Workers Memorial Day - Remember the dead, but fight for the living

"Remember the dead, but fight for the living" is the rallying cry for International Workers’ Memorial Day (IWMD) today. It commemorates those workers across the world who died as a consequence of their work. There are events planned in Scotland and across the world today.

Over 20,000 people die every year because of their work; most of these because of exposure to dangerous substances. So this year the theme is, ‘removing exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace’. Hazardous substances are found in almost every workplace in the UK and many workers have no protection against the possible effects, despite the fact that tens of thousands of workers have their health destroyed by asthma, dermatitis, lung disorders and cancers due to exposures.

Every year more people are killed at work than in wars. Most don't die of mystery ailments, or in tragic "accidents". They die because an employer decided their safety just wasn't that important a priority.

Most employers understand the importance of safety. However, it is bad employers who have been encouraged by the UK government’s approach. It was David Cameron who made it his new year's resolution in 2012 to "kill off the health and safety culture for good". Safety regulations were "pointless time-wasting" and "an albatross around the neck of British businesses".

This attitude explains why this UK government has slashed funding for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) by over 40% and banned unannounced inspections from entire industries. That has been compounded in Scotland by big cuts to local authority budgets that have seen safety inspections by environmental health officers reduced.

While we have our own problems, we should not forget that this is International Workers Memorial Day. In particular, we should remember the awful incident in April 2013 where almost 1200 workers, most of them young women, lost their lives when the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed in Savar district, Bangladesh.

All clothing companies that source from Bangladesh should make an adequate contribution to the Rana Plaza Fund, administered by the ILO. It is shameful that two years after the Rana Plaza factory collapsed, some companies still have not donated adequately to the compensation fund. Workers and their families urgently need this money to pay medical fees and rebuild their lives after this horrific event. Companies have a moral obligation to put the livelihoods of those who make their clothes in Bangladesh first.

Work-related illness and stress can be caused by toxic hazards or workplace accidents, but also by ever-increasing hours and impossible workloads. Mental health in the workplace is a growing concern, highlighted today by the See Me survey that shows nearly half of Scottish workers say people don’t tell their employers about mental health problems for fear of losing their job. Even more thought it would impact on promotion opportunities.

So, today we will remember those who have lost their lives at work and the families who had every reason to expect their loved ones to come home from work safely. But we must also end the undermining of our carefully developed safety culture and stop expecting workers to be at the beck and call of their employers 24-7 - stretching the physical and mental health of too many workers to breaking point.

UNISON Staff in Glasgow gather for a minute's silence to commemorate IWMD15

UNISON warns of risks from planning and regulation cuts

12 June 2013

 

Severe cuts in council planning departments are leading to potential safety risks for the public, reducing the quality of the service delivered and worsening inequalities, a survey of UNISON members has revealed today.

And the union argues that the essential protections needed to “protect the public from unscrupulous and dangerous practices” - and to ensure that Scotland is a safe place to live and work - will be weakened in the Scottish government’s new Regulation Bill.

Food safety requires independent regulator says meat inspectors union

Thu 23 May 2013

UNISON warned today that the new Scottish version of the Food Standards Agency must have the powers and resources to safeguard the public and stand up to the food industry.

The union representing Scottish meat inspectors stressed that lessons must be learned from the recent horsemeat scandal to protect consumers from contaminated meat and unscrupulous business practices.

Dave Watson, Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, called on the Scottish Government to take the opportunity in establishing the new body to ensure its independence and end the dominance of the food industry in lobbying for lighter regulation.

He criticised some of the policies and changes that had brought this about, including the transfer in 2006 of responsibility for ensuring only clean livestock are slaughtered,  from the state controlled Meat Hygiene Service to the slaughterhouse Food Business Operators.

This and current proposed changes such as introducing visual inspections instead of cutting animals open to check for sickness or diseases are dangerous steps that Scotland can correct.

Dave said: “We want to ensure that robust independent regulation is established and enforced across Scotland.

“Any failures in slaughterhouses force the rest of the food industry to work with unsafe meat products that could potentially result in tragic circumstances.

“The horsemeat scandal showed conclusively that strong regulation of the industry is necessary as, left to their own devices, rogue elements have readily put commercial gain above public safety.”

UNISON’s submission to the Scottish Government consultation on the new food body also warned the Scottish Government against moving environmental health, public health and preventative health services into the new body.

And the union called for proper resourcing for the new body and for local authority environmental health departments which have been hit hard by cuts.

Dave said: “Adequate staffing levels are essential to ensure that key recommendations from previous FSA and Pennington reports, such as the Clean Livestock Policy are delivered. No-one wants to see repeats of the Wishaw E Coli outbreak.

“We believe the general public want strong regulation, putting safety above commercial interests. This is also good for the industry.

“Scottish Meat is a highly regarded brand across the world. The way to keep it that way is to have high quality standards of inspection.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union representing 160,000 members working in the public sector in Scotland, including meat inspectors working for the Food Standards Agency and environmental health officers in local authorities.

2. Our consultation response “Healthier Scotland: A Consultation on Creating a new Food Body” is online at www.unison-scotland.org.uk/response/AHealthierScotland_CreatingaNewFoodBody_SubmissiontoScottishGovernment_May2013.pdf

3. Our Briefing ‘Cuts in Food safety and Environmental Health’ is online at www.unison-scotland.org.uk/briefings/b031_BargainingBrief_
CutsinFoodSafety+EnvironmentalHealth_Feb2013.pdf

Food safety: More robust inspection needed

#stuc13 UNISON's Ewing Hope highlighted the recent horse meat scandals caused by cuts to the Food Standards Agency, as Congress backed UNISON’s call for the FSA to be properly resourced to maintain quality in the food chain. Full story at http://www.unison-scotland.org.uk/stuc2013/22.html 

Major cuts in food safety and environmental health are putting the public at risk

Tue 26 Feb 2013

UNISON Scotland warned today that new figures and staff surveys show cuts to local council environmental health departments and to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) are putting public health at risk.

Council responses to Freedom of Information requests and the results of two surveys of UNISON members confirm the union’s warnings about the impact of cuts on food safety, public health and health and safety.

One member working on food safety in an environmental health department said: “We have not submitted any samples for food in ten months!”

The total number of qualified Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) employed by 30 of Scotland’s 32 councils*, has gone down by 13% between 2008/9 (519) and 20011/12 (450). There has been an even bigger drop in other staff carrying out an enforcement role in environmental health departments. (507 down to 423 in the same period. 17% **)

UNISON, which also represents meat inspectors, revealed last week that the number of inspectors has more than halved in Scotland since 2003, down from 170 to 75 – a shocking statistic in the light of the current horsemeat scandal.

In a new survey of environmental health staff and meat inspectors, 56% said that their team has seen “major” cuts, with a further 10% describing cuts as “severe”, and more than 95% expecting further cutbacks and job losses in the next couple of years.

One commented: “A further loss of posts and a reduction of the food related sampling budget are expected.” Another said: “There are far too few staff for the amounts of food premises and other additional jobs required to be carried out by EHOs."

Dave Watson, Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, said: “We know from what our members tell us that the headline figure of staff cuts, news that food sampling has gone down, and concerns about the future of the meat inspection service only tell part of a very disturbing story.

“Councils are under immense financial pressures with the worst of the so-called austerity cuts still to come. The impact of cuts so far is not necessarily visible to the public unless something goes wrong, as has happened with the crisis over horsemeat.

“But our members can see departments depleted, with the loss of experienced staff, ‘lighter touch’ regulation, fewer proactive inspections, preventive and educational work, with other essential services, as well as food safety - particularly health and safety - being cut back drastically. It is not scaremongering to say that this is a very worrying picture and many staff are under incredible pressure.

“We don’t believe this level of reduced service and increased risk is what the public wants. Councillors, the Scottish Government and the UK Government have to think again about the potential disaster waiting to happen with further cuts, unless proper funding is put into these vital services. They literally can and do make a life and death difference IF they are resourced properly.”

The responses to the FOI request showed a mixed picture for the number of food safety, public health and health and safety inspections, reflecting some recent changes to inspection regimes, with an emphasis on higher risk premises and often no visits to low risk premises. However, it is hard to compare figures over time or between councils as some include different types of inspections in the totals for each category. Health and safety inspections have fallen by 7% since 2009/10.

Alex Gordon, UNISON vice convener for environmental health and trading standards at Glasgow city council, said: “The cuts have led to a deterioration in the depth of the inspection visits, even if the paper trail shows the number of inspections are being kept up. They are not as thorough inspections as was possible with higher staffing levels. You want officers in food hygiene premises telling them how to avoid a Wishaw butcher scenario, not coming in to investigate after it has happened.”

*Two councils, Dumfries & Galloway and Highland, provided incomplete data.

**This is from the total for 29 councils as Scottish Borders also did not provide this data.

ENDS

Further quotes from our members’ surveys are below:

“The FSA, following on the heels of DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), is heavily biased in favour of industry at the expense of the consumer.”

“Qualified EHOs in my council are now doing ALL their own admin work due to reduction in Admin/Clerical staff. This has reduced ability to do the job by 30-40%.”

“The food safety inspection numbers have fallen mainly due to the implementation of the cross contamination guidance. This means more time being spent with higher risk premises ensuring they reach compliance but no time at all with the lower risk premises."

“This sounds sensible but for a large number of ‘lower risk’ businesses this lack of attention will see them increase in the risk they pose to public health. That is when we will have to pick up the pieces and try and get back to a structured inspection programme.”

“The number of health and safety inspections is extraordinarily lower than it used to be - driven largely by the Government's 'Better regulation' agenda.”

“The almost complete withdrawal from any real health and safety work is leaving the country's workforce wide open to injury and occupational ill health. We all know that that costs a vast sum in terms of lost worker hours to the employer, the health service and the individual.

“Short term financial gains are being made at the expense of significant future cost. We need to view investing in health and safety as a means of investing in the future economy of the country.”

“I have major fears about the changes to health and safety inspections having inspected a lot of businesses in the last 7 years. About 75% of them did not have risk assessments or any awareness of the need to do them. Most knew nothing about accident reporting regulations.”

“We regulate not just food and health and safety but animal welfare, tattooists, air quality, contaminated land, housing disrepair, landlord registration, regulation of houses in multiple occupation, pest control, infectious disease control and public nuisance amongst other things. With reduced staff most time is now spent in focusing on higher risk business activity. That is not to say the rest is low risk! We will be unable to spend time with businesses helping them comply with regulation and so will become more reliant on formal action such as notices or court action. This has been shown not to secure long term change in business behavior – education achieves that.

“I have spent time with parents whose child has been desperately ill with Ecoli poisoning. It is awful and preventable. We can help prevent this and other tragic things happening. But this will become less and less often. A rise in public health related illness and injury will happen. But possibly more gradually than most think. Un-noticed maybe. But it will happen.”

For information please contact:Dave Watson, Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, 07958 122 409
Fiona Montgomery, Communications Officer, 0141 342 2877 or 07508 877 000
Malcolm Burns, Communications Officer, 0141 342 2877 or 07876 566 978

Notes to editors:

1. UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union representing 160,000 members working in the public sector in Scotland.

2. UNISON carried out two separate surveys of environmental health staff, one last summer and another snapshot survey in February 2013.

3. Bargaining Briefing number 31 covering the information reported here is on the website: Briefing 31: Bargaining - Cuts in Food Safety and Environmental Health Feb 2013

4. A report by UNISON ‘The Damage’, covering environmental health services in the whole of the UK was published earlier this month. www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/21256.pdf 

A similar report on trading standards is at www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/21254.pdf

5. Figures from the Food Standards Agency show a fall in food samples taken by councils from more than 16,000 in 2008-09 to 10,200 in 2011-12.

6. Last month Audit Scotland raised concerns about food safety staffing and training levels and a loss of expertise www.unison-scotland.org.uk/news/2013/janfeb/3101.htm

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Reintroduction of meat inspection in meat cutting plants 'a victory for common sense'

12 Feb 2013

UNISON today welcomed the move from the FSA to initiate some unannounced inspections of meat cutting plants in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, but said the FSA must go further, and put in place daily inspections by FSA meat inspectors.

A communication sent to all Food Standards Agency (FSA) staff has revealed that the Agency has commissioned a programme of unannounced visits to stand-alone cutting plants in England, Scotland and Wales. Under the new programme, red meat is to be prioritised before white meat, and premises giving cause for concern will be inspected first.

All horses killed in the UK will now be tested for the veterinary drug ‘BUTE’, and horse carcases will not be released until negative results are received, but UNISON is also calling for carcasses to be tested for the dangerous parasite, ‘Trichinela Spiralis’.

Ben Priestley, UNISON national officer said:

“UNISON is glad that the FSA has seen sense and has listened to our call to reintroduce unannounced inspections in meat cutting plants. Consumer confidence in meat products is once again very low and, while this is a step in the right direction, true consumer protection will not be achieved until daily, unannounced inspections are back in place.

“The lesson we learned about control of the meat industry following the BSE and e-Coli crises was that only strong, independent government inspection could properly protect consumers from industry malpractice.

“This has been forgotten as meat inspection, environmental health and trading standards services have been severely reduced by government cuts and light touch regulation.”

As a direct consequence of the ‘light tough regulation’ policies of both the European Commission and the UK government, the meat inspection workforce managed by the Food Standards agency has shrunk from a high point of 1700 – during the BSE and e-Coli crises in the 1990s – to around 800 today.

The inspection procedures that were effectively enforced following BSE and the Wishaw outbreak of e-Coli have, in the intervening years, been removed or substantially watered down.

In addition to the programme, UNISON is calling on the FSA to:

Reintroduce daily official inspection of all licensed meat cutting plants and cold storage facilities via capacity within the FSA inspection workforce to deliver the necessary enhancement to consumer protection and public health

Ensure that testing of horses killed in the UK for the drug BUTE is an ongoing safeguard for the consumer and is not a time limited measure in the wake of the horsemeat scandal. See that the horsemeat currently unlawfully sold as beef has been tested for the dangerous parasite, ‘Trichinela Spiralis’.

Move away from light touch, risk based enforcement and maintain an inspection system that delivers ongoing consumer and public health protection and does not become a boom and bust system that responds to consumer and public health crisis, the aim being to avoid the crisis Oversee the independent inspection of food manufacturing premises – where government cuts have compromised the ability of local authorities to do so.

See this news release on the UNISON UK website

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RE-INTRODUCE DAILY MEAT CUTTING INSPECTIONS NOW - UNISON

8 Feb 2013

UNISON has today called for the immediate re-introduction of daily independent inspections of meat cutting premises.

With new developments in the meat scandal coming thick and fast, the UK’s largest union said that both the Food Standards Agency and DEFRA had failed in their duty to ensure the safety of the food on people’s plates.

In a move of ‘astonishing insensitivity’, the FSA has this week written to all meat inspectors across the UK to tell them their pay and pensions are to be cut. UNISON called the move ‘poorly timed in the extreme’, as meat inspectors have never been more needed.

Ben Priestley, UNISON national officer said:“The latest developments in the unfolding meat scandal have shone a harsh, but necessary light on the meat processing industry, and it’s time for the question to be asked: how can we stop fraudulent and unlawful practices in the meat industry?

“Consumers have the right to know what is in the food they and their families are eating, and that their food is what it says it is, is safe and free from contamination.

“So far, most of the mislabelled horse meat has been found in ‘budget’ food, targeted at the poorest members of our society. It is a scandal that the safety of people, whose choice is limited by their income, has come second to the private profit.

“We demand the government tells us the full extent of the meat scandal, and until then, one thing is clear - these companies have put profits before the safety of the consumer – and is time for DEFRA and the FSA to act and start putting things right.

“In addition, he attack on food inspectors’ pay, at a time when their work has never been more needed, is poorly timed in the extreme and astonishingly insensitive.”

The meat inspection workforce managed by the Food Standards agency has shrunk from a high point of 1700 – during the BSE and e-Coli crises in the 1990s – to around 800 today.

This has been a direct consequence of the deregulatory policies of both the European Commission and UK Government to hand over more and more meat inspection duties to the meat industry and dispense with proper independent inspection.

In addition to a comprehensive investigation into the contents and quality of processed food, UNISON is calling for the following changes to meat inspection to stop this, the latest in a long line of UK meat scandals, from happening again:

·     The immediate re-introduction of daily, independent inspections of meat cutting premises,
·     The FSA to oversee the independent inspection of food manufacturing premises  –where government cuts have compromised the ability of local trading standards services to do so,
·     The FSA to ensure that all horses killed in the UK for human consumption are tested for the drug “BUTE” and that any horse carcases tested should not be released for human consumption until the test has returned a negative result.

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Union warns on public safety concerns raised in Audit Scotland report

Thursday 31 Jan 2013
UNISON today (Thursday) warned that damaging cuts to trading standards and food safety services in environmental health are putting the public at risk when safety should be paramount.

The public service union welcomed the fact that a new Audit Scotland report highlights the pressures on these essential services and calls for urgent action to strengthen protection for consumers.

Dave Watson, Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, said:
"Our members working in trading standards and food safety, within environmental health departments, tell us about many of the concerns noted in this report.

“For Audit Scotland to find that ‘the long term viability of councils’ trading standards services is under threat’ and to raise concerns about food safety staffing and training levels and loss of expertise demonstrates the seriousness of issues we have raised consistently.

“Members of the public expect to be able to rely on checks being carried out and expect these key services to be properly funded. This is another example of the enormous damage to vital public services caused by government funding cuts at UK, Scottish and local levels.”

The report suggests that COSLA and councils work together to ensure strong national co-ordination for trading standards. UNISON supports co-ordination and collaborative working, but would be sceptical about any suggestion that there should be a national service.

Dave added:
“The recent horse meat in burgers scandal also highlighted the importance of independent meat inspection in abattoirs. There is industry lobbying and EU consideration of relaxing the current standards. UNISON wants to ensure that there is no threat of privatisation and industry self-regulation. We must maintain an independent meat hygiene inspection service as this service is being devolved to Scotland.”

For information please contact:
Dave Watson, Head of Bargaining and Campaigns, 07958 122 409
Fiona Montgomery, Communications Officer, 0141 342 2877 or 07508 877 000
Malcolm Burns, Communications Officer, 0141 342 2877 or 07876 566 978


Note for editors

1.    UNISON is Scotland’s largest trade union representing 160,000 members working mainly in the public sector in Scotland and represents staff in council trading standards and environmental health departments.
2.    UNISON was responding to the Audit Scotland report ‘Protecting Consumers’.

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