Hazards news, 16 July 2011

New Zealand: Expert blames safety deregulation
As a Royal Commission began this week into the Pike River mine tragedy, which last year killed 29 workers in New Zealand, a mine safety expert is pointing to the dilution of mine safety rules as a major contributory factor. This included axing the role of workers’ inspectors in mines.
New Zealand Herald • Morning Star • Risks 514
Hazards news, 16 July 2011

Britain: ThyssenKrupp in court again
A global car components manufacturer has been fined after an agency worker fractured and burned a finger while operating a welding machine. Thyssenkrupp Tallent Ltd also currently awaiting a crown court hearing on criminal charges relating to the crushing death on 8 July 2009 of Paul Clark, 52, at its plant in Aycliffe, County Durham and earlier this year its top executive in Italy was jailed for the murder of seven workers in a December 2007 factory fire.
HSE news release • Risks 514
Hazards news, 16 July 2011

Britain: Third fine after construction death
A defunct building company has been fined after a foreman died when an excavator bucket filled with concrete fell on him at a London construction site. Euro Earthworks Ltd general foreman, Gerry Fox, was crushed by an incorrectly attached excavator bucket in August 2007 when it fell from the arm of the 12 tonne excavator being driven by a colleague.
HSE news release • Risks 514
Hazards news, 16 July 2011

Britain: Call for ministers to put safety before profits
The government must not allow workers to die to boost business profits, civil service union PCS has said. The union, which has hundreds of members in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), made the call in responses to government-initiated reviews of health and safety legislation.
PCS news release • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign • Risks 514
Hazards news, 16 July 2011

Italy: Call for 20 years jail for asbestos magnates
A public prosecutor has called for 20 year prison terms for two asbestos magnates charged with a wilful failure to protect worker and the public from the deadly fibre, resulting in thousands of deaths. At a criminal trial in Turin, prosecutor Raffaele Guariniello this week delivered a closing statement in the trial of Eternit’s Stephan Schmidheiny and Belgian Baron Jean Louis Marie Ghislain De Cartier de Marchienne.
Asbestos in the Dock report • Yahoo News • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

USA: Deadly gunpowder maker agrees to quit
The head of a US gunpowder company that shut down after two of its workers were killed last year in an explosion has agreed never to return to the explosives business. The unusual enforcement pact was reached between Craig Sanborn, the Vermont-based president of Black Mag LLC, and the US government’s safety enforcement agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
OSHA news release • Fairwarning • Union Leader • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

USA: Extended Honeywell lockout threatens safety
With collective bargaining set to resume later this month, Honeywell Inc “continues to place the residents of Metropolis, Illinois, at risk by operating a uranium conversion plant with inexperienced scab workers,” reports global union federation ICEM. The union body says the year old lockout would have been resolved in June, until Honeywell rescinded contract provisions immediately after agreeing to them.
ICEM news report • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

USA: Second set of books hid mine dangers
Massey Energy managers hid serious safety problems at a deadly mine from US federal mine safety officials by keeping two sets of records, Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) officials have revealed. A 5 April 2010 explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia’s coal belt killed 29 miners.
UMWA statement • AFL-CIO blog • Common Dream • Fairwarning • The Charleston Gazette • The New York Times • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

Britain: Manslaughter charges after roof fall death
Three company directors have been charged with manslaughter after an employee fell through a roof in Greater Manchester. Steven Berry, 45, died following the fall at Lion Steel Equipment Ltd in Hyde in May 2008.
CPS news release • Greater Manchester Police news release • BBC News Online • Manchester Evening News • Bearsden Herald • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

Britain: Oil giant INEOS fined £100,000 for leak
INEOS Manufacturing Scotland Limited has been fined £100,000 following an uncontrolled release of crude oil at its Grangemouth refinery in May 2008. The incident happened when a pipeline containing crude oil became over pressurised as a result of a process known as thermal expansion.
HSE news release • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

Britain: Chemical giant enforced dangerous practices
Global chemical firm INEOS has been prosecuted after using disciplinary measures to enforce unsafe practices, leading to a worker suffering a serious injury. The 58-year-old worker, who has asked not to be named, lost his ring finger and suffered damage to his middle and little finger after his gloved hand was pulled into machinery. HSE news release • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

Britain: Companies fined for fish farm deaths
Two companies have been fined a total of £640,000 following the death of two fish farm workers while trying to rescue a colleague who has passed out in an oxygen poor chamber in a barge.
HSE news release • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

Britain: Poorly trained teen severs hand
A teenage novice severed part of his hand while operating a vertical panel saw on which he had received little training. Lewis Maker, who was 18-years-old at the time of the incident, was using the panel saw to cut a piece of board, when his hand got dragged into the blade and the top half was cut off.
HSE news release and woodworking machinery webpages • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

Britain: Two injured as scissor lift overturns
Specialist plastering contractor Clark & Fenn Skanska Ltd has been fined after two workers were seriously injured during construction of a Derby shopping centre. The workers, who did not wish to be named, fell around seven metres when the scissor lift they were using to transport plasterboard between floor levels overturned.
HSE news release • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

USA: BP faces renewed blast criticism
BP and its former chief executive Tony Hayward are facing further accusations of insensitivity regarding the victims of the 2010 BP Gulf of Mexico disaster. A videotaped deposition deposition includes details of a legal pleading filed by BP referring to the 11 victims as “callous, indifferent and grossly negligent in causing this explosion.”
Daily Caller • Risks 513
Hazards news, 9 July 2011

USA: Honeywell lockout a serious safety concern
When union workers were locked out over a year ago at the Honeywell uranium facility in Metropolis, Illinois, they warned that the unskilled replacement workers bussed into the plant did not have the experience to operate the uranium enrichment facility safely. Now the safety fears raised by the locked out members of the steelworkers’ union USW have been confirmed, after the federal safety agency OSHA cited Honeywell for 17 separate “serious violations” that could have resulted in death or serious harm.
OSHA news release • USW news release • In These Times • USW TMC blog • USW news report • ICEM news report • Sign the petition calling on Honeywell to end the lockout • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Marine company put diver's life at risk
The owner of a Cornish marine company has been fined £10,000 plus costs of £2,000 for safety breaches which put a diver's life at serious risk. Kenneth Dunstan, owner of Mylor Marine Maintenance of Marlowe Bridge, pleaded guilty to breaching four diving safety regulations after using incorrect equipment and an unqualified diver.
HSE news release and diving webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Fines after worker left with brain damage
Construction worker Richard Chodkiewicz was left fighting for his life after he was hit on the head by a 7lb piece of scaffold tube that fell 18 floors, a court has heard. Bristol Crown Court fined main contractor Miller Construction £40,000 and £17,232 costs and specialist lift company Hoistway Ltd £70,000 and £14,616 costs for criminal safety breaches.
Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • HSE news release and construction webpages • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Two firms guilty over Legionella risk
Fines and costs totalling nearly £250,000 have been imposed on two firms after workers and members of the public were put at risk of exposure to the potentially fatal Legionnaires' disease. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted multinational automotive parts manufacturer Eaton Ltd and water treatment services provider Aegis Ltd after an investigation in 2006.
HSE news release and Legionnaires' disease webpages • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Waste and recycling up to 15 times more deadly
New official statistics show the number of workers killed in Britain's waste and recycling industry has sharply increased and now has a fatality rate nearly 15 times the average for all workers.
HSE news release • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Agriculture deaths still over 13 times higher
The number of workers killed in the agricultural industry last year decreased slightly, but the overall fatality rate remains over 13 times the average for all workplaces. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provisional data for the year April 2010 to March 2011 reveals 34 workers were killed - a decrease on the previous year when 39 died.
HSE news release • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Construction deaths up by 22 per cent
Site fatalities have risen by 22 per cent, ending a four-year period of declining deaths in the construction industry. The latest provisional figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveal the number of construction deaths rose to 50 last year, up from 41 the year before - the latest figures reveal a death rate in construction four times the all industry average.
HSE news release • UCATT news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Warning on deadly ‘asbestos protection crisis’
There is an ‘asbestos protection crisis’ throughout the UK as a result of government cut backs on safety campaigns, enforcement and resources, a victims’ advocacy group has said. The warning came on 1 July as hundreds of sufferers of the aggressive and deadly cancer mesothelioma and their families gathered to mark Action Mesothelioma Day.
AVSGF news release [pdf] • HSE’s shelved ‘Hidden Killer’ campaign • Plymouth Herald • Telegraph and Argus • Action Mesothelioma Day • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: TUC concern over sharp rise in deaths at work
There has been a dramatic upturn in the number of workplace fatalities, new official statistics show. Figures published on 28 June by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveal the number of workers killed in Britain in 2010/11 was over 16 per cent up on the previous year.
HSE news release and fatal injury statistics • TUC news release • STUC news release • Irwin Mitchell news release • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Cuts mean there could be worse to come
The sharp increase in workplace fatalities show the government must reverse it attack on workplace regulation and enforcement, unions have said. Prospect, whose members include staff in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), said the government must now rethink plans to cut the safety body’s budget by 35 per cent.
Prospect news release • Unite news release • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Unions denounce safety red tape ‘sham’
The increasingly desperate tone and tactics employed by the government in its attempts to justify the removal of safety protection at work have been described by unions as a ‘sham’ bordering on ‘reality TV show’ banality. In a 27 June news release issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), employment minister said the government’s Red Tape Challenge on health and safety regulations, which will run from 30 June to 21 July, “is the opportunity that every beleaguered business leader, incredulous community group or outraged newspaper reader has been waiting for - a chance to directly change the laws underpinning Britain's health and safety culture.”
HSE news release • Unite news release • Risks 512
If you think it is a good idea to have strong regulations properly enforced to protect your health and safety at work, you can tell the government this on its Red Tape Challenge webpages
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: Expert slams government’s safe jobs ‘fantasy’
Cuts to safety enforcement, regulation and budgets are being justified with government ‘lies’, UNISON members have been told. Addressing 150 concerned workers at a fringe meeting of the union’s annual conference, Hazards Campaign spokesperson Hilda Palmer ripped into the cut price, cut back health and safety strategy which will see most workers in ‘low risk’ workplaces shunted off the official enforcement radar.
Morning Star. We didn't vote to die at work facebook group and webpage • Campaign resources: T-shirts - Adult sizes s, m, l, xl, xxl, xxxl: £6 (UK postage free), Child (ages 5-13): £4. Posters 'Job killer' and 'We didn't vote to die at work' (free) • Details from the Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester M16 7WD, UK.
'We didn't vote to die at work' meeting, 6.30pm, Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester, 12 July [meeting flyer] • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Britain: ‘Massive campaign’ to protect rail services
Rail union RMT will run a ‘massive national campaign’ in a bid to head off what it says is a dangerous assault on UK railways. The union’s annual meeting endorsed the campaign strategy, which includes a cross-industry strike ballot “if necessary.”
RMT news release • Risks 512
Hazards news, 2 July 2011

Global: Gerdau workers hold minute of silence
Workers at Spanish steel multinational Gerdau have walked out after the latest death at a company plant. The Gerdau Workers' World Council also called for a minute’s silence on 20 June at all Gerdau plants worldwide, in memory of all those killed at work.
IMF news release • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Global: Project links safety with business survival
Safety professionals’ organisations in the US and UK have joined forced to “raise awareness of the ways health and safety can secure the future of businesses, making them more sustainable for the future.” The Center for Safety and Health Sustainability (CSHS) was created by the UK-based Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) and the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA).
AIHA news release [pdf] • IOSH news release • Center for Safety and Health in Sustainability (CSHS) • GRI webpage • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Britain: ‘We didn't vote to die at work’ meeting, Manchester, 12 July
The latest in a series of ‘We didn't vote to die at work’ campaign meetings will take place in Manchester on the evening of 12 July. Organised by the Hazards Campaign and Families Against Corporate Killers, the event will examine the impact of government cuts and ongoing plans to deregulate health and safety.
‘We didn't vote to die at work’ meeting, 6.30pm, Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester, 12 July [meeting flyer] • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Britain: Victims made to pay in new offenders bill
Victims of occupational injuries or diseases will be unable to afford a compensation claim or will have to pay the legal costs as a result of a proposed law introduced by the government. The TUC says provisions in the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill to switch the cost on personal injury cases from those who negligence caused the problem to the victims will not deliver a saving to the government but “will simply line the pockets of insurers.”
Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill [pdf] • Prime minister’s office news release and transcript of related press conference • ASGVF news release [pdf] • Unite news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Simpson Millar Solicitors news release • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Britain: Minister’s snub to bereaved families
Employment minister Chris Grayling, who pushed through unprecedented funding cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and demanded a dramatic reduction in proactive enforcement by the safety watchdog, has rejected requests for a meeting from Families Against Corporate Killing (FACK), to hear their views about his workplace safety strategy. FACK founder Linzi Herbertson said the minister was more interested in “listening to the false accounting of the business lobby.”
Morning Star • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Britain: Worker dies after fall from Shell oil rig
An experienced oil worker has died after he plunged from a North Sea oil rig. Lee Bertram, from Northumberland, fell from Shell’s Brent Charlie platform – about 120 miles north east of Lerwick in Shetland – on 16 June.
The Journal • STV News • Daily Record • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Britain: Shell ignored warnings before blast
Oil multinational Shell UK ignored safety warnings from its staff before a gas terminal blast that could have killed, a court has heard. The company was fined £1m plus £242,000 costs at Norwich Crown Court after admitted seven safety and pollution offences following the explosion and fire at the Bacton terminal in Norfolk in February 2008.
Environment Agency news release • BBC News Online • Norwich Advertiser • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Britain: HSE alert after shellfish diver deaths
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a safety alert after two shellfish divers died in separate incidents in inshore waters in Scotland.
HSE news release • STV News • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Britain: Gas cylinder explosion kills worker
A London supplier of high pressure gas has been fined after an explosion killed a worker and severely injured a member of the public. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Oak Farm Gas Company Ltd, (trading as Mr Fizz), after the incident at a site in New Denham, Buckinghamshire.
HSE news release • Risks 511
Hazards news, 25 June 2011

Global: Deadly attacks on unions continue
A ‘grim record of murder and repression’ in Colombia and the Americas means they maintain the lead in a global listing of abuses of trade union rights. The latest ‘Annual Survey of violation of trade union rights’ from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) includes data from 143 countries and “paints a picture of people fighting for greater economic rights and freedom to organise, with many governments and businesses responding with repression, sackings, violence, death threats and murder.”
ITUC news release and Annual Survey of violation of trade union rights • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Global: Over 100 million children in dangerous jobs
Over 115 million of the world's children and young teenagers, or more than 7 per cent of the total, are engaged in dangerous and life-threatening jobs, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has said. Overall, there are 215 million child labourers worldwide, says the global labour standards body.
ILO news release, slideshow and report, Children in hazardous work: what we know, what we need to do • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Britain: Foreman fined after trench collapse
A site foreman has been fined after labourer Graeme Scott, 30, was killed when a trench collapsed. Cameron and Stevenson (Scotland) Ltd foreman William Parry was fined was fined £240, in the latest in a series of cases where individual workers have been targeted for prosecution, but no action has been taken against company directors, despite HSE finding evidence of negligence on the part of the company.
HSE news release and excavations guide • Construction Enquirer • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Britain: Death due to safety failings at textile firm
A West Yorkshire textile firm has been fined £60,015 after its safety failings ‘led directly’ to a worker being crushed to death in a baling machine. Bradford Crown Court heard that Gary Lee, 40, was cleaning inside the baler at Westwood Yarns, Holmfirth, when it re-started.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Britain: Commons ‘misled’ on the real cost of unsafe work
Employment minister Chris Grayling ‘misled’ the House of Commons by claiming the costs to society of workplace safety failings are billions less the real figure, a campaign group has charged. The Hazards Campaign is warning that ministers are constructing a job fear smokescreen to justify a drive towards safety lawlessness at work.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • House of Commons Hansard Debates for 13 Jun 2011: Workplace Health and Safety. HSE interim costs report based on 2001/2002 data, June 2004 [pdf] • Trends in mesothelioma deaths • Morning Star reports on the Commons exchange and the Community conference • We didn’t vote to die at work campaign
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Britain: The only way isn’t up, says HSE
Major safety successes in which the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has played a central role could be a thing of the past for the resource-strapped and hamstrung safety watchdog, a senior official has indicated. HSE principal inspector of construction for London, Mike Williams, said said budget cuts and government-driven changes mean that when it comes to major sites the watchdog will no longer be able to replicate a proactive approach at the Olympics where it had opted  “to get involved early, checking that all the arrangements are there and looking to others in the chain to see what they plan to do.”
SHP Online •   Sypol news report • HSE London Olympics 2012 webpages • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Britain: Cable admits Red Tape Challenge has backfired
Business secretary Vince Cable has admitted a ‘red tape challenge’ for the retail sector has “backfired” because the great majority of responses are supportive of regulation. The secretary of state told a British Retail Consortium (BRC) symposium that the website is being targeted by lobby groups who want more regulation, and that retailers “haven’t won the argument” over reducing regulation yet.
Retail Week • 11 May 2011 Speech by George Osborne to IoD • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Britain: Peers arrest police safety opt out bid
A bid to exempt police forces from workplace safety law has been dropped. The House of Lords debated an amendment to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill on 9 June 2011 which would have repealed parts of the Police (Health and Safety) Act 1997.
Hansard report of the House of Lords debate, 9 June 2011 • IOSH news release • SHP Online • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Britain: Poor wood dust control caused cancer
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to investigate the occupational risks facing those in the furniture and woodworking industries, more than 10 years after the last checks found the official standard was routinely ignored. The news coincides with a £375,000 compensation payment to the widow of a cabinet maker who died of nasal cancer in 2005.
The Guardian • HSE wood dust survey 2000 [pdf] • HSE news release on the Millbrook prosecution • Risks 510
Hazards news, 18 June 2011

Guatemala: Another union leader murdered
Violence against banana unions in Guatemala is escalating, the global foodworkers’ union federation IUF has warned. The alert came after Idar Joel Hernandez Godoy, finance secretary of the IUF-affiliated banana workers union SITRABI, was shot dead on 26 May by a gunman on a motorcycle while driving through the village of Cristina to the union headquarters in the town of Morales.
IUF news release • ITUC news release and letter to the Guatemalan president • Send a message to the president of Guatemala • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Mexico: Union-busting at unsafe Excellon mine
Miners at an unsafe Mexican metals mine have been faced with a mixture of intimidation and bribes by the company in a concerted bid to stop them joining the National Miners' and Metalworkers' Union of Mexico (SNTMMSRM). Management of Excellon Resources Inc at the La Platosa mine in the state of Durango, Mexico started a union-busting drive in November last year after workers at the mine decided democratically to affiliate to the SNTMMSRM.
IMF news release and letter to Excellon Resources [pdf] • ProDESC • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: LA inspector oppose relaxed injury reporting
Plans to increase the threshold for reporting workplace injuries from more than three days to more than seven days off work will make it harder to gather evidence on workplace safety, local authority-based workplace safety enforcers have warned.
CIEH news report • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Scaffolding death was ‘entirely preventable’
The death of a Scottish worker who fell 30 feet from scaffolding while working with his brother was “entirely preventable”, an official fatal accident inquiry has ruled. Kenneth McLean and his brother Brian McLean were carrying out rough casting at a construction site in Partick in October 2005 when Kenneth fell to his death.
FAI findings • The Scotsman • BBC News Online • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Phoenix firms must face justice
The government must tighten the rules to make sure firms aren't allowed to sidestep justice for health and safety breaches by going into administration, a Labour MP has said. Steve Rotheram has tabled an early day motion calling for a clampdown on so-called phoenix companies, which go into administration to avoid large fines, then re-emerge and begin trading again under a modified name.
Early Day Motion 1834 • Morning Star • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Firms fined after worker killed on M25
Construction firm Carillion Highway Maintenance Limited and its traffic management subcontractor have been fined a total of £202,000 after a worker employed by another subcontractor was killed while working on the M25 motorway. Christopher Lewis was carrying out fencing work on a section of the M25 near Enfield, when he was crushed between a van and a safety barrier after a lorry jack-knifed on the motorway.
HSE news release • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: AMEC and RWE npower guilty over death
Contractor AMEC and energy giant RWE npower have been fined £450,000 after a maintenance worker fell to his death at a South Wales power station. Agency worker Christopher Booker fell 12m through an unprotected opening in a working platform at Aberthaw Power Station in June 2007.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • The Guardian • BBC News Online • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Family firm pays after director’s fatal roof fall
A family firm from Norfolk renting out business units has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), after one of the company’s directors died after falling through a fragile roof at one of its properties. Keith and Nigel Ragan, joint owners of Allenbrooks Developments Ltd, were replacing skylights in the roof of one their units when Keith Ragan fell 10m through the corrugated asbestos cement sheet roof.
HSE news release • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Ex-squaddie loses arm at recycling site
A Hull man, who returned unscathed from active service with the British army in Bosnia, was maimed for life working as a 'civvy' back home, a court has heard. Ray Wright, 34, had his right forearm severed in a baling machine incident while working alone at the Transwaste Recycling site at Hessle Dock in April 2009.
HSE news release • Occupational Safety and Health Consultants Register (OSHCR) • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Chevron refinery blast kills four workers
Three male painting contractors and a female fire-watch officer have died in the huge explosion at the Chevron refinery at Pembroke Dock, south west Wales. The Health and Safety Executive is undertaking a joint investigation with Dyfed Powys Police and other agencies after a large storage tank blew up late on Thursday 2 June during routine maintenance, rocking houses and sending a plume of black smoke into the sky.
Chevron statement • Dyfed Powys Police statements on support for the families and naming of the victims • Multiagency statement on the disaster and update • The Guardian • Western Telegraph • BBC News Online plus coverage of the Terra Nitrogen and Kingsnorth fires • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Relief for man dragged through CD size hole
A plater who suffered a string of serious injuries when an engineering machine dragged him through a hole the size of a CD case says he is “greatly relieved” after his former employer pleaded guilty to a criminal breach of safety regulations. Matthew Lowe, 25, from Barnsley, says he was lucky to even survive a December 2008 incident which left him with a broken arm, nerve damage, a torn bowel, a fractured rib, fractures to his vertebrae and a smashed hip joint.
HSE news release • Irwin Mitchell news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 515
Hazards news, 11 June 2011

Britain: Brazilian worker buried alive in basement
A Brazilian construction worker was buried alive while building a basement in London’s Belgravia, one of the wealthiest postcodes in the world. Father-of-nine Arlindo Visentin, 58, died helping three other workers build a basement at the private property when he was crushed by a collapsing wall of gravel and clay weighing between three and five tonnes.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • BBC News Online • Risks 508
Hazards news, 4 June 2011

Britain: Gear box firm fined over crush death
Gear box manufacturer Renold Power Transmission Ltd has been fined £180,000 over the death of a worker who was crushed by a slab of metal. Father-of-five Nigel Lindley, 47, from Oldham, was putting together a large metal gear case when one of the sides collapsed on him in 2008.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 508
Hazards news, 4 June 2011

Britain: Firms fined after worker's electric shock
Two companies, a director and a sub-contractor have been fined a total of £130,000 for health and safety failings after a construction worker suffered serious burns following an electric shock from an overhead power cable.
HSE news release and guidance on working near power lines [pdf] • Risks 508
Hazards news, 4 June 2011

Britain: Packaging firm crushed worker’s arm
A Cambridgeshire company that prints and manufactures pharmaceutical packaging has been fined for criminal safety breaches after an employee's arm was dragged into a machine that makes medicine boxes. John Armstrong suffered severe crush injuries which required almost a hundred stitches to his hand, wrist and arm while working at Firstan Limited in Huntingdon.
HSE news release • Cambridge News and Crier • Risks 508
Hazards news, 4 June 2011

Britain: Heinz canned for torn off finger
Food manufacturer Heinz has been fined after a worker at its Wigan baked beans factory lost a finger in industrial machinery. The 65-year-old had an index finger torn off while he was making a new part for a packaging machine, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Manchester Evening News • Risks 508
Hazards news, 4 June 2011

Britain: Why safety deregulation will kill – the evidence
New materials have been added to the revamped ‘We didn’t vote to die at work’ campaign pages of the trade union backed health and safety magazine Hazards. Detailed briefings show deregulation of workplace safety is a false economy – it costs money and it costs lives.
We didn’t vote to die at work webpages • latest poster and facebook group • Risks 508
Hazards news, 4 June 2011

Global: Deregulation is really a death wish
Strong and effective workplace regulations and inspection regimes are necessary to deliver decent employment and safety standards at work, according to new UK and international reports. But the UK-based Hazards magazine and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) both warn that this essential role is being undermined by an erosion of the funding and the function of enforcement agencies.
Body blow, Hazards magazine special report, May 2011. Deregulation is really a workplace death wish, ITUC/Hazards green jobs blog, 30 May 2011 • Labour administration and inspection key to good global governance, ILO, 31 May 2011 • Risks 508
Hazards news, 4 June 2011

Britain: Businesses overlook injury and illness costs
British businesses are losing their competitive edge because of a failure to tackle the risks of injury and illness in the workplace, a report from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has concluded. Survey findings from the safety professionals’ organisation published show employers are underestimating the economic benefits of worker protection and are placing it low on their list of priorities.
IOSH news release and Life Savings campaign • Risks 508
Hazards news, 4 June 2011

Global: Garment trade backs safe denim campaign
Major fashion chains are backing a campaign by unions and labour rights groups to ban the use of a deadly sandblasting process in denim garment manufacture. The joint call from global garment unions’ federation ITGLWF and apparel buyers and manufacturers says the process can “be extremely damaging to the health of workers if proper safeguards are not followed, and can lead to a disabling and potentially fatal lung disease called silicosis.”
ITGLWF news release • BSCI news release and guidance paper • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

USA: Mine disaster caused by corporate risk-taking
A US mine tragedy happened because a coal giant operated a mine in a “profoundly reckless manner and 29 coal miners paid with their lives for the corporate risk-taking,” according to an independent report. Massey Energy Co’s Upper Big Branch coal mine exploded on 5 April 2010.
AFL-CIO news release • Upper Big Branch. The April 5, 2010, explosion: a failure of basic coal mine safety practices, National Technology Transfer Center, May 2011. Washington Post • iWatch News • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Business lobby wants ‘race to the bottom’
A report from a business lobby group claiming safety regulations are costing business £355m a year has been dismissed by the TUC as being based on “non-existent burdens.” Commenting on the report from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) A TUC spokesperson said: “Employers have to get real on health and safety regulation and stop complaining about non-existent burdens on business and instead focus on protecting their staff and the public,” adding: “The problem for business is not regulation, but the mind-set that sees the need to protect workers as being a ‘burden’, and it is time that the BCC and the government started addressing that rather than encouraging a race to the bottom.”
BCC news release and report, ‘Health and Safety: a risky business?’ • BBC Five Live • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Government lurch to ‘lawlessness at work’
The government’s new health and safety strategy is propelling the UK towards “lawlessness” at work, a new report has said. Official figures obtained exclusively by Hazards magazine reveal the number of major injuries even investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has slumped to just 1 in 19, and warns other changes mean HSE has been robbed of its resources and robbed of its role.
Screw you: The government’s deadly lurch towards lawlessness at work and Body blow: Government jettisons your safety, sickness, compensation and job rights, Hazards, Number 114, April-June 2011 • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Löfstedt review calls for evidence
A government review charged with finding ways to reduce the “burden” of health and safety on business has put out a call for evidence. The Löfstedt review, announced by the government in March (Risks 499), is inviting views “from all interested parties on the scope for reducing the burden of health and safety regulation on UK businesses whilst maintaining health and safety outcomes.”
DWP news release • Call for evidence and final terms of reference for the inquiry • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: ‘Low risk’ strategy is seriously flawed
A government demand that local authorities undertake 65,000 fewer safety inspections each year is “seriously flawed” and will mean “many employers will think they don’t need to bother” with safety, retail union Usdaw has warned. In a statement to Hazards magazine, the union said it is “extremely worried by this government’s continued ideological attack on health and safety… It also ignores solid evidence from the UK and the US that shows that health and safety laws are not a burden on business.”
Hazards magazine • Joint guidance for reduced proactive inspections, Health and Safety Executive and the Local Government Group, May 2011 [pdf] •   Advice/Guidance to Local Authorities on Priority Planning, Health and Safety Executive/Local Authorities Enforcement Liaison Committee (HELA), LA67/2 (rev2), March 2010 • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: No room for complacency in nuke industry
There is no room for complacency in the UK’s nuclear industry, an official review has concluded. An interim assessment of the implications of the nuclear crisis in Japan by the Health and Safety Executive’s top nuclear inspector concludes there is no need to curtail the operations of nuclear plants in the UK, but says lessons should be learnt.
HSE news release and interim report, ‘Japanese earthquake and tsunami: Implications for the UK Nuclear Industry’ • Prospect news release • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Climbdown hint on coastguard closures
Unions have welcomed an anticipated government climbdown on plans to close over half of the UK’s coastguard stations. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said the apparent u-turn was evidence of what can be achieved by “inspirational” community campaigning.
PCS news release • Nautilus news release • BBC News Online • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Triple prosecution after construction death
A plant hire firm and a plant operator have been fined after foreman Gerry Fox died when an excavator bucket filled with concrete fell on him at a London construction site. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Hydro Plant Ltd, the plant hire company which had provided the excavator and Michael Cunningham, the excavator operator, for safety breaches after the August 2007 incident; Euro Earthworks Ltd, the principal contractor and Mr Cunningham's employer, also faces charges but has entered administration and did not appear at court.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Solvent spill leads to six figure fine
A chemical company has been fined £150,000 after a tank collapsed, releasing a large amount of waste solvents and water at a chemical plant in Rye, East Sussex. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Solvent Resource Management Ltd for breaching health and safety regulations, which led to the incident.
HSE news release • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Firm falls into a bad practice
A clutch manufacturer has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a worker suffered serious injuries in a fall from a roof. After the incident, Raicam Clutch Ltd then sent up a second worker to investigate why his colleague had fallen – without thinking to first introduce necessary safety improvements.
HSE news release and guide on work at heights [pdf] • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Man loses fingers in cup cake case
A paper firm has been fined after a worker lost fingers in a machine whose safety features had been overridden. Maintenance fitter David Millband, 46, was seriously injured when his right hand was caught in a reel-fed machine at The Crimped Paper Works Limited, which makes paper baking cases.
HSE nBritain: Triple prosecution after construction deathews release • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

China: Group warned of iPad death factory risks
A Hong Kong-based campaign group had in recent weeks warned about deadly dust dangers at a computer factory in China which exploded on 20 May, killing three workers and injuring 15 others. Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM) this week released a video revealing the extent of worker exposures to aluminium dust in the polishing department at the Foxconn plant in Chengdu.
SACOM news release, video and report, Foxconn and Apple fail to fulfill promises: Predicaments of workers after the suicides, 6 May 2011 • San Jose Mercury • EDN blog • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Company's safety award is a 'joke'
Trade unionists have branded as ‘a joke’ the award of a prestigious health and safety prize to construction firm Balfour Beatty. The company received the Sir George Earle Trophy from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) despite being notorious for sacking and blacklisting health and safety reps.
RoSPA news release and Balfour Beatty award citation • Blacklist blog • Morning Star • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Sell off threat for London’s fire engines
Firefighters’ union FBU has warned London’s privatised ambulance fleet could be sold off as the contractor responsible fights a winding-up order. AssetCo, the company that owns and leases appliances to London’s fire service, won a 20-year multi-million pound contract to supply the London Fire Brigade with all its appliances - but it has seen its share price collapse amid fears it is running out of money.
FBU news release • The Observer • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Britain: Rail risks of more privatisation and cuts
The government commissioned McNulty review of rail value for money has not grasped the damaging effects on costs and safety of either privatisation or of cutting jobs, unions have said. TUC deputy general secretary Frances O'Grady added: “Breaking up signal and track maintenance, last seen in the days of Railtrack, raises real safety fears”.
TUC news release • ASLEF news release • RMT news release • DfT news release and McNulty report • Risks 507
Hazards news, 28 May 2011

Japan: Worker dies at crippled nuclear plant
A worker at Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has died, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said, bringing the death toll at the complex to three since the massive earthquake and tsunami in March.
Al Jazeera • Daily Mail • Fairwarning • Asahi Shimbun • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

USA: New chemical safe law good for jobs
More stringent controls on industrial chemicals could support job creation in the US while protecting health and the environment, a new report has concluded. The study, produced by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) and commissioned by the BlueGreen Alliance, shows that innovation in sustainable chemistry can reverse the industry's job shedding trend in a market that increasingly requires cleaner, safer production.
BGA news release and full report, The economic benefits of a green chemical industry in the United States: Renewing manufacturing jobs while protecting health and the environment • In These Times • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Network Rail fined £3m over train crash
Network Rail has been fined £3 million for safety failings over the Potters Bar train crash.
The rail infrastructure company admitted breaching safety regulations over the May 2002 crash which claimed seven lives.
ORR news release • BBC News Online • Construction Enquirer • The Independent • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Privatisation to blame for rail disaster
Shambolic safety management by Network Rail’s privatised predecessor Railtrack was to blame for the Potters Bar disaster, rail unions have said. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “People need to remember that it was the privatised Railtrack and their contractors who were responsible for the Potters Bar disaster and that Network Rail have been left to sweep up the mess that they inherited from that failed company and that includes paying this fine.”
RMT news release • ASLEF news release • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Serial safety offender Celsa fined again
Major steel firm Celsa has extended its unenviable run of prosecutions following serious injuries and criminal safety offences. The latest, after a worker at the Cardiff steel producer had parts of two fingers amputated when his hand was crushed in a rolling mill processing red hot steel, led to a £50,000 fine for the firm.
HSE news release • South Wales Argus • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Contractor fined after brain damage fall
An “incompetent” principal contractor has been fined £2,500 after a boatyard employee suffered devastating brain injuries in a fall from a badly constructed gantry. Kevin Cleightonhills was attempting to push a boat on to the purpose-built loading platform when he fell nearly 3.5 metres.
HSE news release • Isle of Wight Gazette • Old Square Chambers report on the January 2011 compensation settlement • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Woodworking firm ignored dust warning]
A Bristol joinery and staircase specialist that ignored an official order to improve control exposures to wood dust has been fined. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector visited the Blackstone Developments (South West) Ltd workshop on 9 February 2011 and found the firm had failed to comply with an official improvement notice issued on 7 October 2010.
HSE news release • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Inspection caught quarry’s crimes
An unannounced Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspection at a Lincolnshire quarry found dangerous equipment with its safety guards removed and in a condition where a worker “could easily have been killed”. The inspection led to the prosecution of Andrew Freeman, who trades under the name Freemac Aggregates at the quarry in Baston.
HSE news release and quarries webpages • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Aerospace worker suffers severe hand injuries
An aerospace firm has been fined after a worker suffered severe hand and wrist injuries. Kishor Patel, 53, had to have three fingers and his thumb amputated after his left hand was crushed in a cooling press at Meggitt Aerospace's site in Shepshed, Leicestershire on 10 May 2010.
HSE news release • Leicester Mercury • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Firm fined after engineer loses thumb
A Stourbridge engineering firm has been fined after an employee lost his thumb when it was crushed during a lifting operation. Terence Grove, a 55-year-old mechanical engineer at MI Engineering Company Ltd, was using a rope sling attached to a crane to lift a half-ton angle plate when the sling snapped.
HSE news release • Stourbridge News • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Firm fined £100,000 after death plunge
A steeplejack firm has been fined £100,000 after one worker plunged to his death and another was injured in separate falls within 18 months. Brian Collins was working for Nottingham-based Central (High Rise) on a contract to paint chimneys at Sutton Bridge Power Station in March 2008 when he fell to his death.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • HSE shattered lives campaign • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Firm fined after man crushed by granite slabs
A London granite business and one of its directors have been fined after a man was trapped under a two-and-a-half tonne pack of stone slabs while unloading a truck. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted M&R Granite & Marble Ltd and Monzer Mahmoud Alrayes, a director of the company, over the incident on 21 October 2010.
HSE news release • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Man loses arm in shop door
Ascot Doors employee Paul McNulty, 34, had been called to repair a mezzanine conveyor belt at a Currys store in Ashton under Lyne, used to carry stock from one floor to another. But while carrying out the repairs, his sleeve became trapped in the belt and his arm was dragged through a set of rollers, requiring an emergency amputation.
Manchester Evening News • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Chile: Unions press for mine safety action
The Chilean government must show a specific commitment to improve the country’s poor mine safety regulation, the global mining union federation ICEM has said. The union body said moves to reform Chile’s “antiquated” workplace health and safety culture, but said the Chilean government must also take explicit measures on mine safety, including ratifying ILO’s Convention 176 on safety and health in mines.
ICEM news release • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Britain: Union concern as HSE cuts phone lines
Construction union UCATT has warned workers will be put at risk as a result of cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) information service. The watchdog’s Infoline, which last year dealt with over 200,000 inquiries, will close in October and will not be replaced.
UCATT news release • Risks 506
Hazards magazine 21 May 2011

Britain: Top docs back union dust plan
The Institute of Occupational Medicine has backed a union push for a dramatic reduction in the amount of dust allowed in workplace air. Unions have for over two years been pressing an intransigent Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to reduce the occupational exposure limit for general workplace dust to a quarter the current level and to run a campaign to raise awareness of dust dangers.
The IOM’s position on occupational exposure limits for dust, May 2011 [pdf] • Delivering for health: HSE action on occupational respiratory disease [pdf], paper to the HSE board meeting, December 2010 [minutes, pdf] • Risks 506
Hazards magazine, 21 May 2011

Australia: Rio Tinto faces mine safety protest
Rio Tinto shareholders have been forced to face up to another aspect of the company’s performance at the mining giant’s AGM – the deteriorating safety performance of its coal mines in Australia. The Construction, Forestry, Mining, and Energy Union (CFMEU) delivered its safety rebuke at Rio Tinto’s Perth meeting.
CFMEU news release • ICEM news report • Risks 505
Hazards news, 14 May 2011

China: Campaign exposes hi-tech’s abuses
Labour abuses, suicide deaths and poisonings are continuing in China’s hi-tech factories, campaigners have warned. Hong-Kong based Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM), in a report released this week, says a series of safety scandals, including reports of suicides of young workers employed by the multinational tech giant Foxconn, have not been followed by substantive improvements.
SACOM news release and full report [pdf] • Time to Bite Into a Fair Apple campaign • MakeITfair news release • In These Times • Risks 505
Hazards news, 14 May 2011

Mexico: Coal mine explosion kills 14
Fourteen miners have been confirmed dead after their bodies were retrieved from a coal mine in Sabinas, Mexico five days after a 3 May explosion. The methane gas blast at the mine, which employed 25 non-union miners, also resulted in the hospitalisation of a 15-year-old boy, who lost both arms.
IMF news report • ICEM news report • Risks 505
Hazards news, 14 May 2011

USA: Oil industry shareholders face safety truths
A US union has put its oil industry safety concerns right under the noses of shareholders at major firms. Shareholder resolutions have been filed on USW’s behalf at Marathon Oil, Valero, Tesoro and ConocoPhillips, calling on the companies to improve disclosures on safety at oil refineries. 
USW news release • ICEM news report • Risks 505
Hazards news, 14 May 2011

Britain: Suspended sentence for director after death
Managing director Richard James of Southern Property Maintenance has been fined £120,000 and given a suspended sentence after the death of a young worker. Shane Offer, 21, fell through a skylight at Rosebys in Bognor Regis in June 2009, later dying in hospital of his injuries.
Sussex Police news release • Bearsden Herald • Risks 505
Hazards news, 14 May 2011

Britain: Cotswold Geotech loses death appeal
Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings has lost an appeal against its conviction for corporate manslaughter. Geologist Alexander Wright, 27, died in September 2008 when a pit he was working in collapsed. 
BBC News Online • Construction Enquirer • Risks 505
Hazards news, 14 May 2011

Britain: Six figure fine after employee is paralysed
Skanska Rashleigh Weatherfoil Ltd has been fined £120,000 after a worker was left paralysed when he was knocked from a scissor lift. Former cable puller Richard Bradley, 28, severed his spinal cord, broke all of his ribs and punctured both of his lungs after plunging from an eight metre platform as he worked on a site in Crawley, West Sussex, in January 2007.
HSE news release • Uxbridge Gazette • Peterlee Mail • Risks 505
Hazards news, 14 May 2011

Britain: Firm fined after flange flattens machinist
A machine operative suffered multiple injuries after two quarter tonne steel flange rings fell on him. The 39-year-old from Hitchin, who has not been named, was working at the premises of pipe coupling manufacturer Viking Johnson when the incident happened on 7 May 2009.
HSE news release • The Comet • Risks 505
Hazards news, 14 May 2011

Recycling firm convicted after worker's jaw smashed
A skip lorry driver at one of the UK's leading metal recyclers had his jaw shattered by the locking mechanism on a skip. Dean Bridges had his jaw broken in several places and lost three teeth while attempting to open the rear door of the RO-RO (Roll-on Roll-off) container he was driving at Ampthill Metal Company Ltd’s site in Ampthill, Bedfordshire.
HSE news release • Bedford Today • Materials Recycling Week • Risks 505
Hazards news, 14 May 2011

Britain: Met police chief backs safety laws
Britain’s top police officer has said police must be protected by safety law, after an inquest into the 2005 London bombings concluded delays caused by safety considerations did not contribute to any deaths.  The views of Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson are revealed in a transcript of comments made to a Telegraph journalist, who had misrepresented the police chief’s comments in an article headed “let us risk out lives”.
The Telegraph on the Paul Stephenson interview • The Sun • BBC News Online • Striking the balance between operational and health and safety duties in the Police Service [pdf] • Related HSE news release, 9 October 2009 • Risks 505
Hazards news, 14 May 2011

USA: Don’t blame the workers
“The Clearwater Paper Corp in Lewistown, Idaho, chose the king cobra to symbolise its workplace safety programme,” writes Leo Gerard, leader of the United Steelworkers union (USW). “A cobra. One of the deadliest snakes on the planet.”
AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 504
Hazards news, 7 May 2011

USA: Anti-union Roquette targets victims
Conrad Fedler is suffering from inoperable, terminal lung cancer. He worked at the Roquette USA plant in Keokuk, Iowa from 1996 until June 2010, when his illness forced him onto disability. On 28 September 2010 - the day the company locked out hundreds of BCTGM union members for insisting on their right to negotiate a collective agreement - Roquette raised his health insurance premiums by over $1,000 a month - from $380 (£228) to $1,467 (£880) per month.
IUF action alert • The Hawkeye • Risks 504
You can support the Roquette workers by calling for an end to the lockout and the start of genuine negotiations - send a message to the company
Hazards news, 7 May 2011

Australia: Unions question business motives
The business lobby in Australia wants to see safety rules relaxed because it doesn’t believe safety is a top priority, unions have charged. Ged Kearney, president of the national union federation ACTU, said unions would resist moves by “self-interested business groups” to water down proposed national health and safety regulations.
ACTU news release • Risks 504
Hazards news, 7 May 2011

Britain: German death firm faces UK charge
Metals multinational ThyssenKrupp, whose top bosses in Italy have just been handed jail terms for murder and manslaughter at a steelworks in the country, are to face Crown Court charges after a death in a UK workplace. On 27 April, the firm was again before the courts, this time in the UK.
Northern Echo September 2010 report on the inquest • Risks 504
Hazards news, 7 May 2011

Britain: Worker dies but bosses alone escape the law
A company and a mechanic at a plant hire company have been fined after a forklift truck driver was killed – but those running the firm faced neither a prosecution nor a fine. Morgans Plant Hire Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation into the death of employee Keith Nappin, who died at its site in Thame Road, Buckinghamshire, on 10 April 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 504
Hazards news, 7 May 2011

Britain: Scaffold boss fined £3,000 after death
The boss of a defunct scaffolding firm where a scaffolder fell to his death has been fined £3,000 for criminal safety offences, including making up a job spec after the tragedy. Shaun Stevens, 41, fell 13ft (4m) to his death when dismantling a racking area at Kingswood-based Flook Scaffolding, Bristol Crown Court was told.
HSE news release • Bristol Evening Post • The Breeze • Risks 504
Hazards news, 7 May 2011

Britain: Rubber firm fined after fatal head injury
Car mat manufacturer Cannon Automotive has been fined £20,000 after a worker was killed while repairing a rubber-mixing machine. Balbir Rayatt, 55, was hit on the head by the steel beam while repairing the machine at in Tottenham, London.
HSE news release • Tottenham Journal • Risks 504
Hazards news, 7 May 2011

Britain: Land Rover fined for vibration crimes
Vehicle manufacturer Land Rover has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failing to take into account the risks facing workers using vibrating hand tools. Ten workers at its Solihull plant are believed to have developed a vibration related occupational disease as a result.
HSE news release • Risks 504
Hazards news, 7 May 2011

Britain: Official review aims to help business
A health and safety review to be completed by the autumn will look at “easing unnecessary burdens on business.” The government says the review, to be led by industry-favourite Professor Ragnar Löfstedt of the King’s Centre for Risk Management at King’s College, London, “is part of package of changes to Britain’s health and safety system to support the government’s growth agenda and cut red tape.”
DWP news release and review terms of reference [pdf] • Risks 504
Hazards news, 7 May 2011

Global: ThyssenKrupp execs jailed for deaths
An Italian court has sentenced ThyssenKrupp's top boss in the country, Harald Espenhahn, to 16.5 years in prison for the murder of seven workers who died in a fire at the multinational's steel factory in Turin on 6 December 2007. The incident prompted a strike and demonstrations on the city’s streets, and a nationwide campaign for workplace safety improvements.
IMF news report • Deutsche Welle • Risks 503
Hazards news, 30 April 2011

USA: Transocean 'contributed' to Gulf disaster
A lax safety culture and poorly working kit aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil rig contributed to last year's explosion, the US Coast Guard has concluded. In a report on the incident, which killed 11 rig workers and caused a massive spill, the agency criticised the practices and training of rig owner Transocean, noting: “Deepwater Horizon and its owner, Transocean, had serious safety management system failures and a poor safety culture.”
US Coast Guard report • BBC News Online • Risks 503
Hazards news, 30 April 2011

USA: Safety laws are good for jobs and workers
Regulations designed to protect workers, consumers and the environment do not have a negative impact on the job market and, in some cases, actually spur job creation, according to new research. The paper from the US Economic Policy Institute (EPI) shows that recent criticism surrounding regulations' impact on jobs is misguided and not reflective of economic data.
Regulation, employment, and the economy: Fears of job loss are overblown, EPI, April 2011 • OMB Watch • Risks 503
Hazards news, 30 April 2011

Britain: Official safety review biased to business
A health and safety review to be completed by the autumn will look at “easing unnecessary burdens on business.” The terms of reference of the government commission review, to be led by industry-favourite Professor Ragnar Löfstedt of the King’s Centre for Risk Management at King’s College, London and which has two business panellists compared to just one union, were published on 20 April. 
DWP news release and review terms of reference [pdf]
Hazards news, 30 April 2011

Britain: Proposals could hurt accident reporting
Government proposals to reduce injury reporting requirements on firms could make workplaces less safe and could increase the burdens on business, a safety body has warned. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), in its response to a consultation on the future of the RIDDOR accident reporting regulations, is calling for a different, more radical approach to encourage improved reporting.
RoSPA news release • Risks 503
Hazards news, 30 April 2011

Britain: Firm fined after fitter is crushed to death
A Staffordshire engineering firm has been fined £40,000 after it “took safety risks for granted” and a fitter was crushed to death. Father-of-two Mark Palmer, 46, was crushed by the digger he was working on at a farm near Penkridge on 7 March 2008.
HSE news release • Express and Star • Construction Enquirer • Risks 503
Hazards news, 30 April 2011

Britain: Horrific burns after firm’s safety bypass
A Tamworth firm has been fined £20,000 after a worker suffered horrific burns from a flash fire after opening an oven door with a bypassed safety system. The 24-year-old, who has asked not to be identified, was working Enviro-Strip (UK) Ltd, a firm that strips paint and coatings from metal parts for the automotive industry.
HSE news release • Birmingham Mail • Risks 503
Hazards news, 30 April 2011

Britain: Petfood giant fined £50,000 after mass scalding
Petcare giant Nestle Purina has been fined after five workers suffered severe burns when a steam pressure system malfunctioned. The five men were all working on the maintenance of a hydrostat, a high-pressure food-processing machine, when they were hit by an uncontrolled release of steam and boiling water at Nestle Purina's plant in Wisbech.
HSE news release • Risks 503
Hazards news, 30 April 2011

Britain: Cuts and bonuses could cost lives
Government safety cutbacks and a bonus culture in business will lead to more deaths at work, a top union official in Scotland has warned. Grahame Smith, general secretary of Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC), said: “We fear that additional lives will be lost through the combination of coalition government attacks on health and safety enforcement, and the drive towards deregulation, and the growing bonus culture.”
STUC news release • Also see STUC Workers’ Memorial Day news release • Risks 503
Hazards news, 30 April 2011

Japan: Temp workers suffer nuclear fall out
Unions have long contended that precarious workers have higher rates of injuries and illness on the job. Now global union federation IUF is warning precarious work is also the hidden underside of the Japanese nuclear power industry, where contract workers have an average level of radiation exposure 16 times that of the small layer of permanent workers.
IUF news report • New York Times • Asahi Shimbun • BBC News Online • IMF precarious work webpages • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

China: Work disease risk for 200 million
An estimated 200 million workers in China are under threat from occupational diseases, a senior trade union official has warned. Tang Chun, an occupational disease expert with the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, said the country had some 16 million business where workers were exposed to hazardous environments.
China Daily • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: Family speaks out after work death
The family of Unite member Allan Sanderson, who died after being crushed under workplace machinery, has welcomed crown court sentences for the firms responsible but has said the punishment can never make up for the loss of life.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: HSE chair needs a ‘reality check’, warns union
Construction union UCATT has said the chair of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) ‘needs to take a reality check’ after she revealed the watchdog intention to stray from its exclusive focus on health and safety. George Guy, acting general secretary of UCATT, said: “It is not the HSE’s role to be promoting economic growth, the government has an entire department to undertake that task.”
UCATT news release • Construction Enquirer • BBC News Online • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: When the inspector never calls
A government minister has struggled to defend a new official safety strategy which will see most firms entirely off the Health and Safety Executive’s radar. The issue came to light in a 4 April House of Lords debate, where former Labour safety minister Lord McKenzie raised concern at “this blanket approach to designating great swathes of business as low hazard - effectively no-go areas until something goes wrong.”
House of Lords safety debate, 4 April 2011, Hansard • BIS news release and list of health and safety regulations included in the Red Tape Challenge • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: HSE partnerships undermined by cuts
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) plan to replace inspections with ‘partnerships’ and other informal alternatives to enforcement has been thrown into doubt as the impact of swingeing cuts to its budget become apparent. Environmental Health News, published by the Chartered Institution of Environmental Health, reports that seven out of eight partnership managers have already left HSE.
Environmental Health News • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: Family’s low fines fury after crane death
The daughter of a man who was killed when a crane overturned in Liverpool has said the family has received “no justice whatsoever” after the firm responsible received a £4,500 fine. Mark Thornton, 46, was killed instantly in a “wholly avoidable” incident after being struck by a six-ton metal beam which fell after the crane tipped over at Wavertree Technology Park in 2007.
Liverpool Daily Post • BBC News Online • Construction Enquirer • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: Asbestos workers poisoned in carbon monoxide
Three asbestos workers were almost overcome by fumes when a decontamination unit began to fill with deadly carbon monoxide. The contractor and owner of the DCU, Newlincs Services Ltd, pleaded guilty to a criminal breach of safety law and was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £3,580 in costs.
HSE news release • Gas Safe Register list of registered gas engineers • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: Builder jailed for putting profit before safety
A Bradford builder has been jailed for trying to cut costs by doing his own gas and electric installation in a granny flat. Bradford Magistrates sentenced John Howe to four months after he pleaded guilty to five breaches of health and safety legislation and Gas Safety Regulations
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: Six figure fines after labourer's fatal fall
Robertson Construction Central Ltd and Stirling Stone Ltd have been fined a total of £400,000 for breaches of health and safety legislation that resulted in the death of a stonemason's labourer at a Glasgow construction site. James Kelly, a labourer employed by specialist subcontractor Stirling Stone, tell to his death from an unsafe loading platform.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • SHP Online • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: Fabrication firm severed casual worker's hand
A West Yorkshire metal fabrication firm has been fined after a 22-year-old casual worker's hand was severed by a machine. Jamie Raynor's left hand was amputated when the top pressing tool of a hydraulic press brake he was operating at RDB Fabrication and Engineering Ltd came down on his wrist.
HSE news release • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Britain: Injury victims face ‘ever tightening screw’
Injured people face an “ever tightening screw”, the head of a top legal body has warned. David Bott, the new president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), told the organisation’s annual conference this week that it is “plain wrong” for injury victims to take a cut of up to 25 per cent of their compensation to meet some legal costs.
APIL news release [pdf] • Risks 502
Hazards news, 16 April 2011

Africa: ‘Abusive’ Chinese firms face criticism
The ‘abusive’ behaviour of Chinese firms operating in Africa has stirred new controversy in Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Reuters Africa • Google News • NewsDay • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Australia: Work bullies could face 10 years in jail
New penalties for workplace bullying to be introduced by an Australian state government have been welcomed by unions – but they are warning employers must be accountable for providing safe workplaces in which bullying does not occur in the first place. Ged Kearney, president of the national union federation ACTU, said employers, governments and workers had a shared responsibility to make workplaces safe, secure and free of harassment.
ACTu news release • Herald Sun • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Korea: Stroke death linked to job fear stress
The family of a worker who died of a stroke can receive industrial disaster compensation since his death was caused by stress arising from a warning of dismissal, a court has ruled. The man, who had worked at the fish processing company since 1998, collapsed at work and died from a cerebral haemorrhage in 2008.
Korea International Labour Foundation news report • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

USA: Deadly mines show need for tougher laws
A year after the deadly blast at a West Virginia coal mine that killed 29 miners, the USA’s top mine safety official called for tougher laws and bigger penalties for safety violators. Republicans voted down a previous effort to introduce improved mine safety laws sought in the wake of the Massey Energy disaster.
AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Britain: Scotland’s work safety needs urgent probe
Scotland's record on workplace injuries is due for a “thorough investigation,” MPs have said. The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee this week launched an inquiry into the country’s poor health and safety record, amidst concerns about the impact of  government cuts on safety.
Scottish Affairs Committee news release • The Health and Safety Executive’s work in Scotland, NAO, March 2011 [pdf] • Morning Star • BBC News Online • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Britain: Suspended sentence for asbestos crimes
A property developer has received community service and a suspended prison sentence after ordering the unsafe removal of asbestos from a former nightclub in Wrexham. Michael Murton, 35, admitted removing the asbestos from Scott's nightclub, endangering workers and the public.
HSE news release • Daily Post • BBC News Online • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Britain: Clay company fined after worker flattened
A man employed by a multibillion pound minerals multinational was seriously injured when he was drawn into machinery used to flatten bags. China clay company Imerys Minerals Ltd pleaded guilty to a charge brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after failing to ensure the safety of staff engaged in manually loading bags onto conveyors at the European Milling Centre site at Par Docks.
HSE news release • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Britain: Unsafe Tesco didn’t report injuries
Supermarket firm Tesco has fined £48,000 for safety shortcomings and failing to report injuries to staff. Bracknell Forest Council prosecuted the multi-billion company at Bracknell Magistrates' Court for a string of health and safety offences. 
Bracknell Forest Council news release • Road Transport • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Britain: Car parts maker fined over crane injuries
A Cheshire motor component manufacturer has been fined after a worker was injured when a 31-tonne load was dropped from an overhead crane. Mitras Automotive (UK) Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at its factory in Winsford on 21 May 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Britain: Farmworker was unlawfully killed
An inquest jury has returned a verdict of unlawful killing into the death of a farmworker who was crushed by a tractor with a defective handbrake. Father-of-four Tom Phizacklea, 33, was pinned by the wheel of a tractor and a mound at Aurora Park Farm, Scales, near Ulverston on 2 July 2009.
Westmorland Gazette • North West Evening Mail • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Britain: HSE’s no longer all about safety
The Health and Safety Executive is moving away from a dedicated mission seeking “the prevention of death, injury and ill health to those at work and those affected by work activities” and adopting a new plan that also aims to “enable innovation that brings economic growth”. 
HSE Delivery Plan for the period 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2012 [pdf] • DWP/HSE framework document spelling out the role of HSE [pdf] • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Britain: Construction likes safety regulation
Regulations on the design and management of construction projects are cost-effective and beneficial, research for the Health and Safety Executive has found. Over two-thirds of firms questioned (69 per cent) in the evaluation of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 (CDM 2007) said the benefits of the regulations were “moderate” or “better than moderate”; almost nine out of 10 (86 per cent) rated the costs of the regulations as “low”, “low to moderate” or “moderate”. 
Evaluation of Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007: Pilot study, Research Report, RR845, HSE, 2011 [pdf] • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Britain: Power player heads new nuclear regulator
A former top director in the power industry is to head the new nuclear safety watchdog. Nick Baldwin has been named as chair of the new Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), established as an agency of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE); Baldwin is the former chief executive of Powergen and E.ON – which is now part of Horizon Nuclear Power, one of the major players developing new nuclear power plants in the UK.
HSE news release and ONR webpages • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

Britain: Backlash on oil spill execs safety bonuses
Executives at Transocean, the multinational offshore drilling contractor at the centre of last year’s deadly Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, have said they will give away bonuses they got for the company’s “exemplary” safety record that year. The decision came just days after the company disclosed the bonuses deep in a submission to a regulator, triggering intense criticism.
Washington Post on the backlash and the Transocean director safety bonuses • OSHA news release • CNN • BBC News Online • Risks 501
Hazards news, 9 April 2011

USA: Wal-Mart loses death fine fight
The world’s largest retailer has lost its challenge to a $7,000 fine following the death of shopworker in a customer stampede, after spending $2 million fighting the penalty and sapping thousands of hours of time that safety officials could have spent making workplaces safer. In fighting the fine, the maximum allowed for the violation, Wal-Mart asserted that OSHA was wrongly seeking to define “crowd trampling” as an occupational hazard that retailers must take action to prevent.
OSHRC decision [pdf] • OSHA news release and crowd control factsheet • New York Times • Columbia Journalism Review • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Zambia: Four die in Vedanta copper mine
Four miners died on last week at Zambia's Nchanga open pit mine, owned by London-listed Vedanta Resources. The country's mines minister said production was not impacted because the site was not yet pulling copper out of the ground.
Reuters Africa • Mineweb • Zambia Daily Mail • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Britain: Wrist shattered by fall from roof
A Telford construction firm has been prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a man shattered his wrist when he fell from a youth centre roof in Solihull. Dodd Group (Midlands) Ltd's employee Matthew Dutton fell more than four metres from the unprotected edge of a flat roof.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Global: BP executives may face jail for manslaughter
Managers of UK oil multinational BP could face manslaughter charges when prosecutors in the United States finally conclude their criminal investigation into the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 rig workers and triggered the worst oil spill in US history. The possibility that these and other charges may now be on the table at the US Justice Department put new pressure on the shares of the energy giant.
Bloomberg News • The Independent • Daily Mail • Financial Times • The Guardian • IFA Online • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Britain: Sick must get up and train, says Grayling
Workers who were on incapacity benefits prior to controversial new health assessments are being told they must attend training course or lose their payments, the government has said. The new rules, which also apply to job seekers, were announced by employment minister Chris Grayling.
DWP news release and skills conditionality consultation • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Britain: An eye for a £14,000 fine
A Cambridge construction company has been fined after one of its employees suffered severe head injuries which blinded him in one eye. On 3 March 2010, builder and fitter John Ingram was using a tower scaffold erected on top of a freight container and fell to the ground while trying to climb down, suffering facial fractures, cuts and bruising and leaving him in a coma for several days.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Britain: Worker's hand severed in defective machine
A plastics factory has been fined for safety failings after a worker's left hand was severed in a defective mixing machine. Matrix Polymers was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident where Gary McKeown, 42, who had been emptying plastic granules from a hatch at the bottom of a blender, caught his hand in rotating parts and it was sheared off.
HSE news release • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Britain: Aerospace firms sentenced over worker's death
Aerospace firms Brookhouse Composites Ltd and Brookhouse Tooling Ltd have been fined a total of £75,000 after a worker was crushed to death at a Lancashire factory. Allan Sanderson and Gerald Powderley were helping to push a trolley carrying more than two tonnes of steel when it collapsed on them; both workers were seriously injured and Mr Sanderson, a father of two and grandfather of one, later died in hospital.
HSE news release • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Britain: Government to rob injury victims of justice
Government changes to the compensation system will deny thousands of sick and injured workers access to justice, unions and legal experts have warned. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “This is yet another attempt to reduce the rights of those at work to secure justice when employers break the law.”
Conservative Party news release • TUC news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • BBC News Online • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Britain: RMT warns of Tube cuts carnage
London’s underground system could turn into RMT general secretary Bob Crow countered: “We can expect a threat to hundreds more jobs while maintenance takes another hit, turning the underground into a death trap and a criminals’ paradise.”
RMT news release • TfL news release • BBC News Online • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Britain: Government safety ‘fiction’ condemned
Criticism of the government assault on safety regulation and enforcement has continued. Dave Bennett, health and safety adviser with train drivers’ union ASLEF has prepared a blow-by-blow criticism of the minister’s approach, noting “without regular inspections we will not prevent accidents which can result in injury or death, only fine the guilty parties after the event.”
ASLEF news release • The Guardian • Hazards Campaign We didn't vote to die campaign and facebook group • Risks 500
Hazards news, 2 April 2010

Pakistan: Mine gas explosion 'kills 52'
A coal mine declared unsafe two weeks ago by authorities in Pakistan exploded on 20 March with the loss of dozens of lives. Rescue workers used shovels and bare hands to dig out victims buried by methane explosions in the coal mine in southwestern Pakistan, but officials fear all 52 miners underground at the time of the blast are dead.
CBC News • The Guardian • Fox News • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Report highlights Tube cuts folly
Tube union RMT has demanded an immediate halt to staffing and maintenance cuts after an official investigation found crumbling infrastructure and staffing cuts led to a potentially lethal tube derailment last year.
RMT news release • RAIB news release • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Jarvis charges dropped over train deaths
Unions have reacted with dismay at the decision to drop a health and safety charge against the rail maintenance company Jarvis over the 2002 Potters Bar train crash. Seven people were killed and 76 injured in the Hertfordshire crash when a northbound train derailed at high speed.
ORR news release and Jarvis decision review [pdf] • RMT news release • ASLEF news release • Construction Enquirer • The Guardian • BBC News Online • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Kwik-Fit worker died two years after injury
A widow whose husband died almost two years after receiving a serious head injury at work has received a “substantial” sum in compensation. In medical evidence obtained for a compensation case, it was confirmed the head injury suffered by the 44-year-old was the direct cause of the high blood pressure which subsequently caused the stroke in 2007 from which he died.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Car firm fined £400,000 over forklift death
A car components factory has been fined £400,000 after the death of a worker who was struck by a forklift truck. Darren Small, 35, died in hospital three days after the truck at Calsonic Kansei in Llanelli reversed into him, said the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Mr Small, 35, died on the day he was to take voluntary redundancy. HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Farm fined for fertiliser foot failings
An Aberdeenshire farmworker’s toe was severed when his foot became trapped in a fertiliser spreading machine.
HSE news release • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Recycling boss didn’t have insurance
A company boss has been fined for running a plastics recycling business without having the legally required insurance in place to protect his employees. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Brian Woods, trading as Brian Woods Recycling, following a complaint from an employee at the factory in Lilleshall, Newport.
HSE news release and Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance guide [pdf] • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011    

Britain: Official plan means less justice, more deaths
A new government safety strategy that will mean an unprecedented reduction in the number of workplace safety inspections, no proactive inspections for the majority of firms and new quickie risk assessments for millions of businesses will lead to more deaths and injuries at work, the TUC has said.
TUC news release • DWP news release and Good health and safety, Good for everyone [pdf] • BIS news release on the government’s wider deregulatory package • CBI news release • EEF news release •  The Guardian • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Cost-cutting will cost lives
Cost-cutting not deregulation is behind a package of measures announced by the government and will undermine the work of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the inspectors’ union has warned.
Prospect news release • Sourcewatch • Job killers – a Hazards report spelling out why the government is wrong to say health and safety “stifles” business and “holds back economic growth” • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Killer blow for workplace safety
Unions and campaigners have reacted with horror and anger to the government’s new safety strategy, with Linda Whelan, a founder member of Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) whose son Craig died in a workplace fireball, saying: “None of our family members was killed by red tape or employers fearing enforcement. They were killed because of the exact opposite – too little if any time spent on health and safety, and no fear of being found out.” 
RMT news release • CWU news release • UCATT news release • FACK news release • Hazards Campaign news release and We didn’t vote to die campaign and facebook group • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Britain: Shop death confirms union fears
A union warning about the dangers of government-driven moves to introduce quickie online risk assessments for shops and other ‘low risk’ businesses as part of its new safety strategy has been borne out after another violent retail death. But the government says HSE’s new ‘Health and safety made simple’ package will extend the quickie approach criticised by Usdaw to other ‘small and low risk employers.’
Usdaw news release • HSE shop risk assessment consultation and tool and Health and safety made simple • BBC News Online and earlier report on the Gurmail Singh tragedy • Risks 499
Hazards news, 26 March 2011

Chile: Government told to deliver on safety promises
Unions worldwide are calling on the Chilean government to deliver on mine safety promises made to Chilean miners rescued in the San José mine last October. “Nothing has changed yet, and Chile’s miners are still facing unacceptable risks to their health and safety,” said ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow.
ITUC news release and joint letter to President Piñera [pdf] • IMF and ICEM news reports • IFJ news release
Join the LabourStart campaign with a message to Chile’s minister of mines Laurence Golborne • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Japan: Concern grows for nuclear workers
After a rise in radiation levels at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant forced a suspension of emergency work at the plant, concern is growing about the welfare of these frontline nuclear workers. The government had already revised upwards the permissible allowable radiation exposure level for workers by 2.5 times at the plant, but experts say workers who have not been evacuated face an escalating exposure, and will have to be replaced or face high cumulative exposures.
NHK World • The Mirror • BBC News Online • New York Times • The Pump Handle blog • Beyond Nuclear on the international reaction to the nuclear problems • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: Suspended sentence for asbestos crimes
A site manager has been given a two month suspended sentence and 150 hours of community service for exposing a bricklayer to asbestos. Henry Bohlen, 63, from Barry, south Wales, directed the bricklayer to demolish a wall that contained asbestos, putting him at serious risk.
HSE news release and risk assessment webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: Worker crushed to death by concrete beam
Two companies have been fined a total of £130,000 after father-of-four Gary Drinkald, 43, was killed by a 31-tonne concrete beam on a building site in Thurrock. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the two firms, Micor Ltd and Crane and Transport Services, after the incident on 6 April 2006.
HSE news release • Thurrock Gazette • Essex Enquirer • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: New worker suffers death by electrocution
Roofing company Blackford (Newbury) Ltd has been prosecuted after a new employee was electrocuted while operating a lorry driven crane. Anthony Milani, 26, died when the crane touched overhead power cables at West Horton Farm Industrial Estate, near Eastleigh on 14 August 2007.
HSE news release and haulage webpages • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: Firms guilty over scaffolding death
Stirling Stone Limited and Robertson Construction Central Limited have been convicted of criminal health and safety offences after a construction worker fell to his death at a top private school. James Kelly, 50, was erecting stonework at Glasgow Academy in April 2007 when he fell about 30ft from scaffolding.
COPFS news release • BBC News Online • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: Recycling giant takes worker’s arm
An international waste recycling firm has been fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £22,000 costs after a worker lost his arm in an industrial incident in Basildon. Daniel Ali, 35, was working as a process operator at Coolrec UK Ltd on 4 April 2008 when his arm got caught in a conveyer belt.
HSE news release • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: Company fined after worker is forked
Polypipe Ltd has been fined after a fork lift truck that had been lowering a cage containing two workers to the ground, hit one of the men with its forks and fractured his ribs. As the cage fell, the fork lift driver tried to catch it by piercing the side of the cage with the forks but a fork hit one of the men.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: Chemical spray left sprayer sore
An international utilities company has been fined after an agency worker suffered skin problems caused by prolonged exposure to a hazardous chemical. Laing O'Rourke Utilities Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after Peter Johnson, 48, from Exeter, suffered sore skin around his face after several weeks of exposure to isocyanate between July and August 2007.
HSE news release • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: No job is better for you than a bad job
As the government presses ahead with plans to force the sick back to work and job seekers into ‘Mandatory Work Activity placements’, new research has blown a hole in its “work is good for you” mantra. A study published this week warns while good quality jobs deliver health benefits, bad jobs can leave you in a worse state of health than remaining unemployed.
DWP news release. P Butterworth, LS Leach, L Strazdins, SC Olesen, B Rodgers and DH Broom. The psychosocial quality of work determines whether employment has benefits for mental health: results from a longitudinal national household panel survey, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Online First, 14 March 2011, doi10.1136/oem.2010.059030 [abstract] • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: TUC warns of safety ‘race to the bottom’
Rogue companies will be the major beneficiaries of a dramatic cut in the Health and Safety Executive’s resources, the TUC has warned. In a keynote address to the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) conference, TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said: “Regulation and enforcement mean a level playing field and good employers shouldn’t have to race to the bottom because non-compliant companies are breaking the law.”
SHP Online on contributions by Hugh Robertson, Judith Hackitt and Lawrence Waterman to the IOSH 2011 conference • We didn't vote to die at work campaign and Job Killers briefing on the case against eroding regulation and enforcement • Risks 498
Hazards news, 19 March 2011

Britain: HSE plan to slash workplace inspections
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) plans to reduce unannounced workplace inspections by a third have been condemned by unions and safety advocates. A leaked letter from HSE chief executive Geoffrey Podger, obtained by the union-backed Hazards magazine and the BBC, outlines plans to discontinue inspections in entire sectors of industry, including some where it admits “significant risk” remains.
Is HSE finished?, Hazards magazine special report, March 2011 and We didn’t vote to die at work campaign and facebook group • Danger at work, BBC File on Four, 8 March 2011 • Listen to the programme • BBC News Online • UCATT news release • Morning Star • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Britain: Unscrupulous firms will get away with crimes
Rogue firms will be able to ignore safety rules with impunity if the official safety watchdog slashes the number of inspections, the TUC has warned. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “The possibility of an unexpected visit from either an HSE or a local authority safety inspector helps keep employers on their toes; even now, workplaces can go decades without ever seeing an inspector.”
TUC news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Britain: HSE unions condemn safety cutbacks
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) plans to reduce dramatically the number of workplace safety inspections have been condemned by its own workforce. HSE unions Prospect and PCS say reduced oversight will lead to an increase in injuries and occupational disease.
PCS news release • Prospect news release • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Britain: Tube halves safety-critical inspections
London Underground union RMT warned of more tube chaos for passengers as it emerged that as part of the Tube cuts programme the frequency of some safety-critical inspections is being slashed from twice to just once a week. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “This move, ludicrously dressed up as having safety benefits, will trap the fleet in the sidings and depots leaving passengers waiting for trains that never come because an accountant decided that halving safety inspections to cut costs was a good idea.”
RMT news release • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Britain: Inspection blitz finds widespread offending
More than one in every seven businesses visited in a safety inspection blitz in County Durham was committing criminal safety offences. Almost 150 businesses were visited by inspectors from HSE and Durham County Council during an intensive week of inspections in February, with enforcement action required on 23 occasions.
HSE news release • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Asbestos blunders led to £500,000 bill
A clean-up operation after a roofing company spread asbestos fibres around a Leicestershire town cost £500,000, a court has heard. Hampshire-based Concept Roofing and Cladding Services Ltd, who used pressurised water washers to clean roof panels on industrial units in Market Harborough, was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay costs of £22,375.
HSE news release • Leicester Mercury • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Britain: Plumber severely burned by acid rain
A property maintenance firm has been fined after one of its employees suffered acid burns to his face, neck and arm. Neil Kelly, from Bury, was using a high concentration of sulphuric acid to unblock a sink at a domestic property when the corrosive liquid erupted into the air.
HSE news release and chemicals webpage • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Britain: Chemicals harmed agency farm workers
A company has been fined after three workers were taken to hospital following a chemical incident at a Spalding vegetable grower and supplier. Spalding Magistrates' Court heard a Latvian agency worker at Emmett UK Ltd was cleaning food processing machinery when he accidentally mixed two cleaning chemicals which reacted together to produce a toxic gas.
HSE news release • Spalding Today • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Britain: Steel giant fined after worker crushed
Multinational metal giant Tata Steel Ltd has been fined £20,000 after a worker sustained serious crush injuries while fixing a packing machine at Corby Steel Works, Northamptonshire. An HSE investigation found the company did not have effective guarding around the machines and despite having a written procedure to ensure machines remained isolated until maintenance work was complete, this was not implemented.
HSE news release • More on the Corus safety record • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Canada: Union private death case goes ahead
The private prosecution brought by a Canadian union after the authorities failed to act on the death of a sawmill worker has been given the go-ahead by the courts. The United Steelworkers union (USW) in British Columbia initiated the case against Weyerhaeuser Inc over the 2004 death of sawmill worker Lyle Hewer.
Vancouver Sun • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Chile: Unions demand mine safety action
On 18 October 2010 – 4 days after the last of 33 Chilean miners emerged from over two months underground at the San Jose copper mine (Risks 479) – President Sebastián Piñera pledged in an interview to overhaul within 90 days the country’s mine safety structures and ratify the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 176 on mine safety. But ICEM and IMF, the global union federations representing mining unions, say nearly five months later, none of this has happened.
ICEM alert • Joint ICEM/IMF Letter • IUF news report • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

China: Workers maimed at Ford supplier
Workers told on recruitment they must “endure hardship” are suffering safety and other abuses at a Chinese factory supplying US car manufacturing multinational Ford. ‘Dirty parts - Where lost fingers come cheap’, a report released last week by the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights (GLHR), documents violations including workers maimed when factory management at the Yuwei Plastics and Hardware Products company in Dongguan, China, turned off critical safety equipment.
GLHR news release • Dirty parts - Where lost fingers come cheap:  Ford in China [pdf] • Sign the GLHR safety petition to Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

Korea: Samsung blocks suicide investigation
Multinational microelectronics giant Samsung is blocking an investigation into a workplace suicide, campaigners have charged. Last week, the mother, older sister, and aunt of Kim Ju-hyeon positioned themselves in front of the head office of Samsung Electronics in Seoul, holding a funeral portrait and wailing.
Stop Samsung campaign • The Hankyoreh • Risks 497
Hazards news, 12 March 2011

USA: Refineries exploit dangerous law flaws
Giant refineries in the US are more dangerous than the public realises, with the worst offenders routinely delaying both action to remedy serious violations and penalties for documented safety crimes. An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity concludes the easily manipulated regulatory system allows companies to challenge citations for years and postpone mandated fixes.
Center for Public Integrity investigation • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Britain: Firm fined £5,000 for fatal trench collapse
Buckinghamshire construction company Russell Smith Limited has been fined £5,000 plus £5,000 costs after a worker died when a trench collapsed on him. Josh Bladon, 22, was killed while working on an extension at a house in Aylesbury on 16 April 2008.
HSE news release • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Britain: Tyneside firm sentenced after scaffold fall
A Tyneside construction company has been fined £1,500 and £1,500 costs after a worker suffered serious injuries in a fall from unsafe scaffolding. Ian Allan Building Contractors Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at the site in Murton, County Durham on 1 May 2009.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Britain: Steeplejack seriously injured in fall
A Stoke-on-Trent building maintenance firm was fined £3,334 and ordered to pay £4,000 costs after a steeplejack suffered serious injuries as a result of an eight metre fall from a church roof. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Alliance Technical Services Ltd after the 40-year-old employee, who did not wish to be named, fell from the roof of Holy Trinity Church, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, on 21 October 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Britain: Toilet roll firm fined for roller crush injury
A Neath toilet roll manufacturer has been fined after a worker suffered a serious injury on an unguarded machine. Phillip Evans, 43, was employed by Intertissue Ltd as a core operator, when his hand was caught between the upper and lower rollers of an unguarded machine.
HSE news release and risk assessment webpages • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Britain: Man injured by unguarded drill
Engineering firm Jex Engineering Company Ltd has been fined £4,000 after a worker was badly injured when his hand became entangled in an unguarded drill. Michael O'Brien suffered permanent loss of movement to three fingers in his left hand following the incident at a construction site in Leyland on 1 December 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Canada: Second work death conviction
For just the second time in Canada, an employer has been convicted of criminal negligence stemming from a workplace incident leading to the death of a worker. Pasquale Scrocca, owner of a Quebec landscape company, will serve a conditional sentence of imprisonment of two years less a day; the sentence will be served in the community with conditions, including a curfew.
Straight Goods • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

China:  Poisoned workers turn to Apple for help
Chinese workers who suffered debilitating solvent-related neurological problems while making touchscreens for mobile devices, including iPhones, have written to Apple asking it to do more to help them. Some 137 workers suffered adverse health effects following exposure to the solvent n-hexane, used to clean touch screens.
China Daily • Huffington Post • Wall Street Journal • BBC News Online • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Britain: Councils cut health and safety enforcement
Local authority environmental health departments, which enforce safety in workplaces including offices, shops and warehouses, are suffering as a result of budget cuts, a survey has found. The erosion of safety enforcement is to be a 28 April Workers’ Memorial Day 2011 campaign target of the union Usdaw, whose members work predominantly in sectors covered by local authority enforcement.
Usdaw news report • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Britain: Campaigners warn ‘cuts will kill’
Unions and campaigners have warned a government attack on workplace safety will kill.  At a 2 March Trade Union Co-ordinating Group meeting in the House of Commons, health and safety advocates drove home the dangers of cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and moves to downgrade workplace safety protection.
FACK news release • Job Killer and We didn’t vote to die at work posters • We didn't vote to die at work campaign • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Britain: Site safety abuses could be missed
Construction union UCATT has warned government cuts in safety oversight in the sector “will prove lethal.” The union warning came after a Health and Safety Executive enforcement blitz in Merseyside found almost one in four sites were breaking safety laws.
UCATT news release • HSE news release and asbestos, falls and construction management webpages • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Britain: Prison officers could ‘withdraw to safety’
Prison officers at risk from serious assaults, riots and disturbances may “withdraw” to a place of safety if they believe they face a “serious and imminent danger”, the union POA has decided. It is illegal for prison officers to strike, but POA says acting to protect your own health and safety is a basic legal right of all workers.
POA circular and news release • Risks 496
Hazards news, 5 March 2011

Britain: RMT warning on rail privatisation push
Pressure is building on the government for a danger-fraught privatisation of rail infrastructure, rail union RMT has said. It is warning the business-driven move “would drag the industry back to the days of Hatfield and Potters Bar.”
RMT news release • Network Rail news release • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Business lobbyist to head sickness review
The government has appointed a business lobbyist who is a vocal opponent of health and safety regulation and enforcement to head a review of workplace sickness absence. Ministers says the independent review, jointly chaired by David Frost, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) and Dame Carol Black, National Director for Health and Work, “will explore radical new ways on how the current system can be changed to help more people stay in work and reduce costs.”
DWP news releases on the Welfare Reform Bill and the sickness absence review • Welfare Reform Bill [pdf] • Conservatives blog • CBI news release • Personnel Today • Morning Star • The Independent • BBC News Online • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Unions criticise attack on the sick
The government’s sickness absence review is not about improving the lot of workers, but about cutting the benefits bill, unions have warned. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “The fact that the review is being conducted by a leading voice of employers' interests, with no corresponding involvement from unions representing workers affected by sickness absence, gives us little confidence in the outcome.”
TUC news release • PCS news release • Morning Star • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: The real jobs killers exposed
Claims by the business lobby that pesky safety regulations and meddling inspectors are bringing the economy to its knees and are stifling job creation have been demolished in a new online publication. ‘The real job killers’, published by the workers’ health and safety magazine Hazards, lays out evidence showing regulations don’t kill jobs, but their absence can make it easier for ‘Neanderthal bosses’ to kill workers.
The real job killers, Hazards online guide, February 2011 • Job Killer poster for Workers’ Memorial Day, 28 April 2011 • We didn’t vote to die at work • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: RMT slams ‘bad bosses charter’
Transport union RMT has condemned a government ‘employer’s charter’ it says will allow employers “to harass and bully staff without any comeback.” The union has dubbed the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills document, launched last month by prime minister David Cameron, a ‘Bad Bosses Charter.’
RMT news release • Employer’s Charter [pdf] • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Buncefield production came before safety
Fundamental safety management failings were the root cause of Britain's most costly industrial disaster, a new publication has revealed. The report into the explosion and five-day fire at the Buncefield Oil Storage Depot in December 2005 relates the full story of the lengthy Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Environment Agency (EA) investigation. ‘The Buncefield explosion: Why did it happen?’, which includes material held back by the watchdogs until legal proceedings were completed, identifies a catalogue of criminal safety failings.
HSE news release • The Buncefield explosion: Why did it happen?, COMAH Competent Authority, February 2011 • Buncefield enquiry webpage • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Government lab gets told off over death
Top managers at an offshoot of the Ministry of Defence have received an official ticking off after admitting criminal safety breaches linked to the death of a government scientist. However, because the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is a government agency and not subject to criminal safety proceedings, the penalty for the offences was only a Crown Censure, a system under which the lab’s chief executive had only to acknowledge before the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) it had got it wrong.
HSE news release and enforcement guidelines • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Network Rail admits guilt in Potters Bar tragedy
Network Rail has admitted health and safety failings over the 2002 Potters Bar crash, in which seven people died. The company has said it will plead guilty to charges which were brought over the condition of tracks near the station in Hertfordshire.
BBC News Online • Morning Star • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Safe firm fined after worker is burned
A security safe manufacturer has been fined after an employee was burned while fitting an under-floor safe. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Telford firm SMP Security Ltd following the incident in which Nigel Gibbon, 44, was operating a flocking machine requiring a flammable adhesive to apply a soft lining to the safe on 28 June 2008.
HSE news release • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Suspended jail term for ‘foolish’ safety manager
An “extremely foolish” health and safety manager who suffered serious burns when a can of solvent exploded has been given a suspended prison sentence. Phillip Dutton, whose employer South Essex Stockholders was fined in December for related safety offences, was engulfed in flames after he poured highly flammable cleaning liquid on to burning waste at a site in Shoebury.
Essex Echo • Southend Council news release on the company prosecution • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Teenage trainee injured in meat mincer
A Brighton meat processing company has been fined after a 16-year-old trainee severely injured his arm in a meat mincer. The teen's employer, Malpass Direct Ltd, was prosecuted by The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for not properly supervising him at its Brighton Meat Market premises.
HSE news release • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Site teen suffers horrific burns to legs
O'Keefe Construction Ltd has been fined after a teenager suffered horrific burns to his legs at its depot in Sevenoaks, Kent. The 18-year-old employee, who asked not to be named, was spray painting a lighting tower when thinners some on his trousers and caught fire.
HSE news release and explosive atmospheres webpages • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Firm fined after contractor’s fatal roof fall
A Scottish papermaking firm has been fined £260,000 after a worker was killed when he fell almost 50 feet through a fragile roof. Thomas Sturrock, 32, was working as part of a team for a contractor, cleaning the roof at Tullis Russell Papermaker Ltd's warehouse in Markinch, Fife, on 29 September 2008.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Thailand: Court orders injured worker to be unchained
A court in Thailand has told the authorities to release a seriously injured Burmese migrant worker who had been chained to his hospital bed. The Southern Bangkok Criminal Court last week ordered the Immigration Bureau to release immediately Chalee Diyoo, 33.
The Nation • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

USA: Kids and victims are fair game at work
At times it has appeared the US and the UK have been competing to out-do each other in their efforts to jettison decent safety rules and enforcement at work. But the US has certainly reclaimed the lead with a couple of proposals so regressive they would shame Victorian mill owners.
The Pump Handle blog • AFL-CIO Now blog • Bill to amend the Missouri child labour law • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

USA: New oil spill report is bad news for BP
The Deepwater Horizon rig explosion, which killed 11 workers in April 2010, was the fault of all the key companies involved, a series of reports have concluded. But one other theme has emerged, confirmed in a new report from the chief counsel to the President’s oil spill commission – BP was more culpable than the other parties.
Oil Spill Commission Chief Counsel’s report • Washington Post • New York Times • Fairwarning • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: New inquiry fuels call to halt coastguard cuts
The government should call an immediate halt to plans to close 10 of the UK's 19 coastguard stations and cut almost half their staff, the union PCS has said. The union was speaking out after the Commons transport select committee announced it would conduct a full inquiry into the government’s proposals for “modernising the coastguard”.
PCS news release • Commons Transport Select Committee • BBC News Online • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Conviction exposes corporate manslaughter flaws
A law supposed to bring corporate killers to justice is not working, health and safety advocates have charged. A spokesperson for Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK), commenting after the first conviction under the law, said it was not fit for purpose and big firms particularly remained beyond justice and Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) safety officer Ian Tasker commented: “We have always believed the legislation to be ineffective, particularly in dealing with large corporations.”
STUC news release • Morning Star • Risks 495
Hazards magazine, 26 February 2011

Britain: Number of injured road workers doubles
The number of injuries to road workers on motorways and trunk roads in England more than doubled between 2005 and 2009, a BBC investigation has found. Figures from the Highways Agency showed injuries increased from 50 in 2005 to 110 in 2009, but the number of fatalities fell from five to one.
BBC News Online • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Britain: Power company fined after crushing death
A Cambridgeshire power company has been ordered to pay £150,735 in fines and costs for its role in an incident which left a man dead after he was struck by a straw bale. Gary Darnell was working as a driver at EPR Ely Ltd's site on Elean Power Station in Sutton, Cambridgeshire, on 16 September 2008 when he suffered fatal injuries from a 700kg bale of straw that fell on to him.
HSE news release • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Britain: Food producer fined for serial failings
A Hull-based food manufacturer has been fined £14,000 for repeated safety failings which meant two workers in Barnsley suffered severe injuries in separate incidents just three months apart.
HSE news release and food industry webpages • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Britain: Multinational fined for severed fingers
A global packaging firm has been sentenced after a worker's fingers were severed at a St Helens factory. The 49-year-old man, an employee of Linpac Packaging Ltd from Thornton near Crosby, lost the top of three fingers on his right hand while trying to clear a jam in a machine on 13 March 2010.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Australia: Union says guard it – or ban it
Workplaces are so dangerous in Australia you can expect two amputations to occur every work day, a union conference has heard. “Every year on average about 675 amputations occur due to industrial accidents,” Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) national secretary Paul Howes said.
AWU news release • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Colombia: Mine blasts highlight lack of oversight
A spate of deaths in Colombia’s mines has exposed the country’s threadbare safety system. Both Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos and mines minister Carlos Rodado Noreiga have admitted the country’s Institute of Geology and Mining (Ingeominas) is ill-equipped to oversee safety standards in the nation’s burgeoning mining industry.
ICEM news report  • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Global: Union warning on container danger
Unions worldwide are stepping up their campaign against the dangers posed by shipping containers. Global transport unions’ federation ITF said affiliates are “lobbying politicians, the European Union and other stakeholders on the dangers of badly prepared shipping containers this week, ahead of an International Labour Organisation (ILO) forum on the subject in Switzerland on 21 and 22 February.”
ITF news release and ITF position on container safety • ILO forum • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

USA: BP boss ‘quit over safety fears’
A former BP drilling operations chief resigned just months before last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill amid disagreements over the oil giant's commitment to safety, a US class action lawsuit alleges. Documents lodged in Houston, Texas, claim Kevin Lacy quit as BP’s senior vice-president for drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico in December 2009 – because he believed the company was not adequately committed to improving safety protocols in offshore operations to the level of its industry peers.
Democracy Now • Washington Post • Daily Express • Aberdeen Press and Journal • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

USA: Laws are good for jobs and safety
Workplace health and safety regulations don’t only save lives, they benefit the economy, the USA’s top safety official has said. David Michaels, assistant secretary of labor for the US Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), said in a 15 February statement: “Many OSHA standards cost little and easily can be adopted by employers with nominal effect on the bottom line.”
OSHA news release • The Pump Handle • Center for Progress Reform blog • EHS Today • Dangerous li(v)es – why safety regulations are essential in the UK • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Britain: Fine for first corporate manslaughter conviction
A Gloucestershire firm has been fined £385,000 for the corporate manslaughter of a man killed when a trench collapsed on him. Cotswold Geotechnical Holdings became the first firm convicted under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.
CPS news release • Hazards Campaign news release • BBC News Online • Daily Telegraph article and guide to the corporate manslaughter legislation • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Britain: Union exposes Tube’s 'Russian roulette'
An unattended bag on a London Tube train was not checked for several stops - leading a manager to warn the company was playing “Russian roulette with people's lives.” The union RMT believes low staffing levels were to blame.
BBC News Online • Morning Star • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Britain: Schools to face a dangerous future
A toxic mix of cuts in school building and maintenance, education budgets and official safety oversight is going to have a damaging impact on school safety, teaching union NUT has warned. A briefing from the union says “2010 was not a good year for health and safety in schools”, but says worse is to come.
NUT briefing • We didn't vote to die at work • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Britain: Asbestos law not up to Euro standard
The UK version of a European Union-wide law on asbestos safety is illegally lax and must be amended, the government has been told. The TUC, which had warned against the dilution of essential safety measures, said the European Commission (EC) ruling nails the myth the UK “gold-plates” Euro laws.
European Commission news release • HSE asbestos at work regulations webpages and the EC asbestos directive and infringement procedure • Risks 494
Hazards news, 19 February 2011

Thailand: Injured migrant chained to hospital bed
A Burmese migrant worker who suffered horrifying injuries on a construction site in Thailand has been chained to his hospital bed by the police. Charlie Deeyu, 25, who was working in the country illegally and now faces deportation, is being treated at Police General Hospital in Bangkok.
HRDF news release • BWI Connect • Bangkok Post • Risks 493
Hazards news, 12 February 2011

USA: Would you like diarrhoea with that?
A study of restaurant food handling in the US has uncovered something diners might find hard to swallow - about 12 per cent of the restaurant employees interviewed said they had worked while sick with vomiting and diarrhoea. Restaurants with the heaviest workloads, serving more than 300 meals on their busiest days, were the most likely to have sick employees on duty.
Steven Sumner and others. Factors associated with food workers working while experiencing vomiting or diarrhoea, Journal of Food Protection, volume 74, number 2, pages 215-220, February 2011 [abstract] • Food Safety News • Fairwarning • Risks 493
Hazards news, 12 February 2011

Britain: Safety breaches caused toxic chemical burns
A worker at an Ellesmere Port factory suffered toxic burns to his arms and chest requiring skin grafts as a result of his employer’s failure to abide by workplace and environmental safety laws. Abacus Chemical Ltd was prosecuted and a director cautioned in a joint case brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Environment Agency following the incident.
HSE news release and chemicals webpages • Risks 493
Hazards news, 12 February 2011

Britain: Food firm fined after worker hospitalised
A Lincolnshire food company which packs vegetables for supermarkets has been fined £15,000 after a worker ended up in hospital after being hit by a falling crate. QV Foods Ltd, of Manor Farm, Holbeach Hurn, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at its factory on 22 May 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 493
Hazards news, 12 February 2011

Britain: Glazing firm fined after scaffold fall
A South Yorkshire glazing firm has been fined £2,500 after an employee was hurt when he fell more than ten feet from an unsafe scaffold. Phillip Pears, then 20, broke his wrist in the incident while replacing fascias for Premier Security Glazing Ltd at a house in York in June 2009.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 493
Hazards news, 12 February 2011

Britain: BP put North Sea rig workers at risk
UK-based oil multinational BP is failing to perform enough safety checks on operations in the North Sea, putting the safety of rig workers at risk, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said. The company has until 31 May to remedy the criminal safety breaches identified in an HSE improvement notice.
Bloomberg News • HSE improvement notice • Risks 493
Hazards news, 12 February 2011

Global: Union outrage at seafarer ‘execution’
Seafarers’ union Nautilus has said it is outraged at the execution of a seafarer onboard a merchant ship. The Beluga Nomination was captured by Somali pirates 390 nautical miles north off the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean on 22 January.
Nautilus news release • ITF/shipping industry joint news release • IMO news release. IMB piracy reporting centre • Risks 493
Hazards news, 12 February 2011

USA: New York shuts killer tortilla factory
The Brooklyn tortilla factory where a Guatemalan worker died last week after he fell into an industrial dough mixer has been shut down by authorities. New York State officials said the move was because it has been without workers’ compensation insurance for nearly a year, but say the death “got us there immediately.”
Brandworkers news release • New York Times City Room blog • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

USA: Shouldn’t deadly bosses fear jail time?
Wouldn’t work be a lot safer if dangerous negligent company executives feared jail time? It’s a question asked in the latest edition of US magazine Labor Notes. It says in the US, the Occupational Safety and Health Act provides only for misdemeanour penalties - six months maximum behind bars – “but even such minimal criminal penalties are almost never pursued.”
Labor Notes • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Recycling firm fined after worker dies
A recycling company has been fined £200,000 after a defective machine tipped and the loading bucket hit a man, causing fatal injuries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Ling Metals Ltd for a criminal breach of safety law after Darren Baker, 35, died in hospital two days after the incident from multiple injuries.
HSE news release • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Site boss fined for subbie’s injuries
A partner in a Nottingham construction firm has been fined after a sub-contractor suffered permanent leg injuries when falling under a telehandler. John Handley, a partner in J&C Handley, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at a housing construction site in Carlton on 2 July 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Firms sentenced after steeplejack’s death fall
Two companies have been fined a total of £85,000 after steeplejack John Alty fell 50 metres to his death from an Edwardian chimney in Bolton, and a colleague was left clinging on for his life. Bailey International Steeplejack Company Ltd was fined £75,000 and £80,000 costs and Ken Brogden Ltd was fined £10,000 and £16,000 costs.
HSE news release, falls webpages and video interview with John Alty’s widow, Angela • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Worker seriously burned by 11,000 volts
An electrical engineering company has been fined £5,000 and ordered to pay £8,000 costs after an employee suffered serious burns from equipment carrying 11,000 volts. Powersystems UK Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after Stephen Martin Edwards, 52, a high voltage cable jointer, was injured while working in Stroud on 18 September 2009.
HSE news release • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Firms prosecuted after farm roof fall
A young construction worker suffered life-changing injuries after falling six metres through the roof of a farm building, a court has heard. Richard Cooke, who was 26 at the time of the incident, was dismantling the roof of a cow shed at Manor Farm, Corston near Bath, on 7 July 2008.
HSE news release • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Businessman fined after worker breaks back
A Lancashire businessman has been fined £4,000 after one of his employees broke his back in a fall from a ladder. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Michael Wilson following the incident at Roadferry Transport Yard in Leyland on 3 March 2010.
HSE news release • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Man loses fingers at bagel factory
A man severed two of his fingers while operating unsafe machinery at a London bagel bakery. Raakesh Patel, 26, was attempting to clear a dough blockage at the Ixxy's Bagels factory in November 2007, when a moving blade severed the middle and ring fingers on his right hand down to the knuckle.
HSE news release • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Injury reporting downgrade ‘makes no sense’
A formal consultation looking at reducing injury reporting requirements on firms “makes no sense” and only considers the cost implications for business, not the impact on injured workers and safety, the TUC has charged. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber commented: “When proposals for changing health and safety law are made without any reference to the benefit to either the health or safety of workers, it is clear there is something very wrong with the way that the government sees regulation.”
HSE news release and RIDDOR consultation document • The deadline for comments is 9 May 2011 • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Government enforced asbestos silence will kill
Workers will die as a result of the ban on official campaigns introduced by the government, construction union UCATT has warned. The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) award-winning Hidden Killer campaign, which is among the affected campaigns, was launched in 2008 after figures showed asbestos disease was killing 20 construction tradesmen every week.
UCATT news release • Daily Mirror • Construction Enquirer • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Unite links farm pay claim to 28 April holiday
Farmworkers don’t just deserve better pay, they should be given a day off on 28 April to mark Workers’ Memorial Day, their union has said. In a pay claim submitted on behalf of 154,000 agricultural workers in England and Wales, Unite also calls for a public holiday to commemorate Workers' Memorial Day on 28 April.
Unite news release • TUC Workers’ Memorial Day webpage • Global 28 April resources • Risks 492
Hazards news, 5 February 2011

Britain: Property firm ignored safe work order
A property company in Aberystwyth has been fined for criminal safety breaches after putting its workers at risk and then ignoring an order to improve safety. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had issued a prohibition notice to Merlin Homes (Wales) Ltd on 12 February 2010 to stop work immediately behind a housing development in the town, as there was a risk an earth bank behind the properties could collapse.
HSE news release • Risks 491
Hazards news, 29 January 2011

Britain: Poor management cost worker his leg
A construction manager in charge of a refurbishment job where a worker suffered such severe leg injuries the limb had to be amputated had no health and safety training, a court has heard. Howper 291 Ltd pleaded guilty to a criminal safety breach and was fined £10,000 plus costs of £4,172.
HSE news release and risk assessment webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 491
Hazards news, 29 January 2011

Britain: Four killed at Norfolk factory
Four men have been killed at a Norfolk factory when a steel structure they were working on four metres underground collapsed on top of them. The contract workers had been working at the site of offshore engineering company Claxton Engineering Services Limited in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Norfolk Constabulary news release • Claxton Engineering news release • Morning Star • Construction Enquirer • BBC News Online • Great Yarmouth Mercury • Daily Mirror • Risks 491
Hazards news, 29 January 2011

Britain: Safety reps expose Tube staffing dangers
Tube union RMT has called for an official investigation into safety breaches on London Underground after the union’s safety reps revealed stations along the Central Line have been left unstaffed due to cuts-led staff shortages.
RMT news release • Risks 491
Hazards news, 29 January 2011

Britain: Network Rail suppressed injury figures
Over a third of lost time injuries to workers within Network Rail and its contractor companies over the past five years have not been reported as required by law, an investigation has found. The probe by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), a not-for-profit company owned by major industry stakeholders, came after unions warned that the rail giant had “rigged” its injury figures to meet performance targets.
RSSB RIDDOR review webpage, news release [pdf] and full report [pdf] • Network Rail news release • Construction Enquirer • BBC News Online • The Guardian • Risks 491
Hazards news, 29 January 2011

Britain: Unions hold ‘rotten’ Network Rail to account
A culture of fear in Network Rail that led to routine under-reporting of workplace injuries came to light as a direct result of union scrutiny. Network Rail only agreed to the independent review by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) after unions exposed a management culture in the company that had led to target-chasing managers being unwilling to report injuries, and to workers and contractors fearing reprisals if they made reports.
RMT news release • Unite news release • TSSA news release • Risks 491
Hazards news, 29 January 2011

USA: Farmworkers act on strawberry poison
A coalition of environmental groups is hoping newly inaugurated California governor Jerry Brown will rescind the decision by his predecessor Arnold Schwarzenegger to approve the use of methyl iodide. Erik Nicholson, national vice-president of the UFW, commented: “Farmworkers are on the front lines of methyl iodide use and will suffer the most tragic consequences,” adding: “If this decision is allowed to stand, strawberries may very well become the new poster child for giving farmworkers cancer and late term miscarriages.”
In These Times • Pesticides Action Network North America • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Teen worker loses fingers on first day at work
A Walsall metal company has been prosecuted after a teenage worker lost parts of two fingers on his first day at work. The 19-year-old, who did not wish to be named, had only started work three hours earlier for Goscote-based JKL Industrial Services Ltd, when his hand became trapped in a power press.
HSE news release • Birmingham Mail • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Chicken poo screw fine for egg packer
A Banff-based egg packing business has been fined for exposing its employees to the risk of serious injury. Workers employed by the James Gammie partnership were required to use a poorly guarded screw conveyor to clear away chicken manure from each of the company's three sheds at its premises in Leightonhill Farm, Brechin.
HSE news release • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Litterpicker injured falling into well
A Mansfield District Council worker was lucky to survive when he fell six metres down a dry well, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has said. The council employee, who does not wish to be named, was clearing litter from the White Lion Yard in the town on 28 April 2009 when the incident happened.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Window firm failed welfare test
A London window manufacturer has been prosecuted for ignoring two improvement notices requiring the firm to bring employee welfare facilities up to a clean and hygienic standard. City of London Magistrates' Court heard that on 20 May 2010, at a routine inspection of the TLC Glazing Ltd factory, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the toilets were very dirty, with no supply of hot water, no soap for hand washing and no means of hand drying.
HSE news release • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: TUC slams business lobby’s unhealthy attitude
The TUC has criticised a business group’s drive to block new protections from some of the most serious occupational health risks of modern workplaces. EEF, the lobbying group for manufacturing employers, is urging the government to block possible European Union-wide measures to improve protection from workplace stress and strain injuries.
EEF news release • 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 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Deterrence a victim of enforcement failures
A failure to impose meaningful penalties for criminal safety breaches means the courts and regulators are still failing to create a level playing field for employers that do not break the law, a safety expert has warned. Howard Fidderman, editor of Health and Safety Bulletin, says “appropriate sanctions are not just about justice, deterrence and punishment; they are also about creating a level playing field so that those employers that strive to comply with the law are not disadvantaged while others get away with flagrant breaches.”
The fine gap in deterrence, Howard Fidderman, Health and Safety Bulletin, January 2011 • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Steel union concern over punitive policies
Unions at a global steel producer are warning that a “heavy handed” safety policy, based around behavioural safety approaches and which treats breaches of “golden” safety rules by employees as automatic disciplinary offences, should be ditched. The warning came from the union side of the ArcelorMittal Joint Global Health and Safety Committee.
IMF news report • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Attack exposes folly of unstaffed Tube stations
A serious assault on a member of the public highlights the dangers of operating unstaffed London Underground (LU) stations, rail union RMT has said. The union was commenting after a person was attacked and beaten up by five youths in the early hours of 16 January.
London Evening Standard • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

Britain: Family continues its fight for justice
The family of a young factory worker who died in a workplace explosion wants his employer to admit its role in his death. Unite member Peter Reynolds was just 28 when he died from head injuries after he was blasted out of the Cemex factory in January 2008, falling 10 metres to the ground.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 490
Hazards news, 22 January 2011

USA: Cost-cutting blamed for deadly oil disaster
A major US report into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has called for wide-ranging reforms of the oil industry to prevent a repeat of the disaster. The report from the US presidential oil spill commission said BP, Transocean and Halliburton had cut corners to save time and money - decisions that contributed to the disaster.
Oil spill commission website and final report [pdf] • BBC News Online • The Guardian • Public Citizen campaign to get the US government to act on the commission findings • Risks 489
Hazards news, 15 January 2011

Britain: Fine after thumb and finger are sawn off
A Suffolk building contractor has been fined after a worker's finger and thumb were amputated by a moulding machine. Bench joiner David Head, 24, was shaping a piece of timber at the GJ Bream & Son Ltd joinery workshop in Chevington, Suffolk on 10 June 2010 when it caught in the cutter and dragged his left hand into the blades.
HSE news release and saw safety guide [pdf] • Construction Enquirer • Risks 489
Hazards news, 15 January 2011

Britain: Packaging firm to blame for skin grafts
A Rochdale food packaging firm that disabled a machine safety system has been fined £27,500 after one of its workers was badly injured when he was dragged into the machine. The 35-year-old Elliott Absorbent Products Ltd employee, suffered severe friction burns to his arms, chest and stomach, requiring skin grafts to both his arms.
HSE news release • Manchester Evening News • Food Production Daily • Risks 489
Hazards news, 15 January 2011

Britain: Worker hit by three-tonne steel tank
A steel fabricating company has been fined after a process tank weighing three tonnes fell on an employee. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Wefco (Gainsborough) Ltd for failing to ensure the safety of 29-year-old Edward Baxter, who sustained multiple fractures to his pelvis, spine and ribs, a fractured leg and ankle and head injuries as a result of the incident on 4 March 2008.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 489
Hazards news, 15 January 2011

Britain: Drug workers get a dose of dermatitis
A Swindon pharmaceutical company has been fined after a number of its employees were exposed to a potent sensitiser and developed allergic contact dermatitis. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Catalent UK Swindon Zydis Limited, trading as Catalent Pharma Solutions, after at least ten employees developed the skin condition when working with Olanzapine.
HSE news release • Risks 489
Hazards news, 15 January 2011

Britain: Firms fail to control cancer chemicals
There has been no improvement in over a decade in the chemical industry’s control of a potent carcinogen, research for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has found. The study into exposures to the cancer-causing chemical MbOCA found more than 1 in 20 measurements (6 per cent) exceeded the guidance value for MbOCA in urine, with levels in excess of this figure found at seven of the 19 sites visited in study.
Occupational exposure to MbOCA (4,4′-methylene-bis-ortho-chloroaniline) and isocyanates in polyurethane manufacture, RR828, December 2010 [pdf] • Risks 489
Hazards news, 15 January 2011

Britain: Deadly blast highlights green job dangers
A man has died after an explosion at the Sterecycle waste recycling plant which left another man seriously injured. The recycling giant, whose Rotherham plant is in the middle of a rapid expansion plan, was voted ‘one to watch’ at the Cleantech industry awards in November 2010.
Green jobs, safe jobs blog • South Yorkshire Police statement • BBC News Online • Sheffield Star • North West Evening Mail • Risks 489
Hazards news, 15 January 2011

Britain: Government plans attack on vulnerable workers
Sick workers and those wanting to seek redress for unfair dismissal are among those targeted in what has been dubbed the government’s ‘employers’ charter’. Press reports suggest ministers are intending to extend the period when employers can dismiss workers without being subject to a claim for unfair dismissal, considering introducing fees for workers taking claims to an employment tribunal and reducing the period when statutory sick pay is payable.
TUC Touchstone blog • TUC news release • UCATT news release • The Telegraph • Risks 489
Hazards news, 15 January 2011

Britain: ‘Serious doubts’ over UK oil spill preparation
A committee of MPs has raised ‘serious doubts’ about the UK's ability to combat oil spills from deep sea rigs following the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster last year. The Energy and Climate Change Committee also warned that taxpayers could pay for a major spill in the North Sea, but said a moratorium on deep sea drilling would undermine the UK's energy security and is unnecessary.
Energy and Climate Change Committee news release and report • HSE offshore injury and incident statistics 2009/10, December 2010 [pdf] • BBC News Online • The Telegraph • Yorkshire Post • The Independent • Risks 489
Hazards news, 15 January 2011

Global: IFJ reports heavy media losses to violence
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has warned that journalists and media personnel remain prime targets for political extremists, gangsters and terrorists as it announced that at least 94 journalists and media personnel who were killed in 2010, victims of targeted killings, bomb attacks and crossfire incidents.
IFJ news release and IFJ List of Journalists and Media Personnel Killed in 2010 • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

India: Safety body withholds asbestos evidence
Hundreds of Indian former asbestos mine workers are protesting against the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) after being denied crucial medical evidence on their own health conditions for a year. Rooplal Vadera of the Rajasthan State Mine Labour Union (RSMLU) said: “We want the medical report so that the victims can file for compensation.”
The Times of India • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

USA: Last year’s death rig, this year’s top stock
What was bad news for workers and the environment around the Gulf of Mexico, might not be such bad news for Transocean. The firm that owned and operated the Deepwater Horizon rig that exploded in April 2010 with the loss of 11 lives has made Fortune Magazine’s top 10 stocks listing for 2011 – and not only is Transocean’s share price set to soar, according to the magazine, it also has a copper-bottomed get-out contract clause from liability for the disaster.
Fortune magazine • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Government bid to undermine injury reporting
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is to consult on measures to dramatically reduce injury reporting requirements on firms. The move, agreed at the 15 December 2010 HSE board meeting, is in direct response to a recommendation in Lord Young’s review of health and safety, which was accepted in its entirety by David Cameron’s government.
HSE news release and 15 December board meeting agenda, including the RIDDOR paper [pdf] • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Firms may pay for enforcement notices
The Health and Safety Executive is set to proceed with a plan to charge firms when they are issued with official safety enforcement notices. The move is part of a revenue-raising and cost-cutting drive at HSE in the wake of Lord Young’s report into the future of the government safety enforcement agency.
Speech by HSE chair Judith Hackitt • Construction Enquirer • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Community service for boss who wouldn’t act
A Surrey-based businessman who ignored repeated notices to stop dangerous work at his premises on an industrial estate in Guildford has been ordered to serve 240 hours of community service. Mark Mason, 38, pleaded guilty at Guildford Crown Court to health and safety breaches, including contravening the improvement and prohibition notices.
HSE news release • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: BT guilty following fatal ladder fall
Communications giant BT has been fined £300,000 and ordered to pay costs of £196,150 following the death of a worker who fell from a ladder while carrying out installation works. Power construction engineer David Askew, 52, from Braintree, suffered fatal head injuries after falling from a wooden ladder at London's Canonbury Telephone Exchange on 27 October 2006.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Firm fined over worker’s dam death
A German construction multinational has been fined £266,000 over a contractor's death during the construction of a hydroelectric scheme in Scotland. Ondrej Hladick died when he was crushed by the decrepit telehandler he was using at the site on 22 September 2008.
COFPS news release • Construction Enquirer • BBC News Online • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Carton maker fined over worker’s death
A Glossop packaging manufacturer has been fined after a worker was killed when a machine he was working on was activated while he was still inside. Maintenance worker Clive Hall, 50, suffered fatal head injuries at Glossop Carton and Print Ltd's factory in Padfield on 8 September 2006.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Agency worker died on first day at work
A Newmarket retail display firm has been fined £80,000 after a worker was crushed to death by a stack of glass he was unloading on his first day at work. Vitalijus Orlovas, 29, an agency worker originally from Lithuania, was unloading 100kg plus sheets of glass from a shipping container at Arken PoP's site in St Neots when they fell on him. He suffered crush injuries and died at the scene.
HSE news release • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Offshore platform maintenance 'neglected'
A focus on preventing major offshore incidents has led some companies to neglect general maintenance, an official investigation has found. This key finding of a 21 December 2010 report by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into external corrosion management on offshore facilities prompted the government safety watchdog to warn that day-to-day worker safety must not be sidelined.
HSE news release and external corrosion management report [pdf] • BBC News Online • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Union anger as coastguard stations slashed
Unions have expressed dismay at government plans to slash the number of 24-hour coastguard stations from 18 to three. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “It's a shocking indictment on this ConDem government that plans to cut our coastguards could even be considered, let alone implemented, and shows that they are quite prepared to hack away at life or death services.”
DfT statement • PCS news release • The Independent • The Guardian • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Injury payouts expose the lie of ‘low risk’ job
UNISON has secured £27,398,985 in compensation in 2010 for members who fell victim to assaults, car crashes, and work-related illnesses and injuries. The union’s case file, which includes cases involving office, nursery, school and hospital staff, provides more evidence a government move to relax health and safety requirements on ‘low risk’ office and service sector jobs is ill-advised.
UNISON news release • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

Britain: Safety fears as prisons hit by cuts
Prison officers could “withdraw” from work on health and safety grounds after warning riots may spread as spending cuts bite. It is illegal for prison officers to strike but Colin Moses, the chair of the POA, said: “Under health and safety laws, workers have the right to withdraw to a place of safety if they are at risk.”
HM Prison Service statement/Ministry of Justice statement • Telegraph • Daily Express • BBC News Online • Risks 488
Hazards news, 8 January 2011

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