Our General Secretary recently attended the UK Police Health and Safety Committee meeting alongside other UK Police Federations to ensure Defence Police Federation members continue to be represented on the health, safety, and welfare issues affecting policing.
A number of important topics were discussed during the meeting, including PPE provision, workplace safety inspections, officer welfare, and the growing impact of work-related stress across policing.
Discussions around PPE focused on ensuring officers have access to suitable, effective, and properly maintained equipment to carry out their duties safely and confidently in operational environments. Safety inspections and compliance measures were also reviewed to help identify workplace risks early and ensure concerns raised by officers are addressed appropriately.
Work-related stress and officer welfare formed a significant part of the agenda, with discussions centred on the pressures officers continue to face, including workload demands, operational stress, overtime and the wider impact these issues can have on both physical and mental wellbeing. The importance of early support, welfare provision, and ongoing monitoring of workplace pressures was highlighted throughout.
By attending meetings such as these, we are able to represent our members directly at a national level, raise concerns affecting officers, contribute to important discussions on workplace safety and wellbeing, and ensure the voice of Defence Police Federation members is heard where direction and recommendations are being shaped.
We encourage all officers to report any near misses or unsafe acts in the workplace, as doing so helps proactively identify potential hazards, areas for improvement in safety procedures, and possible training gaps before a more serious incident occurs.
If you have any health and safety concerns in the workplace, we encourage you to raise and report these issues via the MySafety portal and speak with your local Federation Branch Representative. We need to hear from you to represent you effectively.
We remain committed to standing up for our members and working to promote safer, healthier, and better supported working environments across policing.
