Health, Safety and Environment - International Labour Organization

Manual 3:HEALTH, SAFETY & ENVIRONMENTFOR WORKER HS&E REPRESENTATIVESOne of the main jobs of trade unions and their members at a local level is tomake sure that the employer keeps to her/his responsibilities. Some of theways to achieve this include: building a strong membership electing worker HS&E representatives organising for health, safety and the environment providing union HS&E services(We will consider all of these issues later on in this Section).Workersand HS&EThere may be a tendency for employers to try to blame ‘careless workers’.Trade unions have got a role in raising awareness but cannot stopaccidents just by making workers more safety conscious: not all hazards and consequent risks are obvious – especially damage tohealth over a period of time workers may not be properly trained or informed stress, tiredness and poor conditions can all lead to more accidents workers are human – they can’t be 100% alert all of the timeAs a worker HS&E representative, you are accountable to your membersand your union. Part of your job is to encourage members to be moreinterested and support union efforts to improve health, safety and theenvironment. But, trade unions believe that the problem is the hazard notthe worker. So employers should reduce accidents and ill health by: identifying hazards evaluating risks tackling the risks at source by elimination, substitution andprevention/control effectively managing health, safety and the environmentArticle 8 1 (b) of ILO Convention No. 184 on Safety and Health inAgriculture 2001 gives workers the right to remove themselves fromdanger where there is a serious and imminent risk, and not be penalised forthese actions. But workers also have some obligations to fulfil. Theseinclude: observing health, safety and environmental regulations carrying out work safely in a manner that does not endanger themselvesand others attending HS&E training using equipment for HS&E including suitable personal protectiveequipment (PPE) where necessary reporting dangerous situations66 Health, Safety and EnvironmentA Series of Trade Union EducationManuals for Agricultural Workers