Health & Safety Group

Our Health & Safety Officer is Tam Templeman

If you have any questions for Tam please get in touch with the branch at [email protected]

HSE has published the latest statistics on work-related health and safety in Great Britain.

The annual figures (2023 to 2024) include:

  • 1.7 million working people suffering from a work-related illness, of which:
    • 776,000 workers suffering work-related stress, depression or anxiety
    • 543,000 workers suffering from a work-related musculoskeletal disorder
  • 2,257 mesothelioma deaths due to past asbestos exposures (2022)
  • 138 workers killed in work-related accidents
  • 604,000 working people sustained an injury at work according to the Labour Force Survey
  • 61,663 injuries to employees reported under RIDDOR
  • 33.7 million working days lost due to work-related illness and workplace injury
  • £21.6 billion estimated cost of injuries and ill health from current working conditions (2022 to 2023)

The statistics release provides detailed commentary on these figures and is supported by:

  • the statistics webpages, which include a range of information such as different types of work-related ill-health and different industry sectors
  • a comprehensive set of tables, designed to make the data accessible to users
  • our annual infographic-style summary booklet

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Health & Safety Survey

Our Health & Safety Officer, Tam, has recently sent out an email to all Points of contacts (POCs), Stewards & H&S Reps.
This email contains a survey link and Tam would be extremely grateful if you could complete this by next Friday.
Once the survey results are available, Tam will look to implement his first H&S meeting date.
Watch this space, it will be a fantastic group to be part of…… who doesn’t love discussions about Health & Safety at work!!
Not got the email? – contact the branch!
Want to be a POC or WORKPLACE STEWARD or HEALTH & SAFETY REP? – contact the branch
[email protected]
01592 583686
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UNISON Scotland’s Violence At Work Report 2024

It gives a picture of the violence faced by workers across Scotland’s public sector.

This year as well as compiling raw figures from public service employers across Scotland, we have made an effort to explore and highlight abuse of women and black workers. This, we have found, is something many employers are not taking seriously at all.

A link to the report on the UNISON Scotland website is here.

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Home working guidance and resources
Employers have the same health and safety responsibilities for people working at home as for any other worker
Our home working guidance has details on straightforward actions to manage home workers’ health and safety.
This includes making sure your risk assessment covers home workers, which should consider:
  • stress and poor mental health
  • using equipment like computers and laptops safely
  • the working environment
There is also specific advice for home workers, which includes a video and practical tips on good posture when working with display screen equipment.
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HSE release annual figures for Mesothelioma

Please click HERE for HSE Asbestos & Mesothelioma report, statistics & information.

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Stewards Development Day

Steve & Graham from FC Corporate Health & Safety attended our Stewards Development Day at the Victoria Hotel Kirkcaldy on Tuesday 3rd September to deliver a fantastic presentation on many aspects of Health & Safety – from incident reporting to workplace inspections.

There was a lot of interest from our stewards and hopefully the branch H&S group meetings will be able to catch up with Steve and Graham again soon

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UNISON Fife Health & Safety Report 3/9/24

First meeting with Corporate Health & Safety concerning issues with the FH&SC partnership went well and hopefully there will be more to come and more to report back to the branch

There’s issues with the Grounds Maintenance service and how they propose to cut slopes/ banking’s but will be attending the service forum tomorrow and will report back after this

I have now received firm dates for joint visits with Corporate H&S to a care home in Northeast fife and another in southwest fife and will report back after these visits have been carried out

There has also been an issue raised through Linda’s POC/Stewards meeting concerning an old-style sterilization unit for cutlery which we are looking into, Linda is arranging a visit through the school and hopefully we can get someone from corporate to come along with me to have their views on this