Water, Environment and Transport Conference 2013 calls upon the WET Executive to devise a checklist to ensure that any PPE is compliant with the law. As a minimum, the checklist should include: • Check with employers that PPE was purchased from reputable suppliers i.e. from Companies displaying the logo of the Registered Safety Suppliers (RSS) […]
Conference motions
This Conference is aware of an incident that took place on a water meter chamber in Slovakia which ultimately resulted in 1 of 2 water meter readers suffering brain damage which will likely prevent him from working ever again. Whilst most of the water industry in Great Britain follows the correct procedures in regards to […]
Following on from the success of the 2012 WET Health & Safety event, this Conference calls on a similar event to be staged in the spring of 2014 as Health and Safety remains one of the key areas for our members. Positive feedback was received from all attendees last time and experience gained from others […]
Recent statistics prove that workers are taking less time off sick than ever before but this can well be a false economy situation particularly for members we represent in the WET Service Group. Workplaces now face a bigger problem of presenteeism not absenteeism whereby workers are struggling into workplaces with ill health symptoms and end […]
Issues are being experienced in some Branches including Scottish Water whereby the Working Time Regulations appear to be being misinterpreted in particular when working time begins. Instances that have come to the fore include employees being required to do basic vehicle checks in their own time before commencing work. In addition, employees are being told […]
This 2013 WET Conference is aware of a serious safety incident in Severn Trent Water which resulted in a sewerage operator losing the tips of his fingers on one hand. The individual concerned was gaining access to a confined space but suffered the injury as the stay on the manhole cover collapsed. Such assets particularly […]
Whilst this Conference welcomes improvements to sites including making welfare facilities of an acceptable standard basic site Health and Safety issues shouldn’t be forgotten about during the duration of such work. It came to light on some but not all sites that were being improved in United Utilities that lighting and signage on emergency routes […]
Conference notes with extreme concern the decision by Severn Trent PLC taken in May 2011 to give notice of its intention to close the final salary based Severn Trent Water Pension Scheme. Sadly most water companies have already closed their final salary schemes to new members with just one small water supply company, Cambridge also […]
“Conference notes that the publication on 5 April 2011 of the Government Consultation Document – “A State pension for the 21st Century” will have significant implications for members of all occupational pension schemes in the Water, Environment and Transport Service Group. The increased National Insurance costs to employers and employees inherent in the Government’s proposals […]
Conference welcomes the launch on 1 February 2011of Campaign for Better Transport’s new campaign ‘Save our Buses’. The campaign has been initiated due to the increasing number of local authorities who are looking to save money by reducing the number of socially necessary and school bus services they support because of cuts to government funding. […]
Conference notes employer duties to make reasonable adjustments in their management of disabled employees who are absent from work as a result of their disability. We call on Water Environment and Transport (WET) employers to take their responsibilities seriously, and to pay specific attention to employees living with HIV. Many WET employers are scared or […]
Conference welcomes the 2010 Equality Act – one of the last Labour government’s final pieces of legislation. This provides a wide ranging basis for negotiating in our water, environment and transport (WET) workplaces. It places a duty on every employer, whether in the private or public sector, to protect their employees from discrimination from colleagues, […]
The latest reorganisations within several of the water companies seem to have turned the clock back and brought clean and waste water operatives working together and cross functioning across sites. This seems to us to be a backward step. The risk of contamination to workers and the public was a major reason why these streams […]
With this current Government being hellbent in increasing retirement ages until we drop, companies in the Water, Environment and Transport sector like others may invoke ‘capability’ to get rid of older workers. They tend to be higher paid with better terms and conditions and more likely to ‘challenge the system’ than younger workers. All workers […]
0Although most of our companies that treat waste are phasing out the paddle rotation systems in the Activated Sludge Process and replacing them with the more efficient diffused oxygen technique another hazard involving aerosol formation is entering our workplaces. This is the composting of sludge waste and green waste to sell as garden compost and […]