Health,
Safety and Environment Committee
SAF05-M2
Minutes of the Ninety-first Meeting of the Health, Safety
and Environment Committee held on 15 June 2005.
Mr
J Blood (Chair)
Mrs K Bedwell Dr
E D Brown (ab) Mr M C Brown (ab)
Mr M Clarson Dr
S E Dann (ab) Mr A R Eyre
Mr T
Fleming Mr C Gamble (ab) Mr M
Harris
Dr R A
Haskins (ab) Mr
R A Hill Mrs
W Jones
Mr D
Jordan Mr R Kirkwood Mrs W E Llewellyn (ab)
Ms J Marsden Mr T M Neale Mr H M Pearson (ab)
Professor
I Reid Mrs L Sands Dr B L Sharp (ab)
Mr M Stringfellow Mr
J M Town Mr D W
Mr R
Wilson (ab)
In attendance: Mr C Dunbobbin,
Committee Secretary, Mr R Harrison
Apologies for absence were received from: Dr E D Brown, Mr M
C Brown, Dr S E Dann, Dr R A Haskins, Mrs W E Llewellyn,
Mr H M Pearson, Dr B L Sharp, Mr R Wilson
05/12 Minutes
The Minutes of the Ninetieth meeting
of the Committee held on 23 February 2005 were confirmed and signed by the
Chair.
05/13 Matters
Arising from the Minutes
i) Fumes from combustion rig (Aeronautical Engineering)
A draft report addressing the full
range of fume-based and acoustic problems in the area in which the combustion
rig was sited was due to be considered by Operations Sub-Committee (OSC) on 27
June 2005. The report included costed alternatives
for remedying the problems, and stressed the likelihood that the Health and
Safety Executive (HSE) would act if the University did not do so first. The HSE
had requested that feedback on the University’s intended actions was
provided immediately after consideration of the matter by OSC.
The report also noted the impact on
staff moral. The Committee considered it unfortunate that the problems
associated with the rig had dragged on, leading to a deterioration in
relationships between staff in the departments affected, but it was noted that in
order to reassure staff that progress was now being made, the HS&E Officer
had offered to visit the relevant departments to explain the proposals put to OSC.
The HS&E Office had already
spoken to key contacts in the departments affected, in order to encourage good
communication, and the HS&E Office had previously recommended that the rig
was not run during core working hours. However, the ongoing problems were
causing significant conflict and stress amongst staff. Members agreed, therefore,
that it was appropriate for the Committee to recommend to the
University’s senior management, the imposition of interim measures
restricting the times at which the rig was operated, in order to minimise the
impact on staff in the period before final remedial actions were agreed upon
and put into place. The HS&E Officer would produce a report to this end.
ACTION: TF
ii) Small Works Policy
The Deputy HS&E Officer reported that adherence
to the Small Works Policy had initially been patchy, but compliance was
improving slowly. Further training sessions had been arranged for July 2005,
and it was agreed that information on the policy, and on how individuals could arrange
to receive the appropriate training to become ‘competent’ under its
terms, would be re-issued.
ACTION: MH
iii) Hazardous materials kept by tenant organisations
The Deputy HS&E Officer provided a verbal report on steps taken to
ensure the HS&E Office was aware of the activities of University tenant
organisations, where there were health and safety implications. The keeping of
potentially hazardous materials was one such activity. A number of avenues for
dialogue between the HS&E Office and tenant organisations had been opened, with
liaison occurring primarily through Estates Services. Discussions on health and
safety issues had already been held with a number of tenants, many of whom had
initiated contact to seek advice. It was hoped that communications would
continue to improve.
05/14 Asbestos Update
The Deputy HS&E Officer
reported that the Working Group on Asbestos had met since the last HS&E
Committee meeting, and had been satisfied with the progress made by the ongoing
conditions inspection and recording programme. After a delay in the evacuation
of the Old Sports Hall Swimming Pool, work on removing the asbestos in that
area was expected to commence in August 2005. It was noted that the affected
areas would be comprehensively isolated, and that all reasonable efforts would
be made to minimise disruption to nearly buildings and thoroughfares. Work to
remove all remaining asbestos in the Haslegrave
building, meanwhile, would commence in July 2005.
05/15 Registrations,
Authorisations and Licenses
The Committee received a paper
from the Deputy HS&E Officer, and the Radiation Protection Officer which
noted that new legislation was due to come into force in August 2005, that
would require end-users of all category 1, and some
category 2 chemical precursors to hold a Home Office licence. If it wished to
use such chemicals, the University would need to apply for a licence, and
appoint a responsible officer under the terms of the legislation. It was considered
that this responsibility sat best within the HS&E Office, so that a
co-ordinated and consistent approach could be pursued across the institution,
and it was proposed that Mrs Sands, who was already involved in the purchase of
chemicals and other regulated materials, was the appropriate person to
undertake the role of responsible officer. The Committee agreed to endorse this
proposal.
05/16 Sustainable
Development Action Group
The Committee received a paper
from the Deputy Chair, containing a draft Constitution, Terms of Reference and
Membership for the Sustainable Development Action Group (SDAG). It was intended
that the SDAG would meet a minimum of 3 times each year and report to the
HS&E Committee. The Committee endorsed the draft, subject to two small
amendments to the Membership section, to allow more flexibility, as below.
“Three members of the academic or research staff,
normally academic or research, with interest and involvement in issues of
sustainability”
“At the request of the
Chair, specialists
from within the University can be co-opted other members of the
University, with specialist interests or expertise, may be co-opted.”
05/17 Health, Safety
and Environmental Officer’s Report
The HS&E Officer tabled a
paper covering the following issues not mentioned elsewhere on the agenda.
i)
Health and
Safety Staffing issues / Fire Risk Assessments
Rod
ACTION: RH
ii)
Request to
HoDs/HoSSs for Nominated Fire
It was noted that existing
emergency fire arrangements in many teaching and administration buildings did
not meet the relevant statutory requirements, and that local managers often had
no systems in place to ensure safe evacuation in an emergency, and to maintain
emergency exits. It was proposed, therefore, that the HS&E Officer would
write to all HoDs/HoSSs requesting local nominations
for the role of Fire Marshal. The HS&E Office would provide training to
respondents to ensure the appropriate emergency fire procedures were in place.
The HS&E Officer would then report back to the Committee on the areas which
had failed to respond.
The Committee agreed to endorse
the proposal, notwithstanding some concerns relating to shared-occupancy
buildings, and the impact on the time of those nominated as Marshals. The
HS&E Officer noted that HoDs/HoSSs would be asked
to state where they had joint responsibility for a building, and the HS&E
Office would then co-ordinate responsibilities. It was further noted that
efforts would be made to minimise the impact on staff time. The requirement to
maintain emergency fire procedures was not new, and numerous guidelines and
precedents existed on appropriate systems, and levels of training. It was
essential for every building to have an emergency response system in place, and
for each building, the system would be tailored to the staff resources
available.
iii)
Request
from University Council relating to areas of non-compliance with statutory
requirements
The HS&E Office had received a
request from Council to provide a list of areas where the University was not
compliant with statutory health and safety requirements. The request had been
triggered by concerns relating to fire safety risk assessments, and it was
noted that with the appointment of a new Fire Safety Officer (see 05/17(i), above), action had been taken to address the
University’s vulnerability in that area.
An initial series of spot-checks
indicated a significant number of areas where statutory health and safety
requirements were not being met. However, the HS&E Officer suggested that
providing a list of potentially vulnerable areas would, at the present time,
merely raise further questions, because full information on the
University’s levels of non-compliance was not available, and the level of
risk varied depending on the requirement in question. In relation to some
legislation, non-compliance would be restricted to a few localised pockets,
while in other areas, the University’s
vulnerability would be more general and widespread. The HS&E Officer
proposed, therefore, to carry out a programme of health and safety audits, from
October 2005 to April 2006, in order to clearly identify areas of best practice, and areas of non-compliance across the University.
The Committee agreed to endorse this proposal, on the understanding that the
HS&E Officer would provide the Committee with an update on progress in Autumn 2005, and would report on the results of the audit programme
in April 2006, including a plan for ongoing monitoring of compliance levels.
ACTION: TF
The failure of HoDs/HoSSs to regard health and safety as a core management
function was viewed by the HS&E Officer as a major contributory factor to
the University’s level of non-compliance with statutory requirements, and
this in turn was felt to be attributable to the fact that there was no
compulsory training programme within the University to ensure managers were
aware of their responsibilities under health and safety legislation, and were
suitably competent to discharge them. Health and safety training was included
in the existing training programme for new HoDs/HoSSs,
but this programme was already very long, and was not compulsory. It was
proposed, therefore, that the Committee recommend to Council the introduction,
within a year, of compulsory health and safety training for HoDs/HoSSs.
The Committee endorsed this proposal.
05/18 Accident
Statistics
This item was unstarred
so that confirmation could be provided that the comparisons shown related to
the period January to March in each of the years 2003, 2004 and 2005.
05/19 Any Other
Business
i) The
Committee received a tabled paper from the Occupation Health Adviser, which
provided an update on the University’s Occupational Stress Policy. The
HSE had produced a questionnaire, designed to be sent to employees to assess
their perceptions of work-related stressors. It was considered timely to
undertake a University-wide review of the key causes, and levels of stress,
using the questionnaire, with the information gathered used to inform a
risk-assessment at departmental and organisational levels.
The Committee endorsed the
proposal to undertake the HSE questionnaire and subsequent analysis, subject to
careful thought being given to the best method of circulation. The
Vice-Chancellor had suggested that the questionnaire be conducted
electronically as far as was possible, but members noted that not all staff had
access to email, and that despite assurances regarding confidentiality, many
staff were likely to remain suspicious that their identity could be ascertained
from an online response, and that this would adversely affect the response
rate.
ii) Having taken on the role of Chair in
June 2001, this was the 16th, and final meeting at which Mr Blood would
serve as Chair of the Committee. The Committee expressed its gratitude to Mr
Blood for his service in this area of the University's work, and noted that
both the Committee and the University had benefited enormously from his
sensitive steering of business and his careful attention to detail.
05/20 Dates of
Meetings for 2005-06
Wednesday
16 November 2005, 2pm
Wednesday
22 February 2006, 2pm
Wednesday
14 June 2006, 2pm
Author: C Dunbobbin
Date: June 2005
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