Transcript Trade Union Toolkit

www.tuc.org.uk
CWU Conference 2009
Health and Safety meeting
Hugh Robertson
Senior Health and Safety
Officer
TUC
www.tuc.org.uk
Organisation
• 150,000 safety reps
• Cover almost half of workers
• Need more young, women and black
safety reps
• Know union involvement works (the
union effect)
• More members and more safety
representatives means safer
workplaces.
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Trade union involvement:
• Helps reduces injuries at work
• Leads to reductions in the levels of
ill-health caused by work
• Encourages greater reporting of
injuries and near-misses
• Makes workers more confident
• Helps develop a more positive safety
culture in the organisation
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Evidence
• 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
• Where there is a union presence the
workplace injury rate is 24% lower
than where there is no union
presence
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Why does the union
effect work?
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Safety reps are trained
They know the workplace
Often see risks first
They consult workers
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Safety Reps trained
TUC trains over 10,000 safety reps a year.
A survey into the chemical regulations
(COSHH) found that safety representatives
were far more knowledgeable than their
managers. 90% of safety representatives
were aware of the main principles of the
main chemical safety regulations. Over a
third of managers had not even heard of the
regulations. The survey also found that over
80% of safety representatives had received
training in health and safety in the last two
years, compared to 44% of managers.
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We know the workplace
HSE research said “Health and safety
committee representatives provide a
diverse channel for reporting events
and hazards.” It added “union
backing, even if it is just knowledge
that additional support is available if
required, is invaluable.”
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Unions often realise the risks
long before management
Unions highlighted
• Asbestos
• Stress
• RSI
• Violence
• Nanotechnology
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We consult
• Consultation with the workforce can
have a considerable effect in
changing the safety culture in a
workplace
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Union involvement
makes a difference
There have been a wide range of case
studies that have shown the benefits
of union involvement in health and
safety.
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Safety helps union
recruitment
• 70% of new trade union members
considered health and safety a “very
important” union issue – more even
than for pay.
• 98% of the public believe “people at
work should have the right to be
represented by a trade union if they
want to on health and safety”
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Problems
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Time off
Training
Lack of engagement by employers
Access to resources/info
Need more reps
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Give us the tools
The TUC wants to see a new approach to
worker and union involvement. The new HSE
strategy recognises the importance of both
unions and consultation. The TUC has
developed a charter outlining the main things
that would transform health and safety in the
workplace.
www.tuc.org.uk
TUC Charter 1
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All employers should be asked how they consult with their
workforce
A campaign to show employers the value of consultation
and remind them of their legal obligations
More support for safety representatives from the HSE
A recognition that the union model is the most effective
one in protecting the health and safety of workers
Free access to all ACoPs and guidance for safety
representatives
Increased training for both HSE and local authority
inspectors on the role and function of safety
representatives.
Greater enforcement of the consultation regulations
Sanctions available against employers who deny safety
representatives paid release for training
Penalties against employers who victimise a safety
representative
A new legal duty on employers to respond to issues raised
by safety representatives
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TUC Charter 2
•A duty on enforcing authorities to react to a complaint from a
safety representative that their employer has not responded
adequately
•A specific requirement on employers to consult safety
representatives on risk assessments and controls arising out of
them
•An extension of Regulation 8 to cover other industries with
large numbers of short-term, temporary “self-employed” or
freelance workers
•An extension of the ability of safety representatives to act
outside their immediate workplace or employer in certain
circumstances
•The right for safety representatives to stop unsafe and
dangerous work taking place
•A legal requirement on all employers with more than 20
employees to have safety representatives and all employers
with more than 50 employees to have a safety committee.
•Continuation of the Workplace Advisors scheme in
construction
•A national worker advisor scheme for SMEs using union
appointed and supported safety representatives
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What we can do
• TUC Organisation campaign
• Organising approach to health and
safety by unions – more members
means safer workplaces
• Campaign for new rights
• Must also use the rights we have
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Summary
• Unions make a difference
• More rights
• Better use of the rights we already
have
• Use health and safety as an
organising tool.