Local Health and Safety Structures

NUT HEALTH & SAFETY BRIEFING

This briefing document has been prepared in order to assist associations and divisions with the delivery of effective health and safety strategies at a local level.

Introduction

Recent research by the TUC1 has highlighted the many positive improvements to workplace health and safety standards arising from the involvement of worker safety representatives. Indeed, the NUT has a long and proud history of supporting its health and safety representatives in schools and other educational settings.

However, circumstances can vary considerably from one school to another. Whilst some schools will have an established tradition of electing active NUT health and safety representatives, others, especially smaller schools, will not be so fortunate. One of the biggest challenges facing local associations and divisions is how best to organise effectively for health and safety, ensuring that every school has access to good quality health and safety support and advice.

It is not the purpose of this document to set out a detailed examination of the role of the NUT health and safety representative, safety committees or the legislation underpinning their rights. Such matters are covered extensively in other NUT health and safety briefings, in particular The Legal Framework, The Role of the Safety Representative and Safety Inspections. Details of these - and other useful guidance materials - can be found at the end of this briefing.

It should be stressed, nonetheless, that workplace health and safety matters can only be satisfactorily addressed via the full implementation of the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977, and that active, trained and well-supported safety representatives and safety committees2 are consequently the cornerstone of any successful local health and safety structure. The purpose of this document is toconsider ways in which local NUT health and safety activity can most effectively be co-ordinated, both at school and division/association level, to achieve the best possible outcomes for the health, safety and welfare of NUT members and school communities alike.

1The Union Effect, produced by the TUC, can be found at

2Where safety committees have proliferated as a result of local authority privatisation or outsourcing, the extra commitment expected of health and safety advisers should be reflected in their allocation of facilities time.

The NUT Health and Safety Adviser

The key figure in terms of advancing the cause of health and safety at association or divisional level is the NUT Health and Safety Adviser. Full guidance on the role of NUT Health and Safety Advisers is appended to this briefing.

One important function often performed by Health and Safety Advisers is that of carrying out safety inspections in individual schools where there is no school safety representative. As there are many schools with no safety representative, this can be a demandingundertaking. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that this type of activity is more commonly found in metropolitan divisions where there are many schools in a comparatively restricted geographical area. One of the chief purposes of this document is to provide examples of successful solutions to this problem which have been adopted by various NUT divisions.

Examples of Successful Local Health and Safety Structures

The following case studies have been prepared to exemplify ‘good practice’ in the organisation of local NUT health and safety structures. The examples given are by no means intended to represent an exhaustive overview of the subject, but have been selected as being representative of the range of responses developed by local NUT groups to address their own particular circumstances.

Note on Facilities Time

There are a range of agreements on facilities time in operation across different NUT divisions. Advisers requiring specific guidance on this issue are encouraged to contact the NUT Health and Safety Unit on 0207 380 4775 for further details. General guidance on securing facilities time can be found in NUT Circular 04-173: ‘Facilities Time for Health and Safety Advisers’, again available from the NUT Health and Safety Unit at Hamilton House.

Case Study 1 – ‘Classic’ Structure (London Borough of Newham)

There are far fewer safety representatives in Newham schools than there were twenty years ago. The Newham Education Safety Committee therefore decided that where schools or other educational premises had no safety representative, their functions (including inspections) would be carried out by either the NUT Health and Safety Adviser for Newham or the Newham NUT Division Secretary (who had formerly been the Health and Safety Adviser).

This is a successful model given the close geographical proximity of schools within the borough, and the availability of two local officials to cover where there is no school safety representative. However, in other circumstances it might not be so appropriate. There are few examples of this structure working so well in a large rural county; a clear exception being Surrey, where the Health and Safety Adviser is retired from the teaching profession and therefore able to devote significantly more time to his duties. Further information on setting up this type of structure can be found in the NUT Health and Safety Briefing ‘Advisers Acting as Safety Representatives’ – available from the NUT Health and Safety Unit at Hamilton House.

Case Study 2 – ‘Pyramid’ Structure (Doncaster)

In the 1970s, Doncaster created a system for ensuring effective worker participation on health and safety issues to comply with the Safety Representatives/Safety Committees Regulations 1977. They created cross-union constituencies across the authority. Safety representatives were put in groups, each group representing an area. An area = 1 secondary school plus its feeder primaries – hence the ‘pyramid’ structure.
Each pyramid has two safety representatives (drawn from teaching unions, UNISON and GMB). This way, all schools can be covered in terms of worker health and safety involvement, safety inspections, training etc.
Joint Safety Committee
Teaching Unions, UNISON, GMB
I I
Secondary School I Secondary School
I I I I I I I
Primary Primary Primary I Primary Primary Primary
(2 safety reps) I (2 safety reps)
Training
The local authority has agreed funding for everyNUT health and safety representative to be sent on the NUT health and safety representatives’ course at Stoke Rochford on appointment.

This model has been in existence for some time and is extremely successful. It is a very useful way of making the best use of safety representatives, especially where – as in most cases – there are considerably fewer safety representatives than the number of schools which could make use of their support.

A similar approach has been devised in Bradford (see below). Although some of the organisational details are different – for example, each group of schools in the Bradford scheme is larger than those in Doncaster - the essential principles of the system are closely related.

Case Study 3 – ‘Roving Rep’ Structure (Bradford)

An agreement between Bradford Council and the teacher unions has resulted in a ‘Group System for Health and Safety Inspections’ which amounts to a ‘roving rep’ scheme. The system is based on identifying a number of specified days per year to carry out H&S work.
There is a meeting once a year in the summer at which the coming year’s schedule of inspections etc. is worked out.
The NUT has 7 health and safety representatives who each visit one or more groups of schools for the purpose of carrying out their functions. All Bradford schools are sorted geographically into one of 10 groups with about 20-25 schools per group. A health and safety representative is released from teaching for one day per week per group of schools visited. Two of the 7 NUT representatives are also Health and Safety Advisers an extra allocation of facilities time to enable the non-routine work such as investigating accidents, casework etc. to take place. These Advisers have an entitlement to visit any of the Bradford schools as necessary. The NASUWT and ATL also have a H&S Adviser each.
Primary and special schools receive one visit by a safety representative per term; secondaries are inspected every half term. Safety representative visits are shared between the unions in proportion to the individual union membership levels at the school in question. In all cases the representative carrying out the inspection represents all union members at the school. Serious issues are followed up by union Health and Safety Advisers, often in conjunction with head teachers and the Safety Section at the local authority. Reports are duplicated and, complete with the responses from the head teacher, are sent to the safety representative, the NUT school representative, the H&S adviser and the local authority safety section, with a final copy retained by the head teacher.
The NUT retains a further allocation of days across the year as contingency time to cover training needs.
Facilities Time
Bradford local authority has a centrally held pool of funds to cover time off and supply cover as necessary.

Case Study 4 – WSA Bid (Warwickshire)

A particularly innovative approach is being attempted in Warwickshire. The local authority has been very supportive of NUT efforts to apply for funds from the Worker Safety Adviser Challenge Fund, an HSC-funded initiative to increase workplace health and safety involvement. At the time of writing this bid is still under consideration: however, it was thought a worthwhile exercise to include details in this paper, as other NUT members might be interested in bidding for the next round of funding.

The Warwickshire NUT Health and Safety Adviser is currently preparing a bid for £100,000 over two years to fund two Worker Safety Advisers (WSAs) for Warwickshire. The local authority is a fully committed partner, sponsoring supply for the bid. Derbyshire College (TUC) is another partner – they will provide training as part of the package. All the education unions (including UNISON and GMB) are also co-sponsors. This will dramatically increase provision of safety inspections, training and advice for Warwickshire schools. Another aim of the scheme is to set up ‘clusters’ involving a secondary school and its feeder primaries. A team from each cluster comprising (for example) a safety representative, a health and safety manager, a caretaker and a WSA will meet once a term to discuss health and safety issues. Matters arising will form the focus for training, which again will be provided by DerbyshireCollege.
The Worker Safety Adviser Challenge Fund is operated by the HSE. Further information can be obtained from
http:/ /

Conclusion

It is hoped that the inclusion of these case studies will assist NUT divisions and associations in discussions on the future development of health and safety activities in their area. It will furthermore be of use inproviding evidence to local authority officials of the successful implementation of such schemes elsewhere in the country.

The NUT Health and Safety Unit at Hamilton House is currently closely monitoring this topic. We would very much like to hear of any

  • queries or comments on the schemes referred to in this briefing;
  • attempts by divisions and associations to improve their local health and safety provision, such as the adoption of the HSE Safety Representatives’ Charter;and
  • further examples of successful local health and safety structures already in existence.

Correspondence should be addressed to:

NUT Health and Safety Unit

Hamilton House

Mabledon Place

LONDON

WC1H 9BD

Alternatively, emails may be sent to .

Further Information

HSC Safety Representatives’ Charter

No consideration of the development of positive worker involvement in workplace health and safety matters would be complete without reference to the HSC Safety Representatives’ Charter. The Charter forms part of the HSC’s ‘Revitalising Health and Safety’ strategy, the aim of which is to reduce accidents and ill health across the workforce. It is intended to assist with workforce involvement and consultations on health and safety issues.

The Charter is intended to be adopted jointly by employers and trade unions as part of employers’ health and safety policies and to foster partnership between employers and employees on health and safety issues. It covers issues such as consultation of safety representatives by employers, support for safety representatives in conducting safety inspections, provision of time off and other facilities for safety representatives, and trade union support for their safety representatives.

It sets out, in an accessible form, what employers must do to meet the requirements of the Safety Representatives and Safety Committee’s Regulations (the Brown Book). It further suggests ways in which committed employers can go beyond the minimum requirements of the law.

The charter itself can be found on the Health and Safety Executive website, at NUT guidance on the charter was issued in NUT circular 04-215/CoS, copies of which can be obtained from the NUT Health and Safety Unit at Hamilton House.

HSE and TUC Guidance

The health and safety sections of both the HSE and the TUC websites provide a wealth of helpful information on worker involvement in health and safety. Their addresses are as follows:

NUT Guidance

The following related NUT health and safety briefings are available on the NUT website:

The Role of the Safety Representative:

Safety Inspections

Safety Inspection Checklist

Safety Inspections: Inspecting H&S policies and procedures and H&S management

The Legal Framework

Copies of these documents can also be requested from the NUT Health and Safety Unit.

NUT Health and Safety Advisers’ Briefing Pack

There is also much useful and relevant information contained within the NUT Health and Safety Advisers’ Briefing Pack, which is issued to advisers on their appointment.

Guidance is included on a number of areas, such as:

The Role of the Adviser: YourJob Description

Working With Members: Advisers Acting as Safety Representatives

Local Authority Organisation

Local Authority Safety Committees

Organising and Recruiting Safety Representatives

Training Safety Representatives

Using Union Inspection Notices

Additional copies of the whole pack, or individual briefings within it, can be requested from the NUT Health and Safety Unit as detailed above.

National Union Of Teachers

August 2005