CWU's Peter Eggleston Wins TUC Safety Award
AS previously reported by Unionsafety, this year's TUC Safety Rep Award was won by a CWU USR and BT employee, Peter Eggleston.
The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown when attending the TUC Annual Congress, presented Peter Eggleston, a BT employee and branch assistant safety officer for CWU, the 2007 TUC Safety Rep Award.
Peter has been an active trade unionist and safety rep since the 1970s. His proudest achievements include securing the supply of a new item of personal protective equipment to engineers employed by BT in cold weather conditions.
Peter also secured lighter mobile generators for use by BT payphone engineers, as a result of complaints that existing generators were too heavy and a manual handling risk.
National Health and Safety Officer Dave Joyce said,
"I'm of course delighted for Pete, his Branch and the Union as a whole. Having had two winners in the last three years is a great result for us, demonstrating the quality of our Safety Reps and the strength of our Safety Organisation within the CWU. Safety Reps are the best and sometimes the only defence workers have, making sure that health and safety risks are managed properly by employers. We know Union Safety Reps cut the rate of serious injury at work by more than 50 per cent, and over the years they've saved many lives and prevented many injuries by diligence, hard work and commitment. The fantastic work done by CWU Safety Reps like Pete in our branches up and down the country is helping to improve the lives of our members every year. The time, effort and work these people put in to help their colleagues often belies the time and resources they have available. I am delighted that the TUC have recognised our nominee as the best and I am sure the whole Union will join me in recognising the fine work of our Safety Reps collectively and Pete's achievement individually."
See Peter Eccleston on TUC's Congress TV
