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UNION SAFETY REPS TOOLBOX
The reasons, roles and resources that mean trade
union safety reps make work a whole lot safer
Safety reps at work
The rights and roles of workplace safety reps
around the world. 
Roving reps What
should unions do when a workplace hasn't got a workplace safety rep? Roving
reps or Workplace Safety Advisers (WSAs) covering several workplaces could
be the answer.
Notices Union
inspection notices (UINs) and provisional improvement notices (PINs) are
allowing union reps to take workplace safety enforcement into their own
hands.
Union effect Hygienists
might have a measure of it and doctors a diagnosis for it, but only workers
with collective power have much chance of doing anything about workplace
harm. Hazards
shows how.
ROVING REPS
Britain: Roving
reps scheme "limited" but welcome, says TUC
Union schemes will dominate the first
round of Worker Safety Adviser (WSA) Challenge Fund projects. TUC head
of safety Hugh Robertson welcomed the recognition of the positive union
role, but warned: "This initiative is very limited and we still need
changes to the safety reps' regulations to ensure that we have roving
safety reps and better rights to extend the benefits of the union safety
effect nationwide."
Risks
163, 3 July 2004
AUSTRALIA:
Report calls for powerful roving reps
Union safety reps in the Australian state of Victoria should be empowered
to enter non-union workplaces and shut down dangerous premises, says a
new report. It says workplace with union safety reps need "roving"
union safety.
Risks
151, 10 April 2004
BRITAIN: Roving reps or roving rats?
The government has announced its disappointing
and fainthearted response to overwhelming evidence that greater use of
union safety reps can dramatically improve safety across the workforce.
An HSC “worker safety adviser” (WSA) pilot using union safety reps proved
unions were highly effective in a "roving rep" role. Instead of introducing
a nationwide scheme, however, HSC has introduced a three year £3 million
challenge fund that will at best allow 30 or so to become WSAs, although
HSC says the new reps need not be safety reps at all, but could have been
"a health and safety manager or consultant".
Risks
150, 3 April 2004
BRITAIN: New union reps to
raise safety in smaller firms
The TUC has welcomed government support for a new breed of union safety
rep. Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Andrew Smith told the Labour
Party conference on 2 October 2003 that the government would provide funding
for more "roving safety reps," who will promote health and safety in small
and medium workplaces that do not necessarily have union members. more
BRITAIN: Worker safety advisers
are a hit!
A worker safety adviser scheme created in response to union calls
for "roving" safety reps has been a stunning success, a study
has concluded. Nearly 73 per cent of employers said awareness had increased
and a third said communications had improved; over 75 per cent of employers
said the pilot had led to them changing their approach, and nearly 70
per cent of workers said there was more discussion on health and safety.
more
Workers' Safety Advisers review
In March 2002, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) embarked on a nine-month
project to pilot the use of roving safety representatives or workers’
safety advisers in small businesses. As the pilot was drawing to a close,
Becky Allen spoke to the HSE and the WSAs involved to see how things had
progressed.
Becky Allen, Occupational
Health Review, March/April 2003 [pdf]
Roving reps: reaching workplaces
other reps don't
British trade union involvement in health and safety in small and medium
sized enterprises.
Text
/ PDF
Worker safety advisers
The UK Construction Confederation thought it was on safe ground when it
set out to block the TUC's Worker Safety Adviser (WSAs) scheme. As the
first WSAs take up their "revolutionary" roving role, TUC safety
specialist Owen Tudor explains how badly the industry body got it wrong.
Hazards 78, April-June
2002, [pdf format]
Safety reps move on!
Following the UK enforcement agency HSC's year 2000 announcement of plans
to pilot Worker Safety Advisers, TUC Commisioner on HSC Owen Tudor explains
the implications.
Hazards 72, October-December
2002 [pdf format]
TUC Worker Safety Advisers
webpage
Reports, news releases and news items from TUC on Worker Safety Advisers/roving
reps .
Ready to roll! TUC Worker
Safety Adviser pilot
On 28 January 2002, the first ever Worker Safety Advisers began their
training at the TUC's National Education Centre. The Worker Safety Adviser
pilot is designed to test the effectiveness of providing employers with
advice on worker involvement and participation where there are no safety
reps or representatives of employee safety. Of course we already know
that workplaces with union safety reps and joint union/management safety
committees have half the major injuries that workplaces without consultation
do - this pilot will test whether similar results can be obtained with
external union representatives.
Britain. TUC
news release, January 2002
WSA
job description • Risks
18
Reports on the Swedish roving
union safety rep system
Regional Safety Reps and the New Economy
in Road Transport Kaj Frick, National
Institute for Working Life, Sweden. REHS-ETUI website. [pdf]
Towards Effective Intervention
and Sector Dialogue in Occupational Safety and Health Kaj Frick,
National Institute for Working Life, Sweden. Arbo website. Word
Document
Regional safety reps in Sweden
(Powerpoint presentation) Kaj Frick, National Institute for Working
Life, Sweden. Arbo website. PowerPoint
presentation
Swedish approach to worker representation on health
and safety Kaj Frick, National Institute
for Working Life, Sweden. HSE website. [pdf]
Roving reps in agriculture
Want to know what a roving rep does? International
foodworkers' union fed IUF looks at roving reps at work around the world.
Briefing note • Summary
UK union secures roving reps
agreement with bank
UNIFI and Barclays have agreed to the roll out of a network of full time
Health and Safety Reps covering the whole of the banks UK operations.
UNIFI
Press release, 15 May 2002 • Risks
53, 11 May 2002
SAFETY REPS AT WORK
New Zealand: The role of the rep
Worksafe reps
New Zealand: Developing a
Worker Participation Agreement, NZCTU guide for union organisers.
UK: TUC New Unionism
Web guide to safety reps
UK: "The brown book"
Official guide to safety reps' rights, HSE (on UNISON's safety website
in pdf
format)
UK: Health and Safety Executive
safety reps' page
HSE workers' webpages
USA: Union health and safety
committees in the US
Transport Workers Union guide
USA: Forming CWA Local OSH
Committees, Communications Workers of America factsheet
CANADA: Union health and safety reps rights in
Canada CUPE guide
USA: Safety Committee Checklist,
UNITE Safety and Health Department (Lista Para EL Comite de Seguridad,
Departamento de Salud y Seguridad de UNITE)
USA: Forming CWA local
occupational safety and health committees, Communications Workers of America.
AUSTRALIA: Guide to health
and safety representatives and health and safety committees from
the Australian Workers' Union (AWU)
AUSTRALIA: Rights of
elected occupational health and safety representatives
NEW ZEALAND: How to put the
HSE Act into action a handbook for union organisers and senior
delegates from the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.
AUSTRALIA: UnionSafe Network
The proliferation of top quality websites
for Australia's union safety reps continues. First came OHS Reps in the
state of Victoria. Then came UnionSafe in neighbouring New South Wales.
Now Queensland has got in on the act with UnionSafe Network. This latest
initiative is "a collaborative project involving Queensland unions
working together and pooling resources relating to occupational health
and safety." The network is coordinated by the Queensland Council
of Unions Workers' Health Centre. UnionSafe Network says it involves full-time
occupational health and safety professionals employed by individual Queensland
unions and the Queensland Council of Unions. Other resources include union
contact officers, workplace safety representatives and other participating
organisations.
UnionSafe
Network • OHS
Reps • UnionSafe
UK union safety rep guides
Rights of health and safety
representatives
Guidance from the UK bakers' union BFAWU on the rights on union safety
representatives.
UNISON "Get active!" guide
to workplace safety reps
UNISON guide
Rights to facilities and time
off for UK safety reps
GMB short guide
UK union T&G's guide to
safety reps' rights
T&G guide
The role of the union safety
rep in UK schools
National Union of Teachers resource page
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