Posted By Graeme Scott The company that I work for are introducing seperate policies for the main hazards, (Man.Hand. Fire etc..). In each of the draft policies that I have seen so far the responsibilities of everyone at different levels are defined. However the company are defining the role of the safety rep, implying the functions/duties of the reps and not the company's methods of working with the reps. The reps are appointed by the recognised Trade Union as per 1977 SRSC regs. Has anyone come across this before? Who does define the safety reps functions/ duties? I believe that as the reps are appointed by the T.U. it is them who define the role and the company can only instruct employees to carryout tasks etc. as per section 7+8 of the HASWA 1974. Any advice/comments would be welcome as Im getting myself in a twist over this one.

Posted By Allan St.John Holt For what it's worth, in my experience the system you describe in general generates a lot of paperwork that people don't read, and then ignore. It is often one that comes from close and frequent contact with a contaminant such as an early version of ISO 9000! Seriously, your outfit needs to be more aware than it seems to be that it can only agree/negotiate the details of safety reps' duties, not impose them. If they persist they are likely to find themselves at a Tribunal for failure to allow time off to do what the safety reps and union want to be done. Most larger employers have been through this experience and have discovered that in many cases the union knows more about the rules (and often more about H&S) than the employer does. And that is a sad state of affairs. Allan