date: 8 August 2002 embargo: 00.01hrs, Saturday, 10 August 2002

Attention: Health and safety editors, Construction journals

Two pages

safety reps are the best and only recipe for construction safety, research proves

T he presence of safety reps is the best, and indeed, the only guarantee of good health and safety on construction sites, according to research published today (Saturday) in the TUC-backed safety magazine Hazards. Unions will use the evidence to demand more support for safety reps from employers, some of whom view safety reps with outright hostility, and government.

The research was conducted by academics in Northern Ireland (which operates the same health and safety system as the rest of the UK) and Ireland, for the health and safety authorities in both countries. The research looked at construction sites with good and bad safety records, and assessed the impact on that record of a whole range of factors. The authors concluded, 'the variable with the strongest relationship with safety compliance is the presence or absence of a safety representative.'

Safety reps were praised in the report for:

• pressing managements to do what they said they were going to do;

• encouraging workers to report hazards; and

• communicating effectively with the workers, including advising them against unsafe practices.

Writing up the research in Hazards magazine, which is published today (Saturday), TUC health and safety specialist, Owen Tudor said:

'It isn’t just that safety reps are the best way to improve safety. The research actually found that virtually nothing else had much effect. Safety reps are the best and the only way to really revitalise construction safety. The evidence is clear and unequivocal - wherever you look, safety reps have a positive impact on health and safety. Evidence-based policy making demands more support for safety reps.'

George Brumwell, TUC spokesperson on health and safety, and General Secretary of building workers union UCATT, said:

'The number of construction workers being killed on building sites is still far too high - the equivalent of a Potters Bar rail crash every single month. This report highlights what we have always believed - that only safety reps can make any real difference. The slaughter has to stop. Safety reps should now be made compulsory on all large sites in the UK, as they are going to be in Ireland.'

The Health and Safety Commission (HSC) is about to publish a major discussion document on rethinking construction health and safety, and the HSC is also conducting a year-long experiment into the effectiveness of roving safety reps in the industry (Worker Safety Advisers).

Notes to Editors:

The Irish study is the latest addition to a "union effect" dossier, compiled by the TUC-backed Hazards magazine, showing union organisation leads to better safety management, greater safety awareness at work and to far fewer workplace injuries.

Copies of Hazards magazine can be obtained from Rory O'Neill, PO Box 199, Sheffield S1 4YL. tel: 0114 267 8936. email: editor@hazards.org web: www.hazards.org . The article on the construction industry is at www.hazards.org/unioneffect

Safety Behaviour in the Construction Sector by Nick McDonald, Dept of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin and Victor Hrymak, School of Food Science and Environmental Health, DIT is available on the web at http://www.hsa.ie/pub/publications/conbehav.pdf

Contacts:

Media enquiries: 020 7467 1248 or media@tuc.org.uk

Other enquiries: Owen Tudor, TUC health and safety specialist, at otudor@tuc.org.uk

George Brumwell, Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians, 020 7622 2442

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Press release (800 words) issued 9 Aug 2002