- Conference
- 2017 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 14 February 2017
- Decision
- Carried
Conference understands the large scale of harm to members caused by work related stress, including sickness and serious illness, and the personal cost to members and their families, and even premature death. The 2016 TUC survey of safety reps confirmed that stress was the biggest health and safety concern and that it is getting worse, no doubt to the cuts being ravaged on the public sector. Stress accounts for 45% of all working days lost due to ill health, and that the cost to our employers and the economy as a whole runs into billions of pounds each year.
Conference notes that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Management Standards approach to tackling stress refers to the following six primary causes: demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. Furthermore, the HSE Management Standards approach comprises of a staff survey, and then focus group discussion of the results leading to action plans to address the issues identified. It recognises that the solutions need to come from the very people it affects.
Conference further notes that full branch involvement in the process can significantly improve the effectiveness of this approach. Where the branch is fully involved, then the survey is undertaken by the branch, and it can be carried out on the basis of confidentiality rather than anonymity. This should improve the questionnaire response rate, and we can ask for people’s names, jobs, teams, and locations. In this way we can drill down and get a very much more detailed picture. We can identify the hotspots, where things are really bad, and the specific causes behind them. Full branch involvement may also improve focus group involvement, and the monitoring of the action plans, and should improve staff confidence in the whole process.
Conference accepts that full branch involvement in the process is a significant commitment, but that evidence from branches in the Northern Region, especially Gateshead Local Government and North Tees and Hartlepool Health, shows that it is:
1)A very real support to our members affected by stress;
2)Helps prevent the harm that stress can cause;
3)Helps develop partnership working with management;
4)Demonstrates the union effect;
5)Represents a considerable opportunity for the recruitment of members and reps.
Conference therefore calls upon the National Executive Council to provide significant support for this initiative, to provide the necessary guidance, training and assistance to help make this approach available to all branches.