Transcript Making a Difference The Unions Contribution

Making a Difference
The Union’s Contribution
Partnership at Work
Nicki Coughlin
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Do the unions want to work in
partnership?
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Yes!
“The TUC believes that unions, employers
and government should work together to
promote health and safety at work. The
TUC encourages unions, employers and
others to work together on health &
safety, developing joint approaches to
identifying and solving health and safety
problems….developing proactive ways of
working to prevent accidents injuries and
ill health”
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Health and work – the union effect
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A study in 1995 found that those employers who had trade union
health and safety committees had half the injury rate of those
employers who managed safety without unions or joint
arrangements
Another study in 2000 found that “The proportion of employees
who are trade union members has a positive and significant
association on both injury and illness rates.” It went on to say that
“the arrangements associated with trade unions...lower the odds of
injury and illness when compared with arrangements that merely
inform employees of OHS issues”
In 2003 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) ran a number of
pilots where trade union appointed “Worker Safety Advisors” went
in to non-unionised organisations. The report into the pilot showed
that over 75% of employers said they had made changes as a
result and almost 70% of workers had seen an increase in the
awareness of health & safety
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Health and work – the union effect
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In January 2007 the DTI (now BIS) published a report
which concluded that safety reps at 2004 prices save
society between £181m and £578m each year as a
result of lost time reduction from occupational injuries
and work-related illnesses of between 286,000 and
616,000 days
In 2011 there was 150,000 union H&S reps in the UK.
Each year the TUC trains 10,000 H&S reps with more
receiving H&S training direct from their own trade
unions. This is a very knowledgeable resource in the
workplace
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Cases to support the union effect
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In 2006 a joint management union campaign at Devonport Royal
Dockyard aimed at better communications and involvement in safety and
reduced accidents by 35% and increased profits by 8%
In a Somerfield distribution centre in Scotland, the union safety
representatives did a survey of MSK Disorders. This was raised at the joint
safety committee who developed an action plan that led to a 50%
reduction in manual handling injuries over 2 years.
After a critical HSE inspection at Bristol City Council Parking services in
2008 the employers and management developed a plan which included
giving full-time release to one of the safety representatives, reviewing risk
assessments, better training, and new communication equipment. The fall
in sickness absence, reduction in incidents of violence against staff and
increase staff moral are estimated to have saved the employer over
£36,000 in the first year alone.
Within Tesco, union safety representatives raised an issue of the width of
one type of checkout which was causing health problems. This led to the
belt being narrowed. In new stores a totally new type of checkout is used
which was designed with union involvement from scratch and which helps
to greatly reduce injuries and sick absence among checkout staff.
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Health training in the CWU
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Union H&S reps have access to a wide range of residential
training courses to assist them in performing their role. This
includes the following:
Health & Safety Joint Accreditation
Health & Safety Stage 1
Health & Safety Stage 2
Health & Safety Stage 3
Health & Safety – The next steps
Occupational Health & Safety
Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety
Mental Health Awareness
Cancer in the Workplace
Disability Champions at Work
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CWU Health Publications
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Breast Cancer
Awareness
Mental Health in the
Workplace
Cervical Cancer
Awareness
Depression
Prostate Cancer
Help for Smokers
Leading a Healthy
Lifestyle
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Healthsome Work
Environments
Men’s Health
Binge Drinking
Factsheet
Stroke Factsheet
Women’s Health Guide
Dyslexia at Work
Menopause
Stress
RSI
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Health Collaboration in the CWU
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The CWU has nationally agreed systematic policy
statements of action on mental health with Royal Mail and
BT who both recognise that stress is a real issue and that
work-related stress is the root cause of a significant degree
of mental ill health. These policies include:
Commitment to a healthy workforce, placing a high value
on both physical and mental health.
Acknowledging that mental health problems have many
causes, including stresses in the workplace.
Listing factors which may lead to increased stress in the
organisation based on risk assessment.
Recognising that domestic factors (such as housing, family
problems and bereavement) may add to levels of stress
experienced by employees.
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Health Collaboration in the CWU
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Part of the approach is seeking to raise
awareness about the issues and promoting
a positive view of how the problems can
be tackled by highlighting the procedures
and support available and the benefits to
individuals of improved mental wellbeing
including; simply feeling better, improved
relationships, higher levels of achievement
at work, coping better with normal stress,
increased protection against mental
illness, better physical health, satisfactory
quality of life, high morale and good selfesteem.
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Working in Partnership in BT
Work Fit
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Work Fit is BT's vehicle for health promotion. Conceived in
2004 as a joint initiative with the BT unions, the
Communications Workers' Union (CWU) and Connect, it
aims to promote small behavioural changes that, if
sustained, will have a long-term impact on health and
wellbeing
The first campaign, which was launched in September
2005, was concerned with nutrition and exercise as a
means of reducing obesity and associated diseases
Since the first campaign, Work Fit campaigns have been
delivered throughout BT by management and the unions
concerning a variety of health issues, such as Smoking,
Cancer, Diabetes and Heart disease.
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BT Work Fit – Positive Mentality
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BT launched its Positive Mentality health promotion
campaign in October 2006. It was a major programme,
lasting 16 weeks, to tackle problems such as anxiety,
depression and stress in its workforce. BT worked with
unions to create the Work Fit - Positive Mentality campaign
that provided practical guidance to its 108,000 employees
across the globe on how to improve their mental health at
work and at home.
The programme demonstrated how regular exercise,
healthy eating, relaxation techniques and even the support
of friends and family can help to ward off depression, stress
and anxiety. It also aimed to educate staff to help reduce
the stigma of mental illness and promote the range of
support services the company provides.
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BT Positive Mentality
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'Mind how you go/body and mind‘ was a 16 week programme with eight
modules aimed at getting people thinking about their mental health and
explaining what they can do to build positive changes into their life. This
was done in partnership with the BT Unions, Sainsbury mental health group,
MIND and local NHS mental health trusts.
Each fortnight the campaign gave one of the 'positive steps' promoted by
the World Mental Health Day campaign - advice that has been shown to
help with symptoms of distress, as a well as preventing problems occurring
or becoming overwhelming.
There were 8 web based modules over a 16 week programmed period;
each module had a quiz at the end of the fortnight. Those participating in
the quiz, and achieving a level, was entered for a prize draw.
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The campaign was enhanced by 30 road shows in BT work locations
throughout the UK and Ireland, providing advice to workers in the workplace
on mental health & wellbeing issues and access to MIND counsellors.
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In addition senior managers and trade unionists spoke openly about their
own experience with mental health illness via a variety of communication
media available to staff in BT.
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BT Work Fit
The Outcome
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16,500 employees actively engaged with Work Fit 2005
throughout the campaign to look at nutrition and
exercise. Evaluation 6 months later showed 75% of
those who had taken part had maintained lifestyle
improvements.
A year after Work Fit – Positive Mentality was launched
in 2006, BT saw that stress claims had been dramatically
reduced and medical retirement rates for mental illness
was down by 80%. Also, workers who were off long-term
with mental health issues returned to their own job at BT.
Evaluation showed more than 50% of BT people had
been influenced by the programme to make changes in
their lifestyles. Sick absence for mental health related
illness fell by 30%.
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BT Passport Scheme
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Original document designed by CWU H&S rep to
support member in workplace with ongoing mental
health condition in 2003
Original document based on the NHS Care Programme
Approach used to support patients with mental health
illness after leaving hospital
Prior to use of this document the member had incurred
lots of sick absence relating to the management at
work for known mental health condition, periods of
gardening leave, numerous and often unnecessary OHS
appointments due to lack of knowledge of management
on how to support the member– all the member
wanted to do was to go to work and use their skills and
ability for employer in a manner that would not make
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them ill.
BT Passport Scheme
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What is the BT passport?
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The BT Passport is a scheme to document the requirements of employees
who have special needs that can sometimes impact on their working life.
This arrangement has been negotiated by the CWU T&FSE Department.
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Who can have a BT Passport?
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Currently within BT there are the following Passports available:
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BT Disability Passport – available to employees with health conditions
that the employee believes are covered by the DDA (Disability
Discrimination Act)
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BT Health & Well Being Passport – available to employees with
mental health conditions
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BT Carers Passport – available to employees who have specific caring
responsibilities for someone else
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BT Passport Scheme
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What are the benefits of having a BT Passport?
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It is a voluntary scheme that allows employees to ensure
that any special needs that can impact on them in the
workplace, either now or in the future, are documented.
It ensures that any reasonable adjustments that are
required are documented, so that if the line manager or
job role changes in the future, the information is readily
available. It therefore guarantees continuity of any
arrangements that are required for the employee in the
workplace. It allows the employee to explain in their own
words their circumstances, the difficulties they
experience in the workplace and discuss the help they
require in the workplace. Hence, management are made
aware and can support you.
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BT Passport Scheme
The Outcomes
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The original member the document was designed for
has never had any gardening leave or sick absence
for the mental health condition since.
The scheme is demonstrating significant reductions in
sick absence for employees with long term conditions
including ME and Fibromyalgia
The original scheme has now been adapted and rolled
out successfully to other organisations where the
CWU represents staff
BT has won numerous awards for this pioneering
support scheme
The union rep who designed the original was invited to
become the BT Retail Disability Champion by BT after
the successful roll out of the scheme throughout BT
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Conclusion
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Where healthy workers are concerned
there is no difference in the objectives of
employers and trade unions – prevention
is always better than cure
Employers have access to a valuable
commodity via the trade unions…….H&S
reps
Working together in partnership really
does work and it is proven to work to the
benefit of all
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Any further information regarding any
of the details contained in the
presentation please contact:
Nicki Coughlin:
[email protected]
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