Health & safety is union business
Unions play an important role in making sure health and safety standards are met in workplaces to reduce the prevention of injury and disease. Unions encourage and help OHS Reps become more aware of their rights in dealing with workplace hazards. They also encourage OHS Reps to speak up in order to help build safer working environments.
There are many things that can affect the health of our members and may include hazardous manual handling, noisy machinery, long working hours, irregular shifts, cold / hot environments and chemical exposure.
The NUW’s aim is to have elected and trained OHS reps at all our sites so they can represent members on any OHS matter. We also want to keep our OHS reps up to date on changes and developments to OHS laws. We can only do this through training click on training program and communication. This web page will gradually provide you with the latest OHS news and changes as they happen.
We welcome OHS related contributions to this site from our OHS Reps and members - please contact your site delegate or Union organiser.
Some of our key OHS concerns for members are:
- Sprain and strain or musculoskeletal diseases
- Stress
- Fatigue
- Burns/cuts/crushing
ALL WORKERS' SAFETY MUST CONTINUE TO BE NUMBER 1
Unfortunately, a worker was tragically killed most recently at one of our cold storage sites in Laverton. He was a 37 year-old contractor who came from Zimbabwe. He was only known as Colin to his workmates at Tieman and colleagues at Polar.
Colin was doing routine contract maintenance work for the Dock Leveling company, Tieman, when the hydraulics burst and the dock leveler came down on top of him. More than ten workers immediately scrambled to remove it from his body and then dragged him from underneath. He was still breathing but his head had been badly crushed. He died later in hospital. Workers at the site were particularly shaken with one of our members brining in a wreath in his memory.
Colin had worked as a maintenance contractor for the company for a period of seven years. His death is a sad reminder of how contractors and casual workers can be most vulnerable and at risk of being injured or killed.
"Due to financial pressures, casual workers may be forced into taking on undesirable or high risk assignments off loaded by larger organizations.” From report Hidden Health and Safety costs of casual employment
It is incredibly important that all OHS reps, including contractors, labour hire or casuals, become part of their Designated Work Group representation. We must actively support them to ensure we have the strongest standards for everyone.
OHS rep Graeme Dobson said, “We need to be diligent about getting things done right.
We must bring things to task to do all jobs safely, if we don’t think
they are quite right we should speak up and say NO. No amount of money
pays for our life. It’s just not worth it.”
The International Labour Organization hands down important decision challenging Canada’s asbestos policy
This is a landmark development challenging the Canadian government’s asbestos policy on the international stage.
The
ILO has said that the Canadian government must heed the reputable
science on asbestos; must adopt the strictest standards to protect
workers; and must consult with workers.
Presently, the
Canadian government ignores the scientific evidence on asbestos;
provides the most inferior protection against asbestos of any
industrialized country; and does not consult with workers regarding its
asbestos policy.
- Click here for a summary of the ILO Committee’s ruling by Lucien Royer of the Canadian Labour Congress
- Click here for the presentation that was made to the Committee on June 10 by Barb Byers, executive vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress
This is particularly embarrassing for the Harper government as it has claimed that the ILO supports its asbestos policy, which is clearly false. It is also very embarrassing timing, as the government is about to take part in the UN Rotterdam Convention conference in Geneva in a couple of weeks, where the damaging health issues of asbestos will be on the agenda.
