Enforcement news archives
2004-2007
Recent enforcement
news
Britain:
Hats off for safety sanity clause
Workplace campaigners have delivered a seasonal message to the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) wishing the watchdog a merry Christmas and
a well resourced new year. Santa hat clad revellers assembled last week
outside HSE’s London HQ.
Battersea
Crane Disaster Action Group news release • FACK
news release
Hazards news, 22 December 2007
Britain:
Train driver manslaughter rap quashed
The Court of Appeal has quashed a train driver’s 17-year-old conviction
for manslaughter. ASLEF member Bob Morgan was convicted on two counts
of manslaughter on 3 September 1990; the union said the original conviction
had not taken into proper account that the signal was defective and
had been passed at danger on four previous occasions by different drivers.
ASLEF
news release
Hazards news, 15 December 2007
Britain:
Boss jailed after death cover-up attempt
Company boss Steven Christopher Smith from north Wales has been jailed
for two and a half years for manslaughter and perverting the course
of justice after the death of employee Paul Christopher Alker, 33, in
a workplace fall. Smith did not provide the right harnesses, but after
Mr Alker plunged to his death, he went out and bought the safety equipment,
put them on the roof, and blamed Mr Alker for not using it.
HSE
news release • Daily
Post
Hazards news, 8 December 2007
Britain:
Offshore safety on a 'knife-edge'
Safety is on a “knife-edge” in some parts of the North Sea
oil industry, MPs have been warned. The admission from Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) chief executive Geoffrey Podger followed two platform
fires and a damning report on offshore safety standards in November
2007.
BBC
News Online
Hazards news, 8 December 2007
Britain:
HSE accused of inspection-by-phone
An inspection foreman has accused the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
of ignoring serious safety problems after it refused to visit a dangerous
workplace and took “telephone action” instead. The source
told trade paper Contract Journal that HSE ignored his plea for a personal
visit after he raised serious concerns over health and safety standards
at the structural steel firm where he had worked.
Contract
Journal • Just
who does HSE protect? Hazards magazine, number 100, 2007
Hazards news, 8 December 2007
Britain:
CCA slams ‘meaningless’ enforcement review
The Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA) is calling on the Health
and Safety Commission (HSC) to undertake a new review of the circumstances
when its inspectors should prosecute. It says the conclusions of the
Health and Safety Executive’s review of its prosecution policy
are “meaningless” as crucial evidence has been overlooked.
CCA
news release and background papers
Hazards news, 1 December 2007
Britain:
TUC scathing on new safety laws review
The TUC has said the government should stop pandering to negligent law-shy
employers, and instead put its focus on protecting vulnerable workers
from illness and injury. The comments came after Chancellor Alistair
Darling this week launched a “major review” of safety laws,
“focusing on small and low risk businesses.”
BERR
news release and Improving
outcomes from health and safety: A call for evidence [pdf]
•
Alistair Darling’s speech to the CBI conference
Hazards news, 1 December 2007
Britain:
Corporate killers must face mega-fines
Companies whose neglect results in deaths should face fines running
to hundreds of millions of pounds, government law advisers have said.
A corporate accountability group, however, has said the Sentencing Advisory
Panel (SAP) proposed penalties are still “simply too low.”
CCA
news release • Sentencing guidelines news release [pdf]
• Sentencing
guidelines website
Hazards news, 24 November 2007
Britain:
Call for tough action on safety ‘crime wave’
There must be tougher enforcement action to tackle a workplace health
and safety “crime wave”, the TUC has said. TUC general secretary
Brendan Barber said: “Evidence shows the most effective way to
change behaviour is strong enforcement action, supported by advice and
guidance.”
TUC
news release • CCA
news release • FACK
news release
Hazards news, 24 November 2007
Global:
Unions and enforcement are the safe option
Rigorous enforcement backed up by active unions is the best way to deliver
safety at work, a new World Health Organisation report has concluded.
‘Employment conditions and health inequalities’ says contrary
to the current fashion for deregulation, regulations are not the problem.
Employment conditions and health inequalities: Final report,
WHO, 2007 [pdf]
• The report is a contribution to the WHO
Commission on Social Determinants of Health
Hazards news, 17 November 2007
Britain:
Courts protect wonga much better than workers
The courts disqualify company directors risking cash hundreds of times
more often than directors risking people’s health and safety,
a major study has found. Research for the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) published this week reported that since the introduction of a
director disqualification act in the mid-80s only a handful of directors
have been disqualified for breaching health and safety laws compared
to over 1,500 each year for breaches of financial rules.
University
of Warwick news release • A survey of the use and
effectiveness of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 as
a legal sanction against directors convicted of health and safety offences,
RR597, HSE, 2007, summary
page and full report [pdf]
Hazards news, 17 November 2007
Britain:
Refinery blows one day after HSE visit
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has started an investigation into
a fire at an oil refinery that saw flames shoot 100ft (30m) into the
air. HSE inspectors had been at the site on Tuesday, the day before
the fire, carrying out routine checks.
BBC
News Online
Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain:
Unions want more than guidance
Unions have welcomed new guidance from the
Institute of Directors (IoD), but have said there should also be legal
safety duties on directors. TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson welcomed
thte guide, but said “we need a clear legal duty on directors”
and Tony Woodley, Unite joint general secretary, said: “Government
is right to say there is an obligation on employers but instead of that
being moral and ethical, in other words voluntary, it should be compulsory
and enshrined in law.”
Unite
news release
Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain:
Directors publish voluntary code
Company directors have published their own voluntary guidelines to good
boardroom safety practice. The Institute of Directors (IoD) says the
new guidance will remind directors it is their responsibility to lead
on health and safety and establish policies and practices that make
it an integral part of their culture and values.
HSE
news release and new
director leadership webpages
Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain:
Directors must be made to be safe
Boardrooms must be compelled to take workplace
health and safety seriously, a new union-backed report has concluded.
‘Bringing justice to the boardroom’, prepared for construction
union UCATT by the Centre for Corporate Accountability, says there has
been a “complete failure” of the voluntary approach to reducing
injuries and fatalities in the workplace.
UCATT
news release and full report • CCA
news release and background materials
Hazards news, 3 November 2007
Britain:
Your money or your life
The government is giving a greater priority to enforcing financial regulations
than ensuring the safety of UK workers, the union representing Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) inspectors has warned. Responding to official
HSE fatality statistics, Prospect said it is unacceptable that the organisation
responsible for enforcing health and safety law has been facing year-on-year
real term cuts and dwindling staff numbers while the Financial Services
Authority (FSA) has seen a rise in both funding and staff over the same
period.
Prospect
news release
Hazards news, 10 November 2007
Britain:
HSE faces nuclear inspector shortage
The government is so short of nuclear inspectors that the programme
of new reactors being planned may have to be put on hold, leaked papers
show. The business secretary, John Hutton, has warned Gordon Brown that
the government has only five inspectors working on the design assessments
of the three types of reactors being considered for Britain, with an
additional 35 inspectors are needed to be in place within 16 months.
The
Guardian • Hazards
enforcement webpages
Hazards news, 27 October 2007
Britain:
Site employers quibble but don’t act
The construction group given responsibility by ministers to lead a site
safety drive after fatalities took a dramatic upturn has admitted it
cannot tackle the problem until it gets its own house in order. Work
and pensions secretary Peter Hain has charged the health and safety
task group of the construction industry’s Strategic Forum, composed
of the major players in the industry, to come up with ideas to improve
safety practices in the sector by the end of 2007.
Hazards magazine
news report
Hazards news, 20 October 2007
Ireland:
Watchdog to pursue 'trouble free' firms
Just because a firm does not report any accidents, doesn’t mean
accidents are not occurring there, Ireland’s safety watchdog has
said. The Health and Safety Authority (HSA) says companies with a history
of not reporting or under-reporting workplace accidents are about to
come under additional scrutiny, in marked contrast with the approach
taken by Britain’s Health and Safety Executive.
HSA
news release
Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain:
New HSC chair wants boardroom action
The new chair of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has called for
more board level engagement and ownership on health and safety issues.
Judith Hackitt - who has previously served time as a HSC commissioner
- has held top posts in chemical industry lobby groups, including a
stint as director general of the Chemical Industries Association.
HSE
news release and Judith
Hackitt profile
Hazards news, 6 October 2007
Britain:
Minister backs jail for health worker abuse
The government is injecting £97 million into hospital security,
to help protect staff from intimidation and violence. The money, which
will be spread over four years, will ensure better security in hospitals,
including improved training for staff to deal with aggressive behaviour.
DH
news release • UNISON
news release
Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain:
Wide support for ICL/Stockline inquiry
Unions and health and safety experts have backed a call by HSE union
Prospect for a full inquiry into the ILC/Stockline disaster.
STUC
news release • Statement
from the authors of the ICL/Disaster report
Hazards news, 29 September 2007
Britain:
HSE union calls for ICL disaster inquiry
The union representing staff in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
has called for a public inquiry into the ICL/Stockline factory explosion
in Glasgow in May 2004 that killed nine workers and seriously injured
40.
Prospect
news release • BBC
News Online • ICL/Stockline
disaster website
Hazards news, 29 September 2007
USA:
Mine tragedy was ‘an unnatural disaster’
The coal mine collapse last month that killed six miners and three more
workers involved in a rescue attempt was ‘an unnatural disaster’,
a US commentator has said. The Mountain Eagle’s Tom Bethell, in
a 29 August editorial, said: “Robert Murray, a mine owner obviously
in need of clinical help, insisted from day one that the August 6 cave-in
at his Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah was a natural disaster, triggered
by an earthquake that no one could have anticipated.”
The
Pump Handle • Federal Register, volume 68, page 53041, 9 September
2003 [pdf]
• AFL-CIO
Now update on Senate hearings into the Crandall mine disaster
Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain:
Baggage handling firm picks up a fine
A firm that last year failed in an employment tribunal bid to wriggle
out of an improvement notice issued because of inadequate airport manual
handling measures has now been fined for ignoring a Health and Safety
Executive manual handling notice. Manchester Airport ground handling
company Menzies Aviation (UK) Ltd pleaded guilty to safety offences
and to failing to comply with an improvement notice.
HSE
news release • HSE
back pain webpages
Hazards news, 8 September 2007
Britain:
Inspection cuts could cost lives
Proposals to limit on-the-spot safety inspections could result in increased
workplace deaths and injuries, the Institution of Occupational Safety
and Health (IOSH) has warned. Safety professionals’ organisation
IOSH warns that a draft code of practice for regulators proposes that
random inspection should only be a small element of a regulator’s
programme, used to test its processes, and recommends that regulators
“allow or even encourage economic progress and only intervene
when there is a clear case for protection.”
IOSH
news release • Code of Practice for Regulators – A Consultation,
Cabinet Office: draft code [pdf]
Hazards news, 8 September 2007
South
Africa: Threats to inspectors must end
Construction industry employers must allow labour inspectors onto their
construction sites to carry out inspections or face “the full
might of the law”, South Africa’s labour minister has said.
Membathisi Mdladlana called on employers to cooperate after an inspector
was threatened with death by an employer after issuing a notice to stop
dangerous work at a construction site.
BuaNews
Hazards news, 1 September 2007
Britain:
Asbestos dumper gets his assets frozen
A Bradford man jailed in March for illegally dumping asbestos and excavation
waste has had his assets frozen in the first case of its kind. The Assets
Recovery Agency (ARA), working with the Environment Agency (EA), obtained
restraint orders to freeze properties belonging to 60-year-old William
Reidy and related to the illegal activities of his demolition business
Space Making Development.
Assets
Recovery Agency news release • Telegraph
and Argus
Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain:
Safety warning on Tory’s red tape cuts
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) has called
on the Conservatives to “completely re-think” before considering
sweeping cuts to ‘red tape’, a move IOSH says could reduce
competitiveness and end up costing lives. The safety professionals’
organisation said that it believes repealing the Working Time Regulations
could lead to “a UK where worker-exploitation becomes rife.”
IOSH
news release
Hazards news, 25 August 2007
Britain:
Tory plan for red tape 'tax cut'
Tory leader David Cameron is looking at plans to cut £14bn in
red tape and regulation for UK businesses – and some safety measures
are in the firing line. The plans have been put forward by John Redwood
- one of the most senior figures on the Tory right and chair of the
party’s Economic Competitiveness Policy Group - who called them
“a tax cut by any other name.”
TUC
news release • Conservative
Party Freeing Britain to compete webpages and Economic Competitive
Policy Group full report [pdf]
Hazards news, 25 August 2007
USA:
Boss used homeless to remove asbestos
A US contractor who hired homeless men to remove asbestos without proper
protective gear has been sentenced to 21 months in prison. John Edward
Callahan, 56, had pleaded guilty earlier this year to a Clean Air Act
violation – but because he doesn’t have the resources was
not fined or required to pay for medical monitoring and treatment of
the men he'd exposed to asbestos.
Roanoke
Times
Hazards news, 11 August 2007
USA:
Two jailed after fatal site plunge
A Brooklyn judge has sentenced the two owners of a construction company
to the maximum penalty of six months in prison for causing the death
of a worker who was not equipped with a safety harness when he fell
from a scaffold. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration
(OSHA) had cited the firm as recently as March 2007 for defective scaffolding
at another New York work site - and that the defendants have ignored
the $34,000 (£17,000) fine.
NY
Daily News
Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain:
Make the punishment fit the crime
Safety professionals’ organisation IOSH has said last week’s
£121.5 million fine for British Airways for illegally fixing fuel
surcharges provides a stark contrast to the fines handed out by the
courts for health and safety offences. The combined fines total for
all safety convictions secured by HSE in 2005/06 was less than a fifth
the fine incurred by BA for the single breach of financial rules.
IOSH
news release
Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain:
Cost-cutting accident boss jailed
A “cunning” businessman whose cost-cutting and “callous”
disregard for safety led to a near fatal accident involving one of his
workers has been jailed for six months and ordered to pay £90,000
compensation to the victim. Shah Nawaz Pola had denied being responsible
for a Bradford building site where Slovakian worker Dusan Dudi suffered
what were thought to be non-survivable injuries when he was struck by
a concrete lintel.
Yorkshire
Post • Telegraph
and Argus
Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Britain:
Unite calls for more honest offshore statistics
Health and safety statistics for the offshore oil and gas sector from
all sources should be combined and released “in a more open, honest
fashion” as the current system is obscuring most fatalities, offshore
union Unite has said. The union say HSE statistics show just two fatalities
in the sector in 2006/07, but the 11 deaths reported to other UK agencies
go unmentioned.
Unite
news release • HSE
news release • Offshore
safety statistics bulletin 2006/07
Hazards news, 11 August 2007
Finland:
SAK says get tough on safety crimes
Finland’s largest union confederation wants longer jail terms
possible for workplace safety crimes. SAK says penalties should be comparable
with those in force for environmental and economic crimes.
Trade
Union News from Finland
Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain:
Cash-starved HSE fails to probe major injuries
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is failing to investigate hundreds
of the most serious workplace accidents every year because of a lack
of resources, safety campaigners have found. Figures obtained by the
trade union-backed safety magazine Hazards show that an increasing number
of major injuries which should according to HSE rules require investigation
are overlooked because of “inadequate resources”.
What gorilla?
Rising deaths, enforcement scandal, consultation farce, useless statistics,
Hazards magazine, Number 99, 2007 • Hazards
enforcement webpages
Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain:
Work deaths fall out continues
Work fatality figures released last week and
described by TUC as “dreadful” have led to more calls for
extra resources for the beleaguered Health and Safety Executive. Prospect
negotiations officer Mike Macdonald said HSE “cannot meet its
public expectations to advise, inspect and enforce workplace health
and safety so that Britain’s 28 million workers have confidence
they will not be injured or killed at work.”
Prospect
news release
Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain:
Enforcement reduces deaths says site union
Construction union UCATT is demanding that
Britain’s safety watchdog learn a lesson from its Irish counterpart
when it comes to construction safety. The union has also called for
top Health and Safety Executive (HSE) bosses, who announced last week
a massive hike in construction deaths, to “consider their positions”.
UCATT news release
Hazards news, 4 August 2007
Britain:
Let-off for directors takes shine off new law
Unions and campaign groups have given a lukewarm welcome to the new
corporate killing law, saying the omission of explicit legal duties
on and penalties for company directors is a major flaw. Alan Ritchie,
general secretary of construction union UCATT, said it was “a
hollow victory.”
UCATT
news release • Unite-Amicus
news release • FACK
news release
Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain:
Corporate killing law finally passed
The long awaited corporate killing law is to take effect next year.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber gave the law a qualified welcome,
saying: “Even though unions wanted the bill to make individual
directors personally liable for safety breaches and penalties against
employers committing safety crimes to be tougher, we hope it will mean
the start of a change in the safety culture at the top of the UK's companies
and organisations.”
Ministry
of Justice news release • TUC
news release • Details
of the new Act
Hazards news, 28 July 2007
Britain:
Urgent action call as deaths soar
Deaths at work are at a five year high, new figures from the Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) show. Statistics for 2006/07 released on
26 July show 241 workers died, up 11 per cent from 217 deaths in 2005/06.
HSE 2006/07
statistics report • TUC
news release
Hazards news, 28 July 2007
South
Africa: Unenforced laws leave work unsafe
Lenient, poorly enforced occupational safety laws are allowing companies
to get away with inadequate safety measures, the Southern African Institute
for Occupational Hygiene has said. Deon van Vuuren, the institute's
president, said most firms did not carry out risk assessments every
two years, as required by law, because government inspections rarely
took place.
Business
Report
Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain:
HSE move will ‘haemorrhage key expertise’
Plans to relocate the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) policy
division will damage its ability to advise Whitehall, fail to produce
promised savings and risks haemorrhaging key expertise within the safety
organisation, HSE unions have warned. Prospect and PCS members protested
outside HSE’s London HQ on 17 July.
Prospect
news release
Hazards news, 21 July 2007
Britain:
Fate of work deaths law in the balance
The fate of a bill to allow companies to be prosecuted where gross negligence
leads to the death of employees or members of the public is in the balance
after the Lords voted for a fourth time to extend its scope to include
deaths in custody. The corporate manslaughter and corporate homicide
bill could fall if it does not become law by 19 July.
House
of Lords debate on the Bill, 9 July 2007 • Parliament
website tracking progress on the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate
Homicide Bill
Hazards news, 14 July 2007
Britain:
Business wants regulated workplaces
A government push for less workplace regulation and enforcement is the
opposite of what works and what businesses want, two new reports suggest.
Findings of an 18-month inquiry published this week by Tomorrow’s
Company, a group of prominent corporate leaders, calls for more, and
better, regulation to reward environmentally and socially responsible
companies and a report published on 4 July by The Work Foundation, concluded
“re-regulation” and not deregulation that had led to the
positive changes to the labour market without any credible evidence
of damage to economic performance, while unemployment had remained relatively
low.
Tomorrow’s
Company news release • Tomorrow's
global company: Challenges and choices – executive summary [pdf]
• The Work Foundation news
release • 7 out of 10: Labour Under Labour 1997-2007 [pdf]
• The case for safety regulation and enforcement - Hazards
enforcement webpages
Hazards news, 7 July 2007
USA:
Call for three strikes policy for safety crimes
In the wake of an unprecedented 29 construction-related deaths in New
York City over the last year, contractors and union leaders joined forces
in mid-May to urge passage of a tough three-strikes-and-out penalty
system that would ban repeat offenders from obtaining building permits
for five years. The penalty is part of a comprehensive set of construction
industry reforms sought by the groups that includes strengthened safety
laws in an effort to protect the public and city construction workers.
Contractor
magazine
Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain:
HSC urged to act on directors’ safety duties
The failure of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) to press the government
to change the law and introduce safety duties on company directors is
being challenged by the Centre for Corporate Accountability (CCA). In
a letter to HSC chair Bill Callaghan, the safety charity argues that
HSC must follow through its December 2005 decision to support a change
in the law and introduce safety duties on company directors.
CCA
news release • Text of the letter to the HSC chair
[pdf]
Hazards news, 30 June 2007
Britain:
Crane collapse firm get safety notice
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has served a prohibition notice
on the owners of the crane that collapsed in Croydon earlier this month.
Select Plant Hire Company Ltd, the Kent-based company that owned the
tower crane and which is part of construction giant Laing O'Rourke,
has been served a notice banning them from erecting cranes without properly
trained staff.
HSE
news release • Battersea
Crane Disaster Action Group
Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain:
Top EU court backs UK safety law
The European Union's top court has dismissed charges that Britain broke
EU laws by limiting how far companies need to go in ensuring the health
and safety of their employees. The European Commission had argued in
the European Court of Justice that a British regulation saying employers
must ensure the health and safety of workers only “so far as is
reasonably practicable” did not fully comply with EU rules.
ECJ news release [pdf]
• HSE
news release • European
Commission news release • Case
C127-05 European Commission v United Kingdom
Hazards news, 23 June 2007
Britain:
Brown told to act on workplace safety
Gordon Brown must act to improve workplace health and safety when he
becomes Labour leader and prime minister, a leading union safety adviser
has said. Dave Feickert says safety improvements in Britain have stalled,
enforcement is being undermined and the important additional contribution
that could be played by union safety reps is being ignored.
Compass
Online
Hazards news, 26 May 2007
South
Africa: Move to intensify inspections at work
South African workplaces need more and better inspections and greater
input from unions if their poor safety record is to be improved, the
country’s top labour official has said. Department of Labour director
general Vanguard Mkosana warned employers that the department is to
intensify inspections of workplace law compliance throughout the year.
South
Africa Department of Labour news release • Hazards
enforcement webpages
Hazards news, 19 May 2007
Britain:
Firm pays for ignoring enforcement notices
A defunct construction firm has been fined £6,000 after failing
to comply with Health and Safety Executive (HSE) improvement notices.
Harry Kindred (Newcastle) Ltd, which is now in receivership, pleaded
guilty to four breaches of health and safety law.
Risks
306, 19 May 2007
Hazards news, 19 May 2007
Britain:
Directors consult on directors’ duties
Top bosses organisation the Institute of Directors (IoD) has launched
a consultation on new guidance spelling out the safety role of company
directors. In parallel with this process, TUC and unions are continuing
their campaign for new legally binding safety duties on company directors.
Directors'
Duties on Health and Safety at Work - A public consultation by the Institute
of Directors • Draft IoD guidance [pdf]
Hazards news, 19 May 2007
Britain:
Unite calls for action on enforcement
A dramatic increase in workplace deaths shows the need for more resources
for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and a reversal in the downward
trend in enforcement, Britain’s biggest union has said. Unite,
the union formed this month from the merger of TGWU and Amicus, made
the call after latest provisional figures showed workplace fatalities
in the construction industry increased last year by over 30 per cent,
a figure it suggests HSE has attempted to cover up.
Amicus
news release • CCA
news release including text of the HSE internal memo • HSE
news release •
Hazards enforcement
webpages and ‘HSE
is broke’ feature which first revealed HSE chief executive
Geoffrey Podger’s concern about the prosecutions shortfall
Hazards news, 12 May 2007
Australia:
Safety suffers after government attack
Industrial relations reforms in Australia have resulted in widespread
breaches of occupational health and safety law, official figures shows.
Almost a third (30 per cent) of all Australian Workplace Agreements
(AWAs) – individual contracts introduced by the right-wing Howard
government in a bid to undermine unions – allow workers no rest
breaks during their scheduled hours of work.
Risks 302, 21 April 2007
Britain:
Ignore HSE enforcement notice and pay
A company director and a building firm have become the latest to receive
safety penalties for ignoring HSE enforcement notices.
Risks 302, 21 April 2007
Britain:
HSE union asks ‘who will enforce new rules?’
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) union Prospect has raised serious
questions about the resource-depleted watchdog’s ability to enforce
the new construction safety regulations. It says HSE, the body responsible
for inspecting workplaces, is already reeling from massive job cuts
and faces a further drive to find 15 per cent cost savings over the
next three years.
Risks 302, 21 April 2007
USA:
OSHA digs a hole for its deregulation push
A US law designed to make removal of protective legislation easier has
instead proven that safety laws do in fact save lives. A US Department
of Labor safety watchdog OSHA evaluation of the impact of the construction
standard on excavations and found it had “reduced deaths from
approximately 90 per year to 70 per year” while “overall
construction industry activity when adjusted for inflation has increased
20 per cent,” said assistant secretary of labor for OSHA Edwin
G Foulke Jr.
Risks 301, 7 April 2007
Britain:
Train bosses should pay for Paddington
Unions have described the £4m imposed on Network Rail after its
safety blunders contributed to the 1999 Paddington rail crash as “an
insult”, with the penalty for crimes committed by a now defunct
private company Railtrack being paid from the public purse. ASLEF general
secretary Keith Norman called for the fines imposed on Network Rail
to be taken from the bonuses of senior managers.
Risks 301, 7 April 2007
Britain:
Network Rail fined £4m for Paddington crash
Network Rail has fined £4m after a court found it responsible
for a catalogue of failures that resulted in the Paddington rail crash,
which left 31 people dead and 400 injured. In court, Mr Justice Bean
said: “The fine must be a constant and lasting reminder to the
management of the company and to others involved in the railways of
the paramount importance of safety and to prompt attention to any identifiable
risk.”
Risks 301, 7 April 2007
Britain:
HSE ‘failure’ on consultation angers unions
The decision by the government’s safety watchdog not to recommend
a duty on employers to consult with safety reps has been condemned by
the unions TGWU and Amicus.
Risks 301, 7 April 2007
Britain:
Union concern as work deaths soar
A dramatic increase in workplace fatalities has led to a union call
for more safety reps and for harsher penalties on deadly employers.
The call comes after Risks revealed last week that 124 workers had died
in the six months from April to September 2006.
Risks 301, 7 April 2007 • Hazards
deadly business
webpages
Shusssssh.
Don’t mention the “e” word
The top dog at the UK’s workplace safety watchdog has said
flexibility and partnership are its new watch words – but has
steered clear of the whole enforcement role. Geoffrey Podger, chief
executive of the Health and Safety Executive, told the Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) conference last week: “If
we are going to ensure the world of work is as safe and as sustainable
as possible, then we need to be flexible enough to respond effectively
to the challenges as they arise.”
Hazards online, 4 April 2007 •
HSE
News release
USA:
Regulation by litigation is the new order
Legal action is becoming the major factor forcing safety action in the
US as the official safety watchdog is revealed increasingly to have
little appetite for the job. The claim, by Professor David Michaels
of the George Washington University School of Public Health and previously
a top US occupational health expert in the Clinton administration, comes
after a report on the BP Texas City refinery blast by the US Chemical
Safety Board (CSB), which censured the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) for its failure to inspect refineries or require
safety improvements.
Risks 300, 31 March 2007 • Hazards
BP safety news and resources • Hazards
enforcement webpages
Britain:
Safety survives as a council enforcement priority
Health and safety will remain one of the top regulatory priorities for
local authorities, a government backed review has concluded. The final
report of the Rogers Review, released as part of the Chancellor’s
budget statement and accepted by the government, has set five priorities
for local authority regulatory services.
Risks 300, 31 March 2007
Britain:
Dramatic rise in workplace fatalities
There has been a dramatic rise in workplace fatalities at
work, official figures show. Statistics for the six months up to the
end of September last year released this week by the Health and Safety
Executive show 124 workers died in the six month period, compared to
212 in all of 2005/06 - if the same trend continued until the reporting
year ends this month, it would push the fatalities figure to a five
year high of 248 deaths, up 17 per cent on last year.
Risks 300, 31 March 2007 • HSE
fatal injury statistics update and tables • Hazards
enforcement webpages
Britain:
You can help TUC win on penalties!
The TUC is urging all union reps and campaigners to back a proposal
for more serious safety penalties on dangerous employers. The call comes
in response to a Labour Party 'Labourspace' online competition to find
the best work-related campaigning issue.
VOTING IS EASY! Back the TUC 'Give safety
some teeth' campaign and vote
for serious safety penalties • Background
on the campaign
Britain:
Call for new journalist killing law
News company ITN has launched a campaign to create a new crime of wilfully
killing a journalist. The call comes four years after the death of ITN
reporter Terry Lloyd. A coroner ruled in 2006 that Mr Lloyd, 50, was
unlawfully killed by troops and called for charges against them.
Risks 299, 24 March 2007 • International
News Safety Institute website and new ‘War, journalism and
stress’ trauma
self-help website for journalists
Britain:
Unions demand rethink on safety reps’ rights
Proposals from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that safety reps
should have no new consultation rights despite such measures being supporting
overwhelmingly in a national consultation have led to union consternation
and the deferral of a final decision. A TUC spokesperson said: “We
urge the HSC to respect the views of those employers, safety representatives
and safety professionals who responded to the consultation exercise
and implement the proposed changes as soon as possible.”
Risks 299, 24 March 2007
Europe:
Europe catches UK’s deregulation obsession
The UK government has welcomed a decision by governments from across
the European Union “to follow the UK's lead and reduce red tape
arising from EU law by 25 per cent”. EU heads of government agreed
a target to reduce administrative burdens by 25 per cent by 2012, in
13 policy areas, including company law, health and safety and transport,
which have been identified by the European Commission as imposing the
largest administrative burdens on business.
Risks 298, 17 March 2007
Britain:
Large rise in site deaths linked to safety cuts
A dramatic rise in deaths in the construction industry must shame the
government into reversing cuts in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE),
the unions UCATT, PCS and Prospect have said. Latest figures reveal
that 74 people have died on building sites already this year, an increase
of 14 per cent on the 2005/06 figure of 59 deaths – and the figure
could rise as the reporting year only ends on 31 March.
Risks 298, 17 March 2007
Britain:
Firm pays £250,000 after worker’s electrocution
Civil engineering giant Balfour Beatty has been has been told to pay
over £250,000 in fines and court costs following the fatal electrocution
of a rail worker near Basingstoke. Balfour Beatty Rail Infrastructure
Services pleaded guilty to safety offences at Winchester Crown Court.
Risks 297, 10 March 2007
Britain:
Vote now for serious safety sanctions!
The TUC wants you to back a proposal for more serious safety penalties
on dangerous employers. The call comes in response to a Labour Party
‘Labourspace’ online competition to find the best work-related
campaigning issue.
Risks 297, 10 March 2007 • Background
on the campaign •
Back the TUC ‘Give safety some teeth’ campaign and vote
for serious safety penalties
Britain:
Sleeping lorry driver jailed for crash deaths
A lorry driver has been jailed after four people died in a motorway
crash caused when he fell asleep at the wheel. German Andreas Klassen,
51, had contravened EU regulations on hauliers' working hours and pleaded
guilty to four charges of causing death by dangerous driving and was
jailed for five years.
Risks 296, 3 March 2007
Britain:
Network Rail admits failures led to train smash
Network Rail admitted this week that maintenance
failures caused the 23 February Cumbria rail crash, killing Margaret
Masson, an 84-year-old passenger, and injuring dozens. Responding to
the publication of an interim investigation, the company said it was
“devastated” and apologised unreservedly “to all the
people affected by the failure of the infrastructure.”
Risks 296, 3 March 2007
Britain:
Community service for ignoring HSE safety notice
A builder has been fined and given community
service for failing to carry out work properly, leading to the collapse
of a shop in Elland, West Yorkshire. Shabir Naseem was prosecuted by
the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after the incident. Naseem, 47,
trading as SH Builders, was sentenced to 200 hours community service
and fined £7,500 with costs of £7,190.58 for breaching a
prohibition notice which ordered him to stop work.
Risks 295, 24 February 2007
Britain:
Usdaw slams “short-sighted” safety watchdog
Retail union Usdaw has written to the chief
executive of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Geoffrey Podger slamming
plans to scrap one of just two inspectors responsible for developing
national safety policies in the food and agriculture sector. The food
manufacturing sector has a much higher than average accident rate but
budget cuts at the HSE has led the safety watchdog to axe one of the
inspectors working with trade union and employer organisations to develop
safe working initiatives.
Risks 295, 24 February 2007
Britain:
FSA fine exposes HSE’s missing teeth
Scottish union federation STUC has expressed
fury that the work safety watchdog does not have the same power to lay
down hefty sentences enjoyed by the equivalent City financial watchdog.
Following the fine of £980,000 imposed by the Financial Services
Authority (FSA) on the Nationwide Building Society after a laptop containing
confidential customer information was stolen, the STUC said breaches
of finance rules are more likely to attract meaningful sanctions than
those imposed on organisations that kill or maim their workers.
Risks 294, 17 February 2007
• Hazards
deadly business webpages
USA:
Bush takes stranglehold on safety watchdog
President Bush has signed a directive that
gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy
statements that the government develops to protect key areas including
public health, workplace safety, the environment and civil rights. Representative
Henry A Waxman, a Democrat and the chair of the Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform, said: “The executive order allows the political
staff at the White House to dictate decisions on health and safety issues,
even if the government’s own impartial experts disagree,”
adding: “This is a terrible way to govern, but great news for
special interests.”
Risks 292, 3 February 2007
Canada:
Old safety system ignores new workplaces
Workplace safety inspections in Canada are
out of whack with the reality of the modern workplace environment, a
TV investigation has found. Reporters found inspections were up to 10
times more frequent in traditional workplaces than in non-traditional
ones and found that government inspections are also following a traditional
five-day, nine-to-five schedule, while an increasing number of people
are working outside the traditional nine-to-five shifts, and their likelihood
of having an accident increases during those periods.
Risks 292, 3 February 2007
Britain:
Union anger as HSE cuts paper handling guide
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has
withdrawn its guidance on transporting paper safely, in spite of opposition
from the union Amicus. Tony Burke, Amicus assistant general secretary
said: “Amicus has opposed the withdrawal of this guidance on the
basis it was not being replaced by any effective, alternative guidance,
thus leaving our members in the industry unclear about what they should
do.”
Risks 291, 27 January 2007
Britain:
Work health watchdog “too under-resourced” to work
The body charged with protecting the occupational
health of 29 million British workers is too under-resourced to operate
effectively, the union representing official health and safety specialists
has warned. Prospect, the union for Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
inspectors, scientists and specialists, says it is fearful that a current
review of HSE’s Corporate Medical Unit (CMU) will spell its death
knell at a time when the HSE is seeking to shed 250-350 jobs as a result
of a funding shortfall.
Risks 290, 20 January 2007
Britain:
Questions asked about Corus ‘justice’
The day steel giant Corus received what has
been described as a “pinprick” fine for criminal safety
offences which led to the deaths of three workers, three sub-contract
migrant workers at another Corus plant were jailed and told they would
be deported for working illegally in the UK. The cases have thrown into
stark relief concerns about the adequacy of existing workplace health
and safety penalties, with the father of one of the dead men backing
a campaign calling for the jailing of company directors found guilty
of deadly safety crimes.
Risks 288, 23 December 2006
•
Fack website
• Hazards
deadly business webpages •
Hazards Corus webpage
Britain:
Safety watchdog acts after union safety claims
A London food firm targeted by the union GMB
after a series of safety violations has received an official safety
warning. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation at one of
three London factories run by Katsouris Fresh Foods, owned by the giant
Icelandic Bakkavör Group, has resulted in an improvement notice,
after the safety watchdog found a machine that removed a worker’s
finger tip was inadequately guarded.
Risks 288, 23 December 2006 •
Hazards migrant workers'
webpages
Britain:
Safety must stay top of the council agenda
Retail union Usdaw has said health and safety
must remain top of the agenda for local authorities. The call follows
the announcement of a government review of local council statutory responsibilities.
Risks 288, 23 December 2006
Britain:
All sides say stop sniping at safety
Safety, enforcement, union and employers’
organisations have ganged together to call for an end to the “unremitting
criticism” of health and safety and the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE).
Risks 287, 16 December 2006
Britain:
Blair unveils massive attack on ‘red tape’
Tony Blair has outlined 500 measures the government
says will cut the £14bn cost of red tape to individuals, firms
and charities. A number of safety measures are included in the plans,
which aim to cut red tape by 25 per cent across all government departments.
Risks 287, 16 December 2006
Britain:
HSC consults on safety structure reforms
The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) has
published a public consultation document seeking views on merging health
and safety oversight body HSC and its enforcement arm the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) into a single health and safety authority. HSC
says a merger with HSE “will modernise our corporate governance
and provide a stronger voice for health and safety.”
A
stronger voice for health and safety - A Consultative Document on merging
the Health and Safety Commission and Health and Safety Executive,
CD210. Comments on the consultation should
be sent to Ami
Badmus, HSE, Rose Court, 2 Southwark Bridge,
London. SE1 9HS. Closing date for comments, 5 March 2007.
Britain:
Work safety system has saved over 5,000 lives
The UK’s workplace health and safety
system has saved over 5,000 lives, according to a new official report.
The Health and Safety Commission’s (HSC) Measuring up… Performance
report 2006 estimates this is the number of lives saved since the introduction
of the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, as a result of measures to
reduce the number of workplace accidents.
Risks 286, 9 December 2006 •
Measuring
Up… Performance Report 2006, HSC, December 2006
Britain:
HSE action “too late” says grieving family
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) improvement
notice came “too late”, a grieving family has said. The
action to improve electrical safety on Camden council sites came two
months after the electrocution of scaffolder Ralph Kennedy on a construction
job.
Risks 285, 2 December 2006 •
Hazards deadly business webpages
Britain:
Government promises to cut red tape
The government has delighted the business lobby by promising to slash
red tape. Prime minister Tony Blair told the CBI conference this week
he plans to order every government department to cut regulation by 25
per cent - the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the UK’s second
largest official regulatory and inspections body, after the Environment
Agency.
Risks 285, 2 December 2006
Global:
More inspections equals few injuries, lower costs
Beefed up health and safety inspection systems
reduce costs and injuries, the International Labour Organisation has
said. The ILO report proposes a series of measures designed to “reinvigorate”,
modernise and strengthen labour inspectorates worldwide, including tripartite
labour inspection audits to help governments identify and remedy weaknesses
in labour inspection, the development of ethical and professional codes
of conduct, labour inspection fact sheets, global inspection principles,
and hands-on tools for risk assessment, occupational safety and health
management systems and targeted training for inspectors.
Risks 284, 25 November 2006
Britain:
Amicus slams falling enforcement
A major drop in official enforcement action
could lead to an increase in work-related injuries and illnesses, the
union Amicus has warned. Calling for more inspections, better enforcement
and stronger laws, the union said the statistics from the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) released last week show that enforcement notices
and prosecutions have now fallen for the last three years.
Risks 282, 11 November 2006
Britain:
Good news on safety, not on safety crimes
The TUC has welcomed new statistics showing
a decline in the number of people injured or made ill by their jobs.
But it has expressed alarm over a further fall in the number of employers
being prosecuted for breaches of safety law, with a new TUC survey of
union safety reps showing enforcement is the most effective way of ensuring
employers comply with health and safety laws.
Risks 281, 4 November 2006
Britain:
Accidents, ill-health and enforcement all fall
New Health and Safety Commission (HSC) figures
show reported major injuries to employees in 2005/06 were down seven
per cent on the previous year to 28,605, compared to 30,451 in 2004/05.
The same statistics report reveals, however, that last year safety prosecutions
taken by HSE again fell markedly, down by 23 per cent drop on the then
record low previous year.
Risks 281, 4 November 2006
Britain:
TUC explodes dangerous safety myths
The TUC has warned health and safety myths
including schools banning conkers, safety inspectors banning ladders
and acrobats being forced to wear helmets risk undermining genuine safety
concerns.
Risks 280, 28 October 2006
Britain:
Unions call for safety enforcement rethink
More unions have raised concerns about the
strategy of the UK’s resource-strapped health and safety watchdog.
In a “highly critical” submission to the Health and Safety
Executive (HSE), ollege and university staff union UCU says the health
of thousands of its members “is being put at risk by a shift in
the focus of the HSE from inspection and enforcement to the offering
of guidance to employers.”
Risks 277, 7 October 2006
Britain:
Action call to protect safety enforcement
Trade unions have called for action to prevent
widespread job cuts in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and have
expressed concern at the shift from enforcement towards a more advisory
HSE role. An emergency resolution from HSE unions Prospect and PCS passed
by unions at last week’s TUC Congress expressed “deep concern”
at HSE’s announcement that a funding shortfall means up to 350
jobs are to go by 2008.
Risks 275, 23 September 2006
Britain:
Official safety inspections “in freefall”
The major workplace accident rate has increased as Health and Safety
Executive (HSE) safety inspections, prosecutions, convictions, notices
and contact time with firms have all plummeted, according to a new report.
The Hazards magazine ‘Come Clean’ report predicted the announcement
of widespread funding and job cuts in HSE, and warns that inspections
are “in freefall”.
Hazards news update, 19 August 2006
• Full
online report
Britain:
Unions call for inspections not cuts
Unions have said the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) must be given the resources to maintain an effective workplace
inspection and enforcement role.
Risks 270, 19 August 2006
Britain:
HSE unions condemn dangerous cutbacks
Plans to drastically cut staffing and budgets
in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have been condemned by unions
representing the safety watchdog’s staff. Prospect and PCS say
the “crippling” cuts, which HSE chief executive Geoffrey
Podger told staff are the result of budgeting blunders by the HSE board,
will leave workers at greater risk.
Hazards
news update, 19 August 2006
Britain:
Blitz proves the union safety case
A Health and Safety Executive construction
blitz which found most sites visited had potentially life-threatening
work methods proves the case for enforcement and greater safety reps’
rights, the union Amicus has said.
Risks 264, 8 July 2006 • Hazards
‘Sure, we’ll be safe’
report on falling HSE inspections and enforcement
Britain:
Stop the red tape whinge, TUC tells employers
The TUC has hit out at employers'
groups that complain about the burden of “red tape” but
exaggerate its cost and fail to state which regulations they would like
to see abolished. It says that the deregulation campaign is based on
“spin, smoke and mirrors” and a refusal to say which employment,
consumer and environmental protection measures they want to abolish.
Risks 249, 25 March 2006
Britain:
HSE in pact with employers’ body
The Health and Safety Executive has signed a “groundbreaking partnership
agreement” with EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, which
it says will promote effective health and safety management across manufacturing
industries. HSE says the agreement is the first of its kind between
the safety watchdog and another organisation.
Risks 242, 4 February 2006
USA:
Mine tragedy exposes deadly Bush strategy
The Bush administration’s heavily
touted shift to voluntary compliance measures on workplace safety has
been implicated in the Sago mine tragedy. Among changes pushed through
by the government has been a rebranding of mines safety inspectors as
“compliance assistance specialists.”
Risks 239, 14 January 2006
Britain:
Union shops enforcement sell out
An attempt by official safety enforcers to introduce self-regulation
is the retail sector has been criticised as “misguided”
by shopworkers’ union Usdaw. It says major retail chains, including
Asda, IKEA, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, have all been fined for criminal
breaches of safety law at the same time that the government is piloting
a reduction in inspections.
Risks 237, 17 December 2005
Britain:
Retail giants fined for safety offences
Sainsbury’s and IKEA have joined the
list of major retail chains prosecuted this year for criminal breaches
of safety law. The government is currently piloting a self-regulation
approach in the retail sector, where top companies in the scheme are
not visited by official safety enforcement officers.
Risks 236, 10 December 2005
Britain:
TUC to HSE – inspect, enforce and regulate
The TUC says the Health and Safety Executive’s “simplification”
response to the government’s “better regulation” drive
should concentrate on making the safety system more effective rather
than just attempting to reduce regulatory burdens on business.
Risks 235, 3 December 2005
Britain:
Workers pay with their lives for deregulation
Workers are paying a high price for the constant government drive to
“deregulate” business, according to a new report. The Crime
and Society Foundation’s ‘Criminal Obsessions’ report
says more than a thousand employees die in occupational fatalities each
year, yet safety inspections are low and enforcement is lower still.
Risks 229, 22 October 2005
Britain:
TUC concern at broken enforcement promise
The TUC has expressed grave concern
at a dramatic drop in official workplace health and safety enforcement
activity. Latest figures show the numbers of Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) prosecutions taken and enforcement notices issued have fallen
dramatically, despite repeated assurances from HSC chair Bill Callaghan
that this would not occur under HSE’s “2010 and beyond”
strategy.
Risks 229, 22 October 2005
Britain:
Watchdogs say partnerships are the “the way forward”
Britain’s health and safety watchdogs have launched a new project
to boost “partnerships” on health and safety with large
organisations. The Large Organisation Project Pilot (LOPP) “is
about customer-focussed and coordinated activities, aimed at finding
the most effective approaches to partnership working with the aim of
securing improvements in health and safety,” said the incoherent
HSE acting chief executive Justin McCracken.
Risks 227, 8 October 2005
Bulgaria:
Better enforcement delivers better conditions
A labour inspection clampdown in Bulgaria
has led to a massive improvement in safety and working conditions. A
report from the General Labour Inspectorate (GLI) said improved regular
inspections and penalties led to a doubling of the number of employers
adopting programmes to eliminate workplace risks between 2003 and 2004,
and a clear drop in the number of workplace accidents.
Risks 226, 1 October 2005
Global:
Deregulation is the treacherous choice
Regulation and enforcement are the best ways to ensure safe and healthy
workplaces, top international union leaders have said. They called on
the ILO to back a rights based approach, with trade union recognition
and reasonable rights of access to workplaces to recruit, organise and
represent on health and safety.
Risks 225, 24 September 2005
Britain:
Firms could get safety inspection opt-out
A top government official has indicated some firms will soon be able
to apply for self-regulation, opting-out of the official health and
safety inspection system. Paul Millar, head of the Department of Trade
and Industry’s (DTI) retail enforcement pilot, said there were
plans for a ‘traffic light’ system in which ‘excellent’
businesses, that demonstrated high standards through self-reporting,
customer feedback or external accreditation, would not be inspected
by health and safety and food safety inspectors.
Risks 225, 24 September 2005
Britain:
Gangmaster backtracking throws a lifeline to criminals
Unions TGWU and GMB have warned that government
pressure for the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) to limit pre-licensing
inspections to those gangmasters deemed sufficiently “risky”
means rogues will avoid detection and will be granted a licence to operate.
Risks 225, 24 September 2005
USA:
Concern as US exports do-it-yourself enforcement
The rapid expansion of a voluntary alternative for firms who want to
opt-out of formal safety inspection and enforcement is causing concern
in the US and Europe.
Risks 222, 3 September 2005
Britain:
Call for end of dangerous “deregulation fetish”
The government’s “deregulation fetish” will cost lives,
a top workplace health and safety campaign has warned ministers. At
the Hazards 2005 conference in Leeds last week, 580 safety reps, union
safety officers and national union officials representing millions of
workers agreed that the UK government’s push to reduce inspections
and “red tape” on business so Britain can compete in the
global marketplace will only succeed in making Britain a far more dangerous
place to work.
Risks 218, 6 August 2005
Britain:
Risk tolerance is the real workplace killer
In the week after safety minister Lord Hunt launched an online Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) debate about “the causes of risk aversion
in health and safety”, a series of tragedies have highlighted
a far more pressing problem – deadly risk tolerance by employers.
Risks, 216, 23 July 2005
Britain:
HSE continues move to a more advisory role
The Health and Safety Commission
says it is seeking “the right balance of enforcement and advice”,
in line with the enforcement-lite approach sought by the government
and the Hampton report.
Hazards magazine, July 2005
Britain:
Risk aversion row brewing
The Health and Safety
Executive has launched an online debate “on the causes of risk
aversion in health and safety,” a move which is certain to highlight
divisions about what some see as a “business-friendly” shift
in the safety watchdog’s approach.
Risks 215, 16 July 2005
USA:
Safety enforcer "no longer much of a problem"
US rights to basic protection
at work are being fatally undermined by the Bush government, latest
evidence suggests. Mark Friedman, director of labour law for the US
Chamber of Commerce, told the programme: "There is no reason why
workers should have a voice in negotiating health and safety policy"
because OSHA does not enforce against workers.
Risks 189, 8 January 2005
Britain:
Workers can't be victims of the war on red tape
A government plan to reel in
red tape must not remove safety protections, campaigners have warned.
They were responding after Gordon Brown announced "the regulatory
focus should be on advice not inspection."
Risks
186, 11 December 2004
Global:
Strong enforcement action is the key to safety
A real threat of enforcement
action by official safety agencies is the best way to secure improved
safety standards, a major international review has found.
Risks 184, 27 November 2004
Britain:
TUC call for new powers to save workers' lives
A further rise in workplace deaths and injuries exposes Britain's failing
safety enforcement regime, says the TUC. TUC general secretary Brendan
Barber said: "The fact that deaths and serious injuries at work
have risen again this year is a damning indictment on the levels of
safety and the enforcement regimes in British workplaces."
Risks 183, 20 November 2004
Britain:
HSE board "eroding safety" say inspectors
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) frontline staff say cutbacks and a
move to leaflet rather than legislate pushed through by senior management
is eroding workplace safety. In a devastating indictment of top HSE
bosses, 96.4 per cent of HSE inspectors, scientists and other professionals
supported a "no confidence" motion in HSE's board.
Risks 183, 20 November 2004
Britain:
HSE report shows a dramatic drop in enforcement
Health and safety enforcement dropped off dramatically last year according
to latest Health and Safety Executive (HSE) figures. Total HSE enforcement
action last year - prosecutions taken or HSE enforcement notices issued
- dropped by approaching 1,000.
Risks 183, 20 November 2004
Britain:
Commissioner calls for 50 more HSE inspectors for Scotland
A top union official is warning
that any cuts to the Health and Safety Commission's budget could leave
Scottish workers without the protection they deserve. Danny Carrigan,
Amicus assistant general secretary, who represents Scottish workers
on the Health and Safety Commission, told the TUC's safety conference
this week he would be seeking an increase of 50 inspectors in Scotland
to deal with the growing number of migrant and temporary agency workers.
Risks 182, 13 November 2004
Britain:
TUC urges government to "give us the tools we need"
The TUC has called for dramatic
improvements in the UK's approach to safety. Speaking at a TUC conference
to mark 30 years of the Health and Safety at Work Act and the setting
up of the Health and Safety Commission, TUC general secretary Brendan
Barber outlined the four key requirements for healthy workplaces: resources;
enforcement; rehabilitation; and consultation.
Risks 182, 13 November 2004
Britain:
Health and safety "strong but failing," says GMB
GMB general secretary Kevin Curran
has accused the government of having "spurned" another opportunity
to improve health and safety in the UK. He warned that the government
risked "sounding the death knell for tripartism, a departure from
regulation and a further step towards supporting the pursuit of profit
whatever the cost."
Risks 182, 13 November 2004
Britain:
HSE union spells out the flaws in HSC safety plan
A briefing from HSE inspectors'
union Prospect has spelt out point by point why the government is wrong
not to accept the Work and Pensions Select Committee's call for more
resources for HSE, more enforcement and more rights for safety reps.
Risks 181, 6 November 2004
Britain:
Directors get off scot free, says CCA
The government's rejection of key recommendations of the Work and Pensions
Select Committee is a "knee-jerk deregulatory" response, says
safety justice watchdog CCA. Risks 180,
30 October 2004
Britain:
Government "green light for killing", says Prospect
The government's dismissal of a select committee call for adequate resources
to safeguard UK workers will give rogue employers the green light to
continue maiming and killing employees, the HSE inspectors' union Prospect
has warned.
Risks 180, 30 October 2004
Britain:
TUC dismay at safety's"missed opportunity"
The TUC has expressed dismay the government's "disappointing"
response to a select committee report on workplace safety, particularly
its rejection of a call for stronger enforcement and more HSE resources
and safety representatives' rights.
Risks 180, 30 October 2004
Britain:
Workplaces are unsafe and unseen
The lives of workers and members of
the public are being put at risk because too few employers are receiving
visits from official health and safety inspectors, according a new TUC
safety survey. The interim findings show almost four in ten (39 per
cent) of the union safety reps questioned by the TUC said that their
workplace had never been inspected by either the Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) or by a local authority safety inspector.
Risks 179, 23 October 2004
Britain:
What should the safety watchdog do?
The Health and Safety Commission has
kicked off the latest stage in its development of an "interventions
strategy" - establishing the main techniques it will use as a regulator.
The move comes amid fevered debate over the UK's future health and safety
strategy, particularly the balance between enforcement and voluntary approaches.
Risks 176, 2 October 2004
HSE
strategy shift threatens lives says Amicus
A sea change in
strategy by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) will reduce the number
and frequency of workplace inspections, is reckless and will endanger
lives, says the union Amicus.
Making companies
safe, a new report commissioned by Amicus from the Centre for Corporate
Accountability, reviews the UK and international evidence and concludes
inspection and investigation backed by legislation are most effective
in guaranteeing safety at work.
Yet the HSE are
moving away from regulation and is instead favouring voluntary approaches,
says Amicus. As well as being dangerous, says the union, the change
of direction has been dictated by a lack of resources, which has forced
a recruitment freeze and a reduction in the number of HSE inspectors
and the frequency of inspections. On top of this, a Treasury-led review
is looking at the possibility of conducting "targeted inspection programmes"
that could exempt some companies from HSE inspections altogether.
Derek Simpson,
general secretary of Amicus, said: "There is overwhelming evidence that
the threat of legal action is the key driver for companies to improve
their health and safety standards. The HSE's new focus on education
and information through voluntarism is not enough unless backed by rigorous
and effective enforcement action." He added: "Companies have to be compelled
to act and the current low levels of inspection, enforcement and prosecution
do not provide a sufficient deterrent to those who have little regard
for the health and safety of their employees."
Amicus
news release • CCA
news release • Making companies safe: What work? - introduction,
main
findings and full report [pdf]
Europe:
Dutch unions boycott EU "deregulatory" safety conference Major
union groups have boycotted a flagship European Union (EU) conference.
Dutch union federation FNV and Christian union CNV says the conference,
which took place in Amsterdam from 15-17 September, is a thinly veiled
attempt to push a health and safety deregulation agenda. Risks
174, 18 September 2004
USA:
Dramatic shift away from safety enforcement
The US safety enforcement agency is
planning a dramatic shift towards more "voluntary protection programmes"
(VPP) and away from inspection and enforcement. However, the official
justification for the programme - that it saves lives and money - has
been challenged in official reports.
Risks
173, 11 September 2004
Britain:
HSC pushes forward with its enforcement-lite plan
The Health and Safety Commission (HSC)
is pushing ahead with a controversial plan to provide advice "free
from the fear of enforcement." The approach, criticised at this
month's TUC Congress, is part of a new HSC strategy that has been descried
by critics as "enforcement-lite" and "resource rationing".
Risks
175, 25 September 2004
For latest news and resources on the
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