Make workplaces safe on National Inspection Day
Today, Wednesday 21 October, is National Inspection Day – part of the European Health and Safety at Work Week which began on Monday.
National Inspection Day, which always falls on the Wednesday of the European health and safety week, is the day when all safety representatives are encouraged to inspect their workplaces.
The TUC has produced a guide that reps can use to conduct their workplace safety inspections, which can be found here, as well as a guide to risk assessments which can be found here.
Last year, the 11th biennial TUC survey of union health and safety representatives revealed some of the top concerns for reps. Workplace stress took the top place, but other hazards appearing in the top five were bullying and harassment, overwork, back strains and slips, trips and falls on a level.
The TUC said that one in six of the workplace reps who took part in the survey said their employers were failing to conduct risk assessments, which is a breach of health and safety law.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “It’s shocking that so many employers are breaking the law and putting their staff at risk of illness and accidents by their sheer negligence.
“Not only does this put people in danger while doing their jobs, the consequences also carry high cost for British businesses and public services because it results in lower productivity and more staff spending time off sick.”