New business secretary Sajid Javid was barely in the job when he’d promised a wholesale erosion of basic union rights. This would come on top of a whole lot of harm.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is already creaking after just one term of cutbacks and role erosion. It’s now resorting to touting its services to private buyers, many abroad. None of this bodes well for working conditions. But when it comes to your health and safety it is worth remembering the stand-out factor in protecting the health of the workforce is not what politicians say or do, it is the presence of strong and active trade unions. And that is why TUC head of safety Hugh Robertson says the union body “has made organising for health and safety central to our approach.”

As well as TUC training courses and guides, the TUC points to examples of good practice where union investigations, negotiations and action have led to safer, healthier work. “And we now want to really show how lifesaving this union effect can be,” he said. TUC is pulling together a dossier of these union interventions and is urging safety reps and their unions to make sure we all know how they made a difference. “Sometimes this might be by identifying a problem by using workplace mapping or surveys; sometimes it might be refusing to work with a particularly nasty chemical by showing there are better, healthier ways to do the job. Whatever you did, we are keen to hear. Positive examples are not just instructive, they can be inspiring.”

This information was supplied by the TUC.