Fórsa trade union has today (Wednesday) called for a fundamental shift in how psychological health and workplace safety are understood and protected, urging the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) to campaign for stronger legal rights, recognition, and protections for health and safety representatives across Ireland.
The call came from Fórsa assistant general secretary Hazel Nolan at the ICTU Biennial Delegate Conference taking place in Belfast this week. Ms Nolan was proposing the union’s motion calling for stronger legal protections, better training, and formal recognition of the role of health and safety representatives.
Ms Nolan warned that unsafe and psychologically damaging working environments are becoming more widespread, and that toxic workplace cultures are inflicting real harm on workers.
She cited figures provided by the Health and Safety Authority (HSA) showing that 59% of all work-related ill-health cases in Ireland are linked to stress, depression or anxiety, which comes at an annual cost of €926 million to the economy: “Toxic workplaces, where bullying, misogyny, racism, disablism and cronyism persist, must be tackled by the trade union movement as a health and safety issue.
“Employers cannot be left to self-police the very risks they are often responsible for. Proper scrutiny and action can only come from empowered, independent health and safety representatives, supported by strong trade unions. That means empowering reps to act without fear and giving workers the tools they need to ensure we are safe at work and not suffering harm from work,” she said.
The union said psychological health risks such as burnout, harassment, intimidation and unmanaged workplace stress, are all too often dismissed or downplayed by employers, and that a culture of silence and stigma continues to surround mental health at work.
The Fórsa motion commits Congress to a number of key actions:
- Developing a workplace organising programme centred on health and safety issues, building union density and member confidence at local level
- Establishing a workplace health and safety charter that prioritises psychological and psychosocial safety, and ensures robust union-led monitoring of working conditions
- Creating an accredited, professional training programme for health and safety representatives
- Conducting a legislative review aimed at levelling up the rights, recognition and powers of trade union health and safety representatives across the island of Ireland.
Fórsa welcomed the work already being carried out by the ICTU Health and Safety Committee, and Ms Nolan said the time had come to go further and put organising for safety at the heart of the trade union agenda: “This is about honouring our roots and protecting our future. Trade unions were founded to protect workers from harm.
“Today, we must recognise that psychological injury is harm, and we must organise, campaign and legislate to stop it,” she said.
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