Sunday, June 1, 2003

News in brief

Observations

New mum receives P45 with Congratulations Card

Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt has ordered an enquiry after a new mother was sent a letter of dismissal and her P45 together with a congratulations card from her employer. Carol Bonehill was awarded nearly £9,000 compensation for sexual discrimination and unfair dismissal after taking her case to an industrial tribunal.

above: A congratulations card from a new mother’s employer was sent with a letter of dismissal and her P45.

FT measures the cost of Sickness Absence

Latest reports on the Financial Times press indicate that the British nation is suffering from an overwhelming number of sick days in the workplace. This level of absenteeism is costing the UK economy £11.6bn, according to CBI research. Some startling figures on the level of absenteeism in the UK are:

6.8 days were lost last year per employee.
Average cost per employee is £476.
Up to 30% could not be due to illness (according to the employers surveyed by CBI).
Small business have only 4.9 days lost in comparison to 9.3 in larger companies.
Public sector is on the top of the league with 8.9 days lost per employee.

Guidance on Preventing Cleaning Staff Strain Injuries

Photo of Teach Yourself Training Your Brain cover Using mops with short handles and emptying buckets into high-level sinks are just some of the working practices which cause backaches and strains to cleaners, the HSE has warned.

The HSE’s new guide - ‘Caring for Cleaners. Guidance and Case Studies on How to Prevent Musculoskeletal Disorders’ - outlines the basic steps to recognise if a problem exists and to comply with current legal duties that all employers, cleaning contractors and suppliers of cleaning equipment should take to help avoid MSD problems.

Copies of the guide (HSG234, ISBN 0-7176-2682-2, price £9.50) are available from HSE Books, tel. 01787 881165.
More

Five years on… No Corporate Killing Legislation. Will the Government Act?

Five years ago, the Rt. Hon. Jack Straw MP, then Home Minister, promised to reform the law of manslaughter and enact a new offence of Corporate Killing. Since then, there have been over 2000 work-related deaths and the Southall, Paddington and Potters Bar Rail Crashes. Only three companies have ever been convicted of manslaughter — all them of them very small.

Government has finally announced its intention to introduce a draft bill to reform the law of Corporate Manslaughter. For a number of years, there has been a general perception that existing criminal laws are inadequate. This is because criminal law is designed to prosecute individuals who have the necessary intention to commit criminal acts not legal corporations which do not physically exist. In May 2000, following a Law Commission review on the current law of involuntary manslaughter, the Home Office published a consultation document setting out proposed reforms. Although it is unclear if the Government proposes to implement any of these reforms, it is thought that the draft bill will be based on these proposals. The consultation document proposed three new potential offences that are relevant to individuals. These are:-

Reckless killing;
Killing by gross carelessness;
Killing where the intention is to cause only minor injury. Additionally, the prosecution would be required to show that:

the accused conduct falls far below what can reasonably be expected in the circumstances; or
the accused intends by his conduct to cause some injury or is aware and unreasonably takes the risk that it may do so, and the conduct causing (or intended to cause) injury constitutes an offence.This offence would carry a penalty of up to ten years imprisonment.

Summary

So far, the press releases merely state that the legislation will be targeted at companies themselves. This hints that the reforms will only address the issue of corporate killing, but it may go further to include a reform of involuntary manslaughter laws, which may make it easier to prosecute directors. The Government has announced that the timetable for the legislation will be finalised and published in the autumn. If the Government’s intention is to merely add the offence of corporate killing to the statute books, it is debatable whether a full scale review of criminal law was necessary to achieve this. Arguably,it could have been achieved merely by amending the Health and Safety at Work Act and widening the Courts sentencing powers. The Centre for Corporate Accountability is an independent non-profit advice, research and lobbying group at the forefront of seeking to ensure that health and safety law is properly enforced and that deaths and injuries resulting from corporate activities are subject to adequate criminal investigations, and, where appropriate, prosecution and effective sanctions.
More

How Do You Deal with Workplace Smoking? New policy launched.

Photo of cigarette How to deal with smoking at work has been one of the most talked-about workplace topics over the past couple of years. Passive smoking at work is becoming a major issue in the workplace, with research showing that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke can increase the risk of hear disease by up to 30 per cent.

The debate has just been re-ignited,with high-profile media coverage of a BMA report calling for a ban on smoking in all public places. The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 requires employers to ensure a healthy, clean and safe working environment for their employees. Employees are often increasingly concerned about the risk associated with passive smoking, with study after study showing the dangers of second-hand smoke.

Many employers, however, do not even have a policy on the issue of smoking at work. While there is not yet a Code of Practice for employers to work with, there is guidance available:

Guidance on implementing a policy on smoking in the workplace has been published by the Workplacelaw Network.

The Smoking at Work Policy and Management Guide version 1.0 (ISBN 1-900648-652, £34.99) contains a model policy document, which employers can customise for their own needs, and a comprehensive management guide to help them develop and police their own smoking at work policy. Top London law firm Orchard solicitors compiled the document and guidance to help employers show their commitment to employees’ welfare and comply with their duty under UK health and safety legislation.

For more information, contact Sam Colella on 0870 777 8881.
More

HSE in Trouble

The Government’s decision to cut the HSE’s budget has been condemned by the Prospect union, which represents safety inspectors. The Union warned that initial optimism when the Government launched its ‘Revitalising Health and Safety’ initiative had now evaporated, and that the 2004 targets for reducing work-related accidents and ill health will not be met.
More

Crushed to death by a lift

A student has recently died in hospital after being crushed by a lift in his accommodation block at the University of Reading. According to reports, Andrew Tucker became trapped in the lift mechanism when he tried to leave the lift and it started to move unexpectedly. The police and the HSE are investigating the incident.

If you are concerned about any risks associated with lifts, copies of ‘A Thorough Examination and Testing of Lifts: Simple Guidance for Lift Owners’, (INDG339) are available free from HSE Books, tel. 01787 881165. Alternatively, contact the Lift and Escalator Industry Association, tel. 020 7935 3013.

Small businesses are expected to promotebest environmental practice too.

The British Standards Institute (BSI) has published a new British Standard (BS 8555: 2003) to promote best environmental practice for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs).

The new standard is published in association with Project Acorn, a UK based nation-wide project to help SMEs to grow and develop their own environmental performance controls.

Until now the drive to make business more environmentally friendly and to develop environmental management systems has concentrated on multinationals and large companies.

This is the first time that the challenges for SMEs to manage their impact on the environment have been specifically addressed. There are over 3.7 million SMEs in the UK, and small firms (which employ fewer than 10 people) make up over 90% of all firms in the country contributing around 40% to the UK’s Gross National Product (GNP).

A website is available where you can read about the new standard and find out more on Project Acorn and how to implement environmental performance control in your organisation.
More

Organisations get Tough on E-mail and Internet Abuse

A recent survey shows that a large number of organisations have dismissed staff for e-mail and internet abuse. The survey results will be publicised at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) Human Resource Software Show 25-26 June 2003. A copy of the survey will be available from the 25 June 2003. Call the CIPD on 020 8263 3355 for further details or download the survey.

Security: staff reveal passwords for a free pen

In a survey of commuters at Waterloo Station, 90% gave away their office computer system passwords in exchange for a pen. Comparing the findings to the results of a similar survey last year suggests that employees are less security conscious than ever.

The survey was carried out by the organisers of Infosecurity Europe 2003, an exhibition at London’s Olympia from 29 April to 1 May 2003.

In last year’s survey, only 65% of workers interviewed at the station revealed their passwords (although it appeared to lack the incentive of a free pen).

Workers were asked a series of questions which included ‘what is your password?’, to which 75% immediately gave their password. If they initially refused they were asked which category their password fell into — and then asked a further question to find out the password. A further 15% then revealed their passwords.

One interviewee said,“I am the CEO. I will not give you my password — it could compromise my company’s information”. He later said that his password was his daughter’s name.

“What is your daughter’s name?” asked the interviewer; and the interviewee replied without thinking,“Tasmin”.

This technique for finding out passwords is known as social engineering. It is often used by hackers to gain access to systems, often pretending to be calling from the IT department and requesting a user’s log-in and password to “resolve a network problem”.

Of the 152 office workers surveyed many explained the origin of their passwords, such as “my name - Cynthia”,“my football team - Arsenal”,“my car - celica”,“my pet’s name - Dibbles”,“my date of birth”. The most common password was “password” (12%) and the most popular category was their own name (16%) followed by their football team (11%) and date of birth (8%).

The survey also found that the majority of workers would take confidential information with them when they change jobs and would not keep salary details confidential if they came across them.

Around 80% of workers would download contacts or competitive information to take with them to their next job, which shows they think it valuable enough to risk stealing it and 55% admitted that they would download company information if asked to by a friend.