Health and safety

Everyone has the right to a healthy and safe workplace. This section has information on:

The CSP national health and safety officer

Donna Payne is the CSP's national health and safety officer (on secondment until March 2007) and works in the CSP Employment Relations and Union Services function at CSP headquarters. Donna’s role covers:

  • coordinating the safety reps network
  • developing and delivering safety reps training along with the society's training officers
  • producing written information for safety reps, including their quarterly publication Safety News
  • dealing with individual and collective health and safety cases and enquiries which relate to the health and safety of CSP members at work.

Please note : enquiries relating to the health and safety of patients are dealt with by the Society’s Member Network and Relations function.

The national health and safety officer is also:

  • a member of the TUC's union safety specialists group. See the health and safety pages on the TUC's website for more information.
  • a TUC nominee to the health and safety commission's health service advisory committee and occupational health advisory committee. See the HSE website for more information.

Warren Glover, ERUS research and policy officer, also conducts health and safety research and produces written briefings on a variety of health and safety issues.

CSP safety representatives

As a CSP member, your first point of contact on health and safety issues should be your local safety rep. Every workplace needs a safety rep. The CSP has a strong network of 700 plus union safety reps. The majority work in the NHS but there are also a considerable number in the independent and voluntary sectors.

Safety reps perform a vital role in representing members' interests and raising health & safety issues at work. They are also an essential link between the CSP and its members. Safety reps take on individual cases but also participate at an organisational level in hospital and trust safety committees. They cover issues as diverse as inspections, stress, lone-working, manual handling and injuries at work.

Safety reps are supported by the CSP in terms of training, written information, advice and representation. There is also a network of regional safety reps who arrange local training days and may act as the first point of call for enquiries from local safety reps.

Safety reps' accreditation

If you have already been elected as a safety rep, please complete the Safety Rep's Accreditation Form.

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