The 16th National Hazards Conference: Hazards 2005

Hazards Conference, organised by the national Hazards Campaign, is the UK's biggest event for trade union safety representatives and activists, and attracts 500+ delegates annually. Hazards Conference is a mixture of activities; plenary sessions, campaign meetings and workshops, with plenty of opportunity to network, make a wide range of contacts and exchange experience and information on health & safety issues. There is a large exhibition area and trade unions, personal injury solicitors, the HSE and campaigning organisations will have stalls.

This year's conference focuses on the importance of union safety reps in policing the workplace and promoting a safe working environment. We need to build the campaign for improvements in key areas like corporate responsibility, occupational health provision, tougher enforcement and most importantly, increased rights for safety representatives.

Join us to debate the issues, share experiences and learn in workshop sessions. Help to build a mass campaign for better regulation, tougher enforcement, corporate responsibility and strong worker's organisation.

The conference venue and car parking
The University of Leeds venue is at the heart of Leeds city centre, and is a short bus or taxi ride from the main railway station. There is adequate car parking available on the central campus site. Full travel details with maps will be sent with the delegate's credential 2 weeks before the conference date.

How to apply for Hazards 2005
The deadline for applications is Friday 15th July 2005. You can download the 'Hazards 2005' registration form here.

Choose your workshops and campaign meeting from the list, organise your delegate fee, complete the registration form, and send it with your cheque payable to Hazards 2005 for the appropriate delegate fee, to Hazards 2005, C/o Greater Manchester Hazards Centre, 23 New Mount Street, Manchester M4 4DE. Please do this as soon as possible, as we have limited numbers of the different kinds of rooms, and places will be allocated on the ?first come - first served - principle. If your choice of room is not available we will let you know what alternatives are available.

Notification
We will acknowledge your application within a few days of receiving it. If you don't hear anything from us within a couple of weeks of posting your form, please telephone us and check that we have got it.

Final joining instructions and registration details will be sent out to all delegates by firstclass post on Monday 18th July 2005.

Registration at Conference
Conference registration will start at 14.00 until 20.00 on Friday 29th July. Late arrivals can register between 08.00 - 09.00 on Saturday 30th July. An evening meal will be provided between 17.00 - 19.00 on 29th July. Non-residential delegates should come for the evening meal before the opening plenary session begins.

Hazards 2005 Workshops & Campaigning Debates

You can attend 3 workshops and one campaigning debate. There are 28 workshops and 3 campaigning debates to choose from. For delegates who want to learn about and review useful H&S sites on the internet there will be a bank of computers, staffed by experienced volunteers, 'on-line' throughout the whole of the conference in the Cyber Cafe on the refectory balcony.

How to choose your Workshops and Debate

Select 3 workshops as your first choices and one reserve, plus one debate topic. Write the workshop and
debate numbers in the boxes on the Registration form in priority order, and keep a record for yourself on
the other half of this booking form.

We cannot guarantee that you will get your first three workshop choices, or that they will be in the order you put them down. This depends on the numbers applying for each one. We will make every effort to allocate you to the selection you make in the order you make it.

Workshops for new and less-experienced reps

01 New Safety Reps
What can union safety reps do? Rights and functions under Regulations and Codes of Practice; working for the union in the workplace; organising & representing members effectively; a wider role outside the workplace.
02 Doing a Workplace Inspection
Using the right to inspect the workplace to improve H&S; organising and preparing for the inspection and the tools you need; doing it; reporting and recording the results and follow-up action.
03 Risk Assessment
The basis for safe systems; the employers duty to assess risk; what is a competent person; effective systems to get assessments done, monitored, and updated; the role of the safety rep in risk assessment.
04 Communication & negotiating skills for reps
Basic ideas about communications; how to prepare and present a case; verbal & non-verbal communications; tactics and timing; reaching and implementing an agreement.

Workshops for more-experienced reps

05 Older workers & health
The Govt wants us to work until we are older: what are the health & safety implications for older people; what about choice; do we need special provision as for young people?
06 EU Strategy on H&S
The EU model; role of the EU in setting standards; good for UK workers? How can we influence developments?
07 PIN?s
Experience in other countries; what we want; how would PIN?s work; training needs for reps; role of the HSE inspectors in a PIN?s system.
08 Extending Worker Involvement
Further research now confirms that consultation works. How can we use this to increase our influence? What tactics can we devise to overcome employer resistance?

Workshops for everyone

09 Toxic substances & health
What harms workers, and how; finding safer alternatives; how to interpret and use sources of information; organising to clean-up the work environment.
10 Shift work & Health
The health effects of shift work; 24-hour society?do the economics justify shifts; rotating shifts or regular nights - which is worse; what should be done about shiftwork?
11 Bullying
Recognising the problem; risk assessment approach; membership surveys; employer?s policies and procedures; organising to resolve problems.
12 Violence at Work
Who is at risk & the level of violence; violence and risk assessments; employer?s policies & strategies to tackle the problem - what works?
13 VDU?s and the prevention of health problems
Getting a proper assessment done; worker involvement in the process; what are the standards; practical advice on workstation set-up.
14 Stress Risk Assessment
Stressors & the level of risk; using the risk assessment approach; safety rep role; negotiating joint action.
15 Using the HSE stress-management standards
Reviewing the standards and evaluating how useful they are; what role for the HSE inspector and EMAS; devising strategies to use them to improve working conditions.
16 Worker-oriented Occupational Health Services
Current developments in the provision of OHS?s; HSE ideas and pilots; professionals or workers- whose needs come first; what can we do to improve provision.
17 Sickness absence monitoring
Often used by employers to discipline workers who are ill or have been injured; representing & defending workers in monitoring procedures; ways the union can tackle this employer offensive.
18 Road Risks
How do we reduce the toll of road deaths? HSE road-risk guidance for employers; organising for better standards of protection for drivers
19 Falls from Height
Who is at risk; the new regulations and standards; are the new standards good enough; how do we organise to reduce falls.
20 Lone working
Risks associated with working alone; lone working and the law; assessing the risks and safe working practices; union demands and action.
21 Backpain?prevention and treatment
Backpain affects 60% of workers; what causes back pain; safe systems to prevent injury; effective means of treatment.
22 Improving safety reps skills
What skill levels do reps need? Making an assessment of needs; planning and organising what needs to be done; who can deliver services.
23 Fire safety
The regulation of fire safety is about to change to a risk assessment-based approach. Effective assessments; best practice in controlling risk; fire safety and enforcement; using the fire authority in the future.
24 Homeworking
Homeworking is on the increase; what are the H&S standards required; the legal duties on employers; identifying & resolving main problems to protect homeworkers?
25 Rehabilitation
Prevention before rehabilitation; getting workers back on the job; who gets rehabilitated - equal treatment. Defining the union role in rehabilitation.
26 Women?s H&S
Identifying the main issues that specifically affect women workers; gender-neutral standards and their effect on women; organising strategies to improve standards and protection for women workers.
27 Long hours at work
UK working hours are the longest in the EU; the effects of long working hours; the life-work balance; campaigning & strategies for reducing working hours.
28 Workers with disabilities
Employers have used disability as a H&S excuse to exclude disabled workers. Do the DDA and the DRC provide effective protection? What remedies are available; what should the union do in the workplace to support disabled members?

Campaigning Debates (Chose 1)

1 Enforcement and Employer Accountability
What?s happened to promised corporate killing and directors duties legislation, and tougher penalties? The state of H&S and the role and performance of the HSE and Local Authority enforcement. What?s happened to the promise of the Revitalising H&S strategy, and what action and campaigning strategies do we need to develop now.

2 Deregulation and the international perspective
The scramble for Deregulation in a global economy has seen the UK in the vanguard; the HSE model of shifting towards advisory rather than enforcement action is being adopted by other EU countries and more globally. The debate will discuss the implications of this for workers health, safety and welfare, and what we can do to develop international solidarity to oppose it.

3 Sicknote Britain or workplace sickness
Work-related ill health is on the increase, and employers bear little of the cost. The Government?s emphasis in occupational health policy is on rehabilitation and getting workers off benefit and back into work. This debate is about the need to go back to basic principles, and get employers to do effective prevention. The answer to the problem is prevention not cure. The debate will consider appropriate campaigning responses.