Health and safety

Campaigning for higher health and safety standards at work, and opposing the employers' shortcuts

Health and Safety Conference report

Submitted by Admin on 6 March, 2011 - 16:58

Val Barzey of RMT's LU Engineering branch reports on the RMT Health & Safety Advisory Conference held on 16 February:

Greg Hewitt – Chair

Greg commented that the HSE is more an Advisory body than Regulators. The aim of the government is to lift the burden of Employment laws. They intend to reduce the no. of regulations, attacking workers rights. H & S inspections have been cut across the board, inadequately enforcing the law and there has been a reduction in enforcement notices. There were 69% reduction in full inspections and 48% reduction in prosecutions.

There were 2 reviews carried out last year, Vince Cable reducing regulations and the Lord Young Review of the operation of H & S laws and the growth of the compensation culture – Common Sense Common Safety.

RMT warns of more tube chaos as LU cut safety-critical inspections by half

Submitted by Peter on 3 March, 2011 - 14:42

TUBE UNION RMT warned of more tube chaos for passengers as it emerged that as part of the TfL cuts programme the frequency of safety-critical inspections is being slashed from twice a week to once a week.

In a safety licensing concession requested by LU the twice weekly inspection of track and infrastructure in sidings and depots will be cutback to just once a week. These inspections are in the areas of highest traffic anywhere on the network with fleet constantly being shunted in and out.

Health and safety week parliamentary rally

Assemble 12.30pm College Green, opposite the Houses of Parliament

Current Health and Safety legislation and enforcement is failing to protect workers. 152 people were fatally injured at work in the last year and there were over 26,000 major injuries. The ConDem government is threatening to make things even worse by diluting health and safety standards and slashing the funding of the Health and Safety Executive by 35 per cent.

Asbestos Contamination, Central Line (East End)

Submitted by Admin on 13 January, 2011 - 17:00

RMT General Grades Committee decision ...

That we note the absence of a reply from London Underground on this matter. We instruct the General Secretary to urgently contact the company demanding a reply.

We also seek the views of the relevant branch, Stratford no.1, on how this matter should be pursued, and instruct the General Secretary to place this matter back in front of the GGC once those views have been received.

Leaked Internal Document Exposes TfL Lie That Job Cuts Won’t Lead To Unstaffed Stations

Submitted by Peter on 18 November, 2010 - 14:36

TUBE UNION RMT today repeated its call for a halt to the TfL jobs cuts programme after a leaked internal London Underground document, passed to the union, confirmed that the management claim that they have no plans for unstaffed stations as a result of the cuts is a total lie.

“There are a number of stations across the network which is [sic] left unstaffed from time to time. Where this is the case without LLPA there is no audible means of providing service disruption information to customers on platforms. With the OSP [station staff job cuts programme] and future station staffing changes it may become more of an issue at more locations more frequently.”

Tube Job Cuts Hit London Terror Targets

Submitted by Peter on 10 November, 2010 - 14:51

IN A NEW analysis of the London Underground station job cuts plans RMT has revealed that major terrorist targets are right in the front line of the proposed reductions in staffing numbers.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: “At a time of heightened terrorist alert it is gross negligence on the part of LUL to be hacking back the numbers of station based staff at key targets like Canary Wharf, Parliament and the Bank of England."

Boris Johnson On The Safety Of Londoners During LFB Union Strike

Submitted by Peter on 5 November, 2010 - 23:04

In an interview on LBC Radio, Boris Johnson is asked "For the record, the mayor of London believes London will be adequately protected from fire by twenty-seven appliances crewed by part time staff, trained for on average two weeks." Boris didn't confirm the safety of the plans, dodging the question by answering 'The preparations were perfectly good.'

ACAS Talks Update

Submitted by Admin on 5 November, 2010 - 19:14

RMT reps have been back at ACAS over the last couple of days, following on from Wednesday's solid strike. ACAS continues to host a review of London Underground's job-cutting plans.

Now, health and safety reps are working on specific scenarios comparing how safety standards would be maintained comparing current staffing levels with the proposed, lower levels. Meanwhile, stations reps have compiled a report that shows that LU figures used to justify ticket office cuts are inaccurate and that therefore the numbers should be revised.

The review will continue on Tuesday.

Advice and information on safety during FBU strikes

Submitted by Admin on 4 November, 2010 - 11:04

The Fire Brigade Union have now called off the strike planned for this weekend

The next London FBU strike runs from 10am Friday 5 November until 9am Sunday 7 November.

1. The Health and Safety Executive is investigating lack of training of AssetCo staff, who are used as 'cover' during FBU strikes - read more here.

2. Click here to read ASLEF's advice on safety concerns during FBU strikes.

3. The FBU has provided us with the following information:

Fire Brigade capabilities during periods of strike action by members of the Fire Brigade union on incidents on the underground network in London