Workload is a Health and Safety matter

BUCU Health and Safety reps are taking action to make our workload manageable and create a safer and healthier place for us all to work in. Thanks to everyone who filled in our members’ survey in August and September – in which 69% of respondents overwhelmingly identified workload-related stress as the key workplace issue we face. 

Senior management are well aware of this but have failed to act. Since 2020, stress has been the largest cause of illness-related absence at the University, with over 500 staff off sick directly as a result of stress, and over 17,000 days stress-related absence. 

We conducted our own Health and Safety survey in January 2024 and 90.2% of our respondents experienced more work than they have time to complete. The free-text comments on our survey also indicate highly problematic management approaches toward workload that have had a severe health impact on our workforce.

Shamefully, the University management have refused to negotiate or consult with us on the Workload Allocation Models (WAMs/WRFs) and were unable to produce an organisation level (or local) risk assessment despite UCU appointed safety representatives requesting that such a risk assessment be done for the past two years. 

Although the University management are aware of significant stress hazards that exist, they have failed to identify any preventative or protective measures through a risk assessment approach. 

As a result, we reported this to the Health and Safety Executive in the spring, which is now investigating this as a potential failure by the University to act within the national safety legislation (Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974).

We are not confident that the safety policies and structures our University has in place are fit for purpose. Despite having in place a stress policy, there are inadequate safety arrangements for implementing this policy and inadequate audit and assurance processes in place.

BUCU is forming a Workload Working Group to gather information and develop our negotiating position. If you would like to feed into that group or be involved, please contact admin@birminghamucu.org