Worker safety advisers are a hit!

BRITAIN
Worker safety advisers are a hit!

A worker safety adviser scheme created in response to union calls for "roving" safety reps has been a stunning success, a study has concluded. The report issued by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) assessed the worker safety advisers (WSA) pilot, one of a number of measures HSC agreed with ministers in 2000 to promote greater employee involvement and consultation.

HSC says the WSA pilot, which involved 88 employers and nine WSAs, was an innovative way to get safety representatives into small firms. The independent evaluation found: Nearly 73 per cent of employers said awareness had increased on health and safety matters and a third said communications had improved; over 75 per cent of employers said the pilot had led to them changing their approach, including revising or introducing new policies and procedures (61 per cent), having regular health and safety discussions with staff (21 per cent), and carrying out risk assessments (11 per cent).

Nearly 70 per cent of workers said there was more discussion on health and safety. HSC chair Bill Callaghan commented: "What has impressed me was that where employees were involved they really did help solve health and safety problems. We now want to take forward the approach but more work needs to be done to find practical and cost effect ways of doing this."

Risks 124, 20 September 2003 • The Worker Safety Advisers (WSA) pilot, HSC research report RR144, [pdf format]