TUC's Focus On Health & Safety Biennial Report Available As reported on this website last Monday, the TUC have published their biennial Union Safety Reps survey, entitled "Focus on Health & Safety". Once again it shows that Stress, Slips, trips and falls, and WRULD are the main issues that effect workers health. The TUC have issued the full report and an exective summary which details the major areas of concern. Detailing the main hazards, the summary states: Once again overwork or stress was by far the most frequently identified hazard, with no sign of improvement in most workplaces. Three in five (60%) of safety representatives identified overwork or stress as a concern, similar to the previous survey and higher than in earlier surveys.
Display screen equipment was the second most-quoted concern and has risen from fourth in 2004 and third in 2006. This year over two in five (41%) safety representatives identified it as a hazard - significantly more than in the previous surveys. HSE has done little work on the issue in recent years. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are still a major hazard in workplaces and the situation appears to be getting worse again after some improvement in 2006. Two-fifths of representatives (40%) identified repetitive strain injuries (RSI) as a major concern, while over three in ten (31%) saw back strain as a problem. RSI was the third most identified hazard and back strain fifth - a continued cause for concern given the emphasis HSE has placed on reducing these injuries.
Slips, trips and falls on a level was the fourth most significant hazard identified - and again the picture is worse than in recent years. Around a third (33%) regarded it as a major cause for concern, up from 27% in 2006. Working alone was the sixth main concern - with more representatives (30%) identifying it as a hazard compared to previous surveys. Bullying was perceived as a growing hazard, recognised by 20% of representatives. It was identified by 40% more representatives compared with 2004 and by 25% compared with 2006 - indicating that employers' voluntary initiatives are not reducing the problem. The survey suggests that bullying gets worse as the workplace gets bigger. Some 14% of representatives thought bullying was a problem in workplaces with under 50 employees, while almost double (27%) saw it as a concern in workplaces with over 1,000 employees. Wales was the place with the most concerned regionally. It is the area most concerned with noise (23%), dusts (16%), infections (7%), asbestos (7%) and vibration (6%). In these cases, almost twice the proportion of Welsh safety representatives were concerned, compared with the national average. Wales is also second worst for slips, trips and falls from a level (38%), long hours of work (26%), handling heavy loads (16%), chemical and solvents (15%), slips, trips and falls from height (12%) and machinery hazards (11%). The summary also details the main problems regarding management of health and safety in the workplace: Over half (55%) of the safety representatives in the 2008 survey said their employer had carried out adequate risk assessments, though this was down slightly from the highpoint in 2006, where (56%) said risk assessment were adequate. An increased proportion of safety representatives in 2008 said that their employers' risk assessments were inadequate. Three in ten (30%) of representatives came to that conclusion, compared with 27% in the last survey. In terms of consultation over risk assessments:
The survey found a big increase in the proportion of occupational health services provided externally, and for the first time is greater than those provided in-house. Some 46% said their occupational health service came from an external provider, compared with 44% in-house. By comparison, in 2006 some 38% were externally provided, whilst 48% were provided in-house. A number of sectors were significantly worse off than with regard to occupational health services. Less than three in five (59%) construction safety reps said their employer provided an occupational health service, down from around four-fifths (79%) in the last survey. Similarly, leisure services had less than three-quarters (73%) covered, and distribution, hotels and restaurants 78%. More safety representatives are reporting sickness monitoring (68%) and disciplinary assessments (43%) than previously, indicating a more draconian approach by some employers. The provision of treatment has also fallen to around one in five workplaces (21%) and first aid now appears in only half (50%) the workplaces surveyed, despite the legal requirements to do so. And records are still provided to only one in eight (12%) safety representatives, indicating wide scope for improved information and consultation. The report can be downloaded from the TUC website here |