CANADA
No-smoking law beneficial, study shows
Canada's first bylaw banning smoking in public
places has not had the negative social or economic impact predicted by
opponents, a study has found.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
AUSTRALIA
No smoking law must go further
Hospitality workers in Tasmania have welcomed a new state government
report recommending a total ban on smoking in Tasmanian bars and gaming
areas (casinos and arcades).
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
BRITAIN
Motorists face fines for hand-held mobile use
Drivers spotting using a hand-held mobile phone at the wheel could face
penalties of up to £1,000, the UK government has announced, in a move
welcomed by the TUC.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
SWEDEN
Hands-free phone not safer for drivers
Using any mobile phone while driving is dangerous, a Swedish study has
shown.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
CHINA
Deadly cost of industrialisation
China’s emergence as a major industrial power has been accompanied by
a surge in fatal respiratory, circulatory, neurological and digestive
tract diseases like those American and European workers suffered through
the first industrial revolution.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
BRITAIN
TUC tells bosses to give us a rest
The TUC has told UK business bosses they are "obsessed" with making
workers accept longer hours, and should give us all a rest. Bosses’
organisation CBI is urged the government to support a continued opt-out
from parts of the EU-wide working time law, which means British workers
have the worst working hours protection in Europe.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
AUSTRALIA
Bullying on the rise
A whopping 85 per cent of Australian employees say they have either
been personally bullied or have seen others bullied at work, according
to a Health Works survey.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
BRITAIN
Assaults on rail staff soar
Fed-up passengers are taking their frustrations out on rail staff, an
official safety report has revealed. There was a 24 per cent increase
in physical and verbal assaults and threats on rail staff in 2002-03.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
BRITAIN
Union shock at "disgusting" Jarvis decision
Rail union RMT has said the choice of Jarvis, the company at the centre
of the Potters Bar train crash investigation, to replace track in the
area is "disgusting".
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
BRITAIN
Unfair bosses can break your heart
A UK study has shown that unfair bosses can drive up their employees'
blood pressure, increasing their long-term risk of a heart attack or
stroke.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
USA
Asbestos compensation fight hots up
Business-supported efforts to peg back the USA’s spiralling asbestos
compensation bill have come under a fresh attack from disease victims,
unions, lawyers and environmental groups.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
BRITAIN
Break free work is no picnic, says union
A poll for civil service union PCS has found over half the UK workforce
(57 per cent) take less than 30 minutes for their lunch break at work,
the legal minimum for an average working day. Almost two-thirds (62
per cent) said they skipped lunch or lunched at their desk at least
once a week, with one in five saying they did this every day.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
USA
Compensation crisis is bad news for workers
Pressure from business and insurers to reduce the cost of workers' compensation
insurance in the US, could result in big losses for workers. Jordan
Barab, who runs the "Confined Space" health and safety website, says
the winners in any cost-cutting reform woudl be "insurance carriers
who don't have to pay claims, and employers who don't have their premiums
raised. The losers? Workers and their families who bear the costs themselves;
other workers, because the employer has even less incentive to make
the workplace safe, and of course, taxpayers who ultimately end up paying
the bills."
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
BRITAIN
Barclays banks on more Unifi roving reps
Banking union Unifi and Barclays have agreed to extend a "revolutionary"
union regional safety reps’ scheme. Two new full-time health and safety
reps are to be added to the nationwide initiative, taking the total
number of roving Unifi safety reps to seven.
Risks 112,
28 June 2003 • Hazards
roving reps page
BRITAIN
Union action call as Scottish farm deaths soar
Farming union TGWU Scotland says an increase in deaths on Scottish farms
is "extremely worrying" and has called for new rights for union safety
reps to tackle the problem.
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
BRITAIN
Is your MP supporting more safety resources?
Labour MP Mick Clapham is calling on the government to provide more,
not fewer, resources to the HSE. An Early Day Motion "calls upon Her
Majesty's Government to meaningfully revitalise the safety and health
at work agenda by doubling the number of field inspectors so that each
workplace can be inspected at least once every five years and new workplaces
can be visited in their first year, supported by more investment in
scientific research and policy expertise to back up the HSE investigations
into deaths and injuries at work."
Risks
112, 28 June 2003
NIGERIA
New act will provide temporary workers with cover
Nigeria is to introduce a new law to extend certain employment protection
to all workers, including temporary and contract staff. The National
Insurance Commission (NAICOM) says the law will make it compulsory for
companies using temporary workers to provide insurance cover.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
USA
Senators agree to permanent asbestos ban
The US Senate Judiciary Committee has agreed to a permanent ban on the
use of asbestos - but only as an attempted sweetener on an unpalatable
asbestos compensation bill.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
BRITAIN
Shop union calls on bosses for violence action
Employers, local authorities and the police have a vital role in preventing
violence, threats and abuse against the UK’s shopworkers, their union
Usdaw has told top retail bosses.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
BRITAIN
HSE goes public on stress management standards
Employers will have to protect their staff from stress - or risk legal
action, the HSE has warned. HSE’s new Management standards for stress
say employers must support their employees and ensure they do not feel
overly pressured in their roles, and sets six targets for sorting stress.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
USA
Asbestos fairness bill perverts the course of
justice
A business-backed push for a US law that would rob tens of thousands
of asbestos disease victims of any chance of compensation is being opposed
by unions.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
BRITAIN
Ford death fine "not justice" says family
Car giant Ford has been fined £300,000 after contract worker Christopher
Shute, 30, fell into a vat of hot paint and drowned. Two contract managers,
Peter Preston, 51, and Paul McKenzie, 55, were also fined £5,000 each
for failing to ensure the safety of staff. The family of the dead man
criticised a decision to drop charges of manslaughter prior to the case
coming to court.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
AUSTRALIA
Work deaths campaign wants better communication
Employees and employers will be urged to improve communication in an
Aus$1 million (£0.4m) advertising campaign aimed at cutting workplace
injuries. WorkSafe, the official safety watchdog in the state of Victoria,
says its newspaper, television, radio and billboard ads will tell employees
to speak up if something is wrong in the workplace.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
BRITAIN
Public backs union corporate killing drive
Two-thirds of people in the UK believe there should be a new corporate
killing law and that directors should be accountable for safety crimes,
according to a poll for the Transport and General Workers’ Union. The
poll also found "nearly two-thirds of people believe company directors
should be able to be prosecuted for a serious criminal offence like
manslaughter."
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
BRITAIN
Don’t let work killers off the hook, CWU says
Communications union CWU says the government must beef up its corporate
killing proposals to make company directors liable for safety crimes.
CWU's Dave Joyce said: "If reckless corporate behaviour is really to
be challenged, directors must be held personally responsible, not just
the company as a whole, with prison sentences and disqualifications
for dangerous directors."
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
BRITAIN
Cuts play "Russian roulette" with workers’ safety
The HSE is "playing Russian roulette" with workplaces safety in an effort
to meet 5 per cent budget cuts, HSE inspectors' union Prospect has warned.
Risks
111, 21 June 2003
BRITAIN
Go director to jail
Pressure is increasing on the UK government to supplement its corporate
killing proposals with measures to make it possible to jail employers.
Unions Aslef, UNISON, TGWU, GMB and UCATT, Amicus and CWU have all made
explicit call for directors as well as companies to be made more accountable.
And a 7 June 2003 editorial in The Lancet said: "until chief executives
are made directly responsible for decisions that lead to injury, it
is unlikely that the huge toll of work-related injuries will fall."
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
CANADA
Union-backed safety accountability bill moves
forward
Corporations will be held criminally responsible if they fail to provide
a safe work environment, under a union-backed proposed Canadian safety
law.
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
Westray updates from Canadian unions NUPGE
and USWA
Canada
AUSTRALIA
Countering the criminal and the clueless
Unions have to contend with employers failing into the "4C" categories
- the criminals, the clueless, the compliant, and the committed. TUC
safety head Owen Tudor told Australian trade unionists that the presence
of active, informed and trained union reps was the single factor most
likely to make workplaces safer.
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
USA
Stressed at work have fat chance of survival
Too little control over your job greatly increases the risks of a fatal
heart attack or stroke, a major study has found. Lead author Dr Paul
Landsbergis said: "This effect of cumulative exposure to job strain
is larger than the estimated impact of ageing 30 years or gaining 40lb
in weight."
Risks
110, 14 June 2003 • American Journal of Epidemiology,
vol.157, pages 998-1006, 2003 [abstract]
BRITAIN
Company fine after death
Moores Timber Merchants has been fined £100,000 five years after serious
safety offences led to the death of student Mohammed Omar Akhtar, 20.
The company is likely to evade justice, however, because it is in liquidation
and it is not expected it will pay the fine.
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
USA
Flight attendants demand protection from toxic
cabin air
Air quality standards on aircraft have been criticised by the US flight
attendants’ union and health experts. Association of Flight Attendants
(AFA) president Pat Friend said current cabin air quality standards
are "obscenely low."
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
AUSTRALIA
Asbestos deaths insurance scandal spreads
Sick and dying victims of asbestos disease could face bedside court
hearings or could lose their compensation entirely under a secret insurance
industry plan. The backroom dealing by Australian insurance giant Allianz
follow similar manoeuvres by insurance companies in the UK and US.
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
BRITAIN
Guard secures workplace toilet breaks
A security guard has won a "groundbreaking" employment tribunal victory
after claiming his employer would not let him go to the toilet at work.
GMB member Gavin Ruddick said Reliance Security Services Ltd told him
he could not take any breaks during a 12-hour shift at an office block.
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
USA
Safety accountability to change, for better or
worse
Dangerous US employers could face jail time under a proposed new law
- or could get be given a get out of jail free card if an alternative
proposal goes through.
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
BRITAIN
Safety chief praises "immensely beneficial" union
role
Britain’s top safety boss has praised the union role that leads to lower
accident rates in union workplaces. Health and Safety Commission chair
Bill Callaghan said: "The impact of trade unions on workplace health
and safety is immensely beneficial. We know that the presence of a recognised
union lowers the accident rate by a quarter compared with non-union
establishments."
Risks
110, 14 June 2003
USA
The price of fish
In the US, workers in commercial fishing face a fatality risk 28 times
greater than the average for all occupations. In The price of fish,
top workplace photojournalist Earl Dotter illustrates the awful dangers
facing men and women in the industry.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
BRITAIN
Better behaviour on HSE research
Britain’s top safety body has revised its research strategy after criticism
from TUC, dropping behavioural safety research and replacing it with
studies of the the impact of workers' initiatives on safety. The TUC
warned an earlier draft of the Health and Safety Commission and Executive
(HSC/E) Strategic Research Outlook (SRO) for 2003 paid too much attention
to "behavioural safety" approaches, and called for more attention to
the positive role workers’ own initiatives can make.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
THAILAND
Workplace safety campaign grows stronger
Labour groups in Thailand have completed a packed programme of events
to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Kader factory fire. A report
from the Asian Network for the Rights Of Occupational Accident Victims
( ANROAV) includes details of events related to the toy factory tragedy
that killed 188 in 1993, as well as information on the growing health
and safety campaign in the region. Top campaign priorities are to encourage
the Ministry of Labour to push the Occupational Safety draft bill, currently
awaiting cabinet consideration, and to create a Kader fund to provide
compensation and financial support to families of the victims.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
BRITAIN
Coroners' system faces shake-up
Workplace deaths should continue to be investigated at coroner’s inquests,
a new report from the Coroners Review Team has recommended. The report
recommends inquests into "any traumatic workplace death in which industrial
process or activity is implicated" and specialist coroners to deal with
workplace deaths.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
BRITAIN
Transco gas deaths charge dropped
Appeal court judges in Scotland have thrown out a culpable homicide
charge brought against gas pipeline firm Transco following the deaths
of a family of four. If the company had been convicted, it would have
been the first time in Scottish legal history that a charge of corporate
killing had been successful.
Risks
109, 7 July 2003
CANADA
Jury calls for better workplace violence rules
The government of British Columbia, Canada, should review how it dismisses
employees and should ensure that workers get an annual job evaluation,
a coroner's jury has determined. The call came after an inquest into
a double-murder suicide last year at a government office, where a fired
manager shot his boss and a union rep, before turning the gun on himself.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
BRITAIN
Safety probe at National Semiconductor plant
Fears of a chemical leak at the National Semiconductor Greenock plant
have sparked a full-scale alert. Production halted after 550 workers
were evacuated from one part of the plant and an ambulance was called
to take three workers to hospital. Members of the Phase II campaign,
a grassroots group that has been campaigning about health risks at the
plant, have demanded an inquiry. The company has been embroiled in controversy
for years, after revelations it employed a PR firm in a dirty tricks
campaign to harass and discredit critics of the plant.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003 • National Semiconductor dirty tricks
campaign, Hazards
76
BRITAIN
Employers must meet the full cost of safety failures
The UK government plans to reform employers’ liability insurance so
safer employers pay less. Welcoming the move, TUC general secretary
Brendan Barber said: "Employer liability insurance needs to reward safe
working practices and protect the rights of victims. That means lower
premiums for good employers but, in turn, employers must meet the full
cost of health and safety failures." He added that unions wanted the
government to be "more proactive about the long-term reform of rehabilitation
and compensation."
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
BRITAIN
Train drivers threaten strike over dangerous
hours
Train drivers may have to resort to industrial action in an attempt
to cut a "dangerously long" working week of up to 70 hours, their union
has warned. Members of the train drivers' union Aslef are under increasing
pressure to work overtime, amid evidence that sleep deprivation is making
the network unsafe, Aslef general secretary Mick Rix told the union’s
annual conference.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
BRITAIN
Call to strengthen violence laws
Public service union UNISON Scotland is urging ministers to strengthen
proposed anti-social behaviour legislation after its Trauma 2003 survey
suggested that 99 per cent of Scots think all attacks on public service
workers should all be treated as serious assaults.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
GLOBAL
Photographer injured by Geneva stun grenade
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has protested to the Swiss government
after a member was injured by a stun grenade in Geneva. Freelance photographer
Guy Smallman was shot at by riot police in Geneva on 1 June. He was
covering the G8 summit and the protests against it for the agency Images
San Frontieres.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
BRITAIN
Union plans £15m fund to cut working hours
A £15 million union fighting fund should be spent on a campaign to cut
the working week of manufacturing workers to 35 hours, Amicus-AEEU general
secretary Derek Simpson has said. The union leader argues that UK employees
are working themselves into the ground while European workers enjoy
a shorter working week.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
EUROPE
Pilots call for minister to keep his word on
hours
Britain’s airline pilots are calling on transport minister John Spellar
to keep his word and oppose new proposals on airliner flying hours coming
from the European Parliament.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
BRITAIN
Safety in danger!
Health and safety enforcement could be scaled back dramatically if planned
funding cuts go head (Risks 104). Prospect, the union representing HSE
inspectors and specialists, says planned cuts in HSE’s budget "cannot
fail to have a detrimental impact on workplace safety."
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
EUROPE
SLIC construction safety campaign
A Europe-wide health and safety inspectors’ campaign on construction
safety kicked off at the start of June 2003. Europe’s Senior Labour
Inspectors’ Committee (SLIC) says the campaign, which will run through
2003 and 2004, will focus on falls from heights.
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
BRITAIN
Building sites are still danger zones for workers
The TUC has has called on construction companies to reverse the dangerous
subcontracting trend. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "UK
building sites are still danger zones for workers. Eighty-five people
were killed last year in construction and over 4,860 people were seriously
injured."
Risks
109, 7 June 2003
