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We need to negotiate to make it possible for absences to be created for agreed safety specific tasks which are to be made available to be booked against estimate numbers/codes and therefore this time is removed from a Task Force allocated job. Being sent to the OHS can be a very worrying experience for members who often do not understand the process or are not fully informed about it, and do not request a copy of the report. Therefore we will enter in to discussions with BT to amend the process so that an employee is automatically sent a copy of the report. It is not difficult to predict that every year we have cold weather, heating vehicles is a reoccurring issue and we must have a source of heating for those vehicles engaged in the external field. This should be an independent source of heating similar to that which was previously provided in the Ford Transit van and this improvement will be provided as standard throughout the fleet for those identified vehicles.
It was noted that over the last few years there has been a rise in the number of our members who are suffering from mental health issues and are often being managed under discipline and attendance/performance procedures. There may be serious consequences for our members due to a recent ruling from the DWP not to recognise as industrial accidents those that occur prior to or after their official start and finish times, despite employees being engaged on official work activities. Therefore we must put an end to the practice of doing work activities outside of working times for BT. We have members who have been off work with work related stress/bullying from management, or performance management. We must identify all these type incidents and have them marked as lost time, against the relevant line of business. At present it is believed that Human Resources are recording cases of this nature as time off sick, and they should be recorded as incidents/accidents at work and RIDDOR reported where necessary. Source: Derek Maylor |
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Derek Maylor, Health & Safety Officer in Merseyside & South West Lancashire Branch and Chair of the NWBTU H&S Co-ord reports from the CWU Telecoms And Financial Services Conference being held at Bournemouth's International Conference Centre 24th to 26th April. 
There is concern regarding lack of training that BT management receive in relation to discipline and grievance, making it hard to represent members and to understand that BT takes the process seriously. The stages of the BT Discipline and Grievance Procedure are very complex and managers are often not aware of what is needed of them and the gravity of the decision that they have to make, many lack a basic understanding of ACAS guidelines. We will therefore meet with the company to discuss a mandatory training package to improve what may be in place at the moment. 
Such poor management techniques cause unnecessary and additional suffering therefore we will ensure that BT prioritises on-going education and training for all people managers, HR case handlers and HR business partners in the requirements of managing employees with mental health conditions and to ensure appropriate support is put in place. There is a further requirement for supplementary safeguards to be put in place when an employee with a declared mental health condition/illness is being managed under any of BT’s disciplinary procedures to ensure that when such cases arise BT has a system in place to ensure necessary duty of care and support is applied.