Minutes of the Ninety Third meeting of the Health, Safety
and Environment Committee held on 22 February 2006.
Dr JBC
Blood (Chair)
|
Mr S Alsbury |
Mr M Harris (ab) |
Professor I Reid |
|
Mrs K Bedwell (ab) |
Dr R A Haskins |
Mrs L Sands |
|
Dr E D Brown |
Mr R A Hill (ab) |
Dr B L Sharp (ab) |
|
Mr M C Brown (ab) |
Mrs W Jones |
Mr M Stringfellow |
|
Mr M Clarson (ab) |
Mr D Jordan |
Mr D M Wilson |
|
Dr S Dann (ab) |
Mr R Kirkwood |
Mr R Wilson |
|
Mr AR Eyre (ab) |
Mrs W Llewellyn (ab) |
|
|
Mr T Fleming |
Mr T M Neale |
|
|
Mr O Folkerd (ab) |
Mr H M Pearson |
|
In attendance: Mr R Harrison, Mr J M Town, Mr N Elkington, Dr B P Vale.
06/1. Apologies for
Absence
Apologies
for absence were received from K Bedwell, M Brown, B
Sharp, W Llewellyn, M Harris, A
Eyre, R Hill,
06/2. Business of
the Agenda
Agenda item 13 was unstarred.
06/3. Minutes
SAF05–M3
The Minutes of the Ninety Second
meeting held on 16 November 2005 were confirmed subject to noting further to
minute 05/22 that the Chair of the Committee’s appointment had been
approved by Council.
06/4. Matters
Arising from Previous Meetings
SAF05-M3
.1 Fumes from
the Combustion Rig
The
Committee was advised that Operations Sub-Committee had authorised Estates to
begin negotiations with Advantica with a view to
relocating the rig to the
.2 Terms of Reference of the Committee
A review of the terms of reference
of the Committee had previously been adjourned pending a possible review to be
undertaken by KPMG. Preliminary contact
with KPMG has been made and the extent of their further involvement remains to
be determined. Meanwhile the review of
the terms of reference of the Committee remains adjourned. However it was agreed that consideration of a
revised Health and Safety policy would be brought forward to the next meeting
of the Committee.
.3 Access of Contractors on site
The Health, Safety and Environment
Manager (HSEM) reported that procedures had been updated and that unless
Security are advised in advance, contractors will not
be permitted access onto campus.
.4 Blood Borne Viruses/Pathogens
It was noted that Council had
approved the policies on Blood Borne Viruses/Pathogens.
.5 Display Screen Equipment
It was noted that Council had
approved the policy on Display Screen Equipment.
.6 Lighting on Campus
The HSEM had undertaken an
inspection of external lighting on campus.
He had found a small number of faulty lights and they had subsequently
been repaired by Estates. He did not
consider that this represented a major problem.
It was confirmed that Estates had
a programme for checking lighting on a monthly basis, but also relied on
individuals reporting faults.
Occasionally delays to repairs might occur where specialist equipment
was required to repair particular light fittings.
06/5. Asbestos Update
SAF06-P3
The Committee received a report
from the Deputy Health, Safety and Environmental Officer.
06/6. Radiological
Protection
SAF06-P4
The Committee received the annual report for 2005 from the Radiation
Protection Officer. The Committee was
advised that the use of radiation on campus had not changed. There had been a regulatory visit to the
University in August 2005 by three inspectors.
It was a very thorough audit which the University passed
successfully. Only minor recommendations
were made such as an alternative use of signage.
More redundant seal sources had left the Campus thereby reducing the
University’s liability. The
Committee acknowledged the excellent work undertaken in this respect. New legislation effective from 1 January 2008
for existing high activity sealed sources would lead to a further review. Particular thanks were extended to Radiation
Protection Supervisors.
The Committee noted that the University’s liability for waste
products ended only when they reached the repository. The University was careful therefore to
select approved removal contactors.
06/7. Report on
Stress Survey
Members were advised that an
analysis was underway of the Stress Survey questionnaires. There had been a response rate of 55%. This was felt to be a good response rate. In itself this was not felt to be indicative
of a problem but reflected the effectiveness of the dual approach enabling on
line and paper-based responses. The
Committee was asked to endorse proposals regarding the progression of this
matter at University and Departmental level.
It was proposed that a Sub Group of the HSE Committee be established
which would develop strategy and report its findings and recommendations to the
main HSE Committee. It was felt that HSE
office should assume overall responsibility for promoting the stress risk
assessment process since the statutory obligations associated with stress risk
assessments arose primarily out of the Management of Health and Safety at Work
Regulations.
It was proposed that the Sub Group
membership would be HSE Manager (Chair), Mary Thomas (Personnel), Wendy Jones
(Occupational Health Adviser), a member of staff from a non academic
Department, a Head of an Academic Department, a member of staff with expertise
in this area from the
At Departmental level Heads of
Departments and sections would receive information on their areas, together
with comparative information and Wendy Jones would be arranging meetings with
them over the next six months.
The Committee endorsed the
proposals as presented.
06/8. First Aid Provision
The HSEM reported that further
investigation of payments to First Aiders on campus
has revealed a polarisation of opinion on this issue. For many First Aiders
training is a requirement for their appointment and no further payment should
be necessary. It was the volunteer staff
who should be recompensed. Job
descriptions, however, were still not entirely consistent regarding First Aid
requirements.
A member of the Committee reported
that Unison’s view was that a payment of £250 per annum was a reasonable
payment for First Aiders, although the average
payment in the Higher Education sector appeared to be £143. Unison was opposed to ending existing
payments to staff. It was requested that
any information on this be referred to the HSEM. The HSEM agreed to set up a meeting with the
Campus Unions on this matter. It was
noted that Estates Services had a large number of First Aiders
and it was requested that they be involved in any review.
06/9. Health, Safety
and Environment Manager’s Report
The HSEM reported on two incidents
involving students which had highlighted the need for future action.
In one incident a student with a
severe nut allergy resident in University Accommodation was exposed to food
containing nuts and was hospitalised.
Investigation of the incident had revealed a number of actions to be
undertaken. In particular a Food Allergy
policy needed to be implemented and would be brought to the next meeting of the
HSE Committee.
In a further incident a serious
injury requiring hospital treatment had been inflicted on a student during a
Rag Week event in February. The incident
had occurred during an event, ‘Message to Garcia’, which was a
regular feature of Rag Week. The HSEM
was currently investigating the risk assessment process for this incident and
the current University procedures regarding the planning and arrangements of
such events. The HSEM will report his
findings and bring forward recommendations to the next meeting of the
Committee.
It was noted that, although many
LSU events were well organised, there were concerns about this particular
event. LSU were aware of the severity of
this incident and were reviewing all its procedures.
06/10. Fire Officer’s Report
SAF06-P6
The Committee noted that there had
been no fire incidents in the current reporting period. Approximately 40% of the building stock had
received a fire risk assessment. There
had been 5 attendances by the Fire Service which was a considerable reduction. There had been a number of fire alarm
activations, mainly due to unattended cooking.
It was noted that there were a
number of buildings where risk to life and property would be reduced by
installation of AFD equipment. A list of
the buildings had been forwarded to the Estates Department for inclusion in the
Estates Strategy Programme. It was not
felt, however, that there was a case for suspending out of hours working in
these buildings. The University was not
operating illegally, but it was felt that the Fire Officers Report should be
considered by the Estates Management Committee. In order to minimise risk it
was felt to be important that staff were aware of internal safety procedures
such as the importance of fire doors.
It was noted that the Fire
Officer’s inspections of Departments would be completed by
August/September.
06/11. Accident
Statistics
SAF06-P7a and SAF06-P7b
An analysis of accidents during
2005 was received by the Committee.
06/12. Asset Risk
Improvement Task Group
SAF06-P8
The Minutes of the Asset Risk
Improvement Task Group meeting held on 8 February 2006 were received by the
Committee.
06/13. Sustainable Development Action Group
SAF06-P9
The Minutes of the Sustainable
Development Action Group meeting held on the 2 February 2006 were received by
the Committee. It was agreed that the Minutes of the
Sustainable Development Action Group should be circulated electronically to
Departmental contacts.
It was agreed to recommend to Council in principle that the
University move towards the use of recycled paper whenever possible both for
in-house printing and for outsourced work.
It is envisaged that this recommendation will be made formally once costings have been ascertained It was noted that the Director of Media
Services would present the business case for implementation and any financial
implications to the Operations Sub-Committee. It was suggested that the report to
HSE Committee from Sustainable Development Action Group could take the form of
bullet points extracted from the Minutes.
06/15. Date of Next
meeting
Wednesday 14 June 2006
Author: Brigette Vale
Date: February 2006
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