University College London

Health and Safety

If you have a health & safety problem

UCL has a duty of care to all its staff and students under the Health and Safety at Work Act. Employers must avoid injury and ill-health of their employees at all times. Employees also have a responsibility to notify their manager of perceived risks and (of course) any accidents.

You are not required to place your health at risk in the course of your employment. As a general rule: If you believe something to be unsafe - don’t do it!

Your local safety or departmental representative should be your first port of call for any health or safety query or problem.

We have two members on the UCL Safety Committee and work closely with the safety representatives from UNISON and UNITE. Our recent concerns have included standards of maintenance, and work-related stress.

At national level, UCU produces an extensive range of fact sheets specifically for UCU health and safety reps as well as examples of good practice and useful tools. There is a regular email newsletter for local health and safety reps, branches and LAs, and individual members can subscribe by contacting Linda Ball at lball@ucu.org.uk.

The health and safety calendar lists key health and safety dates, events and training. For more details see the Health & Safety page on the national UCU website.

Our Principal Health and Safety Officer is currently Helen Donoghue, h.donoghue@ucl.ac.uk.