Memorial Day

As part of its contribution to worker's campaign each 28 April, designated Memorial Day: remember the dead, fight for the living, OHSEI will post ideas and links to assist its readers to develop activities to mark this important day.
Some of the ideas being discussed by UK trade unions include:

•  campaigning for more and stricter enforcement;
•  higher penalties for health and safety breaches;
•  more inspectors;
•  a new law of corporate killing to make it easier to prosecute negligent employers;
•  new legal health and safety duties on company directors;
•  more rights and powers for safety reps. 

Deadly business

If you kill, maim or hurt someone, you can expect to go to jail. Except if you employ that someone. Unions worldwide say employers shouldn't be allowed to get away with this workplace assault - and have the workplace safety criminals in their sights (See Hazards Magazine no 80 (www.hazards.org/haz80/index.htm) for more.

Also see the TUC website for information about the range of activities carried out in 2002 (www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/tuc-5355-f0.cfm). 

The following checklist of actions for a campaign may be usefully adapted to your country and trade union movement.

•  organise events locally;
• write to Members of Parliament, to the Ministers with occupational health and safety responsibility;
• collect names of members who have been killed at work or from occupational diseases and contact their families to see if they would be prepared to talk to the press and pass this on to the relevant trade union regional centre/branches;
• signpost members to other sources of information and ideas for action, eg the Hazards 80 centrefold with poster, addresses and ideas (http://www.hazards.org/deadlybusiness/deadlybusinessposter.pdf); the TUC, Hazards and Centre for Corporate Accountability (www.corporateaccountability.org/) websites.

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