26th National Hazards Conference 2015

Our Ref: HSR/6/8
Head Office Circular: NP/111/15
8th June 2015

The Secretary
ALL BRANCHES
ALL REGIONAL COUNCILS

Dear Colleague

26th National Hazards Conference 2015

Edinburgh No 1 and Portobello District Branch submitted the following resolution to the National Health & Safety Advisory Conference 2015:

Edinburgh No.1 and Portobello District Branch heard recently of the good work that is undertaken at the Hazards Conference and what an excellent event this is in terms of provision of educational workshops and networking opportunities with like minded members of other trade unions.

We are also pleased to learn that all levels of our union (National, Regional Council and Branch) support this event with some form of sponsorship and we are pleased to join this list.

What concerns us is that it would appear that it is not well supported in terms of attendance by our union indeed it was reported that it appeared there were only two RMT delegates present this year.

We recognise that this is not a cheap event to attend and not all branches may be able to afford the delegate fee for this. We therefore call upon the this conference to request that the Council of Executives and the General Secretary fund from the National funds one delegate from each regional council area to attend (this could be their representative who sits on the Health and Safety Advisory Committee) as well as an officer and the Council of Executives member responsible for health and safety. The Regional Councils and larger Branches should also be encouraged to fund and send additional delegates. As this conference has an educational element to it, it should in our view be covered for paid release under the Safety Representatives legislation in the same way as this Health and Safety Conference is covered so delegates should not lose out financially from their employer for attendance.

By doing this we believe that we will be raising the bar for our representatives in terms of specialist education from an extremely worthwhile campaigning organisation whilst at the same time giving Hazards the enhanced benefit from a larger participation from RMT.

The delegate from our branch reported back that he was able to use some of his ideas and themes generated at this year’s conference and they had the desired effect – Let’s start spreading the word and use this as another tool towards increasing safety in our industries. If one delegate can do this then what would an increased delegation bring?

The Council of Executives have noted and adopted the following report of their Health & Safety Sub-Committee:

That we note that we already support and sponsor the Hazards Campaign and continue our support.

Noting the contents of the resolution we instruct the General Secretary to write to all branch’s and regional councils advising that attendance for delegates is a legitimate expenditure and encouraging them to send delegates to this valuable conference, we also encourage branch affiliation and support to the campaign. An advert is to be placed in the next edition of RMT news highlighting the Hazards conference.

RMT Branches and Regional Councils are encouraged to send a delegate, this is a legitimate expense for Regional Councils and Branches and we should be looking to encourage safety reps to attend and report back.

RMT believes that this conference and training meets the requirements for paid release under the Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations 1977 and with this in mind, delegates should seek paid release from their employer in the first instance to attend, any problems and the matter should be raised with their full time lead officer.

Details of the event and a booking form can be found at the following link:

http://www.hazardscampaign.org.uk/hazardsconference/2015bookingform.pdf

I am acting in accordance with those instructions and will keep you informed of any further developments. Please bring the contents of this circular to the attention of all relevant members.

Yours sincerely
 
Mick Cash
General Secretary