Health & Safety Reps Newsletter No 2 Summer 2023

Summer 2023

Clean air at work campaign

Purchase of air quality monitors

The purchase by RMT of Qingping air quality monitors for safety reps to use in their workplaces has been welcomed, some describing how much they were looking forward to using the monitors and how they found the monitors slightly addictive as they went around everywhere measuring air quality.

London Underground RMT safety reps have written detailed reports to their employer, with information on workplace measurement data, describing when and where the measurement was taken, and backing this up with research relating to health problems and consequences that can be caused by air pollution.

To help reps get a better understanding of how the monitors work, RMT organised a meeting on 15th June (National Clean Air Day), which 40 safety reps attended. Speakers at the RMT meeting were

Hilda Palmer from Hazards Campaign/Trade Union Clean Air Campaign (TUCAN) and Sharon IsaacUpton, Head of UK operations at Smart Air. A video presentation of the Qingping device was shown and there was an opportunity following this for questions and comments.

Hilda Palmer explained that the handheld mobile air quality monitors had improved considerably

in recent years in terms of their reliability, but if employers do question the reliability of these monitors there is nothing to stop them from buying more expensive monitors! It was explained that you don’t need to be connected to the Internet to use the monitor, but the time/weather feature will be unavailable. The air monitor does not support Wi-Fi that requires authentication to be completed on a web page or information to be entered in a special login client. Hilda Palmer said that in a dusty environment, you may need to manually recalibrate the CO2 sensor more frequently; the QP Lite doesn’t need maintaining but it needs exposure to outdoor air ideally once a week.

Hilda said that the target for a healthy/safe measurements should be WHO (World Health Organisation) standards – rather than UK standards

If you are interested in using a Qingping monitor they are available to borrow from your Regional Office.

Please inform RMT H&S section at Unity House: healthandsafety@rmt.org.uk of any progress made with your employers as a result of readings you send them.

Clean Air Case Study 1

London Underground

RMT safety reps took readings that were high in relation to harmful particulate matter. Consequently, they have called on London Underground to investigate further, particularly in relation to readings taken at Stockwell, Vauxhall and Pimlico stations.

The high readings come as no surprise given that researchers from the University of Cambridge concluded last year that “The London Underground is polluted with ultrafine metallic particles small enough to end up in the human bloodstream”.

Clean Air Case Study 2

Northern Railways

RMT have received reports of positive progress, which shows that often long-fought campaigns, with persistence, can begin to effect change.

This relates to safety reps on Northern Railways who have managed to bring the issue of Diesel Engine Exhaust Emissions (D.E.E.E.) to the director level of the Company, where a forum has been created, and “for the first time the workshop staff are consulted and their opinions listened to”. Also, the reps have formalised an agreement that where their members work they can vacate the work area all together if they feel that the air quality in their workspace is compromised. Pressure from the reps has also convinced the local safety management team to produce a monthly bulletin, specifically detailing the current developments with this issue.

Parliamentary work

An Early Day Motion submitted by RMT to Parliament on Clean Air Day, 15th June, noted that the issue of poor air quality will be addressed by moving away from diesel for rail and bus services, and from private car use to affordable and attractive alternatives. The motion explained that Network Rail has admitted that it is “almost impossible” to

Useful links

achieve its targets to electrify the railway and to reduce reliance on diesel trains.

In the RMT Parliamentary motion we called on the Government to recognise the vital role of public transport in delivering clean air by investing to deliver a radically expanded and affordable public transport network.

HSE research has shown that exposure to silica, even at legal levels, leads to many health problems, including deaths from cancer.

https://bit.ly/3OIg8pi

Information from the RMT clean air meeting and other relevant information on air quality can be found here: https://bit.ly/3qfY90g

RMT Safety Rep Merchandise

RMT H&S section have purchased a limited order of RMT Health and safety reps HV vests and clipboards.

If you send in a photo of yourself carrying out a safety inspection/safety visit or safety meeting along with a brief description of what you were doing and where – and/or a report of the safety meeting, committee –safety walk etc. you attended, we will send you a vest and clip board.

Please send photos/info to healthandsafety@rmt.org.uk

RMT campaign to recruit young safety reps and women safety reps

The RMT H&S Advisory Committee campaign to recruit more young safety reps has got off to great start in Network Rail with a recent meeting between the Company RMT leads reps, reps from the young members committee and Eddie Dempsey, RMT Assistant General Secretary. They took a decision there – subsequently endorsed by RMT NEC to set up a training/mentoring scheme to oversee and support young safety reps.

The strategy to recruit more women reps is formally

underway after NEC agreement. The strategy includes working with the RMT women’s committee, to survey all women members to find out the barriers to them becoming safety reps, to map RMT membership to find out where women members are employed and to find out where there are safety rep vacancies. Also, to set up a system of mentors, so that women members who volunteer as safety reps can be given the assurance that they will be supported and to work on a poster/email/video campaign for the attention of women members.

New version of RMT Health and Safety at Work Handbook (the Red Book)

This re-write of RMT’s H&S Handbook is now available on the web site at https://bit.ly/3pu4NiU

In the Handbook you will find many of the more common legal requirements concerning health and safety in the workplace – as well as information on some of the most frequent problems faced by RMT members and the general health and safety legislation which applies to these issues.

Since the previous edition of the Handbook there have been a number of changes, such as leaving the EU and additions, amendments, and unfortunately some watering down of legislation and the new version of the Handbook reflets these changes.

We hope to get this Handbook to you in hardback soon (there have been some problems/delay at the printers).

While you are looking at the Handbook at the RMT health and

safety section of web site it might be worth having a wider look round this section www.rmt.org.uk/about/health-and-safety/ as it has been tidied up in recent months and some new info added.

There is still much more to do in terms of adding to it – so if you have any ideas on what should be there, or what you think it would be useful to have information about, please let us know on healthandsafety@rmt.org.uk

Pic: RMT NEC members (l to r) Wayne Moore, Millie Apedo-Amah and Kevin Morrison modelling RMT safety rep merchandise before a recent RMT NEC health and safety subcommittee meeting.

Resolutions

RMT bus members lead the way on raising H&S items that have relevance for all RMT members

Resolution passed at 2022 RMT National Bus Workers’ Industrial Organising Conference:

Whole body vibration Conference passed a resolution calling for a Campaign for Whole Body Vibration (WBV) as an industrial disease. The resolution was subsequently adopted by the NEC when they recognised that WBV is a health and safety issue that may affect many or our members.

In relation to this issue the following HSE training “HSE Musculoskeletal disorders and whole-body vibration from driving: Manage the risk to your workforce” on 25 September 2023 maybe of use.

This free online webinar is aimed at managers –but it might be interesting for you to learn about how employers should be managing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and whole-body vibration from driving. Even if you are registered – but can’t make the training - you will be sent a recording of the webinar.

For more information and to register click here: https://bit.ly/44UjtYj

In relation to Hand Arm Vibration (HAVS), the ORR (Office of rail and road regulator) wrote in their annual report which was released recently that “Network Rail have been responsible for reporting most of the industry’s new HAVS diagnoses. Network Rail were also responsible for reporting all worsening HAVS diagnoses to ORR under RIDDOR. Reports of worsening HAVS are of particular concern as they are more likely to arise from vibration exposures in current jobs, rather than new diagnoses of pre-existing symptoms arising from exposures with previous employers”.

Resolutions passed at 2023 RMT National Bus Workers Industrial Organising Conference:

Toilet Dignity

A resolution “Toilet Dignity – Bus Workers”, highlights the problems for bus workers (as shown during the pandemic when usual “facilities” used by

Covid-19 Inquiry

You are probably aware that the Covid inquiry is now underway.

Of particular note was the contribution from the BMA (British Medical Association) Chair Phil Banfield who said at the inquiry on 18th July that Pandemic preparedness warnings were ignored for years and that years of

bus drivers in shopping centers, bars and cafes etc.. were closed). The situation is not much better for many other RMT members. Indeed, things are so bad that the ORR in their recently published annual report stated that:

“It is unacceptable that the industry fails to provide adequate toilet facilities for staff and indeed this is a legal requirement. There is an opportunity for operators to provide shared access to their own facilities and go some way to meeting the human need and dignity requirements of the workforce”.

In connection with this issue - the ITF (International Transport Federation) material is particularly useful as a resource to survey/investigate your workplace in relation to toilet provision: https://bit.ly/44U0ay9

Working in Extreme Temperatures

This resolution called upon the RMT NEC to support and campaign for a maximum bus cab working temperature. The resolution explained that due to the climate crisis and faulty bus cab air conditioning systems during the summer months UK bus drivers are compelled to drive buses where the in-cab temperature exceeds 40C.

Global temperatures are on the rise, In the UK, the Met Office announced that June 2023 was “the hottest on record for the UK” and more recently in southern Europe, the US and China they have recorded record high temperatures.

Employers must plan for the fact that we will more frequently experience high temperatures - and put in place measures to manage the risk of this to the health and safety of their staff who are working in these temperatures.

The TUC have issued their 8 steps employers can take to keep work cool at https://bit.ly/3Yrbn76 which has a useful interactive guide for reps who want to learn about the actions they can take to guard against extreme temperatures in the workplace and contribute to the fight against climate change.

under-investment and understaffing meant the NHS could not cope. A perfect storm of failings including a failure to appropriately resource and staff the NHS, the dismantling of public health services and the failure to implement pre-pandemic emergency response planning, meant that doctors were overwhelmed and put at risk when COVID-19 arrived in the UK.

Dates for your diary

Hazards Campaign Conference, 1-3 September 2023

It’s a Deadly Business! but Decent work is Safe and Healthy. The Hazards Conference is one of the biggest conferences for trade union safety reps and activists consisting of a mixture of plenary sessions, meetings and a comprehensive workshop programme. You can attend in person at Keele University, Stoke on Trent, or remotely via online streaming.

Jonathan Havard, RMT Health and Safety Officer, will be chairing a fringe meeting at the conference on “Extreme Temperatures at Work”

To register for the conference click here: www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/conference

RMT Health and Safety Conference, 20th & 21st February 2024 in York

Details of conference and how to register will be available in the autumn.