STRIKERS stationed at Sellafield have won their battle to introduce a senior health and safety shop steward. 

Sub-contractors based at Sellafield have reportedly dropped their refusal to appoint a senior shop steward to deal with health and safety, workplace welfare and training issues.

The agreement follows a lengthy campaign of industrial action, including walkouts and action short of a strike and will see the appointment of a health and safety committee which will span all contractors on the site. 

Mick Whitley, Unite regional secretary for the North West, called it a "ground-breaking" deal and said: "This victory for common sense would not have been achieved without the resolve of our members who stood shoulder to shoulder to get a better deal on health and safety.

"The creation of a new senior shop steward on maximum facility time at Sellafield will help make the site safer, reduce accidents and enable workforce issues to be dealt with speedily.

"It's a win-win for everyone involved in the decommissioning and renewal project at Sellafield and once again underlines the importance of trade unions in making the workplace a safer more productive place."

A Sellafield spokesperson said: "We welcome the fact that the contracting companies and their employees involved in this dispute have reached an agreement, and can now focus on delivering progress at the site. 

"Sellafield Ltd and our employees are not directly involved in the dispute, which is in no way related to the safety of the Sellafield site. 

"The dispute concerned the nature of union representation for the contractor community. 

"Sellafield is a safe place to work, as proved by our track record, with 2014/15 producing one of our best ever set of safety statistics and eight gold awards from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents."