Doug Russell RMT Health and safety advisory conference

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RMT HEALTH AND SAFETY ADVISORY CONFERENCE

YORK 19 FEBRUARY 2025

Doug Russell

▪ 1990s HSE agreesViolence is a H&S issue

First guidance for employers published https://books.hse.gov.uk/gempdf/indg69.pdf

▪ 2003 ILO Code of Practice on Workplace Violence in Service Sectors

▪ 2010 EU Multi-sector social dialogue on 3rd Party Violence

https://www.cseeetuce.org/images/attachments/multi_sectoral_guidelines_rev_EN.p df

▪ 2019 ILO Convention 190 onViolence and Harassment in the World of Work

https://www.ilo.org/topics-and-sectors/violenceand-harassment-world-work#introduction

▪ 2022 UNI Global report onViolence to commerce workers

https://uniglobalunion.org/report/the-inconvenient-truth-thepandemic-of-violence-and-harassment-in-commerce/

40 YEARS OF TRADE

UNION ACTIVITY

COMMON THEMES ACROSS

MANY SECTORS

• Violence and harassment is massively under-reported.

• Need for sector-specific and locationspecific risk assessments

• Quality training in risk avoidance and conflict reduction does help:

• sector specific

• risk based.

• Workers and reps must be consulted and involved in risk assessments

• Customer engagement through posters/social media/etc. has limited value but is important.

• Fear of violence and abuse is a significant cause of work-related stress.

• The risk of violence is massively affected by wider socio-economic issues.

USDAW FREEDOM FROM FEAR CAMPAIGN

Campaign started in 2003

 Still one of the Union’s major campaigns.

 Use of Freedom from Fear logo and Respect for Shopworkers messaging rather than Zero Tolerance.

 From the start combined political campaigning with negotiating with employers and organising in the workplace

 Protection of Workers (Retail and Age-restricted Goods and Services) (Scotland) Act 2021

 Promise of legislation in Westminster Parliament

Some of the things we did

 Used union reps to carry out our own surveys of shopworkers. Face to face interviews. 3,000 to 8,000 every year. Linked to recruitment and organising.

 Organised Union-led summit meetings to bring together Ministers, HSE, Police and employers.

 Respect Week customer-facing campaign

 Protected earnings for members who need time off with no loss of sick pay entitlement.

 Extended to members at risk in other sectors – call centres, HGV drivers, funeral services.

2023 Freedom from Fear survey results https://usdawlive.b-cdn.net/live/media/nvzhuezp/fff-survey-results-report-2023.pdf

HEALTH AND SAFETY REPS AT THE CENTRE

Reps do the hard work in our annual surveys

 Evidence from reps face-to-face interviews with workers has been vital

 Shows scale if under-reporting

 Shows trends in levels of abuse and violence

 Identifies main triggers for violence and abuse

 Identifies what workers want from their employers

 Provides real stories to use in the campaign

But thats not all

 Checking risk assessments

 Inspecting the workplace

 Negotiating where procedures and protection are not working

 Encouraging workers to report incidents

 Investigating after incidents

 Making sure victims get compensation and support they are entitled to

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