WET conference stresses the importance of health and safety

Health and safety “might not grab the headlines … but that work is vital”. Opening the weekend’s virtual conference for UNISON’s water, environment and transport service group (WET), Ruth Davies (pictured above), the chair of the service group executive, paid tribute to the members who have helped keep the country going in the pandemic. The virus has had a “devastating impact”, she noted. It has been like “nothing we’ve experienced before, and safety has had to be paramount”. But Ms Davies said that it was a “demonstration of the strength of our union and our reps that we have carried on. “Thanks for all that’s been delivered since our last conference” in June 2019. And health and safety dominated conference business. John Jones, for the service group executive, told delegates that “health and safety is one of the main reasons people join UNISON” – a situation that “will no doubt continue in a post-pandemic world of work”. During COVID-19, the union’s health and safety reps have been the first point of contact for employees to ensure their employer has made things COVID secure. Pointing out that some employers in the industry initially held rather lax views about the government instruction to work from home wherever possible, he continued by noting that, once the argument was won, it was then a challenge to “ensure members were remotely working from home in a safe manner with adequate equipment provided and funded by employers”....
Source: UNISON Health care news - Category: UK Health Authors: Tags: Article News 2021 Special WET Conference Source Type: news