Lack of safety at ports puts lives at risk, says Unite

http://www.tgwu.org.uk/Templates/News.asp?NodeID=93911

Government ministers got a broadside from a working tugman over their failure to give sufficient priority to health and safety in UK ports and harbours.
Speaking at the 1st Annual UK Ports and Shipping Conference, Richard Crease from Unite, Britain's largest union which represents over 11,000 members on the docks, working in pilotage and towage and the inland waterways, said the union had serious concerns about safety.
"I have worked for 26 years as a tugman at the Port of Southampton. We have been very concerned that the Government intends to continue, for the foreseeable future, broadly its present policies in regard to safety within the ports," he told the conference. "We believe that the Department of Transport's recent Port Policy document does not give sufficient priority to the subjects of the safety, welfare and security of employment of the workforce employed in the ports industry."

Full report here: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/shippingports/ports/portspolicyreview/portspolicyreviewinterimreport