Royal Mail Dispute – Legal Proceedings

The purpose of this LTB is to confirm to CWU branches, representatives and members that Royal Mail has served notice of legal proceedings against the union. This morning the company is making a formal application to the High Court seeking an injunction to invalidate our national ballot and claim damages against the union. Royal Mail’s claim is essentially based on allegations that the union, its representatives and members, have interfered with the ballot process in contravention of the 2015 Trade Union Act.

The CWU completely rejects and denies this claim in the strongest terms and we will contest the claim at a High Court hearing on Tuesday, 12^th November 2019.

It will be clear to all our members and everybody connected with Royal Mail and this dispute, that the CEO and his Board will go to any lengths to deny the democratic mandate of our members to stand together and fight for their future and the very future of UK Postal Services. Instead the company are pressing on regardless with their asset stripping plans to set up a separate Parcels business and let thousands upon thousands of jobs wither on the vine.

At the same time, the company refuses to engage in any meaningful discussions on their plans. We have made it clear that the union is available, including through the weekend, to meet Royal Mail anytime. The union will be setting out our position during the course of the day and providing further information to our members and to the media.

Any enquiries on the above LTB should be addressed to gsoffice@cwu.org.

Yours sincerely

 

Dave Ward
General Secretary

Tony Kearns
Senior Deputy General Secretary

Terry Pullinger
Deputy General Secretary (Postal) 

 

19LTB651 – Royal Mail Dispute – Legal Proceedings

HSE(Northern Ireland) Annual Health and Safety At Work Statistics Report & Statement of Accounts 2018/19

The Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) has published its latest Annual Report which shows an increase in fatal injuries at work but a decrease in major injuries for 2018/19, down by 28% to 325 compared to 453 in the previous year.

Fatal injuries during 2018/19 increased to 12 compared to 11 in 2017/18. Of the 12 fatal injuries, seven occurred in agriculture, three in construction, one in manufacturing and one in the local authority sector.

HSENI stated that “HSENI is disappointed that the number of workplace deaths had increased but welcomed the drop in major injuries which often have devastating life-changing outcomes for workers. HSENI restated its intention to work with industry to ensure the focus remains on ensuring the safety and health of workers and will continue to raise awareness of issues in the workplace associated with chronic ill-health and worker safety. HSENI remains focused on the important work of stopping unsafe working practices and making industries and Northern Ireland’s workplaces as safe and healthy as possible.”

The Annual Report highlights the work HSENI undertakes ranging from partnering with organisations to provide advice and raise health and safety awareness to its enforcement and inspection role. It is also worth noting that this is the first year of the HSENI Corporate Plan 2018-23, a Plan which sets out HSENI’s commitment to improving health and safety standards across all sectors in Northern Ireland.

During 2018/19, HSENI carried out 5,522 safety inspections of workplaces and served 222 formal enforcement notices where poor health and safety practices were found. It dealt with 844 complaints about alleged unsatisfactory working conditions and activities, prepared amendments to 19 Northern Ireland Statutory Rules, prepared eight sets of regulations (including five in relation to the UK’s Exit from the EU) and published two revised Approved Codes of Practice; organised six events on issues such as waste and recycling safety, asbestos management, construction health and safety and product safety; held or attended 61 promotional events including seminars, lectures, workshops and presentations, with 145 published materials; distributed over 13,595 free publications giving health and safety advice and dealt with 6,473 calls for information via its HSE(NI) Freephone Helpline and enabled website visitors to download over 113,605 publication files.

A Copy of the report, including a ‘Key facts and figures’ summary, is attached.

Yours sincerely

 

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

19LTB645 HSENI Annual Health and Safety At Work Statistics Report 2018-19

hseni-annual-report-and-statement-of-accounts-2018-19_0

 

HSE Annual Health and Safety At Work Statistics for GB Report 2018/19

Further to LTB 418/19 dated 5 July 2019 (HSE Annual Workplace Fatal Injury Statistics Report 2018/19), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has now published its full annual statistics report covering work-related ill health, work-related stress, depression or anxiety, work-related musculoskeletal disorders, occupational lung disease, workplace injury, costs to GB, industries breakdown, European comparisons and enforcement statistics including prosecutions, enforcement notices and fines.

The fatal statistics released earlier this year and confirmed in this latest report show an annual increase in the number of fatal accidents at work and also a rise in the number of reported cases of worker injuries and ill-health.

The HSE annual statistics show 1.4 million workers were suffering from work-related illnesses and around 581,000 sustained non-fatal injuries in 2018/19. This is up from 555,000 reported cases in 2017/18.

Work-related stress, depression and anxiety cases have risen to 602,000.

Musculo-skeletal disorder cases are up – rising to 498,000.

The number of working days lost due to work-related illness and non-fatal workplace injuries was 28.2 million working days.

The total number of workplace fatal injuries has again risen from 144 to 147.

Workplace injury and new cases of ill health costs Britain £15.0 billion a year.

Despite repeated Government and HSE claims that the UK is the safest place to work in the EU, the key figures for Great Britain show that in 2018/19 there were:

• 147 workers killed in fatal accidents at work.
• 1.4 million working people suffering from a work-related illness.
• 602,000 workers suffering work-related stress, depression or anxiety.
• 2,526 Mesothelioma deaths due to past asbestos exposures.
• 12,000 work-related lung disease deaths.
• 581,000 non-fatal injuries to workers.
• 498,000 workers suffering from work-related musculo-skeletal disorders.
• 69,208 injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR.
• 12,000 lung disease deaths linked to past chemical or dust exposure at work.
• 28.2 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury.
• 364 cases prosecuted by the HSE.
• 11,040 Enforcement Notices served.
• £54.5 million in health and safety fines paid by convicted offenders.
• £15 billion annual cost of work-related injuries and ill health from working conditions (2017/18).

The number of injuries and incidents of ill-health in workplaces across Great Britain is still too high, these new statistics show. Martin Temple, HSE Chair stated that ‘there is still much to be done to ensure workers go home both healthy and safe. The figures highlight the vital importance of managing risk and promoting improved standards of good health and safety in the workplace and ensuring everybody is aware of what they need to do to work right by preventing work-related accidents and making places of work healthier and safer for everyone.’

The statistics confirm the scale of the challenge the HSE faces in making the nation a healthier and safer place to work and shows that a huge improvement is required to prevent deaths, injury and ill health in the workplace. The statistics serve as a reminder to employers of the importance to manage risk and undertake good health and safety working practices in the work place in order to ensure that every worker goes home at the end of their working day safe and healthy. These incidents still affect too many lives every year.

These statistics could look far worse as a more accurate and inclusive set of figures would include 50 workers killed at sea and in the air, 600 workers killed in road traffic accidents whilst working, 300 members of the public killed by work activities.

Heavy year on year cuts to Government funding of the HSE has undoubtedly, in the Trade Unions’ view, made workplaces less safe and influenced the rise in deaths at work reported for the year. The increase in workplace deaths may be the continued sign of the effect of years of budget cuts and reductions in inspections, Enforcement Notices issued and prosecutions, filtering through. The Government cuts to health and safety funding will gradually, increasingly impact on workers. The latest increase in reported workplace deaths reported by the HSE undermines the complacent and ever-repeated statement rolled out ‘parrot-fashion’ by Government Ministers and HSE ‘top brass’ that “The UK has the best safety record in the world and one that is the envy of the world.’ The reductions in the HSE’s and Local Authorities’ ability to inspect workplaces are now being widely brought into question. In every aspect of life, you get what you pay for and the UK Government is paying less money and therefore there’s less attention being paid to workplace safety year on year.

A copy of the HSE Official Health and Safety At Work Summary Statistics for GB 2018/19 is attached.

Yours sincerely

 

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

19LTB644 HSE Annual Health and Safety At Work Statistics for GB Report 2018-19

HSE – Health Safety at Work Summary Statistics for GB 2019

The David Walters International Health & Safety Symposium – “What about the workers?” –  Date: Wednesday 29th January 2020 – Venue: Cardiff University, School of Social Sciences: (A Free to Attend Event) 

Professor David Walters Director of the Cardiff University Work Environment Research Centre (CWERC), is an internationally renowned researcher and writer on various aspects of the work environment and strong supporter and advocate in the strengths and positive benefits of employee and trade union representation and consultation on health and safety, the politics of health and safety at work, regulating health and safety management, chemical risk management at work and health and safety at work in all types and sizes of companies. He is the editor of the international journal, Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, a member of the IOSH Research Committee and was Special Adviser, to the House of Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee. He is highly respected across the UK and European Trade Union movement. David is due to retire shortly and to mark his retirement an International Health and Safety Symposium entitled “What about the workers?” has been announced in his honour with the event taking place at Cardiff University on Wednesday 29^th January 2020.

The event is free to attend, but places are limited so please register early! Please follow this link to reserve a place:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-about-the-workers-tickets-74405991323

For Further Information contact either:-

Emma Wadsworth Email: wadsworthej@cardiff.ac.uk

or

Phil James P.W.James@mdx.ac.uk

Event Programme

9.00 – 9.15

Welcome & Introduction

Speakers – Tom Hall, Head of School, School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University,

Owen Tudor, Deputy General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation and

Peter Lahay, Coordinator, International Transport Workers’ Federation

 

9.15 – 9.45

Session 1 — The Extent of the Problem? Chair and Discussant Peter Lahay, International Transport Workers’ Federation

 

Research and the Struggle to Improve Working Conditions from a Trade Union Perspective

Speaker Laurent Vogel, Senior Researcher, Health and Safety, Working Conditions, European Trade Union Institute

 

9.45 – 10.15

The Scale and Costs of Work-Related Harm

Speaker Jukka Takala, Executive Director Emeritus, President, International Commission on Occupational Health

 

10.15 – 10:45

Securing Compliance with OHS Standards: What works and what needs to be done?

Speaker Steve Tombs, Professor of Criminology, Open University

 

10:45 – 11:00

Coffee

 

11.00 – 11:30

Session 2 — OHS, Supply Chains and the Changing Nature of Employment: Responses to the Changing World of Work – Chair and Discussant Susan Murray, Former Unite National H & S Adviser

OHS and SMEs: Challenges and Solutions

Speaker Felicity Lamm, Associate Professor of Employment Relations, Co-Director of the Occupational Health and Safety Research Centre, Auckland University of Technology

 

11.30 – 12.00

The Rise and Challenges of Precarity: What Should Be Done?

Speaker Michael Quinlan, Emeritus Professor, University of New South Wales

 

12.00 – 12:30

Supply chains and the Fragmentation of OHS management: Approaches to Reassert Coordinated Control

Speaker Richard Johnstone, Professor of Criminology, Queensland University of Technology

 

12.30 – 13.30

Lunch

 

13.30 – 14.00

Session 3 – Voice and Resistance: What Can Be Done? Chair and Discussant Victor Gekara, Associate Professor, School of Business, IT and Logistics, RMIT University

 

Can research help OHS activism? The LOARC contribution

Speaker Andy King, Researcher in Residence, McMaster University School of Labour and retired Department Leader, Health, Safety and Environment, United Steelworkers of America Canadian Office

 

14.00 – 14.30

Strategies to ensure voice and protection for the mobile workforce – an Example of Current Challenges for Organising around OHS

Speaker| Katherine Lippel, Professor, University of Ottawa, Canada Research Chair on Occupational Health and Safety Law

 

14.30 – 15.00

When protections don’t protect workers: Workers’ experiences with OHS reprisals and what can be done about them

Speaker Wayne Lewchuk, LIUNA Enrico Henry Mancinelli Professor in Global Labour Issues, McMaster University

 

15.00 – 15.30

Workers are the solution, not the problem

Speaker Bud Hudspith, Unite National H&S Adviser

 

15.30 – 15.45

Coffee

 

15.45 – 16.15

Session 4 – Lessons for Policy from Research and Practice: Towards More Effective Worker Protection

Chair and Discussant Kaj Frick, Adj. Professor Emeritus (in Human Work Science), Lulea University of Technology, Sweden

 

Exploring and closing the gap between OHS knowledge and practice

Speaker Lawrence Waterman, Chair of the Board of Trustees, British Safety Council

 

16.15 – 16.45

Transferring Research into Policy: Barriers and Facilitators

Speaker William Cockburn, Head of Prevention and Research Unit, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work

 

16.45 – 17.15

Session 5 – Concluding Reflections and Thoughts Chair and Discussant Owen Tudor, Deputy General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation

 

Worker Orientated OHS Research

Speakers Professor David Walters Director of the Cardiff University Work Environment Research Centre and Phil James, Professor of Employment Relations, Middlesex University

 

17.15 – 17.45

Final Thoughts and Ways Forward

Speaker Professor David Walters Director of the Cardiff University Work Environment Research Centre

 

Yours sincerely

Dave Joyce
National Health, Safety & Environment Officer

19LTB641 The David Walters International Health & Safety Symposium – What about the workers

David Walters Symposium Programme and Location Details