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TUC Launches Safety Reps Charter The TUC launched a new charter this week to enhance the role of safety representatives in the workplace. The Safety Representatives Charter, launched to coincide with the 'European Week for the Healthy Workforce' campaign, makes the case for better communication with safety reps. It gives examples of how safety reps have made a real difference and how, by not involving them, workers have been injured or even killed. The charter points to research from around the world that consistently links consultation with workers, with union support behind them, to reduced injuries and disease at work. Recent Government statistics found that safety reps prevent between 8,000 and 13,000 workplace accidents and between 3,000 and 8,000 work-related illnesses each year in the UK. Safety reps have also helped to ensure that unionised workplaces have better standards of health and safety than in similar non-unionised ones. Speaking at the launch of the charter, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Union safety reps have a proven track record in reducing an organisation's serious injury record. A major extension of their role could therefore be the most significant a development in occupational health and safety since the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act. 'The proposals in our charter will help employers to consult with their workforce on health and safety issues. Most of these simply involve enforcing the existing legal obligations on employers which at present are often ignored.' Go to the TUC Safety Reps Charter pages here Source:TUC
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