- Conference
- 2019 Water, Environment & Transport Conference
- Date
- 29 January 2019
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes the continual increase in the number of UNISON members working on phones in contact centres in employers covered by the Water, Environment & Transport Service Group.
Currently, United Utilities only provides audio tests for employees reaching the upper noise limits as recommended by the HSE such as operational employees in hearing protection areas.
Conference however believes that continual phone headset use can have a detrimental effect on UNISON members’ hearing.
We therefore call upon the Service Group Executive in conjunction with UNISON’s Health and Safety Unit to undertake work to gauge the scale of the issue and consider launching a campaign within the Service Group for annual hearing tests to become standard practice to assist our members’ health and safety whilst working in such environments.