UNISON, the UK’s largest union, has today called on local
authorities and health trusts to ensure that the health and safety of
the workforce is taken into account when awarding contracts to
private contractors. The call comes in the wake of a new survey*
by the union which shows that private contractors consistently
trailed public authority employers when it comes to their record on
health and safety.
The importance of involving unions is highlighted by well
documented evidence which shows that workplaces with trade
union safety representatives have half as many accidents, injuries
and deaths.
Hugh Robertson, UNISON’s Head of Health and Safety said:
“Our survey shows that when contracts go out, the risk to the
worker goes up. Employers in the public sector should consider
the health and safety record of contractors before they award
contracts, and also ensure that they adhere to strict health & safety
requirements during the life of the contract.
“We hope that the Health & Safety Executive will follow up our
survey with both further research into the effects of contracting out
on the safety of workers, and also greater enforcement of the
existing laws against contractors who flaunt them.
“UNISON has issued guidelines with the aim of ensuring that
contracting bodies are aware of their safety obligations.”
SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS
1. 96% of the public authority employers had a joint health and
safety committee (JHSC), compared to only 21% of the private
contractors.
2. JHSCs within the public authority employers were far more likely
to meet regularly.
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At either end of the scale (more than 6 meetings per year and
never/almost never meeting) there was little difference, but 73%
of the public authority JHSCs meet between 3-6 times per year,
compared to only 48% of the private contractors JHSCs. Almost
a third (28%) of the contractors met only 1-2 times per year,
compared to only 5% of the authority JHSCs.
3. 96% of authorities had trade union safety representatives in
their employment compared to only 22% of contractors.
4. Public authority employers were also far better at meeting their
legal duty to give paid time-off for safety representative training
and duties (an average of 96%) compared to an average of only
23 % of contractors.
5. Similarly, with the provision of information, 93% of authorities
fulfilled their legal obligation at least some of the time, whereas
only 27% of the contractors did.
6. Contractors performed quite well with the requirement to have a
general health and safety policy (87%) but were still bettered by
the public authorities at 98%.
7. Only 63% of contractors had carried out a risk assessment
despite a legal requirement to assess all workplace hazards,
compared with 91% of authorities.
8. 95% of the authorities met the legal requirements to display the
workplace fire procedure and the health and safety law poster,
compared to an average 81% of the contractors.
9. Both employer types fared badly in displaying their insurance
liability certificate, but the public authorities were marginally better
at 66% compared to 60%.
Notes for editors
The survey was carried out on the telephone during 2003 and 134
branches were successfully contacted.
* Health and Safety in the Public and Contracted Out Services
ends