 |
Join | Update Your Details | Contact | Feedback | Site Map |  |
|
|
|||
|
|
 |
 |
|
|||||
|
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Health and Safety Whats Hot:
Slips and Trips Shatter Lives
HSE’s slip, trip and falls campaign 'Shattered Lives' re-launches this week for a five week run.
Slips and trips are the main cause of serious injury at work. In 2008/9 over 10,000 workers suffered a major injury as a result of a slip or trip. In addition more than 4,000 suffered a major injury as a result of a fall from height. The basic message of the 2010 campaign is that employers can and should be doing more to reduce the risk. HSE have revised their 'Shattered Lives' website to give practical examples of things employers have done. In food retail, Sainsbury's introduced slip-resistant foortwear for staff on the deli counter and in other parts of their stores. In food manufacturing, Tulip managed to prevent meat and fat getting onto the floor in a meat-processing plant. And in catering, Stockport council reduced accidents in school kitchens by improving floor cleaning. The HSE is promoting its 'STEPS' e-learning package as a great introduction to slips and trips. Usdaw recommends that all health and safety reps who have Internet access should do the 'Intermediate' level STEP training Usdaw is asking all its health and safety reps to contribute to the Shattered Lives campaign by using the Usdaw slips and trips risk-mapping tool to talk to workers about the risks and to work with management to eliminate them. 2009 TUC Hazards at Work Guide now available
The latest revised 2009 edition of the TUC Hazards at Work book is now available from the stationery department at Central Office.
The new version is available to Usdaw safety reps at the same reduced price as the last one, £14 + postage and packing, a total of £16.00. The book also has the Usdaw logo printed on the front cover. The Hazards at Work manual is an essential book for safety representatives. A complete new edition will continue to be published every two or three years to ensure that reps are kept fully updated, this is the 3rd edition. To order a copy contact your Branch Secretary or your local Usdaw office. A copy of the order form can be downloaded from the website at http://www.usdaw.org.uk/healthandsafety/toolkit/
Hazards Conference 2009
The 20th National Hazards Conference takes place at Manchester University on 10 to 12 July
The conference is the Food Industry Conference 2009
This year’s conference is being staged at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Nottingham on the 29-30th September and is being organised by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) in partnership with Food and Drink Federation, HSE and TUC.
Members working in the food manufacturing sector or dairy sectors who want to attend should discuss it with their individual branch. Application forms will be sent to food and dairy branch secretaries in the next few days. Members attending will need to get either their Branch or their Employer to cover the cost of the conference. The cost for safety reps attending is £170 + VAT (£195:50) (not including accommodation). You can download an application form at; http://www.iosh.co.uk/files/events/Food%20&%20Drink%20brochure%2009%20final.pdf
European H&S Week /National Inspection Day 09
European Health and Safety Week takes place each year in October, this year it’s 19th/23rd and is intended to raise awareness of health and safety.
The theme this year will again be risk assessment. A properly managed workplace should be safe and healthy. Employer’s have a duty to identify risks that can affect our members and take reasonably practical measures to minimise them. Employers should also consult on matters of health and safety with employees reps and should involve them in the risk assessment process. To assist reps in getting to grips with health and safety TUC has produced ‘Risk Assessment – a guide for safety representatives’. Download a copy from; http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/riskassessment.pdf a hard copy is available from the Health and Safety Section, Usdaw Central Office. The Wednesday’s of European Health and Safety Week have been designated "National Inspection Day" when all safety representatives are asked to inspect their workplace, this year this is the 21st October. TUC has produced a guide to inspections for reps to use, this includes forms, adapted from the HSE recommended forms, and a checklist. These can be downloaded from;http://www.tuc.org.uk/extras/insbooklet30auglowres.pdf There is also an HSE guide to inspections, with sample forms, at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/involvement/inspections.htm
Asbestos - Mesothelioma Action Day
Mesothelioma Action Day will be held on 27th February 2009. Campaigners are calling for support for Government funded research on this asbestos cancer.
On Action Mesothelioma Day the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum, MPs, doctors and nurses are calling for government to fund a UK National Centre for Asbestos Related Disease, similar to the centre established in The Commonwealth Government of Australia has given $6.2 million to fund their research centre and a further $1 million has been donated by the research centre host, the The Asbestos victims support groups are holding events in several cities on Action Mesothelioma Day, supported by doctors, nurses and MPs, calling for government funded mesothelioma research. Events can be found on www.asbestosforum.org 28th February RSI Day
The 28th February is the 10th anniversary of International Repetitive Strain Injury Awareness Day. The event falls on the last day of February each year because it is not a repetitive day in the calendar.
It is used to highlight strain injuries risks and prevention at work and in the community by organisations such as the Trade Unions and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy(CSP). More information can be found on the TUC website below; http://www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s/index.cfm?mins=397 The CSP has called on the Government to encourage employers to do more to prevent and reduce repetitive strain injury (RSI) amongst British workers. The call follows release of the latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that show 213,000 people in work had a musculoskeletal upper limb or neck disorder that was caused or made worse by work in 2007/08. To look at the full report go to; http://www.csp.org.uk/
Usdaw Warehousing Guidance
A new Usdaw guide is available for safety reps working in warehouses. ‘Distributing Safety’ is based on the HSE’s Warehousing and Storage – A Guide to Health and Safety’ (HSG76).
The guidance was launched at Usdaw’s Warehousing Conference in According to the HSE, 10,000 work related accidents in storage, warehousing and road haulage were reported to the HSE in 2005/6. Over 1,700 of these accidents were classified as major injuries such as fractures and amputations. The main causes of deaths are being run over by workplace vehicles and falls from height. Over 20,000 Usdaw members work in distribution in warehouses handling large volumes of goods. ‘Distributing Safety’ contains guidance on slips and trips, manual handling, vehicle movements, lift trucks, falls from height, working in chillers and freezers, storage systems and welfare.
Slips Shatter Lives
HSE is running a new campaign in February and March 2008 on slips, trips and falls in the workplace with a focus on higher risk workplaces in retail and the food industry.
More than 1,000 workers a month suffer a serious injury following a slip, trip or fall. The campaign is aimed primarily at those most at risk of a slip, trip or fall at work and those best placed to take action - construction workers, electricians, gas fitters other tradespeople, and site managers, kitchen managers and chefs, food retail staff, area and store managers, food operatives and their shift managers. However slips, trips and falls accidents do happen in any workplace and we would urge anyone where slips, trips and falls are a risk to get involved in the campaign. To find out how you can get involved sign up for the free regular update. The aim of the campaign is to raise awareness of the risks and help those involved to take simple action that will prevent slips trips and falls. Slips, trips and falls at work shatter lives. UK H&S strategy - Have your say
HSE is running a three month consultation process on a new strategy and is calling on all partners to take part.
The strategy emphasises the importance of the prevention of work-related deaths, illness and injury. It clarifies the role of HSE and Local Authorities as regulators and stresses that the duty to prevent injury lies with duty holders. It promotes worker involvement and calls for clarity on targets in different sectors of the economy. The TUC has welcomed the new strategy's commitment to safety regulation and enforcement, as well as the recognition of the role unions and safety reps can play in improving the safety culture of UK workplaces. But it has pointed out 'The Government must ensure that the HSE gets the political and financial support it needs to take its strategy forward in what are likely to be difficult times to come'. Usdaw welcomes the recognition of the importance of Local Authorities as regulators as well as the HSE. But, like the TUC, we recognise the need for Government to make sure that Local Authority resources are strengthened to allow them to carry out their regulatory functions in sectors such as retail and dsitribution. To see the draft strategy and make your own comments go to www.hse.gov.uk/strategy/index.htm. HSE is organising a series of regional consultation workshops on the strategy in January www.glasgows.co.uk/hsestrategyconsultation/regional.html Workers Memorial Day
Tuesday 28th April is Workers Memorial day when workers everywhere remember colleagues who have died in workplace accidents or as a result of occupational illness with the slogan 'Remember the Dead - Fight for the Living'.
Usdaw has been supporting WMD since1995 and was one of the first unions in Britain to do so. According to the International Labour Organisation, there are over 2 million workplace deaths in the world each year –twice as many as are killed in wars (650,000). In the What Can You Do for Workers Memorial Day? Wear a purple "forget me knot" ribbon. The purple, knotted ribbon has been adopted as a symbol of Workers' Memorial Day. Ribbons can be bought from Find out if there are any ceremonies or events in your area. Contact your local trades council or hazards centre or log on to the TUC Workers’ Memorial Day web page for details of events – www.tuc.org.uk. Write to your M.P. Tell her/him we need more resources for the Health and Safety Executive and for Local Authorities to allow stronger enforcement of health and safety at work. We also need clear legal duties on directors and managers and a change in the attitude of the courts so that health and safety crimes are treated with the seriousness they deserve. Contact your local councillor Ask them what the local authority is doing to meet its duty to enforce health and safety law in shops, warehouses and offices. Build Usdaw organisation in your workplace Independent research shows that the workplaces with the best health and safety performance are those where there are active trade union health and safety representatives. So the most effective way we can ‘fight for the living’ is to continue to build trade union organisation and to make sure that Usdaw recruits and supports safety reps.
HSE toolkit for prevention of violence to retail staff
HSE and local authorities have worked in partnership to develop a new web-based toolkit to reduce the risk of violence to staff in shops, pubs and clubs.
Usdaw was consulted closely during the development of the toolkit. The guidance and advice the HSE provides ties in well with the union's Freedom from Fear campaign. For example, the HSE advice on how to prevent or minimise work related violence through risk assessments covers many of the same topics as the Usdaw 'model risk assessment. The HSE has also published a 14 page booklet - ‘Managing work-related violence in licensed and retail premises’ which summarises the contents of the toolkit and contains advice on what should be done. The booklet can be downloaded from the HSE web pages - http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg423.pdf Or reps can get a copy by contacting the Health and Safety section in Central Office.
HSE Falls from Vehicles Campaign
Approximately 2000 workers are seriously injured every year as a result of falling from a vehicle with an average of 5 workers dying. 90% of the falls are from below head height and the estimated economic and human cost of the incidents we know about is £36.7 million.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the risk of falling that workers are exposed to when accessing and/or working at height on vehicles and the actions that should be taken to minimise these risks. We are targetting key audiences with the message that; Click here to sign up for e-bulletins about the campaign. Too Hot?
Does it get too warm where you work, making you feel hot and bothered? This is your chance to help us to get something done about it!
Under health and safety law, employers have a duty to maintain a reasonable temperature in the workplace. Although the law specifies the minimum reasonable temperature, there is no specified maximum. Usdaw has been campaigning for a change in the law to fill this gap, so the Labour Government has agreed to carry out a review of the regulations. Please help us to prepare a case for a maximum workplace temperature by downloading our questionnaire and sending it completed to the Health and Safety Section at Central Office. If you have problems downloading a copy e-mail us at: healthandsafety@usdaw.org.uk giving us your details and we will send you a copy.
Work your proper hours
We've knocked off for the day. See you Monday!
Over five million people at work in the For more information and resources to help you with Work Your Proper Hours Day go to the TUC Worksmart website
HSE focus on bakers for World Asthma Day
World Asthma Day is 5 May. The HSE is marking the day by reminding bakers of the risks of bakers' asthma from exposure to flour dust with supermarket bakeries as a key target.
HSE has been working with the employers, LACORS (the coordinating body for local authority regulatory activities) and Usdaw to develop a benchmark for control of dust from flour and flour improvers in supermarket bakeries. The ‘supermarket enforcement benchmark’ is for use by Local Authority Inspectors to improve good practice and ensure that the appropriate control measures are in place. The link between exposure to flour dust and asthma is well understood and means that exposure must be reduced as low as possible. The benchmark explains the employer’s duties: The guide notes that the workplace exposure level for flour dust is 10 mg per cubic metre but explains that good control practice should be able to keep dust levels below 2 mg per cubic metre in bakeries. Even at these levels however health surveillance is needed to detect workers who become sensitised to flour dust. To see the Supermarket Enforcement Benchmark go to http://www.hse.gov.uk/fit3street/fdbenchmark.htm
New Version
A completely new version of 'Hazards at Work' is now available from the Central Office Stationery Department.
'Hazards at Work' is the definitive TUC guide to health and safety for trade union safety reps. The new version consists of 52 chapters in a 334 page A4-sized book. It has been completely revamped to make it even more practical and user friendly than the previous ring-binder version. Single. copies direct from the TUC will cost around £15 (+ p/p) for safety reps. Usdaw’s Health and Safety Section has secured a bulk purchase discount. If you order your copies from the Usdaw's Stationery Department they cost Branches and Safety Reps £12 + p/p (£13:20 in total). They also carry the Usdaw logo on the front cover. The 'Hazards at Work' manual is an essential book for safety representatives. A complete new edition will be published every two or three years to ensure that reps are kept fully updated. Order now to avoid disappointment by downloading an order form here |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Join | Update Your Details | Contact | Feedback | Site Map | Privacy | Site Survey |
|
© 2003 (USDAW) Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers |
 |
