
Health and safety advice
NEU advice on commonly asked health and safety issues including coronavirus.
NEU health and safety representatives play a vital role in promoting safety in the workplace by representing members and employees’ interests on health and safety issues.
As a safety rep, you are entitled to investigate complaints, carry out regular inspections and receive information and be consulted by your employer. The law gives you a range of rights and powers to fulfil your role without imposing any legal responsibilities on you.
Safety reps are democratically elected/appointed by members without the need to consult with employers and are entitled to receive facilities and support for their work as safety rep. While one NEU safety rep will usually be sufficient in most schools, more than one can be appointed.
Regulation 4, which sets out the functions of safety reps, gives them the legal right to:
The “workplace” is not restricted to the school but is defined in Regulation 2 as “any places which the employees represented are likely to frequent in the course of their employment”.
All of these functions are legal rights which the employer is bound to observe. The subsequent Regulations and the accompanying ACOP and guidance notes set out in more detail how safety reps can exercise these rights. Appendix 2 summarises the various circumstances in which inspections and investigations can be carried out and the rest of this briefing considers these matters in detail.
The job of safety rep will, of course, involve other matters as well, in particular keeping members consulted and informed. Appendix 1 sets out the NEU's basic "job description" for safety reps. Safety reps should know and understand their rights and functions, but shouldn't be put off by them! Taking on the role of safety rep does not create any legal obligations.
A system for union health and safety representatives to use to report serious concerns to the HSE was launched in September 2014. The HSE’s ‘Concerns and Advice Form for Safety Representatives’ which can be submitted by post or on-line, is intended to be used only when other formal processes have been exhausted.
Where a health and safety representative believes there to have been a breach in the law which the employer fails to resolve, the health and safety representative should raise the issue with a senior union representative (for the NEU this will be the health and safety adviser) or paid union official. If, despite doing this, the issue still remains unresolved, the health and safety representative has the option of contacting the HSE.
NEU advice on commonly asked health and safety issues including coronavirus.
This briefing considers the management of health and safety in schools and colleges and the respective roles of the employer, governing body, head teacher and other staff of the school.
Safety representatives and safety committees.
The Regulations, Codes of Practice and guidance relating to the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations, 1977.