Health and Safety Bulletin
September 2004
TUC health and safety website
If you haven't already done so, it's worth a look at the TUC's health & safety website. You can, via the website, sign up for Risks, the TUC email bulletin on health and safety.
Womens health & safety conference
A one day conference on the theme of 'Women's Health and Safety' is being held on Tuesday 28 September at the University of London Union, Malet Street, London WC1. The event is hosted by Labour Research Department and backed by the TUC. There will be speakers from the UK and from other European trade union centres (the CGT in France and CGIL in Italy).
The cost is £10, including lunch. You can book by contacting: Paul Hampton, LRD, Freepost, 78 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8YX (Telephone: 020 7902 9826).
BECTU National Health & Safety Committee
Issues covered at the June meeting included: a submission by aerial riggers at NTL to the HSE consultation on Working at Height; the attendance of BECTU reps at the National Hazards Conference; the new HSE accident book (which complies with the Data Protection Act and came into effect from 31.12.03); detailed reports from BECTU Divisional representatives; and matters arising from HSE BJAC meetings (ie our HSE industry advisory committee).
HSE inspection of BBC
The HSE, as part of its Revitalising Health and Safety strategy, is now following up on the inspection of the BBC carried out last November. A detailed report with recommendations by the HSE Inspector has been produced and follow up meetings are being held both with BBC management and union reps. The report concludes that 'the Corporation must improve the way it plans, communicates and, above all, implements its health and safety policies and procedures'.
A specific meeting between the Inspector and the BECTU reps on the BBC Health and Safety National Joint Committee was held on 27 August at BECTU Head Office.
Similar inspections have been carried out at other broadcasters in our sector including BSkyB and ITN. The HSE project may also be extended to the independent production sector.
HSE/BJAC Working Group On Film, Broadcasting and Multimedia
A recent Working Group meeting discussed a number of issues, including:
- Skillset's revision of occupational standards, including health and safety aspects. The Group felt that standards should be set at an appropriate level for the nature of the work eg potentially dangerous work on some feature films required different standards to much studio work in broadcasting.
- The Work at Height consultation has now closed. New regulations and guidance should be in place later in the year.
- ITV/Granada's 'Head Hunter' health and safety database, which is used to register the health and safety competence of freelances.
An enlarged Working Group session, with additional reps from the participating organisations (including Clive Coston for BECTU at the BBC) heard a presentation on the BBC's possible use of 'Cognisco' – a system, owned and operated by external consultants, for testing individuals' understanding of health and safety issues relevant to their jobs. The union reps noted the need for more information on the implications of this, especially for individuals (staff and freelances) scoring badly on the tests – with a strong preference for additional training rather than sanctions.
TUC report on the union effect on health & safety
A recent TUC report draws attention to the growing evidence of the positive difference made by trade union safety representatives – in reducing injuries and ill health, encouraging greater reporting of injuries and near-misses and developing a positive health and safety culture.
The most recent report cited (from Cardiff University in 2004) indicated that 'the general conclusion that health and safety should not be left to management should be supported'.
The TUC continues to campaign for improved rights for safety reps including provision for roving safety reps; the right for reps to issue improvement notices; and the need for a regulatory requirement on employers to respond to issues raised by safety reps.
BECTU amendment to Congress motion
One of BECTU's amendments to the motions for this years Trade Union Congress is on health and safety. BECTU has put forward an amendment to a GMB motion on Health and Safety at Work. The amendment draws specific attention to the need to amend Regulation 8 (of the Safety Reps' Regulations) to allow all recognised unions to use safety reps who are not necessarily employees of the company concerned. This is essential, for example, in areas such as feature films, where there may be no safety reps from within the freelances engaged on the production.