UNISON care workers receive compensation after violent incident at work

Most people join a union for personal advice and support at work or the benefits of having collective bargaining over your terms and conditions. 

Free legal advice and representation by trusted and expert union lawyers is also something to bear in mind.

My branch (Greater London UNISON Housing Associations) recently put out this press release. Note the absolute importance of carrying out adequate risk assessments.

"Three UNISON members working in a care home have received compensation totalling £60,000 after a violent incident at work in which they were attacked by a service user.

The three UNISON members work as night workers in a care home in South London. In March 2014 they were attacked at work by a service user and had to lock themselves in the staff toilets while police were called. There had been several previous incidents with the service user; despite this, their employer had not carried out an adequate risk assessment.

The three night workers suffered physical and psychological injuries and all three lodged personal injury claims with Thompsons solicitors. They were supported by their UNISON branch in their return to work and Thompsons negotiated compensation for their personal injuries amounting to £60,000 in total.

“These kinds of incidents will only grow more frequent as cuts to social care budgets increase the pressure on service providers,” said UNISON Housing Associations branch manager/organiser Josephine Grahl. “Care and support staff are doing a very difficult job in underfunded, overstretched services; however, we’re glad that UNISON were able to support these members to return to work and to get the compensation they deserved.”

Linda, one of the members, said: “It took me a long time to recover from a really shocking and upsetting incident; I’m really happy that my union were able to support me throughout this time and to get me compensation for the injuries I suffered.”

Notes for editors

· UNISON represents 1.3 million workers employed in the public sector, by private contractors and in the not-for-profit sector, including over 20,000 members in housing associations. The UNISON Housing Associations Branch represents over 3,000 workers in social and supported housing across Greater London.

Metropolitan Housing Shooting

This is an article that I wrote today for our branch newsletter. "The exact details of what happened yesterday over the shooting of a Metropolitan HA housing officer and a bailiff during an eviction are unknown.

The use of guns against housing staff is thankfully incredibly rare but don’t forget the recent survey by "Inside Housing" that found yet another year on increase in assaults on staff. In the meanwhile an incident such as this concentrates minds.

Local stewards and safety representatives should be thinking of asking management when did they last review staff risk assessments and safety procedures? Have staff and the union been properly consulted on these documents? Are staff reps invited and enabled to attend safety committees? Do you have a register of residents who may be violent? Is this register up to-date and most importantly is it being used? Is there adequate resources made available for health and safety in your organisation?

The branch is planning to hold a training workshop for all our reps. Details will be sent out soon.
Remember a unionised workplace is a safer work place. The more of us in the union the safer all of us will be in work. If you are interested in being a UNISON safely rep contact the branch. Check out the excellent safety resources on the UNISON website here.

Tate & Lyle fined £270,000 over workers' death in Silvertown

I came across today this Health and Safety Executive (HSE) report on the conviction last Friday of sugar giant Tate & Lyle over the death of one of its workers in 2004. Tate & Lyle have a refining factory in Silvertown and are an important employer in my borough Newham. They generally have a very good reputation. I am however shocked by three things about this avoidable death.

Firstly the “accident” occurred in March 2004 and has only now come to Court? Justice delayed is Justice denied?

Secondly the victim 53 year old Keith Webb died while he was in the cab of in a 9 tonne digger which was being hoisted by a crane from the dock inside a massive raw sugar container ship. The digger came away from the crane and crashed into the ship and then into the harbour killing Keith. Check out this article in the Independent.

How anyone ever thought that it was a safe practice to transport both driver and machine via a crane at the same time is beyond me? The risk must have been clearly and wholly foreseeable? The company has been fined £270,000 (and £90,000 costs) for serious managment failings but why hasn’t anyone been held individually responsible for this death? Hopefully recent changes to Corporate Manslaughter law will change things for the future (and help prevent such incidents happening again).

The Judge on Friday held that the death was the direct result of the company "failing to discharge its duty". It had not "provided and managed a proper means of access to ships being unloaded". He said it had also "failed to manage and control its staff properly to prevent being carried in vehicles lifted by crane". Although there were guidelines in place regarding the use of ladders "the unavoidable conclusion is that the actual practice on the site was that instructions were sometime ignored". "This is a serious failure of management and supervision for which the company must bear responsibility, and I sentence on that basis."

Last and not at all least thirdly "Above all, however, this is a human tragedy as Mr. Webb leaves a widow, two grown up children, and two grandchildren, one of whom he was sadly never able to meet. This terrible accident should never have been allowed to happen." HSE Inspector John Crooks.

Mr. Webb's widow Avril, who was present in court, said: "Although Keith died five years ago, for me, it's like yesterday. My husband was ripped from my life, from our family's lives. There was no illness to prepare us for our loss. "I'm still trying to fill the huge void left by his death, still trying to pick up the threads of a life that I can no longer enjoy. I am half of a whole person. I am no longer part of a couple."

Later this month it is European Health and Safety Week which will aptly concentrate on making sure that all work activities are covered by suitable and adequate risk assessments.

Skin Cancer and Outdoor Working

Quite rightly last week there was a lot of media coverage about the link between the use of sun beds and cancer. Coincidentally I met up with a branch member who had just been diagnosed with facial skin cancer.

He has been an estate based housing caretaker for the past 15 years. If paying 50p per minute to lie on a sun bed is “carcinogenic to humans” and “on a par with smoking and exposure to asbestos” then sweeping and cleaning outdoors in the sun for several hours a day is obviously a matter of concern.

As the branch health & safety officer I have asked to see if the caretaking risk assessments cover this danger from skin cancer. This is mandatory under the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations (MHSWR). I suspect it does not and will be sending a note to all our safety reps to ask their housing organisations for sight of their risk assessments and to make sure that they properly protect not only caretaking staff from this risk but any other members who spend their time predominantly outside – direct repair staff, enforcement officers, gardeners etc. I think that organisations are also legally obliged to check that sub-contractor staff they use also has such risk assessments in place.

Of course fine sounding risk assessments that are written by consultants and just sit on shelves unread are useless. Risks assessments need to be written by trained line manager and fully consulted upon with employees and trade union safety reps and then implemented and monitored.

Risk assessments should include protective measures such as suitable clothing (broad brimmed hats and a uniform which has high sun protection and is “breathable”); supply of fresh water; rest breaks; regular health screening; awareness training and provision of sun block (at least factor +15). Maybe even consider sun glasses? As this is under the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations (PPE) it should be provided free of charge to all employees.

Although the basic principle of health & safety at work is to try and design out the risk whenever possible and use PPE only as a “last resort”. So the top preventive priority should be a change to working practices. For example during summer ensure that only the minimum amount of exposed outdoor working takes place when the sun is at its highest i.e. 11am-3pm. During this time caretakers could sweep and clean internal stairs and furniture or check communal lights. In the early morning they should sweep and litter pick outdoor areas.

Obviously staff that are known to be vulnerable will also have specific assessments (done in co-operation with advice from occupational health?).

This is a good web site recommended by HSE.

Start of European Health & Safety Week Today

Today marks the start of European Health & Safety Week. The poster to the left is from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work which is co-coordinating activities across Europe.

In Britain the Health & Safety Executive is taking the lead (see here). The theme for the next 2 years is risk assessments.

Don’t forget that this Wednesday is National Inspection Day – inspect your workplace for hazards.

The advice below is from the UNISON web site safety pages on risk assessments.

No one should be put at unnecessary risk at work. UNISON believes that work related deaths, injuries, ill-health, and “accidents” are not acceptable.

Your employer has a responsibility to ensure that your work does not cause you harm. Not only is it the right thing to do – it’s the law.

UNISON is campaigning to ensure that every employer carries out proper risk assessments and keeps those risk assessments under review and up to date. The safety of staff, visitors and the public depends on it. So we’re taking part in this years Health and Safety Campaign, are you?

Health and Safety Week 2008

This years Health and Safety Week and will part of a two year campaign on risk assessment. The campaign is aimed at a wide range of stakeholders, including: employers, workers and safety reps; and is intended to promote the benefits of completing and implementing a risk assessment. The campaign seeks to demystify the risk assessment process to show that risk assessment is not necessarily complicated, bureaucratic, nor a task only for experts.

The campaign also aims to raise awareness on this issue, provide information and practical advice, encourage activities that have a positive impact in the workplace, and identify and recognise good practice.

Whilst the campaign is a rolling programme, the European Health and Safety Week for 2008, when much of the focus will take place, begins on 20 October.

Risk Assessments are the foundation to health and safety – so get involved!

UNISON encourages all branches to take part in this campaign to ensure that risk assessments are in place to protect all workers. Risk assessments are the foundation to health and safety, so start thinking about how your branch can get involved. What hazards cause concern in your workplace? Are there risk assessments in place, are they any good, and are they applied? Does the accident, sickness absence, or occupational health statistics suggest otherwise? What tasks haven’t been assessed? Consider asking your employer to jointly review the risk assessments, and/or conduct new ones.

Alternatively, you may want to organise workplace safety inspections or conduct a series of risk and body mapping as a first step towards identifying areas where a review of risk assessments might be needed. Once you’ve identified a source of concern, UNISON produces a range of topical information which give guidance on various hazards and how they should be tackled.

Of course, if you’re aware of a serious health and safety concern now, don’t wait until October. Raise the issue with your local safety rep now.Resources There are a number of materials and resources that will be of use to branches. UNISON has guidance on risk assessments; workplace safety inspections; risk and body mapping.

You can access all of these and our A-Z list of topical guidance from the dropdown menu on our homepage.The latest issue of our newsletter for safety activists, Health & Safety Organiser, Issue 57 takes a detailed look at the campaign and what UNISON branches and safety activists can do. It's out now to all UNISON safety activists.A new campaign poster and leaflet for members and non-members will also shortly be available - watch this space!

European Health & Safety Week - Monday 20 October to Friday 24th

This year’s theme is “risk assessments”. This is a superb campaigning issue for trade union safety reps to take up in their workplace.

Despite clear legal (and common sense) requirements of organisations to have sufficient and suitable risk assessments to protect their employees from significant risks, it is I think pretty clear that many organisations to do not comply. They may indeed have detailed "assessments" filed on shelves, but in practice many workers will have no idea whatsoever that they are there and that they are supposed to be protected by these “assessments”.

The Wednesday of European Health & Safety week is always “national inspection day” in UNISON. So on this day all safety reps are encouraged to inspect their workplace. As part of the inspection process also audit all the site risk assessments.

In all probability you will find that in many cases either they do not exist, are out of date or otherwise inadequate. In that case bring it up with your local safety committee and if that does not result in an appropriate response make an official complaint to the Health and Safety Executive or the Local authority environmental health department.

It is always a failure if you have to involve outside agencies over internal safety issues. But sometimes it is necessary. Make sure that you can demonstrate to the enforcement agencies that you have tried your up most to work with your employer to get them to comply before having to complain to the HSE or EHO.

But if it is necessary do not hesitate to complain, because your members lives are at risk.

Frontline public sector workers need stab vests?

This morning the TUC e-newsletter on safety issues, Risks, reports “The growing fear of knife crime in Britain is forcing hospital trusts and local authorities to supply body armour to frontline workers, including accident and emergency (A&E) staff, hospital porters, teachers, benefits officers and traffic wardens.

The Observer quotes stab vest supplier Body Armour Company as saying it had received about 10,000 orders for protective vests from local government, with front line NHS staff accounting for most of them. The firm said it had also received orders for body armour from teachers. Company spokesperson Peter Warren said: 'Councils are becoming aware of the need for armour and protecting their staff. We have had many private enquiries from teachers and the rate is going up. Headteachers are aware that teachers are at risk and knife crime is getting worse.' Schools were its biggest growth market, he said.

The Observer article said experts believe councils are responding to the new corporate manslaughter law. Peter Warren of the Body Armour Company said: 'If a schoolteacher can sue for £300,000 for stress, what price a school that failed to protect its staff from knives?' He said an order had also been placed by a railway operator for 'ballistic body armour' to protect workers”.

Last week UNISON requested stab vests for ambulance workers in the North East. The picture above is of ambulance staff in Essex who were issued with vests in 2005. I think that the point, that it is management concerns about the new Corporate Manslaughter law (despite all its flaws) is behind all this, is probably true.

This issue did come up at a Tower Hamlets Council health and safety committee meeting I attended a few years ago. It goes to show how much things have changed; management and trade union representatives were all horrified at even the thought that staff would need such protection.

Nowadays I am not that sure. Even if you ignore the sensational media reporting I would expect risk assessments for public sector workers, such as - traffic wardens, bailiffs, rail and bus ticket inspectors, A&E staff etc to recommend stab vests. There is a significant risk and it is entirely foreseeable.

But teachers or housing officers? While I don’t work in a school, I am the branch safety officer and I am not aware of any London housing organisations who supply stab vests. However, last year a Police Community Support Officer was stabbed while assisting in a rent arrears eviction. Housing staff throughout London are present daily at evictions, drug raids and crack house closures. I have taken part in some recently myself. So I think the issue does need careful consideration.

Also, in the Risks newsletter was a report from an inquest which found that a worker who died after an explosion at his workplace may have been saved if he had been wearing the appropriate fire safety clothing. I believe that it is accepted in the police and especially amongst licensed doormen (bouncers) that stab vests have saved lives. What no-one wants is a future report of someone being killed when they could have been saved by wearing a vest.

Finally, before we all go and scare ourselves silly, the BBC news website has a thoughtful post on the issue of knife crime which points out that reported knife crime is actually less this year than last year. Also that violent crime overall is down 41% since 1995. Tell that to the Daily Hate.