Chapter 7 - Protecting people at work
General Council Report Chapter 7
Protecting people at work
Introduction The TUC has continued to campaign for better safety standards at work, and for fairer treatment for those who nevertheless suffer injury or ill-health because of their job. Health and safety at work has for many years been one of the key priorities which members and non-members alike have identified for trade unions, and the compensation in the event of injury or ill-health which is provided through union legal services has continued to be one of the most popular union services, as well as having a substantial preventive impact. With the election of a new government in May, the TUC sought to develop relationships with the range of Ministers responsible for these issues, notably the Minister for the Environment,Rt Hon Michael Meacher and his deputy, Angela Eagle, whom the TUC met formally in July.
7.1 The Health and Safety Commission
The TUC was able to maintain a strong influence over the health and safety system under the previous Conservative government in part because of the tripartite structure of the Health and Safety Commission (HSC), on which the TUC has been represented at the fortnightly meetings over the past year by Anne Gibson from the General Council and Alan Grant from the TUC office. The tripartite structure of the Commission is reflected through a network of subject and industry advisory committees, on all of which the TUC is fully represented. A list of TUC representatives on these bodies is set out in the box at the end of this chapter.
During the year, the TUC continued to respond on behalf of trade unions to every consultative exercise run by the HSC, often commenting informally in advance of the development of consultative materials. Copies of the TUC's draft submissions were generally submitted to union health and safety specialists for comment, and released to the press when finalised. In particular, the TUC ensured that deregulatory proposals were closely scrutinised, and, where unions opposed them, that they were abandoned by the HSC. This happened particularly over a proposal to abolish the 1921 Anthrax Prevention Order, where opposition from unions and employers forced the government to back down.
Support for TUC members of advisory committees It was reported to the 1996 Congress that the TUC had restructured its support for the TUC members of HSC advisory committees, and the new system of support had its first full year of operation this year. Briefly, the TUC no longer supplies staff to observe and co-ordinate at most Industry Advisory Committees (although this is still done temporarily for the Construction, Education Services and Health Services Advisory Committees). Instead, the TUC produces a monthly bulletin for advisory committee members, called Safety News from the TUC, containing information about TUC policy and activities, and reports from members of advisory committees aimed at spreading information and good practice from one advisory committee to another.
In addition, last year the TUC organised residential Safety Convention in the spring to which all TUC members of advisory committees and union health and safety specialists are invited. This year, the event was held for the second time, and concentrated on stress at work.
During the year, the TUC also began running what are planned to be an annual series of training days/strategy seminars for TUC members of advisory committees, giving the representatives an opportunity to spend a day away from day-to-day issues and concentrate on longer-term issues, improving their ability to influence events and control the agendas. Three sessions (covering six advisory committees) have been held so far and dates for the remaining six sessions have been booked before the end of 1997.
In line with the policy adopted at the same time as the other changes in support took place, TUC representatives who have failed to attend two consecutive advisory committee meetings have been alerted to the fact that if they fail to attend a third in a row, they will be deemed to have resigned. Over the year, one member was deemed to have resigned in this way (although several more resigned voluntarily after missing two meetings). The TUC will monitor this policy to identify whether it needs to be refined or backed up by other action.
Health and Safety Executive resources The main concern facing TUC members of the Commission has been the resources available to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to carry out its functions in improving health and safety standards and enforcing the law. In September, the TUC issued a report on the decline in HSE resources which drew attention to the increased workload and the decline in numbers of workplace inspections, and compared the record in the UK with that in the USA, based on figures supplied by the AFL-CIO.
TUC members of the Commission supported the pressure which the Commission was able to apply to government Ministers before the General Election, and continued to raise the point with the new Ministers appointed afterwards. The TUC has argued consistently that the main objective should be to prevent further, damaging cuts to the HSE budget, and to argue that when conditions allow, the HSE budget should be increased so that it can improve its impact on injury and ill-health statistics.
In particular, the TUC has expressed concern over the year at what may be an end to the year on year decline in serious injuries maintained for most of the life of the Health and Safety Commission, and in particular at the projected financial problems which the HSE faces towards the year 2000, when the cuts proposed by the previous government will become severe. The TUC is discussing with groups such as the All-Party Group of MPs on occupational safety and health what steps could be taken to help Ministers reverse this trend and, in July, the TUC responded to an alarming rise in reported workplace fatalities and major injuries by calling for a moratorium on further cuts in the HSE's budget.
International representation
The TUC continues to play a major role in the work of the European Union on health safety. The TUC is represented on all the key health and safety bodies in the Union as indicated in the boxat the end of this chapter. The TUC also contributes further to the work of the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health through its ad hoc groups on: planning; pregnant women; scaffolding; self-employment; and social and economic appraisal (which is chaired by Owen Tudor, from the TUC Office). On the latter issue, the TUC has been pressing at home and in Europe for simplistic cost benefit assessment of health and safety regulation to be developed so that the social and human costs are given appropriate weight, and so that decisions about regulation are informed by cost benefit assessments rather than dominated by them. A TUC publication, Putting a Value on Human Life, was discussed by the HSC in April, and will be further discussed by the EU ad hoc group.
The HSC has established a number of working groups to assist in the formation of legislation to implement EU health and safety directives in the UK (including the Control of Major Accident Hazards and the Use of Work Equipment) and informing the HSE's negotiating line on proposed Directives such as the Biocidal Products, Chemical Agents and Carcinogens (Amendment) Directives. Issues relating to the implementation of the Working Time Directive are dealt with in Chapter 1.
While welcoming the research work on health and safety established by the EU under the Safe Action for Europe (SAFE) project, the TUC has continued to press for legislation and its proper implementation and enforcement by Member States. The European Agency for Health and Safety was formally launched in September and moved into dedicated offices in Bilbao, Spain, in April. The TUC is represented on the management board of the Agency which seeks to develop and co-ordinate the exchange of health and safety information within the European Community.
Standardisation of safety products continues to be a major issue for the TUC and its European trade union colleagues. After considerable lobbying by the TUC and other European trade union confederations, the ETUC's Trade Union Technical Bureau is now represented on the management board of the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN). The TUC participated in the ACSH ad hoc group which monitors the work of CEN as well as developing proposals for ensuring high standards of production of safety equipment.
During this Congress year, the TUC carried out a groundbreaking national survey to reveal for the first time the real picture of school age working in England and Wales. Over 4,000 pupils between the ages of 11 and 16 took part. The survey report called "Working Classes" was published in January. Amongst other things, it found that one in five 11 year-olds and more than one in four 12 year-olds were working illegally, three quarters worked illegal hours (3 per cent worked over forty hours per week) and that nearly one in five had had an accident or injured themselves while at work. The TUC called on the Government to:
7.2 Unions and Safety Representatives
The TUC has continued to give the highest priority within its work on health and safety to ensuring that unions are kept fully involved in and consulted about that work, and to recognising that support for union workplace representatives is the main contribution which trade unions can make to improving health and safety standards at work. Throughout the year, the TUC has pressed the HSE to give a higher profile to Safety Reps in its publications, and the TUC nominated several union Safety Reps to sit on an ad hoc group which revised the HSE's guidance to Inspectors on liaising with Safety Reps during workplace inspections.
A key element of the TUC's strategy has been to improve the knowledge base on Safety Reps, and the first ever national survey of Safety Reps was conducted in 1996, as reported to the 1996 Congress. More than eight thousand Safety Reps eventually responded to the detailed questionnaire. The results were analysed by MORI and will be provided to academics and other researchers (probably through the TUC world wide web site). The initial findings of this unique and very successful survey were released publicly at Congress, and showed that the major health and safety issue concerning trade union members was stress. The survey's results have enabled the TUC to establish itself as the main source of information about workplace views on occupational safety and health, and, with 16 pere cent of responses coming from Safety Reps in firms with fewer than fifty employees, also a major commentator on safety in small firms. The survey will be repeated nationally every two years, with mini-surveys conducted in between.
The TUC also intends to provide Safety Reps with high quality advice and information about health and safety (as well as the thousands of days of training provided through the education service - see Chapter9). Accordingly, as well as developing a substantial body of information on the TUC's world wide web site on health and safety, a revised Hazards at Work was published in March. This publication, the best seller ever produced by the TUC, provides Safety Reps (and employers) with a concise yet comprehensive (and above all practical) guide to health and safety in the workplace. Already, over 25,000 copies have been sold, and the new version is in a ring binder format which will allow annual updating of a fifth of the text. Copies were distributed to every MP shortly after the General Election, for use in their constituency offices (and to demonstrate the pre-eminent position of the TUC in advising workers on health and safety) - we also hope to ensure that every Citizens Advice Bureau in the country has a copy.
One issue which the TUC has dealt with in detail over the past year has been the
implementation of the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996. The development of these Regulations (providing health and safety consultation, information and representation rights for workers in non-recognised workplaces) was reported to the 1996 Congress, and the Regulations were introduced shortly afterwards, coming into effect on 1 January 1997. The TUC drew attention when they were introduced to the survey evidence which showed that full trade union consultation on health and safety cut the major injury rate by over 50 per cent compared with no consultation at all. During the first half of 1997, the TUC ran a series of national and regional seminars (in London, Newcastle, Cardiff, Glasgow, Sheffield and Manchester) for a total of about 500 union officers on the implications of the new Regulations for union recruitment, representation and recognition.
7.3 Campaigning against workplace hazards
The TUC continues to campaign actively for better safety standards at work, concentrating in particular on a small number of key health hazards which affect large numbers of workers. As well as the main campaigns on asbestos, RSI and stress, the TUC has this year also dealt with the problems of occupational dermatitis (in particular by producing practical guidance for 50,000 Safety Reps through a leaflet, Save Your Skin, jointly funded by the HSE and the Skin Care Campaign) and organic solvents (preparations are under way for a TUC-HSE seminar, a survey of Safety Reps, and guidance for Safety Reps) to tie in with Phase 3 of the HSE 'Good Health is Good Business' campaign. We have continued to work closely with the National Asthma Campaign to press for an Approved Code of Practice on asthmagens, and progress is likely in the next Congress year.
Asbestos The major health hazard facing workers is the threat from asbestos. TUC figures released during the year showed that in 1997, eleven people every day were dying of asbestos-related diseases contracted while at work, and that despite this death toll (which is due to rise from about 4,000 a year to 10,000 a year by 2025) the UK is still importing asbestos products with a street value of over £45 million a year.
The TUC has continued to campaign for an import ban on asbestos and asbestos products; fair compensation for sufferers; a legal duty on building owners to audit, record and label asbestos within their premises; and a review of the current asbestos removal licensing system. This year has seen substantial progress in each of these areas, and the prospect of a ban on asbestos imports is now a real possibility.
In March, the TUC supported a Construction Safety Campaign lobby of Parliament on asbestos, and drafted a Parliamentary Early-Day Motion with Mick Clapham MP to highlight the lobby and the issue. At about the same time, the HSC accepted proposals, supported by the TUC, for a European ban on asbestos imports (following a French decision in 1996 to ban imports), and for an exploration of the need for further legal duties on building owners in line with the TUC's proposals. This advice was accepted by Ministers. The TUC has also published an analysis of death rates from asbestos-related diseases broken down by region.
With the election of a Labour government, the TUC stepped up the pressure for a domestic ban as well as a European ban, and for greater urgency to the work which the previous government had agreed the HSE should carry out. Working again with Mick Clapham MP, the TUC assisted with an adjournment debate which led to the Minister announcing that the government had been convinced of the need for a domestic as well as a European ban. In large part, the debate over asbestos has been won in the UK, and the TUC has worked closely with a group of employers producing alternatives to asbestos, the Association of Manufacturers Against Asbestos, to highlight the alternatives which do exist.
The key issue for the next Congress year is to maintain the momentum for action in Britain and Europe, and to deal with the details of action by the HSE. The TUC therefore established a small steering group of trade unionists, asbestos campaigners, MPs and specialists, to progress the campaign for a ban, and the first meeting was held on 25 July. This group is overseeing work at every level, including an ICFTU conference on 15 October in Brussels, an enquiry into asbestos by the EU Economic and Social Committee (for which the TUC is supplying the expert, and the Dutch trade union centre FNV is supplying the rapporteur), and pressure being organised through the European Parliament by Peter Skinner MEP. Mr Skinner convened a meeting in Brussels in July which involved trade unions, EC officials and representatives of national governments as well as Volvo, which will be switching to completely asbestos-free products by the end of 1997.
RSI and back pain The TUC has continued the 'Don't Suffer in Silence!' campaign against RSI, although we have, in line with ETUC objectives, widened the campaign to include other musculo-skeletal disorders, principally back pain.
In September 1996, the TUC organised a joint conference with the Ergonomics Society on design and RSI, with a keynote speech from the Director of Design at the Design Council, Mr Sean Blair. The conference proceedings were published early in 1997 as Designing RSI out of the Workplace, and called for designers to take on board the ergonomic concerns which were vital to preventing RSI. A further conference on RSI and back pain is being organised jointly with the RSI Association (for whom the TUC's support, reported to the 1996 Congress, has resulted in a six- fold increase in trade union affiliations) and the National Back Pain Association for October 1997.
During the year, the TUC has continued to publish a newsletter for RSI activists, and we are negotiating support for a research project into keyboard-related 'diffuse' RSI, which has been proposed by researchers at University College London - early results have been particularly interesting and a TUC contribution of £2,000 has enabled the team to work up more detailed research proposals. A seminar for union safety specialists and legal officers on the initial findings was organised in June.
The TUC has also continued to support the ETUC's plans for a Europe-wide campaign on musculo-skeletal disorders, based in large part on the TUC's RSI
campaign. A TUC leaflet on applying risk assessment and the business case for safety to RSI and back pain is being prepared for European Week of Health and Safety at Work in October. In addition, the TUC produced 100,000 copies of a leaflet advertising workers' right to an eye test if they use Display Screen Equipment, Your Right to an Eye Test, funded by Eyecare Vouchers Ltd.
Stress at work Stress in the workplace continues to be a priority for the TUC and trade union safety representatives. The 1996 TUC Survey of Trade Union Safety Representatives revealed that 68 per cent, of over 7,000 safety reps who responded to the survey, considered stress at work as the primary concern for them and the members they represented.
In November the TUC organised a conference, Tackling Stress at Work, for trade union officers and safety reps at which the survey and a report on the activities of trade unions in this area was published. The TUC Charter on Stress, setting out the key objectives of the TUC's campaign on stress, was adopted by the conference.
A TUC conference in June, Stress - Who is liable? spelt out the financial and legal penalties for employers who failed to deal with stress at work. The key-note address was given by Mr Frank Davies, Chair of the Health and Safety Commission, and a TGWU-TUC report on the failure of employers to implement the guidance on preventing stress issued by the HSE in 1995 was published on the morning of the conference.
The TUC has drafted guidance and checklists on stress prevention for trade union negotiators and Safety Reps which will be published in the autumn. A further sample survey of Safety Reps and regional events for trade unionists will follow.
7.4 social partnership
The TUC has continued to seek the support of others for its campaigns, whether specific (as with the support of the National Asthma Campaign for our campaign for an Approved Code of Practice to prevent occupational asthma) or general. In particular, the TUC has attempted to develop practical examples of social partnership over health and safety through participation in the HSE's 'Good Health is Good Business' campaign. Two local pilot seminars were run under this banner in Mansfield and Preston in February and March, bringing speakers from the HSE, TUC, personal injury law firms and local employers together to discuss occupational health with equal numbers of local managers and Safety Reps. After an evaluation of these events, the HSE has agreed to fund a national series of twenty such events at a cost of £30,000 - these will take place in the winter of 1997/98.
Also on the subject of occupational health, it was reported to the 1996 Congress that the TUC and Health and Safety at Work magazine had co-sponsored a National Occupational Health Forum chaired by Professor Malcolm Harrington from the Institute of Occupational Health at the University of Birmingham, drawing together leading figures from trade unions, private businesses and health and personnel
professions to develop a consensus on the main priorities for occupational health. The Forum concluded its initial work in the Spring, and just before the General Election published Statement of Consensus: the way ahead for occupational health, which was sent to the relevant spokespersons and Ministers of each major political party, as well as to senior officials at the Department of Health. The five priorities for action (in particular to set targets for the reduction of key occupational illnesses and to develop multi-disciplinary occupational health projects within the primary care system) have won widespread support from outside the Forum, and a meeting with the new Minister for Public Health, Tessa Jowell, is expected to take place before Congress.
Work with employers on safety management has focused on the 'Empowering Safety Professionals for Better Safety Standards' study project, which is jointly run by the TUC, the CBI and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health. The consultative document around which the project will seek views was considerably delayed in order to ensure that it asked exactly the right questions, but was finally agreed by the partners in the project in April and in July secured the active support of Ministers, with the result that the consultative document will be published this summer with a foreword by Angela Eagle, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State. It is planned to ensure that all the professional bodies in the field are invited to comment, and that, as well as distributing the consultative document widely in the health and safety world, industrialists will also be approached for their views. A summary of the results of the consultation will be put to a joint conference in the next Congress year and will hopefully lead to a discussion paper proposing practical steps which safety professionals could take.
The TUC also continued to work closely with representatives of small and medium sized enterprises, especially the Forum for Private Business, whose Profit Builder on health and safety the TUC helped to write and will promote jointly with the Forum as a 'complete-and-comply' guide to health and safety management.
It was reported to Congress in 1996 that the TUC planned to hold a conference on the role of employer liability insurance companies in preventing occupational injury and ill-health in December, with keynote addresses by Jenny Bacon, Director- General of the HSE, Mark Boleat, Director General of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) andthe general secretary. The general secretary proposed a three- point strategy to improve relationships between unions and insurers, including: a greater focus on prevention, including practical steps to reduce premiums for well- managed small firms; a joint examination of rehabilitation for the victims of occupational injury and ill-health; and a less confrontational approach to legal cases. In each area, Mr Boleat responded positively, and the TUC is progressing each idea either with individual insurers or with the ABI. In particular, the TUC and the ABI are co-ordinating a joint project on rehabilitation in the USA and Australia which is due to be completed by November.
Finally, the TUC and the British Safety Industry Federation have continued to co- sponsor the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Occupational Safety and Health. Mick Clapham was re-elected as Chair of the Group in June, with Judith Church and
Stephen Day as Vice-Chairs and Nigel Evans as Honorary Secretary. The Group's priorities over the coming year will be asbestos and resources for the HSE.
7.5 Compensation for injuries and ill-health
The TUC has continued to campaign for victims of occupational injury and ill-health to receive fair compensation.
1996 TUC Survey of Union Legal Services As in previous years, the TUC conducted a major survey of union legal services, which revealed that unions had again increased the amounts in damages which had been secured for the victims of occupational injury and ill-health, to over £323 million in 1995. A full report of the survey, Legal Services for the Union Family, was published in February, containing many case studies of union help to members, and demonstrating the breadth of the support that is offered. The survey continues to be a good demonstration of the value of union membership, and the 1997 survey commenced in April.
Clawback from damages One of the major achievements of the TUC's legal services work in this Congress year was the decision by the Government to reform the system of compensation recovery which clawed back injury victims' benefits from the damages awarded to them by the courts. By 1996, this was costing trade union members millions of pounds a year, and the TUC had been working with sufferers' groups and legal organisations to change the system.
After a long consultation exercise, the Government finally published a Bill in October which would shift much of the burden of benefit recovery onto insurers, and therefore encourage quicker settlements at higher levels. The Government also proposed that the £2,500 minimum damages award for benefit recovery should be abolished, and the TUC accepted this part of the Government's proposal, so that members were no longer encouraged to settle cases too low to avoid recovery. The TUC welcomed the Bill and assisted the government in progressing the measure through Parliament. In January, with the General Election imminent, the TUC published No Excuse for Delay by Julia Gallagher, which drew on examples of benefit recovery cases to press MPs to speed the Bill into law before the Election intervened, and in March the Bill became an Act.
Since the election, the TUC has concentrated on pressing for the Act to come into force as early as possible. A number of comments were submitted on the Department of Social Security's consultation exercise on the form of Regulations designed to implement the Act. Overall, the new system is likely to benefit union members by at least £50 million a year, as well as shifting the balance between unions and insurers in the courts.
Reform of civil justice The TUC has continued to press for a civil justice system that meets the needs of injury victims for fair compensation, but also presents an effective incentive to
employers to improve health and safety standards at work. In particular, the TUC has been lobbying MPs and others over the implementation of Lord Woolf's proposals for reform, published as Access to Justice in mid-1996. The TUC's response, entitled Access to Justice for Workplace Injury Victims, was circulated widely within the legal profession and among MPs. The TUC welcomed the decision by the incoming Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine, that the Woolf reforms would be examined to see whether they were cost-effective. The TUC submitted evidence to this review, led by Sir Peter Middleton, in early August.
Throughout the year, the TUC liaised with other consumer bodies with an interest in civil justice, such as the National Consumer Council and the Consumers' Association, as well as with legal interests such as the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Law Society. In April, the TUC nominated Owen Tudor to sit on the Civil Procedure Rule Committee which will examine the rules for civil justice in detail, although the result of the nomination is not yet known. The TUC will also nominate to the Civil Justice Council which will oversee civil justice and the Woolf reforms overall.
The TUC is currently pressing for a staged implementation of the Woolf proposals so that union members continue to be able to secure legal support for their cases.
Industrial injuries benefit The TUC has continued to play a full part in the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council, which oversees the industrial injury benefit scheme (providing just over £600 million a year in benefits to victims of industrial injury and illness on a no-fault basis). This year the TUC restructured its membership of the Council, which is currently Ken Jackson from the General Council, Alan Dalton and Bronwyn McKenna from unions and Owen Tudor from the TUC office. Over the past year, the TUC representatives on the Council have pressed for improved benefit entitlements for sufferers with occupational deafness, RSI, chronic bronchitis and emphysema. A wide-ranging review of the scheme is currently under way.
Just before the election, the Government ended the entitlement of sufferers to backdate their claims indefinitely where they had good cause, and the TUC secured the opposition of both the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council and the Social Security Advisory Committee. The TUC will be pursuing this issue with the new government.
BOX TUC membership of Health and Safety Commission advisory bodies
The TUC is represented on a wide range of health and safety bodies under the auspices of the statutory, tripartite Health and Safety Commission (HSC). Our representatives are chosen from a wide variety of trade union sources, including the TUC General Council. Representatives are referred to by the body which nominated them to the TUC, and are the current members at the time of writing.
The Health and Safety Commission Anne Gibson (TUC) Alan Grant (TUC)
Subject advisory committees Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens Ron Owen (TUC) Pam Smith (MSF) Paul Taylor (UNISON) Advisory Committee on Dangerous Substances Alan Dalton (TGWU) Dave Matthews (FBU) Tom Mellish (TUC)
Advisory Committee on Genetic Modification Dot Carey (IPMS) Julian Kinderlerer (AUT) Ron Owen (TUC) Bill Whybrow (MSF)
Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances Alistair Hay (AUT) Fred Higgs (TGWU) Liz Jenkins (IPMS) Owen Tudor (TUC)
Ionising Radiations Advisory Committee Danny Carrigan (AEEU) John Kane (GMB) Hamish Porter (MSF) Janet Turp (EMA)
Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee Gordon Bellard (EMA) Jack Bridge (MSF) Stephen Napier (IPMS) Susan Parry (AUT)
Occupational Health Advisory Committee Sarah Copsey (UNISON) Ron Owen (TUC) Doug Russell (USDAW)
Industry advisory committees Agriculture Peter Dracup (TGWU) Peter Kirby (TGWU)
Barry Leathwood (TGWU) Theresa Mackay (TGWU) Ivan Monckton (TGWU) Stuart Neale (TGWU)
Ceramics John Alcock (CATU) Geoff Bagnall (CATU) John Lally (CATU) Garry Oakes (CATU) Roger Pearman (CATU) Mick Young (CATU)
Construction George Brumwell (UCATT) Nigel Bryson (GMB) Adrian Cunningham CBE (AEEU) Geoff Garbett (AEEU) George Henderson OBE (TGWU) Ivan Moldawczuk (UCATT)
Deep Mined Coal R Young (BACM) Peter McNestry (NACODS)
Education Services Adrienne Aziz (AUT) Hope Daley (UNISON) Elaine Harrison (UNISON) Roy Kettleborough (NATFHE) Andrew Morris (NUT) Brian Robinson (NASUWT) Dennis Trafford (MSF) Eric Young (EIS)
Foundries A J Harvey (AEEU) Derick Hesom (TGWU) A Lloyd (AEEU) Ron Marron (AMU) A McCarthy (NUDAGO) Tim Parker (MSF) C Poyner (GMB) Alan Robson (CSEU)
Health Services Mick Balfour (GMB) Mike Chapman (MSF)
Sarah Copsey (UNISON) Carol Dolbear (MSF) Philip Green (UNISON) Jon Richards (UNISON) Claire Sullivan (CSP) Kim Sunley (TGWU) Warren Town (SoR)
The BMA and RCN are also represented on the trade union side
Oil Robert Buirds (AEEU) Barry Gray (TGWU) A Campbell Reid (MSF) Roger Spiller (MSF) John Taylor (TGWU) Steve Todd (RMT) Robert Wilson (AEEU)
Paper and Board Mel Barras (AEEU) George Beattie (GPMU) Adrian Cunnigham (AEEU) Mike Eade (TGWU) Bud Hudspith (GPMU) L S Reeves (GMB)
Printing Dave Baker (GPMU) Dick Barker (GPMU) Tim Gopsill (NUJ) Bud Hudspith (GPMU) John Mitchell (GPMU) Dennis Spencer (GPMU) Peter Taylor (GPMU)
Railways Dennis Cameron (TSSA) Malcolm Gee (AEEU) Vernon Hince (RMT) Clive Jones (ASLEF)
Rubber Maureen Armstrong (TGWU) Mel Barras (AEEU) Frank Gribben (TGWU) John Hann (GMB) Derek Hogg (MSF)
Bill Holmes (MSF) Jim Marshall (GMB) Kevin O'Reilly (GMB)
Textiles Sheila Bearcroft (GMB) Peter Booth (TGWU) Des Farrell (GMB) Jack Firth (KFAT) Paul Gates (KFAT) Paul Reid (TGWU) Gordon Rudd (PLCWTWU)
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European health and safety bodies
The Advisory Committee on Safety, Hygiene and Health at Work Anne Gibson (TUC) Tom Mellish (TUC) Alternates: Maureen Rooney (TUC) Owen Tudor (TUC)
The Trade Union Technical Bureau Management Committee Anne Gibson (TUC)
The European Agency for Health and Safety Management Board Anne Gibson (TUC) Alternate: Tom Mellish (TUC)
There are many other health and safety bodies on which the TUC is represented, some of them ad hoc advisory groups or sub-committees of the bodies listed here, and also British Standards Institution technical committees. The work of all these representatives is highly valued by the TUC, and, as is reported above, steps are underway to develop better systems for networking between them.
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