Highlighting health and safety in April #IWMD2018

International Workers Memorial Day

Use this event to raise the profile of safety in your workplace: asbestos? stress? bullying? All issues a strong union presence is crucial if you want to stop them.

Join us 

London – Saturday 28 April assemble for 10:30-11:30 Building Workers’ Statue, Tower Hill, next to the Tower of London

See news items on health and safety issues here

Stop press: Welsh Housing Association Tai Calon has been fined £30,000 for heath and safety failures. The association failed to reduce workers exposure to vibration. Several workers were diagnosed with HAVS – which causes pain and loss of strength in the hands.

The 28th April is International Workers’ Memorial Day the day each year when workers come together and remember those who have been killed and injured at work. The slogan for the day is “remember the dead – fight for the living”.  Sadly, it is all too likely that know someone who has died at work, has been injured in the workplace or is suffering from an occupational diseases.

It has been found that workplaces that have union safety reps and a safety committee have half the major injury rate of companies that don’t have these structures.

Safety reps play an enormously positive role in society. In 2016 research found that safety reps in the UK saved between £219 million to £725 million by reducing lost time caused by injuries and illness.

The role of union safety reps is increasingly vital. Continued government attacks on safety laws, safety regulations and huge cuts to the funding of the Health and Safety Executive mean that unions and their safety reps are increasingly in the frontline of workplace safety. If unions aren’t keeping their workplaces safe then it is unlikely that anyone else will.

Unions make work SAFE: Decent work for all!

Unite has fought hard to secure safe workplaces and with strong organised workplaces we can ensure that such incidents and tragedies do not happen again.

For more see here

Posted 3 April 2018