Slips, trips and fall injuries are a significant problem in Royal Mail and BT and ALL work areas in which the CWU has members. Furthermore, they account for a huge majority of work-related accidents and injuries every year according to the HSE.
Royal Mail and the CWU work very closely on Health & Safety issues and accordingly next week (5th November) begins an inspection of work areas by both CWU and CMA Area Safety Reps.
Those not involved with the work of the CWU Safety Reps and Area Safety Reps are very much ignorant of and do not understand, the degree of work that CWU Safety Reps undertake in order to promote and secure the health and safety of their members at work.
All Branches have been advised of the work being done next work with Royal Mail, irrespective of whether or not they are operating in the Postal Constituency because the issues and actions being taken next week, can be directly duplicated in ALL work environments irrespective of who their Employers are. For example, within the T&FS Constituency, Branches can via their safety reps and Safety Co-ordinators; utilise some of the resources that will be used in the Royal Mail / CWU joint campaign next week.
Here Dave Joyce, CWU's National Health Safety and Environment Officer provides details of the work being undertaken by the Union's Health and Safety Experts in Royal Mail's buildings and the wider community in which CWU member's work:
Similar to the recent programme launched on Dogs, a joint initiative has been agreed to allow the CWU ASRs and CMA ASRs to visit the highest impacting units – as identified in the HIU Instructions file – and deploy a programme with the objective of raising awareness with the Delivery Workforce of the risk they face when delivering mail. This forms part of the STF Campaign launched across the business.
Slips, Trips and Falls continue to be one of the highest causes of injury and the highest reason for accident absence. In September the SHE team focussed on the 4 key ways to reduce the risk of Slips/Trips/Falls:
- Be prepared
- Identify Hazards
- Follow the Safe System of Work (SSOW)
- Dynamic Risk Assessment – Look Consider Decide
This joint initiative/campaign programme requires the CWU ASRs to make arrangements with Operational Managers/Delivery Office Managers and agree a date to visit the identified high impacting units in the ASR’s postcodes areas then share the materials with the delivery staff.
All the materials required with instructions can be downloaded below at the end of this page.
Utilising the Workplace Safety Reps is also key in this part of the initiative and Area Safety Rep’s involvement in this phase is very much appreciated by Royal Mail and the CWU.
The CMA ASR and SHE Advisor are required to attend the Unit, wherever possible in conjunction with the CWU ASR, in order to complete the specific actions identified. ASRs will need to review the materials and instructions and familiarise themselves with the materials in preparation of the visit.
CWU ASRs should, when ready, make contact with and inform the SHE Advisor when they intent to visit each of the delivery office high impacting units to allow the deployment of the campaign initiative to be tracked and impact and level of success of the initiative to be measured and reported back to Royal Mail HQ/CWU HQ with feedback from ASRs and SHE Advisors welcomed in order to consider the results and future actions.
With this programme there is also an ASR Survey to complete which will provide further information to analyse with a view to improving performance in these Units and across the business.
ASRs will be carrying out a formal Safety Inspection as part of this campaign concentrating on the following on the provided ASR Task check list:-
Staff:
Checking if staff have received a STF WTLL, have they seen the STF poster? Have they been briefed on the Delivery SSOW? Do staff understand the ’Look-Consider-Decide’ approach within the Delivery SSOW? Are hazards reported as per the WRAP process? Do they have Spikeys? Are staff wearing RM footwear? Do staff know how to order RM footwear? Is footwear in good condition? Have staff received Delivering Safely training in the last 3 years?
Managers:
Check if Front Line Managers have delivered the WTLL to staff? Have Front Line Managers displayed the STF Poster? Have Front Line Managers briefed staff on the Delivery SSOW? Have they completed the STF Manager Check List with their Site Safety Rep. (If not, complete it with them). Is the Severe Weather Preparation Checklist up to date? Is the WRAP process in place and up to date with 20% of walks being reviewed, as per SHE Calendar? Have Spikeys been issued with signature? Do managers know how to authorise and order footwear for staff? Do managers understand and use the Alternative Footwear Policy?
It is for the ASRs and the Managers to agree a mutually convenient time and date for each unit.
The campaign materials include the requirement that there will be at least a weeks notice of the commencement date at each unit.
This exercise at each Unit does not have to be done in a set timeframe and will take as long as it takes to do it thoroughly because the intention is that we jointly aim to have an effect on Slips, Trips and Falls risk levels.
Any CWU ASR requiring additional time in order to deploy the campaign initiative should apply in the normal way, quoting this Royal Mail/CWU nationally agreed campaign initiative as the reason for any applications. Any problems can be ‘escalated’ using the normal nationally agreed RM/CWU Health and safety Disputes/Escalations procedure as contained in RMG SHE Standard 5.1.
The Campaign will officially begin on Monday 5 November 2018 in order to allow any necessary preparation for ASRs.
Royal Mail Director/Senior Manager level support has been agreed for this initiative.
Resources you can download:
Delivery (Royal Mail Operations) SSOWv1.1
Instructions for STF HIU Campaign 2018-Identified Sites
Outdoor Risk STF Pages – HIU
Severe Weather Notification Brief – Template v1.1
STF ASR Tasks 2018
STF Oct 2018 Front Line Manager Activity Plan
STF Poster Oct 2018
STF WTLL Oct 2018
Use and Care of Spikeys SSoW v2..1doc
Source: CWU / Dave Joyce / unionsafety
