Rank: Guest 
|
Posted By Richard Beevers
I'm having great difficulty with our H&S reps.
Apart from attending the H&S Ctte., none have carried out any of their functions. None has had any Union H&S training since 1985, and they all refuse to do any refresher training. They only represent c.5% of the staff, and have done nothing to promote the appointment of other H&S reps in other regions.
Questions:
1) Can I abandon the present Ctte. as it is not representative of the workforce or consulative?
2) Can I ask the Union to ensure the reps. attend training to bring them up to date, or appoint reps. who will?
3) Can I reasonably request letters of appointment from the Union for the reps.
Any advice would help - and just in case anyone thinks I'm Union bashing, I'm not. The current Ctte. would be fine if we had MORE Union reps on it, if they wanted to carry out their functions & had some up to date knowledge.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By J Knight
I don't think the employer can dissolve the committee unilaterally; certainly there's no provision in the Regs or ACOP which would allow for this. As a matter of fact there is no discussion of this kind of circumstance at all; I think its not supposed to happen ;-). have you tried discussing all this with the local relevant TU Branch? Explain to the reps what you intend to do and take it up at branch level,
John
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Amanda
Have you tried having a meeting with the full time official. I have found this useful in the past but 'working together' to ensure the safety of the workforce. You could also get the full time official to identify the areas of development for the Union Reps in order for them to assist in promoting a positive safety culture.
I know it sounds easy on paper but these methods have worked for me, although it takes time and effort.
I wish you success in your efforts.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Ron Hunter
Given that your cmmttee should be about 50/50 Reps and Management - what good things are the management reps doing in managing and promoting H&S, and what efforts have been made to involve TU reps in these programmes and processes? A more balanced viewpoint would perhaps support your assertion that you are not "Union bashing".
Worth noting that whereas TU Reps have a right to undertake workplace inspections, the employer (in realistic terms) has a duty to do so; i.e. the employer should initiate the program and involve Reps (And other employees) in the process?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Richard Beevers
To back up my 'Not Union Bashing'
Union Reps have been invited to:
Assist with building inspections
Assist in carrying out risk assessments for new tasks.
Assist with KPI setting for company objectives.
Attend in house Manageement traingin (so they know what + how we train our managers).
Union Reps have turned down all attempts to involve them in activities, and have not completed any action required of them (e.g. get refresher training) from H&S Ctte.
Management are (generally) doing what's expected.
I think I'm going to have to involve the full time organiser, but he's never replied to any correspondence (e-mail or postal) yet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Paul Hume
Answers:
1. No.
The committee is established on the request of 2 or more TU appointed H&S reps. Any changes to the structure of the committee must be subject to consultation and agreement. I.e. If you unilaterally disbanded the committee the H&S reps need only to request that you establish a new one and so on.
2. You can ask! But it is for the union to decide on what training its reps require.
3. A H&S rep is only appointed once if you have been properly notified then that is it. There is no renewal process.
The SRSC regs give rights to TU appointed H&S reps but it explicitly states that the regulations impose no duties on TU H&S reps.
If you would like assistence and cooperation from oyur H&S reps I would suggest you think of what type of thing you would like them to do and then propose a joint sub committee to look at what ever it is you propose. You could of course try embarrassing them int action by doing more yourself and showing your workforce just that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By mbarrett
I have 2 non-unionised safety reps who are both volounteers and very proactive, in my previous job I had unionised reps who were not very active however I have found that the best way to get them motivated is show them that what they are doing is of benefit to other staff, also make sure that the staff they represent are aware that they are their safety reps and what their duties are. For example I have found simple questions like have you or any of the concerned staff got anything they would like to add to this risk assessment? or do you think the controls are adequate or do we need to look at another method? Could I have a copy of your latest safety inspection? I have found that if all staff are aware of the reps they tend to find things they would like sorting out, encouragement is the key particularly at committee meetings eg you raised this point last time this was a good suggestion and this is what the management are doing to resolve the issue. Everyone has a responsibility for health and safety and safety reps actually have quite a bit of power to get things moving but to keep motivation going they have to see results otherwise you get the attitude of "whats the point in contributing as nothing ever gets done"
It's no good sending emails and expecting things to get done you must try and speak to them on a face to face basis this makes safety more personal and gives them ownership.
Hope this is of some help.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rank: Guest
|
Posted By Ken Taylor
From experience, there are both H&S reps and Management reps that are quite happy to sit on a committee and argue but not interested in doing anything much for H&S the rest of the time. I can recall sitting at meetings waiting for TU reps who didn't bother to turn up. Making the committee more active and pro-active by setting programmes for action and delegating responsibility to individual members to take action and report back to the next meeting might help. At the end of the day, TUs have to live with reps they appoint and employers with the people they employ to manage - and the remedy for improving performance is within their respective hands.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.