Health and Safety - Organise

Union workplaces are safer workplaces. This isn't a matter of chance or because unions are only to be found in safer firms. It is because unions provide the voice, skills and the vigilance needed for working people to maintain and secure improvements.

Union health and safety reps and Delegates keep union workplaces safe by organising their fellow workers and keeping them informed and aware.

Unions reps have used many different techniques and strategies to improve health and safety in their workplace. Some ideas are outlined below:

Look and listen 
Has there been a lot of stress claims or strain claims? What's bothering the workforce? Aches and pains? Everyone got headaches? Problems from migraine to serious diseases can be caused by the job. Use and review the accident book, which all employers are legally bound to keep.

Do comparisons 
If workers in one job or one part of the workplace have a greater problem with some hazards or greater frequency of a symptom, the workplace could be to blame.

Survey 
Identify the problems in your workplace by surveying staff. You can often uncover issues you didn't even know were there. Finding the problems are the first step to solving the problems! Use these survey resources or design your own.

Get trained 
Health and Safety Reps often need specific skills to do the job effectively. The ASU office provides regular training for Delegates and Reps on health and safety issues.

Communicate 
Keep your work colleagues up to date with what's going on - especially if there's an important issue people are working to resolve. You can do this by holding regular meetings, using an email list or producing your own health and safety newsletter.

Body mapping
When one person has an ache, it's an ache. When everyone has it, then it is almost certainly an occupational health problem. Get more infromation here about how you can use body mapping to identify health and safety problems in your workplace.

Records 
Don't leave things to chance. Keep your own records of health and safety incidents, inspections, issues etc. Make sure that your employer keeps an accident book - and that staff know to use it when a health and safety incident occurs, no matter how minor they may consider it to be.

Get people involved 
As union members, we know that we achieve more when we work together collectively. This principle applies just as much to health and safety issues as it does to other matters such as enterprise bargaining negotiations. Get your colleagues involved in a campaign or issue! Contact your Organiser at the ASU office on 3252 8666 for more ideas.