PCS Union In £7m ‘Black Tape' Row

  


PCS Union In £7m ‘Black Tape' Row

April fools day has come rather early in the civil service, or at least that's what many PCS members working for HM Revenue and Customs thought when faced with a new management money saving scheme called 'LEAN'.

As part of a ‘tidy desk’, and using the DSE Regs 2002 as an excuse, office workers at the National Insurance offices in North Tyneside have been given black tape to mark out where they should put their pens, their computer keyboards and their phones.

The exercise is part of the Lean programme, brought in by consultants Unipart, which has already seen public sector workers having to clear their desks of personal items such as family photos.

Interestingly, the scheme is being implemented a month after Tony Blair outlined measures to save £2bn by cutting red tape.

The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union claims the scheme is costing £7.4m nationally and branded it "demeaning" and "demoralising".

The union claims that it has had reports of a member of staff in one office being asked if a banana was "active or inactive", meaning it had to be cleared from a desk unless it was going to be eaten immediately.

However, HM Revenue and Customs has said that the measures are in line with its workstation training, saying, "Part of the Lean processing is to clear the workplace and only keep essential items to hand. This is in line with the workstation ergonomics training that all our staff receive and complies with the Display Screen Equipment Regulations (2002). The markers on desks are used to demonstrate that it is much better to work in a tidy work environment where everything has its place.”

Clearly this hasn't been thought through according to the PCS who point out that employees who hot desk will have to rearrange their workspace, regardless of the tape. For example, said PCS Branch Secretary Kevin McHugh, "if the person coming in after you has slightly shorter arms, then the markers will be in the wrong place”

About 44 offices in the UK follow Lean working, and this is due to increase to 46. Trial sites were set up at Lothians, in November 2004, and Portsmouth and Cardiff in June 2005.

In reality of course this just a sample of what the DSe Regs actually require employers to do:

  • make a risk assessment of workstation use by DSE users
  • reduce the risks identified
  • ensure users take adequate breaks
  • provide regular eyesight tests
  • provide health and safety information
  • provide adjustable furniture (desk, chair, etc)
  • demonstrate that they have adequate procedures designed to reduce risks associated with work, such as repetitive strain injury.

No mention of black tape on workstations at all!

Want to know how to tidy your wesk? Watch the video courtesy of BBC News here

source: BBC, PCS

 


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