Working Together For Healthy Workplace Conference

Reducing the 4.3 million days lost each year in the North West through work related injuries and illness was the proclaimed theme of a conference in held in Manchester on Thursday 8th February.

The costs of work-related ill health and injury in the region has have been estimated to be as much as £300 million. Adding in the non-injury costs such as damage to plant and equipment brings the figure to over £800 million.

'Working Together for a Healthy Workplace' was held at Lancashire County Cricket Ground, and raised awareness of how work can be made a safer and healthier place for staff by reducing the main causes of absence: back pain, stress, depression and anxiety.

Jointly organised by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the North West TUC, the event was aimed at health and safety representatives, dealing with stress in the workplace - including bullying and harassment - and also with back pain, and repetitive strain injuries.

Health and Safety Commissioner Hugh Robertson who is a senior policy officer on health and safety at the TUC and a member of the Industrial Injuries Advisory Committee said at the conference,
"The key to improving safety is supporting that band of volunteers in the workplace - union safety reps. With better time off arrangements and greater rights, they could make a significant improvement in the health of workers in a very short period of time."

The conference was attended by over 200 safety reps and was massively over-subscribed.

Health and Safety Executive North West Regional Director David Ashton said:

"Simple precautions can greatly reduce the misery and expense caused by work related injuries and illness. This is the message that we are trying to get across through campaigns such as our 'Better Backs Campaign' and through enforcement action where necessary."

He added:

"Stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or demands. There is a clear distinction between pressure, which can create a 'buzz' and be a motivating factor and stress from overbearing pressure."

Referring to business he said:

"Companies have a legal duty to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees and tackling stress positively can help improve employee commitment to work, performance and productivity, customer satisfaction, as well as reduce staff turnover."

Alan Manning, TUC Regional Secretary, said:

"The figures show clearly that the North West's record on workplace health and safety is not good. At the TUC we want to do everything possible to ensure that these figures for death and injury are reduced in future years. Any death is a tragedy and we must do all we can to prevent any workplace risk.

This can only be done with the cooperation and commitment of enforcement agencies - the Health and Safety Executive and local authorities. We are all working together to help make working in the North West much safer. This conference aims to make everyone attending aware of how every workplace can be made healthier, safer and generally less of a risk to those who work within it."

Referring to the 200 Union Safety Reps attending, he said:

"It is important to note that workplaces with recognised union safety reps have a serious accident rate which is about half of that in non-union workplaces. Union safety reps do save lives."

"We must all do whatever it takes to reduce not only workplace death and injury but also the stress, bullying, harassment and other health issues which are making the lives of many working people a misery. There must be a determination to reduce or remove these from the workplace, as they are proving costly in terms of pain, suffering and their effect on businesses."

Source: GNN

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