As the National Executive Officer responsible
for Health and Safety within the Federation I have been informed that
Federation H&S Reps have been asked to carry out duties in relation to
health and safety matters for which management are responsible ie “Risk
Assessments”.
Performing these duties as an employee is fine
but not as a Federation Safety Rep. As a Safety Rep you need to be clear
as to the distinction between Management’s responsibilities for the health,
safety and welfare of employees and the Federation Safety Rep’s role to
represent Federation members where we have existing agreements in Health and
Safety matters.
The Federation must draw your attention to the
fact that if you agree to carry out Management responsibilities such as
conducting risk assessments or health and safety training you could expose
yourself to the possibility of prosecution as an agent of Management should
anything be found to be in breach of the Health and Safety Legislation. It is,
for example, fine to be consulted on risk assessments and to assist management
in compiling them - indeed it is best practice for you to do so and for your
manager to invite your participation - but you should not perform them
yourself because that is the responsibility of your SPO or your Locally
Nominated Health & Safety Officer (LNHSO).
Carrying out your normal role as a Health and
Safety Rep ensures that you are immune from prosecution, except for your
responsibilities as an individual employee for your own health and safety.
The Role of a Health and Safety Rep
The functions of a
safety rep are laid out in the Safety Representative and Safety Committee
Regulations 1977. These can be summarized as follows:
·
raising awareness on health and safety issues among members
·
investigating potential hazards and dangerous occurrences
·
making representations to, and receiving information from
management.
Regulation 4(1). In addition
to his function under section 2(4) of the 1974 Act to represent the employees
in consultation with the employer under section 2(6) of the 1971 Act (which
requires every employer to consult safety representatives with a view to the
making and maintenance of arrangements which will enable him and his employees
to co-operate effectively in promoting and developing measures to ensure the
health and safety at work of the employees and in checking the effectiveness of
such measure), each safety representative shall have the following functions:
(a)
to investigate potential hazards and dangerous occurrences at the
workplace (whether or not they are drawn to his attention by the employees he
represents) and to examine the causes of accidents at the workplace;
(b)
to
investigate complaints by any employee he represents relating to that
employee's health, safety or welfare at work;
(c)
to make representations to the employer on matters arising out of
sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) above;
(d)
to make representations to the employer on general matters
affecting the health, safety or welfare at work of the employees at the
workplace;
(e)
to carry out inspections in accordance with Regulations 5, 6 and
7;
(f)
to represent the employees he was appointed to represent in
consultations at the workplace with inspectors of the Health and Safety
Executive and of any other enforcing authority;
(g)
to receive information from inspectors in accordance with Section
28(8) of the 1974 Act; and
(h)
to attend meetings of Safety Committees where he attends in his
capacity as a safety representative in connection with any of the above functions.
But without
prejudice to sections 7 and 8 of the 1974 Act, no function given to a safety
representative by this paragraph shall be construed as imposing any duty on him.
Health and Safety reps
course will be run by the Federation during 2006, if you require a course or do
not have a Federation Safety Rep on your station please contact your Joint
Branch Board Secretary.
* * *
You cannot monitor a Risk Assessment ensuring that
it serves your members best interests if you were the one who wrote it.
DJ Reeves
NEC Independent Member (Southern Area).
