Stress at work is still the biggest health and safety concern according to research by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
The TUC published its biennial survey of union health and safety representatives in November 2014.The survey is designed to help the TUC and its affiliated unions with ongoing safety campaigning and organisation.
Some of the key findings of the survey are as follows.
- The five most-cited health and safety risks were stress, bullying/harassment, overwork, back strains and slips, trips and falls on a level.
- Stress is identified as a major concern. It was identified as a top five hazard by two-thirds of safety representatives in the survey.
- Bullying and harassment is identified as a particular problem in the public sector and in the banking, insurance and finance sector.
More than one in five safety representatives (22%) are not automatically consulted by their employer over health, safety and welfare matters. However, this represents an improvement on the position in 2012, when 27% said they were never asked.