Health, Safety and Environment Committee

 

SAF08-M1

 

Minutes of  the meeting of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee held on 20 February 2008.     

 

Mr S Black

Mr J Blackwell (Chair)

Dr E Brown (ab)

Mr M Brown (ab)

Mr T Burgess

Mr M Clarson

Dr S Dann (ab)

Prof N Halliwell

Mr R Harrison (ab)

Dr R Haskins (ab)

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 (ab)

Mr M Stringfellow 

Mr J Thomas

Mr J Tidy  (ab)

Prof P Warwick (ab)

Dr C Woodruff

Ms L Young

 

 

 

08/1       Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from Ed Brown, Malcolm Brown, Sandie Dann, Rod Harrison, Bob Haskins, Wendy Llewellyn, Rob Parkin, Susan Shirreffs, Peter Warwick

 

08/2       Business of the Agenda

No items were unstarred.

 

08/3       Minutes

(SAF07–M3)

The Minutes of the meeting held on 31 October 2007 were confirmed.

 

08/4       Matters Arising from Previous Meetings not Mentioned Elsewhere on

the Agenda

Further to the Minutes of the previous meeting it was noted that the fire strategy with     Estates was now in place.

 

08/5       First Aid Honoraria

SAF08-P1

The Committee received the outcome of a review which had considered  the availability of First Aid provision on a geographical basis across campus. The review recommended that an additional 26 first aiders be recruited and that provision then be capped at that level.

The honorarium would remain for the agreed number of first aiders.

In terms of paying the honorarium there would be no distinction made  between staff  providing this service . Even those whose job description made it a requirement to provide first aid treatment would receive the honorarium.

The Committee approved this recommendation which would be reported to Human Resources Working Group.

 

08/6       Annual Health and Safety Plan

The Committee received a  progress report on the Health and Safety Plan for 07/08 from the HSEM.  In order to improve communications with Departments meetings had been held with DSOs and a training package was being developed. All HSE policies were being reviewed and put on the website.  There were no new policy initiatives at present.  The HSE auditing of departments was behind schedule since staff needed to be trained, however the audits would begin in March with Estates and Imago.

 

The Laser Safety Group was beginning to meet.  A template for risk assessment for the Gas safety and DSEAR requirements had been drafted.  DSO training for noise risk assessments was underway.  The review of First Aid provision was complete.  Fire marshal training was ongoing, but  sessions on fire extinguisher training had been cancelled because of low demand.

 

Online training on fire risk awareness and accident reporting was under review.

The second round of fire risk assessments was ongoing and there was a requirement to provide the Fire Service with information regarding the protection of assets. The work with Estates was ongoing and alarms had been installed in 8 buildings.  Hydrant flow reviews were being conducted by the fire service.

 

To comply with the DDA more personal evacuation plans were required, but all Security staff had now been trained on the use of the fire evacuation chair.

In the environmental area the Estates service  were to make an appointment to promote and co-ordinate good practice across campus. 

It was noted that the Health and Safety audits of Departments would be risk based assessments, eg asbestos management. They would be undertaken in teams and for large Departments like Imago or Estates would probably last a week.

 

08/7       University Fire Officer’s Report

SAF08-P3

The fire officer’s report highlighted a high level of malicious fire alarm activations,   particularly at Elvyn Richards Hall.  They were thought to be caused by students from other Halls.  70 activations were caused by steam from bathrooms and it was felt that this should be addressed.  49 were caused by unattended cooking and this was a matter of concern as more self catering accommodation was being constructed.  There were 29 caused by ‘other reasons’ and clarification of what this involved was requested.

It was suggested that CCTV might act as a deterrent against malicious activations.

There was no data available on the Halls managed by UNITE.  The Fire Officer was asked to request this information and confirm that suitable systems were in operation.

 

08/8       Policy on Risk Assessment in Pregnancy

SAF08-P4

The Committee considered a draft policy on Risk Assessment in Pregnancy. The Committee was advised that the main change was to include students in the policy. It was agreed that it was a well written policy with a clear definition of responsibilities. It was to operate on a trial basis for 6 months prior to more formal approval.

 

08/9       Occupational Ill Health

SAF08-P5

The Committee noted  a report on Occupational Ill Health from the Occupational Health Advisor.

 

08/10     Role of Departmental Safety Officers and Health and Safety Control within Departments

SAF08-P6

The external audit had suggested that Departmental Safety Officers were a weak link in the safety management structure.  Accordingly all DSOs had been visited and an action plan had emerged.  The plan mainly concentrated on providing training.  It was also proposed that a DSO forum be established which would meet twice per annum to promote the sharing of good practice.  It was noted that the DSO was rewarded through the standard reward review mechanism, but that the amount of time spent on safety  duties would vary between Departments.  There was a possibility that the DSO duties would increase but it was noted that theirs was a co-ordinating rather than an operational role.

 

08/11     Annual Report of the Radiation Protection Officer

SAF08-P7

The Committee received the report of the Radiation Protection Officer for 2007.  It was noted that there had been changes to registrations and authorisations over the year.  The Committee’s attention was drawn to the need to maintain vigilance in security terms. The Department of Human Science shad had their bone densitometer installed and the monitoring arrangements were satisfactory. 

 

08/12     Procedure for the Scanning of Child Volunteers Using Dual X ray Absorptionmetry (DXA)

SAF08-P8

The Committee received a report from the Radiation Protection Officer concerning the protocol that had been put in place in the Department of Human Sciences.

 

08/13     Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007

SAF08-P9

The Committee received a briefing paper on the new legislation.  There was no change to individual responsibilities but institutions now had a liability . It was essential to ensure that the health and safety management systems were in place and working properly.  A most significant feature was the importance of responding whenever any warnings were given, since failure to do so could result in the most severe penalties in the event of an incident.

 

08/14     Accident Statistics

SAF08-P10a, SAF08-P10b

The Committee  received an analysis of accident statistics for the period October-December 2007 and an analysis of annual accident statistics 2005-07.  It was noted that in future they would be reported in a slightly different format to standardise across the sector.

 

08/15     Matters Raised by Departmental Safety Officers

It was noted that no matters had been raised for discussion by Departmental Safety Officers.

 

08/16     Date of  next Meeting

               Wednesday  11 June 2008, 2pm

Author: Brigette Vale

Date February 2008

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