Royal Mail Group Safety, Health & Environment Team – Integrated Audits – Involvement and Consultation with CWU Area Health & Safety Representatives (ASRs):
Further to LTBs 105/21 and 215/22 this is to remind all ASRs and to reinforce the agreed position in respect of full engagement and involvement of Area Health & Safety Representatives (ASRs) in the RMG Safety, Health and Environment ‘Integrated’ Audits process.
The agreed position with the Royal Mail Group Chief Legal Officer Matthew Newman and former Safety Directors (Shaun Davis and Phil Graham) and the current Safety Director Liz Lloyd is that every ASR is invited to every audit across their constituency and ASRs should be given notice of audit dates, afforded an invitation to participate and both sides fully encourage attendance and input.
Indeed, ASRs can add value to the audits by way of information sharing from the ASR’s periodic workplace safety inspections and investigations, as they are likely to visit the Unit more often than the Auditor/SHE Advisor.
ASRs can signpost the auditor to issues from their safety inspections, accident investigations and near misses, remedial actions that are outstanding in the Unit and not actioned or issues that could be overlooked as well as pointing out to auditors any related off-site issues, ORA (Offsite Risk Assessment) issues etc.
ASRs can take the opportunity in conjunction with the auditor to meet and discuss matters with the PiC (Person in Control) and his team whilst on-site during the audit to jointly reinforce safety messages and actions plus, very importantly engage and speak to front-line workforce members about health and safety issues they may be experiencing.
ASRs can hold safety and health conversations with front-line workforce members at the workstations/prep sorting frames with as many people as they can during the audit to raise awareness of safe working practises and get valuable feedback. ASRs can discuss hazards and risks that individuals may face out on their collection and delivery rounds, e.g., dogs, low level letterboxes, access and egress issues etc., footwear, clothing, PPE, road risk, safe driving, yard safety etc., gaining good insight from the frontline. ASRs can carry out evidence checks on frontline training, delivery of SHE Flashes, Safety Huddles and briefings etc. ASRs can also
get pointers from individuals of safety issues, risks, hazards that may need follow up inspection/investigation at customers’ premises. ASRs can also look at the Unit ORAs (Offsite Risk Assessments) and test whether it’s working or not, talking to the ORA lead/champion and asking how they manage hazards etc., and log any problems that need addressing as well as assisting by dealing with hazards and risks that the workforce encounter.
ASRs can also check on Occupational Health and Wellbeing issues with frontline staff, including work stress risk assessments and ensure that they are utilising the RMG Wellbeing Hub and employee wellbeing and occupational health services, ensuring the workforce are fully aware of the new ‘Moments that Matter Guides’, and the important role of all the services, resources and tools available on offer to assist the workforce e.g. RMG ‘Help@Hand’ which gives employees/members and their family access to fast, free, wellbeing support, resources and services.
The audits are delivered by the RMG SHE Team Safety Advisors and all units will be audited once a year. The audits will assess the level of safety and health compliance with key instructions, policies and legal/regulatory requirements as detailed within the SHEMS (Safety, Health, Environment Management System), Security, Compliance and Ethics policies. The ‘Integrated Audit’ will be conducted on site and compliance will be assessed through a combination of:
- Data analysis and validation;
- Document review; and
- Discussion and observation.
A full list of evidence requirements will be available on the SHE Management System. NB: An auditor will review electronic records (where available) from various systems, there will be no need to print out paper hard copies.
All units will receive an audit notification e-mail at least 5 working days prior to the audit taking place. The average audit should require 1 or 2 days on site. The relevant CWU Area Safety Representative (ASR) will be copied into the e-mail circulation/notification. The auditor will then contact the unit manager to agree the exact date and time of the visit. The ASR will also be notified of the date and time arrangements to confirm the arrangements in order to attend, be consulted and give input.
Initial onsite feedback will be given to the unit managers and then an Action Plan will be issued via e-mail to the unit within five working days. Unit managers will be required to monitor and close out actions. Actions must be completed by the required date as set out in the Action Plan. Update reports on the audit actions will be given to the joint health and safety committee relevant to the Unit where there can be a discussion on progress.
The audit will be transparent with an overall percentage score given for each audit. Audit results will be shared with ASRs by e-mail. Any issues and Audit Action Plan progress can be discussed at joint health and safety committee meetings at a Unit or Regional level basis.
ASR Action:
All ASRs are requested to give Safety, Health and Environment ‘Integrated Audits’ priority and ensure they attend and input into the process.
Emma Tranter RMG SHE Head of Safety (North and Wales) and Jayne Callaghan-Jarvis Head of Safety (South):
Emma Tranter RMG SHE Head of Safety (North and Wales) and Jayne Callaghan-Jarvis Head of Safety (South) have committed to their teams informing their respective ASRs when an audit is going to take place. The SHE safety advisors will and do share the Unit safety audit dates with both the CWU and Unite CMA ASRs so they can be in attendance and be engaged. The CWU HQ Health, Safety and Environment Department and RMG SHE HQ are jointly encouraging involvement and good input conversations with ASRs which should also happen at unit level with the WSRs in the wash-up with the PiC/manager, so ASRs and WSRs can help support what needs to be done in the unit to keep it safe and healthy for our members and workforce.
Yours sincerely
Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer
CWU Eastern No5 Branch 
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