UNISON
Health and Safety
We believe that all workers deserve to be treated fairly at work. This includes fair pay, favourable terms and conditions and well managed health and safety conditions.
Every worker has the right to leave work at the end of their shift, in as good or better physical, emotional and mental condition as when they arrived.
Through our work of safety reps, we strive to support our members at work and work with employers to minimising safety risk, harm and accidents.
In this section you can find out more about the key health and safety issues and our campaigns to ensure better health and safety in workplaces.
Bill Salter Health & Safety Lead
Email
Bill.Salter@wales.nhs.uk
Become a Health and Safety rep
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted why workplace health and safety is so important. But we can’t make workplaces across the public sector safe without YOU.
The words health and safety may conjure up visions of clipboards, regulations and paperwork, but it’s really not like that.
Being a health and safety rep means you will be playing a crucial role in making sure your workplace is safe, healthy, and secure for all your colleagues and service users.
You’ll also gain new skills and meet others who are passionate about workplace safety.
What do Health and Safety reps do?
They:
- talk to members about their health and safety issues and work together with management to resolve these issues.
- investigate potential hazards
- raise concerns with your employer to improve safety in the workplace and deal with specific problems that arise at work
- promote better health and safety in the workplace and encourage everyone to get involved in the union – UNISON is the union that gets things done.
How do I become a Health and Safety Rep?
Ideally you should have reasonable experience of your workplace and how the work is done. We don’t expect you to be an expert we’ll train you in every aspect of the role. You’ll be supported all the way either by your branch or by one of our union organisers from your regional office, who will be able to answer your questions or help get you the additional advice.
You’ll also be able join a community of other health and safety reps from around the country via UNISON’s Organising Space where you can also ask or answer questions from others who have or are experiencing similar issues.
Although there is legally no training required, your branch may ask you to undertake some training to help you undertake the role . Trade union health and safety reps are entitled to paid time off for training. Your branch will help in getting this agreed by your employer.
UNISON training courses are designed to remove barriers, helping you learn and develop the skills you need to carry out your roles and to ensure that you can perform it with confidence regardless of any previous educational history.
We try to provide various training options through a mixture of online, virtual and in person teaching, including a short introductory course, you’ll have a chance to chat with other new health and safety reps and get more one to one time with the tutor if you need it. There are also other specialist courses, on different topics including one on mental health.
All courses are free for you to attend, [although there may be a charge to the branch]
For More Information Please email mailto:Unison.Office.UHW@wales.nhs.uk
Workplace Health & Safety Review
A new guided process for Health and Safety Reps and newly recruited activists to review workplace H&S risk assessments.
This tool can be used to create a report reviewing workplace health and safety (H&S) risk assessments. Use the tool to guide you through the 5-step process. Once you have completed all 5 steps a PDF report will be created and sent to your email address. This can then be used as supporting information in talks to improve the safety of the workplace.
This is designed to be used by: All activists
What are the benefits of using the H&S review tool?
Branch activists, especially safety reps have an important role in examining employers’ risk assessments. Part of this work is deciding whether they are suitable and sufficient. This tool supports you in the review process and guides you through the steps to take. Once you have completed the steps a PDF of the report will be generated to be used in workplace negotiations for improvements.
Ready to get started?
Before you start to build your report and review your workplace's Health and Safety Risk Assessment make sure that you have access to the latest version of the assessment.
Get Started by clicking the Link Below
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