Health, Safety and Environment Committee
SAF08-M3
Minutes of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee held
on
30 October 2008
|
|
Prof Neil
Halliwell (Chair) |
|
|
Mr M
Brown |
Mr T
Burgess (ab) |
Mr M Clarson |
|
Prof P
Conway (ab) |
Mr J
Blackwell |
Mr R
Harrison |
|
Dr R
Haskins |
Mr A
Hodgson |
Mrs W
Jones (item 9) |
|
Mr D
Jordan (ab) |
Mr A
Kowalski |
Dr J Dearnley (ab) |
|
Dr J Mckenzie |
Mrs C
Moore |
Mr T
Neale |
|
Prof R Parkin |
Prof S
Pearce (ab) |
Mrs L
Sands |
|
Dr S Shirreffs (ab) |
Mr M Stringfellow |
Mr J
Thomas |
|
Mr J
Bernstein (ab) |
Prof P
Warwick (ab) |
Ms S Ettinger |
|
Ms L
Young (ab) |
Mr J
Kirby |
Mr W
Spinks (ab) |
In attendance : Dr B P Vale
By Invitation : Mr D
Fulford, Mr H Weaver
08/20 Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were received from Andrew Burgess, Dave Jordan,
Susan Shirreffs, Will Spinks and Peter Warwick.
08/21 Business of the Agenda
No items
were unstarred.
08/22 Minutes
(SAF08–M2
attached)
The
Minutes of the meeting held on 11 June 2008 were confirmed.
08/23 Matters
Arising from Previous Meetings not Mentioned Elsewhere
on
the Agenda (SAF08-P20)
Misuse of Fire Equipment
Further to
Minute 08/8 of the previous meeting the Committee received an update on action taken to reduce the number of incidents
of misuse of fire equipment. A meeting had been convened to review the issue
and an incident report form plus guidelines on the penalties to be imposed by
Wardens had been introduced. It was proposed that this system be trialled and
reviewed at the June 2009 HSE meeting and this was agreed by the Committee.
08/24 Terms of Reference, Constitution and
Membership of Health, Safety and Environment
Committee 2008/09 (SAF08-P21)
The Committee noted the Terms of Reference,
constitution and membership of Health, Safety and Environment Committee for 2008/09
and noted that the University Health and
Safety policy will need to be amended to incorporate changes to the terms of
reference and membership. The membership included a vacancy for a Pro Vice
Chancellor and it was felt that with the Provost in the chair and the Chief
Operating Officer as an ex officio member, there was no requirement for a PVC
as well, particularly since this vacancy had not been filled for some time, and
it was recommended that the membership be amended to remove this position.
The Committee noted that
attendance by academic members of staff of the Committee had been sporadic in
the past and noted that it had received apologies from one Head of Department.
It was felt that this should be kept under review but was not an immediate cause for
concern. Concern was expressed about the
vacancy for a second
lay member of Council. It was reported that this was expected to
be addressed at the next meeting of Nominations Committee.
08/25 Annual Health and Safety
Plan (SAF08-P22)
The HSEM presented her report to
the Committee on the implementation of the Health and Safety Plan for 07/08 and the new Plan for 08/09 which would be reported to Senate and Council. The HSEM reminded members that the
implementation of the plan represented only part of the workload of the HSE
Office. Two areas were particularly highlighted, the improvement in
communications with Departments via the training of Departmental Safety
Officers and the newsletter and the implementation of the Health and Safety
audits.
Audits of the two largest
Departments, imago and Estates had been undertaken, and an audit of the
The plan for next year highlighted
the need for the identification and recording of the
training requirements at the University. A matrix of the mandatory training
requirements would be produced and the emphasis in the first instance would be
on fire safety training. A series of
courses had been developed and would be repeated throughout the year.
It was noted that there had been
several recent developments in research activity in the Bio-Engineering area
and that it was important that there should be a specialist sub committee which
addressed issues of Biological safety and that there should be expert advice at
operational level.
The Committee received the report
of the Annual
HSE plan for 07/08 and the plan for 08/09 and recommended them to Senate and
Council for their consideration.
08/26 University Fire
Officer’s Report (SAF08-P23)
The Committee received a report from the University
Fire Officer. There had been a fire in the Purple Onion which had been
contained very rapidly largely due to the availability of the AFD system which
can be monitored by Security permanently. New AFD Systems had been fitted in several
buildings on campus. Refuge Communication Systems had also been fitted in
several new locations. The fire alarm activations statistics revealed a
decrease in activity, however the period under consideration included the
summer vacation.
08/27 Imago Services Health
and Safety Audit Report (SAF08-P24)
The Committee considered the imago
Services Health and Safety Audit Report. It was noted that the key findings had been
listed and imago had responded with an action plan. The audit had found many strengths and
examples of innovative practice. The importance of liaising with Halls not
managed and owned by the University on health and safety issues was raised.
It was felt that in future the
full audit report should be made available online with the Committee receiving
an executive summary which addressed strengths, weaknesses and recommendations.
08/28 Display Screen Equipment
(DSE) (SAF08-P25)
The Committee considered a
discussion paper on matters relating to Display Screen Equipment. The policy
had been updated previously in 2005 and had introduced the concept of self
assessment of computer users’ workstations. It was proposed to update
this policy to ensure that all new members of staff were contacted by means of
a standard letter to advise them of the need to carry out the assessment , to remind existing staff of the need to carry
out self assessment and advise them where to seek help if they required it and
to update existing information and advice. It was agreed that further guidance
should be sought on the advice offered to those with additional needs who
needed to conduct self assessment.
The Committee approved the
proposed amendments to
the DSE policy.
08/29 Policy on Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans (PEEP) (SAF08-P26)
The Committee considered a policy
on Personal Emergency Evacuation Plans.
The policy presented to the Committee identified what the policy was and
who was responsible for its implementation. It was confirmed that the HSE
office worked closely with DANS in identifying students with additional needs
who were contacted regarding the drafting of an individual PEEP. It was noted
that the Director of HR should also provide information regarding staff who might require such a plan. Since there were potentially
150-200 students who might require a PEEP the process was time consuming. It
was suggested that consideration might be given to a generic PEEP for each
building. It was felt that although this might be a long term objective it
would mean anticipating all possible needs and this might be difficult to
achieve.
It was agreed that the Director of
Facilities Management should be consulted at the stage where recommendations
were made in connection with a PEEP.
The Committee approved the policy
on PEEPs.
08/30 Leading
Health and Safety at Work – UCEA Guidance Document (SAF08-P27)
The Committee considered a summary prepared by the HSEM of a briefing paper on Health and Safety Management at work issued by UCEA. It was confirmed that the
University’s governing body was Council. The summary document was divided
into policy areas with core actions and good practice. With respect to the
policy area ‘Planning the Direction of Health and Safety ‘ and its
core actions, it was noted that the University had in place a Health and Safety
policy document which was regularly reviewed by HSE Committee and Council. The
policy document had recently been updated following changes in organisational
structure and did set out the individual responsibilities of University
members. In terms of good practice it was noted that HSE Committee reported to
Senate and Council after each meeting and Council approval was required for new
policies. The Chair of Health and Safety Committee, who was the Provost, was a member of
Council and lay members of Council sat on HSE Committee who could act as Health
and Safety champions. The Chief Operating Officer was also an ex-officio member
of HSE Committee. It was felt that this gave sufficient visibility to health
and safety issues. Health and safety targets were set via an annual Health and
Safety plan which was reviewed by HSE Committee.
In the policy area ‘Delivering Health and Safety
‘ it was felt that the core actions were met by the provision of a Health
and Safety Office with its own budget and with departmental budgets managed by Heads of
Departments. Risk assessments were regularly conducted via Departmental audits.
Staff were represented by their Trades Unions on HSE
Committee and Departments had their own Health and Safety Committees. In terms
of good practice it
was not clear whether Health and Safety responsibilities were raised when
senior managers were appointed and this should be verified with HR. Health and Safety
training was provided to staff but not to members of Council.
The arrangements for monitoring the health and safety
standards of external contractors were in place.
In the policy area ‘Monitoring Health and
Safety’ in terms of core actions accident statistics were reported to
Health and Safety Committee and sickness monitoring is undertaken by Personnel
Services. Departmental audits were
conducted, training was provided for Heads of Departments, Departmental Safety
Officers provide regular reports to the HSE Office, and regular reports were
provided for the Executive Leadership Team. It was felt that it would be useful
for the HSEM to report to Council in person on an annual basis to provide a
further link to the governing body and that the most appropriate time would be when
the annual report on Health and Safety was considered.
In the policy area ‘ Review of Health and
Safety’ in terms of core actions it was felt that the presentation of the
annual review of the Health and Safety plan provided an opportunity for Council
to review health and safety performance. In terms of good practice HSE
Committee was monitoring performance via audits and feedback e.g. from the
Leicestershire Fire Service, but there may be further opportunities to report
on the University’s achievements in this area.
08/31 Draft HSE
Newsletter (SAF08-P28)
The Committee considered
the draft HSE newsletter for publication in December 2008. It was suggested that the presentation be standardised to make
it more accessible, nevertheless the
newsletter was welcomed by the Committee.
08/32 Accident
Statistics (SAF08-P29a and SAF08-P29b)
The Committee received an analysis of accident
statistics for the period 1 April - 30 June 2008 and 1 July – 30 September
2008. It was reported that this would be last time data was received in this
format. In future it would be presented alongside national USHA date for
comparison. It was acknowledged that the number of reported accidents was not
high.
It was felt that it would be
useful to provide a definition of accidents and whether it included stress
related conditions or manual handling incidents.
It was noted that incidents
relating to personal safety which might give rise to an insurance claim against
the University were not necessarily recorded as accidents. It was reported,
however, that there were monthly meetings between the HSE office and staff
dealing with insurance claims to keep this under review.
08/33 Matters Raised by Departmental Safety Officers
It was noted
that no matters had been raised for discussion by Departmental Safety Officers.
08/34 Small
Works Policy (SAF08-P30)
The Committee considered and approved
amendments to the Small Works Policy
08/35 Dates of Meetings 2008/09
18 February 2009
10 June 2009
Author: Brigette
Vale
Date October
2008
Copyright © Loughborough University. All rights reserved.