Health and safety

Your branch health and safety reps are:

Waste and Cleansing:

  • Chas Cartwright 0774 576 3787
  • Ian Urquhart 0745 666 1212

Housing Property:

Colin Day 0737 826 0157 colin.day@unitetheunion.org

Elsewhere:

What do health and safety reps do

Health and safety reps protect workers. This can be

  • inspecting workplaces for physical risks
  • ensuring risk assessment are done properly
  • suggesting safer worker practices.

Health and safety reps are a legally recognised role, with certain rights, such as the right to

  • have paid time away from work
  • have access to workplaces for inspections.
  • be consulted with on decisions that impact health and safety

Below you’ll find resources to help protect your health and safety at work.

Read our news about health and safety.
Read coronavirus specific news.

Become a safety rep

You are entitled to paid time off for training and duties as a safety rep.

To become a qualified rep, you need to complete two week-long courses—and there are two further courses to advanced your knowledge.

Contact our branch officials to learn about being a safety rep in our branch.

Dates of safety rep courses on the Unite website.


For H&S reps

Unite’s health and safety pages contain the health and safety guide and a lot of useful resources covering various issues.

Health and safety on the reps’ cloud, including minutes of the H&S meetings.

For conducting inspections

Legalisation

Brown Book includes regulations, code of practice and guidance for the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977. This outlines your rights as a health and safety rep.

The HSE have guides on these pieces of legislation and on how to use them, including risk assessments and forms for checking if employers are meeting the requirements.

Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 is the key piece of legislation.

Six pack

The six pack is a group of 6 regulations that cover specific areas of health and safety in the workplace. These were adopted from EU directives—it is vital we protect the rights and protections in these regulations when the Brexit repeal bill comes.

Other legislation