National Hazards Conference 2016 – Friday 29th to Sunday 31st July 2016, at Keele University, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire: “Building Resistance to Support Safety Reps”

National Hazards Conference 2016 – Friday 29th to Sunday 31st July 2016, at Keele University, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire: “Building Resistance to Support Safety Reps”
To: All CWU Branches 

        All CWU Regional H&S Forums

        All CWU Safety Reps
Dear Colleagues,
The 27th National Hazards Conference takes place at Keele University, from Friday 29th to Sunday 31st July 2016 and the CWU is once again pleased to be supporting and sponsoring this unique and popular event for Trade Union Safety Representatives.
Hazards Conference is the UK’s biggest and best educational and organising event for trade union safety reps and activists. Consisting of a mixture of plenary sessions, meetings and a comprehensive workshop programme. It gives delegates the opportunity to exchange experience and information with, and learn from, safety reps and activists from other unions, sectors and jobs across the UK. 

Tory government attacks Trade Unions’ capacity to protect members and defend our hard-won health and safety standards continue with the (anti) Trade Union Bill, more cuts to HSE/LA enforcement and regulation, cuts to public services, privatisation and job losses. This leads to increased working hours, and demands, stress and worsening health and safety. Employers are using the crisis to intensify work, increase monitoring and job insecurity and manage by stress. They undermine collective preventative measures and union organisation by using individual ’well-being champions’ and resilience training.   

In March, the HSE launched its new 5-year “Help GB Work Well” Strategy. The CWU was actively involved in the consultation, voicing the Union’s concerns and key issues both at the Stakeholders consultation meetings and in written submissions calling for a focus on key union safety concerns, stronger enforcement and use of new court penalties for safety offences but none of these points were picked up and the Union continues to have very serious concerns over the fact that the Strategy lacks a pro-active approach and is backed by a HSE that has had its teeth pulled by the anti-health and safety Tory government, through several rounds of severe budget cuts plus direct interference in its Field Force Inspection and Enforcement policies with diktats to take a ‘softly, softly’ approach. The Strategy offers no enforcement, no ambitious campaigns to tackle stress, MSDs, cancer, or other work factors that are making workers ill and killing people.
We know we cannot rely on the law, on employers or enforcers but must instead build on our own organisation and strength. The Hazards 2016 Conference will examine the implications of the changes and discuss how we can organise better at all levels. How can we get a more radical approach that puts decent jobs with good health and safety at the centre of decent lives for all, on the political agenda? Hazards Conference will look at how we can educate, organise and agitate inside and outside the workplace, locally, regionally and nationally to support union safety reps and workers to resist employers’ attacks on our lives and health. 

 

The booking form is up on Hazards Campaign website now: http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/?page_id=139
Also on Hazards Campaign website http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/ sign up for updates on right hand side.
Hazards 2016 Workshops, Seminars & Meetings:
This year the organisers are changing the format a little to provide a more coherent, comprehensive and intensive programme for safety reps. The opening plenary session with keynote speakers is on Friday evening and the closing plenary is on Sunday morning. There is no Saturday plenary. Saturday is a day for workshops, seminars and meetings ending with Fringe Meetings. The final plenary on Sunday will pull it all together and send Safety Reps off with more tools in the kit. This year the workshops, seminars and meetings are themed to provide a concentrated examination of all the key issues. Read the form carefully before you fill it in. Contact the organisers if you need help or further information.
There are three Themes to choose from with 5 workshops in each Theme. Two weeks before Hazards conference begins, the organisers will send delegates a list of Fringe Meeting topics to select from with final joining instructions, and delegates can then sign up for the Fringe Meetings at registration. Delegates will be posted the programme and more details to supplement the brief outline on the attached registration form and at: http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk
Below are the outline details of the Conference keynote and workshop sessions:-
Hazards Conference Keynote Meetings
1. Improving Support for Safety Reps
Identifying weaknesses in current support systems for safety reps, in workplaces and unions. What local networks exist, what works best to build resistance and active support networks for action?
2. Karoshi/Karojisatu – Death/Suicide due to work
The most extreme response to poor work conditions is being worked to death (Karoshi) or driven to suicide by excessive workloads/hours, stress, bullying (Karojisatsu). How do we establish the extent of this and deal with it?
3. UK and global threats to health & safety organisation
Discussion of threats to H&S in the UK, in Europe and globally. Discussing how to develop appropriate action at different levels from workplace to national/global campaigns to protect and improve our H&S.
Hazards Conference Workshops (Select two plus one reserve from your chosen theme)
Theme 1 Workplace organisation
01 Reps’ functions and employers’ duties

Employers try to restrict statutory functions of safety reps, fail to observe their duties to permit time-off, provide facilities & other assistance to enable safety reps’ to function effectively. What must they do, how do we insist they do it?
02 Safety committees: what do we need?
What sort of safety committees do we need to meet our real needs & not allow employers to marginalise H&S issues into a toothless body? Should H&S be part of the main bargaining agenda? What are the key issues for unions?
03 Recruiting safety reps and improving workplace health & safety organisation
Examination of methods we can use to revitalise our branch/workplace organisation to recruit more safety reps.
04 Role of the enforcer
Government restrictions on enforcement have limited what inspectors can do. There are fewer HSE and local authority staff, fewer proactive inspections. What can they still do & how do we get help from inspectors when we need it?
05 Inspections
The workshop focuses on preparing for regular workplace inspections; explains the resources and tools you need, plus checklist development; recording & reporting the results of the inspection and follow-up action.
Seminar 1: Sharing experiences of workplace organisation and good practice
How well do we use statutory functions/employers’ duties in SRSC Regs to organise and make work safe? Learning from best practice and developing new health and safety organising ideas.
Theme 2 Dealing with risks
06 Identifying Hazards/Risk, Hierarchy of control
Risk assessment is the statutory foundation for employer working practices, but many still do poorly. We explain employer’s duties, how to carry out risk assessment, the hierarchy of control and failures. How do we ensure safety reps play an effective role?
07 Identifying and dealing with Stress risk factors
HSE stress management standards (SMS) and toolkit form the basis for risk assessment. This is a critical view of the SMS, how should they be used by employers and reps; how effective controls can be put in place; what reps should do when employers fail to act.
08 Fire risk assessments
Fire service enforcers are tough on employer failures to assess fire risks. What are the standards employers must meet? What guidance is available? How can we get employers to improve their performance to ensure safety at work?
09 Finding out what harms us
This workshop will look at the key steps for finding out what harms us and give you the tools to do this. For example, surveys, body mapping, questionnaires, assessing injury/absence figures.
10 Investigating incidents and injuries
Good investigation ensures problems are identified and further harm is prevented. This workshop will look at the key steps for incident investigation, and give you the tools you need to undertake this function effectively.
Seminar 2: Sharing experiences of making the case for dealing with what harms us
Sharing experience on how we make good case for tackling the hazards and risks they present to our health & safety, building better TU organisation. What works, what is best practice?
Theme 3 Employers offensive/workplace tyranny
11 Management by stress
The managerial offensive expands to push workers to the limit in all kinds of ways across all sectors. We will identify the different elements, map the interactions, & the effects on workers’ health.
12 Punitive sickness absence management
Absence management procedures should support sick & injured workers not penalise them. We need good recovery and rehabilitation procedures. Is the ’ Fit for Work’ service good for us?
13 Resisting resilience and individual wellbeing schemes
Resilience and, individual wellbeing, counselling & other schemes divert attention from collective preventative action. How do we re-focus on prevention & ensure reps are not diverted?
14 Behavioural Safety
STOP programme, Golden Rules and ‘Procedure for Corrective Actions, is all management speak for ‘blame the worker’. This Behavioural Strategy (BS) is a real threat to our survival. How do we recognise and resist it?
15 Excessive workloads
UK workers work the longest hours in Europe, & workload levels continue to increase. How can safety reps use stress standards & other tools, to monitor & control risks & unhealthy workloads? Will the enforcers help?
Seminar 3: Sharing experiences of prioritising action against employers offensive
Disentangling the elements of employers’ offensive, discussing how we prioritise the main threats and share experiences of tackling them using health & safety organisation.
How to apply for Hazards 2016
See attached Registration Form. The closing date for applications is Friday 8th July 2016
Choose a Theme, then chose 2 workshops plus a reserve workshop within that Theme. You will be automatically allocated to the relevant Seminar and Theme Meeting. Arrange your delegate fee, complete the registration form, and send it to Hazards together with your cheque payable to Hazards 2016
Notification
Hazards will acknowledge your application within a few days of receiving it. If applicants don’t hear from the organisers within two weeks of sending in their form, contact the organisers (contact details below).
Conference timings and registration
Hazards opening plenary starts at 7.30 pm on Friday 29th July, and conference ends at 12.30pm on Sunday 31st July, followed by packed lunch. Delegate registration is from 1pm – 9pm on Friday 29th July, and between 7.30 – 9.00 on Saturday morning, 30th July.
For more information, clarification or queries, contact:-
Hazards 2015 

c/o Greater Manchester Hazards Centre 

Windrush Millennium Centre 

70 Alexandra Road

Manchester M16 7WD 

Telephone: 0161 636 7557 

Fax: 0161 636 7556 

email: hazconf@gmhazards.org.uk
So there’s a lot to find out, discuss and debate, and a lot to do to defend health and safety and safe workplaces and our union organisation. Attend the Hazards Conference to hear and learn more about the problems we face and what needs to be done.
Full details are contained in the attached pdf Conference registration form. Hard Copies will be distributed to Branches and Regional Health and Safety Forums.

 

For more conference event information about the programme visit the 2016 Hazards Conference pages on the Hazards Campaign website at:
http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk
For clarification or queries, contact Hazards at: telephone 0161 636 7557/7558 

or e-mail: hazconf@gmhazards.org.uk
Yours sincerely

  

Dave Joyce

National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
Email Attachments – Click to download
· Attachment 1 – 16LTB261 National Hazards Conference 2016.docx
· Attachment 2 – Hazards Conference Booking Form 2016.pdf