Saturday, May 12, 2007

Striking over Safety





Strange, last month the “Daily Hate” launched a typically sensationalist attack upon the Health and Safety Executive “nanny state gone absolutely bonkers” et al. In this Jackanory they referred to a largely made up non-story about Tower Hamlets Council “banning staff from putting up Christmas decorations and lights in case they got hurt”.

In the real world, UNISON and GMB safety reps have actually been trying to persuade the Council not to remove safety screens, from the reception desks in the newly refurbished “Homeless Persons Unit” (HPU). The HPU assesses people to see if they are eligible to be rehoused by the council, if they are “homeless” and “vulnerable”. The vast majority of applicants are perfectly decent who are not any threat to staff. However, there is a small minority of homeless applicants (or their friends and family) who can be extremely violent and threatening. Management say that they want to improve the “customer environment” for users and that screens can even provoke violence. Everyone wants to work and provide quality services in clean, bright and modern offices but not at the expense of safety.

The HPU has always had security screens because of the potential risk. In the past screens were removed from local housing offices and “One Stop Shop’s”. However, they had to be reinstalled after a series of assaults and attacks on staff. One of our members on reception was punched in the head and knocked to the floor. She was severally injured and off sick for several months. In another incident a man with an axe jumped over a counter. Staff managed to retreat into a lockable room while he smashed up the office with his axe.

When I last posted on this issue staff had just voted to carry out an indicative strike ballot. In a meeting on Thursday, the results came back from UNISON members, 44 in favour of strike action and 5 against. So we will go for an official ballot. Members at the meeting also voted to support anyone who does not feel safe enough to work on an open reception and in favour of a protest (see picture) on Monday 21 May, when the new unit is due to open. Further details to follow.

On Wednesday 16 May UNISON has employed the respected health and safety specialist, Mick Holder, (member of IOSH) from the London Hazards Centre (LHC) to carry out an inspection of the new office. If management won’t pay any attention to what the people who carry out the job think then perhaps they might take notice of him and start thinking outside the box.

Another irony is that in recent years, the Council has built a number of “Idea Store’s” which manage Adult learning and Libraries services for the borough. These Stores have been very poplar. However, due to violent attacks and hooliganism, they have been forced to employ licensed doormen as security guards. I have spoken to these guards, many of whom are ex-military, who after their shift at an “idea store” go on to work at night clubs wearing body armour. So we have the ridiculous situation that licensed security guards are employed to protect library staff while the HPU will just have untrained “customer service assistants” (who have been told they are really “meeters and greeters”) to protect them.

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