Government Knew Risk Of AIDS

This story is from the Guardian. The main culprit appears to be the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM).

Unions set the limit on work temperature

This is from the latest issue (Risks 307) of Risks. We will make this
one of the priorities at the next Health and Safety meeting.

As the Met Office continues to promise scorching summer temperatures,
unions are getting in early with some cool advice. Train drivers union
ASLEF is advising its members to refuse on safety grounds to work in
train cabs where the heat levels rise above 27 C. The executive
committee decision came in the wake of reports indicating that there
'were very few agreed arrangements in place to mitigate the risks from
heat exhaustion.' The union says work last year in sweltering cabs was
linked to an increase in potentially serious safety incidents (Risks
299). ASLEF general secretary Keith Norman said the union will inform
all train operating companies of the decision. 'We will also send out
the appropriate legal and health and safety advice to all branches and
reps - so that they have irrefutable justification for any action,' he
said. Teaching union NUT is calling for a lower temperature ceiling, a
new guide advising 'that 26 C should be the absolute maximum
temperature in which teachers should be expected to work, other than
for very short periods. It is important that all schools have in place
contingency plans to help staff and pupils cope with the heat. There
is little that can be done to alleviate particular problems if schools
do not plan in advance and also take note of the weather forecast for
the week ahead.' The guide adds: 'The NUT expects schools to implement
planned measures to reduce temperatures as soon as staff complain that
working conditions are beginning to become uncomfortable or as soon as
it is known that temperatures are going to become uncomfortable,
according to the weather forecast. If in doubt, 26 C should be used as
the trigger for these measures.' The union warns 'that, in schools,
other steps may need to be considered such as closing classrooms which
are unacceptably hot and teaching classes elsewhere, or even sending
pupils home, provided reasonable notice has been given to parents.' It
says NUT safety reps should raise temperature related concerns 'as a
matter of urgency' with school management.

£8 Billion for Waiting List Operations

It was announced last week that an extra 390,000 operations would be funded. This is bound to have an impact on blood stocks as many waiting list operations require transfusions. The full article is in the Online Guardian.

Support From the Wobblies

There is an article on the website of the Industrial Workers of the World (also known as the Wobblies) in support of the NHSBT staff. It claims to have some members in the NHSBT which may be true but, unfortunately, the IWW is not recognised in the union recognition agreement. Nice to have more support though.

Dismissed Unite (T&G Section) Member Re-instated

At an appeal hearing held today in Central London, a Unite (T&G
Section) member was re-instated (after initially being dismissed) with
full back-pay. The member's union rep was fully involved and supported
her at all stages of the process. This just shows the advantage of
belonging to a union (especially Unite).

Petition for Index-linked Pay Rise

There is a petition on the Downing Street website (http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/NHS-Pay/) calling for NHS pay to be linked with inflation. I don't know if these petitions accomplish anything but it is no effort to sign it.

Unite calls for action on enforcement

This is from the latest issue of 'Risks'

A dramatic increase in workplace deaths shows the need for more
resources for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and a reversal in
the downward trend in enforcement, Britain's biggest union has said.
Unite, the union formed this month from the merger of TGWU and Amicus,
made the call after latest provisional figures showed workplace
fatalities in the construction industry increased last year by over 30
per cent (Risks 301). Unite is concerned that this and enforcement
trends - a new report for construction union UCATT has claimed that
the proportion of deaths in the sector that were followed by a
prosecution had fallen by nearly three quarters in the period from
1998 to 2004 (Risks 304) - show the safety watchdog is increasingly
reluctant to take the necessary enforcement action after criminal
safety breaches. HSE challenged the findings of the UCATT report when
the story was picked up the BBC Radio 4's flagship Today programme,
saying in a comment released to the press there was only a 'possible
10-15 per cent rise in fatal accidents', later defending this figure
when challenged by Hazards magazine. However, HSE later conceded its
own estimate was wrong and amended the press release online to say
there was a 'possible 20-25 per cent risk in fatal accidents' in the
construction sector, although the revised figures were not distributed
to HSE's press list. Amicus and the Centre for Corporate
Accountability, which prepared the report for UCATT, criticised HSE
chief executive Geoffrey Podger's defence of his organisation's
enforcement record, which included a statement that 'this is not a
police state'. They point out that his own memo last year commenting
on the findings of an internal HSE audit conceded enforcement rates
should be 'considerably greater' and warned that 'the implications of
this need to concern us all.' Rob Miguel, health and safety officer
with Unite's Amicus section, said: 'It seems though that HSE has
written off over half those devastated families within these figures.
For many years we have campaigned for increased enforcement for health
and safety breaches, and despite HSE worries about a police state,
they are more than concerned over the lack of enforcement themselves.'

Unite

It is now official. The name of the new union is Unite. Amicus and
the T&G will continue to operate as separate organisations for the
next 18 months but we will work more closely with Amicus especially as
we are one of the few organisations with both Amicus and T&G members.
I will start to update all stationery and websites over the next few
weeks.