TUC slams HSE for lack of support for safety reps
March 7th 2007

Union safety reps are struggling to get employers to act on safety concerns and official bodies, including the HSE, aren't doing enough to help, a survey of union reps has revealed.

The survey, published in the TUC backed magazine Hazards, shows over one third of reps questioned feel employers don't allow them sufficient time to carry out important safety checks and training programmes.

Union reps save business an estimated 616, 000 days a year through their ability to spot risks to employees which can cause them accidents or make them ill. Yet the survey reveals that many employers are still refusing to fully cooperate with safety reps and allow them sufficient time to carry out safety inspections or speak to colleagues about safety concerns.

At the moment the only course of action for reps to deal with employers who won't cooperate is to take legal action, something most reps say they don't have the time to do.

Also, with official enforcement statistics showing no record of the HSE ever prosecuting an employer for breaching the regulations on safety reps' rights, it is unsurprising that reps are reluctant to pursue this course of action.

"Union safety reps are life-saving, disease preventing, union trained volunteers," comments Rory O'Neill, senior occupational health researcher at Stirling University, who undertook the survey. "With more people in work and a massive increase in the number of workplaces nationwide, the HSE should be grateful for all the help it can get and must provide robust support for safety reps at work"

"This isn't just common sense, it is the law - and as the workplace law enforcement agency, the HSE must ensure it is observed."

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