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The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has urged the Government to support a repeal of Directive 93/104/EC, which aims to limit working hours.

The CIPD state that employers are not convinced about the working time Directive’s merits and that surveys consistently show the UK continues to have a long hours working culture as many workers opt out of the 48-hour weekly limit.

Further, a CIPD survey of 800 employers found that one in four gave no paid paternity leave above the statutory minimum, with only two out of five offering two weeks pay.

The CIPD’s Mike Emmott said, "While employers are supportive of the national minimum wage and a plethora of equality rights, they are yet to be convinced about the merits of the working time Directive. The CIPD believes that the working time provisions have negligible value in limiting unhealthy workplace behaviour.”

He adds, "If flexible parental leave is going to become a reality, we need a step-change in the reward policies of UK organisations that encourages more fathers to take their statutory rights. This is something that will only be achieved through cultural change and legislation is emphatically not the answer."

However, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Too many employees are still being put under pressure to work long hours by their employers, and excessive working time makes for unhealthy employees.

Moreover, Mr Barber stressed, "Recent research has shown that over-long hours increase the risk of contracting heart disease, whilst the CIPD's own research indicates that a quarter of employees who worked long hours became ill. We shouldn't be allowing the UK's long hours culture to put the safety, health and well-being of workers at risk, and that must mean strengthening the working time rules not relaxing them."

The owner of a Penrith wood processing plant has been fined £20,000, plus costs, after a worker had his foot completely severed by a log shavings machine. The owner, Allan Jenkinson, pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

Penrith Magistrates Court heard that a 24-year-old employee of A W Jenkinson Forest Products in Clifton was using a chainsaw to deal with a stuck log in the log box at the end of a conveyor. He lost his balance and his right foot became caught in the 48 razor-sharp revolving blades at the bottom of the log box. The employee, who was working alone, crawled out of the log shavings box and used a radio to call for help.

The HSE investigation concluded that Allan Jenkinson had failed to ensure that safe systems of work associated with the shavings machine were in place. Since the incident, his company has installed fixed guards around the machine to prevent workers from being able to access the conveyors and logs boxes.

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector said, “Life-changing incidents such as this one are easily preventable, and it must be a high priority for employers to ensure that their workers are kept safe from serious injury and death at work. Employers who operate machinery are required to identify the risks associated with its use and establish what needs to be put in place so that work can be carried out safely. Safe systems of work should be devised and implemented, including the provision of appropriate worker training, supervision and personal protective equipment."

For more information, see:

• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations SI 1998/2306.

Belfast-based construction company Fernwave Limited was fined £30,000, plus costs, after pleading guilty to three breaches of health and safety legislation brought against them by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI). A representative of Fernwave Limited had previously pleaded guilty to the case arising from the death of a worker at the Obel Tower site in Belfast.

The accident, which occurred on 11 December 2008, caused the death of Jonathon Friel, a general labourer working on the construction of the tower in Belfast. During the removal of temporary supporting structures under the fourth floor, a large section of plywood beneath an empty service void was left unsupported. The area around the void was not signed or fenced off and when removing materials from this area, the plywood gave way and Mr Friel fell around 10 metres landing on the concrete surface of the first floor. He later died in hospital from the injuries sustained.

The work was not properly planned, managed, or supervised and this accident was said by the HSENI to highlight the well-recognised dangers of work at heights.

After the hearing at Laganside Crown Court in Belfast, the Head of HSENI’s Major Investigation Team, Louis Burns said, “We would remind everyone who either works at height or who organises this type of work, that they must be meticulous in preventing people from falling.”

For more information, see:

• Work at Height Regulations (Northern Ireland) SR 2005/279.

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster has revealed that 62 people have died on Northern Ireland farms in the last 10 years.

Of those fatal accidents, 70% involved moving vehicles or livestock handling.

Mrs Foster urged farmers to take extra care as they enter one of the busiest times of the agricultural year and suggested contacting the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland for more help.

Mrs Foster said, “In the last 10 years, 62 people have died needlessly in incidents associated with farm work. Tragically, this statistic includes child deaths and it underlines the need for extra vigilance on our farms.”

She added, “Farming is a high-risk occupation with farmers, farm workers and farming families at risk from the movement of vehicles, the handling of livestock and the use of dangerous machinery. Farmers have a responsibility to manage health and safety to ensure that they, their employees and their family members are kept safe on the farm. Farmers need to be reminded both of the hazards that exist on their farms and the scale of the risk they present.”

Battery collection figures for the first three months of the year published by the Environment Agency indicate a good start to meeting the end of year targets. The UK is committed to collecting 10% of batteries sold by the end of 2010 (around 4,474 tonnes of batteries). The UK collected 849 tonnes of batteries in the first quarter. In the same period, 9,898 tonnes of batteries were sold.

The Environment Agency’s Bob Mead said, “We believe the figures represent a very good start. The amount reported as collected is almost 2% of the total amount of portable batteries placed on the market in 2009. Given that historic figures suggest that the annual rate of collection, recycling and recovery of portable batteries in the UK is about this amount, this represents a good start to achieving the targets.”

Nonetheless, compliance scheme BatteryBack Chairman Peter Hunt is concerned that battery collection will fall flat. He said, “We have increased our collection installations to over 15,000, but we cannot keep on doing this. We’ve got to change people’s awareness regarding battery recycling. We are not getting the core 70% of the population who would do it as long as it is made easy for them.”

In contrast, Budget Pack managing director Steve Clark believes the figures reflect a 72% collection rate for the quarter. He said, “We were always expecting a reduced tonnage because it is a brand new scheme and compliance schemes are having to set up arrangements and install collection points. It will obviously be slower than the rest of the year.”

Moreover, Mr Mead said it was up to compliance schemes to deliver information campaigns to end-users of portable batteries. Commenting on the UK’s ability to meet the 2012 target of 25% battery collection, he said, “Moving from the UK’s historic rate of collection and recycling (2-3%) to the 25% target will require major effort from all concerned.”

For more information, see:

• Waste Batteries and Accumulators Regulations SI 2009/890.

A gastro pub co-owned by celebrity chef Marco Pierre White has been fined £30,000 for polluting a village stream with sewage almost over 60 times the legal maximum. Neighbours of the Yew Tree Inn in Highclere, Berkshire, said the foul smells were so bad they could not leave their homes.

The restaurant has previously pleaded guilty to five counts of polluting a water course between 2007 and 2009. Andrew Parton, a proprietor and shareholder in the restaurant, had also pleaded guilty to five similar charges during the same period, plus a sixth charge of breaching an improvement notice. The Environment Agency brought all charges against the two defendants after conducting tests on the stream near the restaurant.

James Pretsell, defending both the restaurant and Mr Parton, said the business had already spent nearly £80,000 in trying to fix their sewage treatment tank. But presiding magistrate Stephen Bibby said the charges related to a “serious and continuing” environmental problem and that substantial fines were appropriate.