A report published last week by the TUC found that stress and the effect that it has on workers is one of the main concerns at work for health and safety representatives.
The TUC’s biennial safety representatives’ survey found that the other most frequently cited hazards by reps were bullying/harassment; overwork; back strains and slips; trips; and falls.
In terms of managing health and safety at work, 83 per cent of safety representatives reported that their employer had conducted a formal risk assessment at their workplace, although this varied between 87 per cent in the private sector compared to just 81 per cent in the public sector. In the health services, only 72 per cent said they had been carried out. One in five reps thought the assessments were inadequate, particularly in the public sector.
Levels of training have remained static over the last two years, although more than one in six reps said that management had at some point refused them time off for training.
More than one in five reps also complained that they were never automatically consulted by their employer about health, safety and welfare issues, particularly those in the health sector where more than a third of reps said they were not automatically consulted. More than a tenth (12 per cent) of reps in this sector complained that they were never consulted even when they requested it.
The survey also found a decline in inspection levels by health and safety enforcement agencies in the last two years, with 47 per cent of reps reporting that their workplace had never, as far as they knew, been inspected by a health and safety inspector (the figure was 45 per cent in 2012). In addition, there had been a general increase in the period since reps’ workplaces had last been inspected and corresponding decreases in the proportions citing more recent inspections. Manufacturing was the only sector in which a majority (52 per cent) of safety representatives knew of an inspection in the last 12 months.
Neil Todd at Thompsons Solicitors said: “As the report highlights the fact that fewer workplaces are being inspected is as a result of the cuts in the budgets of the HSE and local authorities. There are genuine concerns that this is leading to our workplaces becoming less safe to the detriment of all workers. It is also disappointing to see a failure by many employers to consult with health and safety representatives contrary to statutory obligations”.
To read the report, go to: https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/HealthandSafetySurvey2014.pdf