Health

Contents

Links below lead to the appropriate section of the page

• Introduction
• The Law
• Health Monitoring
• Excessive Workplace Temperatures
• NASUWT Advice
• Health and Safety Representatives
• Gender-Sensitive Occupational Safety and Health
• Senior Managers with Responsibility for Health and Safety Management

Introduction

The NASUWT considers the issue of members' health to be of utmost importance and has campaigned tirelessly to secure the statutory right that teachers and school leaders in England and Wales now have to a reasonable work/life balance. The Union continues to call for such an entitlement for all teachers and school/college leaders throughout the UK.

In 2006 the NASUWT Advancing Health and Safety Report was adopted by Annual Conference in Birmingham. The report outlines the guiding principles to the Union's approach to health and safety at work. In 2008, the NASUWT published the Safe to Teach? Report which details the findings of the extensive NASUWT survey of almost 6,000 teachers, school and college leaders and Health and Safety Representatives. The findings of the NASUWT study are highly disturbing, demonstrating that in too many schools and colleges, health and safety is simply not being taken seriously.

The NASUWT also produces Consultation Responses in the area of Health, Safety and Welfare.

The Law

The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (new window) and the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (new window) set out the general duties of the employer “to ensure as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.” Further laws relating to health and safety throughout the United Kingdom have implemented European Union health and safety directives. These and other Regulations impose a number of duties on the employer, as detailed in the NASUWT Health and Safety at Work leaflets The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations, Health and Safety Duties and Hygiene and Welfare.

Health Monitoring

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (new window) and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000 (new window) require employers to have a strategy to detect risks to employees health and to assess systematically the adverse effects of work on the health of employees. All employers should monitor the health of employees who are exposed to risks at work, including unhealthy stress because of their work, and should take steps to devise preventive measures and subsequently to arrange for the ‘planning, organisation, control and monitoring of (these) measures’. The duty to monitor workplace conditions in terms of their effects on employee health, should not lead to inappropriate monitoring of employees or the introduction of unreasonable and unacceptable systems of sickness absence monitoring.

Excessive Workplace Temperatures

The NASUWT Safe to Teach? Report found that a significant proportion of teachers (94% of respondents) reported that they had worked in excessively high temperatures during the Summer, and in Winter months 83% of respondents had worked in excessively cold temperatures. The problem of teachers who regularly work in excessively hot temperatures is even more of a concern when we consider that three in ten (30%) respondents stated that they cannot easily access drinking water and more than a third (35%) report that the areas in which they work are not adequately ventilated. The NASUWT provides advice to members in the Heating and Ventilation advice leaflet. The Union has also provided the following bulletin for NASUWT Representatives:

• Excessive Temperatures in the Workplace (PDF - 174KB).

In addition, the NASUWT contributed to the TUC report - The Case for a legally enforceable maximum temperature (new window).

NASUWT Advice

General advice is available to NASUWT members in the form of Health and Safety at Work leaflets for members, which cover a wide range of topics relating to Health, Safety and Welfare. Advice leaflets in the area of Health include Asbestos, Bullying at Work, Disability Health and Safety Issues , First Aid, Headlice and Nits, Health and Safety Duties, Heating and Ventilation, Hygiene and Welfare, Lifting and Carrying, The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations and The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations. Advice on stress in the workplace can be found in the Welfare section of the website. A full list of all NASUWT Health and Safety at Work leaflets is in the 'Resources' section on the right hand side of the page under 'NASUWT Advice'.

Members who experience health problems as a result of their employment should seek medical advice and raise any concerns with the NASUWT Health and Safety Representative.

Health and Safety Representatives

The Union aims to have a trained Health and Safety Representative in every school and college where there are members. The NASUWT Health and Safety Representative is elected by fellow members of the Union in their workplace to represent them on matters of health, safety and welfare at work and is not appointed by the head teacher, principal or anyone else. The NASUWT Regional Centre or National Centre should be able to provide their contact details or advice. 

To learn more about the role members can read the Health and Safety Representative leaflet and visit the Getting active as a Health and Safety Representative section of the website. You will need to be registered as a NASUWT Representative and 'log in' to the website to view this.

The NASUWT provides health and safety training courses to those currently in post or about to become a NASUWT Health and Safety Representative, Health and Safety Training Officer or Health and Safety Coordinator. The Time Off for Trade Union Learning leaflet provides essential information and advice for Health and Safety Representatives' on their statutory right to time off for NASUWT training. The Union Health and Safety Inspections leaflet provides essential information relating to Health and Safety Representatives' statutory right to carry out a health and safety inspection of the workplace.

To access information on the latest developments in health and safety NASUWT Representatives can also read the Union's health and safety bulletins for the different nations and subscribe to Risks (new window), the TUC's free weekly online bulletin for safety representatives.

NASUWT Representatives also have access to the Health and Safety Representatives' Handbook which is a key resource on health and safety matters in schools and colleges throughout the UK. The handbook provides health and safety advice on relevant issues and signposts additional NASUWT resources, relevant legislation and other useful publications. You will need to be registered as a NASUWT Representative and 'log in' to the website to view this.

Gender-Sensitive Occupational Safety and Health

In all aspects of health and safety, gender stereotyping should be avoided. The NASUWT recommends a gender-sensitive approach to health and safety as a way of improving prevention for both women and men and making sure that everyone is equally protected.

Research has shown that both biological and socially determined differences between women and men affect workers' health and safety in many ways. These differences are too often ignored or misunderstood, leading to failures in the prevention of occupational injuries and ill health. Everyone has an equal right to protection from harm at work but that doesn't mean treating everyone as if they are all the same.

The NASUWT participated, through the TUC Gender Occupational Safety and Health (GOSH) Working Group, in the development of the TUC Gender Sensitive Checklist (new window). The Checklist is designed to help Health and Safety Representatives and others to check whether their workplace health and safety policies and practices are gender sensitive. 

Senior managers with responsibility for health and safety management

NASUWT members who are senior managers in schools and colleges who carry responsibility for the management of health and safety in their workplace can attend the Union's one-day Health and Safety Management Training.