Health, Safety and Environment - International Labour Organization

Appendix 1:IUF BRIEFINGAppendix 1:IUF Briefing Roving safety representatives in agricultureWorker HS&E representatives (safety representatives for short) are thebackbone of trade union organisation on health and safety at the workplaceand in the undertaking. However, because of the special nature of theagriculture, special measures may be needed to ensure effective systemsof safety representatives in the workplace and undertaking.To ensure effective implementation of workers’ rights in this area, the IUFis promoting the establishment of roving safety representative schemes.(Be aware that there is no text on roving safety representatives in theConvention so hence the need to use the Briefing below to make yourcase).Why areroving safetyrepresentativesimportant?What is aroving safetyrepresentative?Small numbers of workers are often employed in many agriculturalundertakings scattered over wide geographical distances. Normalarrangements for health and safety representation are difficult to apply. Itis therefore necessary to introduce a scheme based on external workerrepresentatives who will visit agricultural undertakings in a given area.She/he is a representative/delegate of workers who has access to and visitsagricultural workplaces to represent the health and safetyinterests/concerns of workers.What is theirrelationshipto theworkplacesthey visit?They are appointed from outside the workplaces. In Sweden, for example,they can be safety reps working in larger undertakings who assumeresponsibility for neighbouring, smaller enterprises. Alternatively theymight work full-time for a trade union. In Sweden, they are referred to asregional representatives.325 Health, Safety and EnvironmentA Series of Trade Union EducationManuals for Agricultural Workers