Safety initiatives receive awards
Members of the NUJ journalists’ union at Newsquest Herald and Times have won the 2017 Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) Frank Maguire Award for Health and Safety.
As well as fighting against round after round of compulsory redundancies over many years, members of the NUJ chapel (workplace union organisation) also highlighted the impact of enforced job losses on the mental health and wellbeing of the workforce.
Using the Health and Safety Executive Stress Management Standards, they identified key workplace issues that needed to be addressed.
STUC general secretary Grahame Smith said that the resulting changes have not only improved the work environment, but the NUJ has also “improved industrial relations within the company, including more open and transparent negotiations and increasing trade union membership to record levels”.
Meanwhile, CWU postal workers’ union national health and safety officer Dave Joyce became the first trade unionist to win the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ top health and safety award, Guardian Angel.
In particular, the award recognised his work spearheading the successful CWU Bite-Back campaign to strengthen the law on dangerous dogs. This resulted in significant legal changes enabling better protection for postal workers at risk of dog attacks, as well as children and members of the public.
www.stuc.org.uk/news/1293/nuj-members-win-stuc-health-and-safety-award
https://nujscotland.org.uk/2017/05/19/newsquest-chapel-award-in-safe-hands