4

Health, Safety and Environment Committee

SAF04-M1

Minutes of the Eighty-seventh Meeting of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee held on 8 April 2004.

Mr J Blood (Chair)

Mrs K Bedwell (ab) Dr E D Brown (ab) Mr M C Brown

Ms E Carter(ab) Mr M Clarson Dr S E Dann

Mr M J Ellis Mr A R Eyre (ab) Mr M Harris (ab)

Dr R A Haskins (ab) Mr R A Hill Mrs W Jones (ab)

Mr D Jordan Mr R Kirkwood (ab) Mrs W E Llewellyn (ab)

Mr T M Neale Mr H M Pearson Professor I Reid (ab)

Mrs L Sands Mrs G Scholes (ab) Dr B L Sharp (ab)

Mr M Stringfellow Mr J M Town (ab) Mr D W Wilson

Mr R Wilson

In attendance: Mr C Dunbobbin, Committee Secretary

Apologies for absence were received from: Mrs K Bedwell, Dr E D Brown, Ms E Carter, Mr M Harris, Dr R A Haskins, Mrs W Jones, Mr R Kirkwood, Mrs W E Llewellyn, Professor I Reid, Mr J M Town

04/01 Minutes

The Minutes of the Eighty-sixth meeting of the Committee held on 19 November 2003 were confirmed and signed by the Chair.

04/02 Matters Arising from the Minutes

i) Building and Engineering Service Infrastructure – Intrusive and minor work undertaken in Departments

The Health, Safety and Environmental (HS&E) Officer confirmed that a review of the procedures approved in December 2002 had been carried out, and no significant problems had been uncovered. The ongoing implementation of the Code of Practice would continue to be kept under review.

ii) Mail Room Deliveries – Manual handling hazards

The HS&E Officer confirmed that the new Post Room Supervisor had introduced a number of best-practices from the Post Office, and most of the concerns that had been raised relating to manual handling issues in dealing with mail deliveries had been addressed. The HS&E Officer continued to liaise with Estates Services regarding a new automatic door, and it was anticipated that this would be installed shortly.

iii) Occupational Health Provision

The HS&E Officer reported that acceptable on-campus accommodation for the Occupational Health Adviser had been identified, and it was hoped she would move from her current base at Holywell Park as soon as possible.

iv) Placement of Students

The HS&E Officer confirmed that the policy and guidance on UK placements had been approved. However, the position for non-UK placements was more complex. Work would continue in that area, and the new HS&E Officer would report back to the Committee in due course.

v) Ethical Advisory Committee / Approvals and Monitoring of Uses of Ionising Radiation

This issue was dealt with later in the meeting, during the Radiation Protection Officer’s Report.

vi) Asbestos Update

The Committee received a paper from the Deputy HS&E Officer, including a report on steps to be taken to identify and remove asbestos in equipment within buildings.

Following the last meeting of the Committee, the Vice-Chancellor had asked for clarification on whether the Old Sports Hall swimming pool was the last of the major asbestos removal works that needed to be undertaken. The HS&E Officer noted that the only other major area where sprayed asbestos required removal was the underside of the Wavy Top Building ceilings, which was starting to deteriorate. The remainder of the asbestos in that area, was (as documented in the Asbestos Register, maintained by Estates Services, and available on the intranet) generally built into the structure of the buildings, and of the hard, rather than soft, fibrous type. It was therefore unlikely to require removal, unless it was disturbed by invasive works associated with significant maintenance or structural changes, in which case the cost would be integrated into the overall contract.

The Director of Estates Services noted that by May 2004, the University would be fully compliant with existing legislation on the identification and management of asbestos.

vii) Fumes from Combustion Rig (Aeronautical Engineering)

The Director of Estates Services reported that the original consultants, appointed in December 2003 to investigate the problems caused by exhaust fumes from the Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering jet engine had advised in February that they were not able to carry out the project. A consultant with BAE Systems had subsequently been identified, and Estates Services had submitted a bid to cover the fees.

In the short term, although a problem with noise still existed, the continued adherence to Mike Harris’s recommended operating practice had ensured that there had been no further incidents of distress or discomfort caused by the rig.

04/03 Electrical Safety

i) Electrical incident and Health, Safety and Environmental Improvement Notice

ii) Electrical Safety on Campus

The HS&E Officer reported that there had been a serious electrical accident involving a competent member of staff, who had been working on a partially live distribution board at Burleigh Court. He received an electrical shock, and lost consciousness, but was taken to hospital and made a full recovery, returning to work later the same day.

The incident was statutorily reportable to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which undertook a long and critical investigation, culminating in the issue of an improvement notice, requiring the University to improve training and establish consistency of Safe Working Procedures for live working by 20 July 2004. The Committee received copies of the improvement notice, and a copy of the memorandum sent by the HS&E Officer to all Department and Section Heads, which included an action programme to comply with the notice. EMG and Council had also been made aware of the incident, and the proposed action programme.

The Chair noted concerns that the incident could easily have resulted in a prosecution, and a substantial fine (with attendant bad publicity), rather than the imposition of an improvement notice. The work of the HS&E Officer in helping to ensure that outcome did not materialise was commended.

The HS&E Officer directed the Committee’s attention to the six proposed actions outlined in the memorandum. These included the establishment and delivery of a training programme to address the issues raised in the improvement notice. It was stressed that this was an exercise to retrain a relatively limited number of qualified members of staff (including electricians and electronics technicians) who were already technically competent individuals. A draft training programme had been produced, and was tabled. It was proposed that the training should be delivered by no later than 30 June 2004, to allow for any residual issues to be dealt with in time for the HSE’s 20 July 2004 deadline. It was also proposed to investigate the consistency of approach in the inspection and testing of portable electrical appliances (PAT testing).

In response to questions from Committee members, the HS&E Officer clarified that the voltage of the shock in the Burleigh Court incident had been 240V, and explained that the training to be delivered would aim to provide electricians with the ability to judge when it was appropriate to operate with a live distribution board. It would not cover practical competencies, as these would have been demonstrated by the member of staff when interviewed for his/her position.

04/04 Health and Safety Priorities

The Committee received a paper summarising the top 16 health and safety priorities for 2004. The HS&E Officer noted that he would review the list with the Registrar to identify the main areas needing immediate attention.

04/05 Appointment of Replacement for Health, Safety and Environmental Officer

The process was underway to replace Mike Ellis as Health, Safety and Environmental Officer, upon Mike’s retirement on 16 April 2004. An updated version of the terms of reference for the post was tabled. The post retained a direct link to senior management, but would report to the Registrar rather than the Bursar. It was stressed that this change was made for no other reason than the view taken by the Vice-Chancellor on the balance of the relative workloads of the Registrar and Bursar.

04/06 Radiological Protection

The Chair, and the secretary of the Committee, along with the HS&E Officer had held a useful meeting with the Chair of the Ethical Advisory Committee (EAC). In the light of concerns raised by the Radiation Protection Officer (RPO), it had been agreed that any study involving the use of x-rays that was brought to the attention of the EAC, would be reported to the RPO, whether the x-rays were to be carried out on or off campus.

Copies of the forms used in the two-tier approval process adopted by the EAC were tabled, and it was noted that the Ethical Clearance Checklist (stage 1 of the process), which had to be completed for all studies involving human participants, required investigators to notify the EAC if their study would involve the use of ionising radiation. The form also stated clearly that investigators should contact the University’s RPO before commencing any research that exposed human participants to x-rays. It was noted that the role of the RPO in this context would also be flagged in upcoming health and safety training for Heads of Department.

The Chair of the EAC had agreed that it would be useful for the new HS&E Officer to become a full member of the EAC, to cement the links between the EAC and HS&E Committee. There had also been agreement that selective random auditing of research projects approved by the EAC should be introduced, and carried out by members of the EAC and/or the HS&E Committee. It was agreed that these matters would be raised with the secretary of Senate.

ACTION: Secretary

The Bursar suggested that the name of the EAC should be changed to the Ethical Approval Committee, to stress the important role it played in monitoring projects involving the use of human participants. It was agreed to raise this with the Chair of the Ethical Advisory Committee and with the Secretary of Senate.

ACTION: Secretary

i) Annual Report of the Radiation Protection Officer for 2003

ii) Verbal Report on current priorities and developments from the Radiation Protection Officer

The Committee received the Annual Report of the RPO.

Although there had been no radiation inspections by regulatory authorities in the year ending 31 December 2003, representatives from the Environment Agency were due to visit to conduct an audit later in April 2004. The RPO would provide more details at the next meeting.

As a consequence of concerns about terrorist activities involving the use of radioactive material, there had been three visits to the University during 2003 by the Leicestershire Counter Terrorist Security Adviser. A review of the two areas on campus where material which could be of interest to terrorists was stored had been undertaken, and the University advised that security at both sites should be increased by the use of restricted access and intruder alarms. The Operations Sub-Committee had agreed to allocate funding to put these measures in place as soon as possible.

The Vice-Chancellor had asked about the scale and severity of the risk in this area, as this was important in determining the priority given to additional security, and ensuring it was proportionate to the risk. The RPO noted that the police were currently on the second highest level of alert. If the perceived risk level increased, it was possible that the University would be required to take further action to secure its radioactive material. However, it was noted that the radioactive material kept at Loughborough was not sufficiently active to cause significant disruption. If it was combined with explosives to create a ‘dirty bomb,’ such a contraption might result in the contamination of a small area of land, but it was unlikely that the radioactive material on its own would result in any fatalities.

The University had a number of closed radioactive sources, but disposal of these had been delayed by administrative problems within the disposal agency. The RPO, along with other Radiation Protection professionals was lobbying the government to assist with the costs of the removal and storage of redundant sources.

04/07 Health and Safety Performance

The Committee received a tabled report from the HS&E Officer, following feedback from the University’s insurers, UMAL on Employer (EL) and Public (PL) Liability claims made against the University over the period 2001-2004.

It was noted that the combined cost of EL and PL claims over the period (approximately £90,000) was modest considering the level and extent of activity on campus, and according to UMAL, relatively low in comparison with the average performance in the HE sector. Most claims related to slips, falls, and manual handling incidents.

It was agreed that the report should also be brought to the attention of EMG.

ACTION: Secretary

In response to a question from a Committee member, the HS&E Officer confirmed that where a claim related to a hazard created by a third party (for example, an individual slipping on mud left on the road by a building contractor), the University would pursue a claim against the third party where possible.

The Director of Estates Services noted that the cost of claims relating to water / storm damage appeared to high, and requested further information, with a view to making improvements, and potentially reducing insurance premiums by cutting the number and value of claims of this type. It was agreed that David Massey would be asked to provide more detailed information on claims in this area.

04/08 Health, Safety and Environmental Officer’s Report

i) Fire evacuation procedures and implementing drills

A number of concerns relating to fire safety had come to light. The University Fire Consultant had identified inconsistencies in how fire routines were implemented, and it was apparent that the frequency of evacuations in certain areas had fallen behind the requirements of the safety policy. The HS&E Officer had proposed a number of actions to meet these concerns, including increased provision in the health and safety budget for the fire consultant (an extra day each week), and a major review of existing policies and procedures (including the appointment of Fire Marshalls to sweep buildings). It was anticipated that the fire consultant would report on the existing position to the next meeting of the Committee.

The Director of Estates services noted that present legislation
required the University to have undertaken Fire Risk assessments on every
building. The HS&E Officer explained that the previous fire consultants had
undertaken fire safety reviews /reports during their tenure of every
building on campus, but these did not strictly follow the expected fire risk
assessment format and may not be sufficient to satisfy current legislative
requirements.

In order to minimise the risk of slippage in the records kept of fire drills, it was agreed that the HS&E Officer and/or the fire consultant would be asked to present figures, and report regularly to the Committee to confirm that the appropriate number of fire drills were carried out in each relevant building. This information would then be brought directly to the attention of Council through the HS&E Committee minutes.

ACTION: HS&E Officer, Fire Consultant

ii) Health and Safety in LUSAD

The HS&E Officer had met with the Head of LUSAD and made recommendations in the following areas:

· That LUSAD appoint a Superintendent Technician, to take on a supervisory role of the other technicians in relation to health and safety issues.

· That the roles of LUSAD academic staff be reviewed in the context of supervision, and clearer guidance be issued, supported by mandatory briefings.

· That the installation of a new fume cupboard be progressed with Estates Services, with the possibility of it being included in the Capital Health and Safety Programme for 2004/2005.

04/09 Accident Statistics

This item was un-starred to note comments from the Vice-Chancellor that the accident statistics could be more helpful if they included trends comparing with recent years, and benchmarks from the sector, or other businesses. The HS&E Officer noted that the more constructive use, and promotion of accident data had been included as a target in the list of health and safety priorities for 2004, and it was hoped that a more detailed analysis would be presented in 2004-05. With reference to Employer and Public Liability claims, positive feedback had already been received from UMAL, suggesting that the University’s performance compared favourably with other institutions.

The Vice-Chancellor had also expressed surprise at there being only 9 sporting injuries recorded in the period 1 October 2003 – 31 December 2003. The HS&E Officer noted that the sporting injuries in the quarterly report related solely to those defined as ‘occupational,’ i.e. those caused by defective facilities, equipment, or systems of working. They did not include ‘pure’ sporting injuries such as those arising from tackles in football or rugby, but the HS&E Officer had asked the Sports Development Centre, with input from the Athletics Union, to investigate the production of statistics which would allow an analysis of this kind of injury.

04/10 Any Other Business

The Chair offered thanks on behalf of the Committee to Mike Ellis, who was retiring as HS&E Officer, and who had made a huge contribution to the development of health and safety issues at the University. Mike had attended all 87 meetings of the Health, Safety and Environmental Committee, and his contribution would be greatly missed.

04/11 Date of Next Meeting

Wednesday 9 June 2004

Author: C. Dunbobbin

Date: April 2004