Case study: Community union reps at Tata Steel’s 20” Pipe Mill in Hartlepool

The Community union is the largest trade union within Tata Steel Europe (previously Corus) and aims to have environmental reps in place at all of Tata UK operations in order to work with the company to reduce its carbon footprint. This is already happening with clear results at the 20” Pipe Mill in Hartlepool. The reps at this site are trained so that they can answer questions about environmental procedure to colleagues in the mill, and they are also in a position to give the company’s environmental team input as to how and why improvements can be made around the site.

The reps attend quarterly meetings with the company’s environmental department where they are informed about anything discussed in the section managers’ environmental committee meeting. Information on any changes, legal updates or breaches can then be passed topon to the rest of the workforce through the reps, and it is also an opportunity for the employer to get opinions and ideas on any of the solutions they have proposed. One proposal put forward by a rep at a meeting has resulted in all the amenity blocks having a recycling area, and a recycle centre is now on site for waste such as tins and plastic.

The reps attended environmental awareness training organised by the employer to give them insight into environmental regulations and requirements, which the 20” Pipe Mill must adhere to: the idea is that they can then share this knowledge with the rest of the workforce.

Six of the reps went on to train to become environmental internal auditors which involved a three-day training course. The course has enabled them to gain a recognised qualification as an internal auditor, which means they are now able to complete competent environmental internal audits for the 20” Pipe Mill.

“As we progress in our role, we would like to be able to complete more audits and be able to offer more support to the environmental department, like safety reps have progressed in their role,” said one of the reps who is now a qualified environmental auditor.

“I think the next big step would be further environmental training for all staff members on site. This would help our role to progress and for the workforce to have a better understanding of what our role is on site.”

In turn, the company’s environmental department is now able to rely on the trained environment reps to complete a thorough, relevant audit schedule, which ensures that the site is constantly regulated, and that areas of improvement are identified. Ultimately, this means the organisation is able to reach high standards in its ISO 14001 audits (certification for environmental standards) and ensures that it is prepared for new and evermore stringent environmental legislation.