Chapter 10 - Protecting health at work

Chapter 10: Protecting people's health at work

10.1 Introduction

The health, safety and welfare of people at work is an important strategic area for trade unions. The TUC works with union safety and legal specialists, in partnership with the Health and Safety Commission, and with employers, MPs, sufferers' organisations and professionals for better prevention, compensation and treatment.

The 1998 Congress carried a composite resolution which set the themes of the TUC's work this year:

· strengthening the role of workplace union safety representatives;

· stronger enforcement of health and safety laws; and

· a greater emphasis on occupational health, asbestos and bullying.

We have welcomed the Government's increasing commitment, demonstrated most clearly in the Strategic Appraisal of health and safety consultative document, launched in July. Six thousand copies of the summary were distributed by the TUC to safety reps. We will use the Strategic Appraisal to argue for extending the powers and scope of safety reps, extending significantly the fiscal incentives for better safety standards, promoting access to occupational health services and rehabilitation, and improving enforcement. The Ministers responsible for health and safety, Michael Meacher and Alan Meale, have met regularly with TUC representatives over the year, allowing us to explore these issues in greater depth.

TUC pamphlets on health and safety in 1998/99 Managing asthma at work, October No more "men only" health and safety: what women want at work by Pete Kirby, November Twenty-one years of saving lives: the 1998 survey of safety reps by Pete Kirby, November Back strain and RSI: the hidden workplace epidemics, December Work stress: a suitable case for a code by Jacqueline Paige, December Preventing violence at work: violent times by Julia Gallagher, January Noise at work: indecent exposure by RNID and TUC, March Smoking in the workplace: the butts stop here by Action on Smoking and Health, the National Asthma Campaign and TUC, April Women's health and safety at work: a woman's work is never safe by Jacqueline Paige, April Gender sensitive health and safety by Julia Gallagher, August

Partnership has been an increasingly important theme of the TUC's health and safety work, and a major statement will be launched in the autumn at a conference on the issue. During 1998/99, the TUC:

· backed, with the British Safety Industry Federation, the All-Party Group on Occupational Safety and Health, which is chaired by Michael Clapham. TheGroup held meetings on Occupational Health Projects, violence, noise at work, latex and child safety;

· provided the secretariat for the National Occupational Health Forum, chaired by Professor Malcolm Harrington, bringing together employers, unions and health professionals; and

· strengthened relations with small firms organisations, especially the Forum of Private Business and the British Chambers of Commerce, with whom the TUC plans to run twenty-five joint seminars as part of the HSE Good Health is Good Business campaign during 2000.

In addition, the TUC worked with the CBI, on the Health and Safety Commission and in various bodies such as BSi where a joint business-union voice is sometimes lacking.

10.2 The Health and Safety Commission

The Health and Safety at Work Act will be 25 years old this October, and the TUC's membership of the tripartite Health and Safety Commission (HSC) continues to provide us with a unique say over health and safety conditions at work. The TUC Commissioners are George Brumwell and Anne Gibson from the General Council and Owen Tudor from the office, who replaced Alan Grant in November.

The TUC has taken a lead in pressing for greater support for workplace safety reps, a gender sensitive approach to health and safety, stronger enforcement and tougher action on asbestos, asthma and stress. Fortnightly briefings have been provided to Commissioners, and the TUC has fed the experiences and views of union members on HSC advisory bodies into the Commission. In January, TUC Commissioners met unions representing the staff of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to draw on their experience and to inform them about TUC priorities.

The TUC has submitted formal responses to the HSC, after consulting union health and safety specialists, on the following issues:

· the Commission's ten-year occupational health strategy;

· a proposed legal duty on employers to investigate accidents;

· proposals to ban the importation, sale and use of white asbestos;

· how stress at work can be managed;

· the control of legionnaires' disease;

· the contained use of genetically modified organisms;

· chemical hazard information packaging and labelling;

· the safety of pressure systems; and

· revised regulations on the control of movement below ground and on quarry safety.

In December, the Executive Committee welcomed the Government's decision to increase HSE resources by 17 per cent over the next three years. But concern was expressed that the increase was made possible by levying charges for safety case activity in the gas, oil and rail industries, and for the implementation of the new Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations. The TUC sought and received assurances from Ministers that charging would not cover general inspections, and that it would be kept under review. The TUC submitted comments on the detail of the charging regime in August, and unions have been asked to monitor the impact.

In February, the General Council endorsed proposals, also adopted by the HSC, for a national biotechnology council to oversee the contentious ethical issues and the range of advisory bodies in the field. Two such bodies were eventually established, and the TUC nominated Roger Spiller of MSF and Dr Julian Kinderlerer to the Human Genetics Commission, and Barry Leathwood of the T&G and Professor Andrew Watterson to the Agricultural and Environmental Biotechnology Commission. The TUC participated in the Human Genetics Advisory Commission's inquiry into genetic testing for employment and welcomed its recommendation in July that the HSC should oversee the control of such testing.

In May, the TUC supported the publication of the first ever three-year HSC/E corporate plan, made possible by the new financial settlement, and TUC priorities (worker participation, occupational health and social equality) were all made strategic themes for the Commission. The TUC wants future corporate plans to be the subject of greater consultation and involvement and TUC safety conventions will be timed to maximise union involvement in the planning process.

Support for HSC advisory committee members

The TUC nominates trade unionists to sit on all 21HSC advisory committees. The 114 current members are listed in the box below. A regular bulletin, Safety News from the TUC (also sent to union health and safety specialists, members of the TUC Toxic Substances Network and trades union councils active on health and safety) provides TUC representatives with briefings on policy and responses to HSC consultations, as well as reports from TUC representatives on HSC advisory committees. The design of Safety News was revamped in autumn 1998, and 11 issues were published in 1998/99.

In line with the General Council's decision that HSC advisory committee representatives missing three consecutive meetings should be replaced, the TUC has provided those representatives with one day of training a year on matters related to their work, and these were held again in late 1998, organised in separate batches for experienced and new members of advisory committees. As a result of the new rules, TUC representatives' attendance records have improved.

In December, the Executive Committee agreed TUC Guidance for Members of HSC Advisory Committees, on which unions and the members themselves had been consulted, to:

· assist members of advisory committees to know what was expected of them;

· inform others in the trade union movement about the role of such representatives; and

· provide prospective members with some idea of what is expected of them.

TUC members of HSC advisory committees are also invited to the annual TUC Safety Convention, the fourth of which took place, with 50 participants, at the TUC National Education Centre over two days in April 1999, with Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, Director of the European Agency for Safety and Health as the keynote speaker. TUC Commissioners made their annual report to union health and safety specialists as part of the event.

**** Note to printers style as page 141/142 of last years report!****

TUC membership of Health and Safety Commission (HSC) Advisory Committees

The TUC is represented on all HSC Advisory Committees. Representatives are chosen from a variety of trade union sources, including the TUC General Council. Those on this list are referred to by the body which nominated them to the TUC and are the current members at the time of writing: those new since the 1998 Report are marked with an asterisk.

The Health and Safety Commission

George Brumwell (TUC)

Anne Gibson (TUC)

Owen Tudor (TUC)*

Subject advisory committees

Adventure Activities Advisory Committee

Rob Henderson (NUT)

Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens

Ron Owen (TUC

Pam Smith (MSF)

Paul Taylor (UNISON)

Advisory Committee on Dangerous Substances

Dave Matthews (FBU)

Tom Mellish (TUC)

vacancy

Advisory Committee on Genetic Modification

Dot Carey (IPMS)

Julian Kinderlerer (AUT)

Ron Owen (TUC)

Roger Spiller (MSF)

Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances

Nigel Bryson (GMB)*

Alistair Hay (AUT)

Liz Jenkins (IPMS)

Ged Philbin (GMB)

Ionising Radiations Advisory Committee

John Kane (GMB)

Hamish Porter (MSF)

Mike Smallwood (AEEU)*

Janet Turp (EMA)

Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee

Gordon Bellard (EMA)

Stephen Napier (IPMS)

Susan Parry (AUT)

vacancy (MSF)

Occupational Health Advisory Committee

Doug Russell (USDAW)

Claire Sullivan (CSP)*

Kim Sunley (T&G)

Industry advisory committees

Agriculture

Peter Dracup (T&G)

Peter Kirby (T&G)

Barry Leathwood (T&G)

Theresa Mackay (T&G)

Ivan Monckton (T&G)

Stuart Neale (T&G)

Ceramics

John Alcock (CATU)

Nigel Bryson (GMB)

Len McCluskey (T&G)

Garry Oakes (CATU)

Roger Pearman (CATU)

Mick Young (CATU)

Construction

Bob Blackman (T&G)*

Malcolm Bonnett (AEEU)*

Nigel Bryson (GMB)

John Connolly (UNISON)*

Ivan Moldawczuk (UCATT)

Alan Ritchie (UCATT)*

Deep Mined Coal

Ross Letham (NACODS)*

R Young (BACM)

Education Services

Phil Barley (T&G)

Steve Craig (NATFHE)

Hope Daley (UNISON)

Ian Draper (NASUWT)

Erica Halvorsen (AUT)*

Peter Hart (MSF)

Dave Kempson (GMB)

Sharon Liburd (ATL)

Andrew Morris (NUT)

Ken Wimbor (EIS)

Foundries

Malcolm Bonnett (AEEU)*

Alan Harvey (AEEU)

Ron Marron (AMU)

Anthony McCarthy (NUDAGO)

Tim Parker (MSF)

Colin Poyner (GMB)

Alan Robson (CSEU)

John Walsh (T&G)*

Health Services

Mick Balfour (GMB)

Mike Chapman (MSF)

Carol Dolbear (MSF)

Philip Green (UNISON)

Eleanor Ransom (SoR)

Jon Richards (UNISON)

Claire Sullivan (CSP)

Kim Sunley (T&G)

vacancy (UNISON)

Oil

Laurie Attwood (NUMAST)

Robert Buirds (AEEU)

Jake McLeod (T&G)

A Campbell Reid (MSF)

Roger Spiller (MSF)

John Taylor (T&G)

Steve Todd (RMT)

Robert Wilson (AEEU)

Ron Wood (T&G)*

Paper and Board

George Beattie (GPMU)

Malcolm Bonnett (AEEU)*

Mike Eade (T&G)

Alan Harvey (AEEU)*

Paul Hiett (GPMU)*

Bud Hudspith (GPMU)

Kevin Willis (GMB)*

Printing

Brian Alton (GPMU)

Dick Barker (GPMU)

Tim Gopsill (NUJ)

Mike Griffiths (GPMU)

Bud Hudspith (GPMU)

Andy Metcalf (GPMU)

Denis Spencer (GPMU)

Peter Taylor (GPMU)

Michael Walsh (GPMU)

Railways

Dennis Cameron (TSSA)

Vernon Hince (RMT)

William Mackenzie (ASLEF)*

Bob Shannon (AEEU)

Rubber

Maureen Armstrong (T&G)

Brian Hall (GMB)*

John Hann (GMB)

Bill Holmes (MSF)

Jim Marshall (GMB)

Gary McKittrick (MSF)

John Picken (T&G)

Duncan Simpson (AEEU)

Textiles

Sheila Bearcroft (GMB)

Peter Booth (T&G)

Des Farrell (GMB)

Jack Firth (KFAT)

Paul Gates (KFAT)

Gordon Rudd (PLCWTWU)

John Rutherford (T&G)

10.3 Safety representatives

The 1998 Congress composite resolution endorsed some of the policies for workplace union safety representatives contained in the April 1998 General Council strategy statement - in particular:

· the creation of roving safety reps to cover workplaces without recognition (especially small firms); and

· the right to stop the job and to issue Provisional Improvement Notices to stimulate employer compliance with health and safety law.

In addition, the TUC is pressing for rights to enforce consultation, and further government funding of safety rep training (see Chapter 12 for more about TUC education for safety reps).

There are 200,000 safety reps, with rights to consultation, to investigate, to time off for training, and to establish joint safety committees. Government research suggests that the use of these rights reduces serious injuries by over 50per cent. Since they were established in 1977, the TUC estimates that safety reps have saved the lives of thousands of workers and prevented over a two and a half million serious injuries. But under successive Conservative Governments, they were neglected and their role ignored. We have made it a priority to increase their profile and the level of public support they are given byGovernment.

During European Health and Safety Week in October 1998, the TUC issued 100,000 copies of Workers, use your Safety Reps: Safety Reps, use your rights, stressing the positive role they play and marking the 21st anniversary of their creation. We are discussing with the HSE and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents an annual Safety and Health Rep of the Year award for launching in 2000. Safety reps are now regularly featured by the HSE in their guidance publications, and in July, the Minister for health and safety wrote to Ministerial colleagues urging them to promote the positive role of safety reps in the workforces for which those Ministers were responsible.

Further support for safety reps has been delivered through the TUC's best selling publication, Hazards at Work, of which over 25,000 copies have been sold. The 1998 update was issued in October and work is underway on the 1999 version. On 1 September 1999, the complete publication will form a major part of the new TUC health and safety web site, developed with funding from the European Commission.

In October the TUC met Ministers to brief them on the Congress resolution. Ministers asked the HSC to review arrangements for consulting workers (and for worker representatives in particular), and in March the Commission established a sub-group to draw up a Discussion Document covering all the points in the General Council statement. Safety reps were highlighted as one of the key issues for the Strategic Appraisal. Alongside the formal HSC review, the TUC pursued with the CBI (under the auspices of the HSE) a possible joint framework agreement on best practice for consultation, based on the TUC's partnership principles.

Surveying safety reps

The TUC conducted a second biennial survey of safety reps in 1998. Six thousand responded, and the report, with data preparation by MORI, was published in November as Twenty-one years of saving lives by Pete Kirby (see box).

The biennial TUC survey of safety reps has now established itself as one of the main sources of evidence about health and safety standards in British workplaces, and is quoted internationally. The survey enables the TUC to base health and safety campaigns on solid evidence of what happens in real workplaces.

No other survey covers so many workplace health and safety experiences, and the TUC is only beginning to explore the uses of the resulting data. We conducted a series of mini-surveys in early 1998, targeting safety reps from the main sample, some of which were analysed later in the year. Reports were published on what women safety reps perceived as major concerns, about stress and about musculo-skeletal disorders.

Results of the 1998 TUC Survey of Safety Reps The main issues of concern to the 6,000 safety reps who responded were: · overwork or stress (77 per cent); · display screen equipment (48 per cent); · slips, trips and falls (46 per cent); · back strain (44 per cent); · repetitive strain injuries or RSI (37 per cent); · chemicals and solvents (33 per cent); · noise (30 per cent); · violence (28 per cent); · high temperatures (27 per cent); and · long hours of work (25 per cent). In each of these areas, the TUC has developed appropriate responses (see details of our campaigns below). On high temperatures, TUC pressure on the HSE to advise a maximum temperature for healthy working on the same basis as they set a minimum temperature has been met with guidance to be published this summer. On working time - covered in Chapter 2 - the TUC is preparing guidance for safety reps, and we are currently revising the guidance on eye tests associated with display screen equipment which will be published at Congress with financial support from the Accor Group.

10.4 International health and safety

The TUC plays an increasing role in international health and safety, providing the ETUC with leadership on cost benefit analysis and competitiveness and on musculo-skeletal disorders, and participating in the chemical safety network of the ICFTU. In June, the TUC proposed the main health and safety sections of the ETUC Congress Resolution, stressing the employability aspects of European health and safety directives, and the need for grassroots workplace organisation. In October, the TUC was represented at the first EU-USA conference on health and safety, as part of the transatlantic agenda. The TUC played a key role in bringing together representatives of the ETUC and the AFL-CIO to draft a joint union statement stressing the need to develop the transatlantic dialogue, and prioritising joint action against musculo-skeletal disorders, asbestos, violence and toxic chemicals.

The adoption of the Amsterdam Treaty means that social partners will have a far greater role in the development of health and safety policy in Europe. The ETUC and the employers' organisation UNICE, providing there is joint agreement, can develop health and safety directives without reference to the Council of Ministers. The TUC has pressed for such issues to be dealt with through the existing tripartite structure of the Advisory Committee for Safety, Hygiene and Health (ACSHH) which, because of the expansion of the European Union, will be subject to restructuring in order to accommodate the joining member states. The TUC's members of ACSHH are Anne Gibson and Tom Mellish, with Maureen Rooney and Owen Tudor as alternates.

During the year, the TUC has participated in the work of the ACSHH's ad hoc groups on planning (Tom Mellish); self-employment (where the TUC provided the rapporteur);occupational health and safety management systems; and violence (chaired by Anne Gibson). TUC representatives will also be involved in the ad hoc groups on chemical safety (Dr Alastair Hay), restructuring the ACSHH; and musculo-skeletal disorders (Nigel Bryson of the GMB), where the TUC is pressing with Nordic colleagues for the development of a draft Directive on repetitive and monotonous work. The TUC is also developing proposals with the ETUC (and with the Forum of Private Business and their European counterpart, UEAPME) a programme of work on how unions can help improve health and safety in small firms, starting with a joint seminar.

On occupational health and safety management systems, the TUC has participated in a BSi discussion on the development of a certifiable standard on the basis of BS8800. In line with concerns developed by ETUC and ICFTU, we have worked with the CBI and other employers to ensure that BSi does not support a certifiable standard, emphasising instead the role that the ILO could play, and domestically calling on the HSC/E to develop guidance about management standards.

The TUC has continued to support the work of the European Agency for Safety and Health based in Bilbao (Anne Gibson serves on the Board with Owen Tudor as alternate). In June, we successfully lobbied the European Parliament, with Peter Skinner MEP, to provide the Agency with the funds necessary to run European Week of Health and Safety at Work from 2000. Anne Gibson also represents the TUC on the board of the Trade Union Technical Bureau.

In April, the EU Economic and Social Committee adopted an Opinion on asbestos which had been proposed by the TUC and for which we provided the rapporteur's expert. The Opinion called for an EU Directive banning the import of white asbestos and for more work on a register for asbestos in public buildings. The TUC is also providing the rapporteur's expert for an ECOSOC Opinion on the EU Carcinogens Directive.

10.5 Women, work and health

The TUC believes that a gender neutral approach to health and safety ignores the impact of health and safety on women, and understates the impact of gender on workplace risks. Our gender agenda aims to introduce a gender-sensitive approach, stressing the need to address women's concerns. The Women, Work and Health steering group is overseeing our programme of work on this issue (see box).

The TUC Women, Work and Health Steering Group Lucy Anderson (TUC) Hope Daley (UNISON) Elizabeth Jenkins (IPMS) Imogen Radford (PCS) Eleanor Ransom (SoR) Doug Russell (USDAW) Claire Sullivan (CSP) Owen Tudor (TUC)

In November, the TUC held a seminar to draw attention to the lack of research into women's health and safety, introduced by Alan Meale MP and addressed by Dr Elisabeth Lagerhof, Dr Karen Messing and Dr Lesley Rushton, and representatives from the HSE and the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. A report of a TUC mini-survey of women safety reps was published as No more "men only" health and safety: what women want at work by Pete Kirby (see box). A report of the seminar by Julia Gallagher was published in August 1999 as Gender sensitive health and safety.

Summary of No more "men only" health and safety Key findings of the survey were that: · 85 per cent of respondents had never been asked for specific information about health and safety before; · the key hazards of concern to women at work are: stress (88 per cent), manual handling (63 per cent), and RSI (53 per cent); · one in five (22 per cent) women safety reps identified the menopause as a health and safety problem; · over half (54 per cent) of all employers had not yet conducted risk assessments for pregnant workers; and · one in five employers (19 per cent) had a health and safety policy addressing women's health and safety concerns.

Arising out of the mini-survey report's recommendations, the TUC organised a reception at Congress House for women and health and safety activists to mark International Workers' Memorial Day on 28 April 1999 (the first time that the TUC has marked this day - a decision taken by the Executive in December), addressed by the Minister for Public Health (and for Women) Tessa Jowell. On the day, the TUC launched guidance for safety reps on how to build women's concerns into health and safety policies and risk assessments (Restoring the balance: women's health and safety at work); and a report on women's health and safety based on the HSE Self-reported Work-related Illness (SWI) Survey (A woman's work is never safe by Jacqueline Paige).

The TUC also undertook to:

· build women's concerns into its campaigns on musculo-skeletal disorders (back pain and RSI) and violence at work;

· explore the health and safety implications of the menopause (a mini-survey of safety reps will take place later this year); and

· press the HSE to develop an action programme on women's health and safety - the HSC corporate plan launched in May 1999 made social equality, including gender, a strategic theme.

The Women, Work and Health met again in July to discuss a work programme for 1999/2000 which would include progress towards proportionality for TUC members of HSC advisory committees, reforming TUC training for safety reps to meet the needs of women safety reps (especially part time workers), and plans for joint work on women's back pain with the National Back Pain Association for the October 1999 Back Care and Health and Safety Weeks.

10.6 Campaigning against hazards

The issues which concern workplace safety reps largely determine the TUC's priorities for campaigning. Our campaigns not only improve health and safety standards at work, but also demonstrate that unions care about the issues which matter to working people.

Occupational health

As stressed in the 1998 Congress composite resolution, occupational health has become a key issue. The HSE consulted on a ten-year strategy for occupational health in the autumn, and the TUC's views were submitted in December. At the same time, the HSC's Occupational Health Advisory Committee drew up a report on occupational health services, submitted to Ministers in July 1999. These initiatives offer the chance to develop an accessible occupational health system, meeting the needs of employers and employees -we will continue to call for a legal right of access to occupational health services for employees. In May, the TUC and the Forum of Private Business submitted a joint statement on occupational health in small firms to the Ministers for public health and health and safety, calling for:

· a one stop shop approach to occupational health advice;

· the provision of information by employers to their workers about potentially hazardous exposures at work; and

· the provision by GPs of access to occupational health expertise.

In December, the Government published its white paper Smoking kills, which contained a proposal that the HSC should develop an Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) on passive smoking at work. The Executive Committee considered this in February, after a brief consultation with unions on the principles involved, and supported proposals to restrict smoking and promote negotiations between unions and employers at workplace level, in particular over smoking policies that recognised the needs of both smokers and non-smokers. In April, the TUC, National Asthma Campaign and Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) published Smoking in the workplace: the butts stop here - a guide to the current state of the law, how to develop smoking policies, and supporting the call for a legally enforceable ACoP on welfare grounds. The HSC published a consultation document on such an ACoP at the end of July, and the Executive Committee has agreed to sponsor a conference on implementing that ACoP on National No Smoking Day 2000.

In March, the Executive Committee considered the Government's best practice guide for managers in the public sector, dealing with reducing sickness absence. Managing attendance in the public sector had originally been portrayed as an attack on malingerers, but union involvement in the Cabinet Office steering group (Dave Prentis of UNISON and Owen Tudor from the TUC) improved the guide, especially in terms of health and safety and promoting consultation with unions. Guidance for unions on the pack (and copies of it) were circulated in April, so that union officers were in a position to challenge the worst aspects of the initiative.

The TUC also endorsed the HSC Construction Industry Advisory Committee campaign to improve health and safety in the construction industry, Working Well Together, and, after consultation with unions in the sector, applied to be able to use the logo on relevant TUC materials.

Stress and overwork

Stress continues to be the major concern for safety reps and the TUC. In December the TUC published the results of a mini-survey of trade union safety reps, Work stress: a suitable case for a code by Jacqueline Paige, which examined the extent and nature of occupational stress and called for an Approved Code of Practice (ACoP), to clarify the steps which employers are legally required to take - see box. The HSC published a Discussion Document in April 1999 which sought comments on whether an ACoP was an appropriate way to address stress in the workplace. After consultation with unions and a union seminar in May, the TUC submitted views (Stressing the law) at the end of July.

Stress: main conclusions of the TUC mini-survey of safety reps One in three employers had a policy on stress at work (31 per cent). However, three-quarters (76 per cent) developed that policy after 1995 - when the HSE introduced its first Guidance to employers on preventing workplace stress. A significant one in four safety reps, felt that their employer's stress policy had been very or partly effective. Counselling was the most common method promoted to deal with stress-related problems (35 per cent), followed by health promotion (23 per cent), stress management schemes (15 per cent), involvement of trade unions (19 per cent) and flexible working arrangements (10 per cent). Over half of the employers who had developed a stress policy (56 per cent) had consulted the union on the policy. Where unions had been consulted, one in four safety reps said that the policy had been very or partly successful, compared with one in ten where the union had not been consulted. Employers also took action on stress far more frequently where they had consulted the union on their stress policy than where they had not - 14 per cent of workplaces where unions were consulted had conducted stress audits and 21 per cent had flexible working arrangements.

Bullying has been identified as one of the main causes of stress at work. In October 1998 the TUC held a successful national conference to launch our anti-bullying campaign `No Excuses - beat bullying at work' with publication of guidance for employers and union negotiators, a telephone hotline and information booths across the country. In December an NOP survey for the TUC showed that five million people of working age had experienced bullying at work. February saw the publication, in collaboration with the Industrial Society, of a video and training package on the subject. The TUC is represented by Tom Mellish on the administrative board of the British Occupational Health Research Foundation study into bullying at work, which will survey 40,000 working people.

In October 1998 the TUC hosted a successful national conference on alcohol and drugs in the workplace in conjunction with Alcohol Concern and the Institute for the Study of Drug Dependency. The conference was addressed by Alan Meale MP, Anne Gibson (MSF), Jimmy Knapp (RMT) and the General Secretary. The TUC was represented at ILO conferences on the issue in Belgium and Sweden by Tom Mellish. The TUC has been concerned at the growing use of testing by employers. The TUC will be developing guidance on alcohol and drug policies for union negotiators and employers later in the year, and we will be working further with Alcohol Concern in developing an advice network and best practice in this area.

Back strain and RSI

The commonest reason why people take time off work because of work-related illness is back strain or RSI. In September, the TUC-backed National Occupational Health Forum proposed to Health Ministers the introduction of a 'healthy workplace contract' to deal with back pain as part of the Our Healthier Nation strategy. In March, the Government announced a major initiative, Back in Work, to address the problems identified by the Forum, stimulating employers and others to reduce back strain. Organisations were invited to sign up to a joint statement of intent developed by the HSC and the Minister for Public Health, Tessa Jowell. The Executive Committee formally endorsed the statement in March and urged unions to do the same. The TUC is submitting a bid to provide guidance and training for safety reps, and supporting a bid by the Forum of Private Business to test action by GPs and Occupational Health Projects to address the problem in small firms.

In launching the Government's initiative, Ministers quoted from a TUC report, The hidden workplace epidemics, which was launched in December. The report was based on a TUC mini-survey of safety reps (see box), and proposed:

· a major Government initiative to prevent back strain (realised in the Back in Work initiative);

· that managers and safety reps should monitor sickness absence due to back strain and RSI;

· action by employers and insurers to rehabilitate back strain and RSI sufferers; and

· enforcement of risk assessments for RSI by the HSE.

Back strain and RSI: findings of the TUC mini-survey of safety reps The research revealed that: · only 17 per cent of businesses had calculated the costs of back strain, and even fewer (11 per cent) had costed the impact of RSI; · under a third of employers provide treatment, physiotherapy or rehabilitation to back strain or RSI sufferers; · fewer than half of the employers surveyed monitored the number of workers suffering back strain or RSI; and · even fewer employers monitored the number of sick days taken as a result of back strain (43 per cent) or RSI (29 per cent).

At Congress in 1998, the National Union of Journalists called for action to improve the chances of successful litigation for RSI sufferers, and in April, the TUC held a seminar for union health and safety specialists, legal officers and lawyers, about the state of medical and legal knowledge on RSI. Early findings from research which the TUC helped develop at University College London were reported, and these were published in July by Bruce Linn and Jane Greening. The TUC commented that their findings would provide comfort and confidence for RSI sufferers, showing the physical impact of RSI. The TUC continued to work closely with the RSI Association, for example on rehabilitation, and in June, we provided the venue for their Annual Meeting. The TUC will help with events to mark the tenth anniversary of the RSI Association in November, and has endorsed plans for an International RSI Awareness Day on the last day of February every year.

Toxic substances

Following on from the August 1998 TUC report Masking the problem, in November, the TUC submitted a response to the DETR consultation document on the sustainable production and use of chemicals, stressing the need for the precautionary principle to apply, calling for a toxic use reduction strategy and questioning the possibility of independent scientific decision-making. The TUC joined with the HSE, the Solvents Industry Association and the Environment Agency to hold a conference at Congress House in January 1999 on solvent safety. Hilda Palmer of the Greater Manchester Hazards Centre spoke for the TUC about worker involvement in substitution projects.

In June 1999, the TUC helped launch the new HSE approach to controlling toxic chemicals at the workplace, COSHH Essentials, developed in partnership by the HSE, TUC and CBI and the first material co-badged by all three organisations. The TUC organised sessions for safety reps to test the material in the development process, and hosted a seminar for union officials on the emerging plans during the autumn of 1998. The HSE is providing £40,000 for the TUC to develop guidance for safety reps on the new initiative, to produce training materials and to fund 1200 training places for safety reps - the first time that the Government has provided full funding for TUC safety rep training since the Conservatives withdrew the TUC education grant.

Noise

In March the TUC and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) launched a report on noise-induced hearing loss, as the start of a campaign aimed at raising awareness of the problems of noise (especially in workplaces where noise had not previously been identified as a problem) and pressing employers to do more to implement existing safety legislation. The campaign and the report, Indecent exposure, and a very successful reception for MPs at the House of Commons, were endorsed by Michael Meacher, and sponsored by the UKOOA, who will also fund fringe meetings at the three party conferences this autumn, at which the TUC will be represented.

Indecent exposure was based on a Labour Research Department (LRD) survey, which found that:

· a quarter of respondents said that they experience discomfort from noise for more than four hours a day;

· half the respondents were concerned at noise levels where they worked, but only one in six had raised the issue with their employer;

· employers were found to be ignorant of the risks and the measures they were required to take, especially in Call Centres.

Violence

In January 1999 the TUC published the report Violent times by Julia Gallagher which found that:

· one in five workers are subject to a violent attack or abuse at work every year;

· nurses are most at risk, followed by the security industry, care workers and education and welfare workers; and

· younger women are the most likely to be attacked, with more than one in ten women aged 25-34 reporting actual physical violence.

The report called, amongst other things, for employers to treat violence at work as part of health and safety management and not just a criminal issue, and to discuss the matter with unions. It was launched at the House of Commons with the endorsement of Alan Meale MP, and he asked the HSC to develop a programme of work on the issue. Tom Mellish represents the TUC on the Inter-departmental Working Group on Violence to Staff.

Transport safety

The 1998 Congress carried a resolution about occupational road risk, calling for better guidance and consideration of legislative action. The TUC continues to support the Managing Occupational Road Risk of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents and BRAKE, the road safety charity, and has pressed Ministers at the Department of Health, DETR and health and safety Ministers over the issue.

In March 1999 the DETR published a consultation document which examined the arrangements for improving the management of safety across the transport sector drawn up by a Transport Safety Review Advisory Panel on which Tom Mellish represented the TUC. The primary recommendation was for transport safety to be the responsibility of the HSC. In its response, Safety on the move, the TUC supported this approach but expressed reservations about how it might apply in the marine and aviation sectors with their specialised inspectorates and international legislation.

In particular, Safety on the move recommended that the HSE take over the enforcement of certain road risks, in particular those which could be managed by employers, and the Executive Committee in June suggested that this could be done by requiring employers operating road transport fleets to obtain a licence to operate based on a safety case which the HSE could oversee. This proposal will need to be discussed further with union officers.

Asthma

The TUC continues to campaign for a legally enforceable Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) on preventing occupational asthma, and in October, published Managing asthma at work, the report of a joint TUC-National Asthma Campaign conference on the issue, supported by the European Commission SAFE programme. The TUC, together with the National Asthma Campaign and the Royal College of Nursing, organised a meeting of the All Party Group on Occupational Safety and Health in April to raise the issue of asthma and dermatitis caused by the use of natural rubber latex, and it was agreed at that meeting to lobby Ministers on the need to control the problem especially in the NHS. AnHSC consultation document proposing an asthma ACoP is expected shortly.

Asbestos

The composite resolution carried at the 1998 Congress called for a continued campaign to ban the use and importation of asbestos. In September 1998, the EU scientific committee declared that the substitutes for asbestos were safer, clearing the way for the European Commission to propose a ban on white asbestos imports, and at the same time the HSC issued a Consultation Document on a British ban. John Monks and Peter Skinner MEP called on employers, suppliers and importers to follow companies like Volvo and give up asbestos ahead of a ban.

In December, the Executive Committee agreed the TUC's response which pressed the need for a ban on white asbestos, for a register of asbestos in public buildings and for stronger controls over the exposure of workers in repair and construction. In May, the HSC agreed to recommend a British ban. Ministers welcomed this, but delayed its implementation to await similar action at EU level. The General Secretary wrote to the Deputy Prime Minister in June urging him not to delay further, and also lobbied European Commissioners to get them to act swiftly, rather than wait for the outcome of a legal challenge by the Canadian government under WTO rules. A decision on the ban is expected before Congress.

10.7 Compensation for injuries and ill-health

Many people suffer injuries and illness every year as a result of their work. Unions help tens of thousands of victims to obtain compensation through the courts and the benefit system. Unions are the main source of assistance in civil compensation cases, and, after the Benefits Agency itself, are the main source of information and advice about Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit, the main state benefit for workplace injury and illness. We have also played a key role in the development of criminal injuries compensation. The TUC's objectives are:

· to defend and improve unions' ability to deliver compensation for victims; and

· to publicise the key role played by unions in providing victims with access to that compensation.

The TUC has continued to monitor the effect of the new rules on the recovery of state benefits from damages, and to press the DETR to establish a guarantee fund to pay compensation to those victims whose insurers cannot be traced, or whose employer held no insurance. The TUC submitted a detailed response in May supporting a proposed voluntary code of practice on tracing insurers, covering the members of the Association of British Insurers and Lloyd's, and the DETR's response to the consultation exercise is awaited.

Modernising civil justice

The 1998 Congress carried a resolution on Lord Woolf's civil justice review (implemented in April 1999), stressing the impact of the abolition of legal aid for most personal injury cases, and the corresponding importance of defending and extending union legal services, and the funding rules which make them cost-effective. These concerns were pertinent to the Government's Access to Justice Bill, and the TUC has sought to ensure that the interests of unions, their members and working people generally have been protected by retaining the ability of union lawyers to recover their reasonablecosts from the insurers, under threat since the Woolf reforms were first proposed. It was reported to the 1998 Congress that this argument appeared to have been won, and that, in addition, the Government proposed to allow plaintiffs to recover not only their legal costs but also any costs that their lawyers levied as an insurance premium against losing the case or as a 'success fee' under a 'no win, no fee' conditional fee agreement.

The TUC initially expressed scepticism about the recovery of success fees and premiums, as these might discourage people from making provision ahead of an actionable injury (for example by joining a union). The TUC and the Association of British Insurers therefore met the Minister, Geoff Hoon, to express our joint concerns. He asserted that very few people insured themselves in advance anyway except by joining a union and that there were too few people in a union for this to cover the whole population. The TUC accepted his arguments and instead pressed the case that where a victim had had the foresight to pre-insure (or join a union), a level playing field should be established so that, in effect, union lawyers could levy (and recover from insurers) a success fee. Detailed negotiation with those drafting the legislation and officials at the Lord Chancellor's Department (LCD) produced an appropriate amendment to the Access to Justice Bill, tabled in July, which would also allow for these success fees to be arranged on a collective rather than a case by case basis. The details remain to be sorted out.

In July, the TUC responded to an LCD consultation paper on Controlling Costs, which suggested a further, detailed approach to ensuring that legal fees were reasonable (which the TUC felt to be unnecessary for union lawyers as their fees were controlled both by competition for bulk union contracts, and by existing principles of taxation). The paper proposed, in accordance with TUC lobbying over the last two years, that the 'indemnity principle' should be scrapped (as it inhibits the bulk processing arrangements for cases which most unions use).

The TUC has also been closely involved with the work of the Civil Justice Council, of which Owen Tudor from the TUC is a member, to ensure that trade union civil litigation (mostly personal injury work) is not ignored. The TUC is represented on two of the Council's working groups - on enforcement of judgments (by Martin Kenny of Equity) and funding (by Owen Tudor).

Finally, in August, the TUC responded to the Government's consultation document on the development of the Community Legal Service, stressing the role that unions already play in delivering specialised services to particular groups. The TUC endorsed the Government's approach of improving liaison between different legal services, and of providing for safety nets where other forms of provision are not available.

Survey of union legal services