A United Nations (UN) treaty on the control of toxic exports has been 'utterly discredited', unions have said. The charge came after a bid to add chrysotile asbestos – the only form of the cancer-causing fibre still traded – to the Rotterdam Convention’s list of the most hazardous substances was blocked for a sixth time. Read more

Even as the nation watched in horror as fire ripped through Grenfell Tower, questions about government culpability were being asked. The Conservatives had discarded critical fire, building, product, environmental and workplace safety protections and shackled and starved regulators. Hazards editor Rory O'Neill says a government with a criminal disregard for human life has now been left with blood on its hands. Read more

Your job can drive you to kill yourself, but don't expect your suicide to be counted in official work fatality statistics or for the boss to end up in court.
Leeds University researcher Sarah Waters highlights how the UK is turning a 'blind eye' to a major workplace killer. Read more

An Oxford University study concluded the classification of night work as a cause of breast cancer 'is no longer justified'. The media trumpeted the good news, and women were told they should be 'reassured'. No one demurred. Then Hazards editor Rory O'Neill discovered the research may have got it seriously wrong. Read more

Who does the secretary of state for work think should speak for workers on the Health and Safety Executive board? In a move the TUC condemned as 'dangerous', Hazards editor Rory O'Neill discovered Damian Green believes a former director of Greggs the Bakers is a palatable pick. Read more

John McDonnell says the Health and Safety Executive's regulatory mission has been compromised by its new profit motive. Brexit threatens worse to come. But the shadow chancellor says your protection is a 'red line' issue for Labour - and that means delivering a strong safety regime underpinned by restored trade union rights. Read more

Major construction firms, terrified at the prospect of facing examination in the dock, have paid £75m to settle blacklisting claims out-of-court. Hazards editor Rory O'Neill says some top bosses may yet end up answering charges, this time for perverting the course of justice as they tried to cover their criminal tracks. Read more

Britain has history on asbestos. It has the highest death rates from asbestos cancers in the world. It is also home to some of the industry's most relied-upon scientists. Hazards editor Rory O'Neill investigates. Read more

Joanne Hill thought her teenage son had a bright future when he secured a place on a government-funded engineering apprenticeship. But when Hazards magazine's Jawad Qasrawi met with her, he discovered she couldn't have been more wrong. Read more

Sheepish watchdog Sheep dips have been poisoning farmers for decades. The government knew. The Health and Safety Executive knew. So why weren't workers told? And what else is HSE hiding, asks Hazards editor Rory O'Neill. Read more

With occupational cancer killing at a rate of more than one a minute worldwide, global union leader Sharan Burrow fires a stern warning at rogue employers: "If you expose us, we'll expose you." Read more

For seven of the top 10 entries on the official UK occupational cancer risk ranking, you can forget about government payouts. Professor Andy Watterson and Hazards editor Rory O'Neill argue that an unjust state compensation scheme means most conditions, including breast cancers linked to shiftwork, will never overcome an arbitrary double-the-risk qualification hurdle and call for reform of this ailing system. Read more

There will be a new government on 7 May 2015. With work getting more unhealthy, the workforce and the country are paying a heavy price. Hilda Palmer of the national Hazards Campaign spells out what it wants you and that new government to do about it. Read more

Workplace stress causes heart and other chronic diseases, higher rates of sickness absence and suicides. So why, asks TUC's Hugh Robertson, are the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and employers have done 'sod all' to tackle the bad management practices at the root of the problem? Read more

Standards underpinning safety management at work should be a good thing, right? Right – but only if they are good ones. And the draft standard cooked up by a British Standards Institute chaired international committee, warns Sharan Burrow of the global union confederation ITUC, is far from good. Read more

Hard hats, ear defenders, masks, gloves, safety boots, high viz jackets. This 'protective' workplace wardrobe is a given for many workers. Heck, you'll be disciplined or fired for not wearing it. But US construction union safety expert Scott Schneider says removing work hazards is a safer alternative to relying on all this personal protective equipment. Read more

The Health and Safety Executive doesn't want a tighter exposure standard for crystalline silica, either in the UK or Europe. Hazards unpicks its flimsy – and dangerous – excuses. Read more

The government says workplace safety laws hold back the economy. Ministers complain safety enforcement is a diversion business could and should do without. But, Hazards says, while this is lapped up greedily by the business lobby and the tabloids, there's just one problem. It's a cynical - and ultimately deadly - lie.  Read more

Your life just got a little bit cheaper. Safety regulations and enforcement are out of favour, and for more and more workers, this could mean they are out of luck. Hazards warns this immoral government strategy will exact a high human and economic cost.  Read more

It was no surprise when an investigation found "significant issues" including concerns about safety, excessive hours and low pay at Chinese plants making Apple iPhones and iPads. But, warns Hazards, the independent probe has also left some campaigners worried, with concerns the hi-tech giant is being given an easy ride. Read more

With the economy going down the pan, the prime minister has found his whipping boy. David Cameron is 'waging war' and has vowed to 'kill off' the workplace 'health and safety monster'. Hazards reveals for the government this insanely dangerous talk isn't about work, it's about business.  Read more

Dock work has been declared low risk. Preventive Health and Safety Executive inspections have been stopped. The docks regulations are up for the chop. Hazards asks if the docks are so safe, how come the death rate last year was several times the national average? Read more

A crushed head, burned alive, consumed in a workplace explosion. However horrific and preventable, the fight for justice after a death at work is likely to long and arduous - and frequently a series of cruel disappointments, bereaved families more often than not discover. Read more

A safety minister who is determined to see the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) axed. A government that lops "at least" 35 per cent off HSE's funding. We are living and working in dangerous times. Hazards editor Rory O'Neill warns that if unions, sick and injured workers and bereaved relatives don't stand up for safety, no-one else will.  Read more