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Unionsafety Pays Tribute To Dedicated CWU USR Kath Quinn

It is a very sad day when the CWU loses an active union member and Union Safety Rep. Unionsafety joins with the Lancs and Cumbria Branch in paying tribute to one of the union’s best safety reps.

Kath Quinn who passed away last month, was a steadfast supporter of the CWU, a very active safety rep, and a long time member of the NW BT Unions Health & Safety Co-ord. She was very active, both within her workplace, and in her own community. She was also a supporter of this website. She remained so after retiring from BT in 2015, furnishing the editor with news items and specifically her work with her local East Lancashire Prostate Cancer Support Group.

She always sent in the group’s newsletter until it broke up in 2018, for inclusion on the website. These newsletters contain important information on prostate cancer and are still available for download from the Unionsafety E-Library using search word 'Prostate'.

Kath played a big role from the 1990’s on the Co-ord and was heavily involved in our very successful USR Safety Seminars of 2002 and 2005 in particular.

These involved guest speakers from the HSE, BT and CWU to name just a few of those attending.

Chris Ingram, website editor, worked closely with Kath both on the Co-ord and later in supporting her addressing the H&S issues regarding DSE in her Blackburn DQ site.

He said:

“I was deeply saddened and shocked to learn of Kath’s untimely passing at the young age of 66 last month. She will be surely missed for the unassuming and lovely person she was.”

He recalled:

“Kath Quinn was a resolute and inspiring USR, whom I had the privilege of working with on the Co-ord in the 1990s and early 2000s. I will always be grateful for her steadfast support to the Co-ord and to me when working with her when I was my Branch’s Health and Safety Officer and this website’s editor.

She was steadfast in her USR work, defending the health & safety workplace conditions of her members in Blackburn; and was a very reliable person who would always do what she promised to do.”

Speaking from his Lancs and Cumbria Branch Office in Preston, John Southwell Branch H&S Co-ordinator said:

“Although I never worked closely with Kath, I met her a number of times at Blackburn AMTE & at Branch meetings!
I was very aware of the good work she has done over many years as one of our Branch’s USR’s, and I know too that she was very well thought of by the Branch members with whom she also worked.

She was by all accounts, a lovely person and will no doubt be very missed by her family & those who knew her.”

You can read her tribute page here

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