By next year, the company aims to eliminate all untreated emissions. Union involvement in the health, safety and environment plan is taken as read. We can only get improvements if we bring the people on board who understand what we are discussing, and that must include shopfloor workers. Not all the knowledge lies in one place. Now, with the exception of the occasional glitch, exposures are usually well within the legally allowed occupational standards.
Union reps have free access to chemical monitoring equipment, so can keep tabs for themselves.
Good job too. Latest evidence suggests even low levels of solvent can cause potentially serious short and long-term health problems . Crown's new Environmental Management Plan, drafted in consultation with GPMU, addresses solvent hazards and a range of other health and environmental problems, from waste control and energy consumption, to ensuring paper is sourced from well-managed forests. Regular health, safety and environment audits and the involvement of all staff, from the shopfloor to the boardroom, means greening the workplace has more substance than many companies' glossy brochures. Now Joe wants the GPMU to adopt a national environmental policy to strengthen its health and safety work.