Felix Issue 1045, 1996
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Wednesday 18th December, 1996 issue 1073 http://www.su.ic.ac.uk/Felix est. 1949 FStudenELIt Newspaper of ImperialCpllegX e 2xX(nXVJ'<XXX\ «'•••;..!t '..',;,') ••".'•Tti ! pus. s ffocd. looidag ?r- ||| SigsStMsft sptii« d waits.' Max. O »•<•?• xxves'd- I Weekend with loads - , -''L -/.u-; news gates ib.x. MrpedalMa'e and bit t>rcwe^>. !<••;_ 10. New BMS accident causes injury JACKIE SKEATE height. This accident led to a high- In the latest in a string of accidents on level health and safety investigation, the Biomedical Sciences building which may eventually result in J ii site, a worker has been seriously changes in design of these types of injured when the main gates to the crane. On another occasion, due to a compound struck him on the jaw. breakdown in communications, a The incident, which occurred on crane put several tonnes of steel rein- Friday 6th, has prompted a change of forcing rods through a window in the procedure on the site. Chemistry building. Four people The man, a concrete mixer truck were in the room at the time. driver who was unloading at the rear Miraculously, no-one was injured. of the vehicle, was hit by the gate Following these incidents, Schal, after a piece of wooden form-work the main contractor, has established a fell from its position at nudged the permanent Quality Manager on site. gate. The piece of form-work (timber A Safety Manager was also appoint- 'A' frames used to set concrete) was ed. In response to the question of in turn dislodged when a crane lifting whether further incidents were still another frame knocked it. possible, Ian Caldwell, Director of An air ambulance and convention- Estates, confidently stated "We al emergency services were called to believe that what is in place should the scene to attend to the injured prevent other problems." man. After treatment on site for his As a direct result of this accident jaw, which was described as changes have been made to safety "smashed", he was taken to hospital. procedures on site. Form-work that is This is the fourth incident this year stacked up in storage will be securely involving one of the cranes on the tied to the A-frame, so it cannot fall. BMS site. Over the summer the larg- Progress on the construction, some of er crane, 61 metres tall and stabilised which is ahead of schedule, should by concrete weighing 100 tonnes, not be hindered by the new rule. turned the wrong way and crashed The injured man state was into the Chemistry building. A sec- described as "stable and recovering" Emergency services in action at the scene of Friday's acci- ond incident involved a large block by College officials, but "would be dent. A worker was seriously injured when the main gate of concrete falling from a substantial drinking soup for a while." struck his jaw. Postgraduate loans scheme introduced MATHIEU RICHARD agreement is to "encourage postgrad- Research Council studentships and alised postgraduate study. A new postgraduate loan plan is uate study" by offering the students the rare Government's Career Nevertheless, this optimistic view presently being discussed in the form preferential terms for bank loans. Development Loans by complement- was not shared by everyone. The stu- of a collaborative project between Midland Bank will offer loans of up ing public funding for postgraduates. dents themselves, through the voice Midland Bank and a group of 11 to £10,000 for fees and maintenance The latter was severely criticised by of their representing body, the British universities, potentially costs (or £5,000 for one-year cours- Essex Vice-Chancellor Ivor Crewe National Postgraduate Committee, involving the 30,000 postgraduate es) at a rate only 2 percent over their as "inadequate to meet the [present] expressed their doubts as to the real students of York, Durham, Bath, base rate, and repayable for up to research needs of this country... and purpose of this plan and its concrete Essex, Sussex, Exeter, Reading, East seven years after the end of the the future staffing needs of our uni- consequences. Anglia, Surrey and Birbeck College course. versities." Therefore, Mr Crewe wel- Effectively, Midland Bank's prof- in London. This plan will add, to and supplant comed the agreement as "a very pos- itable "marketing exercise", as corn- The official aim of this new type of in many cases, the quasi-nonexistent itive move" towards more gener- continued on page four 2 NEWS FELIX WEDNESDAY 18TH DECEMBER General Election to be held over Easter holidays NEWSTEAM they only secured their tiny majori- vote will be most useful. Their recently surrounded the local Tory Tory MPs from more than a dozen ties in 1992 because the election was leader, Ruth Potter, said "If the party with the deselection of Sir marginal constituencies are believed held on April 9th. On the other hand, Tories go for April, they will have an Nicholas Scott, this remains one of to be swaying John Major's decision some Conservative MPs lost their advantage because students tend to the safest Conservative seats in the over the date of the next General seats in 1992 when students made a vote Labour. But we are working country. Election. These MPs are in con- group decision to vote by post in hard in our campaign." One Tory in Although the effects of students all stituencies which contain a relatively areas such as Bath, York, and a marginal seat commented "It is a voting from home are hard to predict, high percentage of students. They Cambridge. bit of a dated concept that all stu- it seems clear that the election date fear that most students will vote A senior Tory spokesman made dents are left-wing". could prove crucial to the outcome of Labour in the next election, so they the position clear. "If we manage to Unsurprisingly, Kensington and the 1997 General Election. If you feel that it is in the best interests of have not just polling day but also Chelsea is not one of those con- still haven't registered to vote, fill them and their party if the election is most of the campaign during the hol- stituencies said to be at risk from the out one of those "Rock the Vote" held during the Easter vacation, idays, we have increased our chances hotbed of left-wing extremism that is forms or go to http://www.rock- when most students have gone home of holding those seats." With the IC. Despite the turmoil that has thevote.org.uk/mark.htm for the holidays. Many party strate- government majority at the last elec- gists see April 10th as the most like- tion a mere twenty-two, then clearly ly date, and the Prime Minister him- these dozen constituencies were cru- self has said that the Government cial to determining the government may be forced to go to the polls of the country over the last four News in Brief before the pencilled-in date of May years. 1st. Labour strategists are believed to AUT CONDEMN PAY CONSCIOUS COMPUTER The majorities of Tory MPs in be mobilising in preparation for an OFFER A research group headed by seats such as Luton, Coventry, April election, and are campaigning The Association of University Professor Igor Aleksander yesterday Portsmouth, Oxford and Exeter are to persuade students to register to Teachers has condemned the 5% unveiled a new type of computer only a few hundred, and with over vote. Furthermore, a group of more over two years increase in pay they capable of learning and making an ten thousand students in their con- than 6000 Labour students are run- were offered, dismissing it as "total- informed decision given a choice. stituencies they believe that the date ning a campaign to show members ly inadequate." David Triesman, The computer, known as Magnus, of the election could substantially how to use postal votes, so that General Secretary of the AUT, said has been described as the "first con- influence their chances of re-elec- whenever the election is called they "All HE unions were united in reject- scious machine" and is the product tion. Some are already aware that can vote wherever they feel their ing this...Taken as a package this of over six years work. It is even the- offer is actually worse than the last. oretically possible that Magnus Members will be very angry indeed." could one day be taught to walk and This means that the dispute will talk. probably become more disruptive, ARE YOU EASILY with the threat of further strike TOXIC PAINT action. The AUT have expressed A more accurate method for testing pleasure that the employers are for toxic metals in paint has been showing willingness to discuss the developed by Imperial College's matter, but, as Mr Triesman points Centre for Analytical Research in out, "Real negotiations are needed Environment in Berkshire. The new urgently." technique, known as neutron activa- tion analysis, or NAA, will be able to WILSON HOUSE provide a reference against which After months of negotiations paint toxicity can be calculated. between College and St Mary's This technique could have appli- Student Union, College has finally cations in the toy manufacturing agreed to fund part of the cost of industry, where toxicity levels in refurbishing the bar in the paint have to be regulated. Because Recreational Centre at Wilson NAA is highly accurate, the EU are House. The work is expected to be demanding that this system should completed by the start of next term. be used to set the standard.