Great New Health & Safety Website

Rory O'Neil of Hazards brings us the good word about a great new website called Worksafe Reps, a new website that is a joint initiative between New Zealand Council of Trade Unions and the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions.

The site is targeted specifically at workers who have been elected as health and safety representatives under the amended Health and Safety in Employment Act.

The site provides reps with health and safety news, information about workplace hazards, legislation, campaigns and information about safety resources resources about workplace health and safety campaigns.

The most interesting part is the "Sharing Solutions" page where Reps will also be able to discuss their experiences through the 'sharing solutions' forums on the site. So far, not much sharing, but I think it has potential.

This is the kind of website that American Unions and the AFL-CIO should have. Basic health and safety information, up-to-date news about events and legislation, a helpdesk and an interactive forum. No offense to my friends in labor, but most of the unions' health and safety pages are dull, stale and nothing that anyone is going to go out of their way to check out too often.

As we've seen from Howard Dean's successes and Move On's campaigns, the web can be used for much more than just providing information. If used creatively, it can also help inform, organize and activate workers. The Worksafe Reps site comes about as close to that as I've seen. Check it out.