Birth
Hazards Home
At 30th Birthday of Hazards, and further prompting from Jawad on the arrival of Number 100 Hazards, I was asked to see what I could find out/remember about the birth of Hazards. And to my surprise...
I found this notebook, that I did not remember keeping. Here are the original minutes and comments of the first few editions. Based on this, these webpages tell about the birth of 'Hazards Bulletin', which later became 'Hazards'.
You can see the original documents - as file attachments (below) that have captured the original - bad typing and all..
You will see that the strength of the operation was that it was a co-operative effort from the start. It was not London centred, instead the load was passed round several different groups throughout the country. These were eventually to fuse together in the Hazards Campaign.
Author: Charlie Clutterbuck
"Pollution Person"
@ BSSRS 1974-6
Hazards wins Workworld Media Award2008 for record second time
If anybody has alterations, please add in Comments...
Hazards Bulletin evolved during economic conditions which were similar to the present economic crisis. Then the IMF came in. And there were cuts of course. The then Labour government threatened to remove Safety Representatives rights from the "Social Contract" (or 'Contrick'), which had been agreed between government and unions to hold wages down for several years. Not all trade unions were interested in "preventative health", as they used their success in compensation claims as a way to recruit members. But they reacted strongly to the threatened removal of SR rights. It was always curious that these Safety Reps had rights, whereas existing shop stewards did not.
Click for more on Background Beginnings First Hazards Meeting First Hazards Bulletin & Comments