date: 23 December 2002 embargo: 00.01 hrs, Tuesday, 7 January 2003

Attention: North West media

Traditional hazards still feature, but stress and RSI are the main workplace worries in the North West

Workers in the North West are worried about all the main workplace hazards - stress, RSI and display screen equipment - but they are also having to contend with back strains, slips and trips and noise, according to a TUC survey of workplace union safety reps published today (Tuesday).

The main issues of concern in the region were:

• overwork and stress - 51% of workplaces;

• repetitive strain injuries (RSI) - 40% of workplaces - the second highest level of concern in Great Britain (GB);

• display screen equipment (DSE) - 32% of workplaces

• back strains - 32% of workplaces; and

• slips and trips on the level - 31% of workplaces - the highest level of concern in GB.

North West TUC Regional Secretary Alan Manning said:

'The suggestion that new hazards at work replace the old ones certainly isn’t true in the North West. We cannot afford to be complacent when problems like noise and dusts are still around, and new diseases like RSI need to be addressed by a partnership of unions and employers. Most worrying of all is that slips and trips - which cause 9,000 broken bones every year around the country - are such a feature of a third of the North West’s workplaces.'

• Workers in the North West were more concerned about slips and trips, noise (24% of workplaces) and workplace transport accidents (11% of workplaces) than workers anywhere else in Great Britain, and showed the second highest level of concerns about dusts (21% of workplaces), dermatitis and asbestos.

Notes to Editors:

738 safety reps in the region took part in the national survey, which the TUC conducts every two years. The full survey, Health and safety 2002, is published on 7 January as part of the TUC’s Trade Union Trends series. Copies are available priced £30 from TUC Publications (0207).

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A series of TUC rights leaflets are available on our website and from the know your rights line 0870 600 4 882. Lines are open every day from 8am-10pm. Calls are charged at the national rate.

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Liz Chinchen on 020 7467 1248 or 07699 744115 (pager) or email lchinchen@tuc.org.uk

Other enquiries: Owen Tudor on 07788 715261 (mobile) or otudor@tuc.org.uk or Alan Manning on 07887 797156

Press release (500 words) issued 7 Jan 2003