Health, Safety and Environment Committee

SAF07-M3

Minutes of the meeting of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee held on 31 October 2007.

Mr S Black	Mr J Blackwell	Dr E Brown (ab)
Mr M Brown	Mr M Clarson	Dr S Dann (ab)
Prof N Halliwell	Mr R Harrison	Dr R Haskins
Mr R Hill	Mr A Hodgson	Mrs W Jones
Mr D Jordan	Mr A Kowalski	Mrs W Llewellyn (ab)
Dr J Mckenzie	Mrs C Moore	Mr T Neale
Prof R Parkin (ab)	Prof S Pearce (ab)	Mrs L Sands
Dr S Shirreffs	Mr W Spinks	Mr M Stringfellow
Mr J Thomas	Mr J Tidy (ab)	Prof P Warwick
Dr C Woodruff (ab)	Ms L Young

In attendance: Mr A Burgess, Dr B vale, Mr H Weaver

07/34 Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from Rob Parkin, Cyril Woodruff, Wendy Llewellyn and Sandie Dann.

07/35 Business of the Agenda

No items were unstarred.

07/36 Minutes

SAF06–M2

The Minutes of the meeting held on 13 June 2007 were confirmed.

07/37 Matters Arising from Previous Meetings not Mentioned elsewhere on the Agenda

SAF07-P20

.1 Fumes From the Jet Nozzle Rig( Aeronautical Engineering

The Director of Estates reported that the project to re house the Jet Nozzle rig had been completed. There remained the issue of noise in the pilot lab associated with the wind tunnels in Aeronautical and Automotive Engineering, but a solution to this was anticipated.

07/38 Report on S Building Air Quality

SAF07-P21

It was noted that work was underway to improve the air quality in S Building and the importance of co-operation between departments in shared buildings was emphasised.

07/39 Report from the Health, Safety and Environment Manager

The HSEM reported that a number of actions had been initiated following the KPMG audit report. Training for Heads of Departments had been undertaken and all Departments had been asked to produce a health and safety policy. The need to improve communication with Departmental Safety Officers was recognised and training provision was part of the annual plan. A revised Health and Safety policy for the University had been put in place and an annual Health and Safety Plan had been produced.

The KPMG audit report had recognised that there were a number of different units located on campus where staff were not necessarily University employees and this raised the issue of responsibility for health and safety matters. HSEM will be addressing this matter and it was proposed that some minimum standards would be established.

07/40 Annual Health and Safety Plan

SAF07-P22

The Committee received the first annual Health and Safety Plan. The HSEM explained that the plan was intended to be the vehicle to drive forward Health and Safety provision at the University and set a standard against which achievements could be measured..

It was noted that the Plan made no mention of the work of the Radiological Protection Committee. It was explained that it was felt that the serious safety issues in this area were already being addressed and did not require further identification in the Plan.

It was further noted that the implementation of the DSEAR requirements should be expanded on as the risk assessments involved would be a very substantial task.

The training in the area of occupational health appeared to be highly ambitious and it was questioned as to whether it would be achievable. It was agreed that this was a major task but it was essential, some of it would coincide with the DSO training , eg in the area of manual handling.

It was felt that the plan should identify priority areas of HSE activity and that other matters should not be included. The Committee welcomed the plan and asked the HSEM to provide a report on its implementation at each Committee meeting.

07/41 Fire Strategy

SAF07-P23

The Committee considered a fire strategy document which was the outcome of discussions between the HSE Office and the Estates Organisation. It represented a formalisation of existing current arrangements. It was noted than an exact standard for disabled evacuation and refuges would be written in but that this would add costs to the project. The provision of telephone communication in the refuges was discussed and it was noted that there was a wireless system would meet the required BS standard.

It was noted that there was proposal that all fire alarms should have a common tone so that it was instantly recognisable across campus.

There was an issue over the need to secure buildings after a fire evacuation which might then prevent the Fire Marshals gaining access to the buildings, it was agreed that this issue should be discussed outside the meeting.

07/42 University Fire Officer’s Report

SAF07-P24

The Committee received a report from the University Fire Officer. It was noted that there were three reportable incidents in the period under review. The most serious was the fire in the Purple Onion. The report on the incident was with the University’s insurers and the cause was not yet known. The incident had highlighted the need for AFD systems to be made available. Many buildings remained without it and Estates would be taking this issue forward. The Director of the Estates Organisation undertook to provide a report on the AFD provision to be circulated with the Minutes.

The incident in Falkner Eggington occurred due to unattended cooking. The were 60 units, 600 beds in total in this residential accommodation which all had independent fire alarms. The situation in this accommodation was well known to the University and £120k had been spent on improving safety. This accommodation was usually occupied by international students. It was noted that there was usually a sub warden on site and it was expected that this accommodation would be replaced within 3 years.

It was reported that there was now a fire evacuation chair, a C Max c stair climber, available and that this would be stored in the University gatehouse.

07/43 Referral to Occupational Health - Guidance for Managers, Individuals and Academic Staff

SAF07-P25

The committee received a report from the Occupational Health Adviser who invited comments. It was confirmed that the document would be made available via the HSE website.

07/44 Accident Statistics

SAF07-P26a and SAF07-P26b

The Committee received an analysis of accidents for the period 1 April – 31 June 2007 and 1 July - 30 September.

07/45 Asset Risk Improvement Task Group

SAF07-P27

The Committee approved revised membership, terms of reference and constitution of Asset Risk Improvement Task Group.

07/46 Environmental Review

SAF07–P28

The Committee noted a paper from the HSEM.

07/47 Membership

SAF07-P29

The membership and terms of reference of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee for 2007/08 were noted

07/48 Any Other Business

.1 A member of the Committee asked that, following discussion at the Science Directorate, there be a further review of the recent policy regarding the withdrawal of the honoraria for First Aiders. The Deputy Vice Chancellor agreed that the matter should be raised again through the Human Resources Working Group.

.2 The Chair noted that this would be the final meeting for Roy Hill who was soon to retire from the University. The Chair on behalf of the Committee thanked Roy for his outstanding service and wished him well for the future

07/49 Date of next Meeting

Wednesday 20 February 2008, 2pm

Author: Brigette Vale

Date: November 2007