Monthly Archives: February 2010

Green capitalism can be just as deadly

If you are one of those employed in the rapidly expanding green jobs sector, don’t assume your green employer is any less likely to exploit and endanger you. This is the message from Laurent Vogel, director of the European TUC’s health and safety research arm, HESA. In an editorial in the latest issue of the […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Comments closed

Unexploded bombs left at recycling centre

A Welsh council has warned people to be more responsible after an unexploded artillery shell, detonators and marine flares were dumped at its local authority recycling centres. Powys Council said it had been forced to call out Army bomb disposal experts and police three times during the last five months. The shell was left next […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Comments closed

Serial offender fined after recycling bin death

A company that says it is the UK’s leading waste and recycling firm and that parades its environmental and safety credentials has been fined £130,000 after a worker was killed when a 1,100-litre recycling bin fell on his head. David Ives, 56, an employee of Veolia ES (UK) Ltd, formally known as Onyx UK Ltd, was collecting […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Comments closed

Shorter working week is ‘inevitable’

A shorter working week is set to become the norm, according to a report  from the new economics foundation (nef), a UK based think tank. Its study, 21 hours, forecasts a major shift in the length of the formal working week as a consequence of dealing with key economic, social and environmental problems. The nef […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Belated action after Oz insulation deaths

The Australian government has ordered a huge safety audit of every home that was fitted with foil insulation as part of a nationwide green homes plan. The insulation programme, which forms part of a government economic stimulus package, was suspended after it was linked to a number of worker electrocutions and heat exhaustion deaths. The Energy Efficient […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments closed

Toxins were recycled in recycling firm air

One of the UK’s largest recycling firms and its director have been fined a total of £145,000 for “shocking” safety breaches that exposed workers to mercury fumes. Twenty employees of Electrical Waste Recycling Group Ltd (EWR), formerly known as Matrix Direct Recycling Ltd, had levels of mercury in their system above UK guidance levels at […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Poisonous record of prison e-waste recycling

US prisoners and staff supervisors were exposed for years to excessive levels of toxic heavy metals during computer recycling operations, a government workplace health research agency has confirmed. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) report, however, says the absence of recordkeeping inside the prisons, made it impossible to confirm any health problems […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Comments closed

What’s union, green and read all over?

There’s been a flurry of activity from the US national union confederation AFL-CIO, as it fleshes out its green jobs activities. And you can find out all about it in regular online briefings. The National Labor College (NLC) and the AFL-CIO’s Center for Green Jobs have launched a monthly online Green Labor Journal to outline […]
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments closed