Saturday 17 August 2013

TUC - Risks: weekly health and safety

Judge backs workers on protective footwear

Employers should provide protective footwear to staff who work outdoors, a court has ruled. The Court of Session in Edinburgh made the landmark ruling in a UNISON-backed legal case involving a care worker who fell on an icy path outside a patient's home. Tracey Kennedy suffered serious damage to her wrist when she slipped while working for Cordia as a home carer in Glasgow during the severe winter of 2010. She was making her way to see a terminally ill client. The court found the company at fault for not providing the carer with proper footwear, such a spiked snow shoes. Cordia failed to give proper guidance on what she should wear in the conditions to avoid slipping. Her union, UNISON, said the judgment will have major implications for all firms that send their employees out of the workplace as it places the onus squarely on them to ensure that staff remain safe. Mandy McDowall, the union's regional organiser for Glasgow City branch, said: 'We have always said that employers should risk assess everything their employees do, or workplace accidents and injuries will be an issue. We would expect employers to take this judgment on board and review their health and safety policies on provision of suitable footwear.' She added: 'This will have widespread implications for all sorts of jobs, including school crossing patrol staff, traffic wardens and many others, as well as in the health service and other areas. Lord McEwan rejected arguments by Cordia that Tracey Kennedy could have made the decision not to go out that night because conditions were too hazardous, saying that she was on 'an errand of mercy.' The carer is now in line for a substantial payout, although the amount will be decided at a later date. Iona Brown from Digby Brown Solicitors, who represented Tracey Kennedy for the union, said: 'Employers often think nothing of providing their employees with work wear that is little more than branding whilst baulking at paying a few pounds on equipment that could prevent serious injury.'

TUC welcomes new maritime labour agreement

The TUC has welcomed the UK's decision to ratify the International Labour Organisation's Maritime Labour Convention (MLC). The MLC guarantees that every seafarer, working on a ship flagged to a signatory state, is entitled to: A safe and secure workplace that complies with safety standards; fair terms of employment; decent working and living conditions on board ship; and health protection, medical care, welfare measures and other forms of social protection The new convention will come into force on 20 August 2013. However, the TUC said it remains concerned that funding cuts to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) will make it harder to enforce working standards. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'We are delighted that the government has signed up to this convention following a great campaign by the RMT and Nautilus unions, along with the British Chamber of Shipping. However we remain concerned that funding cuts to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency will make it harder to enforce decent working conditions for seafarers.' She added: 'Abuses in the maritime industry can be harder to spot than in other sectors, and enforcement cannot be delivered on the cheap.' According to ILO, the UK has over 120 commercial ports and is currently constructing its first 21st Century major deep-sea port, the London Gateway, which will be able to handle the biggest container ships in the world and is expected to create over 12,000 new jobs. More than 24,100 UK nationals work as seafarers.

Boris plans to sack key Tube safety staff

A new safety row has erupted over secret plans hatched by Boris Johnson to close all 268 Tube offices across the capital in the next two years and axe thousands of jobs. The plans, which have been condemned as 'foolish' by the rail union TSSA, were revealed by the London Evening Standard. The paper said it had obtained internal documents that show the London mayor was looking to axe the safety critical role of permanent station supervisor at the vast majority of stations. Only 36 key larger stations, like King's Cross and Victoria, would retain a safety qualified supervisor who would play a key role in any evacuation during a major incident. The remaining stations would have mobile supervisors travelling between stations under budget cutting plans drawn up as part of the overall plan to cut 2,000 jobs by 2015 and a further 4,000 by 2020. TSSA leader Manuel Cortes branded the plans 'foolish, irresponsible and verging on the reckless.' He has written to Gerry Duffy, human resources director of London Underground, calling for an urgent meeting. 'I simply find it hard to believe that the mayor would dream of turning the key role of station supervisor into a mobile post, especially in view of London's recent tragic history involving terrorism,' said the general secretary. 'These people are crucially safety qualified and play a key role in making sure that our Tube network operates safely at all times at every station.' He added: 'We should never gamble with safety and this looks like the mayor would be taking such a gamble if he implements this plan just to meet his budget cut target of £220 million.' London Underground said 6,000 job losses was 'completely unfeasible'. It said it planned to run more trains in future and would continue to staff all its stations.

Rail staffing cuts blamed for surge in thefts and violence

Rail union RMT has said a surge in personal thefts and acts of violence on Britain's railways, just revealed by the British Transport Police and rail chiefs, is directly linked to the government's attack on station and train staffing. The union warns the situation is set to worsen as planned job cuts are implemented. Latest official figures show that the number of thefts of personal property from railway passengers has risen by 16 per cent and that there has also been an increase in violent incidents in the past year, which rose by 201 on the National Rail network. RMT is warning that cuts to on-train and station staff, like the planned axing of the guards across the whole of London Overground and the closure of ticket offices, encourages violent and criminal behaviour and is set to escalate into a 'wholesale destaffing' of the network. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: 'These shocking new figures on thefts and violence on Britain's trains should be a wake-up call to the government as they roll ahead with their plans to axe guards, station and platform staff in the name of maximising the train operators' profits.' He added: 'Without a physical presence of staff on our trains and stations the muggers, the drunks and the violent are given the green light to launch thefts and attacks and the sooner the government wake up to the consequences of their cuts plans the safer our railways will be for all of us.'

HSE slated for leaving workers in the dust

Construction union UCATT has said it is 'dismayed' the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) failed to inform union members about a planned seminar on dust dangers in the industry. HSE says its half day seminar in Coalville, Leicestershire on 20 September seeks to raise awareness 'among managers, supervisors and operatives of the health problems caused by dust and the simple steps that should be taken to control it.' But UCATT says despite safety reps playing a key role in improving site safety, the union has not been contacted about the event and only learned about it through an HSE news release. Cheryl Pidgeon, regional secretary of UCATT Midlands, said: 'The fact that the HSE is holding this seminar is positive, as inhaling dust kills hundreds of workers every year. However workers are at greatest risk from dust inhalation and the HSE should be working with UCATT to make sure that union safety reps are involved in the seminar.' She added: The HSE's failure to work with UCATT to ensure that there will be safety reps attending this seminar demonstrates once again they are paying lip service to worker involvement. Deaths will only be reduced if organisations are working together in partnership.' UCATT is moving a motion at September's TUC Congress calling for a TUC campaign for lower exposure levels to workplace carcinogens and an increase in funding for initiatives to warn workers of the dangers of workplace diseases.

Chemical spill led to painful slip

An Alcan Aluminium employee needed knee surgery after slipping on a chemical that had leaked onto a workshop floor. The GMB member from Newbiggin by the Sea was repairing a large crucible pot used at the now mothballed factory, which made aluminium products at the site in Lynemouth, Northumberland. He had been using a forklift truck when he stepped on residue created during the manufacturing process. This shattered under his weight causing him to lose his footing and twist his knee awkwardly, tearing a cartilage. The worker, whose name hasn't been released, needed surgery and an intensive course of physiotherapy to correct the damage. He was unable to work for six weeks. When his employer denied liability, solicitors brought in by the union issued court proceedings which led to a substantial out of court settlement. GMB Northern regional organiser Valerie Scott said: 'Cutting corners is not an option where the safety of workers is concerned. We stepped in to support our member in his case and hope that by recognising where its health and safety procedures had not been adequate the employer will also benefit as a result. Our message to employers? Implement proper safety measures and keep them in place.'

New standards will protect health staff

Health service union UNISON has welcomed new health and safety standards intended to support NHS organisations in meeting their legal duties to protect staff from injury and illness. The standards have been jointly agreed by NHS Employers and trade unions, including UNISON. Robert Baughan, UNISON health and safety officer, said: 'UNISON welcomes these standards and will be a welcome tool for UNISON health branches in discussions with their employers. They provide clear guidance to NHS organisations on what they are required to do to comply with the law and protect the health and safety of their staff.' An introduction to the new standards notes: 'The moral and legal case for effective workplace health, safety and wellbeing in NHS organisations has been well made over a number of years. This is recognised within the NHS Constitution, which states that staff have a right to work within a healthy and safe workplace and an environment in which the employer has taken all practical steps to ensure the workplace is free from verbal or physical violence from patients, the public or staff.' It adds: 'There is also strong evidence linking patient safety, patient experiences and the quality of care with the safety, health and wellbeing of the workforce.'

Other news

Job worries raise heart disease risks

There is a 'modest association' between self-reported job insecurity and coronary heart disease (CHD), a major study has found. A group of international researchers, writing in the British Medical Journal, note: 'Intensified global economic competition is characterised by labour market deregulation, workplace downsizing, restructuring of companies in all sectors, and increased use of flexible forms of employment. These changes have modified patterns of employment such that jobs are becoming increasingly unstable and insecure. Recent global financial crises have resulted in job insecurity becoming commonplace and for many, a chronic stressor.' They say their study 'aggregated results from published and unpublished studies within the context of a meta-analysis. The findings from 17 cohorts show that self-reported job insecurity is associated with a small elevated risk of incident CHD, which was partly attributable to lower socioeconomic status and established risk factors for CHD... To our knowledge, with more than 170,000 participants and 1,800 incident cases of CHD, this is the largest study of job insecurity and incident CHD and provides the most comprehensive synthesis of evidence on this issue so far.' The authors conclude their analysis 'provides evidence of a modest association between job insecurity and incident CHD. This association was found to be partly attributable to the poorer socioeconomic circumstances and less favourable profile of risk factors among people with job insecurity.' In a response welcoming the paper Paul Nicholson, chair of the British Medical Association's Occupational Medicine Committee, noted job insecurity is also linked to increased sickness and raised cholesterol levels and blood pressure, adding the new study was important 'because we are living in 'VUCA times', that is to say the world is: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. While the acronym VUCA was first used by the US military after 9/11 it is now used commonly in the business world. Job insecurity is likely to be around for many years to come associated with a slow and uneven recovery from recession; and thereafter will happen at least cyclically as it has for many decades.' He added: 'Health professionals and governments need to be aware of the health consequences of job uncertainty in order to take effective steps to mitigate the risks and provide adequate resources.'A TUC analysis of labour force survey figures released this week noted the UK's temporary workforce has increased by 230,000 since 2005. Over the same period the number of permanent of jobs has fallen by 8,000.

Legal challenge against zero hours contracts

Zero hours contracts are facing a legal challenge, after a part-time worker with SportsDirect.com decided to take her case to an employment tribunal. The company is part of the Sports Direct Group whose revenues are reported to have increased by 20.9 per cent to £2.19bn this year. It is the UK's largest sporting retailer, employing around 23,000 employees. Of these, 20,000 are part-time 'casual' sales assistants on zero hours contracts. Last month the Sports Direct group announced that it was awarding its staff an average of 12,000 shares each this month. But part-time staff do not qualify for this Bonus Share Scheme. They are also denied paid annual leave, sick pay and other bonuses available to full-time staff. Zahera Gabriel-Abraham, 30, has brought the legal challenge to the second-class treatment of part-timers, funded by donations from the campaign group 38 Degrees. She started working at the Croydon SportsDirect.com store in October 2012 as a part-time sales assistant. She believes that regardless of the 'casual' label the reality of her working arrangements entitled her to be treated no less favourably than the retailer's full-time staff. Elizabeth George, the barrister in the employment team of law firm Leigh Day who is acting for Ms Gabriel-Abraham, said: 'There was no practical difference between the obligations put on my client by the company and those placed on full-time staff.' She added: 'The 'casual' part-time employees in this case are employees in the conventional sense and denying them their paid holidays, sick pay and bonuses is unlawful.'

Illegal gangmaster 'got off lightly', says GLA chief

The chief executive of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) has said the suspended jail sentence imposed on a Wiltshire-based recruitment consultant - who systematically exploited around 60 Filipino workers and illegally supplied them to dairy farms across the UK - does not 'fit the crime?. Christopher James Blakeney was handed 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years for each of four counts of acting as an unlicensed gangmaster. The sentences are to run concurrently. At an earlier hearing at Swindon Crown Court, the 50-year-old had admitted eight similar charges, four in his own name and four on behalf of his Calne-based company, Marden Management Ltd. No separate penalties were imposed against the company as it has now ceased trading. He had paid under the minimum wage and deducted money from pay packets for accommodation. Blakeney was also ordered by the court to pay a total of £45,000 over the next three years in direct compensation to the workers he supplied illegally. In addition, a confiscation order was issued for £12,801 under the Proceeds of Crime Act with Blakeney ordered to pay within six months or serve nine months in prison. GLA chief executive Paul Broadbent said: 'In this case I honestly do not believe the punishment fits the crime. By his own admission Blakeney banked more than £700,000 from this determined, protracted criminal venture so I am bitterly disappointed that the proceeds of crime award made against him is for only a fraction of that figure.' He added: 'The only comfort I take is the fact the man who made deductions from these vulnerable workers' wage packets will now have 25 per cent of his own money taken over the next three years to compensate those he exploited.' Mr Broadbent added that the prosecution showed that regardless of the complexity or period of time for which the exploitation of workers has gone on for, the GLA was committed to prosecuting committed criminals, like Blakeney, who seek to profit from vulnerable people.

Trainee seriously injured in skylight fall

A Hertfordshire firm has been prosecuted for safety breaches after a trainee employee suffered serious injuries in an eight-metre fall from a roof. The 22-year-old from High Wycombe, who does not wish to be named, broke two vertebrae, his left ankle and wrist, fractured his pelvis and tore ligaments in the incident in Highbury, North London, on 3 December 2012. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the injured worker's employer, Nature's Power Ltd. Westminster Magistrates' were told the firm had been fitting a flue liner down the chimney as part of installation work for a wood burning stove. The trainee was attempting to slide together an extendable roof ladder while balanced at the top of the access ladder against the house. The access ladder was not long enough to clear the guttering and so didn't extend to a point where he could step off safely. When the roof ladder began to slip away in his hands, it pulled him off the access ladder. As there was nothing for him to hold on to help him regain his balance, he fell three storeys to the ground below, sustaining serious injuries. Nature's Power Ltd was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay a £5,840 in costs after being found guilty in absentia of two separate criminal breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. The latest HSE statistics show that 40 workers were killed and more than 3,400 were seriously injured in falls from height in 2011/12.

Firm fined for back-breaking skylight fall

An Essex construction firm has been fined for safety failings after an employee broke his spine when he fell through a skylight opening at a construction site in Hampshire. The worker, who does not wish to be identified, made a full recovery following the incident in Titchfield, near Fareham, on 16 August 2011, but was unable to work for six weeks. His employer, Prestige Construction Services Ltd, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Portsmouth Magistrates' Court heard the worker was helping to construct the roof of a new build community centre. There were several holes in the roof where skylights were to be placed, but they were left exposed, with no coverings or guard rails on or around the holes, and no safety nets underneath. The worker fell almost four metres to the floor below, with his spine taking the impact. Magistrates were told that he is fortunate to have made such a swift recovery and sustained no lasting damage. Prestige Construction Services Ltd was fined a total of £30,000 and ordered to pay £9,000 in costs after pleading guilty to criminal breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

Steep rise in falls from height

The number of construction workers falling from height has increased by 60 per cent, according to news figures the Building Safety Group consultancy. It says the findings are based on accident reports in the three months from May until July by Building Safety Group's membership of more than 20,000 construction workers across the UK. Injuries caused while lifting, handling and carrying also increased by 37 per cent year-on-year, the consultancy said. Paul Kimpton, managing director of the Building Safety Group, said: 'While a number of health and safety areas have improved, the areas that are the most serious and cause the most lasting damage have risen. These figures prove that there is no room for complacency in construction. People have a right to go to work and return home in the same state of health that they left in the morning.'

Injury is a 'wake-up call' for nurseries

A back injury court win for a nursery worker has highlighted a lack of awareness in the sector of the importance of workplace risk assessments, an expert has said. Aileen Cooper, who worked at Bright Horizons Rothamsted Little Stars Nursery in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, secured a legal victory at the High Court, which found the nursery group to be liable for her severe disability, caused by placing a baby in a defective cot. The incident caused Ms Cooper to develop a rare condition known as Cauda Equina Syndrome. The judge ruled that Bright Horizons failed to follow its own health and safety risk assessments even though it knew Ms Cooper already had a bad back. The nursery group required her to use faulty cots, which also breached its own manual handling procedures. Lorna Taylor, a chartered physiotherapist who works in the primary and early years settings, believes the case will act as a wake-up call for the sector, which, she says, tends to 'sweep the issue under the carpet.' Speaking to Nursery World, she said nurseries overlook posture and ergonomics - which aims to make sure that tasks, equipment, information and the environment fit each worker - and fail to provide staff with training on lifting equipment and children. She added that the education standards watchdog Ofsted should consider incorporating workplace assessments in its inspections, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) should be playing a much bigger role if things are to improve. Currently, nurseries do not fall under the remit of the HSE, unlike schools. Local authorities are required to carry out health and safety inspections, but inspections are mainly complaint driven.

International news

Italy: Enforced regulations make work safer

Efforts to ensure effective implementation of new health and safety regulations in Italy's construction sector resulted in a drop in injury rates, a study has found. Researchers examined the impact of two new construction laws, implementing a European Union-wide directive on the management of temporary and mobile construction sites. To do this, they evaluated the injury rates trend in eight regions that planned formalised programmes to enforce the laws around the year 2000. Using the Work History Italian Panel-Salute integrated database, which covers the period from 1994 to 2005, they calculated the total and serious injury rates for the construction sector. During the 12 years under observation, at the national level the total and serious injury rates decreased while the number of employees increased. The authors conclude: 'The results of this study show that indeed there was an improvement in injury rates that cannot be explained by external factors.' They add: 'The improvement seen in early intervention regions, although slight, highlights the importance of concrete initiatives in enforcing these types of laws. The need to implement a formalised supervision plan has also been the subject of the national prevention plan for the construction industry 2009-2010, which focused on the issue of surveillance on construction sites as a tool to control the implementation of regulations.'

New Zealand: Unions expose minister's sly strategy

New Zealand's labour minister has been caught by unions misrepresenting the recommendations of a Taskforce into a deadly mine explosion, in a bid to undermine the accountability of a new workplace health and safety regulator. The Taskforce into the November 2010 Pike River mine disaster in which 29 workers died (Risks 581) said a new workplace health and safety regulator should be supported by a tripartite board, involving representatives of government, employers and employees. But a 40-page paper to the Cabinet from labour minister Simon Bridges this week instead claimed the Taskforce recommended that the board be supported by a more arms-length tripartite advisory group, an idea expressly dismissed in the Taskforce report. The Taskforce instead said 'the new agency should be constituted on a tripartite basis'. Exposing the discrepancies between the minister's report and the real Taskforce recommendations, Helen Kelly, president of the New Zealand Council of Trades Unions (NZCTU), said: 'We hope this helps the minister understand the Taskforce recommendations more clearly,' adding 'tripartism is an essential element that should be evident throughout the system to ensure adequate worker voice in health and safety.'

USA: Walmart admits 'repeat and serious' violations

Walmart has agreed to improve safety at more than 2,800 stores in 28 US states after inspectors discovered 'repeat and serious' health and safety violations at a store in Rochester, New York. The agreement, which included a $190,000 fine, was negotiated by the federal safety regulator OSHA after it uncovered 'unacceptable' safety hazards to employees at the Rochester store that were similar to those in Walmart locations in nine other states. The US multinational, which is the world's largest retailer and private employer, has been cited in more than 100 OSHA reports of health and safety violations over the last five years, according to the safety watchdog. In the Rochester case, OSHA cited Walmart for hazards including a lack of training on hazardous materials, blocked exits and unsafe trash compactor procedures, some of which were similar to those discovered at other stores in nine states between 2008 and 2010. The agreement, which affects employees using trash compacters and cleaning chemicals, covers 2,857 Walmart and Sam's Club stores in states that follow federal OSHA standards. The 22 states that operate their own OSHA inspection programmes could negotiate similar agreements. OUR Walmart, a group of several thousand Walmart workers affiliated to the retail and food union UFCW, welcomed the settlement but accused the company of 'malfeasance throughout the supply chain' and said it must go beyond its terms and investigate other safety problems they have identified. A statement posted on the OUR Walmart section of the UFCW website said: 'The problems detailed in the settlement are issues we have been raising for years, but it's clear that the company has consistently failed to listen to our concerns, let alone address them.' The statement adds: 'We like our jobs and want what's best for the company. We hope that today's settlement sends a message to Walmart that cutting corners on safety comes at great costs, not just to employees, but also to the company.'

USA: Police spied on sweatshop activists

Suspicions that police routinely infiltrate anti-sweatshop and other labour rights campaign organisations in the US, have been given added credence after an undercover Washington DC police officer was caught masquerading as a campaigner and undermining campaign activities. Attorneys Jeffrey Light and Sean Canavan, working with United Students Against Sweatshop (USAS), have confirmed that that DC Metro police officer Nicole Rizzi, working under an assumed name, has participated in USAS protests against companies doing business in Bangladesh who refuse to sign the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh following the death of as many as 1,129 workers in the Rana Plaza factory collapse (Risks 613). USAS and its lawyers have extensive evidence placing Rizzi at protests under the pseudonym 'Missy'. District of Columbia Public Employee Information List records obtained by the campaigning publication In These Times confirm that Rizzi has been on the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) force since December of 2003. USAS filed suit last week against the District of Columbia seeking an injunction to stop police from spying on the group's activities. Jeffrey Light, who filed the case on behalf of USAS, says that undercover surveillance sows suspicion among activists and hinders collective action. 'You are trying to get people to come out and protest knowing that there is an undercover cop there?it's a huge problem,' he said. Some demonstrations attended by police officer Nicole Rizzi posing as the activist 'Missy' were unexpectedly disrupted by the police, despite being peaceful and legal.

Resources

New union safety website for journalists

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has launched a website dedicated to the safety and protection of media. The global union says the website will provide a one stop portal for all IFJ activities to promote the safety of journalists and to combat the apparent impunity for violence targeting media. 'With the continued onslaught on journalists in trouble spots around the globe, hundreds of reporters, editors and their support staff face persecution, intimidation, torture and even death simply for doing their job,' said IFJ president Jim Boumelha. 'The International Federation of Journalists now plays a unique role in safeguarding the lives of journalists everywhere. The launch of the IFJ safety website marks a new chapter in our history, making it a vital tool for journalists and their unions to manage risk, raise awareness, provide safety training and advice, create a culture of safety and join the campaign to end impunity.' The website provides information on the strategies, programmes and activities related to the safety and human rights of journalists, including details on the IFJ International Safety Fund. IFJ says there will be regular updates on safety for journalists who need to work or travel to regions affected by conflicts, political instability and outbreak of diseases as well as natural disasters.

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