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Death at work trend going upwards yet deadly deregulation still remains government obsession

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The latest HSE provisional figures  for workplace fatal injuries in Great Britain show 144 fatally injured between 1 April 2017 and 31 March 2018 which is nine more lives lost in preventable incidents than the year before 2016/17.

Coming a year after the Grenfell fire, and just before the 30th anniversary of the Piper Alpha fire which killed 167 workers, the upward trend is worrying.  The Cullen Report into the Piper Alpha disaster led to tighter regulations and enforcement of fire safety offshore.  Health and safety regulations written in the blood of the Piper Alpha workers undoubtedly saved many lives over the years but the lessons were not learned across all industries and could have prevented Grenfell .

In fact the need for strong fire safety laws, standards and enforcement has been totally rejected by governments intent on cutting regulations on fire safety to spare the ‘burden on business’.  This obsession with deregulating has shifted the burden to us, to workers, and the residents of Grenfell and other high rise tower blocks

Work deaths were dropping steadily up to 2010 when the Tory/Lib Dem coalition turbo charged deregulation with the ‘Red Tape Challenge’ and attacks on HSE, but have plateaued since.  Now the trend is going in wrong direction. Work deaths are going up while the government obsession with deregulation is just as strong and just as deadly.  Anecdotal reports from offshore workers show they fear things are going backwards in terms of safety offshore, and fear that, as at Piper Alpha, profits are being put before workers’ lives.

Significantly HSE’s fatality figures show that 40% of the deaths were to workers aged 60 or over while this group only make up 10% of the workforce. The rate of fatal injury rises steeply from the 55-59 years age group, and is highest in the 65+ age group where it is almost five times the rate for all ages. This raises questions about the lack of management of risks to ageing workers, and also that the increase in state pension age means many more people will die at work.  Agriculture which has the oldest workforce has the highest rate of fatalities at 18 times the average for all work.

Waste and recycling has a fatality rate 16 times the average, and has a low level of unionisation which is known to make work safer, and employs a larger proportion of more vulnerable migrant workers.

Construction still has a higher than average death rate at around four times the average and killed the largest number of workers at 38 for 2017/18.

But HSE official ‘144 killed by work’ is only the tip of the iceberg which we estimate at more like 140 a day dying from work! Hazards Campaign’s report The Whole Story  explains that the  2017/18 144 worker deaths reported by the HSE plus another 100 members of the public is pretty horrifying but isn’t even the full total of those killed while working, let alone all those killed by work illnesses and dying often years later.

The HSE only counts those killed at work in incidents which are reportable to HSE and Local Authorities under RIDDOR .  It excludes all those killed while at work on the roads, at sea and in the air – as their report makes clear in the  Technical Note on page 13.  It also excludes work-related suicides, which are not reportable under RIDDOR and are not even investigated. Although HSE records 100 members of the public killed, it does not add them to the total and report them.  It does not include the 72 people killed at Grenfell arguably due to the work-activity of refurbishing which turned it into a death trap.

These HSE statistics only refer to fatalities in incidents at work, not due to illnesses, but they are frequently reported as a total death caused by work figure.  To the totals of around 1,500 killed by work-related incidents, must be added the estimated 50,000 dying from disease caused by poor working conditions.

Evidence is piling up that shows what makes work safer and reduces deaths is strong unions, strict enforcement and strong, active unions  . To reverse the upward trend in preventable deaths caused by work, the Hazards Campaign calls for the strict enforcement of laws and employers duties to workers, stronger laws, repealing of anti trade union laws and more rights for workers to know the risk they face, to enable participation in workplace health and safety, and the right to refuse dangerous work.   The Hazards Campaign calls for an end to deregulation of the protective health and safety system which has been fully and publicly exposed as deadly by the Grenfell fire . We call for an end to the government enabled downward slide into a third world, informal precarious economy which is bad for workers, bad for the economy, everyone.

Every day this comes to about 140 people killed because of work.

Further information

Louise Taggart recently voted Most Influential Health and Safety Person at SHP Expo illustrates ‘ The Whole Story’ in a soap box talk.

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Statement on Louise Taggart winning SHP most influential H&S person of 2018

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Louise Taggart’s love for her brother who was killed at work has won her ‘Most Inspirational Health and Safety Person in 2018’ 

“Health and safety is all about love.”

Yesterday Louise Taggart was announced at SHP Expo as the most inspirational health and safety person of year  in their poll, winning by a large margin. Louise is trustee at Scottish Hazards, a member of the Hazards Campaign and became a founder member of Families Against Corporate Killers, FACK, after her brother Michael was killed at work on 4th August 2005.

“The Hazards Campaign and Families Against Corporate killers congratulate Louise on a well-deserved award as she is making a huge difference, influencing employers and managers, and inspiring workers to make work safer.

“In the Hazards Campaign and Families Against Corporate Killers, we know that health and safety is all about love and the terrible grief that come from having a loved one killed at work in a preventable incident. Health and safety is about the love we have for our families, for our friends and workmates, and for our own lives. It’s about how we only want the best for each other, and for those we kiss goodbye to come home safe and well, uninjured, and with their physical and mental health unimpaired at the end of their shift every day. No one should die or be injured or made ill simply for going to work to earn a living. But every day in Britain around 140 people do die because of work. The equivalent to two Grenfell Towers every day are killed in incidents or due to illnesses caused by work. And almost every single death could have been, and should have been, prevented.  Louise is key player in the fight to stop preventable death at work and spoke about ‘The Whole Story’,  the real numbers killed by work, at the SHExpo  after hearing she had won.

“Louise Taggart exemplifies that love for others in telling her brother Michael’s story  to thousands of people at work, to make it clear how and why Michael died, the enormous impact on her and her parents, and what must be done by employers to make sure workers are not at risk of death or injury.  Louise speaks from the heart, through the fire of grief, loss and anger tempered by extensive knowledge of the law and of the safety procedures which, if followed would have saved Michael’s life.  She starkly reminds employers and managers and health and safety professionals of their legal and moral duties, the tragedy their negligence can lead to, and inspires workers to be clear about their rights and to challenge poor health and safety. Some have gone on to be safety representatives after hearing her eloquent speeches.

“Louise Taggart is one of the most moving speakers on the need for better health and safety, that it is never ‘pointless red tape’ or a ‘burden on business’  to follow the law, that it must be strictly enforced as it is there for a reason: to stop anyone being killed by at work by their negligent employers

Founder members of Families Against Corporate Killers, FACK: “Congratulate Louise and thank her for speaking up for all of us, telling our stories too. Louise’s brother Michael was killed at work on 4th August 2005 and she joined us bereaved by work families to set up FACK in July 2006.  We wanted to provide help, to support, advocate for and represent families of others killed at work, as we had found little help ourselves.   Louise has been a lifeline for many families in Scotland especially comments.  She is a ferociously intelligent and eloquent advocate, bringing her knowledge and understanding of the law and her own personal experiences together in a unique, forceful and deeply moving way and most of us still cry when we hear her speak. She speaks for us all and tells our stories with love and anger, especially on International Workers Memorial 28 April  every year, when we remember all those killed at work and fight for the living .  “Like all of us Louise did not chose to below to this FACK club, but after her brother was electrocuted she turned her grief and anger into action on behalf of others, to stop others dying needlessly and we love her for it.

More information Hilda Palmer 0161 636 7557 07929800240 

Founder Members of FACK:

Dawn and Paul Adams – son Samuel Adams aged 6 killed at Trafford Centre, 10th October 1998

Linzi Herbertson –husband Andrew Herbertson 29, killed at work in Oldham, January 1998

Mike and Lynne Hutin – son Andrew Hutin 20, killed at work at Corus, Port Talbot on 8th Nov 2001

Mick & Bet Murphy – son Lewis Murphy 18, killed at work in Brighton on 21st February 2004

Louise Taggart – brother Michael Adamson 26, killed at work in Aberdeen, on 4th August 2005

Linda Whelan – son Craig Whelan 23, (and Paul Wakefield) killed at work in Bolton on 23rd May 2002

Dorothy & Douglas Wright – son Mark Wright 37, killed at work in Deeside on 13th April 2005

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Dame Judith Hackitt’s building report is not enough to halt the race to the bottom

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17.5.18 Immediate use Hazards Campaign Statement on Hackitt Report

Building a Safer Future- Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety – Dame Judith Hackitt’s report is not enough to halt the race to the bottom in terms of health and safety.

We needed a report that would state clearly ‘enough is enough’ in terms of the deregulation that led to Grenfell, an end to deadly business-led attacks on safety laws and cuts to enforcement. We also needed a report that would honour those killed and ensure such a fire could never happen again so that everyone, including the most vulnerable and poorest are also protected especially in their own homes.

Hackitt calls for ‘simpler and more effective’ new regulatory framework. What can be simpler or clearer than ‘No Hazard: No risk’? Banning all combustible building materials must be part of any new regulatory system if it is to be effective and safe

We agree with Judith Hackitt that the system of Building Regulations is broken. But this is just a symptom of the whole broken system of hard won regulations and enforcement of all aspects of health, safety and welfare set up to protect us at work, in the environment, using products, services, and at home, in our beds, as at Grenfell.

This system no longer works, as it has been systematically destroyed by waves of ‘deregulation’, ‘better regulation’ presided over by governments over past 40 years but especially turbo charged since 2010, and that led to the ‘Race to The Bottom’ which Judith Hackitt describes in her report, and of which as Chair of the HSE she was part of driving.

Deregulation was driven by a change in culture that included David Cameron as Prime Minister vowing to ‘kill off health and safety culture’, deriding it as an ‘albatross’ or ‘millstone round the necks of business’ and talking of a ‘bonfire of red tape’, using the lie that good health and safety is a ‘burden on business’ to slash laws but more importantly to draw the teeth of health and safety watchdogs by massive cuts in funding and changing the nature of enforcement by commercialisation, privatisation, outsourcing and making business financial interests come before lives and health. The inferno at Grenfell Tower was the real life ‘ bonfire of red tape/regulations’ Cameron and Tory/Lib Dems demanded but it has not been the ‘enough is enough’ moment for deregulation that it should have been.

There are some good points in Hackitt’s report but she fails to correctly identify or analyse the effects of ‘Deregulation’ on building and other safety, and how the deadly culture that led to Grenfell was enabled and driven by the state and enforcing authorities and it is not at all clear that her recommendations can drive a change of culture in the industry of putting safety first. As the Chair of HSE, Hackitt presided over the slashing on inspection, changing the nature of enforcement, and helping to develop the very culture that led to Grenfell. Since she left HSE she works with the Engineering Employers Federation which represents key actors in this industry.

Judith Hackitt makes clear the need for simplification and clarity in building regulation, but then she fails to take the most obvious step which would provide absolute clarity, and some restoration of trust in the protective system of regulation for high rise buildings, in refusing to ban combustible building materials.

She calls for more regulation and enforcement and stronger penalties to hold duty holders accountable through a structure called the Joint Competent Authority. The devil will be in the detail, and we will examine the whole report carefully, but it is not clear how this Tory government with its fetish for deregulation and putting business interests first and foremost before our lives and health would fund, resource or provide the required political will, for a strong regulatory system with sufficient powers to hold the whole construction industry and individual duty holders to account.

For more information

  •  Hilda Palmer 0161 636 7557 mobile 07929 800 240

Notes

 

28 April / WMD, Blog, media

Hazards Campaign: 28 April International Workers Memorial Day briefing

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28 April International Workers Memorial Day #IWMD18

Remember the Dead Fight for the Living – Fighting for our lives in Unions

A large body of evidence shows that Unionised Workplaces are Safer Workplaces .

Through workers organising together in unions they can fight for safer, healthier and decent work for all.  Collective action and elected safety reps create the proven ‘Union Safety Effect’  making workplaces twice as safe.1   In 2018 we are celebrating 40 years of the Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations, SRSCR, which give elected union safety reps the powers and functions to hold employers to account, challenge them and work with them to make work safe and healthier.

Under the SRSCR, Safety Reps have the right to as much paid time to do their job as  necessary  – not facility time. Their role includes carrying out inspections and surveys; talking to members, mapping the workplace;  investigating incidents;  making  reports, and representations to management; being consulted in good time about anything that affects health and safety-chemicals, stress, jobs design, work   changes, pay, shifts, staffing  levels -to be involved in risk assessments, represent members and act collectively to make the workplaces better for all workers.   It works:

Safety reps save lives, save health and save money. Unions make workplaces twice as safe as non organised workplaces 

Hazards Campaigner Tommy Harte brought International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD) to the UK in the 1990s from  Canada and USA,  with two aims: to “Remember the Dead” and to  “Fight for the Living. The Hazards Campaign promotes and resources IWMD  which is now commemorated in hundreds of events across the UK from Aberdeen to Penzance.  We focus on both aims by holding events or memorials to remember all those killed through work and at the same time to campaign against the causes of these preventable tragedies to stop workers being killed in future.  International Workers Memorial Day, IWMD, is now commemorated throughout the world, in thousands of events involving millions of people and is recognised by dozens of countries including the UK Government in 2009.  The #IWMD18  theme agreed by ITUC  and Trade Unions internationally is:

Unionised Workplaces are Safer Workplaces No-one should ever die just for going to work . Millions do every year, not in freak accidents or of rare illnesses, but because employers did not comply with the law, and governments let them get away with it Almost ALL workplace death, injury and illness is PREVENTABLE

In GB, Health and Safety Executive, HSE, annual figures of 137 deaths at work in 2016/17 only covers those reported to HSE and Local Authorities. It excludes members of the public killed in work incidents, workers killed on roads, at sea, in air and by work-suicide. The figure also excludes those dying because of bad work conditions from cancers, heart, lung and other diseases. Using expert research, the Hazards Campaign estimates a more realistic figure for those killed in work-related incidents is 1,477 and those dying of work illnesses as 50,000 per year.

That is around 140 people dying from work per day or one person every 10 minutes in GB.

The UN ILO estimates 2.78 million people worldwide dying from work every year up from 2.3 million in 2014.  One person killed by work every 11 seconds worldwide.

 Safety Reps saving lives at work for 40 years!   This year we celebrate the birth of the TUC, established at the   Mechanics Institute at a meeting called by Salford and Manchester Trades Union Councils 150 years ago, as well as the 40th anniversary of the Safety Representatives and Safety C/te Regulations, one of the most important laws for workers’ lives and health but one that has been almost totally unenforced.

Workers began organising in Trade Unions 150—200 years ago, to improve health and safety in their own workplaces and through political action to win wider legal changes and protections. By educating agitating and organising and acting collectively, unions gained a shorter working day, more time off work, reduction in exposure to chemicals, dangerous machinery, an end to child labour and exploitation, and won stronger social protection laws and stricter enforcement, as well as fighting for higher wages.

It’s not about asking for improvements but having the collective voice and industrial  power to demand them.

Union action also led to the Health and Safety at Work Act in 1974 and the Safety Representatives and Safety C/te Regulations in 1977 which enabled unions and safety reps to be even more effective in cutting the death rate in work incidents and making a major impact on work-related illnesses.   Everyone should come home safe and well after their shift. But we still have too many workplaces that kill, injure and make workers very sick, often to death .  Injuries and death at work may have fallen but problems including work cancers, insecurity and the despair of work stress related to low pay,   insecurity, overwork and a lack of respect are rocketing  and  “only informed collective action will really make  work better” 5 

 The TUC has collected Safety Rep success stories 6  which add to the massive body of evidence shows that union organisation and safety reps do make work safer, save lives, save health,  and save money for employers and the economy—up to £700 million per year   proving that good health and safety is not a burden on  business, or a job killer but a positive contribution to our human rights. Poor health and safety costs, on Hazards estimates, between £30 and 60 billion per year.

 Sharan Burrow ITUC: “Health is a human right and does not stop at the factory gates. Our strategy will use all the trade union instruments – namely, representation, negotiation and action – for the organization for decent, safe and healthy work”

Despite all of this evidence, since 2010 government has attacked health and safety law and enforcement as ‘red tape’, employers ride rough shod over laws and fail to comply,  and the Trade Union Act makes  it harder for unions to protect and defend workers health. A big cut in funding enforcement led to far fewer preventative inspections and enforcement actions on non-compliant, criminal employers, so  increasingly  it is down to Safety Reps!

Hugh Robertson, TUC says ” It is clear that we need trade unions more than ever before. The case has been proven that safety reps are good for workers, good for the economy and good for business….The only people who fear us are employers who want to cut corners and take risks with our lives.  Good employers are already working with unions, we need the rest to start recognising the benefits and we need the government to stop attacking unions and instead do more to ensure that employers are consulting with union so that everyone can get the benefits unions bring”  

Use #IWMD to fight for our lives and join together in unions to make work safer !

Hazards Campaign c/o GMHC. Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandre Road, Manchester, M16 7WD                                                        info@hazardscampaign.org.uk      @hazardscampaign

UNION Workplaces are Safer & Healthier #IWMD18 Wear a purple forget-me-knot ribbon Put a sticker in your car TAKE ACTION on 28 April #IWMD18

In GB there are around 1,500 deaths from incidents and 50,000 from work illnesses, over 621,000 injuries and millions made ill by work every year. Almost all work deaths, injuries and illness are due to employers’ mismanagement. Inequality and discrimination at work mean that the most vulnerable workers—the poorest, women, young, ethnic minority, migrant, LBGT and non unionised workers— are at more risk of being made ill, injured or killed by work.

What you can do on #iwmd18 Big Up Unions! Use the Resources to shout loud and proud that UNIONS MAKE WORK SAFER and take action to strengthen your union organisation or create a union at work.

  • Find out what is happening in your area on 28 April, see TUC list of events email details or your event to healthandsafety@tuc.org.uk & own union
  • If nothing is happening then get together with workmates and organise – a commemorative rally, a minutes silence; a workplace inspection, a meeting to discuss health and safety and celebrate the positive impact of unions and Safety Reps @40 , use the Safety Rep Box to discuss what you can do
  • Ask your local council, or any other public body, to fly official flags at half-mast on the day. Remember that the day is officially recognised by the UK government;
  • Arrange an event such as planting a memorial tree in a public place, putting up a plaque, dedicating a sculpture, a piece of art, or a bench, to remember workers who have been killed at the workplace or in the community;
  • Workers’ Memorial Day is on 28 April, consider how you can best use local media both before & on the day.
  • If you are planning any event for the day, or you want to raise awareness: distribute and wear purple ‘forget-me-not’ ribbons, put up posters, and remember to let people know about anything that happens in your area on the day. Order resources: http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/iwmd18resources.pdf
  • Send ecard to Prime Minister demanding end to attacks on laws that protect our lives & health because as Grenfell fire & all work deaths show: ‘Red Tape is better than bloody bandages’:
  • Tweet about your workplace union health and safety successes use internationally unifying hashtag #IWMD18 and check it for new resources and retweet.

#IWMD18 Resources  and Information   

Purple Ribbons the symbol of the day; Union Workplaces are Safer Workplaces Car Stickers, High Vis jackets & FREE posters

Hazards Magazine Articles on Safety Reps@40:   ‘It’s down to you’   ‘What’s your best face’  Safety Reps Rights  Box

TUC  Safety Reps@40  

https://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/28_april_2018_en.pdf

Sharan Burrows ITUC: Unions are organising for safer, healthier, decent work  @SharanBurrow. @ITUC

TUC list of events

GMHC IWMD Background Leaflet:

The Whole Story: Our estimates of the real toll of deaths and illnesses caused by work which are far greater than HSE publishes or press/media report

FILMS

Louise Taggart’s blog about her brother Michael who went to work & was killed by employer’s negligence-

Carol Harte’s film of  Tommy Harte  bringing  IWMD to the UK

GMHC International Workers’ Memorial Day

UNITE The Safety of the Vulnerable Worker

UNISON Problems in the Care Sector

Thompson’s Solicitors: Industrial injury, compensation, the Government and the Law

ASLEF Rail Safety

BFAWU Fighting for justice

#IWMD2014: Deregulatory Daleks tied up in red tape!   Hazards Magazine:

Families Against Corporate Killers, FACK    work with families of those killed by work: BellyflopTV

See also Facebook: Families Against Corporate Killers

FACKers tell their stories:  ‘Face the FACKs: the Human Face of Corporate Killing’

Face the FACKs  Part 1       Face the FACKs Part  2

Face the FACKs Part  3      Face the FACKs Part 4

TV coverage Cameron Minshull        Cameron  Killed

Hazards Campaign c/o GMHC, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandre Road, Manchester, M16 7WD                                                         info@hazardscampaign.org.uk @hazardscampaign
Face Book: We Didn’t Vote to Die at Work

28 April / WMD, Blog, media

UK: FACK Statement – International Workers’ Memorial Day 28 April 2018 #IWMD18

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FACK Statement – International Workers’ Memorial Day 28 April 2018 #IWMD18

“I don’t know where to begin.  So I’ll start by saying I refuse to forget you.  I refuse to be silenced.  I refuse to neglect you.”

These words are “for every last soul” who perished at Grenfell, and are spoken by Stormzy at the start of the Artists for Grenfell single.  They could just as easily have been spoken by FACK families.

We will never forget our lost loved ones and ask that you don’t either.  Instead, in their memories, devote your energies to fighting for the living.

We continue to refuse to be silenced.  Instead we use our voices to increase a chorus of disapproval aimed at seeking an end to this era of de-regulation, in which health and safety protections have been undermined and preventative enforcement has been slashed. 1

We want the chorus of disapproval to reach a crescendo.

Because each and every day here in the UK a lack of good health and safety continues to lead to the deaths of 140 people in work-related incidents or because of work-related illness.  The equivalent of 2 Grenfell towers…daily.  2

Let that sink in for a moment.

Opening and closing with the vision of the charred tower block, the music video which accompanies the Grenfell single can’t fail to touch hearts.

And all too often, it is music which evokes memories to tear at a FACK family’s heart, just as a line from the Verve’s “The Drugs Don’t Work” does for Samuel Adams’ mum: “But I know I will see your face again”.  Sam was 6-yrs-old when he went for a family day out to the Trafford Shopping Centre and his face was only to continue to be seen in photos and preciously held memories.

Frankie Miller singing “Let me tell you that I love you, that I think about you all time” transports 26-yr-old Michael Adamson’s family and friends back to the devastation of the walk from the crematorium.

Welsh hymn Gwahoddiad is the one guaranteed to reduce Andrew Hutin’s parents to tears, the one that raised the roof of the chapel at the funeral of a young man who had only recently turned 20 when a tidal wave of molten metal exploded from a blast furnace.

How do you begin to choose the songs for your 18 year old son’s funeral?  FACK families’ intention is that you never have to.  But Mick and Bet Murphy did, guided by those that were among Lewis’ favourites at the time of his death.  A song called “Crossroads” taking on particular poignancy, containing lyrics such as: “Hey, can somebody anybody tell me why we die, we die? I don’t wanna die. Ohhh so wrong.”

Fundamentally wrong that these young men were taken from their families, denied the opportunity to live their lives.  And why?  Because still far too often health and safety is wrongly seen as a burden, red tape, a tiresome impediment to getting a job done, or a costly barrier to making a profit.

There are those whose praises FACK families sing.  Among them:

  • The firefighters whose emotions overwhelmed them on being clapped and cheered by the local community at Grenfell – that community knowing they had done all they could, and more, to save lives.
  • Those who have had the courage to speak out about perils faced by themselves and their colleagues, finding themselves blacklisted as a result.
  • Those who work in our Hazards Centres – in Manchester, London and Glasgow – seeking to prevent work-related harm, committed to improving workplace health and safety.
  • And trade unions safety reps whose life-saving work often goes unnoticed, but whose work needs to be celebrated and built upon. Because, let’s be clear: a union workplace is a safer workplace.

These are the people who prevent injury, illness and death; who prevent suffering and the consequent need for a soundtrack to tears.  They are the ones with whom we must ensure chords are struck.

Because, yes, perhaps a song brings into firm focus a happy moment caught in time…running bare foot from a tent at a bike rally in Edinburgh on hearing Born Slippy by Underworld, Graham and Karen to be the only ones dancing and grinning in the rain.

But Natalie, Dionne, Sharon…they are among those who’d “love, love, love to dance with their fathers again”, who are destined to do so only in dreams.

The dreams and the plans that had been hatched by Linzi and Herbie during long nights spent listening to The Rock from The Who’s Quadrophenia, were not to become reality.

Instead, in the aftermath, songs that filled the void “at the dimming of the day” bring into dark focus the utter desolation.

Just what would Dorothy and Douglas give to hear Mark belting out again: “I gotta take a little time…In case I need it when I’m older”.  He wasn’t to get any older than the age of 37.

Another of his favourites was “I want to live forever”.

We know that no-one lives forever.  But, work should be life-changing in a positive way.  It should never ever be life-ending.

So we intend to continue to build a legacy for our loved ones, that will live on forever through improved protections that keep your family members safe and healthy

FACK facilitator Hilda Palmer has quite rightly described Grenfell as an “Enough is Enough” moment.  And the death of each of our loved ones was our own personal enough is enough moment.

Let us repeat: lack of good health and safety leads to loss of life equivalent to two Grenfell towers each and every day in this country.

Enough is surely enough!    By Louise Taggart Founder FACK member, sister of Michael Adamson.

References:

Hazards Campaign Briefing for #IWMD18

Michael’s Story: Louise Taggart’s blog about her brother Michael who went to work and was killed by employer’s negligence. Video

We Love Red Tape

The Whole Story about work-related death :

FACK was established in July 2006, by and for families of people killed by the gross negligence of business employers, see www.fack.org.uk .

Founder Members of FACK:

Dawn and Paul Adams – son Samuel Adams aged 6 killed at Trafford Centre,10th October 1998

Linzi Herbertson –husband Andrew Herbertson 29, killed at work in January 1998

Mike and Lynne Hutin – son Andrew Hutin 20, killed at work on 8th Nov 2001

Mick & Bet Murphy – son Lewis Murphy 18, killed at work on 21st February 2004

Louise Taggart – brother Michael Adamson 26, killed at work on 4th August 2005

Linda Whelan – son Craig Whelan 23, (and Paul Wakefield) killed at work on 23rd May 2002

Dorothy & Douglas Wright – son Mark Wright 37, killed at work on 13th April 2005

For more information and to support FACK, contact Hilda Palmer, Facilitator for FACK: Tel 0161 636 7557

c/o Hazards Campaign, Windrush Millennium Centre, 70 Alexandra Road, Manchester M16 7WD Tel 0161 636 7557
mail@gmhazards.org.uk  www.fack.org.uk

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Air pollution: a trade union issue – free courses in Birmingham and Southampton

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Hazards Campaign and the Greener Jobs Alliance have organised two additional regional training sessions on air pollution in Birmingham and Southampton.

Workers are exposed to and create pollution to fulfill contractual
obligations to employers. It is an occupational health issue that
employers take little responsibility for.

The course will help you:

• Examine why air pollution is both a workplace issue and a public
health one
• Find out about air pollution busting Citizen Science techniques
• Create action plans to deal with workplace exposures
• Create action plans to meaningfully engage in
air pollution with local councils
• Share experience, knowledge and ideas

Although both courses are  free of charge, registration is necessary.

Further information and registration
Janet Newsham
Hazards Campaign
janet@gmhazards.org.uk
0161 636 7558

Southern Region at the UNITE offices in Southampton on Friday May 11th, 2018 from 1.00 – 4.00 pm more info

Midlands Region at the UCU Offices in Birmingham on Friday June 8th, 2018 from 1.00 – 4.00 pm more info

28 April / WMD

28 April – Unions make work safer

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28 April Hazards Campaign poster – Unions make work safer

Hazards Campaign has produced the two posters below to mark International Workers’ Memorial Day. A4 and A3 versions – ideal for demos, vigils, noticeboards and meetings – can be ordered  here. Free to unions and campaigners (plus postage) .

Details of UK-wide 28 April activities can be found here.
Global activities are listed on the ITUC/Hazards 28april.org website.

 

 

Blog, Hazards conference

Hazards conference 2018: Booking form

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The booking form  for the Hazards 2018 conference can be  downloaded here.

Hazards Conference is the UK’s biggest and best educational and organising event for trade union safety reps and activists. It consists of a mixture of plenary sessions, meetings and a comprehensive workshop programme. Delegates have the opportunity to exchange experience and information with, and learn from, safety reps and activists from other unions, sectors and jobs across the UK. It’s great craic too!

Safety Reps @ 40: Vital to the Future of Safe and Healthy Work!
27th to 29th July 2018,  Keele University, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.

Unions can help make this event an even bigger success by joining our sponsorship program.

Blog

Fast food workers’ safety leaflet

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What are the health, safety and welfare issues that workers at fast food premises  and drive-thrus face? What can we do to support these workers in challenging their unsafe and unhealthy working conditions?

Hazards Campaign and food industry union BFAWU has produced a leaflet to answer these questions.

Blog, Graphics

Hazards Campaign resources Workers’ Memorial Day – order now

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Hazards Campaign has produced a set of useful resources for International Workers’ Memorial Day 2018 (#iwmd18) – download the order form here.

You can order commemorative purple ribbons, posters, car-stickers and high-vis waistcoats. These resources are ideal for your 28 April event, notice board, union office, workplace, ceremony or to simply hand out on the day.

Follow these links for details of Workers’ Memorial Day activities in the UK and worldwide.

Posters

This year’s posters

Past year’s posters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Car sticker

 

 

High- vis waistcoat

Ribbons