IWMD brings home the importance of Health and Safety to all members
Monday sees the annual International Workers Memorial Day event for those who have lost their lives whilst undertaking their daily duties, and it’s a poignant reminder of the inadequate standards of health and safety that exist across the world. It’s part of the obligation on trade unions and our members that we should honour the dead but step up our efforts to protect the living.
Napo regularly engages at national level with senior management across Probation, Probation Northern Ireland and Cafcass. This work is underpinned by our Health and Safety representatives whose voluntary efforts on behalf of members often goes unheralded. Most of this dialogue with senior management is constructive, but all too often we still hear of instances where policies and good practice are not followed or given insufficient attention.
Unfortunately, it is a fact that when considering the health, safety and well-being of staff, the debate between employers and recognised trade unions can often merely focus on the more obvious aspects such as whether a workplace is compliant with fire and general safety standards. The depressing truth is that there are many other underlying issues which also require serious consideration. These can include: excessive workloads that sometimes result in staff working for free or becoming ill to keep up to date with their allocation, or the perennial failure of employers to provide reasonable adjustments for staff who have a medically diagnosed need. Then there is the potential for violence against staff undertaking home visits, delivering Unpaid Work supervision, or working with clients in Approved Premises.
The common denominator here is that examples such as those above lead to Workplace Stress, which is recognised in law as an Industrial Injury being suffered by a growing number of our members.
How you can help Napo’s campaigning on Health and Safety issues
Napo National Vice-Chair Tony Perkins comments: ‘As Napo National Health and Safety lead for Probation I am daily reminded of the problems experienced by members in the workplace , incidents of violence and intimidation against staff and the ongoing issues attached to the problem of lone working, especially for our members supervising Unpaid Work.
The Joint Survey from Napo and Unison that has gone out to all those involved in the Unpaid Work profession is one way for the Unions to capture the true experience of those who conduct this role on a day-to-day basis.
To further support the campaign against lone working and to evidence the reason that this requires further consideration. I believe that we need to show the employer that these incidents are not in isolated areas. Moreover, they form part of a bigger picture of the national scandal of problems associated with lone working and violence in the workplace.
Napo policy is that we ask our Branch and Cafcass PBNI representatives to seek to include Health and Safety as a key issue on all Regional JCC or Partnership agenda’s. Our National Link Officers and Officials are also available to advise where necessary.’
Other ongoing work linked to Health and Safety
Our current engagement on workload capacity issues with senior Probation and Cafcass management is further evidence of our efforts on behalf of our members at National level, and our active Health and Safety Forum is a safe space for representatives to raise unresolved issues or seek advice. We are also working with our sister Probation unions to step up the ongoing ‘Operation Protect’ campaign. Members should look out for news on the above over the coming weeks.
Finally, any members who may be interested in becoming a Health and Safety Representative can contact : aperkins@napo.org.uk or cdoherty@napo.org.uk or ilawrence@napo.org.uk