News

Employment Minister Chris Grayling visited Brussels this month to attend a meeting on the Pregnant Workers Directive.

At the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) gathering, during which the Hungarian Presidency gave an update on the Directive, Grayling reiterated UK opposition to the proposals which have been put forward by MEPs. The Government is concerned that measures for 20 weeks of maternity leave at full pay will result in considerable costs to Member States when they can least afford it. Ministers have also said that they believe the proposals to be "socially regressive".

Such views have been backed by Employment Relations Minister, Edward Davey, who said, "As I have repeatedly made clear, what MEPs have tabled is not the right solution. Minimum standards are important but it should be down to the individual Member States to adopt their own model - not Europe to dictate this. We have recently launched our own consultation that looks at introducing a fully-flexible and family-friendly solution to parental leave that is tailored to the UK. Simply saying 20 weeks at full pay, in a one-size fits all format, is not the way forward. I am sure that other Member States agree with us here."

The proposals are currently with EPSCO so the Ministers of the 27 EU Member States can consider their position. At the EPSCO meeting last December, the UK joined the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden in signing a formal minutes statement which expressed concerns over the plans.

For more information see:

• Directive 92/85/EEC, on improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding;
• Proposal COM(2008)637, for a Directive amending the above.

Official statistics published this month show an increase in the number of people killed at work last year. Provisional data released by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for the year April 2010 to March 2011 highlight the number of workers killed was 171; an increase on the previous year when 147 died - the lowest on record.

Judith Hackitt, Chair of the HSE said, "The increase in the number of deaths is disappointing, after an all-time low last year. However, we must remember that we still have one of the lowest rates of fatal injury anywhere in Europe. The fact that 171 people failed to come home from work to their loved ones last year reminds us all of what we are here to do. It is a stark reminder of the need to ensure that health and safety remains focused on the real risks which exist in workplaces, not on trivia and pointless paperwork."

She continued, "We all have a role to play - employers, employees and regulators - and leadership is fundamental to maintaining and improving our performance even further. In a world of work which is constantly changing we must all continue to review what we do and how we do it and strive to become even more effective at managing risks which cost lives."

The published figures also show the rate of fatal injuries in various key industrial sectors:

• 50 fatalities to construction workers, an increase from 41 in 2009/10;
• 34 fatalities to agricultural workers, a fall from 39;
• nine fatalities to waste and recycling workers, a sharp increase from the three recorded deaths last year.

The World's oceans are in a greater decline than once thought according to a report of an expert panel of scientists brought together by the International Programme on the State of the Ocean (IPSO). They claim ocean life is "at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history".

Alex Rogers, IPSO's scientific director, stated that "almost right across the board we're seeing changes that are happening faster than we'd thought, or in ways that we didn't expect to see for hundreds of years."

The report has recognised that pollution, over-fishing and climate change are acting together in ways that have never before been recognised. The amount of carbon dioxide that is being absorbed into the World's oceans is so high that the IPSO recommends urgent research takes place to find more efficient ways of removing the gas from the air and bring carbon dioxide levels down to zero within 20 years.

The Earth has seen five mass extinctions in its history, and the IPSO explain that low levels of oxygen, the warming of the oceans and acidification are synonymous with such incidents, and the evidence suggests that these three factors are rising again. If the decline of the oceans is not stopped, we could see a mass extinction of ocean life, including the coral reefs.

The IPSO warns that the knock-on effects of this may not only seriously harm ocean life, but could impact on humans in the near and distant future. They recommend that pollutants such as plastics and fertilisers, which can cause a lack of oxygen in the oceans, are reduced and that greenhouse gas emissions are sharply reduced.

Current legislation, such as the Climate Change Act 2008, make the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions a compulsory requirement. Such a requirement, alongside the prevention of over-fishing and reduction of pollution, is now clearly vitally important if the decline of the oceans is to be slowed down and stopped.

As Dan Laffoley, the author of the report, stated, "The time to protect the blue heart of our planet is now".

For more information see:

• Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009.

A crime boss who ran an illegal waste site has been jailed for four years, within a day of being released from prison for firearm offences.

Hugh O'Donnell laundered millions of pounds in profit by heading a business that dumped waste at a site near Reading between 2006 and 2008. The Environment Agency said it was the biggest court case it had ever brought, and described how O'Donnell took skips and lorry loads of construction and demolition waste into the Aldermaston site to be dumped in an illegal landfill.

During a raid by the Agency and Thames Valley Police on the illegal waste site in 2008, an unlicensed handgun, ammunition, stolen vehicles and more than £50,000 were seized. O'Donnell received a four and a half year prison sentence for possession of the firearm in 2009. He was released from prison on Thursday 23 June 2011 and was given his latest sentence for money laundering and waste offences the next day.

The Agency used advanced forensic techniques, including DNA, handwriting analysis, fingerprinting and mobile phone and laptop interrogation, to track the illegal business. O'Donnell, along with Peter Lavelle and Robert Evans admitted acquiring, using and possessing criminal property and depositing, controlled hazardous waste without a licence.

Sentencing the three men, Judge Edmonds, QC said, "This is deliberate and calculated offending on an industrial scale for profit. You carried on in spite of efforts to stop you and with the clear intention of making as much criminal profit out of the offences as you could before you were stopped." Environment Agency solicitor, Angus Innes, described their investigation as one the biggest and most complex ever undertaken. "This is a clear deterrent for others, and there are many of them, in the illegal waste industry that their activity will be closed down, their profits will be taken and they'll end up in jail if they don't stop."

For more information see:

• Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2005/894;
• Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations SI 2010/675.

Tate and Lyle Industries Ltd has been fined £270,000, with costs of £90,000, after the death of a contractor working on one of its ships. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the company, who pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

The contractor died while unloading raw sugar from a ship at the company's sugar refinery at Factory Road, Silvertown, Newham in March 2004. The worker was inside a bulldozer that fell from a crane as it was being lowered into the hold of a ship. The lifting lug, connecting the lifting chain to the crane, snapped and dropped the bulldozer.

HSE's investigation identified a series of failures in Tate and Lyle's management of its operations at the dock. These included a failure to:

• provide and manage proper means of access to the ships being unloaded;
• manage and control staff and contractors.

HSE Inspector John Crookes said, "In failing to identify and address these inadequacies before they led to the death of a worker, Tate and Lyle's performance fell well below what could be reasonably expected of them. Above all, however, this is a human tragedy. This terrible accident should never have been allowed to happen."

A County Antrim engineering firm has been fined £90,000 after the death of an employee.

FG Wilson pleaded guilty at Antrim Crown Court to two breaches of health and safety legislation, in a case brought by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSE NI).

The employee was involved in a maintenance operation on a crane when the accident happened. A colleague at ground level was controlling the crane and the worker was crushed in an 11cm gap between the top of the crane and a roof beam.

An HSE NI investigation revealed that FG Wilson (Engineering) Ltd had not sufficiently assessed the risks involved in the activity. The investigation found that the company did not have an adequate safe system of work and failed to supervise the activities of employees.

Louis Burns, head of HSE NI's major investigation team said, "The risks in this situation would have been easily identified by even the most basic risk assessment. Maintenance operations by their nature can be dangerous and companies need to properly identify and address hazards within the workplace. Employees need to have proper training and supervision. Some very simple precautions would have prevented this tragedy."

An FG Wilson spokesman said, "As a company, we are strongly committed to the highest levels of workplace safety. We are therefore determined that the findings of the HSE NI's investigation and our own internal investigations, and the further investment that we have made as a result, ensure that such a tragic incident never happens again."