EP wants new carcinogen law, ignores nanos

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT HAS CALLED FOR NEW laws on substances used at work that cause cancer but could not muster a majority to include crystalline silicates or products made by nanotechnology. In a debate on the future health and safety strategy of the EU MEPs praised the adoption of a target to reduce workplace accidents by 25% by 2012 but also wanted to tackle the far bigger problem of occupational disease.  ‘The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work estimates that every year over 140,000 people in the EU die from occupational diseases and nearly 9,000 die from work related accidents’ said Glenis Willmott a British Labour MEP. Targets were needed for both, thought MEPs, as well as a directive on musculoskeletal disorders. ‘Lower back disorders affect between 60 and 90 per cent of people at some point in their lives’ argued Ms Willmott.  The Parliament also recommended an amendment to the directive on biological agents at work to include blood-borne diseases to especially protect health workers who are routinely exposed to more than twenty life-threatening viruses. However a vote calling on the European Commission to revise the carcinogen laws was weakened by an alliance of the Conservative and Liberal groups which exempted crystalline silica and nano-technology from the revision. Three million workers are regularly exposed to the former while Green groups recently found 104 food products on sale that included material which had been changed at the nano-level (the size of atoms amd molecules). Said Ms. Willmott: ‘This is a missed opportunity. Everyone has the right to working conditions that respect his or her health and safety. It is a basic right that was included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights signed by this assembly just a month ago’.
The Parliament also agreed that the new strategy should pay particular attention to certain groups such as the disabled and migrant, young and older workers. Temporary agency workers who record especially high rates of accidents also received special attention.

GMB gives EU insight into UK van crime
76% OF ATTACKS AGAINST STAFF involved in transporting cash and valuables occur in the UK. That was the disturbing statistic presented to an EU conference in Brussels by the British trade union GMB. In a joint presentation with employers’ group the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) National Secretary Gary Smith explained initiatives such as the GMB Charter for Security Workers, the compensation fund started at the G4S company and the involvement of the Home Office and the police in reducing by 28% the number of violent attacks against security workers.		‘There is a long way to go and … the current level of attacks in the UK is unacceptable and out of kilter with the rest of the EU. GMB has members whose lives have been destroyed by their experiences of violent crime while doing their security jobs’ he added. In asking the EU commission for help, GMB and the BSIA praised the passing of last year’s Framework Agreement on Harassment and Violence at Work by the social partners but called for specific measures to address third party violence which it did not explicitly cover.
	A G4S security van; a new compensation  fund is due to start at the company

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