• Safety rep sacking sparks strike at Waterloo
• Simon Jones Campaign gets a result
• Voluntary sector takes steps to improve health and safety
• Resources
• Centre for Corporate Accountability

Safety rep sacking sparks strike at Waterloo

Sarah Friday, an experienced train driver of more than ten years standing and railway workers' union RMT safety rep at Waterloo Station, was sacked by South West Trains (SWT) on 15 February for allegedly disobeying a manager's instructions. The RMT went on to hold one day strikes on 23 and 31 March, severely affecting SWT suburban services. The union has since balloted workers at all eleven SWT depots and the result of that ballot is expected towards the end of April. This could result in further industrial action in May if the company remains intransigent.

On 9 February, Sarah was meeting SWT manager Jim Hall, to discuss a dispute over inspection rights. With little time before she had to drive her next train she tried to sort out matters but her manager adopted a bullying and intimidating manner and suspended her. The following day, Sarah was charged with serious misconduct and later dismissed at a disciplinary hearing for delaying a train. Her appeal failed and she is taking the case to an Industrial Tribunal. The case is likely to be heard at the beginning of May.

SWT victimised Sarah Friday because of her struggle to get the company to recognise that train drivers' long working hours, shift patterns and poor working conditions are dangerous to workers' health and the travelling public. Drivers can work shifts of over ten hours, often going seven hours without a break. Union surveys at Waterloo showed that stress and fatigue were prevalent among drivers. At a meeting with SWT and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Waterloo branch of the RMT, with support from the London Hazards Centre, challenged the company's risk assessments of current shift patterns. The assessments barely mentioned fatigue and did not evaluate the effects of the more intensive duty roster the company had introduced.

The real issue: profit before safety

Sarah's persistence and conscientiousness had succeeded in raising the profile of health and safety at the station, drawing the issues to the attention of a wider public and getting the HSE involved. The company realised that the union's continuing pressure, allied to growing public support for improved rail safety in the aftermath of the Ladbroke Grove disaster (see Daily Hazard 65), could force them to cut into their profits by recruiting enough drivers to operate safe working hours and shift patterns.

This victimisation is a further setback for rail safety and illustrates the weakness of employment law in this area. Safety reps need greater employment protection when disputes like this arise. It is not enough for safety reps to be able to take their employer to an industrial tribunal, especially as tribunals cannot enforce reinstatement. Unfortunately, the current government review of employee representation is unlikely to address this issue. So support for Sarah and the RMT in this dispute is all the more vital.

Support

Invite a speaker along to your union branch. Contribute to the financial appeal (cheques to "Waterloo RMT"). Further information from Waterloo RMT, c/o 3 Blades House, London SE11 5TW. Tel: 020 7582 2955.

top of page

Simon Jones Campaign gets a result

On 23 March, Simon's family won an historic victory against the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) when two judges ordered the CPS to reconsider their decision not to prosecute Euromin or its manager James Martell for manslaughter in relation to Simon's death. The judgement is the first successful judicial review of a decision not to prosecute for manslaughter over a workplace death.

In a strongly worded judgement, the two judges hearing the review described the CPS as behaving "irrationally", "failing to address the relevant law" and adopting an approach that was "baffling" and "beggared belief". The CPS were instructed to review their decision not to prosecute "with dispatch".

This is a huge victory for Simon's family and all those campaigning for justice for Simon and others killed by companies who put their profits before people's safety. In the light of this judgement the Simon Jones Memorial Campaign is calling for Euromin and its manager James Martell to be prosecuted for the manslaughter of Simon Jones. The campaign is also calling for an urgent, high-level enquiry into the CPS's systematic refusal to prosecute companies, directors and senior managers for workplace deaths.

While this is a major step towards getting justice for Simon, the campaign has not forgotten that Personnel Selection, the employment agency that clearly broke the law when it sent Simon to work at Euromin, has not been prosecuted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for its part in Simon's death. In the light of this judgement, the campaign is writing to Stephen Byers at the DTI asking him to prosecute Personnel Selection immediately. The campaign hopes that others will write to Stephen Byers expressing the same view.

Labour MP George Galloway has tabled an early day motion in the House of Commons congratulating Simon's family and the campaign for their victory in the High Court. The motion calls for a public inquiry into the CPS's handling of this and all other cases of work related death. Please contact your MP and ask them to sign this motion.

The campaign still needs your support in other ways. Please find out what you can do to help the campaign.

Simon Jones Memorial Campaign, PO Box 2600, Brighton, E.Sussex, BN2 2DX
www.simonjones.org.uk
telephone/fax 01273 685913 email: action@simonjones.org.uk

top of page

Voluntary sector takes steps to improve health and safety

Organisations from all over London are reaping the benefits of the London Hazard Centre's Voluntary Sector Training Project. The three year project, funded by the National Lottery Charities Board is nearing the end of its second year. The project has run ninety nine training courses, involving participants from nearly 500 organisations. The courses have emphasised the importance of making immediate practical improvements to working conditions as well as addressing policy issues.

One organisation providing scooters and wheelchairs for disabled people charged the batteries required to power the vehicles every night in an unventilated portacabin situated within a car park. The training group discussed the explosive hazard posed by the hydrogen gas given off by the batteries overnight. Immediately after the course, the administrator called in the local fire safety officer who recommended the installation of ventilation in the portacabin. The vents are now being fitted. The administrator also shared this experience with other organisations providing a similar service throughout London.

A common problem is space. Voluntary organisations are often located in shared premises, with little control over their physical environment. Fitting people and office machinery into a small area can be a big problem. One east London advice agency has allocated a member of staff to sort through old files and ring binders in a twice yearly clear out designed to make the room fit for "live people" rather than "dead paper". A north London women's organisation is throwing out old, obsolete equipment. Another practical step has been the reorganisation of space to reduce the hazards of photocopier and laser printer emissions. Participants have moved the offending items into corridors or to well ventilated positions three metres away from the nearest worker.

Participants are revising their safety policies and preparing safe systems of work for staff and volunteers who work offsite, alone and outside normal office hours. Groups in Redbridge and Bexley have produced a checklist for workers setting up meetings away from the office. This covers all aspects of the visit including precise directions, safe parking facilities, a centrally held diary, an agreed time to complete the visits and a telephone contact to confirm the safe completion of the visit.

Cleaners and caretakers, often ignored or forgotten, have now been included in the safety regime of a large community association on the outskirts of London. Its risk assessment showed a need for training in the safe use of cleaning materials and a new system of supervision to improve communication with staff who work outside core hours.

Fire risk assessments, required under the Fire Precautions (Workplace) regulations 1997, have been carried out by many organisations and fire signs have been updated to include the "running man" sign.

Stress is one of the biggest problems faced by the voluntary sector. A squeeze on funding and a growing reliance on the voluntary sector to deliver statutory services more cheaply has piled pressure onto paid and voluntary workers alike. The main causes of stress were reported as excessive workload and long hours. Course participants have returned to their workplaces determined to raise the issue and see it addressed by management committees and trustees. One west London women's organisation listed the physical symptoms of stress and asked staff members to tick each symptom they suffered over a period of a month. This revealed a range of symptoms from headaches to insomnia. The organisation is now looking at staffing levels and work organisation.

The third year of the project will provide on the spot advice and support to participating organisations as they continue the job of giving voluntary sector workers the decent working conditions they deserve.

top of page

Resources

Consensus kills

In this critique of the tripartite system, health and safety campaigner Alan Dalton argues that "the trade unions have handed control of UK health and safety law and policy to the employers". The author reached this conclusion after a detailed analysis of Health and Safety Commission (tripartite body representing employers, trade unions and government) minutes (now publicly available for the first time) and a survey of 25 of the 100 trade union members on the HSC and its 21 committees. He was also able to draw on his own vast experience in the health and safety field, which has included sitting on two HSC committees. The author says that the unions have been ineffective and that the tripartite system has allowed employers to veto health and safety legislation, resulting in the death, illness and injury of millions of working people.

Consensus kills. January 2000, 62 pp.£5 inc. p&p from Alan Dalton, 3 Montpelier Grove, London NW5 2XD.

Unsafe as houses: urban renaissance or toxic timebomb?

This is a detailed case study of how an Enfield residents' association campaigned against the redevelopment of the Royal Small Arms Factory site, decommissioned by the Ministry of Defence in 1984 and severely contaminated. The campaign initially sprang out of concerns about the increase in traffic and pressure on local services that the development of 1,300 homes would have in an area already deprived of services. However, the persistence of local residents, aided by many individuals and organisations including Friends of the Earth, Communities Against Toxic Substances (CATS), the Federation of Enfield Residents & Allied Associations

Unsafe as Houses. Published by Friends of the Earth and the Enfield Lock Action Group Association. Friends of the Earth, 26-28 Underwood St, London N1 7JQ. 020 7490 1555.

Killer dust

A comprehensive history of the UK asbestos health problem. It is also an exposé of the scandalous behaviour of the industry - the author had access to the company archives of the leading UK asbestos producer, Turner & Newall. These documents were brought into the public domain by Chase Manhattan Bank , when it took T & N to court in New York in 1995 in a property-damage suit. This is an outstanding book and an excellent read.

Magic mineral to killer dust: Turner & Newall and the asbestos hazard, Geoffrey Tweedale, 313 pp. 2000, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-929690-8.

The Hazards Charter - a charter for change

The Charter sets out an agenda for government action to improve working conditions in Britain. It is a systematic list of the demands of the UK hazards movement, as developed at national meetings and conferences in recent years. Copies of the 3rd edition are available from Hazards Centres around the country as well as via our web site, www.lhc.org.uk where the full text is available to download or print.

top of page

Centre for Corporate Accountability

The Centre for Corporate Accountability is a new organisation, which through research, advocacy and advice, aims to increase the accountability of companies and their senior officers whose activities every year cause thousands of preventable deaths, injuries and disease. At present the criminal justice system allows companies to commit serious offences without proper investigation, prosecution and sentencing. As a result, companies and their officers obtain immunity from criminal sanction.

Increased accountability will both ensure that the bereaved and injured receive the justice that they seek, and deter companies from placing the safety of workers and the public in danger in the future.

Please contact CCA if you need any information on these issues or are seeking advice on accountability issues relating to workplace/environmental death or injury.

Centre for Corporate Accountability
40 Leverton Street, London NW5 2PG
Tel: 020 7209 9143
info@corporateaccountability.org
www.corporateaccountability.org

top of page

Resources page