CWU's Chris Wesson Wins TUC Safety Representatives Award 2008
The TUC Safety Representatives annual Award recognises the contribution made by Safety Representatives in promoting health & safety in the workplace.
The CWU's Chris Wesson (Birmingham Engineering Branch) has been named as winner of the TUC Safety Rep's Award for 2008 by TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber. This is the third time there's been a CWU winner with Barry Gapes (London City West Branch) the winner in 2005 and Pete Eggleston (Birmingham Engineering Branch) in 2007.
This is fantastic news for the Union with Chris making it a "hat-trick" of wins for the CWU. We now lead the trade union movement in this competition. I'm delighted for Chris, his Branch and the CWU. Three wins in the last 4 years is a great result for us, demonstrating the quality and professionalism of our safety reps and the strength of our safety organisation within the CWU.
The CWU fully supports the vital contribution our safety representatives make to maintaining and improving health and safety in the workplace. It has often been said that 'it's better to be safe than sorry' and whilst this is easy to say, the reality of it requires the support and involvement of well trained Union Health and Safety Reps because even good employers can't do it on their own and dangerous employers don't do it at all!
Chris is one of many excellent CWU examples of how important our people value health and safety in the workplace. The presence of union safety reps prevents thousands of major injuries at work every year and there's an army of them out there doing a great job for our Union.
Opinion polls indicate that health and safety is considered one of the key areas people at work regard as a legitimate topic for trade union action.
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 Chris, Pete and Barry and all our safety reps in all of 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 once again 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 Chris's achievement individually.
Chris has been invited to receive his award at the TUC Congress in Brighton later this year, 8-11 September.
The General Secretary Billy Hayes has added his personal congratulations to Chris and said that “by its nature, CWU members' work can often be a hazardous occupation and dedicated safety reps like Chris undergo a great deal of training and play a vital role in helping to safeguard CWU members against the risks they encounter every day in their work environment. This accolade is just reward for their efforts”.
Source: CWU LTB574/08
