At one of the six-monthly meetings of human resource staff in the organisation, June, who was one of Sarah’s opposite numbers at another site in the South of England, explained the severe difficulties they were having with two of their shop stewards who were also safety representatives. They took a great deal of time away from the workplace dealing with what were regarded as trivial safety issues and, when challenged, pointed out their legislative rights for time off with pay. As they were away so much, they had been moved to work that was not so essential, which only seemed to cause them to have even more time off. She recalled four specific episodes that had taken place over the last month:

■ The stewds haard advised their members to boycott a new piece of machinery because they were unhappy about the guarding arrangements. It was only after a visit by the factory inspector that the boycott had been lifted.

■ One of the stewards had been away from his place of work for over an hour and was found in another department talking to one of his members about safety shoes. Supervisors from both departments were angry at the time that seemed to have been wasted in this case.

■ A request had been made by one of the stewards to attend a union course on Abrasive Wheels Regulations when, only the previous year, they had attended the same type of course run by the company.

■ The men insisted on making a safety inspection of the site every month even though it was pointed out to them that their rights extended only to an inspection every 3 months.

June knew that Sarah had become quite experienced in safety issues and asked her if she could provide some informal consulting. Sarah agreed to make a two-day visit the next month and prepared a list of questions for June to answer before she came. This included details of the safety record of the site, the safety organisation, the safety systems in place and the state of play on audits under COSHH and Display Screens Regulations.

This information arrived just before Sarah was due to visit and it made worrying reading. The accident record was poor, with the number of reportable accidents far in excess of Sarah’s factory; two prosecutions had taken place over the previous 5 years, arising out of incidents where three serious injuries had occurred; details of the safety responsibilities were far from clear and the state of play on COSHH and Display Screens were not included.

Sarah realised that the situation may not be quite as straightforward as June indicated and knew she would have to prepare well for the visit to be able to provide the help required.