From Wednesday 3rd to Friday 5th September, a team of inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is visiting the campus to speak with management and staff from across the UoB. The purpose of the inspection is to assess the University’s compliance with legislation on work-related stress. This is an excellent opportunity to contribute towards improving working conditions at the UoB!

The HSE is looking for people’s experiences with stress, and the focus groups are a chance to hear about staff experiences with stress. We encourage everyone who is invited to attend to do so, and to speak as openly as possible. This will be a safe environment for all staff: the HSE will not share information that will identify any individuals. They will only share broad themes in their reports.

The inspection team has identified specific ‘hot spots’ within the University where they would like to speak to staff:

• College of Medicine and Health (Wed 3 September)
• College of Arts and Law (Thurs 4 September)
• Professional Services (Fri 5 September)

Union focus groups
Six one-hour sessions have been set aside specifically for the inspection team to speak with small groups of staff selected by the unions. These sessions are highlighted in blue on the attached timetable. Staff do not need to be union members. The HSE has asked BUCU and BUnison to recruit 4-8 members to join each group. If you spoke to union reps during a workplace inspection conducted by BUCU health and safety officers, we advise you to still volunteer for one of these focus groups. Our administrator will be in touch with members from the areas mentioned above. The inspection team has emphasized the importance of staff feeling that they can speak freely so we will not be recruiting members with managerial responsibilities. 

Confidential 1-1 meetings
Inspectors are also offering the opportunity to speak confidentially with members who work anywhere across the University. They are particularly interested in hearing about experiences of excessive workload, work-related stress and how the issues raised were managed. Arrangements can be made to speak by phone or on Teams outside the inspection dates.