TRADE UNION NEWS

May 2000

The GMB union is calling upon HSE to investigate all 57,000 serious accidents following consideration of the findings of the Select Committee on Environment. Transport and Regional Affairs investigation into the work of the HSE.

The report revealed that currently the HSE investigates only 6% of the annual major injury incidents. According to the GMB: "A staggering 94% are left solely for the employers to sort out. Not only does this mean that possible breaches of health and safety law go unpunished, proper preventative measures may also not be implemented following the accident. Yet, HSE themselves estimate that 70% of accidents are attributable to managerial failure and that 90% are preventable".

The poor enforcement rate also offers no support to organisations who are taking proper measures and yet witness their competitors often "getting away" with matters.

In a statement issued at the GMB Northern Region Safety Representatives conference, GMB General Secretary John Edmonds stated that: "Employers are legally required to protect their workforce. As the vast majority of accidents are preventable, the HSE must heed the call of the Select Committee to investigate and ensure that employers really do learn from their mistakes. The GMB will be writing to the Director General of HSE, Jenny Bacon, to demand an immediate change of policy on this important matter".

The main recommendations of the Select Committee include:

• HSE to bring forward proposals aimed at increasing the reporting of all injuries in the workplace.
• An urgent need to increase rates of HSE investigation and prosecution. (A proposed target of a 3% increase in the investigation of reported accidents over the next three years. If resources are not currently available to meet this target, they must be made available.
• HSE to review its investigation criteria and to re-open cases where the original decision not to investigate was judged to be wrong.
• More information to inspectors needs to be provided by HSE on how to "weigh" the criteria.
• HSE to provide a list of cases, in its annual review, of where they failed to investigate and yet an injured person was successful in bringing a civil claim.
• Specialist prosecuting inspectors to be used in the lower courts and to be supported by enhanced legal support.
• The Government to, at the earliest opportunity, increase the levels of fines available for health and safety offences and also introduce the crime of corporate killing.
• HSE and the Government to encourage insurers to adjust premiums to reflect good practice.

A village postman was blown off his feet when he triggered a home-made booby trap as he walked up the garden path to a Welsh cottage. The 30-year-old, who works out of Pontyclun delivery office, was lucky to escape the full force of the shrapnel which exploded from the device, made from ten shotgun cartridges. However, he is still on sick leave nearly a month later and has had to undergo stress counselling.

According to his union, the CWU, to add insult to injury the magistrates only fined the resident who planted the device £60 and ordered him to pay the postman £100 in compensation. Yet, the same man has subsequently been convicted of another crime in connection with a neighbour, lending weight to the postman’s belief that he was the unwitting victim of a long-running saga.

Astonishingly the postman experienced a similar incident outside the same property nearly two years earlier when he triggered a tripwire when driving towards it. He immediately reported the matter to his duty manager. The CWU is currently investigating what measures were taken at the time.

Commenting on the latest incident, the postman said: "This time there was a flash and a bang and I was blown off my feet. The letters I was holding fell around me. The bits of metal missed me by inches and became imbedded in the fence. In a way I was lucky to be me because I’m fit. If it had been an older postman he could have had a heart attack, and just imagine if it had been a child.... it could have been fatal".

With regard to the fine and compensation awarded, CWU representative Steve Bell said: "It seems to suggest that we are cheap targets. We need something that prevents people playing with the lives of postmen and women, and we need to look at the legislation covering incidents like this".

Work-related stress continues to be the single largest occupational health problem affecting British workers. The TUC reports that in 1999 trade unions took 783 legal personal injury cases against employers for stress related illnesses – 70% up on the previous year. The TUC also believes that employment tribunal cases, where stress related claims for unfair dismissal are being pursued, are on the increase.

The IPMS has, for example, since May 1995 pursued 39 stress cases on behalf of members. 15 of these are ongoing, while 24 have been abandoned. Although a substantial five-figure out-of-court settlement was achieved for one member. Partly the low success rate is due to the fact that no employer has been prosecuted for breaches of health and safety law leading to work-related stress.

Individuals can also take out a claim under the Disability and Discrimination Act 1995 in connection with their employment. These claims can overlap with personal injury claims and it is vital that union members seek union advice if they are considering either of these courses of action.

Birmingham City Council became the first employer to accept liability in a British court for a stress-induced injury, damages of £67,000 being awarded against them in the case of Lancaster v Birmingham City Council. However, the case introduced few new legal principles other than those already established in the Walker v Northumberland City Council case.

HSE has produced a free leaflet entitled Help on Work Related Stress – A Short Guide. The guidance advises that the action employers need to take to prevent stress involves essentially good management and needs to address the sources of stress and involve employees in decision-making. IPMS, along with other major unions and the TUC, is calling for all employers to develop and implement a stress policy statement and to investigate existing levels of stress within their organisations.

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Mike Everley