Trades Union Congress: Health and Safety - Risk 153Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 9,100 subscribers and 1,500 on the TUC website.
Risks is the TUC’s weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 9,100 subscribers and 1,500 on the TUC website.
Workers’ Memorial Day Worldwide Thousands of unions and millions of workers in over 100 countries will be marking Workers’ Memorial Day, 28 April, with events, protests and conferences. To find out about what is going on from Argentina to Australia and from Palestine to Peru, see the Hazards Workers’ Memorial Day global reports. International Workers Memorial Day, 28 April 2004
Thousands of unions and millions of workers in over 100 countries will be marking Workers’ Memorial Day, 28 April, with events, protests and conferences. To find out about what is going on from Argentina to Australia and from Palestine to Peru, see the Hazards Workers’ Memorial Day global reports.
NHS trusts putting pregnant doctors at risk Some NHS trusts are exploiting pregnant junior doctors at the expense of health and safety, according to an article in BMJ Careers. The 24 April edition reveals how some pregnant doctors are expected to work excessive hours and are often exposed to violent or aggressive patients. It also says there are major discrepancies in the way trusts apply guidelines to protect the rights of pregnant women in the workplace. With more women entering the medical profession, pregnant doctors will become more common, says the author, Joanna Smith. Guidelines that address the health and safety of pregnant workers are being inconsistently applied across the health professions, she says, concluding information needs to be distributed better, and trusts must prepare alternative work arrangements to accommodate the health and safety needs of their staff. 'Pregnancy is a foreseeable event and lasts for a set time,' she says. 'We should all ask ourselves, ‘Would we want the health and safety of our wife, sister, or daughter, and her unborn child, compromised?’ Unlikely.' Pregnant doctors: health and safety risks in the real world. BMJ Careers, vol. 328, issue 7446, pages 168-169, 24 April 2004 [pdf].
Some NHS trusts are exploiting pregnant junior doctors at the expense of health and safety, according to an article in BMJ Careers. The 24 April edition reveals how some pregnant doctors are expected to work excessive hours and are often exposed to violent or aggressive patients. It also says there are major discrepancies in the way trusts apply guidelines to protect the rights of pregnant women in the workplace. With more women entering the medical profession, pregnant doctors will become more common, says the author, Joanna Smith. Guidelines that address the health and safety of pregnant workers are being inconsistently applied across the health professions, she says, concluding information needs to be distributed better, and trusts must prepare alternative work arrangements to accommodate the health and safety needs of their staff. 'Pregnancy is a foreseeable event and lasts for a set time,' she says. 'We should all ask ourselves, ‘Would we want the health and safety of our wife, sister, or daughter, and her unborn child, compromised?’ Unlikely.'
Pregnant doctors: health and safety risks in the real world. BMJ Careers, vol. 328, issue 7446, pages 168-169, 24 April 2004 [pdf].
Warning over fake health and safety agencies The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urged firms to ignore information they receive from three firms purporting to regulate health and safety. HSE says it has received hundreds of complaints from companies across the country that have been sent requests for payments of between £125 and £249 which they say are necessary to ensure compliance with health and safety laws. The three firms - Health and Safety Compliance Agency (HSCA), Health and Safety Enforcement Agency (HSEA) and Health and Safety Registration Enforcement Division (HSRED) - have written to companies all over Great Britain on official-looking letterhead asking for the cash. Justin McCracken, HSE’s deputy directory general, said: 'None of these companies is connected to HSE. Organisations should be very wary of any approach from these firms, or any company ‘offering’ similar services. All three firms use wording suggesting they are official enforcement bodies, but they are not.' He added: 'These companies are asking for significant sums of money, claiming they will send out information, much of which HSE provides free of charge.' HSE is liaising with trading standards offices and the police, who are investigating all three companies.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urged firms to ignore information they receive from three firms purporting to regulate health and safety. HSE says it has received hundreds of complaints from companies across the country that have been sent requests for payments of between £125 and £249 which they say are necessary to ensure compliance with health and safety laws. The three firms - Health and Safety Compliance Agency (HSCA), Health and Safety Enforcement Agency (HSEA) and Health and Safety Registration Enforcement Division (HSRED) - have written to companies all over Great Britain on official-looking letterhead asking for the cash. Justin McCracken, HSE’s deputy directory general, said: 'None of these companies is connected to HSE. Organisations should be very wary of any approach from these firms, or any company ‘offering’ similar services. All three firms use wording suggesting they are official enforcement bodies, but they are not.' He added: 'These companies are asking for significant sums of money, claiming they will send out information, much of which HSE provides free of charge.' HSE is liaising with trading standards offices and the police, who are investigating all three companies.