Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Britain
TUC Christmas survival guide
Employees can find out how to survive working around the festive season with the help of the TUC's Christmas Survival Guide 2003. The easy to use online guide, on TUC's workSMART website, and deals with burning issues including psychological terror from xmas muzak, mistakes under the mistletoe, bans on baubles and seasonal skinflints.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Britain
PM told to shut up shops for xmas
Over 250,000 people have backed shopworkers' union Usdaw in calling for a ban on larger stores opening on Christmas Day in England and Wales. Usdaw general secretary Sir Bill Connor and Kevan Jones MP this week presented a petition to Downing Street signed by over a quarter of a million people, calling for legislation to ban stores larger than 280 square metres from opening on Christmas Day.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Britain
TGWU calls for end to child labour on farms
The union representing rural workers has called on farmers and parents everywhere to support its call for action to ban children from the working areas of farms. The TGWU call came after an inquest in Wales returned a verdict of accidental death in the case of 12-year old Evan Thomas, who died of multiple injuries after a farm tragedy in January this year.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Britain
Time to change your accident book
The union Amicus MSF has issued an accident book alert to its safety reps. It says accident books need to be changed by the end of 2003 to comply with data protection laws.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Britain
Spruced up xmas workplaces banned
Civil servants have been ordered to take down jobcentre Christmas trees because bosses fear irate job hunters might indulge in some seasonal violence and ho-heave-ho them at staff.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Britain
Bus union welcomes new violence guide
Bus drivers in Britain will benefit from new government guidance to help tackle crime on buses and coaches, says the the UK busworkers' union TGWU.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Britain
Draft Euro report backs TUC hours campaign
The UK's opt-out from a directive aimed at limiting working hours to 48 a week is being widely abused by employers, according to a draft official Euro report.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Britain
Report finds almost all firms have liability cover
Claims by employers' organisations and insurers that rises in employers' liability compulsory insurance (ELCI) premiums have led firms to skip payment of their premiums are unfounded, according to a report for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Britain
Royal Mail the "worst company for bullying"
Royal Mail is the worst company in the country for bullying harassment, according to its top boss. Last year CWU called for a campaign to make the industry harassment free, after 26-year-old mail centre worker Jermaine Lee took his own life after enduring racist bullying at wor.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003 • Hazards bullying factsheet [pdf format] and guidance on work-related suicide.

Global
Study confirms passive smoking risks
The greater your exposure to passive smoking at work, the greater your risk of lung cancer, a major study has found. Those exposed to smoke in the workplace had an increased lung cancer risk of 13 per cent. For those exposed for more than 21 years, the risk jumped to 25 per cent, the study found.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003 • Hazards smoking webpages

Britain
Oil bosses to blame for astonishing safety breaches
An oil and gas giant which failed to take adequate precautions to protect the crew on a North Sea production platform has been fined £100,000. Sheriff Kieran McLernan criticised the senior management of Amoco (UK) Exploration Ltd for the failings that led to gas leakages.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Australia
Workplace bullies "ruin young lives"
Workplace bullies are making jobs hell for thousands of Australian youngsters. The Young Workers Advisory Service in Queensland has received more than 2,700 calls from workers under 25 since it was set up 18 months ago.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Bangladesh
Shipbreaking is a life sentence
Workers at the world's second biggest shipbreaking yard off Bangladesh's main port of Chittagong spend their lives cutting up filthy oil tankers, chemical carriers and rusting ferries. At least 297 people have been killed and 600 injured in accidents at the Chittagong yard over the past 12 years, say officials.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Canada
Just when you thought you weren't safe...
Canada's reputation as the health and safety backwater of the developed world has been reinforced by a move to fine workers spotted doing dangerous jobs. Clint Dunford, the human resources and employment minister in the province of Alberta says workers will face spot fines if inspectors find them working unsafely at heights.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Canada
Westray miner gets stress payout
A former Westray miner and rescue worker forced to pawn his bravery medal after losing his workers' compensation, has been awarded a payment and pension after a union-backed appeal. He has been suffering from post traumatic stress disorder since the May 1992 catastrophe in which 26 miners were killed.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

Europe
Agency plans to tackle construction
Construction safety and European enlargement are to be top safety priorities in 2004, according to the European Agency
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

USA
Prison threat for managers arrested at work
Four managers at US company Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co., allowed to get away with intimidation and serious and sometimes deadly safety violations for years have been arrested at work, and could face lengthy jail terms if found guilty.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003

USA
Firms turn to hair tests to check for drug use
US employers are switching from workplace urine tests to hair tests to check for drug use in their staff, in a move that means they can detect use right back to the date of your last hair cut. The American Management Association says 67 per cent of US companies now conduct drug tests.
Risks 137, 20 December 2003 • Hazards drug testing guide

Hazards news 13 December 2003

Britain
Alan Dalton, safety champion, dies
Alan Dalton, the most energetic and uncompromising safety activist of his generation, has died. He was 57. He helped create Hazards magazine, so the new generation of safety reps with legal rights also had union arguments and support to convert rights into influence.
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

Europe
Europe should toughen up working time rights
The UK TUC has presented Europe's top employment policy official with a dossier proving the case of tougher working time controls in the UK.
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

Britain
Safety warning over contracting out
Public service union UNISON has called on local authorities and health trusts to ensure that the health and safety of the workforce is taken into account when awarding contracts to private contractors. A UNISON survey found 96 per cent of public authority employers had a joint health and safety committee (JHSC), compared to only 21 per cent of private contractors, and 96 per cent of authorities had union safety representatives in their employment compared to just 22 per cent of contractors.
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

Britain
Do you want compensation with that?
Maths teacher Aileen Gilmour has been awarded £55,000 compensation after slipping on a chip outside her school canteen. In February this year, another schoolteacher, NASUWT member Carol Harper, was awarded £44,650 in High Court damages after slipping on a chip.
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

Britain
Ageing hits workers before bosses
The chronic illnesses of old age strike manual workers up to two decades before their better-paid managers, University College London researchers have found. The English Longitudinal Study on Ageing found a third of manual workers aged 50 to 59 reported a long-standing illness.
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

Britain
Fine for firm that ignored RSI warnings
A car assembly firm has been fined £10,000 after ignoring a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) warning that more staff, better equipment and improved work methods were needed to reduce the risk of repetitive strain injury (RSI).
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

Britain
Management failures cost CSG £650,000
Cleansing Services Group Ltd (CSG) has been fined £250,000 and ordered to pay £400,000 costs for breaches of environmental and health and safety regulations involving fires and radioactive and other hazardous wastes.
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

Britain
Widow joins fight against Crown Immunity
A south Wales widow has joined a national campaign to scrap the Crown Immunity which prevents her suing the Royal Mint over her husband's death. The reform campaign is being spearheaded by the Centre for Corporate Accountability.
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

Canada
Ergonomic guide for clothing workers
A new Ergonomic handbook for the clothing industry provides information on all the tasks common to the industry in the cutting, assembly, pressing and finishing departments.
Risks 136, 13 December 2003 • Full handbook online [pdf format]

USA
US tips on cold weather working
As cold weather hits parts the US, safety watchdog OSHA is reminding employers and workers to take necessary precautions to prevent and treat cold-related health problems. It says prolonged exposure to freezing or cold temperatures may cause serious health problems such as trench foot, frostbite and hypothermia.
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

Australia
Union takes on "punitive" drugs policies
An Australian union says its members will not stand for "punitive" drug and alcohol policies. AWU national secretary Bill Shorten said: "Too many companies have implemented drug and alcohol testing policies that are punitive rather than educative and may drive the very few workers in our society with problems underground."
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

Canada
Two-faced government is a global asbestos pusher
Canadian government claims that it has not decided its position on asbestos bans have been revealed as a lie - it is funding an asbestos industry global marketing push, including "the costs of activities in Canada and internationally" such as "communications material and information seminars."
Risks 136, 13 December 2003

USA
Vision syndrome affects most computer users
A national survey for the American Optometric Association has found that 75 per cent of adult Americans are concerned about vision problems caused by prolonged computer use. According to the study, nearly 46 per cent of those surveyed believe that CVS will be a major workplace related problem in the future.
Risks 136, 13 December 2003 • Hazards computer Vision Syndrome factsheet

Hazards news 6 December 2003

BRITAIN
GMB says "burn out Britain" is a reality
Almost one in four men works longer than the European limit, according to a GMB analysis of the most recent census data.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

BRITAIN
EU report exposes UK working time abuse
An unpublished European Union research report exposes widespread working hours abuse by UK employers. The report was commissioned from three Cambridge University academics in the run up to the European Commission's review of the UK opt-out from the Europe-wide 48-hour working week ceiling.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

AUSTRIA
The tills are alive with the sound of muzak
Shop workers in Austria are demanding compensation for the "psychological terror" of being subjected to hours of piped Christmas music. A union study found that listening to endless hours of Silent Night and Jingle Bells made shop staff "aggressive and confrontational," prompting the union to call on employers to voluntarily introduce a code of practice where Christmas music was limited to a few hours a day in peak shopping hours.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

BRITAIN
Sober workers fired under "zero tolerance" policy
Five maintenance workers cleared by tests of any drug or alcohol use have been fired after facing what their union warned would be a "kangaroo court." The rail union RMT says there could be industrial action after the workers were sacked over the discovery of empty alcohol cans and bottles in a mess room.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

BRITAIN
Balloon protest for workers' safety
Members of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) have released 400 balloons over Manchester city centre to highlight the risks to safety at work from employer negligence. Dave McCall, regional secretary for the TGWU, said: "The TGWU is pressing the government at the highest level to honour their manifesto commitment to make corporate killing a crime."
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

BRITAIN
Amicus say UK workers deserve Oz style law
The trade union Amicus has reacted angrily to news that an Australian state has implemented the corporate manslaughter laws that were missing from the UK government's legislative plans. Amicus said that workers in the UK should be celebrating the same industrial manslaughter protection as their counterparts in Australia, especially as corporate manslaughter laws were a UK Labour Party manifesto pledge in 1997.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

CANADA
Unions launch safer needle campaign
A coalition of Canadian health care unions has launched a national campaign for a new law that would mandate the use of safer equipment and virtually eliminate needlestick injuries among Canada's 750,000 health care workers.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003 • Also see the Hazards needlesticks webpage

BRITAIN
Acting can be hazardous
More than threequarters of actors in the UK have suffered some discomfort or injury during their career, according to research by physios' union the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP). Four out of five of those surveyed blamed work in the theatre and one-seventh (14 per cent) believed safety measures backstage presented a real hazard to their health, often as a result of tight budgets where not enough money is allocated to ensure activities and sets are safely designed.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

BRITAIN
Workplace snoopers face legal clampdown
The growing employer taste for drug and alcohol tests, genetic screening and snooping into personal medical histories could be ruled out of order by the government. Information Commissioner Richard Thomas says the latest phase of the consultation on the Employment Practices Data Protection Code will cover information about workers' health - and a draft of the code would severely restrict the circumstances in which employers could use drug, alcohol or gene tests or access medical records.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

USA
Compensation cases link welding to Parkinson's
A US welder who claimed he developed a Parkinson's-like condition caused by exposure to welding fume has received a massive compensation payout. Larry Elam, who said his health problems stemmed from years of using welding rods, was awarded $1 million (£58m) by an Illinois jury.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

BRITAIN
Campaigns continue against asbestos profiteers
The company sent in as administrator for T&N, the asbestos giant that opted for bankruptcy to avoid asbestos payouts to dying workers, is making millions in fees while sufferers receive nothing. Campaigners say excessive professional fees are eating into a fund that was supposed to compensate sufferers.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

USA
Workers need workplace violence education
Workplace violence rarely strikes without warning, but employees are not being given the training required to recognise when they are at risk. A new US study commissioned by the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses (AAOHN) "found that nearly 20 per cent of the entire workforce claimed they have experienced an episode of workplace violence first-hand, yet the majority still do not know what to look for when it comes to determining potential offender characteristics," said AAOHN president Susan A Randolph.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

BRITAIN
CCA challenges flawed corporate killing plan
The government's plans for a corporate killing law, already under attack for delays and for not bringing dangerous directors to book, could also breach human rights laws by excluding public bodies from its scope.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

BRITAIN
Corus fined after another workplace death
Corus UK Ltd has been fined £150,000 and £50,000 costs following an incident in which locomotive driver Michael McGovern was killed on 15 September 2000 when the train he was driving at the Corus steelworks in Scunthorpe derailed. The incident is one a series at Corus plants country wide, including the death of Gary Birkett, killed at the Scunthorpe plant on 5 November 2002.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003 • Also see Hazards' Corus webpage

BRITAIN
Smoke signals bad for UK, good for NZ
More than half of UK non-smoking employees are being exposed to tobacco smoke in the workplace, according to research. Campaign group SmokeFree London said around eight million non-smokers (51 per cent), many working in bars and restaurants, were exposed to smoke in the workplace. The New Zealand parliament, meanwhile, has passed legislation that will require all its workplaces, including pubs and clubs, to be smoke-free within 12 months.
Risks 135, 6 December 2003

BRITAIN
Just say no… to drug and alcohol tests
A TUC-backed report is warning that the law does not give workers sufficient protection against the increasing use of unjustified and degrading drink and drug testing at work. The "Testing times" report, published in the latest issue of the TUC backed Hazards magazine, asked UK unions if they had experienced problems with workplace drug testing and discovered serious concerns ranging from "chain of custody" of samples, to the use of drugs tests to harass "troublesome" workers.
Risks 134, 29 November 2003 • See: Hazards testing times webpage

November 2003 stories

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