NEWSFLASH
COMMISSION PROPOSES BETTER WORKER PROTECTION AGAINST CANCER-
CAUSING CHEMICALS The European Commission has today proposed changes to the Carcinogens and Mutagens Directive (2004/37/EC) to limit exposure to 13 cancer-causing chemicals at the workplace.
Cancer is the first cause of work- related deaths in the EU, accounting for 53% of the total and therefore the single biggest health risk to workers in the European Union.
Speaking about the changes to the directive Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, Marianne Thyssen, said: 'Cancer has an enormous impact on workers, their families, industry
IOSH HIGHLIGHT THE NEED FOR SPORTS EVENT SAFETY FOLLOWING HILLSBOROUGH INQUEST VERDICT
The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health have called upon all organisations to ensure proper planning and assessment of risks around any sporting or public events following the conclusion of the inquests into the Hillsborough disaster.
Sports ground safety professional John Holden, a past chair of the group and former IOSH president, said: “Since Hillsborough, sports ground safety has moved on a long way in terms of the systems that are in place. We’ve seen improvements in crowd control and a host of new all- seater stadia built.
“Nevertheless, ground safety operators need to ensure they carefully document their planning process, have proper written procedures in place and take a careful, thought out response to deal with events or incidents as they arise. They also need to log everything that happens so they have a trail back as to what decisions were made,
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and society. With this proposal we will save 100,000 lives in the next 50 years. Protection of workers is at the core of the Commission's commitment to a strong social Europe."
The Commission will address exposure to 13 cancer-causing chemicals by including new or amended limit values in the directive.
These limit values set a maximum concentration for the presence of a chemical carcinogen in the workplace air.
The proposal is based on scientific evidence and follows broad discussions with scientists, employers, workers, Member States' representatives and labour inspectors.
The modernisation of the European cancer-causing agents directive has been backed by IOSH.
Kate Field, Head of Information and Intelligence at IOSH, said: “We are
why they were taken and what the pressures were at the time.”
The inquests into the Hillsborough disaster concluded that the 96 football fans that died in a crush during a 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough stadium, in Sheffield, had been unlawfully killed.
The jury found match commander, Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield, "responsible for manslaughter by gross negligence" due to a breach of his duty of care, and that police errors caused a dangerous situation at the turnstiles for fans.
The behaviour of Liverpool fans was not to blame for the disaster, the jurors concluded.
Among the other conclusions reached by the jury were defects at the stadium, including calculations over crowd capacity, contributed to the disaster; there was an error in the safety certification of the Hillsborough stadium; and that club officials should have requested a delay in kick-off.
Following the conclusion, John, who is secretary of the Rugby League Ground Safety Officers Association, said: “There has been an improvement in training – ground
pleased by today’s announcement, which is a step in the right direction. Setting occupational exposure limits across Europe can help to prevent cancers and premature deaths and achieve consistent standards.
“However the best way of protecting people is to prevent exposure in the first place. Relying on measures such as respiratory protective equipment alone is not acceptable; we support a greater shift towards designing out the risk to avoid exposure.”
Kate added: “As well as benefits for workers and their families, cutting exposures to cancer-causing agents has many other economic and societal benefits.
“These include reductions in healthcare, rehabilitation and early retirement costs; lost earnings; lost productivity; losing workers; and the need for compensation.”
safety officers are now expected to have a Level 4 NVQ in spectator safety management, for example – and match day safety has become much more professional. We still need, however, to make sure the right standards of safety are being met.
“Ground safety officers are very much reliant on their teams. Stewards need to relay information to them so they can make the right decisions.”
He added: “It doesn’t matter what the sport is, you should start planning beforehand and look for evidence to inform any decisions.
“Whether it is reviewing old safety reports from match days, enquiring about the recent behaviour of the home and away fans or having discussions with the emergency services, it is all important.
“I also carry out pre-match inspections and look for any issues, such as signs of damage or poor housekeeping, which can be changed before the match. A full debrief after the game is also a must.”
The Hillsborough Family Support Group has previously backed a call by the IOSH Sports Grounds and Events Group for tighter crowd controls at music and sports events in the UK.
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