CWU Issues Guidance And Resources For European Health & Safety Week

CWU's latest health and safety letter to branches announces that National unions and local branches, safety reps, campaigners, and employers across Europe are beginning to plan for the European Health and Safety Week.

It goes on to say that during the European Week for Safety and Health at Work from 24 -28 October 2011 hundreds of Campaign events and activities will take place all over Europe, including conferences, seminars, exhibitions and training sessions.

Dave Joyce, CWU's National Health, Safety & Environment Officer's LTB834/11 continues by explaining:

The common theme linking all these activities is raising awareness of the importance of safe maintenance. The Week aims to raise awareness and promote activities to make work safer and healthier.

The LTB continues to give further information with regard to this year's theme:

This year's focus is again on “Safe Maintenance”, and is year two of a two year campaign. This concerns all CWU members, those with jobs in repair and maintenance, and those who work in either poorly maintained buildings or in workplaces that are being repaired. “Safe maintenance” may also increase as an issue of concern.

Government cut backs in public spending will impact on the budgets that the public sector has to carry out maintenance, and can spend as less money is available for repairs. The enforcing authorities HSE and Local Authorities face 35% and 28% cuts respectively. Maintenance work can be hazardous. Although it is estimated that 6% of the working population are involved in maintenance work (not always all the time), it is estimated that, throughout Europe, between 15 and 20% of injuries at work happen during maintenance work.

Other injuries occur as a result of poor maintenance.

Highlighting one of the major incidents that shocked the world, Derek Maylor, Chair of the NW BTU Health & Safety Co-ordinators Committee said in support of the campaign:

"We can all remember the shocking TV pictures of the Piper Alpha disaster in 1988 as the oil rig turned into a fireball. Flammable gas had ignited on the Piper Alpha platform in the North Sea, turning it within seconds into an inferno. In one of the worst incidents of its kind in history, 167 workers were killed."

He explained further: "The incident was put down to a failure in the permit to work and associated isolation systems. Both of which are critical to ensuring maintenance can be carried out safely."

Quoting from the campaign document, Derek concluded:

"Whilst this is an extreme example, in every industry sector, throughout the UK, similar stories could be told: accidents and ill health resulting not from ‘acts of God’, but because safety and health aspects were not considered when maintenance activities were being planned, or because proper maintenance had not been carried out, sometimes months or even years before."

Dave Joyce's LTB provides further information and guidance, including a number of downloadable documents contained within the electronic version of LTB834/11. Here Dave discusses workplace maintenance:

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states that undertaking maintenance activities can expose the workers involved (and others) to various hazards.

For example, equipment and plant maintenance, gas, electricity, vehicles, lock off arrangements, permits to work, asbestos, falls from height, heavy items, contractors, hazardous substances including those which may cause asthma, dermatitis, or cancer; inadequate or badly maintained work equipment; manual handling, noise; a lack of personal protective equipment, repetitive strain injury, slips, trips, and falls; vibration; and conditions relating to the general environment including lighting, ventilation, and temperature.

This list is not exhaustive. See also TUC Health & Safety Reps Maintenance in the Workplace Guide which was an attachment to the LTB and can be downloaded from the E-Library Database of this website.

LTB834/11 goes further to discuss the associated annual National Inspection Day which normally takes place on the Wednesday 26th October - Safety reps are encouraged to use this Day to carry out their legal right to inspect for health, safety, and welfare problems.

Workplaces with active Safety Reps are twice as safe as those without them according to the HSE.

See also the TUC Health & Safety Reps Safety Inspection Guide which is also available for download from the E-Library

The LTB closes with reference to campaign packs obtainable from both the HSE and European Agency for Safety and Health at Work websites:

HSE SAFE MAINTENANCE - SET OF 5 POSTERS & SAFE MAINTENANCE CAMPAIGN ACTION PACKS

The HSE has produced a set of 5 posters to support the 2010/11 European campaign on 'Safe maintenance' and promote awareness of the maintenance hazards involved. These can be used as training aids, for briefing purposes and for display in workplaces. High quality A3 size biodegradable versions of these posters are available from HSE. This is a set of 5 Safe maintenance posters are:

• Falling from heights,
• Falling from plant,
• Asbestos hazards,
• Falling loads,
• Isolation of machinery

These Posters plus HSE Safe maintenance campaign action packs which includes the EU-OSHA campaign leaflet and three EU-OSHA campaign factsheets, are available from HSE here

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) Safe maintenance campaign resources are available to be downloaded from their website for the duration of the campaign here

Source: CWU

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