24 April 2004

Global
Workers' Memorial Day worldwide
Thousands of unions and millions of workers in over 100 countries will be marking Workers' Memorial Day, 28 April, with events, protests and conferences. To find out about what is going on from Argentina to Australia and from Palestine to Peru, see the Hazards Workers' Memorial Day global reports.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004
International Workers' Memorial Day, 28 April 2004
Artwork: Huck/Konapacki - the website includes free artwork for unions to use on their websites.
Other Workers' Memorial Day artwork.

Europe
Dangerous fight for unsafe machinery
Safety markings on workplace machinery sold throughout Europe could be leaving workers at risk. And, warns Brussels-based union safety watchdog TUTB, the situation could now get worse as two Finnish businesses use the courts to try to ensure free movement of goods takes priority over safety.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

Britain
Courts urged to get tough on bus driver assaults
Bus workers' union TGWU has called for the courts to take a tougher line with those convicted of assaults on bus drivers.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

Britain
Warning over fake health and safety agencies
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urged firms to ignore information they receive from three firms purporting to regulate health and safety. HSE says it has received hundreds of complaints from companies across the country that have been sent requests for payments of between £125 and £249 which they say are necessary to ensure compliance with health and safety laws.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

Global
Solvent "raises risk of cancer"
A solvent found in varnishes, paints, dyes and fuel additives and which is used in the semiconductor industry may raise the risk of cancer among women taking hormone treatments, say researchers. They found the chemical, ethylene glycol methyl ether (EGME), boosted the activity of hormones used in HRT and the contraceptive pill.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

Britain
NHS trusts putting pregnant doctors at risk
Some NHS trusts are exploiting pregnant junior doctors at the expense of health and safety, according to an article in BMJ Careers.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

Britain
Legal threat on passive smoke at work
The hospitality trade could soon face legal action arising from its "stubborn failure to act" on warnings about possible health damage caused to employees by passive smoking. Campaigners say employers who continue to permit smoking in the workplace are likely to be held liable by the courts for any health damage caused.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

Britain
Musicians suffer skin disorders
Musicians risk afflictions including "guitar nipple" and "fiddler's neck", a new study has reported. Other players using flutes and brass instruments were found to suffer allergies to nickel, which could cause dermatitis of the lips.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

Australia
Workers reject uranium drink apology
Workers who were exposed to uranium-contaminated drinking water have rejected an apology from their employer, a part of global mining giant Rio Tinto. Workers have suffered aches, lethargy, headaches and diarrhoea after drinking water that contained 400 times the legal limit of uranium, but are being denied information by the company.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

China
World turns a blind eye to work injuries
Industrial machinery will crush or sever the arms, hands and fingers of some 40,000 Chinese workers this year, according to official Chinese government news agencies. Some experts privately say the true number is higher and say foreign companies that relentlessly demand lower prices and US consumers who gobble up low-cost goods, contribute to the problem.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

El Salvador/USA
GAP crosses the union divide in factory campaign
US garment workers' union UNITE and high street clothes store Gap are jointly supporting an effort by displaced garment workers in El Salvador to open that country's first independent and fully unionised apparel export factory.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

USA
Republicans push for asbestos bail-out
US Republicans are attempting to push through a cut-price asbestos compensation deal. Senior Republicans anticipate proposed law will fail - the proposed $114bn (£64bn) cash-capped pot would be too small and is described by critics as an asbestos industry "bail-out" or "corporate welfare" - but are hoping to make it an election year issue anyway.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

USA
NY firefighters traumatised by 9/11
Firefighters who worked at ground zero of the World Trade Center are experiencing high rates of depression, anxiety and stress, according to a new study. They say they are alienated from and unheeded by decision-makers at the upper levels of the 11,000-member department.
Risks 153, 24 April 2004

17 April 2004

Britain
UNISON welcomes life term for nurse attacker
UNISON Scotland has welcome the life sentence given to a man who attacked a nurse on night shift.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Britain
Company growth can make workers wilt
Working for a company that expands rapidly increases an employee's risk of long-term sickness and hospital admissions, says a report in the Lancet.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Britain
Work stress a "material contribution" to stroke
An undercover detective who had to carry out a dangerous bugging operation nine times because of faulty equipment has won the right to substantial damages because of the stress-related ill-health it triggered.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

USA
Long hours increase injury risks
Limited employee involvement in schedule selection, long work days, and an excess of consecutive work days are all linked to increased risk of ergonomics-related injuries, according to a new report.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Britain
Rail safety system facing delays
A radio system for train drivers recommended after the Paddington rail crash has been delayed by five years. The system will be delayed from 2008 to 2013 - 14 years after the crash.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Britain
HSC says rail safety must be free from business pressure
In its response to a government consultation, the Health and Safety Commission says rail safety regulation must be free from industry and economic pressures.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Britain
Cockle death police head to China
Detectives are travelling to China to investigate whether three more people died in the Morecambe Bay cockling tragedy than previously thought.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Britain
Death firm fined £25,000 after "catastrophic failures"
A firm has been fined £25,000 for "catastrophic failures" after a worker was killed when a piece of equipment exploded in his face.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Australia
Union call centre safety guide
Australian service sector union ASU has published a Good practice guide for occupational health and safety in call centres.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Australia
Working while sick is less trouble
Australian teachers are going to work ill because it is too much trouble to take the day off, principals and a teachers' union say.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Kenya
Factory workers locked in at night
The Kenyan government is to appoint a special team to investigate union reports of employees' rights violations, after it was revealed that workers employed in Export Processing Zones have been routinely locked in factories overnight.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

New Zealand
Court limits work drug tests scope
New Zealand's largest union says it is to put all workplace drug testing regimes under close scrutiny in the wake of a landmark court decision. The Employment Court ruled that Air New Zealand may not impose random tests for drugs or alcohol across its workforce, but may introduce them in "safety sensitive areas."
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Russia
Funerals of 47 Siberian mine victims
The first funerals have been held of 47 Russian coalminers who died when a blast ripped through their pit in Siberia. Only six of the 53 miners underground at the time survived.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

Spain
More than 8 out of 10 work diseases are missed
Most occupational disease cases go unrecognised, according to a Spanish study. A report in the journal Archivos de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales concluded most deaths from occupational diseases don't feature at all in official statistics and adds that 83 per cent of occupational diseases in Spain are not recognised or registered.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

USA
Voluntary work safety isn't safe
Company efforts to avoid safety regulation and enforcement by introducing voluntary safety schemes aren't working, according to new research. US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) researchers found chemical facilities owned by companies enrolled in the industry-sponsored voluntary safety programme have had more than 1,800 accidents per year since 1990.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

USA
Mexican lives come cheap in Florida
Florida is operating a racially-driven compensation system which defaults to breaking the law rather than pay full death compensation when Mexicans are killed in its workplaces.
Risks 152, 17 April 2004

10 April 2004

Britain
TUC to champion safety reps on HSC
The TUC has a new face on the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), the country's top health and safety body. Hugh Robertson, TUC's head of safety, says promoting and developing the lifesaving role of union safety reps will be a top priority.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Britain
Unions warn that violence victims could lose out
Unions representing frontline staff have warned that government proposals could mean victims of workplace violent crimes lose out.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Britain
Jail law call after firm's £2m disaster fine
Rail union RMT has said killer bosses should face the prospect of jail time. The union was commenting after a court fined Thames Trains a record £2 million for its part in the deaths of 31 people in the 5 October 1999 Paddington train.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Britain
Pilots call for peer support for alcohol problems
Pilot's union BALPA has said workers with alcohol problems should be given support, not the sack. A peer intervention scheme wojld enable any pilot who has a problem to obtain support from a trained BALPA representative and would neither lose their job nor seniority.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Britain
Temporary worker law takes effect
A new law regulating the behaviour of employment agencies will prevent them ripping off vulnerable workers, says the government. The TUC, however, has warned that the new regulations fall far short of those sought by Europe in a directive being blocked by the UK and other governments.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Britain
Seventh safety minister in seven years
Jane Kennedy MP has become minister of state for work at the Department for Work and Pensions - and the seventh health and safety minister in less than seven years.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Britain
Government proposals on new chemical law
A major European initiative aimed at protecting human health and the environment from hazardous substances is the subject of a new UK government consultation.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Global
Smoking ban could slash heart attacks
New research suggests that a workplace smoking ban could almost halve the number of heart attacks.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Britain
The importance of being rehabilitated
As part of TUC's evidence to the Work and Pensions Select Committee on the work of HSE/C, the TUC has produced a detailed briefing on the importance of rehabilitation.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004 • Full TUC rehabilitation briefing

Australia
Report calls for powerful roving reps
Union safety reps in the Australian state of Victoria should be empowered to enter non-union workplaces and shut down dangerous premises, says a new report. It says workplace with union safety reps need "roving" union safety.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Canada
Stop "pretending asbestos safe" call
The Ban Asbestos Network (BAN) is demanding Canada stop pretending that asbestos is safe. BAN members, which include CUPE and CAW, Canada's largest public and private sector unions respectively, are also urging Canada to support "prior informed consent" (PIC) requirements for all forms of asbestos imported from Canada by other countries.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Greece
Workers die for the Olympic dream
The Olympic image has been severely tarnished by fatalities in the construction of the Athens facilities. Unions say in the period up to the end of March 2004 at least 13 immigrant workers were killed with scores more seriously injured, racing against the clock to build the facilities for this year's Athens Olympics.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

Japan
Karoshi deaths system speeded up
Work related sudden deaths in Japan have reached a record high, prompting authorities to speed up the official system to recognise cases eligible for compensation.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

USA
Resignations over failed nuclear compo scheme
Two top US Energy Department (DOE) officials have resigned after revelations that a compensation programme for thousands of sick atomic bomb plant workers had paid out to only one worker. The $15,000 (£8,150) payout contrasts with the $74 million (£40.2m) spent on paperwork.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

USA
Message to injured workers - adapt or adios
US autoworkers' union UAW has negotiated schemes placing injured workers in new or modified jobs. The pick of the bunch is the Accommodating DisAbled People in Transition program (ADAPT) programme in place at auto giants General Motors and Delphi.
Risks 151, 10 April 2004

3 April 2004

Britain
Time to end long hours working
The TUC has called on the European Commission to end the individual opt-out from the Working Time Directive. It says long hours working is bad for the health of long hours workers and ending the opt-out is the only way to stop it.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
Amicus to lead £1.8m bullying study
Amicus, the union that has been the leading light in the push for workplace bullying action, is to head the world's biggest ever investigation into the problem.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
Lords back stressed workers
Law Lords have ruled that employers must take the initiative to protect employees they know are vulnerable to stress-related illness. They awarded a teacher and NUT member Leon Alan Barber £72,547 in damages against his employer, Somerset County Council.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
Seafarers are tired of taking the blame
Seafarers' union NUMAST has called for action to address fatigue at sea, a problem linked to a series of serious incidents. It says the government has put resources into cutting out drinking on board, but is overlooking the more pressing hazard of seafarers performing below par because of fatigue, under-staffing and overwork.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
ISTC overturns shaky finger verdict
Steel union ISTC has won a Court of Appeal compensation victory for members with a debilitating occupational disease. Ken Brown, Lloyd Grogan and Peter Tricky, three former employees of Corus' Llanwern steelworks, had contracted vibration white finger (VWF), a condition where circulatory and nervous system damage to the hands can lead to permanent disability.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
GMB and Greenpeace want ships scrapped safely
The union GMB has teamed up with Greenpeace to call for British ships to be scrapped in the UK to stop them ending up in the developing world. The campaign wants a "world-class" ship-breaking industry for the UK which can tackle lethal asbestos, PCBs and other hazards.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
TGWU welcomes fresh call for corporate killing law
TGWU has welcomed a Bill which would introduce greater accountability for corporate safety criminals. Frank Doran MP's 10 minute rule Bill on corporate killing was put before parliament on 30 March.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
Union action call as rail deaths hit 13-year high
RMT general secretary Bob Crow has renewed the union's call for an inquiry into safety standards on Britain's railways after worker deaths reached a 13-year high.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
Public backs ban on public smoking
The vast majority of the public want a ban on smoking in all public places, according to a BBC poll. Almost threequarters of people (73 per cent) who responded to a BBC survey want a ban as a way to cut tobacco-related illness.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
Arrests show need for gangmaster licences
Farmworker's union TGWU has welcomed police raids on gangmaster operations in East Anglia and Scotland. The union, which has headed a national push for action against exploitative gangmasters, says the clampdown highlights the need for a licensing and registration scheme.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
Long hours pressure makes workers mad
Employers are forcing workers to work long hours and those excessive hours are driving them bonkers, new research shows. A Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) report, Calling time on working time?, found 30 per cent of respondents felt there was an element of compulsion in their working in excess of 48 hours per week, up from 11 per cent in 1998.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
Most firms fail to manage stress
Up to five million Britons complain of work-related stress each year, but a new survey shows that most organisations are not following the Health and Safety Executive's soon to be enforced rules to manage and reduce it.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Global
Workers suffer Irritable Desk Syndrome
Cluttered desks, poor posture and hours spent in front of a computer are damaging the health of office staff, with increasing numbers of workers now suffering from "Irritable Desk Syndrome."
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
Never too young to union
Schoolchildren and students are to be given lessons on the benefits of joining a trade union. Up to 2.6 million young people start their first job between the ages of 11-15 and around one million students work during term-time, with thousands more working in their holidays or in gap years.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Britain
HSC fails safety reps
The government has announced its disappointing and fainthearted response to overwhelming evidence that greater use of union safety reps can dramatically improve safety across the workforce. A new challenge fund will at best allow 30 or so safety reps to become WSAs, although HSC says the new reps need not be safety reps at all.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Australia
Back off boss - you're making me sick
A warning to bosses: Too much supervision can make your workers sick. Workers who are micro-managed or do not get on well with supervisors are more likely to take sick leave, according to a study.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Brazil
One more step to a global asbestos ban
Brazil is to become the latest country to impose a ban on asbestos. Press reports say the Brazilian government, which has been under considerable and consistent pressure from the Canadian government to continue using its chrysotile (white) asbestos, is to go ahead with a ban.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Europe
Consultation on cutting work cancer and reproductive risks
The European Commission is consulting workers and employers on reducing exposure to work substances that cause cancer and reduce fertility.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Ireland
Irish eyes aren't smarting as work goes smoke free
Ireland became the first country in the world to outlaw cigarettes in all its restaurants and pubs this week. It is now illegal to smoke in virtually all workplaces, closed public spaces and on public transport, with fines of up to 3,000 euros (£2,000) for transgressors.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

Russia
Nestlé response to hazards - you're fired
Multinational food giant Nestlé has fired a union rep in a Russian factory on trumped up safety charges - after he raised concerns about the hazards the led to an accident.
Risks 150, 3 April 2004

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