DEADLY BUSINESS NEWS
2014 stories
Recent news
Global: Orange employees just got safer
The global union UNI has signed a ‘groundbreaking’ global health and safety agreement with the telecoms giant Orange. The deal, signed by UNI general secretary Philip Jennings, the president of the UNI Orange Alliance William Coker, and the French unions, will become part of the Global Agreement signed between UNI and Orange (formally France Telecom) in 2006.
UNI news report • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Britain: Catalogue of failings at deadly disease labs
High security labs that handle the most dangerous viruses and bacteria have reported more than 100 accidents or near-misses to safety regulators in the past five years, official reports reveal. Reports obtained by the Guardian from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reveal that more than 70 incidents at UK government, university and hospital labs were serious enough to investigate; many led to enforcement letters, or crown prohibition notices (CPN), ordering labs to shut until improvements were made.
The Guardian • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Britain: Network Rail grills Carillion over deadly crash
Newly published Network Rail board minutes reveal the company’s executive committee called in Carillion to hear what action the firm was taking after three of its workers were killed in a crash on the M4 last June. Carillion is now the biggest beneficiary of Network Rail contracts and was paid a total of £281m by the rail infrastructure company over the 2013/14 financial year.
Network Rail board minutes • Construction Enquirer • Rail Technology Magazine • Network Rail Livesaving Rules • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Britain: Two jailed after site death convictions
The commercial director of Siday Construction has been jailed for three years and three months after being convicted of manslaughter. A safety consultant was also jailed for nine months on criminal safety charges following the death of Anghel Milosavlevici during a basement excavation.
CPS news release • London Evening Standard • Hertfordshire Mercury • Construction Enquirer • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Britain: Four guilty after fatal scaffold fall
A developer, scaffolding company, its director and a roofer have been fined after a worker fell seven metres to his death during construction of a new warehouse in Staffordshire. Experienced roofer Phillip Lonergan was installing the roof on a new warehouse being built by E2 Developments Ltd in Tutbury.
HSE news release and falls prevention webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Britain: Trainee was trapped by cherrypicker
A construction firm has been fined after a young worker was injured when he became trapped between the basket of a cherrypicker and a steel rail during a construction project in Newcastle. The 20-year-old from Consett, who does not want to be named, was working as a trainee steel erector for Crossgill Construction Ltd when the incident happened on 21 February 2013.
HSE news release and construction webpages • Risks 684 Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Britain: Viridor fined after young worker loses an eye
An Edinburgh recycling firm has been prosecuted for criminal safety failings after a young worker was severely injured and left blind in one eye when he was struck by a piece of high tensile wire. Declan Shipcott, 20, was working for Viridor Enviroscot Ltd at its materials recycling facility in Bargeddie, Glasgow, when the incident happened on 24 September 2012.
HSE news release • The Herald • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Britain: Laundry worker loses fingers and her job
A Woking laundry company has appeared in court after an employee lost four fingers when her hand was drawn into a poorly-guarded ironing machine. The 57-year-old worker, from Old Woking, who had worked at White Knight Laundry for 15 years, suffered extensive crush and burn injuries to her right hand in the 30 September 2013 incident.
HSE news release • Surrey Advertiser • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Britain: Steel firm fined after worker loses toes
A worker had to have three toes amputated after his foot was crushed beneath a 300kg press die. The 25-year-old was organising a lift of the press die – used to shape sheet metal – at SM Thompson Limited in Middlesbrough, when the incident happened on 17 March 2014.
HSE news release and lifting operations webpages • BBC News Online • The Gazette • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Britain: Firm ignored dangerous saws warning
A gate manufacturer has been fined £10,000 for criminal safety offences after it ignored a formal warning about installing guards on two circular saws. Openshaw Bespoke Timber Gates Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after it continued to expose its workforce to danger by operating the saws for one month after being ordered to take them out of use at its workshop in Droylsden. have avoided having to pay a court fine.”
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
USA: Cancer deceit of the petrochemical giants exposed
The petroleum industry has known for decades that benzene, one of its most important products, is a potent cause of cancer in humans but has spent millions on a cover-up, a new evidence database reveals. Internal memorandums, emails, letters and meeting minutes obtained by the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in a year-long investigation suggest that America’s oil and chemical titans, coordinated by their trade association, the American Petroleum Institute, spent at least $36 million on research “designed to protect member company interests,” as one 2000 API summary put it.
Benzene and worker cancers: 'An American tragedy' • Exposed: Decades of denial on poisons, evidence database compiled by the Center for Public Integrity, Columbia University and City University of New York. The ‘dirty dozen’ documents from the database • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Europe: Union action call on work safety
The European Union must take action to stop the 100,000 deaths a year caused by occupational cancers, unions have said. The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) also condemned the European Commission for blocking health and safety improvements and for putting forward an extremely weak health and safety strategy to run until 2020.
ETUC news release and health and safety resolution • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Global: FIFA challenged on Qatar exploitation
Building union UCATT has challenged the head of football’s global governing body to witness for himself the horrific and frequently deadly conditions faced by migrant construction workers in Qatar. The call to Sepp Blatter came as a BBC Newsnight investigation revealed top UK construction firms are among those benefiting from the use of this labour.
UCATT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Britain: Tragedy shows the need for more HSE inspections
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) could do more to save lives if it was allowed to undertake more workplace safety inspections, a union body has said. Waltham Forest Trades Council made the claim after utility giant Thames Water was fined £300,000 for criminal failings that led to local man Raymond Holmes being killed by a reversing excavator at its Walthamstow treatment works.
HSE news release • BBC News video report • Construction Enquirer • New Civil Engineer • The Echo • The Express • Risks 684
Hazards news, 13 December 2014
Georgia: Unions press for safety improvements
Trade unions in Georgia are urging the authorities to push through legislation to improve working conditions. The Georgian Trade Union Confederation says there is a need for action to combat the high fatality rate, but at the moment the government does not record workplace fatality statistics and the country no longer has even a labour inspectorate.
IWPR news report • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Global: Ebola’s 325 health worker victims remembered
A video message honouring the 325 health workers killed so far in the current Ebola outbreak has been issued by the global public service union federation PSI. Rosa Pavanelli, PSI’s general secretary, names the doctors, nurses, midwives, cleaners, ambulance drivers, pharmacists, community health workers and others who have lost their lives after toiling on the frontline against Ebola.
PSI news release and video • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Global: Asbestos killer gets ‘shameful’ legal reprieve
The public prosecutor of the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation has overturned the conviction of Swiss billionaire Stephan Schmidheiny, who had received an 18 year jail term for causing the deaths of thousands of asbestos victims. The 19 November ruling means the former head of the Eternit Group is no longer a fugitive, because the public prosecutor ruled the original charges were filed too late.
IndustriALL news release • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Britain: Horrific burns from fall into bleach vat
A Rochdale fabric firm has been fined after an employee fell into a vat of bleach and suffered severe chemical burns over most of his body. PW Greenhalgh and Co Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation into the incident at Newhey Bleach Works found there was not a safe system in place for using the bleaching equipment.
HSE news release and hazardous substances webpage • Manchester Evening News • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Britain: Top furniture firm caused hand injury
Furniture manufacturer Ercol has been fined for criminal safety failings after an employee suffered severe injuries when his hand was caught in poorly guarded machinery. The 42-year old from High Wycombe, who does not wish to be named, was using a lathe to produce chair legs at Ercol Furniture Ltd’s factory in Buckinghamshire on 4 October 2013.
HSE news release and machinery webpages • Bucks Herald • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Britain: Driver shocked as crane hits power line
A crane operator has long-term memory loss after suffering an electric shock while moving steel sections at a new rugby clubhouse site. Subcontractor Lee Burge 38, who lives near Bristol, was using the crane to move sections of steel at Trowbridge Rugby Club on 20 March 2013, where a new clubhouse and play area were being built by Ashford Homes (South Western) Ltd.
HSE news release and overhead cables webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Britain: Architects caught out on burning question
A firm of architects has been fined for criminal safety failings in the construction of a new timber frame care home. Teesside Magistrates’ Court heard that Mario Minchella Ltd had not given contractors relevant information about the flammability of the timber frame used in the construction of the new building in October 2012.
HSE news release and CDM webpages • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Britain: Plasterer breaks back in fall at mansion
A Cheshire building firm has been fined after a plasterer broke his back when he fell three metres during the construction of a six-bedroom house. CB Homes Ltd, which was the main contractor for the development in Little Budworth, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the company had failed to make sure adequate guard rails were in place on the first floor landing to prevent falls.
HSE news release and work at height webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Britain: Family calls for inquiry over mine deaths
The parents of one of the four miners killed in the Gleision mine disaster have called for a public inquiry into the incident. Charles Breslin, 62, David Powell, 50, Philip Hill, 44, and Garry Jenkins, 39, drowned in 2011 when 650,000 gallons of water flooded the drift mine following a controlled explosion.
BBC News Online • Hansard, 26 November 2014 • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Global: Safety inspections are not optional – ILO
The UK government is breaking international rules requiring safety inspections of all workplaces, an International Labour Organisation (ILO) ruling indicates. In November, ILO issued is findings on a complaint by Dutch unions about their government’s failure to comply with a number of ILO conventions.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • ILO Governing Body report, 6 November 2014 • ILO Labour Inspections Convention, No.81 • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Britain: Scottish HSE plan nixed by government
Plans to give the Scottish parliament new powers over health and safety at work were pulled from the Smith Commission report at the 11th hour, leaked drafts obtained by the Herald newspaper have revealed. Absent from the 27 November final report was an agreement to create a separate Scottish Health and Safety Executive, a move that had been called for by the STUC.
Herald Scotland • Smith Commission report • STUC news release and submission to the Smith Commission • Prime Minister’s Office news release and briefing • BBC News Online • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Britain: Nautilus warns government over piracy plans
Any government move that would restrict or outlaw ransom payments when seafarers are kidnapped by pirates could have deadly consequences, seafarers’ union Nautilus has warned. The union has written to UK shipping minister John Hayes to express its concern, which it says is shared by marine insurers, over the possible impact of proposed new counter terrorism laws.
Nautilus news release • Risks 683
Hazards news,
6 December 2014
Britain: Worker crushed under tons of plasterboard
William Fulton Building Services Ltd has been fined for serious criminal safety failings after a worker was severely injured when he was crushed under nearly two tonnes of plasterboard. Stuart McNaught, a joiner for the firm, was putting up plasterboard inside an extension at a house in Duntocher when the incident happened in icy conditions on 6 January 2011.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
Britain: Teen severely injured in laundry machine
A Shropshire laundry company has been prosecuted for serious criminal safety breaches after a teenage worker suffered severe injuries when he became trapped in machinery. Matthew Brown, 19, from Telford, suffered leg and spinal injuries when trying to retrieve an item of clothing from an industrial laundry machine at Cleantex Ltd in Telford on 22 October 2013.
HSE news release and machinery safety webpages • Shropshire Star • BBC News Online • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
Bangladesh: Tazreen victims to get some compensation
Two years after the Tazreen disaster that killed more than 120 people trapped in a factory fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh, an agreement has been made between the global union IndustriALL and their local affiliates, the Clean Clothes Campaign and retailer C&A on delivering compensation to the victims.
IndustriALL news release • Clean Clothes Campaign news release • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
Italy: Fury as court quashes asbestos conviction
Asbestos campaigners have responded furiously to a decision by Italy’s top court to quash on a technicality the conviction of an asbestos company executive previously found responsible for thousands of deaths. The Court of Cassation overturned an 18-year prison sentence for Swiss billionaire Stephan Schmidheiny, the former owner of construction giant Eternit.
France 24 News • Yahoo News • The Local • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
Gulf: Call for better migrant worker protection
Labour ministers from Gulf and Asian countries have been urged to improve labour law protection, reform abusive immigration policies, and increase dialogue with trade unions and non-governmental groups. The call from 90 human rights organisations and unions came ahead of the third round of the Abu Dhabi Dialogue, an inter-regional forum on labour migration between Asian countries of origin and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries of destination.
ITUC news release • Human Rights Watch news release • Equal Times • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
USA: Walmart told to ‘Respect the Bump’
Courageous current and former Walmart workers are calling on the mega retailer to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers. The ‘Respect the Bump’ campaigners want improvements including lighter duties where medically necessary and being able to drink water or sit down while at work.
AFL-CIO Now blog • Black Friday protests • Respect the Bump • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
Britain: NHS staff face rising violence
There has been another rise in the number of physical assaults against NHS staff, new statistics from NHS Protect reveal. The figures show a rise of 8.7 per cent in reported assaults, from 63,199 in 2012/13 to 68,683 in 2013/14.
NHS Protect news release • UNISON news release • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
Britain: Stop dumping sewage on rail tracks
Rail union RMT is stepping up the pressure on Transport Scotland and Network Rail to end quickly the ‘filthy and disgusting’ practice of dumping raw sewage on rail tracks. In a meeting with the transport agencies, RMT officials urged both organisations to put pressure on Scotrail’s new operators, Abellio, to bring forward the proposed date for the fitting of retention tanks across the fleet from December 2017 to April 2016 “to eradicate this scandal.”
RMT news release • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
Britain: Engineer severely brain damaged at bakery giant
A maintenance worker who suffered a traumatic brain injury at work has received a “significant” compensation payout from a Premier Foods company. Unite member Tom Williams, 65, suffered fractures to his neck and swelling to his brain and fell into a coma.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Wirral Globe • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
Britain: Stonemasonry firm convicted of manslaughter
A stonemasonry company has been convicted of corporate manslaughter after a young stonemason’s mate was crushed to death by a giant block of limestone. Cavendish Masonry Limited, which was found guilty by a jury at Oxford Crown Court, had previously pleaded guilty to criminal safety breaches.
Thames Valley Police news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
Britain: Firms fined over site death
Property development firm Lois Gastoneaux Ltd and contractor Michael Brett have been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker was killed whilst driving a dumper truck. Geoffrey Crow, 48, sustained fatal crush injuries in the incident at the former RAF Chenies site on 13 February 2012.
HSE news release and mobile plant webpage • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
Britain: TUC fingers minister for ‘bonkers’ glove attack
A government minister has been caught out by the TUC dangerously misrepresenting common sense safety proposals as “Brussels over-regulation.” TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said business minister Matthew Hancock was getting needlessly aerated over plans approved by the European Parliament earlier this year to require that “gloves which are labelled as being detergent-resistant, should be, well… detergent-resistant” and “oven gloves should be able to withstand the heat of an oven.”
TUC Stronger Unions blog • EC proposals on PPE • Daily Mail • Risks 682
Hazards news,
29 November 2014
USA: Relief as mine deaths boss is indicted
Unions and campaigners have welcomed the indictment on criminal safety charges of the former head of a US mining firm with an “unmatched” record of fatalities and safety violations. Donald L Blankenship, former chief executive officer of Massey Energy Company, is charged by the Justice Department with conspiracy to violate mandatory federal mine safety and health standards, conspiracy to impede federal mine safety officials, making false statements to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and securities fraud.
Justice Department news release • UMWA statement • Center for Progress Reform blog • The Pump Handle • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Cambodia: Sickening news on garment pay
Unions have responded with anger and dismay to a decision by the Cambodian government to set a minimum wage of US$128 a month for the garment sector. The 12 November announcement comes less than two months after eight major fashion retailers said they were prepared to pay more for clothes made in the country.
IndustriALL news release • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Britain: Attacks on shopworkers are under-reported
Many retail staff assaulted at work are suffering in silence, union research has found. Interim results of Usdaw’s latest survey show that 16 per cent of assaulted shopworkers did not report the attack to their employer.
Usdaw news release • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Britain: Corporate manslaughter fines up to £20m proposed
Large firms convicted of corporate manslaughter would face fines of up to £20m under tougher sentencing proposals. Punishments for companies found guilty of health and safety, as well as food safety and hygiene offences should also be significantly increased, according to the Sentencing Council.
Sentencing Council news release and consultation, closing 18 February 2015 • The Guardian • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Britain: UCATT horror at ‘appalling’ safety failings
The latest Health and Safety Executive construction inspection programme has exposed the “appalling” conditions on many sites, the union UCATT has said. HSE’s month long blitz found that 40 per cent of sites visited were failing to properly protect workers; danger levels were so bad on 20 per cent of sites – 360 out of 1,748 visited between 22 September and 17 October - that enforcement notices were issued.
UCATT news release • HSE news release and safer sites campaign • Construction Enquirer • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Global: FIFA overlooks migrant deaths and abuse
Unions have condemned a report of a FIFA investigation into the selection of Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup that concluded there were only minor concerns that “were not serious enough to warrant re-opening the process”. Human rights groups and unions campaigning to hold Qatar to account for the mistreatment of the migrant workforce in the country said these concerns had been ignored by FIFA.
TUC Stronger Unions blog and TUC Playfair campaign • Amnesty International news release and report, No Extra Time: How Qatar is still failing on workers’ rights ahead of the World Cup • UCATT news release • BWI news release • The Guardian • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Britain: Worker snaps his thigh in site fall
A Cardiff building firm has been fined for criminal safety failings after a labourer broke his right thighbone in a fall from a roof during development work. RHP Merchants and Construction Ltd pleaded guilty to two criminal safety offences and was fined a total of £20,000 and ordered to pay £9,414 in costs.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Britain: Site firm fined over piling injuries
A Grimsby construction company has been fined for criminal safety breaches after a worker suffered serious leg injuries while installing piles for a new school science block. Topcon Construction Ltd was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £1,980 in costs after pleading guilty to two criminal safety offences.
HSE news release and construction webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Britain: House builder ignoring safety warnings
A construction firm has been fined after it ignored repeated warnings about safety at a building site in Manchester. Waterloo Construction (Manchester) Ltd was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £1,445 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to a criminal failure to comply with a prohibition notice.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Britain: Builder refused to learn roof work lesson
A builder who ignored formal warnings about unsafe work at height has been fined. Gerard Hurst, who trades as Ashton Roofing and Building Construction was fined £1,280 and ordered to pay £1,865 in prosecution costs after pleading guilty to two criminal breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005.
HSE news release and work at height webpages • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Britain: Unguarded machine was an unsafe buy
Two companies have been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker suffered serious injuries to his left hand when it was caught in a stone cutting machine sold without an effective guard. Windsmere Stone & Granite Ltd was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £3,337 costs and machine supplier Waters Group Ltd fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £5,020 costs.
HSE news release and work equipment webpages • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
Britain: Tree surgeon falls with chainsaw onto worker
A septuagenarian tree surgeon has been fined after he fell nearly four metres, still clutching a running chainsaw, and landed on a colleague as they were pruning a garden tree in Little Oakely, near Harwich. Gilbert Bradfield was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £889 after pleading guilty to criminal breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
HSE news release and treework webpages • East Anglia Daily Times • Risks 681
Hazards news,
22 November 2014
New Zealand: Unions press for safer workplaces
The New Zealand government should act after a series of highly critical reports and upgrade the country’s failing workplace safety system, the national union federation CTU has said. CTU says the Health and Safety Reform Bill contains several important measures that must be retained, such as stronger duties on directors of companies, shared responsibilities for companies that share a workplace, greater powers for health and safety representatives and stronger enforcement measures.
NZCTU news release • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
South Korea: End abuse of migrant agricultural workers
South Korea’s agriculture industry depends on migrant workers – but these suffer appalling living and working conditions. ‘Bitter harvest’, a new report from Amnesty International, says that government's Employment Permit Scheme (EPS) directly contributes to this exploitation.
IUF news report • Amnesty International news release • Support the Amnesty International campaign • Bitter Harvest [pdf], Amnesty International, October 2014 • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Firms fined after worker is crushed
Two Derbyshire companies have been fined for criminal failings after a worker was crushed whilst dismantling steelwork. Chesterfield Magistrates’ Court heard the 47-year-old from Chesterfield was dismantling surplus steelwork and associated fittings for MMD Mining Machinery Developments Ltd at premises in Somercotes when the incident happened on 3 May 2011.
HSE news release • Derbyshire Times • Construction Enquirer • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Waste firm had a ‘dismal’ safety record
A waste firm in south-east London has been prosecuted after repeatedly putting its employees at potentially deadly risk from heavy machinery. Westminster Magistrates was told the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had to serve Greenwich-based Murphys (Waste) Ltd with a total of ten enforcement notices between 2009 and early 2014.
HSE news release • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Asia: Low standards in the hitech industry
Every day thousands of workers in Asia are exposed to dangerous chemicals without the required protection while making computers and other hitech equipment, a new report has found. ‘Winds of change’, produce for ElectronicWatch and which involved fieldwork in South Korea, noted that the chemicals used included benzene, a heavily restricted and potent human carcinogen.
Electronics Watch news release and full report, Winds of change: public procurement's potential for improving conditions in the ICT industry • Green America blog • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Rail contractor told to explain serious incidents
Network Rail has hauled in the chief executive of a major contractor to explain a series of serious injuries, believed to include a worker who was airlifted from Cardiff Central station with “pelvic crush injuries” and severe blood loss. BAM Nuttall received nearly £210m in Network Rail contracts last year.
The Independent • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: 'Toilet tax' hits call centre staff, says MP
Call centre staff are being hit with a "toilet tax" for leaving their desks, an MP has claimed. Bridgend MP Madeleine Moon said a constituent found he had lost £50 from his month's pay for “toilet visits”.
Hansard, 6 November 2014. BBC News • ITV News • Evening Telegraph • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Vector Aerospace workers get vibration disease
An international aerospace company based in Hampshire has been prosecuted after 13 employees were found to be suffering a debilitating nerve condition. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Vector Aerospace International Limited, of Gosport, after investigating reports that workers were being diagnosed with Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS).
HSE news release and vibration webpages • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Head injury at work caused epilepsy
A tall worker whose head smashed into a low doorway frame in poor lighting developed post-traumatic epilepsy as a result. Unite member Simon Davies, who lost his job as an LGV driver for Kuehne & Nagel Logistics as a result, has now received £266,500 in compensation.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Bust waste firm guilty of corporate manslaughter
A defunct Rotherham recycling firm has been fined £500,000 after being found guilty of corporate manslaughter following the death of a worker three years ago. Waste processing machine operator Michael Whinfrey, 42, was killed working at the Sterecycle plant when a door failed and blew out under pressure in January 2011 and another man suffered “serious life-changing injuries”.
Rotherham Advertiser • Sheffield Star • Daily Mail • Mirror • BBC News Online • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Deadly danger warning at army ranges
The lives of the public could be put at risk due to staff ‘being cut to the bone’ at Britain’s military training ranges, Unite has warned. The union said it members at Landmarc Support Services, which runs the ranges for the Ministry of Defence (MOD), were concerned at proposed redundancies, safety issues and a lack of consultation.
Unite news release • Westmorland Gazette • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Refinery workers walk out over safety concerns
Hundreds of contract workers walked out of an oil refinery in North Lincolnshire on 10 November over safety concerns. At least 450 contract workers at the Philips 66 plant in South Killingholme left the site, following a gas leak the week before which led to two people being taken to hospital.
Grimsby Telegraph • Scunthorpe Telegraph • BBC News Online • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Over 300 shopworkers assaulted a day
Over 300 shopworkers are assaulted every day according to the retail union Usdaw. General secretary John Hannett, speaking on 10 November at the start of Respect for Shopworkers Week, said: “Too often retail employees are confronted with violence, threats and abuse and it is really important we stand together and ask people to keep their cool and respect shopworkers.”
Usdaw news release • Usdaw Freedom from Fear campaign • Morning Star • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Call for action 10 years after rail crossing tragedy
Rail union RMT has called for the phasing out of level crossings to be speeded up. The union was commenting on the tenth anniversary of the deadly collision between a train and a car on the crossing at Ufton Nervet on the Paddington to Plymouth line.
RMT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Britain: Government misled Lords on self-employment
A government minister misled the Lords over plans to exempt most self-employed workers from the Health and Safety at Work Act, new information indicates. During a 21 October Lords debate on the Deregulation Bill, government minister Lord Curry claimed the plan was supported by Professor Löfstedt, who subsequently wrote to Lord Curry refuting his claims.
TUC health and safety facebook page • Lords debate, 21 October 2014 • Risks 680
Hazards news,
15 November 2014
Indonesia: Rio Tinto must act after Grasberg fatalities
A global union is calling on metals multinational Rio Tinto to speak publicly about what it will do to end the series of deaths at the Grasberg mine in Indonesia. The mine is now facing industrial action over safety concerns.
IndustriALL news release • Risks 679
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Turkey: Union exposes dark side of the Black Sea
Seafarers’ lives are being put at risk by the substandard ships in use on the Black Sea – that’s the key message of a new film produced by Turkish seafarers’ union the Marine Employees Solidarity Association (DAD-DER). Captain Ural Cagirici from DAD-DER said: “The fact that seafarers are risking their lives to make a living isn’t just a trade union issue, it’s a human rights issue too.”
ITF news release and Black Sea Project strategy • Risks 679
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Britain: Skip firm crushed casual worker to death
A Kilmarnock skip firm has been fined for criminal safety failings after a casual worker was crushed to death when a heavy gate came off its hinges and fell onto him. Malcolm Macdonald Kennedy, 69, a retired fitter, had been working for Alistair Thomas Corrie, who trades as A Corrie Skip Hire, for around eight years when the incident happened on 12 December 2011.
HSE news release • Risks 679
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Britain: Dangerous roof work caught on camera
A builder has been fined after two of his workers were photographed on a house roof in Burnley with no safety measures in place. Mohammed Yasin, who trades as Southfield Property Maintenance, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at a semi-detached house on 10 April 2014.
HSE news release and work at height webpages • Risks 679
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Britain: Worker burned by jet of molten plastic
A County Durham firm has been sentenced after a worker suffered serious burns to his face, hand and arm when he was struck by a jet of hot molten plastic. John Calcutt was helping clear solidified plastic from a large plastic injection moulding machine at Ebac Ltd, in Newton Aycliffe, when the incident happened on 9 September 2013.
HSE news release and manufacturing safety webpages • Risks 679
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Global: Unions fend off ‘privatised’ safety standard
A draft international standard on health and safety at work strongly criticised by unions has failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority vote at a key committee of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) committee. The European Trade Union Institute’s safety unit, HESA, described the vote as “a battle won by the unions against provisions that would leave workers worse off.”
ETUI/HESA news story • Risks 679
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Britain: More tomatoes growing in train toilet discharge
Tomatoes growing on the track at a railway station near Norfolk highlight the failure of train companies to fit waste tanks to on-board toilets, a union has reiterated. Rail union RMT said the Southend to London line had become known for discharged human excrement, creating a hazard for employees working on the track.
BBC News Online • Risks 679
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Britain: Scotland’s unions want better enforcement
The UK government must reverse it attacks on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and provide sufficient resources for the enforcement agency to do its work without political interference, the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) has said. STUC general secretary Grahame Smith said: “It is clear from these statistics that the 40 per cent funding cuts imposed by the coalition government on HSE along with their unwarranted ideological attacks on workplace health and safety by the government and certain sections of the media are having an impact in Scotland.”
STUC news release • Risks 679
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Britain: STUC wants health and safety devolved
A submission from the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) to the Smith Commission has called for the devolution of all legislation relating to workplace protection, health and safety, employment and trade union regulations. The STUC submission to the Smith Commission notes that “the devolution of employment law, health and safety, trade union law and the minimum wage” would lead to “a better labour market and workplace protection.”
STUC news release and Submission to the Smith Commission • Smith Commission website. Scottish Hazards
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Britain: Government tries to bury good news on safety
The government has attempted to quietly bury its own appraisal of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) “approach to negotiating and implementing European legislation” after it concluded it did not lead to problems for British business. Instead the review by a senior Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) official found the approach did fit well with the government’s “growth agenda”.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • Appraisal of HSE’s approach to negotiating and implementing European legislation, Kim Archer, DWP, published online 31 October 2014 • Risks 679
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Britain: Action call after rise in work’s casualties
New official statistics on workplace illness and injury levels paint a worrying picture, the TUC has warned. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures show that the number of people being injured or made ill through work is now rising, reversing a long-term downward trend.
TUC news release • HSE news release, latest statistics for 2013/14, statistics at a glance and Costs to Britain in 2012/13 • Risks 679
Hazards news,
8 November 2014
Canada: Union says it’s time to ‘Stop the Killing’
Leaders of the United Steelworkers (USW) in Canada say its campaign to stop workplace killing through better enforcement of existing laws has gained momentum now that it has been raised with federal, provincial and territorial justice ministers. The union has been pressing for jurisdictions across Canada to make use of 2003 amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada dealing with workplace deaths.
USW news release and Stop the Killing campaign • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
India: Exploitation widespread in the textile industry
Workers are facing appalling labour conditions that amount to forced labour in the export-oriented Southern Indian textile industry, a study has found. The Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO) and the India Committee of the Netherlands (ICN) discovered women and girls who work in the spinning mills of Tamil Nadu, some as young as 15, are virtual prisoners, forced to work long hours for low wages.
ICN news release • Flawed fabrics - The abuse of girls and women workers in the South Indian textile industry, SOMO & ICN, October 2014 • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
USA: Unions call for presidential action on Ebola
To protect the USA’s health care workers and the public from exposure to the Ebola virus, President Barack Obama should use his executive authority to put in place mandatory protections and other workplace standards for hospitals and other health care facilities, national union federation AFL-CIO has said. In letters to the president and congressional leaders, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka said: “Existing protocols, standards and guidelines, and adherence to them, are deficient.”
AFL-CIO Now blog and letters to president Obama to Obama and the Senate and the House • Mother Jones • Fortune. Wall Street Journal blog • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
Britain: Rail bosses have failed to act on safety
Rail accident investigators have warned that potentially disastrous safety problems have not been addressed by the industry years after being discovered. The Rail Accident Investigation Board (RAIB) inspector Carolyn Griffiths warned that dozens of recommendations had gone unheeded - with 25 still not addressed after three years.
RMT news release • RAIB news release • Morning Star • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
Britain: Horticulture firm fined after explosion tragedy
A horticultural company has been fined after a worker died and three others were seriously injured in an explosion while emptying a pressurised tank used to heat greenhouses. Cantelo Nurseries Ltd employee Peter James, 67, died of head injuries six days after the incident.
HSE news release • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
Britain: Factory fined over crane collision death
An Oldham manufacturer has been ordered to pay £125,000 in fines and costs after an employee was killed when he was struck by a three-tonne piece of steel being lifted by an overhead crane. Michael Wickstead, 63, was working for Refinery Supplies Ltd in Chadderton when two overhead cranes collided.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
Britain: Government denies protection to shopworkers
Retail union Usdaw has expressed disappointment at the government refusal to stiffen sentences for those who assault workers selling alcohol, following a 20 October debate in the House of Lords. General secretary John Hannett said: “I am very concerned but not surprised that yet again the government has blocked necessary protection for workers on the frontline of enforcing licensing laws.”
Usdaw news release and the failed amendment • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
Britain: Dismay as ministers say no to copter inquiry
Unions have expressed their dismay after ministers rejected calls for an independent public inquiry into helicopter safety prompted by a series of offshore ditching incidents and deaths. Mick Cash, general secretary of the offshore union RMT, said he was “appalled” at the government refusal to hold a “full independent and public inquiry into helicopter safety.”
Transport Select Committee helicopter safety webpages • BALPA news release • RMT news release • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • The Herald • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
Britain: Worker injured in fall from bread oven
A Premier Foods employee injured in a fall while cleaning a bread oven has received a £4,600 compensation payout. BFAWU member Paul Strange suffered ligament damage to his shoulder and a soft tissue injury to his left wrist, the injuries leading to two months off work.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
Global: Cameron must condemn slavery in Qatar
The prime minister must ensure that the government of Qatar is committed to ending slavery and abuse of migrant workers, the TUC has said. In a letter to David Cameron ahead of his scheduled meeting with the Emir of Qatar, the union body notes: “Conditions for foreign workers in Qatar, including those building the infrastructure needed for the 2022 World Cup, continue to be of grave concern.”
TUC news release, letter to David Cameron and Playfair Qatar website • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
Britain: Lords back self-employed exemption from safety
Peers have voted in favour of government plans to exempt most self-employed workers from safety law. Unions and safety professionals had opposed the move, which will mean the self-employed are no longer subject to the Health and Safety at Work Act unless they are undertaking one of a short list of ‘prescribed activities’.
House of Lords debate, 21 October 2014. IOSH news release • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
Britain: Public service violence has nearly doubled
Violence against public service workers in Scotland increased again last year and has nearly doubled over the past eight years, latest figures show. UNISON Scotland says there had been 37,052 incidents reported to public service employers last year – up 3,363 and almost double the 20,000 reported when the first survey was first conducted in 2006.
UNISON news release and UNISON Scotland Survey of Violence at Work 2014 • Risks 678
Hazards news,
1 November 2014
Britain: Chainsaw sliced into worker’s leg
Enviroclean (Scotland) Ltd has been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker was injured when a chainsaw hit him on the leg as he slipped while felling trees. Hugh Dorricot, then 26, was not wearing appropriate personal protective equipment and was not adequately trained to use a chainsaw when the incident took place at Gartsherrie Burn, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, on 9 March 2010.
HSE news release and chainsaws guide • Risks 677
Hazards news,
25 October 2014
Britain: Security firm in court after worker’s fall
An Essex firm has been fined after a maintenance engineer broke his elbow and ankle when he fell more than three metres through fragile ceiling tiles at a site in Dunton, Essex. The engineer, who does not wish to be named, was attempting to access an electrical control panel in a ceiling void to fix a faulty roller shutter door when the incident happened on 21 December 2012.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 677
Hazards news,
25 October 2014
Britain: Scaffolding firm was insurance no-show
A scaffolding firm has been fined after it ignored repeated requests to prove it held insurance for employees. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) was alerted to the possible lack of Employers’ Liability Insurance – a requirement under UK law – when it received a complaint about scaffolding erected by Abacus Scaffolding North West Ltd at a site in Thornton Cleveleys in October 2013.
HSE news release • Risks 677
Hazards news,
25 October 2014
Australia: Trucking is the deadliest job
Australia’s transport union is calling for official action to improve safety standards in the “deadly” trucking industry. Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) assistant national secretary Michael Kaine said a new study by Life Insurance Finder confirmed trucking is Australia’s deadliest job with one in three workplace deaths occurring in the transport industry.
TWU news release and Safe Rates campaign • Risks 677Hazards news,
25 October 2014
Bangladesh: Over 1,000 garment factories now inspected
A union-brokered safety accord has seen garment factory inspections across Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Accord this week announced that initial inspections of factories covered by the accord had been completed by the September 2014 deadline. From the initial inspections of 1,106 garment factories in the country, the Accord’s inspectors identified more than 80,000 safety issues needing to be resolved.
Accord statement • The Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. IndustriALL news release • The Guardian • New York Times • Risks 677
Hazards news,
25 October 2014
Global: Unions put your safety on the agenda
Unions don’t just protect your livelihood, they protect your life, the leader of the global union federation ITUC has said. Launching a new ITUC occupational and health and safety newsletter and webpages, ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow said the new resources demonstrate how unions have influenced directly safety and justice from the workplace level to high level negotiations like September’s G20 meeting of labour and employment ministers.
ITUC news story • ITUC occupational health and safety webpages • Issue 1 of the ITUC occupational health and safety e-news • Risks 677
Hazards news,
25 October 2014
New Zealand: Claims expose the most dangerous jobs
Almost a quarter of agriculture, forestry and fishery workers in New Zealand had a work-related injury claim accepted by the country’s official Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in 2013. Provisional figures for the year released by Statistics New Zealand show that agriculture, forestry, and fishery workers made 226 injury claims per 1,000 full-time equivalent employees, and 2.6 per cent of these workers experienced an injury that resulted in a week or more off work.
NZCTU news release • Risks 677
Hazards news,
25 October 2014
Britain: ISO bid to ‘privatise’ safety standards
A draft standard on safety management being prepared by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) could be seriously bad news for workers, unions have warned. Unions say ISO does not have an expert mandate in occupational health and safety, and unlike ILO doesn’t have to listen to those who have.
ITUC news story • ISO draft standard • Risks 677
Hazards news,
25 October 2014
Britain: Brilliant firefighters tackle power station inferno
The leader of the firefighters’ union has hailed the brilliant work by firefighters tackling a major power station blaze in Oxfordshire, but has warned funding cuts could jeopardise this “world class service.” At its height, 25 fire engines and about 100 firefighters tackled the blaze at Didcot B power station, which began in a cooling tower at about 8pm on Sunday 19 October.
FBU news release • BBC News Online • Risks 677
Hazards news,
25 October 2014
Britain: RMT predicted correctly a serious train incident
The derailment of a freight train in north-west London last October has been blamed on a series of failures and operational issues that had all been raised repeatedly by rail union RMT. The confirmation came in a damning report by the Rail Accident Investigation Board (RAIB).
RMT news release • RAIB report • Risks 677
Hazards news,
25 October 2014
Britain: Selling or ditching airline medicals is too risky
Airline safety could be put at risk by proposals put forward by the industry regulator to either scrap or sell off its medical services, the union PCS has warned. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has launched a consultation on it plans; all UK pilots are required to obtain a medical licence from the CAA.
PCS news release • CAA news relase • Risks 677
Hazards news,
25 October 2014
Global: Workers press for Ebola protection
According to the World Health Organisation, in its Ebola Response Roadmap Situation Report for 8 October, some 401 health workers had contracted Ebola, with 232 confirmed or suspected deaths. Ebola cases in healthcare workers exposed treating patients in US and Spanish hospitals show the risk isn’t confined to West Africa.
IRIN news report • Ebola Response Roadmap Situation Report, WHO, 8 October 2014 • . SEIU news report • Washington Post • Working In These Times • The Independent •
NYCOSH New York airports health and safety report, October 2014 • Risks 676
Hazards news,
18 October 2014
Canada: Rail firms fight new fatigue rules
Canada’s major freight rail companies are fighting moves by the federal transportation regulator to curb “extreme fatigue” among railway engineers, a CBC News investigation has found. CN Rail, CP and the Railway Association of Canada went on the attack two weeks ago at a “tense and heated” meeting of industry, union and government representatives, according to a number of people present.
CBC News and related story • Risks 676
Hazards news,
18 October 2014
Britain: Whistleblower exposures Mayfair site shambles
A whistleblower alerted inspectors to safety blunders at a renovation site in swanky Mayfair, leading to the criminal prosecution of a civil engineering contractor. Covent Garden-based Peter Lind and Co (Central Region) Limited, a company with a history of operating unsafe sites, was prosecuted after a subsequent Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspection of the site identified serious work at height risks.
HSE news release and falls webpage • Construction Enquirer • Risks 676
Hazards news,
18 October 2014
Britain: Worker burned when road marking lorry exploded
A road worker suffered burns when a Redland Road Marking Ltd road marking vehicle caught fire and exploded in Bristol, a court has heard. HSE’s investigation found pipework to the gas-heated cauldrons on top of the vehicle, which had not been fitted by a competent person, was not properly connected and the equipment had no flame failure devices.
HSE news release and work equipment webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 676 • 18 October 2014
Hazards news,
18 October 2014
Britain: Lethal consequences of axing guards exposed
Rail union RMT has warned of the dangers of a growing rolling stock crisis on Britain’s railways. RMT says the capacity crisis on Trans-Pennine Express and the rest of the network is wholly down to the “fragmentation and profiteering of privatisation”, with rail firms competing to lease limited rolling stock.
RMT news release • Financial Times • Risks 676
Hazards news,
18 October 2014
Europe: The dead hand of the European deregulators
A new deregulation spree could be in prospect across Europe, following a report from the European Commission’s High Level Group on Administrative Burdens. The proposals – which seek to exempt small and medium sized enterprises from safety and other regulations - have been criticised by unions and the key industry group, with the TUC warning they pose a danger to both workers and consumers.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • TUC news release • ETUC news release • ETUI news release. Cutting Red Tape in Europe:Legacy and outlook - Final Report: High Level Group on Administrative Burdens and Dissenting Opinion • The Guardian • Risks 676
Hazards news,
18 October 2014
Global: Leaked text reveals ‘toxic’ trade partnership
A leaked draft of a trans-Atlantic trade deal reveals how the negotiations continue to favour business interests over the protection of health and of the environment, campaign groups have warned. The European Commission’s restricted access text for the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) shows that the European Union’s proposals for a ‘chemicals annex’ shadow those of the chemical industry.
CIEL news release, the leaked text and full report: Toxic partnership: A critique of the ACC-Cefic proposal for trans-Atlantic Regulatory Cooperation on Chemicals • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
Britain: Unguarded drill cost worker his fingertip
A West Midlands fabrications company has been fined after an employee lost the tip of his finger in an unguarded drill. Black Country Magistrates’ Court heard the 32-year-old man was drilling holes into metal components at H&H Alloy Sales Ltd when the incident happened on 18 December 2013.
HSE news release and work equipment webpages • Birmingham Mail • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
Britain: Another drill, another glove, another injury
A Macclesfield manufacturer has been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker’s hand became entangled around a factory drill. Stormguard Ltd, which produces drainage products, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found it had ignored warnings by its own health and safety officer about how the machine was being used.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
Britain: Agency worker loses arm at recycling firm
A waste recycling firm in Scotland has been fined for serious safety failings after an agency worker severed his left arm at the shoulder while clearing a conveyor belt blockage. Steven Dawson, then aged 28, was working as a line supervisor for Lowmac Alloys Ltd at its premises in Irvine, when the incident happened on 8 February 2011.
HSE news release • STV News • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
Britain: Tree surgeon seriously injured in 18 metre fall
Self-employed tree surgeon Daniel Hunt, 40, dislocated his hip after falling more than 18 metres to the ground when the limb of a diseased tree gave way. Richard Cole, trading as Richard Cole Contracting, pleaded guilty to a criminal breach of the Work at Height Regulations and was fined £2,000 and ordered to pay £780 in costs.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
Britain: Push for killer bosses to face life in jail
Top company bosses responsible for workplace deaths could face being jailed for life under proposals to reform Scotland’s law on culpable homicide. Richard Baker, the Labour MSP for north-east Scotland, will this month put forward a bill to make deadly employers more accountable.
The Herald • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
Britain: Deadly BP cost cutter to head UK Civil Service
A former oil executive criticised for his role in a deadly BP refinery explosion, and whose last oil company was fined over 50 health and safety violations connected with fracking, has been appointed the first chief executive of the Civil Service. While at BP, an internal company report published in 2007 found John Manzoni should be held accountable for the Texas City refinery blast that killed 15 people and injured 170.
Prime Minister’s Office news release • The Independent • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
Britain: New chopper rules for 'larger' offshore workers
New rules are to be introduced on the size of oil workers travelling to and from offshore installations by helicopter. Critics have argued that it wasn’t the size of workers that caused helicopters to crash, it was mechanical problems and adverse weather conditions.
Step Change in Safety news release • BBC News Online • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
Britain: Network Rail chief slams ‘unacceptable’ safety levels
The workforce safety standard on the railways not up to scratch, according to Network Rail head Mark Carne. The chief executive, who took up his post in April, said that compared with other ‘safety critical’ industries like oil and gas, Network Rail’s current level of workforce safety “is simply unacceptable”.
Railnews • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
Britain: Government must heed the lessons of rail tragedy
Fifteen years after 31 lives were lost in the Ladbroke Grove rail disaster, rail union RMT has warned that government policy is dragging the railways closer to “the same poisonous cocktail of conditions” that lead to that tragedy on the morning of 5 October 1999.
RMT news release • ASLEF news release • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
Britain: Union concern as fatality probe is ruled out
A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) will not be held in to the deaths of three crewmen when the Flying Phantom tug boat sank on the River Clyde almost seven years ago. The decision came as the seafarers’ union Nautilus warned that the ‘light touch’ regulation of ports was leaving crews at deadly risk.
Crown Office decision • The Herald • Risks 675
Hazards news,
11 October 2014
China: Apple iPhone worker dies of cancer
A young Chinese worker struck down with leukaemia while working in a factory that makes Apple’s iPhones has died – days after his mother pleaded in a UK newspaper for Apple chief executive Tim Cook to help save her son’s life. The Mail on Sunday says Yi Long is at least the sixth worker to die of leukaemia after falling ill at the factory complex in Shenzhen, southern China, in a cluster of cases families believe were caused by the chemicals handled by workers.
The Mail on Sunday and earlier related story • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Swaziland: Dangerous solvent sickens textile workers
Workers are being made seriously ill by a toxic chemical introduced at a Swazi textile factory, their union has warned. Dozens of workers required hospitalisation last month after the plant began using the dangerous solvent butyl acetate to remove stains from clothes.
AFL-CIO Solidarity Center report • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Britain: Haulage firm in court over worker’s fractured skull
A Scottish haulage firm has been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker was seriously injured when an unsecured barrel fell from a lorry onto his head. McPherson Limited employee William ‘Dougald’ Sim, then 60, was unloading the vehicle at Speyside Cooperage when the incident happened on 14 January 2013.
HSE news release and load safety webpages • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Britain: Recycling firm nearly cost worker his leg
A recycling firm has been prosecuted after an employee almost lost his right leg when it became trapped in a machine at a Swinton factory. Roydon Polythene (Exports) Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found workers at the plant were routinely put at risk when they tried to remove blockages.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Britain: Engineering firm’s guilt after worker was crushed
A Basingstoke engineering firm has been sentenced for criminal safety breaches that led to a 42-year-old man being crushed between a telehandler and a steel post at a workshop in West Drayton. RVC Engineering Ltd was fined £6,600 and ordered to pay £1,087 in costs after admitting a criminal safety offence.
HSE news release • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Britain: Council failed to protect litter picker from cars
Manchester City Council has been fined £15,000 after a worker suffered serious injuries whilst litter picking on a city road. The 60-year-old, who has asked not to be named, had been trying to cross a busy road with a 40mph speed limit, when he was struck by a car on 9 July 2013.
HSE news release and road safety webpages • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Britain: Roof fall cost worker his health and his job
A Scottish sawmill has been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker was seriously injured when he fell eight feet through a fragile roof light. Tony Heron, then 56, was employed by Penkiln Sawmill Company Ltd and was putting tin sheets on the roof of a lean-to shed at the company’s Wigtown premises when the incident occurred on 1 February 2013.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Africa: Ebola has killed over 200 health workers
The number of health workers killed by West Africa’s Ebola outbreak has reached 211, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported. Its 26 September situation update says 375 workers are known to have been infected, and the overall death toll has passed 3,000.
WHO Ebola situation report update, 26 September 2014 • IndustriALL news release • BBC News Online • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Europe: Most chemical standards advisers are industry linked
Two-thirds of scientists advising the European Union on the safety assessments of controversial substances have industry links, new research has found. Corporate Europe Observatory’s Pascoe Sabido said “these assessments don't just affect public health, they also help dictate the financial fortunes of companies involved in producing and using the substances,” adding: “This means that the independence of the scientists providing the expert advice needs to be above and beyond any suspicion of industry influence – which is not the case.”
CEO news release and full report, Chemical conflicts: inadequate independence policies for EU’s expert risk assessors • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Britain: Massive radiation dose for Rolls Royce workers
Workers at a UK nuclear submarine manufacturer received a gamma radiation dose up to 32 times the annual limit after discovering a misplaced radioactive source. Rolls Royce Marine Power Operations Ltd, which has been fined £200,000 and ordered to pay costs of £176,500, lost track of the radioactive source at its plant in Derby which was then handled unwittingly by welders and radiographers.
HSE news release • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Britain: Clydeport fined following river tug tragedy
A port operator has been fined £650,000 for criminal safety failings, seven years after the deaths of three crewmen on board a tug that capsized on the River Clyde. The Flying Phantom rolled over in thick fog as it towed a bulk carrier on the river near Clydebank.
MCA news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • The Herald • Evening Times • BBC News Online • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Britain: Don’t sell out our safety
The government’s attacks on health and safety, including swingeing cuts to the Health and Safety Executive’s budget and the erosion of its inspection and enforcement functions, could jeopardise long-term improvements in standards at work, retail union Usdaw has warned. The union is directing its safety reps to a Hazards Campaign ‘Don’t pimp our watchdog’ initiative, which is calling for an end to the “commercialisation” of HSE.
Usdaw news releases on health and safety deregulation and the commercialisation of HSE • Don’t pimp our watchdog – send a message to HSE • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Britain: Unite calls on HSE to retain ‘vital’ committees
The Health and Safety Executive’s board must halt plans to close vital health and safety advisory committees and to replace them with “experts”, Unite has said. One committee dealing with chemicals - WATCH - has already been told it has been disbanded; and Unite says its parent body, the Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances (ACTS), also appears to be under threat.
Unite news release • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Global: TUC launches new Playfair Qatar campaign
The TUC is urging football’s governing body to make a stand against the deadly form of ‘modern slavery’ in Qatar, FIFA’s pick to host the 2022 World Cup. A new ‘Playfair Qatar’ campaign warns that the low wages and high risks endured by the migrant labour force, combined with the tied labour ‘kafala’ system, make the oil-rich nation an unfit venue.
TUC Stronger Unions blog, Playfair Qatar website and deaths and injuries webpages • Playfair Qatar facebook page • Daily Mail • Risks 674
Hazards news,
4 October 2014
Britain: HSE plans to silence workers on chemical risks
Long-established Health and Safety Executive (HSE) committees that assess the risks from some of the most dangerous substances used at work could soon exclude workers and employers, if the regulator gets its way. One, the WATCH committee on hazardous chemicals, has already been quietly disbanded and another, the Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances, is under threat, internal HSE papers show.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: Green light for new tribunal fees challenge
The Lord Chancellor has given the public sector union UNISON the go-ahead for a new challenge to the government’s tribunal fees system. In a hearing at the Court of Appeal, the Lord Chancellor agreed with the union that a new hearing should take place as soon as possible, in light of new evidence.
UNISON news release • Personnel Today • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: More backing for the union World Cup campaign
Prominent members of the shadow cabinet have added their support to the union campaign for rights and justice for migrant workers in Qatar. Jim Murphy, the shadow international development minister, shadow minister for sport Clive Efford and fellow Labour MP Stephen Hepburn joined with UCATT activists in a photo call behind the union’s “Show Qatar the Red Card” banner.
UCATT news release and infographic • Morning Star •ITUC Re-run the Vote website • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Global: Attack on BBC team in Russia is condemned
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and its international sister organisations have called for a thorough and immediate investigation to be carried out into an attack on a BBC news team in the southern Russian city of Astrakhan. According to the BBC, the team from its Moscow bureau was in the city to investigate reports of Russian servicemen being killed near the border with Ukraine.
NUJ news release. IFJ news release. BBC statement and news report. The Independent. The Guardian • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Global: Stop targeting media workers as ‘a weapon of war’
Journalists’ union NUJ has condemned a video in which kidnapped British photojournalist John Cantlie delivers a message under duress in what he admits is an attempt to save his life. The union statement came before the release on 23 September of a second video featuring the journalist, who it is believed has been held hostage by Islamic State (ISIS) militants since his kidnapping in Syria in 2012.
NUJ news release • IFJ news release • BBC News Online • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: HSE must deliver better controls over silica
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has been accused of leaving workers at double jeopardy from cancer-causing, lung scarring silica. A report in the workers’ safety magazine Hazards criticises HSE for resisting a union-backed call for it to halve the current exposure limit for the common workplace dust; and it says the government-imposed, hands-off, HSE enforcement policy combined with swingeing resource cuts mean even the current “deadly” standard is not being enforced effectively.
Silica, part 2: A line in the sand, Hazards, number 127, 2014. Silica, part 1: Dust to dust: Deadly silica standard is killing UK workers, Hazards, number 126, 2014 • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: HSE action on construction’s poor health record
‘Health as well as safety’ will be the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) message as poor standards and unsafe work on Britain’s building sites are targeted in its latest inspection blitz. During a month long initiative that kicked off on 22 September, the watchdog says it will carry out unannounced visits to sites where refurbishment projects or repair works are underway.
HSE news release and safer sites campaign • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: Life after personal protective equipment is possible
Construction firms should think about removing the risks on site before they cocoon their workers in protective clothing and other safety gear, a top construction health expert has said. Scott Schneider, the director of occupational health at the US union-backed Laborers’ Health and Safety Fund of North America (LHSFNA), said: “There’s no doubt that PPE helps keep workers safe, but it may not be the best solution and certainly shouldn’t be the only solution.”
Safety unmasked, Hazards magazine, number 127, 2014 • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: Worker run-over by nine tonne truck
Major construction firm JB Leadbitter and Co Ltd has been convicted of a criminal safety offence after a worker was critically injured when he was run over by a nine tonne dumper truck. Delivery driver David Windsor, 62, suffered life changing injuries, including a severe brain injury, in the incident at a building site in Devonport on 7 October 2010.
HSE news release and site traffic management webpages • Construction News • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: Solar panel installers fell through farm roof
Andrew Green, trading as Green Park Power. has been fined for criminal safety failings after two brothers fell 15ft through a fragile roof while installing solar panels. Brynley Perrett, 37, suffered a compression fracture of his back and sternum in the incident at Llan-y-nant Farm, near Trellech, Monmouthshire, in June, 2013 and his brother Anthony escaped injury.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: BAE company sentenced over firing range injury
BAE Systems Global Combat Systems Munitions Limited has been fined £80,000 for a serious criminal safety breach after a worker’s leg bone was shattered while test firing a gun on a range in Northumberland. The 46-year-old employee from Hexham was injured when a metal bolt weighing 7kg ejected from the back of the gun and into his left leg.
HSE news release • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: Environment watchdog fined over worker’s saw injury
The Environment Agency has been fined after an employee was badly injured when his finger was caught by an unguarded circular saw. The 48-year-old from Coniston, who does not want to be named, had to have the middle finger on his left hand amputated to the top joint as a result of the incident on 19 April 2013.
HSE news release and woodworking webpages • NW Evening Mail • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: Firm fined £200,000 after cherry picker death
A company has been fined £200,000 over the death of a worker who was thrown from a cherry-picker in East Ayrshire. Glasgow-based SW Global Resourcing admitted two criminal breaches of health and safety laws over the death of 47-year-old delivery driver Leslie Watson.
COPFS news release • HSE news alert • BBC News Online • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Britain: Renewed anger at Network Rail director bonuses
Calls have been made for Network Rail chiefs to donate their bonuses to charity because of their poor safety record. Labour MP John Mann is asking that company executives hand over their “retention bonuses” after it emerged that they were leaving the company.
Sheffield Star • Nottingham Post • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Europe: Work is changing and that’s not good
An “individualisation” of work and a marked increase in work intensity and speed is putting the health, welfare and negotiating power of workers at risk, a new report has warned. The new policy briefing from the European Trade Union Institute (ETUI) recommends measures to “regain control over work,” noting that management is detached from the human consequences of their production driven decisions, and it “is the employees who seek to humanise the work organisation and that particular fragment of the world which, through their work, they help to shape.”
Individualisation of the work relationship:a challenge for trade unions, ETUI policy brief no.3, 2014 • Risks 673Hazards news,
27 September 2014
[deadly bus] Turkey: ‘Gross negligence’ led to Soma mine disaster
A new expert report on a mining disaster that killed 301 miners in the western town of Soma in May has concluded production pressure pushed safety off the agenda at the privately-run, state-owned mine. The report identified 20 instances of gross negligence that led to the disaster.
Today’s Zaman • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
[infections/deadly bus] USA: New lab blunders fuel deadly infection fears
A runaway mouse, escapee ferrets and the accidental mailing of dangerous bacteria by a bioterrorism lab are among incidents in labs researching deadly infections that have heightened concern in the US Congress and wider population about controls on research work with deadly pathogens. House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee member Diana DeGette said: “It appears none of these breaches have led to any kind of infection,” adding: “But it's only a matter of time.”
USA Today • Risks 673
Hazards news,
27 September 2014
Cambodia: Global unions back garment workers
Three global unions, representing millions of workers around the world, are mobilising to back Cambodia’s overworked, underpaid and exhausted garment workers. IndustriALL, UNI and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) joined Cambodian garment workers in a day of action on 17 September to mark the start of a campaign calling for a rise in the minimum wage from US$100 to US$177.
ITUC news release • IndustriALL news release • More on deaths from overwork • Cambodian campaign facebook page • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Liberia: Ebola burial teams face terrible pressures
As the Ebola death toll mounts in Liberia, burial teams are having to contend with physical risk and trauma as they take charge of safely burying the dead, often in the face of local anger. Government and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) burial teams initially took charge of burying the dead but had to recruit and train local teams to cope with the volume of corpses.
IRIN News • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Pakistan: Unsafe garment industry needs unions
Two years after 259 workers died in an 11 September fire at a factory owned by Ali Enterprises in Karachi, Pakistan, the report of an official commission into the cause and the responsibly for the tragedy remains unpublished by the government. As in Bangladesh, IndustriALL and national unions say increased union membership and collective bargaining rights are crucial steps towards making the Pakistan’s garment industry safe.
IndustriALL news release • Clean Clothes Campaign webpage • Accord on Bulding and Fire Safety • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
USA: Government can help businesses raise standards
The US government could use its massive purchasing power to demand improved working conditions around the world, a new report has concluded – but it doesn’t use this power effectively. The International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR) lays out some clear ideas to improve government purchasing and the capacity to protect and respect human rights of workers in its own supply chain.
AFL-CIO Now blog • Report by the International Corporate Accountability Roundtable (ICAR) • Risks 672Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Britain: 'Ignorant' crane boss fined over death
A company and its director have been fined a total of £150,000 after worker Kenneth Cooke, 62, was killed when a crane wheel he was dismantling "exploded like a bomb". Denbigh-based Sanders Machinery Ltd and director David Geoffrey Sanders, 70, were convicted of criminal health and safety breaches.
Denbighshire County Council news release • Wales Online • BBC News Online • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Britain: Exploding vessel lands two firms in court
A Kidderminster carpet company and a Surrey-based inspection firm have been fined after a large pressure vessel, in which carpet fibres are dyed and processed, exploded, propelling the vessel’s quarter-tonne lid six metres into the air. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Brintons Carpets Ltd and Allianz Engineering Inspection Services Ltd, who were contracted by the carpet firm to carry out periodic thorough examinations of the dye vessels.
HSE news release and safe work with pressure systems webpages • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Britain: Contractors fined after leisure centre roof fall
Two building contractors have been fined after a worker broke his back when he fell four metres from a roof. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted SJ Roberts Construction Ltd and Seaton Heating and Engineering Services Ltd in connection with the incident.
HSE news release and work at height webpages • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Britain: Timber firm fined after agency worker loses fingertip
A Lincolnshire timber company has been fined after an agency worker lost the top of his finger in an unguarded machine. Grantham Magistrates’ Court heard that the 23-year-old, from Holbeach was helping to clear a blockage on a woodworking machine at Select Timber Products Ltd’s premises in Donington, when the incident happened on 15 July 2013.
HSE news release • Lincolnshire Echo • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Britain: London Fashion Week gets a dressing down
Protesters marked the opening of London Fashion Week on 12 September with the message ‘Don’t mention the garment workers’. The protest action – which included a banner bearing the slogan suspended from Waterloo Bridge - was intended to expose an event which promotes the creativity of the UK’s fashion industry, but is silent over the millions of workers who produce clothes for high street chains.
War on Want news release • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Britain: Unions say keep the self-employed covered
Self-employed workers should remain subject to health and safety law, unions have said. The TUC’s Congress agreed a motion condemning the government's erosion of health and safety rules in UK workplaces.
BECTU news release • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Britain: Rail unions protest as dangerous franchise move
A protest at London’s Blackfriars Station by rail workers concerned at cuts to jobs, services and safety took place on 15 September. Rail unions RMT and ASLEF say the government has awarded the company Govia Thameslink the new TSGN franchise, after it agreed to extend driver only operation (DOO), cut station staffing and close ticket offices.
RMT news release • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Britain: Unions show Qatar the red card
Delegates to the TUC Congress in Liverpool joined together and showed Qatar the red card for its exploitation of migrant construction workers. Hundreds of delegates, during a debate on labour rights abuses in the oil rich state, waved football-style red cards in protest at Qatar’s selection to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
UCATT news release • Morning Star • Re-run the Vote campaign • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Britain: HSE inspectors not so keen on charging fees
A review of the effectiveness of the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) ‘Fee for Intervention’ (FFI) scheme designed to recoup the cost of regulating workplace health and safety from law-breaking businesses might have found it effective and concluded it should stay, but HSE inspectors on the ground are not so convinced. Sarah Page, health and safety officer with their union, Prospect, says the subsequent inquiry into FFI by an independent panel was not sufficiently thorough and says it was rushed.
Prospect health and safety blog • Risks 672
Hazards news,
20 September 2014
Britain: BP was 'grossly negligent' in 2010 Gulf disaster
A US judge has ruled UK oil multinational BP was “grossly negligent” in the lead-up to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, in which 11 workers died. New Orleans judge Carl Barbier also found BP subcontractors Transocean and Halliburton “negligent.”
BP statement • Wall Street Journal • BBC News Online • Scientific American • BBC Scotland News • More on BP’s safety record • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Britain: Scaffolding boss jailed after death fall
The owner of a Kent scaffolding business has been jailed for 15 months for criminal safety failings after a worker plunged 14 metres to his death at a site in London. The sentence, at Southwark Crown Court, will run concurrently with the unrelated life imprisonment imposed on Mark Anthony Hayes at the Old Bailey in July this year for the murder of his brother in a family feud.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Britain: Enfield firm fined after faking safety record
A North London meat wholesaler has been fined for operating a fault-ridden forklift truck and trying to deceive safety inspectors by forging a positive examination report on the vehicle. MIB United Meat Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Westminster Magistrates’ Court after admitting three criminal breaches of safety legislation.
HSE news release • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Britain: Balfour Beatty fined £350,000 for rail worker shock
Balfour Beatty Rail Projects Ltd has been fined £350,000 plus costs of £50,000 following a prosecution by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). Harrow Crown Court heard the company’s criminal safety failings led to a rail worker suffering serious burns when he came into contact with 25,000 volt overhead lines near Cricklewood in 27 March 2011.
ORR news release • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Britain: Lucky escape for teenager after four metre fall
A 17-year-old labourer from south-west London had a narrow escape after surviving a four-metre fall through a hole in a loft with only cuts and bruises. His employer, More Than Lofts Ltd of Worcester Park, Sutton, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the criminal safety failings that led to the incident.
HSE news release • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Global: Hi-tech supplier in China 'neglects safety'
A Chinese factory that provides parts to Apple, Dell and other hi-tech firms has been accused of violating safety rules and workers' rights. A report by non-profit China Labor Watch and Green America says that labourers were exposed to toxic chemicals, given inadequate training, and made to pay for drinking water in their living quarters.
China Labor Watch (CLW) news release and full CLW/Green America report, Two Years of Broken Promises • New York Times • Ars Technica • BBC News Online • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Turkey: Lift deaths were ‘occupational murder’
The 6 September deaths of 10 construction workers when a lift failed at a development in Istanbul has been condemned as ‘occupational murder’ by a union confederation. The elevator carrying the workers plunged to the ground from the 32nd floor.
DISK news release • Today’s Zaman and related story • Business Insider • RT News. CTV News • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
USA: Tobacco fields campaign makes inroads
The decision by a leading US tobacco growers’ organisation to oppose hiring children under 16 to work on tobacco farms is an important step toward ending this hazardous employment practice, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. The campaign group was commenting after the Council for Burley Tobacco, representing approximately 5,000 tobacco growers in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, and Ohio, approved a resolution stating “workers under 16-years-old should not be employed in tobacco production not only in the US but worldwide.”
HRW news release and May 2014 report, Tobacco’s hidden children: Hazardous child labor in US tobacco farming • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Britain: HSE fees system ‘effective’ and should stay
A scheme designed to recoup the cost of regulating workplace health and safety from businesses that break the law has proven effective and should stay, an independent report has concluded. The report found that inspectors at the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have implemented ‘Fee for Intervention’ (FFI) consistently and fairly since the system was introduced in October 2012, and found no evidence to suggest that enforcement policy decisions had been influenced in any way by its introduction.
HSE news release and full report • UCATT news release • TUC health and safety facebook page • Construction Enquirer • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Britain: Labour action pledge on tribunals and blacklisting
A future Labour government will review the system of employment tribunal fees introduced by the current administration and is “open” to making blacklisting a criminal offence, the TUC’s Liverpool conference has heard.
UCATT news release • Morning Star • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Britain: Legal experts slam ‘pointless’ Heroism Bill
A government Bill the justice secretary says will allow would-be heroes and volunteers to act without fear of being sued is ill thought through, populist, and a waste of parliamentary time, legal experts have told MPs. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) was commenting in evidence to the House of Commons’ public bill committee on the effects of the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill (SARAH), which is currently working its way through parliament.
APIL news release • Public Bill Committee SARAH webpages • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Britain: Reverse attacks on health and safety
Unions are calling on the government to reverse damaging cuts to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and to reinstate preventive unannounced safety inspections for all workplaces. A resolution passed at the TUC’s conference in Liverpool also called for the next government to review changes made to workplace safety law under the current administration.
Prospect news release • PCS news release • Usdaw news release • BECTU news release • NASUWT news release • Risks 671
Hazards news,
13 September 2014
Global: New ILO push for health and safety compliance
Calling for “a culture of intolerance towards risks at work,” International Labour Organisation (ILO) director-general Guy Ryder has said safety and health will be an integral part of all the ILO’s work. He said: “This puts safety and health alongside forced labour, child labour, freedom of association and discrimination, which were recognised in the ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.”
ILO news release and video of Guy Ryder’s speech • Risks 670
Hazards news,
7 September 2014
Britain: Disqualified director jailed after crushing death
A disqualified company director has been jailed for criminal breaches of safety regulations that led to a worker being crushed to death. Paul O'Boyle, 56, was jailed for 26 months at Winchester Crown Court, after admitting a string of offences including breach of health and safety regulations, acting as a company director while disqualified, and fraud during his time as a director of Aztech AB Ltd.
HSE news release • Daily Echo • Risks 670
Hazards news,
7 September 2014
Britain: Fractured skull leads to suspended jail term
West Midlands scaffolder Christopher Alan Harvey has received a four month prison sentence suspended for 12 months, after a construction worker suffered a fractured skull when a poorly secured pulley wheel fell seven metres and struck his head. Birmingham Magistrates’ Court heard Mark Jones, 27, was installing lead flashing on a school roof using lifting equipment installed by Christopher Harvey, trading as Cannock Wood Scaffolding, when the incident happened on 8 August 2013.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 670
Hazards news,
7 September 2014
Global: British labour activist Andy Hall in Thailand trial
A British activist who campaigns for better working conditions for migrant workers is on trial in Thailand charged with criminal defamation. The alleged offence is one of a series of charges relating to a report into labour abuses which Andy Hall helped write two years ago.
UNI news release • BBC News Online • The Independent. • Time Magazine • Andy Hall’s webpage • Sign the petition calling for all charges against Andy Hall to be dropped • Risks 670
Hazards news,
7 September 2014
Britain: Two technicians dead in fireworks blast
Two people who died in a fireworks explosion in Cumbria were technicians preparing for a wedding party display, the fire brigade said. The bodies of the man and woman were found in a shed where the stored fireworks went up in flames on Saturday 30 August.
Cumbria Constabulary news release • Daily Mail • The Guardian • BBC News Online • The Independent. • Risks 670
Hazards news,
7 September 2014
Britain: Building firm fined after joiner falls through ceiling
Manchester construction firm Quaintbrook Properties Ltd has appeared in court over its criminal safety failings after a joiner was badly injured when he fell through a ceiling. Patrick Moran, 48, had been working on a loft conversion in Chorlton when the incident happened on 21 May 2013.
HSE new release and construction webpages • Risks 670
Hazards news,
7 September 2014
Britain: Hove firm prosecuted after flouting asbestos laws
A Hove-based firm has been fined after it flouted asbestos regulations and removed some of the dangerous material just three weeks after being refused a licence to carry out such work. Asbestos Damage Limitations Ltd, trading as ADL, was prosecuted at Brighton Magistrates’ Court for criminal safety breaches following the work undertaken between 22 and 25 October 2013.
HSE news release • Risks 670
Hazards news,
7 September 2014
Britain: Workers at risk from vibration, dust and noise
A Hampshire manufacturer has appeared in court after allowing the health of its employees to be put at risk. Brooks Crownhill Patternmakers Ltd, a precision engineering company based in Andover, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on five criminal health and safety charges.
HSE news release and HAVS webpage • Risks 670
Hazards news,
7 September 2014
Canada: Enforcer and rail firm blamed for tragedy
Poor safety systems at a rail company, compounded by lax government safety oversight, have been blamed oil train explosion that killed 47 people in Canada in 2013. Transportation Safety Board (TSB) chair, Wendy Tadros, presenting the official report into the tragedy in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, said 18 factors played a role, given prominence to a rail company that cut corners and a Canadian regulator that did not do proper safety audits.
TSB news release • USW news release • Leader Post • Daily Mail • The Guardian • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Global: A world without work fatalities is possible
A world without fatal or serious occupational injuries is possible, the World Congress on Safety and Health at Work 2014 in Frankfurt, Germany has heard. ILO director-general Guy Ryder. “The right to a safe and healthy workplace is a basic human right – a right to be respected at every level of development and in different economic conditions… Prevention is possible, it is necessary and it pays.”
ILO news release • XX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work 2014 • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
India: Workers forced to clean up human excrement
The Indian government should end “manual scavenging” – the cleaning of human waste by communities considered low-caste – by ensuring that local officials enforce the laws prohibiting this discriminatory practice, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. In a 96-page report, HRW says the government should implement existing legislation aimed at assisting manual scavengers find alternative, sustainable livelihoods.
HRW news release and full report, Cleaning Human Waste: ‘Manual scavenging,’ caste, and discrimination in India [pdf] • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Britain: Brothers jailed for exposing workers to asbestos
Two brothers from Stoke-on-Trent with little or no experience of building and construction work have been given prison sentences after they exposed workers to asbestos, continually ignoring official orders to stop. At least seven workers are known to have been exposed to asbestos – one aged just 17 at the time – by snooker hall manager Akram Hussain, 52, and taxi driver Inam Hussain, 47, during refurbishment work at a former print works in Burslem.
HSE news release and asbestos webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Global: Scottish firm fined after US worker dies
An Edinburgh-based aviation services company has been fined more than £45,000 in the United States after an investigation into the death of a baggage handler found the firm had broken safety rules. Menzies Aviation was fined by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) following the death of Cesar Valenzuela, 51; the union SEIU said he was the fourth Menzies worker to die at California airports in eight years.
SEIU news release • Cal/OSHA news release • The Herald • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Britain: Abattoir convicted for killing an employee
A Scottish company has been found guilty at Jedburgh Sheriff Court of failing to ensure the health and safety of an employee who died at a Galashiels abattoir. Scottish Borders Abattoir Limited was convicted of a string of criminal safety offences and was fined £100,000 following the death of David Barker, who was suffocated when the support frame of the door he was dismantling collapsed, trapping him by the neck.
HSE news release • COPFS news release • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Britain: Building firm director in court over health risks
The director of a Stockport-based building firm has been fined after leaving workers at risk from toxic dusts for three months. Roland Couzens, 67, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after it emerged bricklayers, plasterers and a roofer could have suffered skin burns or lead poisoning as there was no hot water to wash off dust and contaminants.
HSE news release and construction welfare webpages • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Britain: NHS Trust fined for long-term asbestos failings
An NHS Trust has been fined after it was found likely to have exposed workers to potentially fatal asbestos material for more than a decade at its three hospitals in Hertfordshire. Between April 2000 and December 2011, the estates team at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust was maintaining buildings at Watford General Hospital, Hemel Hempstead Hospital and St Albans Hospital without knowing that asbestos was present or being trained to identify and control exposure.
HSE news release and asbestos webpages • BBC News Online • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Qatar: UCL criticised over Qatar campus labour abuses
University College London (UCL) is under international pressure to do more to help workers on its campus in Qatar. UCL is one of eight universities from the UK, US and France criticised by the International Trade Union Congress (ITUC) for not clamping down on the poor treatment of workers on their campuses in Qatar’s ‘Education City’.
UCU news release • TUC Stronger Unions blog • Times Higher Education • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Britain: New HSE chief must do more to protect workers
The incoming chief executive of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) “must ensure more is done to protect workers,” the union Unite has said. The union made the call after it was announced Dr Richard Judge, currently the head of the Insolvency Agency, will take over as HSE chief executive in November.
Unite news release • HSE news release • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Britain: New justice for Marlie Farm fire deaths campaign
In December 2006, Geoff Wicker and Brian Wembridge lost their lives tackling a fire at Marlie Farm. Despite a High Court ruling that compensation must be paid to the families, East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service has refused to settle - so the firefighters’ union, FBU, has launched a campaign for justice.
FBU news release and campaign for justice • Sign the FBU petition • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Global: Journalists ‘are increasingly targets’ in conflict zones
The journalists’ union NUJ has joined the international community in expressing shock at the video showing the murder of US freelance journalist James Foley, who went missing in Syria in 2012. Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, said: “It is deeply alarming to see that journalists are becoming direct targets and their lives are being put at risk.”
NUJ news release • IFJ news release and safety website • The Guardian • The Independent • BBC News Online • Risks 669Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Britain: Northern Rail slammed for conductor hypocrisy
Rail union RMT is demanded that Northern Rail explain to the travelling public why they are putting posters on trains highlighting the safety role of conductors while at the same time planning to axe the role. The union says the rail firm is going along with government cost-cutting plans for the new franchise, which would axe conductors and move the whole service over to Driver Only Operation.
RMT news release • Risks 669
Hazards news, 30 August 2014
Britain: Six figure fine after driver is crushed to death
A Scottish animal feed company has been fined £240,000 after a lorry driver was crushed to death when a two-tonne, fully-loaded grain bin fell onto him from a forklift truck. David Leslie, 49, worked for a feed services firm and was picking up a load from East Coast Viners Grain LLP’s site in Drumlithie, Stonehaven, when the incident happened on 18 March 2013.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • Risks 668
Hazards news,
23 August 2014
Britain: Drycleaner fined over bacteria dangers
A Stourbridge drycleaning company has been fined after its failure to properly manage and monitor Legionella bacteria put workers and members of the public at risk. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Pride Cleaners (2000) Limited following a management audit and visit to the company’s Cotteridge site on 6 September 2013.
HSE news release and Legionnaires’ disease guidance • Risks 668
Hazards news,
23 August 2014
Britain: Worker badly burned after firm ignores safety risks
A West Yorkshire company has been fined after a worker was severely burned in a flashover during hot-cutting work at the Fox’s Biscuits factory in Batley. The 61-year-old Ossett man was one of a team working for steel fabricators Hartwell Manufacturing Ltd, which had been hired to remove three disused oil tanks at the Fox’s site in February 2012.
HSE news release • Risks 668
Hazards news,
23 August 2014
Britain: Conditional discharge after farm worker is mangled
An Ellesmere arable farmer has received a conditional discharge after a worker suffered serious arm, head and back injuries when he became entangled in an auger screw while unblocking a grain drying machine. The 27-year-old worker from Shropshire, who asked not to be named, was attempting to remove a blockage of wet grain inside the machine at GH and DP Jones’ Red Hall Farm in Hordley on 17 September 2013.
HSE news release and agricultural machinery webpages • Risks 668
Hazards news,
23 August 2014
Britain: Dairy worker seriously injured in fall
A County Durham dairy has been prosecuted for its criminal safety failings after a worker suffered life-changing injuries following a fall. Simon Atkinson, 41, had been unloading empty milk bottles from a vehicle at Lanchester Dairies Ltd’s site in Lanchester when the incident happened on 6 September 2013.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 668
Hazards news,
23 August 2014
Cambodia: Garment workers ‘toiling to death’
A combination of overwork, poor working conditions and poverty wages has seen another spike in Cambodian garment workers collapsing at work - with workers even dropping dead on the job. Jyrki Raina, general secretary of the garment workers’ global union IndustriALL, stated: “Poverty wages mean that garment workers cannot afford to eat properly and a lack of food, long hours and intolerable factory conditions are proving a lethal combination.”
IndustriALL news report. More on being worked to death • Risks 668 •
Hazards news,
23 August 2014
Britain: Directors in the dock over asbestos risks
A Hartlepool firm and two of its directors have been fined along with a second company after putting workers at risk from exposure to asbestos. Baxketh Ltd, a metal recycling business, was fined £12,000 and ordered to pay £3,804.20 in costs and UK Tankcleaning Services Ltd was fined £10,000 with £2,243.40 costs; Michael Joseph Almond Snr, 73, was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £204.80 in costs for a criminal breach; and Michael Vincent Almond Jnr, 47, was fined £650.
HSE news release and asbestos webpages • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
Britain: Gas giant fined after plant explosion injures worker
A multinational industrial gas supplier has been fined after an explosion left a worker with life changing injuries. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted BOC Ltd after a plant explosion and fire caused Alan Garton, 57, to suffer serious burns and other injuries.
HSE news release and explosives webpages • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
Britain: Food packaging firm in court over forklift injuries
A food packaging company in Buxton has been fined after an employee suffered severe injuries to his leg when he was struck by a forklift truck. Primopost Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found the company did not have a safe system of work in place.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
Britain: Cleaning company convicted on rooftop dangers
A Stoke-on-Trent company that uses jet washers to clean roof tiles has been convicted of criminal safety offences after a worker was spotted on a roof without any fall protection in place. Roof Right UK Ltd, which did not attend the hearing, was found guilty of two criminal safety offences and was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,277.
HSE news release and work at height webpages • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
Britain: Firms fined after worker’s life-threatening fall
Two firms have been sentenced for criminal safety failings after a Liverpool worker suffered life-threatening injuries when he fell through the roof of a former Cheshire factory. Construction Contracting UK Ltd was fined £12,000 plus £23,502 costs after being convicted of a criminal safety offence; Local Asbestos Services Ltd was fined £8,000 plus £6,191 costs after pleading guilty to a criminal breach.
HSE news release • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
Britain: Timber firm fined after worker crushed by tree
A Herefordshire timber firm has been fined after a worker was crushed against a machine by a tree trunk. Chalford Timber Ltd was fined £8,000 and ordered to pay £16,335 in costs after pleading guilty to a criminal safety offence.
HSE news release and forestry webpages • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
Australia: Union fights attacks on safety rights
An Australian union has launched a television advertisement in a new phase of a campaign against a watered down of workplace safety protections. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is challenging attacks on safety rules at both the federal and state level.
CFMEU news release and TV advertisement • Stand up. Speak out. Come Home • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
China: 'Hazardous' factories closed after deadly blast
Authorities in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou have shutdown more than 200 factories pending safety checks in the wake of a massive explosion at a car parts factory that killed at least 75 people. The blast tore through a polishing workshop owned by Taiwanese-invested Kunshan Zhongrong Metal Products on 2 August.
Radio Free Asia • SACOM open letter • The Nation • China Labour Bulletin • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
Panama: Canal workers in safety struggle
The global transport workers’ federation ITF has ramped up its campaign against the Panama Canal Authority over an ongoing failure to provide decent pay and safe working conditions for more than 9,000 affiliated maritime workers in the canal zone. ITF president Paddy Crumlin said: “The ITF is very concerned about the lack of proper respect and bargaining on issues surrounding health and safety provision on the job and workers being forced to undertake double shifts and 18-hour workdays.”
ITF news release and ITF video on the dispute • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
USA: Some improvements in poultry slaughter rules
When in late July the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) secretary Tom Vilsack announced a new regulation governing the poultry slaughter inspection system, he didn’t just have food safety on his mind. Vilsack explained that USDA abandoned a plan to allow certain poultry processing plants to increase line speeds from 140 birds per minute (bpm) to 175 bpm.
The Pump Handle • AFGE news release • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
Britain: ‘Repugnant’ ferry move puts safety at risk
A seafarers’ union has condemned government plans to revoke four shipping safety regulations introduced after the 1987 Herald of Free Enterprise ferry disaster in which 193 people died. Nautilus International has accused the government of putting costs before safety in its ‘repugnant’ plan to scrap the requirements for roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) passenger ships to be fitted with on-deck emergency equipment lockers containing axes, crowbars, lifting gear and ladders.
Nautilus news release • Risks 667
Hazards news,
16 August 2014
Britain: Crossrail facing two safety inquiries after death
Crossrail, the largest construction project in Europe, is facing two investigations by the health and safety regulator over allegations made by a whistleblower about the circumstances that led to the death of a worker earlier this year. The Observer reported that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is acting on a series of statements from the whistleblower in which safety standards on the £15bn project have been condemned.
The Observer • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
Britain: ICL defeats bid for damages over deadly factory blast
The owners of a plastics factory that exploded in Glasgow killing nine people have blocked a compensation claim by a neighbouring firm damaged in the blast, because the claim was made too late. ICL Plastics Ltd opposed the claim by decorators merchant David T Morrison on the grounds it was lodged outside the statutory five-year limit.
BBC News Online • The Herald • ICL/Stockline disaster website • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
Britain: Undercover investigation leads to bakery safety probes
One of Britain’s biggest bakery firms is facing probes by the fire service and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an undercover investigation revealing serious health and safety failings putting the lives of workers at risk. Dunstable-based Honeytop Speciality Foods, which supplies all of Britain’s major supermarkets with products from pizza bases to tortilla wraps, was recently praised by prime minister David Cameron for its plans to create dozens of new jobs.
Supermarkets: The real price of cheap food, Dispatches, Channel 4, 4 August 2014 • The Independent • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
Britain: Council fined after grass cutting injury
Cirencester Town Council has been ordered to pay £29,000 in fines and costs after a worker was thrown from a mower while cutting grass. The man suffered four broken ribs and bruising in the incident at Cirencester Amphitheatre in September 2012.
Gloucestershire Echo • Stroud News and Journal • Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard • BBC News Online • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
Britain: Haulage companies fined after driver is paralysed
Two haulage companies have been sentenced for criminal safety failings after an HGV driver was left paralysed from the chest down following an incident at a transport yard in Sandy, Bedfordshire. Employer H&M Distribution Ltd was fined £150,000 plus costs of £13,996 and yard owner HE Payne Transport Ltd was fined £100,000 plus £13,996 costs.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • Risks 666 • 9 August 2014
Britain: Company in court after massive chemical spill
An Essex company has been fined after four of its chemical storage tanks failed and spilled 150 tonnes of hazardous material. An industrial estate was evacuated and access roads closed as a result of the incident at Industrial Chemicals Limited (ICL) in Grays on 11 July 2013 involving large quantities of aluminium chloride and hydrochloric acid.
HSE news release and chemicals webpages • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
Africa: Agencies fighting Ebola at ‘breaking point’
A shortage of trained health workers in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea who can treat Ebola victims and prevent further spread of the deadly disease is hampering response efforts, health ministries and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have warned. Stéphane Doyone, West Africa coordinator of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which is shouldering the bulk of the case management burden in the three countries, said: “It’s a huge programme but human resources are very challenging: staff must be highly trained and they have to be turned over every 4-6 weeks due to stress and fatigue.”
IRIN news report • WHO Ebola factsheet • UK government Ebola response • ITF news release • BALPA statement • The Independent • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
Australia: Union right of entry laws ‘save lives’
Calls by Australia’s building industry to further tighten the restrictions on union officials entering construction sites will lead to more injuries and deaths at work, the national union federation ACTU has said. ACTU assistant secretary Michael Borowick said: “The Master Builders Association is effectively trying to diminish the ability of workers to speak up for themselves in their workplaces.”
ACTU news release • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
China: Deadly blast leads to demand for more worker say
In the wake of a massive explosion at a factory in Kunshan, eastern China, on 2 August that killed at least 75 workers and injured 180 others, a group of labour activists and academics has called for urgent action. In an open letter, they argue that since factory owners and local governments have failed to protect workers, the workers themselves should be given the right to supervise workplace safety.
China Labour Bulletin report • China Daily • Wall Street Journal • BBC News Online • Orlando Sentinel • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
USA: Campaigners fight off poultry line speed up
Sweeping new regulations for poultry plants announced by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will leave processing lines running at their current speeds – a decision that spares workers from an increase but still forces them to endure the current dangerously fast pace, unions and campaigners have said. “Although the most dangerous provision has been removed from this rule, poultry workers still face punishing line speeds and other conditions that lead to widespread and serious injuries,” said Michelle Lapointe, Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) staff attorney.
UFCW news release • SPLC news release • USDA poultry rule webpage • Common Dreams • The Pump Handle • Unsafe at These Speeds: Alabama’s Poultry Industry and its Disposable Workers, SPLC, 2013 • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
Britain: Government must act on Bangladesh deaths inaction
The market has failed to get UK High Street firms to stump up the money to compensate those affected by Rana Plaza building collapse, so the government must now act, the TUC has said. According to Owen Tudor, the head of the TUC’s international department: “So the market failure that led to the Rana Plaza disaster in the first place is now compounded by a market failure to raise the funds needed for adequate compensation.”
TUC letter to international development secretary Justine Greening • TUC Touchstone Blog • UNI news release • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
Britain: FBU battle for hero Ewan continues
The firefighters’ union FBU has welcomed a decision by Scotland’s Crown Office to proceed with criminal hearings into the death of firefighter Ewan Williamson. The decision came in the face of continued Scottish Fire and Rescue Service attempts to derail the case.
FBU news release • The Scotsman • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
Britain: TUC warns the safety consensus is under threat
As celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the UK’s groundbreaking safety law continue, unions are warning that the lifesaving gains delivered by the Health and Safety at Work Act’s concensus approach could be under threat. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson notes: “We need regulation to be seen as providing a level playing field that protects the most vulnerable, rather than a burden on business, and we need unions and employers working together at all levels.”
Safety Management • Prospect news release and 40@40 from the frontline • Risks 666
Hazards news,
9 August 2014
Australia: Safety regulator must apologise for bullying staff
The official safety regulator in the Australian state of New South Wales must apologise for the institutional bullying of its staff, a parliamentary committee has said. Greens MP and industrial relations spokesperson David Shoebridge, who sat on the committee and originally pushed for the inquiry, expressed concern that WorkCover NSW has so far given no signal that it would respond to confirmation bullying was entrenched in its ranks.
Government News • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Global: FIFA told to abide by global guidelines
Two global bodies have backed union calls for football’s governing body FIFA to take action on the labour abuses in Qatar that could see 4,000 workers die preparing facilities for the 2022 World Cup. The support came in a joint article from John Ruggie, the UN Secretary-General’s special representative for business and human rights and Roel Nieuwenkamp, chair of the OECD Working Party on Responsible Business Conduct, and was written in response to the deadly warning issued by global union confederation ITUC.
UNI news release • Ruggie and Nieuwenkamp’s article on the Institute for Human Rights and Business (IHRB) website • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Peru: Unions reject disastrous safety reforms
Unions in Peru are fighting to stop a package of economic incentives which would have a devastating effect on workplace safety and environmental standards from becoming law. The proposed measures, aimed at attracting foreign investment and boosting growth, were approved by the country’s Congress on 3 July.
IndustriALL news report • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Thailand: Nation ‘on trial’ in food industry scandal
The integrity of Thailand is ‘on trial’ after it allowed a company to prosecute a human rights defender who exposed modern day slavery in its canned fruit and fishing industry, a global union has said. The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is demanding that charges against Andy Hall, a UK citizen who is due to stand trial in September on charges of criminal defamation, be dropped.
ITF news release • Andy Hall blog • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Britain: Property firm fined after ignoring wood dust risks
A property maintenance firm has appeared in court after ignoring safety concerns at its joinery workshop in Dukinfield. High Peak Remedial Services Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after it failed to comply with an enforcement notice requiring its wood dust extractor to be properly tested.
HSE news release and woodworking webpages • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Britain: Aerospace firm lands workers with nerve damage
A Nottinghamshire aerospace engineering company has been ordered to pay more than £190,000 in fines and costs for failing to protect its employees from the effects of vibration. It total, 24 workers at SPS Aerostructures Ltd were diagnosed with debilitating nerve conditions.
HSE news release and vibration webpages • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Britain: Dangerous developer goes directly to jail
Developer Eze Kinsley has been sent to prison for 30 months after repeatedly breaching prohibition notices stopping unsafe work on the redevelopment a former office block in Parkeston, Essex. HSE inspector Jonathan Elven said: “Mr Kinsley refused to accept that he had a responsibility to make sure people who worked for him, and any member of the public living or working near his site, were not subjected to unnecessary risks – and vigorously and violently resisted all attempts to make him take actions to protect them.”
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Britain: Airbus fined £200,000 over worker’s death
Aeroplane manufacturer Airbus has been fined following the death of an employee who was crushed between a tractor and a fertiliser spreader at the firm’s plant in Broughton. The company was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an investigation found Donny Williams and his co-workers had received no training on how to work on the equipment at the time the incident happened on 16 November 2011.
HSE news release and tractor safety guide • BBC News Online • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Britain: Magnet drops metal sheet on worker’s foot
A Herefordshire steelwork company has been fined after an employee was hurt when a metal sheet being lifted with a magnet fell on his foot. Hereford Magistrates’ Court heard the 30-year-old man, who has asked not to be named, was working at Frank H Dale Ltd’s premises in Leominster when the incident happened on 3 October 2012.
HSE news release and guidance on the safe use of magnetic lifting equipment • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Britain: HSE slammed for deadly silica standard defence
Hundreds of thousands of workers in the UK are being put at risk and more than 1,000 could die every year due to inadequate safeguards for a workplace dust known to cause cancer and other diseases, according to research by University of Stirling academics. The study is critical of the workplace safety regulator, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which it says is wrong to resist a tightening of the current silica exposure standard.
Stirling University news release and full report • BBC News Online • The Herald • Central FM • SHP Online • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Britain: Suspended sentence for stone dust failings
The director of a London masonry company has been handed a suspended prison sentence for exposing workers to harmful stone dust and ignoring notices to improve extraction ventilation. Employees at Redmist International Ltd were exposed to potentially deadly stone dust containing silica for a period of six months between January and June 2013.
HSE news release • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Britain: Rail accidents surge as staffing levels fall
Rail passengers and staff have been the victims of a surge in incidents resulting in injury and death as staffing levels are cut back, latest statistics show. A new report on rail health and safety from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) showed incidents involving track maintenance workers at their highest level for seven years, with three deaths, 79 major injuries and 1,641 reported minor injuries.
ORR news release • RMT news release • Morning Star • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Britain: Grayling’s dumb solution is an embarrassing turkey
A proposed law the justice secretary Chris Grayling says will “slay the health and safety culture” has been condemned by the TUC and labelled “a turkey” by Labour. In an interview to the Daily Telegraph, the Cabinet minister claimed that the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill (SARAH) was to address cases where a “person does something dumb, hurts themselves and sues the employer anyway.”
TUC Stronger Unions blog and Compensation Myth report • SARAH on the parliament webpages • Response from Labour’s Sadiq Khan • Daily Telegraph • Daily Mail • ITV News • BBC News Online • Risks 664
Hazards news,
26 July 2014
Turkey: The no occupational diseases illusion
Factory doctor Ahmet Tellioglu has seen how workplace exposures cause serious occupational diseases. But the Turkish medic says the official statistics don’t recognise the problem, with the authorities instead burying the evidence, noting: “According to official data, the incidence of occupational diseases in Turkey is 30 times lower than in the EU,” and “only 59 cases of death have been recorded to be an outcome of occupational disease in Turkey from 2004 to 2012.”
Global Labour Column • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
USA: Sugar plant probe shows agency work can kill
In February 2013, a temporary worker at a sugar plant and warehouse operation in Pennsylvania was buried alive in sugar when he fell through a hopper he had climbed into to free up the flow. A newly published report from the official federal safety regulator, OSHA, reveals that the death of Janio Salinas, 50, would have been avoided if a safety device - a simple screen over the hopper - had not been removed 13 days earlier because the plant manager believed it was slowing down production.
AFL-CIO Now blog • IUF news release • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Africa: Health workers killed in worst Ebola outbreak
Health care workers in Africa have died in the ‘worst ever’ Ebola outbreak because they did not have the necessary tools and equipment, Public Services International has revealed. The global trade union federation, condemning the “criminal neglect” that led to the preventable deaths of dozens of healthcare workers in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, warned the Ebola outbreak is “the worst ever and the first to spill widely across several countries.”
PSI news coverage and statement • Interview with Paul Tilame of the PSI-affiliated National Private Sector Health Workers Union of Liberia (NPSHWU). IRIN News • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Britain: Firm fined over turf-cutting death
Turfgrass Services International Ltd has been made to pay £100,000 after a man was run over by a turf harvesting machine he had been driving. A safety system had been disabled on the 27-tonne vehicle that killed Lee Woodhouse, 31.
HSE news release and agriculture webpages. BBC News Online • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Britain: Safety failings led to site worker’s death
Slough construction firm J McArdle Contracts Ltd and a bulldozer operator have been sentenced for serious criminal safety failings after a worker was run over and killed while working on the M25 motorway widening project. Mihai Hondru, 39, suffered multiple crush injuries and died at the scene when he was struck by a reversing bulldozer near Junction 29 at Upminster on 20 October 2010.
HSE news release and traffic management on sites webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Britain: Site worker crushed by excavator
Worcestershire construction company SD Launchbury Ltd has been fined for criminal safety neglect after a 27-year-old worker sustained life-changing injuries when he was struck by a reversing excavator. Thomas Plumb was run over by the vehicle as it reversed on a site in Gretton, near Cheltenham, on 10 May 2013, leaving his right leg shattered and in a coma for ten days and in hospital for seven weeks.
HSE news release and construction webpages • Eversham Observer • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Britain: Faulty equipment firm tried to blame victim
A shameful employer tried to blame a worker for the accident that left him with serious injuries and his co-worker dead. Unite member Joseph Horsley, an employee of road recovery firm RWR, had driven a truck to assist a colleague whose own work vehicle had broken down at the side of the road; he was standing between the broken down vehicle and another RWR vehicle when the handbrake in his own truck failed, causing it to roll backwards and crush him and his colleague.
Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Britain: RMT slams the Tube for ‘winging it on safety’
Strike action by London Underground power control staff has been extended a further week to 22 July, with the union RMT accusing the company of ‘winging it on safety’. Mick Cash, RMT acting general secretary, whose union has created a dossier of dangerous occurrences during the dispute, said: “Management’s claim that they can run the system without them is both provocative and dangerous.”
RMT news release • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Britain: Hospital worker stabbed to death at work
A health care assistant at a mental health hospital in Gloucester has died after being stabbed at work. Sharon Wall, 53, was attacked and stabbed in the back at 7.30am on 9 July at the inpatient unit of Wotton Lawn Hospital, and died about an hour later at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.
2gether NHS Foundation Trust news release • Gloucester Citizen • BBC News Online • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Global: Chemicals, dust and deaths mar fracking
US evidence of chemical related deaths, a soaring fatality rate and widespread over-exposure to lung wrecking, cancer-causing dust, has raised seriously unhealthy questions about the UK government’s reassurances on fracking safety. ‘Fracking boom’, a new online report from Hazards, warns that potentially deadly silica dust exposures, toxic chemicals already linked to four US worker deaths during ‘flowback’ operations, and many of the other hazards of more typical extractive industries present underestimated and serious safety and health risks.
Fracking boom, Hazards online report, July 2014 • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Britain: No government commitment on helicopter inquiry
The government has refused to commit to a full public inquiry into offshore helicopter safety. Outgoing transport minister Stephen Hammond declined to agree to an inquiry after last week’s Transport Select Committee report backed calls for an official probe.
BBC News Online • Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Britain: TUC calls on retailers to act on Rana Plaza
The TUC is calling on all UK retailers sourcing garments from Bangladesh to support the victims of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, that killed over 1,100 people in April last year. The call came ahead of a 15 July meeting at Westminster supported by the TUC and the campaign organisation Labour Behind the Label, who say the Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund is still £13m short of its target amount because many retailers who sell clothes made in Bangladesh on the UK high street have yet to contribute.
TUC news release • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Global: Unions give Bangladesh a failing grade
Global union confederation ITUC has given Bangladesh a ‘failing grade’ on a Sustainability Compact signed on 8 July 2013 in the aftermath of the devastating Rana Plaza garment building collapse. ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow said: “We are appalled that the government of Bangladesh has done so little, given that nearly 4 million workers depend on the government to effectively implement this plan.”
ITUC news release and Sustainabilty Compact evaluation • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Britain: Workers selling alcohol need protection
A coalition of union and business groups is calling on the government to give extra legal protection to staff who are assaulted when selling alcohol. A letter published in last week’s Sunday Telegraph arguing the case is countersigned by leaders of the shopworkers’ union Usdaw, retail trade groups and Pubwatch, the organisation bringing licensees and police together to prevent crime and anti-social behaviour in public houses.
Usdaw news release • Daily Telegraph • Amendment to the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill • Risks 663
Hazards news,
19 July 2014
Chile: Busworkers strike over safety concerns
Busworkers in Santiago took strike action last week in protest at oppressive working conditions including 12 hour shifts, hijacks and an absence of breaks. The Transantiago employees were joined by students in 3 July protests in the Chilean capital, the action coming a month after union leader Antonio Cuadra burned himself alive in protest at his treatment by the firm.
I love Chile news report • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Global: Unions vow to tackle Amazon’s ‘anti-worker culture’
Representatives of trade unions from key Amazon markets worldwide met in Berlin last week to consider the online retailer’s reported mistreatment of its workforce and its anti-union stance. The unions – all members of the global unions ITF and UNI – say Amazon treats its staff like robots, forcing them to work under enormous stress for long hours in poor conditions.
ITF news release • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Turkey: Death payout after unregistered worker dies
A court in Istanbul has ruled that a Turkish company that employed an unregistered worker from Türkmenistan, but disowned him after he died in a work-related incident, must pay record compensation to his family. It follows an earlier court ruling that the incident was work-related, paving the way for Turkey’s Social Security Institution (SGK) to pay 750 liras (£200) to Avganov’s wife every month until she remarries or dies.
Hurriyet Daily News • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Britain: Fatalities at work down, work-related deaths up
The number of workplace fatalities in Britain last year fell to the lowest annual rate on record, but deaths overall increased markedly as asbestos cancer deaths soared. While fatalities fell by 17, latest HSE figures for the asbestos cancer mesothelioma showed an increase of 244 deaths.
HSE news release and statistics, including full fatalities breakdown for 2013/14. Mesothelioma death statistics 2012 • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Britain: Rise in sites deaths ‘sends chill’ through the industry
Construction union UCATT is warning that the latest fatality figures, showing an increase in construction deaths, could mark the beginning of a steady rise in fatalities. Despite the overall number of workplace fatalities in 2013/14 reaching an all-time low, the number of construction deaths increased to 42, an 8 per cent increase on the previous year when 39 construction workers suffered fatal injuries.
UCATT news release. HSE construction statistics • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Britain: North Sea safety damaged by bullying and complacency
MPs have called for a public inquiry into whether commercial pressure from oil and gas companies and “a creeping complacency” is damaging offshore helicopter safety. The Transport select committee also heard there was a worrying culture of “macho bullying” in the industry, targeting workers who expressed safety concerns.
Transport select committee news release and full report. The Herald. BBC News Online. Morning Star • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Britain: Most coastguard shifts ‘dangerously under-staffed’
Maritime safety campaigners have voiced outrage after a Conservative minister admitted as many as two out of three coastguard shifts are dangerously under-staffed. Labour MP Katy Clark demanded action from ministers after extracting the figures from transport under-secretary Stephen Hammond under parliamentary questions.
Morning Star • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Britain: Six figure fines after zipwire crash
A worker was left with life-changing injuries after crashing at the bottom of a zipwire ride at around 35 miles per hour. The ride's breaking system had not been reset with catastrophic consequences for Brett Anthony, 20, when it failed to kick in.
Bedfordshire on Sunday • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Britain: Horse bed maker crushed teenager’s arm
A Suffolk horse bedding manufacturer and its managing director have been fined after a young employee’s arm was crushed as he removed compacted dust from a baling machine. Thetford-based Equestrobed was fined £18,000 plus £6,929 costs after pleading guilty to a criminal safety offence and managing director Timothy David Howard was fined £1,800 for a criminal breach.
HSE news release and machinery webpages • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Britain: Tree fellers caused rail problems
A council and a tree surgeon have been sentenced for criminal safety failings after a worker was injured when a tree he had been felling landed on a railway line and was hit by a train. Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council was fined £40,000 plus £5,854 in costs and tree surgeon Mark Anthony Connelly, 42, sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work and ordered to pay £5,854 in costs.
HSE news release and treework webpages • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Britain: Self-employed move is good news for undertakers
Dangerously muddled Health and Safety Executive (HSE) proposals to exempt most self-employed workers from safety law have been condemned by the TUC. In a consultation document published this week, the HSE for the first time revealed the short inclusive list of self-employed jobs that will remain subject to safety law, causing TUC to comment: “The whole thing is a mess from beginning to end… unless we stop this Bill becoming law it will also mean more business for doctors - and undertakers.”
TUC Stronger Unions blog. HSE news release.
CD273 – Consultation on proposals to exempt self-employed persons from section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, except those undertaking activities on a prescribed list. The consultation will run for eight weeks, closing on 31 August • Risks 662
Hazards news,
12 July 2014
Global: Journal will make asbestos scientist own up
The asbestos industry’s attempt to put a healthy gloss on is unhealthy products is continuing, but its favourite consultant is facing renewed flak after his undeclared links to the industry were exposed. Toxicologist David Bernstein has been paid vast sums by asbestos firms and industry groups to write papers supporting continued asbestos use, with these appearing in scientific journals – but has declared he has “no conflicts of interest.”
RightOnCanada.ca • David Bernstein. Health risks of chrysotile asbestos, Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine, volume 20, issue 4, pages 366-370, July 2014. Complaint to the journal • Background from Hazards and RightOnCanada on David Bernstein’s industry links • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
New Zealand: Action demanded on ‘terrible’ safety record
New Zealand’s national union federation CTU has called for urgent action to address the country’s “terrible” workplace safety record. CTU president Helen Kelly made the call last week in an uncompromising oral submission to a parliamentary select committee hearing on a Health and Safety Reform Bill.
NZCTU news release • Health and Safety Reform Bill • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Turkey: Unions share the pain of ‘industrial homicide’
An international union solidarity mission on the one month anniversary of the “killing of 301 mineworkers in an avoidable industrial disaster” has visited the site of the disaster in the mining town of Soma in Turkey. Global union federation IndustriALL said the mission “delivered a message of international anger to Turkey’s political authorities and public opinion, calling for immediate action including ratification and implementation of ILO Convention 176 on safety and health in mines,” adding: “Illegal and irresponsible outsourcing and subcontracting in the country must also be seriously tackled and reversed by the Turkish authorities.”
IndustriALL news release • Hurriyet Daily • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Britain: Dud safety equipment led to windfarm death
The grieving mother of a teenage construction worker who fell nearly 60ft to his death from a wind turbine after his equipment failed, has condemned the safety errors which cost her son his life. Antonio Basilio Brazao was 19 when he fell down the shaft of a wind turbine at the Earlsburn Wind Farm near Fintry, Stirlingshire in 2007.
Slater & Gordon news release • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Britain: Young mechanic was crushed by two buses
Regional bus operator West Midlands Travel has been fined £150,000 after a young employee died when he was crushed between two buses. Lee Baker, a 24-year-old assistant mechanic, was working a night shift at the company’s Walsall depot when the incident happened in the early hours of Saturday 22 October 2011.
HSE news release • Express and Star • Walsall Advertiser • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Britain: Firm fined after worker is crushed by falling MDF
A joinery firm has been fined for safety failings after an employee was crushed by half a tonne of MDF boards at its premises in Basildon. The 50-year-old worker suffered two collapsed lungs, a broken collar bone, five broken ribs and a gash to his head following the incident at Specialist Joinery Projects Ltd on 26 September 2013.”
HSE news release and woodworking webpages • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Britain: Defective remote control cost waste worker his legs
A scrap metal company and a businessman have been sentenced for serious criminal safety breaches that led to a worker losing both legs as the doors of a 16-tonne baling machine closed on him. Piotr Sarna, 42, was dealing with a problem inside the five-metre long baler at H Ripley & Co’s site in Westfield, East Sussex, when the doors of the machine began to close.
HSE news release and waste webpages • Hastings Observer • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Britain: Poorly set guards led to severe hand injuries
A company that makes metal components for the automotive industry has been fined after a worker suffered horrific hand injuries in an incorrectly-guarded machine. The 56-year-old agency worker, who has asked not to be named, was operating a 160-tonne power press at the RSM Industries Ltd factory in Exhall, when the incident happened on 8 May 2013.
HSE news release and work equipment webpages • Coventry Telegraph • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Britain: Government says HSE Is OK but must sell itself
A government decision to maintain the independence of the UK’s health and safety regulator has been welcomed by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), but it says it is concerned by the pressure for HSE to “commercialise” further. The safety professionals’ body was commenting after the Department for Work and Pensions published its full response to the Triennial Review of the role of the Health and Safety Executive.
The Government Response to the Triennial Review of the Health and Safety Executive, DWP, June 2014 • IOSH news release • EEF news release • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Global: TUC welcomes official push for Rana Plaza fund
The TUC has welcomed a statement signed by international development minister Alan Duncan and ministers from six other European countries, urging retailers to donate to the Rana Plaza fund – set up for victims of the factory collapse in Bangladesh in April 2013 in which over 1,100 workers were killed. The statement – issued at the Forum on Responsible Business at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) – expresses concern that some companies either haven’t contributed at all or haven’t given enough to the fund.
TUC news release • Rana Plaza Trust Fund donors • OECD statement on Rana Plaza, 26 June 2014 and ministers’ statement • The Guardian • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Britain: Heathrow Express in dangerous PR blunder
Rail union RMT is demanding an immediate official investigation into an incident at Heathrow Express it says is one of the “most flagrant breaches of safety rules and regulations that the union has come across in recent years.” The union said the “disgraceful incident” involved Heathrow Express (HEX) managing director Keith Greenfield acting as a customer service representative (CSR) without the required training.
RMT news release • Morning Star • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Britain: Rail safety goes south up north
Rail union RMT says it will hold summit talks with Northern MPs on 15 July in response to what it calls “a co-ordinated attack” on Northern Rail and Trans Pennine Express safety and services “unleashed by the government from its offices in London.” The union was acting in the wake of a government franchising consultation it says would “rip the two franchises to shreds in the name of maximising private profit.”
RMT news release • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Britain: Education changes put staff and pupils at risk
Government-imposed changes to the education system have undermined the safety of staff and pupils, the union NASUWT has charged. The union was speaking out after a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) probe uncovered a criminal failure to deal properly with asbestos in more than 1 in 8 schools inspected.
NASUWT news release • Risks 661
Hazards news,
5 July 2014
Turkey: 820 workers killed in six months, says union
An estimated 820 people were killed in Turkish workplaces in the first six months of 2014, a senior trade union representative has said. Publishing the figures, Kani Beko, head of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DISK), said: “In our talks with prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we have proposed to shut down all mines for three months so that all security precautions, including rescue chambers, could be taken.
Hurriyet Daily • Risks 660
Hazards news,
28 June 2014
USA: Plea bargain keeps death prof out of jail
A US chemistry professor has avoided jail after settling criminal charges relating to a horrific fire in his lab that led to the death of a research assistant, 23-year-old Sheri Sangji. UCLA professor Patrick G Harran agreed a package including a fine and a five year programme of unpaid teaching working and community service with the Los Angeles County district attorney (DA).
The Pump Handle • UCLA statement • Risks 660
Hazards news,
28 June 2014
Britain: Van maker guilty after crushing injuries
A vehicle manufacturer has been told to pay nearly £180,000 in fines and costs for its criminal safety failings after a crane operator suffered severe crush injuries in a lifting operation at the company’s press shop in Luton. The IBC Vehicles Ltd worker, who does not wish to be named, suffered multiple injuries including fractures to the upper left arm, breastbone, right collarbone and ribs, as well as collapsed lungs.
HSE news release and lifting webpage • Hazards magazine suicide webpages • Risks 660
Hazards news,
28 June 2014
Britain: Injury exposes factory’s ‘appalling’ safety standards
A Blackburn packaging firm has appeared in court after an investigation into a workplace injury discovered ‘appalling’ safety standards. Europlast (Blackburn) Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) because an employee had to have part of a finger amputated after his left hand became trapped in unguarded machinery in June 2012.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 660Hazards news,
28 June 2014
Britain: Toppling fan unit crushes worker
A Hertfordshire engineering firm has been fined for criminal safety failings after a toppling fan unit crushed a worker as it was being manoeuvred into a ground floor plant room. The 54-year-old Wilden Services Limited worker, who does not want to be named, injured his spine and was unable to work for several weeks as a result of the incident in Woking on 17 December 2012, at the new head office for the World Wildlife Fund.
HSE news release • Hemel Gazette • Risks 660
Hazards news,
28 June 2014
Global: Investors must get the truth from Rio Tinto
IndustriALL has urged investors in mining and metals giant Rio Tinto to demand the truth about aggressive management practices that are dangerously undermining safety, employment and environmental standards. The global manufacturing union federation made the call ahead of a meeting between 25 analysts and investors and Rio Tinto in North America.
IndustriALL news release and report • Risks 660
Hazards news,
28 June 2014
Britain: Workplace safety law is top life safer
Britain’s workplace safety law has probably saved more lives than any other piece of legislation, an article in the Telegraph has said. Telegraph leader writer Philip Johnston noted “the Health and Safety at Work Act (HASAWA), which is 40 years old this summer, has arguably saved more lives than any other piece of legislation, including the ban on drink driving or the compulsory wearing of seat belts in cars,” adding: “It may well have reduced deaths by 5,000 or more.”
HSE news release • The Telegraph • IOSH news release • Risks 660
Hazards news,
28 June 2014
Britain: ‘Not guilty’ verdicts in mine manslaughter case
The manager and owners of a south Wales mine where four miners died have been cleared of manslaughter. Charles Breslin, 62, David Powell, 50, Philip Hill, 44, and Garry Jenkins, 39, drowned in 2011 when 650,000 gallons of water flooded the Gleision drift mine following a controlled explosion.
BBC News Online • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 660
Hazards news,
28 June 2014
Britain: Government nudging is hurting workers
The government’s disdain for regulating and enforcing to address real health and safety problems has led them to instead conjure up laws to tackle “a problem which does not actually exist except in people’s heads,” the TUC has said. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson, writing in TUC’s Stronger Unions blog, notes the official dislike for regulation, which the government says is a ‘burden on business’, has led it to introduce an anything-but-regulation array of alternatives from ‘responsibility deals’ to non-binding guidance, with the intention of ‘nudging’ people into changing their behaviour.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • Cabinet Office ‘Nudge Unit’ and Behavioural Insights blog • The Independent • Risks 660
Hazards news,
28 June 2014
USA: Official scrutiny stepped up at Amazon centres
Internet sales giant Amazon is facing new scrutiny of its safety performance after two deaths in the US. The US government’s safety watchdog OSHA said it is investigating the fatalities at warehouses run by the world’s largest online retailer.
OHSA news release and temporary workers initiative • Indianapolis Business Journal • The Patriot News • Risks 659 •
Hazards news,
21 June 2014
USA: Huhtamaki workers stand up for safety
Finnish packaging and paper products corporation Huhtamaki is facing criticism in the US for using lower safety and employment standards at its non-unionised plants in the country. A new report from the USW and the national union federation AFL-CIO reveals how the company’s expansion strategy in the US is creating low-wage, precarious employment while threatening the job security and living standards of unionised employees.
USW news release and full report • AFL-CIO Now blog • Risks 659
Hazards news,
21 June 2014
Britain: Chemical firm was a potential bomb
The costs dangerous firms can pass on to the public purse have been illustrated by a case in Flintshire. Chemicals removed from the former Euticals factory had the power equivalent to more than 100 tonnes of explosives with the site clean-up costing the council more than £100,000.
BBC News Online • Risks 659
Hazards news,
21 June 2014
Britain: Booker gets six figure fine over warehouse death
Booker Limited has been fined £175,000 after an employee was crushed to death by a forklift truck at its Avonmouth warehouse. Annie Brennan, who was in her 40s, died at Frenchay Hospital after the incident at Booker Wholesale cash and carry.
Bristol City Council news release • Bristol Post • Risks 659
Hazards news,
21 June 2014
Britain: Small fine after worker is paralysed in fall
A Glasgow-based company has been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker was left paralysed from the neck down when he fell around three metres from the top of a gritter. Colin Shields, 34, was standing on top of a gritter at Inex Works Ltd’s premises in a bid to help his colleagues dislodge compacted grit salt from inside the machine.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 659
Hazards news,
21 June 2014
Britain: Worker’s floor slip led to loss of fingertips
A Leeds-based company has been sentenced for a criminal safety offence after a worker suffered serious injuries to his hand when it came into contact with the drive chain of a conveyor at a Newcastle factory. The 26-year-old from Longbenton, Newcastle, was clearing up after completing a job on a freezer at Country Style Foods Ltd when he slipped on the icy floor.
HSE news release and food industry webpages • Risks 659
Hazards news,
21 June 2014
Global: Unions welcome Thai fisher slavery exposé
Two international union federations working together to fight appalling exploitation of fishery workers have welcomed a Guardian newspaper exposé of the use of slave labour in the Thai prawn industry. The paper’s six-month investigation established that large numbers of men bought and sold like animals and held against their will on fishing boats off Thailand are integral to the production of the prawns, commonly called shrimp in the US.
IUF news release • ITF news release • The Guardian • Risks 659
Hazards news,
21 June 2014
Britain: Reigniting fire exposes ‘shambolic’ strike cover
London firefighters attended the scene of a serious fire in Hackney on 13 June, after strikebreaking private crews failed to properly extinguish the blaze the previous night. Matt Wrack, general secretary of the FBU, said: “The strikebreaking crews are woefully undertrained and ill-prepared.”
FBU news release • TUC news release • Risks 659
Hazards news,
21 June 2014
Britain: Regulators urged to act on air safety recommendations
The union representing helicopter pilots operating around Britain's shores is urging both the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to push ahead with vital flight safety improvements recommended in the Air Accident Investigations Branch (AAIB) report into two recent Super Puma helicopter crashes.
BALPA news release • AAIB report • Risks 659
Hazards news,
21 June 2014
Britain: Tribunal fees ‘price workers out of justice’
Employers who victimise, bully, harass or cheat their workers are increasingly likely to escape punishment as people wronged at work are prevented from seeking justice by the high cost of taking an employment tribunal case, unions have said. Citing figures published by the Ministry of Justice on 12 June, the TUC said that the 59 per cent drop in the number of single claims being taken to employment tribunals – from 13,739 between January and March 2013 to 5,619 in the first three months of 2014 – showed that fees were deterring many workers from taking their employers to court.
TUC news release • UNISON news release • Risks 659
Hazards news,
21 June 2014
Korea: Samsung in new cancer talks
After walking away from the table five months ago, Samsung has resumed talks with activists over compensation payouts for workers who believe their cancers were caused by their jobs for the microelectronics multinational. The move follows the company’s “deep apology” to affected workers and their families and promise of compensation last month. review our demands in good faith, and prepare comprehensive responses.”
SHARPS news release • Risks 658
Hazards news,
14 June 2014
USA: Government action on black lung scandal
The US Department of Labor has ordered officials who determine if coal miners are eligible for black lung benefits to no longer rely on the medical opinion of the Johns Hopkins Medicine doctor an investigation found systematically denied affected miners were significantly affected by the debilitating condition. From 2000, Dr Paul S Wheeler, who was head of the Johns Hopkins black lung programme, examined 1,573 miners' black lung x-rays and not once diagnosed the severe form of black lung that automatically qualifies for compensation.
AFL-CIO Now blog • ABC Eyewitness News • Risks 658
Hazards news,
14 June 2014
Britain: Dad’s near-death fall lands firm in court
A young father of two suffered life-changing injuries after he plunged seven metres through an unsafe fragile roof at a farm in Harrogate. Spruce and Hawe Ltd, a Tockwith-based agricultural engineering company hired to work on the building, had failed to provide any precautions to protect its employees from falls.
HSE news release and work at height webpages • Risks 658
Hazards news,
14 June 2014
Britain: Roof fall changes worker’s life in seconds
A 54-year-old Leeds worker suffered life-changing injuries when he plunged nearly seven metres through an unsafe rooflight while installing solar power racking. Peter Bettison sustained multiple injuries and was kept under sedation for most of the 22 days he had to spend in hospital.
HSE news release • Risks 658
Hazards news,
14 June 2014
Britain: Company back in court for criminal failings
A Tyneside company has appeared in court for criminal safety breaches for the second time in less than a year after a forklift truck overturned at its factory in Burnopfield, injuring an agency worker. HSE inspector Cain Mitchell said: “The case is all the more serious as it is the second time in less than a year that Radford HMY Group Ltd has been prosecuted for safety failings.”
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • Risks 658
Hazards news,
14 June 2014
Australia: Death case is the first to charge manager
For the first time, a senior company manager in Australia is facing charges over the death of a worker. The case involves Michael Booth, a 48-year-old truck driver who was electrocuted while working for Kenoss Contractors in 2012.
Canberra Times • ABC News • Risks 658
Hazards news,
14 June 2014
Britain: Death linked director jailed for illegal asbestos sales
A 64-year-old Shropshire man has been sentenced to 12 months in prison after his company illegally supplied roofing panels containing asbestos. Company director Robert Marsh’s offences only came to light after a 56-year-old construction worker, who was roofing a barn using the panels, fell through the fragile material and later died.
HSE news release and asbestos webpages • Risks 658
Hazards news,
14 June 2014
Britain: ‘Heroism’ bill sets out to slay a non-existent dragon
A proposed law the government says is necessary “to tackle the growth of compensation culture” is addressing a non-existent problem but could instead hurt victims of occupational injuries and diseases, critics have warned. Commenting on the Social Action, Responsibility and Heroism Bill (SARAH) contained in the Queen’s Speech, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Safety laws are not needless ‘red tape’, nor are they part of the ‘jobsworth culture’.”
TUC news release • Thompsons Solicitors news release • Risks 658
Hazards news,
14 June 2014
Europe: Unions slam Europe’s do little safety strategy
Europe’s long overdue health and safety strategy has been condemned as “weak and insubstantial” by unions. Commenting on the European Commission’s ‘Framework on Health and Safety at Work,’ published on 6 June, the TUC said the strategy “contains absolutely nothing new.”
European Commission news release and Strategic Framework on Health and Safety at Work 2014-2020 • ETUC news release • Risks 658
Hazards news,
14 June 2014
Australia: Unions are better in life and in deaths
In 2010, two fatalities occurred in the pulp and paper industry in New South Wales, Australia: one at a unionised workplace, the other at a non-unionised site. The difference in the responses was striking, according to the union CFMEU, with no transparency or improvements at the non-union firm, and union involvement, a quickly implemented plan of action and a marked improvement in safety performance at the union firm.
Stand up. Speak out. Come home • Risks 657 •
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Philippines: Action call after fire lock-in deaths
Safety campaigners have called for action after eight female workers locked inside a DVD warehouse in Pasay City in the Philippines died of suffocation. A Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) official said the eight women were inside a padlocked room on the second floor of a warehouse when the fire started at 12.45 am.
The Inquirer and related article • Risks 657
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Qatar: World Cup labour abuses as bad as corruption
Last week’s World Cup bribery allegations mean that FIFA’s Congress this month has a massive case to answer going way beyond corruption, according to Owen Tudor, head of the TUC’s international department. “The case for FIFA to rerun the vote on whether the 2022 World Cup should be held in Qatar is as strong on workers’ rights as corruption,” he said.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • Rerun The Vote • BBC News Online • Risks 657
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Britain: Recyling firm caused ‘devastating’ injuries
A plastics recycling company has been fined for serious criminal safety failings after a worker was struck by a reversing forklift truck and left unable to work. Robin Eddom, a 63-year-old engineer from Scunthorpe, suffered severe back and tissue injuries in the incident at ECO Plastics Ltd’s processing plant on 10 March 2012.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpage • Risks 657
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Britain: Oil firm fined after fall from tanker
A Cumbrian oil distributor has been prosecuted for criminal safety breaches after employee David Strong, 39, fell from the top of a tanker. Carrs Billington Agriculture (Sales) Ltd, which trades as Wallace Oils, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) following the incident at its depot in Langwathby on 12 November 2012.
HSE news release • Risks 657
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Britain: Teen apprentice severely injured at fabric firm
A fabric company in Macclesfield has been fined after a teenage apprentice suffered severe injuries when his left arm was dragged around a machine roller. The 18-year-old from Buxton had been trying to remove a crease from a roll of silk at Medaax Ltd in Langley when his finger became caught, pulling him in up to his armpit.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 657
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Britain: Bedding firm in court over worker’s injuries
A bedding firm has been fined after a worker suffered severe injuries when his right hand was trapped in a moving machine. The 60-year-old from Rochdale, who does not want to be named, was carrying out maintenance work on a pillow filling machine at Comfy Quilts Ltd in Stakehill when the incident happened on 2 July 2013.
HSE news release • Risks 657
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Britain: Packaging printer left workers unprotected
A Bristol-based printer of healthcare packaging has been fined for criminal safety failings after an employee had two fingers crushed when they became trapped in unguarded machinery at its Cambridgeshire plant. The 39-year-old print worker was working on a label printing machine at Clondalkin Pharma & Healthcare’s factory in Huntingdon on 14 September 2012.
HSE news release and printing webpages • Risks 657
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Britain: Bid to control work amputation pain led to death
An accidental overdose killed a former cable fitter struggling to cope with the pain of a work-related amputation, an inquest has ruled. Father-of-one Daniel Batchelor, who was injured in a workplace fall, was found unconscious in his bed aged just 36 by his fiancée Shari Newman on 22 January this year.
Irwin Mitchell news release • Dorset Echo • Western Daily Press • Risks 657
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Britain: Top private school caused deadly silica disease
A top independent boarding college has been handed a six figure fine for criminal breaches of safety law that left a worker with a life-threatening lung disease. Preston Crown Court heard how the ‘inexcusable’ failings at the £30,000 a year Stonyhurst College, Clitheroe, caused 54-year-old stonemason Terry McGough to develop silicosis, a disabling lung disease also linked to a higher rate of lung cancer and other conditions.
HSE news release and lung disease webpages • Burnley Citizen • Clitheroe Advertiser • BBC News Online • Risks 657
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Britain: Heroism Bill is really blame-the-worker ‘gobbledygook’
A new law the government says will protect ‘good Samaritans and community heroes’ could be just another ‘sinister’ attack on workers suffering occupational injuries and diseases, the TUC has warned. Announcing the planned law, which is due to take effect next year and which the government says is necessary “to tackle the growth of compensation culture”, justice secretary Chris Grayling said: “I don’t want us to be a society where a responsible employer gets the blame for someone doing something stupid.”
TUC Stronger Unions blog • MoJ news release • Conservative Home • BBC News Online • Risks 657
Hazards news,
7 June 2014
Australia: Safety must be the law says ACTU
Australian trade unions have reacted angrily to further deaths as the federal government continues to consider further deregulation and the Queensland state government enacts legislation tightening union right of entry for safety reasons and restricting the rights of health and safety representatives.
ACTU release • Risks 656
Hazards news,
31 May 2014
Britain: Apprentice death deemed unacceptable
An inquest jury was instructed to return an accidental death in the case of a teenager crushed at work when machinery weighing almost a tonne fell on him. Jason Burden, from South Shields, died in 2011 when a 970kg tunnel thruster fell from a bench as he was working as an apprentice at Tyne Slipway and Engineering Co Ltd at South Dock in Sunderland.
Press report • Risks 656
Hazards news,
31 May 2014
Britain: Clutha victims still wait for compensation
No-one injured or bereaved in the Glasgow helicopter crash has yet received compensation, despite a system of “strict liability” on the operator. Ten people were killed and many more injured after a police helicopter crashed on the Clutha Vaults pub in Glasgow in November 2013.
Herald • Risks 656
Hazards news,
31 May 2014
Britain: Corporate manslaughter conviction for site company
A construction company has been found guilty of corporate manslaughter after David Evans, a stone mason's mate, was killed by a two tonne limestone block which fell off a concrete lintel as he was building a large wall. Cavendish Masonry Limited was found guilty by a jury at Oxford Crown Court of corporate manslaughter following his death in February 2010 and will be sentenced in July.
Press report • Risks 656
Hazards news,
31 May 2014
Britain: Second conviction for food company
A food manufacturer has been prosecuted for a second time for safety failings after a worker was injured using a machine with a guard that had been intentionally disabled. The company, Veetee Rice, was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £5,492 in costs at Maidstone Crown Court after admitting a breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, thereby exposing workers to danger.
HSE news release • Risks 656
Hazards news,
31 May 2014
USA: Boss cries wolf – workers pay price
A US businessman who claimed that workplace safety inspectors were burdening him and killing jobs with too much red tape has just had a horrific incident on his site. Lance Johnson, president of Johnson Brass & Machine Foundry Inc., in Saukville, Wisconsin, claimed in 2012: "I've never been audited by more government agencies in my life than I have under Obama," adding that the US safety regulator, OSHA, was subjecting him to duplicative audits and that the cost of dealing with those unnecessary OSHA audits went "well into the six figures."
Huffington Post • Risks 656
Hazards news,
31 May 2014
Britain: Minister clueless on government policy
Construction union UCATT have condemned a government minister for her complete lack of knowledge of the construction industry. Employment minister Jenny Willott MP said on television: “The Government supports the use of flexible employment structures in the labour market and as such cannot agree with the recommendations for requiring direct employment only”, and wrongly claimed: “This would effectively be a ban on the use of agency staff in the construction sector, which is likely to be unfair to agency workers.”
UCATT press release • Risks 656
Hazards news,
31 May 2014
Britain: Airfield safety blunders led to firefighter’s death
An airfield operator has been convicted of criminal safety offences and fined after a firefighter died when he was hit by a gas cylinder. Steven Mills, 45, was employed by Kemble Air Services as station officer at Cotswold airfield in Kemble, near Cirencester.
HSE news release • Wiltshire Times • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Britain: Innocent smoothie maker fined after work death
An international smoothie and fruit juice company has been sentenced for criminal safety failings after an engineer was killed by falling pipework during work to decommission a former factory in South Wales. Gavin Bedford, 24, was helping to dismantle and demolish a section of industrial pipework at the Gerber Juice Company Ltd premises in Llantrisant on 16 June 2010 when the structure, weighing around 300kg, collapsed and struck him.
HSE news release • BBC News Online • WalesOnline • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Britain: Farming firm sentenced over worker’s death
A farming company in Cheshire has been fined £50,000 after a father-of-one suffered fatal injuries when a 1.5 tonne concrete panel fell on him. Sean Bennett, 30, was helping to build a new cowshed at Yew Tree Farm in Stanthorne when the incident happened on 8 December 2010.
HSE news release • Winsford Guardian • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Britain: Sauces firm guilty over forklift death
Sauces manufacturer AAK UK Ltd has been fined £140,000 after a forklift truck driver was killed at a factory in Runcorn. Michael Moran was using his forklift truck to load a lorry trailer outside the factory on 18 April 2011 when another lorry reversed into the side of his vehicle and the forklift overturned, killing him instantly.
HSE news release • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Britain: Heinz sentenced after engineer’s life-changing injury
Global food producer Heinz has been fined for serious criminal safety failings after an engineer had his hand severed when it became trapped in live, unguarded machinery at its Norfolk plant. Self-employed engineer Alec ‘Alf’ Brackenbury, 49, was servicing a potato peeling machine at Heinz’s manufacturing plant in Worstead, Norfolk, on the first day of a maintenance shutdown on 20 June 2013.
HSE news release and food industry webpages • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Britain: Newspaper group fined for guarding failure
Regional newspaper group Newsquest Media has been prosecuted after a Southampton worker was injured when his hand was caught in a rotating printer roller. The 49-year-old employee suffered crush injuries to his thumb and middle finger as he attempted to remove a small piece of torn paper from the unguarded roller.
HSE news release and work machinery webpages • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Global: More concerns over transatlantic trade talks
A proposed trade deal the TUC warned earlier this month could jeopardise employment and safety standards has now been condemned by 178 trade union, environmental, health and labour rights groups from both sides of the Atlantic. The groups are all signatories to a letter to EU Commissioner Karel de Gucht and US Ambassador Michael Froman, key negotiators of the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
Corporate Europe Observatory news release • ChemSec news release and the letter. BBC News Online • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Korea: Sorry Samsung agrees to cancer payouts
Korean campaigners who highlighted cancer cases in workers on Samsung’s microelectronics production lines have given a cautious welcome to a “deep apology” from the company’s chief executive. Samsung chief executive Kwon Oh-hyun said the company will now compensate chip factory workers who developed cancer while working for the firm.
SHARPS news release and statements from the campaign and Samsung • Korea Times • BBC News Online • The Guardian • PC World • Risks 655 • 24 May 2014
Turkey: Mine tragedy leads to national protests
The deaths of 301 miners in a western Turkey lignite mine has prompted widespread protests and industrial action. Trade unions launched a one-day strike on 15 May in protest of the country’s poor mining safety record.
Equal Times • BWI news release • ETUC statement • In These Times • CS Monitor • CNN • The Independent • BBC News Online • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Qatar: Global unions set conditions on 2022 World Cup
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is demanding that next month’s FIFA Congress impose labour rights conditions on Qatar if it is to be allowed to host the 2022 World Cup. The ITUC Congress, held in Berlin this week, heard that more than 1,000 workers have been killed already building the infrastructure that will deliver the World Cup.
ITUC news release • TUC news release • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
USA: Child tobacco workers in danger
Children working on tobacco farms in the United States are exposed to nicotine, toxic pesticides and other dangers, a major report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) has revealed. HRW says the world’s largest tobacco companies buy tobacco grown on US farms, but none have child labour policies that sufficiently protect children from hazardous work.
HRW news release and full report, Tobacco’s Hidden Children: Hazardous Child Labor in US Tobacco Farming • NPR • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Global: UCATT turns up the heat on FIFA over Qatar
Construction union UCATT is demanding a meeting with FIFA after Sepp Blatter, president of football’s global governing body, admitted it was a “mistake” to choose Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup. But while UCATT believes an horrific work safety record and labour abuses under the bonded labour ‘kafala’ system in Qatar made it a bad pick, Blatter has suddenly realised the stifling weather in the summer months could affect the quality of football that is played.
UCATT news release • Doha News • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Britain: Crossrail must improve on safety
Construction union UCATT is to step up the pressure on Crossrail to improve safety on the project. Delegates at UCATT’s conference in Llandudno agreed that UCATT safety reps must be elected on all sections of Europe’s biggest construction project and that safety committees should be created.
UCATT news release • Morning Star • Risks 655
Hazards news,
24 May 2014
Britain: Firm ignored deadly silica dust warnings
A natural stone supply firm has been fined for failing to protect workers from exposure to deadly silica dust – despite a previous official warning. Teesdale Architectural Stone Ltd (TASL) was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for failings identified in an inspection of its Barnard Castle premises on 16 October 2012.
HSE news release and hazardous substances webpages • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Britain: Workers not told about known asbestos risk
A south London building firm has been fined after a foreman and others were kept in the dark about asbestos exposures. Redwood Contractors Ltd was in possession of a detailed asbestos survey that clearly identified the location of the asbestos wall panels inside a warehouse, but the survey conducted two months prior to the work starting wasn’t shared with the team on the ground.
HSE news release and asbestos webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Britain: Dangerous practices at naval base caused nerve damage
A company responsible for maintaining the grounds of a naval base in Cornwall has been fined after three workers were diagnosed with a debilitating condition that left them with permanent nerve damage. The three men, who do not wish to be named, were employed by Babcock Flagship Ltd to maintain the extensive grounds at HMS Raleigh in Torpoint, where they were exposed to high levels of hand arm vibration (HAV) caused by using tools such as hedge cutters and strimmers for long periods.
HSE news release and vibration webpages • Western Morning News • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Britain: Farming firm prosecuted for roof fall death
A farming business in south west Wales has been sentenced for criminal safety failings after a roof worker plunged 15 feet to his death in front of his two sons. Ronald Clarke, 59, fell through the fragile roof of a cowshed while working at Rhyd Sais Farm, Talgarreg, near Llandysul, on 23 July 2010, hitting the concrete floor below.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Tivy-Side Advertiser • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Britain: Worker survives plunge through church roof
A Southampton worker suffered life-changing injuries after he plunged five metres through a hole in the roof of a London church, a court has been told. Father of three Allen Smith, 58, was working for Nationwide Roofing and Cladding Ltd when he sustained a collapsed lung, smashed pelvis and head injuries in the fall at Anerley Methodist Church in Penge, south-east London, on 25 October 2011.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Britain: Dock firm fined for life-changing injuries
An Essex dock company has been fined for its criminal safety failings after a dock worker suffered severe leg injuries when an operation to unload a cargo container went wrong. Agency worker Andrew Gotts, 26, of Felixstowe, Suffolk, may never be able to work again after he suffered multiple fractures and destruction of soft tissue on his lower right leg when it was trapped and crushed as a jammed container suddenly freed itself.
HSE news release and docks webpage • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Australia: Government puts safety at risk
Proposed reforms of the safety system in Australia will put workers at increased risk, unions and the opposition Labour Party have warned. They say recommendations of the Commission of Audit created by Tony Abbott’s government – and headed by the former president of the country’s top business lobby group - will mean cuts to workplace health and safety.
Brendan O’Connor’s new release • CFMEU news release • Sydney Morning Herald • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Global: Renewed warning on asbestos dangers
Global unions have warned the continued – and in many instances growing - use of asbestos in developing nations must be challenged. A conference organised by global construction unions’ federation BWI and its manufacturing and mining equivalent IndustriALL agreed a ‘Vienna Declaration’ including a “call on governments and social partners of all countries to take immediate steps to ban all mining, manufacture, recycling and use of all forms of asbestos and asbestos-containing materials as soon as possible.”
IBAS conference report • BWI news release • Vienna Declaration • IndustriALL news release. • Asbestos is a killer, BWI/IndustriALL, May 2014 • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
New Zealand: Private prosecution by union over work death
New Zealand’s national union federation has been granted permission to take a private prosecution against forestry firm M&A Cross Ltd, the employer of forestry worker Charles Findlay who was killed at work. Council of Trade Unions (CTU) president Helen Kelly said: “This private prosecution is being taken because Charles shouldn't have died at work and the industry must be held to account.”
NZCTU news release • NZTV • Radio New Zealand • NZCity • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Turkey: Death toll tops 200 in coal mine blast
Over 200 workers have been confirmed dead and hundreds more left trapped underground after a deadly coal mine blast in western Turkey this week. Energy minister Taner Yıldız said 787 people were inside the coal mine in Soma, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) south of İstanbul, at the time.
IndustriALL news release • ILO statement • Today’s Zaman • USA Today • BBC News Online • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Britain: Hundreds attend Stockline tragedy commemoration
Hundreds gathered at a memorial service this week to remember those killed in an explosion at a Glasgow factory a decade ago. Nine people died in the 11 May 2004 blast at the Stockline plastics factory and 33 others were badly injured.
Morning Star • BBC News Online • Daily Record • The Herald • ICL/Stockline disaster website • Occupational health in Scotland, Stirling University, March 2014 • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Global: Trade talks are a threat to safety standards
A free trade agreement being negotiated between the European Union and the US must not be allowed to undermine employment and safety standards, the TUC has said. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deal was on an “unprecedented scale” and “could have major implications for health and safety regulation and unions throughout Europe need to be on their guard to ensure that we protect what we have.”
TUC Stronger Unions blog • Corporate Europe Observatory news release • Risks 654
Hazards news,
17 May 2014
Global: Activists follow Chevron across the globe
Australian trade unionists challenging the labour rights and safety record of oil giant Chevron in its US home state have been welcomed by local activists, groups and politicians who share their concerns. Shannon O’Keeffe, campaigns director at the Sydney office of global transport unions’ federation ITF, said: “In Australia Chevron is suing the MUA and 15 of its members for taking action to ensure that their workplace was safe.”
ITF news release • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Global: Hi-tech giants told to ditch toxics
Smartphone manufacturers are being told that abandoning the use of highly dangerous chemicals will be good for their workforce, the environment and their bottom line. As consumer health and fitness features are expected to be the next big thing for Samsung and Apple products, campaigners are saying the hi-tech giants should make their production processes more healthy too.
eWeek • Korea Times • Apple and the Environment webpages, and toxins page • Green America’s Bad Apple campaign • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Fine for foot-and-mouth lab failings
A world-renowned animal disease research facility has been fined after it was found experiments with cattle infected with the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) did not observe the necessary safety measures. The incidents at Pirbright Institute in November 2012 and January 2013 occurred in a contained facility housing infected animals.
Pirbright Institute statement • HSE news release • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Café didn’t serve up employee insurance
A café business in Ashford has been fined for failing to hold statutory insurance that enables employees to claim compensation if they are injured at work. Ash Catering Limited, trading as Ashford Café, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the safety regulator established there was no valid Employers Liability Compulsory Insurance for the business.
HSE news release • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Protective equipment firm failed to protect worker
One of Europe’s leading manufacturers of personal protective equipment has been prosecuted and fined after a worker’s hand was crushed when it became trapped in an unsafe machine at their factory in Oxfordshire. The 47-year-old employee had just started her shift on 11 January 2013 at the JSP Ltd factory in Minster Lovell.
HSE news release and work machinery webpages • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Hand injury leads to second fine for leather firm
A leather company has been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker suffered a broken finger when her hand was dragged into unguarded machinery. The 25-year-old woman from Poland, who does not wish to be named, was working for E-Leather Ltd at its manufacturing site in Peterborough when the incident happened on 30 October 2012.
HSE news release and leather manufacturing webpages • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Council sentenced after major gas pipe rupture
Fife Council has been fined for serious criminal safety failings after workers struck and ruptured an underground gas pipe releasing almost four tonnes of gas. One hundred homes and businesses, as well as a primary school, were evacuated following the incident at the council’s Milesmark Depot in Dunfermline on 11 June 2010.
HSE news release and work near underground services guide • The Courier • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Worker breaks hip in fall from a flat-bed trailer
Denholm Global Logistics has been fined for safety failings after a lorry driver fell from a flat-bed trailer at a company warehouse in Felixstowe. The 60-year-old worker from mid Glamorgan, who does not wish to be named, broke his hip in three places and needed two steel pins inserted to help repair the damage following the incident on 6 February 2013.
HSE news release and falls from vehicles webpage • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Cherry picker pulled over during power line work
A West Yorkshire power distribution specialist has been fined after a worker suffered multiple fractures in a cherry picker fall in Hertfordshire. Nicholas Chenery, 33, of Stowmarket, suffered a compound fracture to the left leg and three fractured vertebrae to his lower spine in the incident in the Buntingford area on 9 August 2012.
HSE news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Concrete concerns before Crossrail death
A whistleblower has revealed how giant boulders of concrete had fallen and a number of people were injured in the months before a construction worker was crushed to death in a Crossrail tunnel. A document marked “confidential”, obtained by the Camden New Journal, warns of the “hazardous and unsafe working conditions” for staff spraying concrete onto walls deep below ground.
Camden New Journal • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Network Rail caves in on bonuses
Rail union TSSA has welcomed Network Rail's announcement that bonuses for its five top executives are to be cut from up to 160 per cent of salary to 20 per cent. Network Rail bosses drew up plans to significantly curb their six figures bonuses in the wake of strong union-led criticism of their safety record.
TSSA news release • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Shopworkers raise violence concerns
Shopworkers have told a top Labour politician of the routine violence, threats and abuse they face in the course of their duties. Jack Dromey, a shadow Home Office minister, responded: “We will strengthen the law and see it effectively enforced by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service and we will ensure that employers take action, working with Usdaw to ensure the safety of their staff.”
Usdaw news release and news update • Risks 653
Hazards news,
10 May 2014
Britain: Trapped worker suffers horrific head injuries
A manufacturing company has been sentenced after a worker suffered horrific head injuries when he became trapped in a machine at a Newcastle factory. Desmond Salkeld, 65, was with a colleague investigating a fault on a hot wire cutting machine at Springvale EPS Ltd in Hazlerigg, when his head became trapped in dangerous moving parts.
HSE news release and safe maintenance webpages • Risks 652
Hazards news, 3 May 2014
Australia: Petrol tankers are ‘mobile bombs’
An Australian union has told a federal government tribunal that petrol tankers are little more than ‘mobile bombs’. The 29 April Road Safety Tribunal in Sydney was convened to consider minimum safety standards for Australian petrol tankers after research revealed 1 in 4 tanker drivers were pressured to speed and 1 in 2 drivers reported inadequate brake inspections.
TWU news release • Risks 652
Hazards news, 3 May 2014
Bangladesh: Shocking toll from work chemicals
At least 63 people were killed in Bangladesh in the last three months by toxic chemicals used at work, a study has found. According to the Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE), which conducted the research, the most dangerous industries are agriculture, shipbreaking and tanneries.
BSS News • Dhaka Tribune • Risks 652
Hazards news, 3 May 2014
USA: Chicken carcass spray makes workers sick
Chemicals used to disinfect chicken carcasses are making the workers exposed to them sick – and could even be killing them. US Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspectors and workers in poultry plants say the process of preparing chicken for sale is putting them at risk.
Food Integrity Campaign news report • WSBTV • Mother Jones • Washington Post • UFCW Action • EFSA news release and decontamination webpage • Bilaterals.org • IUF trade and investment brochure • Risks 652
Hazards news, 3 May 2014
Britain: Tributes paid to teacher killed at school
The family of teacher Ann Maguire, who was stabbed to death at a school in Leeds, has described her as “a shining light” who “brightened the world.” Mrs Maguire, 61, had worked at Corpus Christi Catholic College for more than 40 years before she was attacked in front of pupils on Monday 28 April.
West Yorkshire Police update • BBC News Online • NASUWT news release • Risks 652
Hazards news, 3 May 2014
Britain: Call for action over Crossrail climate of fear
Construction union UCATT says it will step up pressure on Crossrail and its contractor Balfour Beatty Morgan Vinci (BBMV) to improve safety, following a damning leaked report. UCATT regional secretary Jerry Swain said: “Employers need to understand that the perception of being victimised for reporting safety concerns is very serious, whether this is actually the reality or not.”
UCATT news release • The Observer • Irish Post • Construction Enquirer • Morning Star • Risks 652
Hazards news, 3 May 2014
Britain: Government cuts ‘vital’ safety protections
The government’s persistent ideological attacks on key health and safety legislation threaten even more accidents, injuries and deaths at work, the TUC has warned.
TUC news release and report, Toxic, Corrosive and Hazardous: The government’s record on health and safety • TUC Workers’ Memorial Day 2014 webpages • Risks 652
Hazards news, 3 May 2014
Britain: ‘Disgust’ at commercial focus for HSE’s top job
Construction union UCATT has expressed ‘disgust and disquiet’ following the publication of the job advert for a new chief executive to run the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The advert’s opening line reads: “We are now seeking a new Chief Executive to help lead change in the organisation and take advantage of a range of national and international commercial opportunities.”
UCATT news release • Report of HSE acting chief executive Kevin Myers to the April HSE board meeting • Enright Associates • HSE chief executive recruitment pack, closing date 5 May. We love red tape blog • Risks 652
Hazards news, 3 May 2014
Global: BAT must end the abuse of tobacco workers
Shareholders attending the British American Tobacco (BAT) AGM in London have been urged to put pressure on senior directors at the company to do more to raise the plight of tobacco workers in North Carolina.
TUC news release • IUF news release • FLOC news release • AFL-CIO Now blog •
Send a message to BAT chairman Richard Burrows telling RAI to sign an agreement with FLOC • Risks 652
Hazards news, 3 May 2014
Britain: Sites 'timebomb' from health and safety cuts
The construction industry is sitting on a “ticking timebomb,” with inexperienced workers being recruited to work on London's major building sites at a time when safety standards are being run down, according to a former government adviser on the sector. Baroness Donaghy, who wrote a landmark report ‘One Death Too Many’ for the last Labour government, said there is a severe risk of a rise in deaths and serious injuries as building activity picks up during the recovery.
The Observer • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
Bangladesh: Brands must pay up for Rana Plana victims
A year after the Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh that killed over 1,100 people and injured around 2,000 more, major fashion brands have stumped up less than half the sum needed to compensate victims and their families. So far, companies keen to improve their public reputation have donated about £10 million, but that leaves a substantial £14.9m gap.
TUC news release • TUC Touchstone blog • IndustriALL news release • ILO news release and related release • Growth without tears campaign video • Rana Plaza Donors Trust Fund • Morning Star • Sign up to the TUC ‘Join hands with Bangladesh’ campaign • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
Namibia: Uranium miners dying, Rio Tinto denying
Miners who dug uranium ore at a Rio Tinto-owned mine in Namibia are dying of cancers and unexplained illnesses after working in one of continent’s largest mines. A study of current and former workers at the giant Rio Tinto-owned Rössing uranium mine in Namibia found that everyone questioned was aware of people who are now suffering lung infections and unknown illnesses thought to be linked to their work.
Study on low-level radiation of Rio Tinto’s Rössing Uranium mine workers, EJOLT & Earthlife Namibia Report, April 2014. The Guardian • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
USA: Union calls for safety first in poultry industry
A new official study confirms what workers in the US poultry industry have been saying for decades – has among the highest rates of strain injuries in America related to high paced, repetitive work. The report was commissioned to allay safety concerns about the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) proposed poultry modernisation rule, which would increase the speed that birds are processed to a maximum of 175 a minute – but has done precisely the opposite.
UFCW news release • IUF news report • NIOSH report summary and full report • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
Britain: Rubbing out safety rules puts pupils and staff at risk
Government attacks on health and safety provisions are jeopardising the quality of educational provision for children and young people and putting staff and pupils at risk, the teaching union NASUWT has warned. Delegates at the union’s annual conference condemned the repeal of the School Premises Regulations, reclassifying schools as low-risk environments and “leaving children at risk of being educated in disused offices, shops and factories.”
NASUWT news release • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
Britain: Minister's ‘insensitive’ schools safety attack backfires
A news release issued by the UK safety minister attacking “ridiculous” safety measures in schools has been condemned as “insensitive”. The embargoed release was sent to journalists on the morning of the funeral of Keane Wallis-Bennett, the 12-year-old Edinburgh schoolgirl who was killed on 1 April by a collapsing school gym wall.
DWP news release • FACK news release • Sunday Herald • Morning Star • The Scotsman and related story • BBC News Online and related story • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
Britain: More pressure for helicopter safety inquiry
Offshore safety campaigners, crash survivors and unions came together at this month’s Scottish TUC annual conference to step up the campaign for a public inquiry into UK offshore helicopter safety. The groups said they want Norwegian-style offshore safety reforms to help more workers get back home safe, noting that since 2002 the UK offshore oil and gas industry has suffered 38 fatalities involving offshore helicopter transfers while there have been zero fatalities as a result of helicopter transfers in the Norwegian offshore industry over the same period.
Unite news release • BBC News Online • Morning Star • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
Britain: Pilots call for no ‘backsliding’ on helicopter safety
The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has hit back at suggestions by industry body Oil & Gas UK that safety improvements to North Sea helicopter operations might damage North Sea productivity. Oil & Gas UK, the industry’s trade association, had said safety improvements demanded by authorities after a series of sometimes deadly incidents could negatively impact maintenance and production.
BALPA news release • Shetland Times • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
Britain: More pressure for helicopter safety inquiry
Offshore safety campaigners, crash survivors and unions came together at this month’s Scottish TUC annual conference to step up the campaign for a public inquiry into UK offshore helicopter safety. The groups said they want Norwegian-style offshore safety reforms to help more workers get back home safe, noting that since 2002 the UK offshore oil and gas industry has suffered 38 fatalities involving offshore helicopter transfers while there have been zero fatalities as a result of helicopter transfers in the Norwegian offshore industry over the same period.
Unite news release • BBC News Online • Morning Star • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
Britain: Pilots call for no ‘backsliding’ on helicopter safety
The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has hit back at suggestions by industry body Oil & Gas UK that safety improvements to North Sea helicopter operations might damage North Sea productivity. Oil & Gas UK, the industry’s trade association, had said safety improvements demanded by authorities after a series of sometimes deadly incidents could negatively impact maintenance and production.
BALPA news release • Shetland Times • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
Britain: No tears after top Tory’s legal costs shocker
A top Tory acquitted of criminal charges but left with a £130,000 legal bill is getting a bitter taste of how his party’s policies have hit injured workers who now have to hand over part of any settlement. Before his arrest, Conservative MP and former deputy speaker Nigel Evans made statements about the need to cut legal aid and admitted he would probably have voted for the last round of cuts in 2011 had he not been deputy speaker at the time.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • BBC News Online • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
Britain: The corrosive truth about the government’s safety record
The government’s “toxic, corrosive and hazardous” record on health and safety has placed workers at risk and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in jeopardy, the TUC has warned. TUC says there “must be a sea-change in our attitude to health and safety if we are going to stop this massive health problem that costs the state billions of pounds but which claims the lives of far too many workers.”
TUC news release • Toxic, corrosive and hazardous - the government's record on health and safety, TUC, April 2014 [pdf] • TUC health and safety – Time for change manifesto • The Independent • Risks 651
Hazards news,
26 April 2014
USA: Shell oil rig ran aground dodging tax
The grounding of a Shell oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Alaska was in part driven by tax-dodging, the US Coast Guard has said, putting workers and the environment at risk. The organisation said Alaska’s tax laws had influenced the decision to tow the drilling rig Kulluk to Seattle for maintenance.
Senator Markey news release • Morning Star • The Telegraph • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Australia: Probe deadly risks? Come back tomorrow
Unions in Queensland wanting to investigate potentially deadly safety breaches at work have been told they now have to give a day’s notice before they enter the workplace. A law passed in the state parliament changes union right-of-entry rules, and requires the 24 hour notice period before union investigators can enter a work site where they believe there are safety problems.
CFMEU news release • Courier Mail • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Britain: Nuclear bomb firms given get-out on accidents
Private companies hired to work at the Clyde nuclear bomb bases in Scotland are being given a multi-million pound get-out by Westminster so they won’t have to pay compensation or clean-up costs after “potentially catastrophic” accidents. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is planning to sign agreements with contractors at Faslane and Coulport that limit their financial liability in case of injuries, deaths, explosions, fires and radiation leaks to no more than £100,000.
Rob Edwards blog • Sunday Herald • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Britain: Sentencing guidelines won’t go far enough
Draft sentencing guidelines for crimes of theft could improve the lot of shopworkers but will not be sufficient to prevent the 300 assaults they face every day, their union has said. The new draft guidelines, put out to consultation by the Sentencing Council on 3 April, cover crimes including pick-pocketing, shop theft, handling stolen goods, car theft, leaving a restaurant or petrol station without paying and stealing by employees or care workers.
Sentencing Council news release • Usdaw news release • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Britain: Agency worker was dragged into machine
A Hull-based company, which operates worldwide, has been prosecuted for neglecting the safety of its staff after an agency worker had an arm crushed when it was dragged into a machine. Jamie Rignall, 30, suffered crush injuries to his right hand and arm in the incident at JH Fenner & Co Ltd, which trades as Fenner Dunlop Europe, a leading manufacturer of industrial conveyor belts.
HSE news release and work equipment webpages • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Britain: Dodgy handrail led to agency worker’s fall
A Tyneside house builder has been fined after a young plasterer was seriously injured when a temporary handrail gave way as she leant on it and she fell to the floor below. The 23-year-old agency worker from Gateshead, who does not want to be named, was working for Bellway Homes Ltd when the incident happened on 4 December 2012.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Britain: Apprentice loses finger and gets traumatised
A Northumberland company has been fined after a worker’s left hand was crushed in machinery leading to the amputation of one of his fingers. Ricky Martin, who was 18 at the time, was a third year apprentice with Miller UK Ltd when the incident occurred at its Cramlington premises on 12 March 2013.
HSE news release and machinery webpages • The Chronicle • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Britain: Property firm director done for safety neglect
A Gwent-based property development company and its director have been fined after being observed putting the lives of workers at serious risk. Formaction Ltd was installing a new roof on an industrial unit in Cardiff in June 2013, when a member of the public spotted the dangerous work methods and informed the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Britain: Worker loses limb and job in cylinder explosion
A worker filling gas cylinders had his leg severed below the knee when a faulty cylinder he was filling exploded at Guardian Gas Ltd in Bridgend. Andrew Wright, 43, was filling the defective cylinder which had been inadequately tested by certified inspection body Gaspack Services Ltd.
HSE news release • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Britain: UNISON to appeal over employment tribunal fees
UNISON is to apply to appeal last year’s High Court ruling rejecting its claim for Judicial Review of the government's decision to introduce tribunal fees. The union will ask the Court of Appeal to consider the “shocking” figures released last month that revealed employment tribunal claims dropped by 79 per cent in the first six months after the government imposed fees on workers bringing a claim.
UNISON news release • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Britain: Schoolgirl’s death shows why we need safety rules
The tragic death of a schoolgirl in Scotland is a salutary reminder that the need for safe and healthy workplaces is important for the wider public too, unions and campaigners have said. Keane Wallis-Bennett, 12, died on 1 April when a free standing wall in the gym changing room at Liberton High School fell on her.
UNISON news release • FACK news release • The Guardian • Edinburgh Evening News • Construction Enquirer • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Bangladesh: Brands must be told to make Rana Plaza payouts
Companies that sourced products from the Rana Plaza garment factories in Bangladesh where over 1,100 workers died a year ago should be pressed by the government to pay “adequate compensation” to bereaved relatives and injured workers, the TUC has said. In a letter to Justine Greening, the secretary of state for international development, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady wrote: “It is important for ministers to call on companies to pay into the fund by the first anniversary of the collapse of the Rana Plaza building on 24 April 2014 to demonstrate timely steps are being taken to rebuild the lives of workers and their families.”
TUC news release • Rana Plaza Trust Fund • Join the LabourStart campaign to get all the global brands to pay up • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Global: ILO says safety and profits go hand in hand
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is pressing for measures to address the labour abuses that led to Rana Plaza and other disasters. ILO director-general Guy Ryder told a high level meeting organised by the Danish government this month: “Rana Plaza is a call for global action on decent working conditions,” adding: “Better working conditions are in everyone’s interests, a safer industry does not mean a less profitable one.”
ILO news release • Risks 650
Hazards news,
12 April 2014
Britain: Radiation testing worker gets massive x-ray dose
A Hartlepool firm that tests machine components using x-ray and gamma radiation has been fined after one of its workers suffered ionising radiation burns while carrying out tests on safety equipment. The Redcar man, who has asked not to be named, suffered severe tissue damage to the middle, ring and little fingers of his right hand in the incident at Mistras ETS Ltd on 19 September 2012, and received more than the maximum legal yearly radiation dose in a few seconds.
HSE news release and radiation webpages • The Northern Echo • ITV News • The Gazette • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Britain: Recycling firm fined over young worker’s injuries
A young worker almost lost his arm when it became trapped in inadequately guarded machinery at a recycling plant in Lancashire. The 20-year-old employee, from Bolton-by-Bowland in Lancashire, broke his right arm in several places in the incident at Environmental Waste Recycling Ltd in Kelbrook on 7 August 2013.
HSE news release and waste and recycling industry webpages • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Britain: Companies fined for cable strike failings
Two north-east companies have been fined after workers were exposed to danger of electrocution when a digger struck an underground cable outdated plans had failed to identify. Egger (UK) Ltd and Northern Construction Solutions Ltd were both prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
HSE news release and electricity webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Britain: Building firm fails the welfare test
A Lancashire building firm has been fined for failing to provide basic facilities for its workers for nearly three weeks. Two Brooks Valley Ltd was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after an inspection of a construction site for a new mini-supermarket in Warton found workers had no shelter, no way of drying their clothes and no way of heating food and drinks.
HSE news release and construction webpages • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Britain: Firm fined for workers’ injuries tackling fire
Two workers suffered burns, one seriously, when hot material from an industrial dryer hit them as they tried to tackle a fire at a factory in South Wales. The employees of Maxibrite, in Llantrisant, were trying to fight the fire at the coal briquette plant on 16 December 2012 when they were hurt, one suffering severe burns to his back, legs and hands.
HSE news release and fire safety webpages • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Australia: Court hammers site union over safety dispute
An Australian construction union has been given a massive fine after blockading Melbourne building sites for several days in a dispute over safety. Concerns about safety raised by CFMEU at Grocon sites, where the company had denied workers union safety representation, had been supported by reports from the official safety regulator Worksafe, but the union was fined $1.25m (£700,000) and ordered to pay costs for ignoring court orders and blocking the sites.
CFMEU Victoria news release • The Guardian • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
China: At least 11 dead in garment workshop fire
At least 11 people were killed and another 17 injured when a fire broke out at a small family-run underwear workshop in Puning county, Guangdong, on the afternoon of 26 March. Official media reports said the five-storey concrete structure appeared to have only one exit.
China Labour Bulletin • South China Morning Post • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
India: When will the ‘world’s worst job’ finally end?
Clearing human excrement by hand – dubbed the world’s worst job - is continuing in India, despite laws outlawing it. There are still hundreds of thousands of ‘night soil workers’ in India – those who physically remove human excrement from ‘dry’ toilets, and there are millions more who perform the task of clearing human waste and general refuse by hand.
Equal Times • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Ireland: Fishing fatalities 40 times workplace average
People working in Ireland’s fishing industry are almost 40 times more likely to be killed at work compared to the average worker. The statistic forms part of a new public awareness campaign by Health and Safety Authority (HSA), the official workplace safety regulator, to help improve safety standards, after an inspection programme found just one in three fishing boats had a safety statement, while only one in five completed adequate risk assessments.
HSA news release • Irish Examiner • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Qatar: Union mission finds ‘shocking exploitation’
Construction union UCATT says it witnessed ‘shocking exploitation’ and workers subsisting in appalling living conditions, during a fact finding mission to Qatar. The union says it now plans to put further pressure on the Qatar government and British-based companies working in the country.
UCATT news release • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Britain: Shopworkers selling alcohol need protection
The government has blocked a proposal aimed at protecting from assault workers selling alcohol. John Hannett, general secretary of the shopworkers’ union Usdaw, said he was disappointed by the government action.
Usdaw news release • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Britain: Grounding fine ‘hardly a deterrent’ says union
A £60,000 fine on the German operator of a cargoship that ran aground on rocks off the north-east coast of England, stranding its crew for two weeks, is not a sufficient deterrent to stop ships employing too few crew and working them too long and too hard, the seafarers’ union Nautilus has said. The 80 metre MV Danio ran aground in the early hours of 16 March 2013 off the Northumberland coast while sailing from Perth to Antwerp.
Nautilus news release • BBC News Online • Newcastle Evening Chronicle • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Britain: A massive step backwards for health and safety
The government has chosen the 40th anniversary of the Health and Safety at Work Act to make one of the most dangerous changes since the legislation came into effect in 1974, TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady has warned. Writing in the Morning Star she says ministers have “decided that Britain’s 4.3 million self-employed people should no longer be subject to the provisions of the Act unless they also employ people or are on a prescribed list of occupations,” adding: “This is a huge step backwards, and one that could lead to a big increase in deaths, injuries and ill-health.”
TUC news release • Unite news release • Daily Mail • Risks 649
Hazards news,
5 April 2014
Bangladesh: Rana Plaza fund payouts to start
The 3,600 workers and families owed compensation from the Rana Plaza factory collapse last year will be able to claim payment from 24 March, the global unions that pressed for the creation of the fund have said. An advance payment equivalent to US$650 will be made to every beneficiary before the one-year anniversary on 24 April.
UNI news release • IndustriALL news release • ILO news release • Rana Plaza Trust Fund • Equal Times • Join the LabourStart campaign to get all the global brands to pay up • Risks 648
Hazards news,
29 March 2014
Britain: Road tragedies expose statistical hole
Hundreds of workers die each year on Britain’s roads while working, but you’d not know it from the statistics. Almost all work-related road deaths are classified as ‘road traffic accidents’ and are not included in the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) annual work fatalities total.
Thames Valley Police news release • BBC News Online coverage of the cyclist and lorry driver deaths • Daily Record • Newbury Weekly News • Risks 648
Hazards news,
29 March 2014
Britain: Skull fractured by catapulted metal peg
Staffordshire company Thomas Bolton Ltd has been fined after a worker suffered life-changing injuries when he was hit on the head by a metal peg. The two-kilogramme peg, which was attached to a ten-tonne overhead crane and fabric sling, was catapulted out of the sling, through the factory roof and back down into the factory some 26 metres away, hitting an employee on the head.
HSE news release • Risks 648
Hazards news,
29 March 2014
Britain: Textile firm crushed worker’s fingers
A Huddersfield woman was left with lasting hand damage when her fingers were crushed in a yarn processing machine. The 59-year-old was injured at Lawton Yarns Ltd’s Ravensthorpe factory in Dewsbury as she reached under the rollers of a carding machine to retrieve some fibres.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 648 • 29 March 2014
Britain: Injury at food firm leaves a costly aftertaste
A Kent-based international food manufacturer has been prosecuted for criminal safety failings after a worker’s hand was trapped by a sealing machine. Craig Brandie, a 24-year-old employee of Veetee Foods Ltd, suffered a crushed finger when he and colleagues began to clean the machine after an oil leak.
HSE news release and equipment safety webpages • Risks 648Hazards news,
29 March 2014
Global: What are you doing on 28 April?
It’s time you told the world just what you were planning for 28 April, Workers’ Memorial Day. And that task just got a little easier, thanks to a new poster from global union federation ITUC and the UK-based Hazards magazine.
ITUC/Hazards 28 April 2014 International Workers’ Memorial Day poster • TUC workers’ Memorial Day 2014 webpages • ITUC/Hazards 28 April global webpages and facebook page • Risks 648
Hazards news,
29 March 2014
Britain: Standing up for site workers - and their safety
One of the biggest names in the UK construction industry has pledged to support efforts to achieve a “fair resolution for the injustice” suffered by blacklisted workers. Caroline Murphy, who this week resigned from the board of Murphy Group, the construction giant founded by her father, said: “It has been my experience as deputy chair of the Murphy Group of construction companies, that safety and quality are inextricably linked.”
TUC Stronger Unions blog • Caroline Murphy blog and news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 648
Hazards news,
29 March 2014
Britain: Demolition worker was crushed by steelwork
A demolition contractor has been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker suffered life-changing injuries when steelwork he was dismantling collapsed on top of him. The 39-year-old from Barnsley sustained serious crush injuries including a fractured sternum and vertebrae in the incident at a former block works in Shawell, Lutterworth, Leicestershire, on 11 March 2013.
HSE news release and demolition webpages. Construction Enquirer • Risks 648
Hazards news,
29 March 2014
Britain: Rail unions get movement on director gravy train
Network Rail bosses have drawn up plans to significantly curb their six figures bonuses in the wake of strong union-led criticism over failures in their safety record. But documents leaked to the rail union TSSA show that while the firm will scale back bonuses to top directors, they are planning to increase base salaries to compensate.
TSSA news release • Risks 648
Hazards news,
29 March 2014
Global: Unions challenge World Cup migrant labour abuse
A union-coordinated joint mission to expose the abuse suffered by migrant construction workers in Qatar has kicked off this week. The delegation, which includes representatives of UK unions and Labour MPs, is investigating the working conditions that see hundreds of migrant construction workers die in Qatar every year.
UCATT news release • BWI news release.
Foul play, a Hazards photofile on the global union campaign around the 2022 World Cup in Qatar • The case against Qatar, ITUC report • Risks 648
Hazards news,
29 March 2014
Honduras: Union body wins death threats investigation
The Honduran ambassador to the UK has promised to investigate death threats and victimisation of trade unionists in the country after an approach by unions. The London-based International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) won the commitment after a high-level told the ambassador union members have been subject to a catalogue of human and trade union rights abuses in Puerto Cortés since September 2012, when global terminal operator ICTSI won the concession to run the port.
ITF news release and related news release • Risks 648
Hazards news,
29 March 2014
Britain: Boss abandoned teenage waitress half-blinded by chemicals
A restaurant owner has been fined after a member of his staff was splashed in the face with a caustic chemical. Initially, the incident – which happened at Huffers Cafe, Sudbury, in September 2012 – was not reported to authorities. The employee, 16-year-old Chelsea Stafford, was left half blinded on the street outside, given £20 to get a taxi and had to call her mother for assistance.
Babergh District Council news release • Suffolk Free Press • Environmental Health News • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: Life-changing injuries hamper trainee vet’s ambitions
A Shropshire horse breeder has been prosecuted for safety failings after a student suffered severe leg and pelvic injuries when she was felled by four straw bales on her last day of work experience. Emily Dawson, a 20-year-old veterinary student, was on placement at leading independent stud farm, RL Matson & Son of Whitchurch, run by partner Edward Matson.
HSE news release and guide on safe working with hay and straw bales • Shropshire Star • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: Scaffolding firm done for department store danger
A Hertfordshire scaffolding firm has been fined for a catalogue of criminal safety failings – including throwing and catching metal fittings over the heads of shoppers – as they erected two scaffolds outside an Oxford department store. Darren Baker Scaffolding Limited also failed to ensure the structures outside Debenhams were properly configured, braced and tied, which compromised their stability.
HSE news release • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: Painter injured in fall from dodgy scaffold
A painter and decorator was injured when he fell through an unprotected ladder opening on scaffolding erected by London-based Beacon Scaffolding at a block of flats in Hemel Hempstead. Self-employed decorator David Currie, 48, suffered a fractured arm and dislocated shoulder in the 6 November 2012 incident.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: Worker removing glue gets stuck in machine
A ceiling company has been fined for serious criminal safety breaches after a worker required skin grafts on an arm that had been caught in machinery. Supervisor Paul Turney, 61, was removing hardened-on glue from the lower roller spindle on a laminator machine when his left arm was caught in the drive mechanism at CEP Ceiling Ltd’s premises in Stafford on 21 January 2013; his forearm was caught in the intermeshing metal gears, which chewed up a large chunk of tissue.
HSE news release and machinery safety webpages • Express and Star • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: Agency worker injured in poorly guarded machine
A Welwyn Garden City manufacturing firm has been prosecuted after an agency worker suffered a hand injury when clearing a blockage on a poorly-guarded palletiser machine. The 33-year-old worker, who does not wish to be named, was attempting to restart a machine at Sika Ltd’s factory after dealing with the blockage when his right hand was struck by a moving part.
HSE news release and manufacturing webpages • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Bangladesh: Fearful Rana Plaza survivors return to factories
Less than year on from Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, which claimed over 1,100 lives, most of the survivors of the tragedy have had no choice but to return to industry despite ill-health and dread of another collapse. Many complain of panic attacks, headaches and nightmares, but most of the workers in Rana Plaza were young women from rural backgrounds with no possibility of finding work, or sometimes even enough food, near their home villages.
The Guardian • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
China: Clamour grows for dust disease action
Pressure for official action to stem China’s epidemic of work-related dust diseases has reached the highest levels of government. China Labour Bulletin (CLB) reports that several delegates at the annual meetings of the National People’s Congress and its advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), called on the government to do more for the estimated six million workers in China with pneumoconioses, lung diseases caused by dust.
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Qatar: ITUC exposes ‘squalid’ World Cup conditions
A new report from the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) exposes how far Qatar will go to deny workers their rights. ‘The case against Qatar’ was published ahead of a critical executive committee meeting of FIFA, football’s global governing body, on 20 March.
ITUC news release and report, The case against Qatar • TUC news release • Equal Times • TUC Touchstone blog • ITUC Re-run the vote campaign • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
USA: Deadly industry attack on NY scaffolding law Construction industry lobbyists are attempting to gut a New York scaffolding safety law, a measure that for more than a century has added an extra layer of accountability for firms. Online publication In These Times reports that the lobbyists claim the law cuts into the industry’s bottom line.
In These Times • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: UCATT welcomes false self-employment move
Treasury plans to clampdown on bogus self-employment have been welcomed by UCATT. The construction union has argued consistently that the widespread practice by employers of wrongly designating workers as self-employed has denied the Treasury millions and robbed workers of essential employment and safety protections.
UCATT news release. Government webpage on the false self-employment consultation • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: CWU celebrates new dangerous dogs law
Postal workers’ union CWU has welcomed a new dangerous dogs law. The measures, which will extend the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 and see far harsher punishments for owners of dangerous dogs, will be introduced in England and Wales in early May.
CWU news release and Dangerous dogs – Bite back campaign • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: UCATT welcomes false self-employment move
Treasury plans to clampdown on bogus self-employment have been welcomed by UCATT. The construction union has argued consistently that the widespread practice by employers of wrongly designating workers as self-employed has denied the Treasury millions and robbed workers of essential employment and safety protections.
UCATT news release. Government webpage on the false self-employment consultation • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: Tribunals fall so workers and justice pay the price
A dramatic drop in number of people taking employment tribunal cases since the introduction of a fees system shows the government is on the side of bad bosses, the TUC has said. Ministry of Justice (MoJ) figures reveal there has been a 79 per cent fall in employment tribunal cases – from 45,710 between September and December 2012 to 9,801 cases for the same period last year – since the government introduced a fee for most workers to take cases, including victimisation for workplace safety activities.
TUC news release • UNISON news release • Usdaw news release • GMB news release • Morning Star • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: Helicopter deaths firm still escaping justice
Scotland’s top lawmaker should bring a criminal prosecution against a helicopter firm whose negligence has been linked to an offshore tragedy, the union Unite has said. The finding of a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the April 2009 deaths of 16 men in a Bond Super Puma helicopter crash in the North Sea concluded that the tragedy could have been prevented.
Unite news release • BALPA news release • FAI – Super Puma helicopter crash, full determination • BBC News Online • Energy Voice • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Britain: STUC calls for urgent review of fatality inquiries
The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) has repeated its call on the Scottish government to review the country’s Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) system. The union body was speaking out after the publication of the findings from the FAI into the deaths of 16 workers in a Bond helicopter crash in the North Sea on 1 April 2009.
STUC news release • Risks 647 • 22 March 2014
Britain: Dad’s work death spurs safety action call
Kenneth Hume was just 29 when he was killed at work, leaving behind a young family. His son Stewart, who grew up to be a union rep for Unite and a vocal safety advocate, says: “Please take part in International Workers’ Memorial Day, I know I will.”
Blacklist blog. Hazards Campaign website and 28 April resources: Posters: free (A3 and A4 available). Stickers: £1 for a single sticker, £0.50 each for 2-10, and £0.25 each for 11-100, with bigger discounts for bigger orders. Lapel stickers: £1 for a single sticker, £0.50 each for 2-10, and £0.25 each for 11-100. Car stickers: £1 each, £30 per 100. Purple ribbons: £0.30 each, £30 per 100. T-shirts: in s, m, l, xl, xxl, xxxl. £6. Order from the Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester M16 7WD. Tel: 0161 636 7557. Email: info@hazardscampaign.org.uk.
TUC workers’ Memorial Day 2014 webpages. ITUC/Hazards 28 April global webpages and facebook page • Risks 647
Hazards news,
22 March 2014
Bangladesh: Firms complete first independent inspections
Garment factories in Bangladesh have faced their first independent safety audits since the union-brokered safety accord took effect. The newly published reports of the first inspections identified widespread safety shortcomings in garment factories, including the need to reduce the total load in certain areas through moving material, stock, or supplies and improvements to electrical safety and maintenance procedures.
IndustriALL news release • UNI news release • New York Times • Financial Post • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Global: Chemical industry manipulating EU-US trade talks
A leaked document from the December 2013 round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations exposes the extent of chemical industry influence over secretive ongoing US-EU trade negotiations, independent researchers have found. Their report says chemical industry proposals to TTIP would have a ‘chilling effect’ on the regulatory environment, slowing down the implementation of precautionary decisions on toxic chemicals, undermining democratic decision-making and stifling the innovation of safer alternatives.
Toxic partnership: A critique of the ACC-CEFIC proposal for trans-Atlantic cooperation on chemicals, ClientEarth/CIEL’s joint report, March 2014. Leaked document from the December 2013 round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations • TUC Touchstone blog • The Guardian • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Global: Call for full disclosure in science research
The selective promotion of scientific research to steer policy-making is a murky business, particularly as “the battle for the ear of the piper between big business and the ‘little guy’, who is often affected by pollution or hazardous substances, is so asymmetric,” a Nature editorial has warned. It cites the ongoing controversy in the US over a much delayed occupational silica dust exposure standard, noting: “Rather than challenging [safety regulator] OSHA for requesting conflict-of-interest disclosures, US politicians should be asking why all federal agencies do not require them.”
Full disclosure: Regulatory agencies must demand conflict-of-interest statements for the research they use. Editorial, Nature, 507, issue 7490, page 8, 6 March 2014 • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Britain: Bar worker lies in pub lift incident
An investigation has been launched following the death of a young bar worker after an incident at a pub in Swansea. Bars are not subject to preventive unannounced health and safety inspections under the government’s deregulatory plans.
South Wales Evening Post • BBC News Online • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Britain: Worker was crushed to death in a warehouse
A Midlands heating, ventilation and air conditioning manufacturer has been fined £150,000 after a worker was crushed to death while working in its warehouse. Ronald Meese, 58, a production supervisor for Roberts-Gordon Europe Ltd, died when one a stack of metal tubes, weighing a tonne, collapsed onto him.
HSE news release and warehousing webpages • Express and Star • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Britain: Reversing van killed painter
A Preston building firm has been convicted of criminal safety offences and fined £130,000 over the death of a worker outside a cinema in Ashton-on-Ribble. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted EMC Contracts Ltd after father-of-one Carl Green was struck by a reversing van in a paved area outside the entrance to the Odeon Cinema on 27 July 2010.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 646 • 15 March 201
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Britain: Contractor convicted after causing concrete burns
A builder has been convicted of a criminal safety offence after two labourers sustained second degree chemical burns after working knee-deep in wet concrete for more than four hours at a development in south-west London. Principal contractor Geoffrey Cinko, 55, was convicted of a criminal safety offence and fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £10,000 in costs.
HSE news release • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Global: The human cost of your new phone
Before you buy a new laptop, phone or tablet you should think about the effect on those who make them. Overwhelmingly your electronic gizmos are not produced in well-regulated economies with strong unions; the risks in their manufacture have been exported.
Who pays the price? Human costs in electronics – see the film and the facebook page • TUC Stronger Unions blog • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Britain: Deadly Network Rail slammed for victim blaming
A call from MPs for an end to Network Rail’s bonus culture has been welcomed by rail union TSSA. The House of Commons transport select committee last week also condemned the rail giant’s deadly blame the victim approach on level crossing safety, an observation that prompted an apology from Network Rail for its “past failings in managing public safety at level crossings and for its past behaviour towards bereaved families.”
TSSA news release • Transport Select Committee news releases on the report and Network Rail’s apology • Network Rail news release • BBC News Online • ITV News. Telegraph • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Britain: Firefighting at risk from funding cuts
Fire authorities across England and Wales are at “crisis point” as government funding cuts have left them unable to respond to national emergencies, local authorities have warned. The Local Government Association (LGA) services management committee chair Kay Hammond said its modelling “shows that further funding cuts in 2015/16 and beyond could start to impact on their ability to deliver this effective firefighting, rescue operations and community safety.”
FBU news release • LGA news release and report • Morning Star • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Britain: Unite demands answers following Crossrail fatality
Unite has called for an urgent meeting with Crossrail contractor BFK so the company can explain the circumstances surrounding the first fatality on the £15 billion construction project. The Metropolitan Police Service confirmed the worker who died on Friday 7 March was 43-year-old Slovakian national Rene Tkacik, who was employed by a Crossrail subcontractor.
Unite news release • London Evening Standard • Construction Enquirer • Risks 646
Hazards news,
15 March 2014
Qatar: Call for ‘kafala amnesty’ after gas tragedies
Workers injured in a gas leak and a separate deadly gas explosion at a local restaurant in Doha should be given a ‘kafala amnesty’ and the option to change employers or leave the country with their end of service benefits, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has said. The kafala system used in Qatar strips migrant workers of their right to change jobs or leave the country without their employer’s permission.
ITUC news release • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Global: Pressure grows on global brands
Over 70 labour rights groups and trade unions have signed up to a joint statement calling on global clothing brands that source from Bangladesh to pay into the Rana Plaza Donor Trust Fund. They say the money will ensure the survivors and families of victims of the devastating collapse receive the much needed support they need.
Clean Clothes Campaign news release, joint statement and list of signatories. Rana Plaza Donor Trust Fund • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Britain: Are you geared up for 28 April?
Workers’ Memorial Day, the biggest event on the union safety calendar, is fast approaching. So, have you sorted your action kit for 28 April? The Hazards Campaign is providing everything from the poster you stick on the wall to the t-shirt you stick on your back.
Posters: free (A3 and A4 available). Stickers: £1 for a single sticker, £0.50 each for 2-10, and £0.25 each for 11-100, with bigger discounts for bigger orders. Lapel stickers: £1 for a single sticker, £0.50 each for 2-10, and £0.25 each for 11-100. Car stickers: £1 each, £30 per 100. Purple ribbons: £0.30 each, £30 per 100. T-shirts: in s, m, l, xl, xxl, xxxl. £6. Order from the Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester M16 7WD. Tel: 0161 636 7557. Email: info@hazardscampaign.org.uk • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Britain: ‘Predatory’ Amazon receives an unwelcome delivery
On 28 February, Amazon’s UK headquarter received an unwelcome delivery of its own. Campaigners handed over a 56,000-strong petition calling on the firm to pay its workers a living wage. Petition organiser Emily Kenway of the Amazon Anonymous campaign said: “Amazon’s 3-points-and-you’re-out disciplinary system comes under fire in many of these testimonies, with points doled out for work-related injuries and traffic accidents.”
TUC Stronger Unions blog • AFL-CIO now blog • Amazon Anonymous campaign • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Britain: Self-employed plan is unjustified and its ‘dangerous’
The government’s plan to exempt most self-employed from coverage by safety laws is unjustified and ‘dangerous’, safety professionals’ organisation IOSH has said. The safety body was commenting on clause 1 of the government’s Deregulation Bill, which seeks to remove ‘burdens’ on most self-employed workers by exempting them from health and safety law.
IOSH blog • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Britain: Rig shuts down after North Sea worker dies
An oil worker has died after falling into the water from a North Sea platform. George Bartlett, from Shotts in Lanarkshire, fell from the Taqa’s Harding platform, which is about 200 miles north east of Aberdeen, during “maintenance activity” on 27 February.
Taqa statement • BBC News Online and update • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Britain: Worker was crushed to death on hospital site
A major London firm has been ordered to pay more than £250,000 in fines and costs for criminal safety failings after a worker was killed by a large concrete beam during a dangerous lifting operation in strong winds at a hospital construction site. Guilherme de Oliveira, 44, from Portugal, was working for Bouygues UK Ltd when he sustained fatal crush injuries in the incident at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford on 10 November 2008.
HSE news release and lifting operations webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Britain: Manufacturer fined after acetone burns welder
A welder was seriously burned when an open bowl of highly flammable acetone used to quench hot work at a Didcot manufacturing firm ignited. The 38 year-old employee was in hospital for a week and needed skin grafts after seriously burning his left leg in the incident at Thames Cryogenics Ltd on 23 January 2012.
HSE news release • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Britain: Unite calls for action on helicopter safety
A Unite petition signed by thousands of workers was submitted to the Scottish parliament, urging MSPs to help restore ‘shattered confidence’ in offshore helicopter safety. The move coincided with a 27 February Scottish parliamentary debate led by MSP Richard Baker, in support of Unite’s ‘Back Home Safe’ campaign.
Unite news release • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Britain: London fire cuts claim their first victim
Firefighters have accused the Mayor of London of having “blood on his hands” after a Woolwich pensioner lost his life following a house fire less than two months after his local fire station closed. Maurice Cunliffe, 83, died in the early hours of Thursday 27 February, four days after being pulled semi-conscious from a fire in his flat.
FBU news release • Daily Express • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Britain: Unions vow 'war' on driverless trains
Rail unions have vowed to resist plans to introduce driverless trains on the London Underground. Transport for London (TfL) has begun a tendering process for what it calls the New Tube for London. Bob Crow, general secretary of rail union RMT, said: “The RMT will not allow Tube safety to be sacrificed on the altar of driverless operation and we are geared up and ready to go to war on this one.”
ASLEF news release • BBC News Online • Wandworth Guardian • Risks 645
Hazards news,
8 March 2014
Britain: Attempted citizen’s arrest of blacklist boss
The Blacklist Support Group has attempted to serve a Citizen’s Arrest Warrant on Callum McAlpine, the first ever chair of the covert and illegal blacklister the Consulting Association. The arrest bid on Friday 21 February - the fifth anniversary of the raid on the Consulting Association by the Information Commissioner’s Office - took place at the Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd London offices.
Reel News coverage • Blacklist blog • Morning Star • Construction Enquirer.
Families Against Blacklisting Group, facebook page • Risks 644
Hazards news, 1 March 2014
Britain: Suspended jail term after bricklayer is paralysed
A Lincoln builder has been handed a four-month suspended prison sentence after a self-employed bricklayer broke his back in two places in a three metre fall from faulty scaffolding. Robert Wilkin, 70, was left paralysed from the waist down and confined to a wheelchair following the incident at a warehouse in North Hykeham on 14 February 2013.
HSE news release and construction webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 644
Hazards news, 1 March 2014
Britain: Worker suffered horrific injuries in explosion
A Worcestershire engineering firm has been fined for safety crimes after a worker lost both his legs in a factory blast. Clive Dainty, from Kidderminster, was working at Filtration Service Engineering Ltd (FSE) on 8 December 2011 when a 335-litre vessel exploded as it was being pressure tested.
HSE news release and pressure testing guide • Express and Star • BBC News Online • Risks 644
Hazards news, 1 March 2014
Russia: Pilots locked in dogfight with Aeroflot bosses
Aeroflot pilots are being left out in the cold following a long-standing safety dispute between their union and the management, with three union leaders now threatened with jail. The Equal Times online journal reports that Russia’s biggest airline carrier is under intense pressure from labour rights groups who say the company is putting lives at risk by refusing to listen to the safety concerns of pilots.
Equal Times • Sign up to the LabourStart online campaign to call for the release of Shlyapnikov, Pimoshenko and Knysho • Risks 644
Hazards news, 1 March 2014
USA: Free pizza after Chevron fracking explosion kills
One hundred residents of a tiny Pennsylvania town where a fracking well exploded into a deadly tower of flame, killing one person and burning for five days, have received an apology in the form of a pizza coupon. Chevron Appalachia Community Outreach sent local residents a certificate that entitles them to a large meal (‘Special Combo Only’) from Bobtown Pizza following the 11 February tragedy.
TUC Touchstone blog • Pittburgh Post Gazette • ABC News • Risks 644
Hazards news, 1 March 2014
Britain: Pilots back helicopter safety plan
Helicopter pilots operating around Britain's shores and represented by the British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) have welcomed wide-ranging recommendations made in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) review of helicopter operations.
BALPA news release • CAA news release • The Scotsman • BBC News Online and related story • Risks 644
Hazards news, 1 March 2014
Europe: ‘Better lawmaking’ in Europe is much worse
A European Parliament resolution agreed in early February has undermined worker protection and “let us down badly,” the TUC has said. According to TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson: “Of course this has all played right into the hands of Cameron and the anti-regulatory wing of the Commission who are doing his bidding and will make it even more likely that the new Commission, due to be appointed shortly, will also take up the deregulation agenda.”
TUC Strong Unions blog • European Parliament resolution • Find out how your MEP voted • ‘We love red tape’ facebook page • Risks 644
Hazards news, 1 March 2014
Britain: Shock drop in construction inspections in Wales
A drop in the number of official safety spot checks on building sites in Wales could lead to workers being put at risk, construction union UCATT has warned. The union was commenting after figures obtained by BBC Wales revealed that inspections by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in the last financial year were down 35 per cent.
UCATT news release • BBC News Online • Risks 644
Hazards news, 1 March 2014
Britain: Self-employed exemption gets even scarier
The government’s plans to exempt most self-employed workers from safety law is a really bad idea that has just got even worse, the TUC’s head of safety has warned.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • Risks 644
Hazards news, 1 March 2014
Britain: ‘Frightening’ list is peppered with deadly omissions
Self-employed workers, some in industries well known for their deadly record, are to be excluded from health and safety law under a draft government plan. A TUC analysis of the three most recent Health and Safety Executive (HSE) month fatality reports found most could be in occupations not included in the government’s draft ‘prescribed’ list of self-employed jobs to remain subject to health and safety law.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • Risks 644
Hazards news, 1 March 2014
Tanzania: Deaths mine 'had a fantastic year'
At the launch of the African Barrick Gold plc (ABG) 2013 financial results, chief executive officer Brad Gordon said that its North Mara gold mine in Tanzania “had a fantastic year last year.” The company, though, made no mention of the multiple deaths and injuries to local villagers that have occurred over the past year, including four deaths at the mine in the past month alone.
Leigh Day news release • ABG news release • Risks 643
Hazards news,
22 February 2014
Qatar: We can prevent the World Cup carnage
If the 2022 Qatar World Cup organisers thought they would escape scrutiny by publishing revised Workers’ Safety Standards last week - and misleadingly claiming they had the backing of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) - they were wrong. The Observer reported last Sunday that 400 Nepalis had died in Qatar in the last year, a finding followed up by statistics obtained from the Indian Embassy in Qatar that revealed more than 450 Indian migrants had died in Qatar in the last two years.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • ITUC news release • BWI news release • ILO news release • The Guardian • The Observer • Risks 643
Hazards news,
22 February 2014
Britain; Tipper driver crushed to death at concrete block plant
Concrete block manufacturer Plasmor (Halton) has been fined £100,000 after a worker was crushed to death when a tipper truck overturned. David Astley, 56, was crushed when a trailer full of limestone dust fell on him at the Widnes plant as it was being emptied on 13 July 2013.
HSE news release and transport webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 643
Hazards news,
22 February 2014
Britain: Farming firm in court after wetland deaths
A Cambridgeshire farming partnership has been sentenced for a criminal safety offence following the death of a student undertaking pest control work. Trainee gamekeeper Luke Yardy, 17, drowned in a lake at Kingfishers Bridge Wetland in Wicken on 11 September 2011 when he fell from a small boat while trying to retrieve the carcass of a culled goose; his step-brother, Ashley, also drowned while attempting a rescue.
HSE news release • Cambridge News • BBC News Online • Risks 643
Hazards news,
22 February 2014
Britain: Engineer and firm fined over crush deaths
A building firm and an engineer have been fined after two workers died when a wall collapsed on them at a building site in Suffolk. Matthew Skeet, 19, and Kevin Ruffles, 57, died at Worlingworth on 21 October 2010. Elliston Steady & Hawes (Building) was fined £45,000 and Barry Potts, 65, fined £15,000 at Ipswich Crown Court.
Suffolk Police news release • East Anglian Daily Times • BBC News Online • Risks 643
Hazards news,
22 February 2014
Britain; Security firm fined for generator death failings
Security company Anchor Services (GB) Limited has been fined for criminal safety failings after a lone working security guard was killed by carbon monoxide fumes from a petrol generator. Arthur Ebirim, 45, was overcome by the killer gas on 28 October 2011 as he kept a night-time watch over a disused nursing home in Taunton Vale, Gravesend, that was awaiting demolition.
HSE news release • Risks 643
Hazards news,
22 February 2014
Britain: Cold storage firm done for multiple failings
A Nottinghamshire cold storage firm, Dawson Rental Portable Cold Storage Ltd, has been fined for criminal safety failings after one worker was injured by falling equipment and several others developed a disabling condition of the nerves and joints.
HSE news release and vibration webpages • Risks 643
Hazards news,
22 February 2014
Britain: What will you be doing on 28 April?
The TUC webpages for Workers’ Memorial Day on 28 April 2014 are now up, ready and waiting to list your planned activities. The TUC 28 April webpage notes: “The TUC believes that we should use the day to highlight the need for strong regulation at national, European and global level.”
TUC Workers’ Memorial Day, 28 April 2014 webpages. If you know of any union 28 April events, email details to the TUC health and safety department • Risks 643
Hazards news,
22 February 2014
Britain: Safety cuts ‘calculated on the back of an envelope’
Government cuts to proactive Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspections were imposed without an impact assessment and without any investigation of increased risks to workers or the general public, the construction union UCATT has found. Both DWP and HSE said they did not hold the information requested.
UCATT news release • Morning Star • Low life, Hazards online report, January 2013 • Risks 643
Hazards news,
22 February 2014
Bangladesh: Fire factory owners surrender
Two owners of the Tazreen garment factory in Bangladesh where 112 workers died in a fire two years ago have turned themselves in to the authorities. Delwar Hossain and his wife Mahmuda Akter face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
BBC News Online • Times Union • Risks 642
Hazards news,
15 February 2014
Brazil: Another death at a World Cup stadium site
Workers at a World Cup stadium in Manaus, Brazil, threatened strike action last week, to add weight to their demand for better conditions following a third construction-related death at the Arena da Amazonia - seven workers have died at World Cup venues in Brazil so far.
Globe and Mail • ITV News • Risks 642
Hazards news,
15 February 2014
Russia: Sochi snow is tainted with workers’ blood
Russia’s Sochi Winter Olympics have been organised at a deadly cost, global building unions’ federation BWI has said. “There is blood in the snows of Sochi and the impunity of workers’ exploitation has to stop,” BWI said in a statement, adding: “The most expensive Games in history is also the deadliest for building workers.”
BWI news release • TUC Stronger Unions news release • Risks 642 • 15 February 2014
Hazards news,
15 February 2014
Britain: Lead poisoner escapes jail
The owner of Nottinghamshire firm LDB Light Alloys Ltd has received a suspended jail term after employees Brook Northey, Paul Collins and Martin Bytheway became seriously ill with lead poisoning. Laurence Dennis Brown, 65, was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months for a criminal safety offenceand also fined £45,000 plus £35,000 costs.
HSE news release and lead webpages • Nottingham Post • Risks 642
Hazards news,
15 February 2014
Britain: Stained glass firm caused lead poisoning
The owner of a Lincolnshire stained glass firm has been fined after one of his employees, David Doherty, suffered severe lead poisoning. David Sear, sole owner of Lincolnshire Stained Glass, pleaded guilty to a criminal breach of the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002 and was fined £18,000 with £18,000 costs.
HSE news release • Lancashire Evening Post • Risks 642
Hazards news,
15 February 2014
Britain: Recycling firm fined £100,000 for worker’s death
A Redditch recycling company has been fined £100,000 and ordered to pay costs of £57,927 for criminal safety failings after a worker was killed by a bale of waste weighing more than a tonne. Kenneth Swaby, 43, was struck by the falling bale at R&S Recycling Ltd in Beoley on 11 February 2011.
HSE news release and waste industry and falls webpages • Risks 642
Hazards news,
15 February 2014
Britain: ILO investigates UK’s pared back inspection system
The UK government has been asked by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to explain its decision to abandon preventive health and safety inspections in most workplaces. The move follows a complaint from the TUC, which told the global labour standards body the new inspection regime does not comply with ILO standards.
Report of the ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of International Labour Standards 2014 • Risks 642
Hazards news,
15 February 2014
Britain: Government cuts have hobbled the flood response
Communities secretary Eric Pickles has found himself at the centre of a storm entirely of his own making after attempting to blame the Environmental Agency’s (EA) chronically over-stretched, exhausted and rapidly dwindling number of staff for some of the country’s flooding woes. Prospect deputy general secretary Leslie Manasseh said “the people who are working day and night to prevent flooding – our members in the Environment Agency – will see their revenue budgets cut from £275m in 2010 to £226m in 2014/15,” adding: “Who will maintain these defences if the agency's revenue budgets are cut?”
Prospect news release • UNISON news release • The Guardian • BBC News Online and related story • Risks 642
Hazards news,
15 February 2014
Britain: UNISON vows to continue the fight for justice
The union UNISON has vowed to appeal after its court challenge to “punitive” employment tribunal fees was rejected by High Court judges. The fees introduced on 29 July last year mean workers can be required to pay up to £1,200 for taking a tribunal complaint about issues including victimisation for workplace safety activities.
UNISON news release • Morning Star • Personnel Today • Irwin Mitchell news release • Risks 642
Hazards news,
15 February 2014
Britain: Coastguard stations remain badly understaffed
Coastguard stations across the UK were dangerously understaffed last year, new figures have confirmed. The worst hit areas were staffed below safe levels more than half the time in 2013, data obtained by the broad-based Coastguard SOS campaign group shows.
PCS news release and Coastguard SOS website • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Safety concerns remain after track worker death
Rail staff are scared they will lose their jobs if they speak out about safety, a BBC investigation has found. BBC’s Inside Out programme examined the death of a contract worker who was hit by a train on the track; Scott Dobson, 26, died near Saxilby, Lincolnshire, in December 2012.
BBC News Online • Inside Out, 3 February 2014 • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Firm fined £250,000 over worker fall death
A logistics firm has been fined £250,000 after a worker was killed when he fell through a warehouse roof in Wythenshawe. Michael Sweet, 48, from Stockport, was cleaning out the guttering at Aramex (UK) Ltd on the Ringway Trading Estate near Manchester Airport on 12 December 2011 when he stepped on a fragile panel and fell to the concrete floor below.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Worker died after fall through roof light
Scaffolder Michael Stone, 44, died of his injuries a week after he fell eight metres through a fragile roof light while working on top of a chemical store at a creamery in Cornwall. Dairy Crest Ltd was fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £20,000 costs and Dartmeet Services, the main contractor, was fined £30,000 with £10,000 costs.
HSE news release and roof lights guide • Construction Enquirer • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Global packaging giant fined for guarding failings
The UK division of a global packaging company has been fined for criminal safety failings after a long-serving worker lost a finger in an unguarded chain on a machine. The 54-year-old from Gosport, who does not want to be named, cut the first finger on his right hand to the bone in the incident at Huhtamaki UK Ltd in Gosport on 4 February 2013.
HSE news release • Portsmouth News • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Fitting firm fined over brain injury
Bedfordshire fitting company DM Specialist Limited has been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker sustained a serious head injury in a preventable fall from a temporary scaffolding platform in Kensington. Stewart Alazia, 51, fractured his skull and left cheekbone, and was left with bleeding to his brain as a result of the incident on 21 December 2011
HSE news release • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Another deadly BP cost cutter gets a top government post
A former oil executive criticised for his role in a deadly BP refinery explosion, and whose last company was fined over 50 health and safety violations connected with fracking, has been appointed to lead the government's Major Projects Authority (MPA). John Manzoni will be responsible for overseeing big-budget projects including the HS2 high-speed rail line and the new nuclear programme, and follows his former BP boss Lord Browne into the Cabinet Office, while former BP Alaska chief John Morgan was appointed by David Cameron to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) board – all three have been criticised in reports and court for corner cutting on safety.
Cabinet Office news release • The Guardian • Financial Times •
Safe hands? BP old boys linked to disasters find favour with the PM, Hazards magazine, number 122, April-June 2013 • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Network Rail to pay bonuses despite crossings carnage
Network Rail has said it intends to proceed with retention bonuses totalling £900,000 to three executives despite a High Court judge calling for bonuses to be “severely reduced” because of the company’s devastating failings on level crossing safety. TSSA leader Manuel Cortes, who has been strongly critical of the company ‘gravy train’, accused the firm of “hard hearted cynicism” after outgoing chief exec Sir David Higgins said the bonuses would still be paid this April.
TSSA news release • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Ineos sacks stressed union rep while he’s at the docs
The union Unite is taking legal action over the “grotesque” treatment of a prominent Ineos union rep fired “on trumped up charges” while he visited his doctor. Mark Lyon, who Unite say is suffering from a serious stress-related illness as a result of his treatment by the company, was dismissed this week after Ineos said he had not stopped the union from commenting over fears of job losses at the Scottish plant.
Unite news release • BBC News Online • The Herald • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: GMB wins care home rest breaks case
A care worker has won a GMB-backed legal case after being denied rest breaks at work. Alan Hood, who has worked for Consett-based Accept Care Limited since 2007, complained that the company failed regularly to provide him with legally required rest breaks. His complaints were upheld at a Newcastle employment tribunal, which found the firm was in breach of the Working Time Regulations.
GMB news release • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Workers still at risk 10 years on from Morecambe Bay
A decade on from the tragedy at Morecambe Bay which saw 23 Chinese workers lose their lives, vulnerable workers are still at risk of abuse, injury and even death at work, the TUC has warned. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Instead of reducing the GLA’s ability to protect workers, the biggest testament the government could pay to what happened at Morecambe Bay would be to extend the reach of the GLA so that rogue employers know that there is no hiding place for those who break the law.”
TUC news release • BBC News Online • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: GLA powers are ‘inadequate’, says Unite
The scope and powers of The Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) need to be expanded, Unite has said. The union said undetected abuses by gangmasters were the equivalent of ‘modern day slavery’. It said the fact that only seven gangmasters were convicted for operating without a licence in 2013 prompted the Unite call for more GLA investigations and for prosecutors to get tough with rogue gangmasters.
Unite news release • Early Day Motion by Jim Sheridan MP calling for remit of the authority to be extended to other sectors • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Firefighter deaths caused by organisational failings
The deaths of four firefighters in a 2007 tragedy were the result of a “catalogue of organisational systemic failings” by Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service, a report from the union FBU has found. FBU’s investigation found “severe problems” with risk assessment and planning, the quality of information available to the incident commander, the use of breathing apparatus, and with training, particularly for ‘retained’ or part-time firefighters.
FBU news release and report • BBC News Online • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: No cash, no bash call for London buses
Bus drivers’ union Unite has welcomed a Transport for London (TfL) plan to no longer accept cash payment on board buses, but has warned it must also protect drivers from confrontations with irate passengers. London bus drivers will no longer accept cash payment on board their vehicles when the new measures are introduced this summer.
Unite news release • TfL news release • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Britain: Safety concern about ‘work experience’ apprenticeship
An officially endorsed construction apprenticeship scheme which has advertised a position that would require the successful candidate to undertake arduous unpaid work experience at height presents serious safety concerns, the union UCATT has warned. The union says its officials were told Evolve Apprenticeships had advertised for an apprentice who would initially have to complete two weeks of unpaid work experience and be required to work at heights and carry and lift heavy loads.
UCATT news release • Risks 641
Hazards news,
8
February 2014
Europe: MEPs criticise inaction on endocrine disruptors
The failure of the European Commission to deliver legislation on endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) is alarming, leading members of the Socialists and Democrats grouping (S&D) in the European Parliament have said. An industry lobbying and product defence campaign set out to dissuade the European Commission from acting, and January this year the Commission said it would delay action for a least one year.
S&D group news release • HEAL news release • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Norway: Oil unions pull out of offshore safety group
Unions representing Norwegian offshore oil rig workers have pulled out of an industry-sponsored safety group amid harsh criticism of cutbacks in safety training. The four unions - Fellesforbundet, Industri Energi, Lederne and SAFE - announced last week they have suspended their membership in the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association's Network for Safety and Emergency Response Training (NSOB), which was established in the wake of the 1980 Alexander Kielland platform disaster in which 123 people died.
UPI News • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Qatar: The shocking death toll of World Cup migrants
The extent of the risks faced by migrant construction workers building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has been laid bare by official documents revealing that 185 Nepalese men died last year alone. The Guardian reports that the 2013 death toll, which is expected to rise as new cases come to light, is likely to spark fresh concern over the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar and increase the pressure on football’s governing body Fifa to force meaningful change.
The Guardian • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Britain: One day, one roof, two falls, one death
Less than seven hours after a worker was seriously injured in a fall from a Stockport industrial unit, a second worker suffered fatal injuries falling from the same roof. The tragedy last week prompted construction union UCATT to warn that workers often lack the confidence to refuse dangerous work.
UCATT news release • Falkirk Herald • Daily Record • Manchester Evening News • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Britain: Roofer paralysed in fall from ladder
Liverpool building firm W Carroll & Sons Ltd has been fined £105,000 after a roofer was paralysed when he fell from a ladder in Southport while carrying a bag of building materials. Michael Riley, 50, from Skelmersdale, now has virtually no movement below his neck and will need to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
HSE news release and falls webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Britain: Workers poisoned on Channel Tunnel
A total of 32 workers changing rail tracks inside the Channel Tunnel have suffered suspected carbon monoxide poisoning in two incidents on two consecutive nights. A total of 19 workers out of around 60 working overnight in the tunnel were affected on 26 January and taken to hospital, with one welder who was diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning reported to be in a serious condition, and a further 13 out of 65 workers were affected the following night and taken to hospital.
The Telegraph • BBC News Online • Construction Enquirer • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Britain: Fires fall in London but deaths are now rising
A sharp decline in fires in London should not lead to complacency, the firefighters’ union FBU has said, pointing to a recent upturn in the number of fire-related deaths. Paul Embery, FBU London secretary, said the fall in the number of fires was “great news”, but warned “there are still over 100,000 incidents taking place every year, and recent cuts mean that our capacity to respond quickly and effectively has taken a big dent.”
LFB news release • FBU news release • London24 • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Britain: Attack on safety to continue says Cameron
David Cameron has confirmed health and safety will remain a major target of his deregulation drive. He told a business event this week that 800 regulations had already been scrapped, as well as “needless” workplace health and safety enforcement.
Prime Minister’s Office news release and David Cameron’s speech • BIS news release • TUC news release • FSB news release and response to David Cameron’s speech • BCC news release • Morning Star • BBC News Online • The Independent • The Guardian • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Britain: Campaigners and safety professionals slam plan
Safety campaigners and safety professionals have said the prime minister’s continuing attack on workplace safety protections will make work more dangerous and will not benefit business. Louise Taggart of bereaved relatives group Families Against Corporate Killers (FACK) said: “Deregulation and slashing enforcement won’t make workers safer, or protect ordinary people, it’s designed to let corporations and business off the hook.”
IOSH news release • Hazards Campaign news release • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Britain: Protest at dangerous air traffic control cuts
Staff working in NATS, the UK’s air traffic control provider, protested outside the European Commission’s UK office in London on 30 January over fears that cost-cutting will lead to a drop in air traffic management (ATM) standards, service quality, safety and jobs. The protest was against the Single European Sky (SES 2+) proposals to hive-off support services.
Prospect news release • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Britain: MPs urged to act on offshore helicopter safety
The union Unite has told a committee of MPs that offshore workers want reforms to helicopter safety after a series of serious incidents involving 20 fatalities. The House of Commons’ transport select committee inquiry into helicopter safety took evidence from offshore trade unions and industry bodies in Aberdeen on 27-28 January.
Unite news release • STV News • BBC News Online • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Britain: Pilots want better helicopter safety regulation
Britain’s pilots’ union has called for a judicial review to probe helicopter safety problems in the UK sector of the North Sea. Captain Colin Milne, of the helicopter affairs committee of pilots’ union BALPA, told Westminster’s transport select committee the review was needed to examine the amount of control exercised by oil companies on helicopter flights and the role of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in policing offshore safety in the aviation sector.
BALPA news release • Transport Committee news release and inquiry webpage • The Scotsman • Risks 640
Hazards news,
1 February 2014
Cambodia: Global brands and unions call for deaths action
International trade union bodies and 30 global brands have joined forces to urge the Cambodian government to investigate the recent use of deadly force against garment workers striking for improved pay. Union bodies IndustriALL, UNI and the ITUC say they are encouraged that brands are taking responsibility for their production and are demanding a change from the Cambodian government.
IndustriALL news release • UNI news release • Joint letter from global unions and global brands to the Cambodian prime minister • Cambodia Daily • The Guardian.
Act Now! Sign up to the Labourstart and union campaign in support of the Cambodian workers • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
China: Shoe factory fire kills at least 16 workers
In the latest devastating workplace fire to hit China, at least 16 workers were killed when a blaze broke out on the afternoon of 14 January at a shoe factory in the eastern coastal city of Wenling, China’s official media has reported. Two of the owners and one manager at Taizhou Dadong Shoes were subsequently taken into custody by the local police pending an investigation into the cause of the fire.
China Labour Bulletin • People’s Daily • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
France: Conflicts of interest scandal hits top agency
The French government should block the appointment of a scientist with undeclared asbestos industry links as the head of the Centre for Research in Epidemiology and Population Health (CESP), the country’s leading public health agency, campaigners have said. In a letter to authorities, the National Association of Asbestos Victims (ANDEVA) said the nomination of Paolo Boffetta as head of France’s top institute of epidemiology and public health must be rescinded.
IBAS news report • RightOnCanada news release • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Britain: New rules have led to harsher penalties
Tougher penalties including more custodial sentences are being handed out to employers who breach criminal health and safety laws following a change in the official approach to prosecutions, according to a government report. It says changes introduced under the Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008, which include more cases being heard in the lower courts, have resulted in higher fines and more jail terms.
DWP news release and report: Health and Safety Act 2008: Post-legislative scrutiny memorandum 16 January 2014 • IOSH news release • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Britain: Firm ‘will never be forgiven’ for apprentice’s death
A Sunderland-based marine engineering firm has been sentenced for criminal safety failings after a teenage apprentice was crushed and killed by a piece of machinery weighing almost a tonne. Jason Burden, 19, from South Shields, was in his fourth year as an apprentice engineer at Tyne Slipway & Engineering Co Ltd (TSECL) at South Dock when a 970kg tunnel thruster from a ship overturned and landed on top of him.
HSE news release and safe maintenance webpage • Sunderland Echo • Shields Gazette • BBC News Online • Hazards dockwork feature • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Britain: Lorry driver crushed unloading heavy parts
A lorry driver was crushed and killed by heavy graphite parts after being allowed to unload his vehicle in a dangerous manner, a court has heard. Turkish national Ahmet Yakar, 52, was struck by parts weighing up to a quarter-of-a-tonne each in the fatal incident at Morganite Electrical Carbon Ltd in Swansea on 19 July 2011.
HSE news release and vehicle loading factsheet • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Britain: Firm fined after repeat recycling plant blunder
A Devon company has been fined after a worker was seriously injured by a reversing vehicle at a recycling centre in Exeter in a near carbon copy of an earlier incident. Exeter Magistrates’ court heard that Leases Limited hired the telehandler in September 2012, but did not have it fitted with a reversing camera.
HSE news release • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Britain: BBC Watchdog does watchdog’s job
An Oldham roofing firm and a company director have appeared in court after being filmed breaking the law by the BBC’s Watchdog programme. Renov8 (North West) Ltd and Darren Potts were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after footage showed workers on top of house roofs using a pressure washer without any measures to stop them slipping and falling to the ground below.
HSE news release and falls webpage • Construction Enquirer • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Global: Workers bear the brunt of terror attacks
Every terrorist attack is a tragedy for the victims, their families and communities. But Owen Tudor, head of the TUC’s international department, notes “we often lose sight of the fact that many people killed in such attacks are workers going about their daily business.”
TUC Stronger Unions blog • IFJ statement • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Britain: Usdaw worried by rising shop thefts and assaults
Soaring rates of theft from shops are leaving workers facing intolerable levels of violence at work, the shopworkers’ union Usdaw has said. The union was commenting after the British Retail Consortium’s (BRC) retail crime survey revealed the number of shop thefts had reached a nine-year high, with a trebling of incidents of violence, threats and abuse against retail staff, which included a four-fold increase in assaults on shopworkers.
Usdaw news release • British Retail Consortium Annual Retail Crime Survey • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Britain: New concerns about performance management
Civil servants could be unfairly targeted under a new performance management system, the union Prospect has warned. It says the new process could see “line managers under pressure to deliver a forced distribution of performance markings;” adding: “The union fears that if the process is not closely monitored and challenged, it may be used to force managed exits and drive down pay.”
Prospect news release • Hazards performance management guide • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Britain: Directors must be made accountable
Company directors will pay greater regard to workplace health and safety if there is a prospect they could end up branded safety criminals, the TUC has said. In the latest TUC briefing supporting its 2013 ‘Time for change’ health and safety manifesto, the union body calls for explicit safety duties on directors and notes: “You cannot put a company or local authority in jail if it kills someone.”
TUC Time to Change Health and Safety bulletin – Directors’ Duties [pdf] •
Time for change: A trade union manifesto for reclaiming health and safety at work, TUC, February 2013. Time for change manifesto webpage • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Britain: Derail the Network Rail directors’ gravy train
Massive bonuses for Network Rail’s top bosses should be axed in the wake of level crossing deaths, the union TSSA has said. The rail giant’s director for operations Robin Gisby, finance boss Patrick Butcher and infrastructure head Simon Kirby all receive six-figure salaries and are set to receive a £300,000 bonus top up in April.
TSSA news release • Network Rail news release • Daily Mirror • Morning Star • Risks 639
Hazards news,
25 January 2014
Britain: Government-ordered review supports HSE’s role…
The TUC and unions have welcomed the recommendations of the Triennial Review into the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which confirms the important role the regulator plays in reducing injury and ill health caused by work. This review, authored by a government-selected business lob by group leader, is the fourth to examine the health and safety system since 2010, following the Young and Loftsedt reports and the “Red tape” challenge.
TUC news release • UNISON news release • Prospect news release.
Health and Safety Executive: 3-yearly review of its future as a non-departmental public body, webpage and full report. Mike Penning, Ministerial statement, 9 January 2014 • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: Fact-blind ministers set on ‘commercialising’ HSE
Safety minister Mike Penning is intent on ignoring the fi ndings of the government-commissioned Triennial review, saying the government wants “to go further to introduce reforms of HSE to ensure that it delivers value for money to the taxpayer, whilst ensuring safety for the nation.” Criticising the government announcement, TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson said its last minute government decision to strap the recruitment process for a new HSE chief executive, after interviews had taken place, suggested the government now intended to “appoint someone who will share their zeal for greater commercialisation.”
TUC Stronger Unions blog • UCATT news release • NASUWT news release • Hazards Campaign news release • IER news release • BOHS news release • IOSH news release • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: Workers must be consulted on HSE changes
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) union Prospect has welcomed the findings of the Triennial Review of the watchdog commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions and says the government must involve workers on any changes to HSE and heed the review’s warnings about the dangers of the 'fee for intervention' model.
Prospect news release • Construction Enquirer • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: Cleaners treated like ‘third-class’ workers
Cleaners are facing a corrosive mix of workplace hazards, poor employment conditions and disrespect from their colleagues, their union UNISON has said. A UNISON focus group involving NHS cleaners also found the EU working time directive is used to deny cleaners their breaks and identified poor health and safety practices, especially where dangerous chemicals are concerned.
UNISON news release • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: Union concern over unsafe breakdown vehicles
Unsafe AA breakdown vehicles are being kept in service, a union has charged, and is demanding road and workplace safety regulators intervene. GMB, the union for AA roadside and recovery staff, has written to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Driver and Vehicles Standards Agency (DVSA) asking them to intervene.
GMB news release • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: Business for Britain’s plan is ‘unworkable and unjust’
A report from a right wing group claiming to speak for business and calling for the wholesale removal of workplace protections for millions of British workers has been dismissed by the TUC and the business group representing Britain’s manufacturing firms. The report from Business for Britain, led by the founder of the Conservative-linked TaxPayers’ Alliance, says that workers employed by UK companies that don’t export to Europe should have fewer workplace rights.
TUC news release • Business for Britain news release, and report ‘Setting out the British Option’ • EEF news release • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: Widow calls for end to betting shop lone working
The widow of a man murdered behind a betting shop counter has called for an end to lone working in the industry, echoing calls from the Labour Party and the union Community. Betting shop manager Andrew Iacovou, 55, lay bleeding to death for 90 minutes behind the counter at Ladbrokes, in Morden, south London, as oblivious gamers continued to use slot machines.
The Standard • Community news release • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: Cuts fears prompt BMA occupational health action
The British Medical Association (BMA) is seeking assurances over the future of occupational health services for GPs and their staff amid reports they are about to be cut. Doctors leaders have written to the Department of Health requesting confirmation of the continuing provision of support for GPs and NHS staff suffering from stress and burnout.
BMA news release • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: English Heritage gets a ticking off
English Heritage has accepted a Crown Censure for criminal safety failings that led to a 12-year-old boy being badly cut when a glass floor panel broke during a family visit to Yarmouth castle on the Isle of Wight. The panel, which had been in place for many years and walked on by thousands of people over that time, splintered into shards and the boy suffered severe lacerations to his left leg from the jagged glass.
HSE news release • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: Developer fined following platform collapse
Prominent London developer St George South London Ltd has been sentenced for criminal safety management failings after a worker was seriously injured when a temporary platform collapsed at a landmark site in south London. Noel Doyle, 32, suffered a shattered right elbow, broken vertebrae, fractured pelvis and ribs, and damage to internal organs in the incident at St George Wharf in Vauxhall on 10 February 2009.
HSE news release and construction webpages • Construction Enquirer • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: Steel giant prosecuted after worker’s injury
Steel multinational Tata Steel has been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker sustained serious injuries to his hand at the company’s works in Llanelli, South Wales. Llanelli Magistrates heard the man, an employee for 34 years, was working on a production line at the Tata site in Trostre on 6 December 2012 when his left hand became trapped in a pair of steel pinch rolls.
HSE news release and work equipment webpages • BBC News Online • ITV News • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Britain: Plastics worker severed fingers in saw
Birmingham plastics firm Kalsi Plastics (UK) Ltd has been fined after an employee had four fingers severed in a circular saw. An official investigation found although some workers knew about a problem with the machine, workers were not represented in safety meetings so this information was not known to management.
HSE news release • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Cambodia: Stop government violence against workers
Unions worldwide have called for an end to the violent suppression of union protests in Cambodia in which at least five workers have been killed, with many others injured or detained. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady wrote a letter of protest to the Cambodian ambassador as part of a global campaign co-ordinated by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), protesting at the violent repression of a strike by textile workers seeking a living wage.
Act Now! Sign up to the Labourstart and union campaign in support of the Cambodian workers • ITUC news release • Industriall news release • TUC news release • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Global: Sweden’s Winter Olympics set rights record
The Swedish Trade Union Confederation, LO-Sweden, has signed an historic cooperation agreement with the Swedish Olympic Committee (SOK) which stipulates respect for labour rights as a basis for the Swedish bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. The agreement covering the 2022 Stockholm Olympic Games includes groundbreaking sustainability, economic, social and ethical benchmarks.
ITUC news release and letter to IOC President Bach • TUC Stronger Unions blog • Equal Times • Risks 638
Hazards news,
18 January 2014
Bangladesh: Factory bosses charged over fire deaths
Thirteen people, including the two factory owners, have been charged over the Tazreen garment factory fire in Bangladesh in November 2012 that killed more than 100 people. Police announced in December 2013 they had charged Delwar Hossain and his wife, Mahmuda Akther, as well as security guards and managers, over the Dhaka blaze.
New York Times • TUC Stronger Unions blog • BBC News Online • The Guardian.
Bangladesh Accord • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Global: UN cancer agency ‘captured’ by industry
A high profile United Nations cancer agency has been ‘captured’ by industry and compromised, new reports suggest. They reveal that two Russian scientists who have acted for Russia’s asbestos lobby around the world are helping fashion the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s (IARC) policy and publications on asbestos and a paper on asbestos cancer risks with three prominent IARC authors was co-authored by Paolo Boffetta, an ex-IARC staffer who had also acted for the asbestos industry. RightOnCanada • Hazards magazine • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Britain: Farming company fined for forklift death
Lincolnshire Field Products Ltd has been ordered to pay more than £200,000 in fines and costs after a farm manager was killed when he was hit by a forklift truck. Peter Barney, 58, was walking from his car across the yard at Middle Farm in Moulton Seas End when he was struck on 31 October 2010.
HSE news release and workplace transport webpages • Lincolnshire Echo • ITV News • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Britain: Forestry worker killed in the danger zone
The Buccleuch Estates Limited has been fined for criminal safety failings after a worker died during tree felling operations at Bogrie Wood near Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries. Ross Findlay, aged 49, who had learning difficulties, was struck in the head and body by a 36 metre tall tree.
HSE news release and chainsaw safety guide • BBC News Online • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Britain: Foundry fined over cellar fumes death
Sheffield Forgemasters has been ordered to pay £245,000 in fines and costs for criminal safety failings that led to an employee dying of carbon dioxide poisoning. Labourer Brian Wilkins, 48, was found unconscious at the South Yorkshire foundry after a confined underground area swiftly flooded with carbon dioxide fire-extinguishing mist.
HSE news release and confined spaces webpages • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Britain: Tesco shelf stacker loses toes in faulty lift
A Tesco worker suffered the “nightmare” of having a third of his right foot amputated after a lift accident that saw the supermarket giant fined more than £100,000 for criminal safety failures. Mohammad Ferdous, 32, was unloading cages of goods from the faulty lift in the basement of the Tesco Metro in Victoria, London, when it suddenly descended and trapped his foot.
BBC News Online • London Evening Standard • The Telegraph • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Britain: More disappointment on deregulation
Bodies representing unions and safety professionals have expressed their “disappointment” at the failure of a government committee to rein in dangerous measures in the draft Deregulation Bill, including exemption of the self-employed and a ‘growth duty’ on regulators including the Health and Safety Executive.
Joint Committee on the Draft Deregulation Bill news release • TUC health and safety facebook page • IOSH news release • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Britain: Government cuts heighten flood dangers
Cuts to essential Environment Agency (EA) jobs will dramatically reduce the country’s ability to respond to floods and other extreme weather emergencies, unions have said. The warning, coming as large stretches of the country remained flood affected, has received support from MPs.
UNISON news release • Prospect news release • PCS news release • GMB news release • The Guardian • The BBC • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Britain: Floods highlight peril facing lifesaving services
The impact of cuts to essential Environment Agency flood prevention services will be amplified as crucial emergency and coastguard services are also dramatically pared back, unions have warned.
PCS news release • FBU news release • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Britain: George Osborne wants your pension
The Chancellor’s December 2013 budget delivered a crumb of safety comfort but accompanied it with some devastating news for your prospects of ever living to see your pension. It is the government’s plans for a staged increase in the state pension age to 70, which would mean the average Glaswegian man might expect to be able to claim it for just over a year.
TUC Stronger Unions blog • Autumn Statement 2013 • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Britain: New call for a public inquiry on copter safety
Transport and offshore union RMT is stepping up its campaign for a public inquiry into helicopter safety after a series of incidents this year. The union said there is increasing public and political support for an inquiry, covering onshore as well as the North Sea offshore industry.
RMT news release • The Herald • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
Britain: Thousands back offshore helicopter safety reform
Over 3,000 offshore workers have called on Oil & Gas UK (O&GUK) bosses to urgently act to improve the safety of helicopter transfers to and from North Sea installations. Unite representatives submitted a petition to O&GUK on 20 December 2013, backing the demands of the union’s ‘Back Home Safe’ campaign which calls for improvements to offshore helicopter design, survival contingencies and training and for the implementation all previous recommendations made by authorities to maximise the safety of workers.
Unite news release • BBC News Online • Risks 637
Hazards news, 11 January 2014
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