ATL

Health and safety reps

Thank you for volunteering as a health and safety rep for ATL. From slips and trips to stress or asbestos, ATL's safety reps play a vital role in making workplaces a more positive and safe place to be.

As an ATL health and safety rep, your role includes:

• educating members to ensure they recognise both hidden and more obvious health and safety issues, and keeping them at the top of workplace and branch agendas

• encouraging engagement between health and safety reps and members to discuss how issues can be solved

• working in partnership with other unions and employers to ensure positive outcomes when dealing with potential health and safety issues

• working closely with ATL reps and improving networks to ensure reps are not isolated in their workplace.

ATL members have the right to appoint their own safety representatives in every workplace regardless of how small or large the membership is. The decision is not a matter for the employer. An employer-appointed safety rep will not necessarily focus on the same areas of concern as members.

Health and safety reps are legally entitled to investigate health and safety concerns and have paid time off (see rights of safety reps for more). And ATL supports our safety reps every step of the way, with accredited training, a section of the website dedicated to health and safety (accessible from the home page), additional resources, including a dedicated newsletter and a dedicated health and safety advisor, who is available via ATL's London office, tel: 020 7930 6441, or via our online contact form.

ATL's health and safety reps community has continued to grow over the last year, with more reps being signed up and being trained than ever before. If you are not already a health and safety rep but would be interested in hearing more, please email our health and safety team.