Archive

Keith Nuthall
THE INTERNATIONAL Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has released a global catalogue of ideal safety signs for accident prevention, fire protection and emergency evacuation, because of concerns that worldwide, confusion sparked by existing signs causes death and injuries. Its move follows the release in the UK of a survey by leading health and safety equipment supplier Seton, that 87 per cent of British office-based professionals cannot identify electrical warning signs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE TRADES Union Congress (TUC) has called on the British government to spend more on the Heath and Safety Executive and local government workplace inspectors, following the release of a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat showing Britain suffering increasing rates of serious work accidents.…

Keith Nuthall
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) directive setting technical limits on the exposure of workers to electromagnetism has finally been approved by the EU Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, following years of debates. The legislation implements recommendations from the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection, and gives employers the responsibility to assess exposure limits and that maximum levels are not exceeded.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Health Organisation is to be named as the coordinator of a global plan to cut road deaths from their current level 1.2 million. The United Nations general assembly is discussing how it can work with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank and relevant national ministries to reduce the number of such tragedies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has reduced the proposed minimum level of cover written into the EU’s draft motor insurance directive to Euro one million per person injured, a move welcomed by the Comité Européen des Assurances (CEA).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
RELIABLE statistics are of course vital to any insurance company’s assessment of risk, and nationally produced figures in countries such as Britain and the USA can usually be counted upon in actuarial calculations. But what about comparing countries when managing international policy portfolios?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NOBODY likes to be on a blacklist, especially one written by the American government. But every year, the US state department issues a comprehensive rogues gallery of countries involved in the narcotics trade and related criminal problems. One surprising entrant: the United States.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HIGH-PROFILE European Commission whistleblower Paul van Buitenen will reveal a litany of European Union (EU) scandals and corruption cases when he releases his programme this month for the oncoming European elections. Exploiting rules that allow European Commission officials to stand for the parliament and make detailed election statements, van Buitenen is publishing a book ‘In the Trenches of Brussels’ on April 28, which will officially be his election manifesto.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
PERSONNEL managers may well consider the European Court of Justice (ECJ) a somewhat austere body, constantly engaged in arcane institutional and corporate matters. Think again. It can well be argued that the ECJ has had a more direct impact on the lives and work of the European Union’s 380 million citizens, including of course those in Britain, than any other single organisation.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
TREATING low-wage workers well provides substantial benefits to companies according to a recent American corporate study. Conducted for Corporate Voices for Working Families, it highlighted 15 company programmes ranging from subsidised child care at Bank of America to short term employee loans at Levi Strauss & Co.…