Health, Safety and Environment Committee

SAF11-M1

Minutes of the meeting of the Health, Safety and Environment Committee held on 16 February 2011

Dr J Aldridge	Mr J Blackwell	Mr M Brown
Mr A Burgess (ab)	Mr M Clarson	Prof P Conway
Mr A Edworthy	Prof N A Halliwell	Mr M Harris
Mr T Ellis	Dr R Haskins	Mr A Hodgson (ab)
Mr R Harrison	Miss A James	Ms R Jermyn
Dr S Horner	Mr C Ludlow	Dr J Mackenzie
Mr A Kowalski	Mr T Neale	Prof R Parkin (ab)
Mrs C Moore (ab)	Dr G Ragsdell	Mr R Smith
Mr R Pearson	Mrs L Sands	Mr J Sulley
Mr W Spinks	Mr M Stringfellow (ab)	Ms J Turner
Mr J Thomas	Prof P Thomas (ab)	Mr G Wagg (ab)

In attendance: Dr B Vale, Mr K Walmsley, Mr H Weaver, Prof C Linton – for Agenda item 6

11/1 Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were received from Rob Parkin, Gary Wagg, Cathy Moore, Paul Thomas, Martin Stringfellow, Tony Hodgson.

11/2 Business of the Agenda

No items were unstarred.

11/3 Minutes

SAF10-M3

The Minutes of the meeting held on 20 October 2011 were confirmed.

11/4 Matters Arising from Previous Meetings not Mentioned Elsewhere on the Agenda

SAF11-P1

1. The Committee noted progress with respect to actions arising from the Minutes

2. The Chair welcomed new members, Tim Ellis, Julie Turner and Gill Ragsdell to their first meeting.

11/5 Membership and Terms of Reference of Health, Safety and Environment Committee

SAF11-P2

The Committee considered amendments to the membership and terms of reference of Health, Safety and Environment Committee. It was proposed that the membership of the Committee be amended to reflect the University’s new structure with effect from 1 August 2011, and that, with immediate effect, an additional member of the Committee be appointed to supply expertise in environmental matters. In addition it was proposed that the Terms of Reference be amended to reflect and clarify the role the Committee was to undertake in relation to environmental issues with immediate effect.

In relation to the new structure it was proposed that the membership would be amended to include three Deans of Schools and three School Safety Officers, in place of the current Faculty membership. They would normally be drawn from six Schools in total and would represent those areas considered to be at greatest risk.

The Committee recommended the approval of the proposals to Senate and Council.

Action BPV

11/6 Report from the Dean of Science

The Dean of Science sought the views of the Committee on proposed laboratory safety arrangements, following an incident in the department of Chemistry in which a member of staff allegedly took their own life. It was intended that arrangements should be put in place to prevent lone working, outside normal working hours, in specified laboratories. It was proposed that access to these facilities would be controlled through the Security office by a dual keyholder system which would ensure that lone working would be prevented. The Committee considered that this would be an appropriate arrangement and that in addition it should be made clear to staff that lone working in these areas would be a disciplinary offence. A list of principal keyholders would be supplied to the Security Office. The Dean of Science would be submitting a report to the Vice Chancellor in due course.

11/7 Environmental Policy, Objectives and Targets

SAF11-P3

The Committee received a report and a presentation from Jo Hasbury , Sustainability Manager, and Nik Hunt, Environmental Manager, on environmental policy, objectives and targets and was requested to approve its publication within the University.

The Committee noted the current managerial structure in Facilities Management and note that under Phase 2 of the process, which would be implemented in August 2011, the Environmental Manager would become a full time member of staff in FM.

The University had successfully achieved the bronze standard in Eco Campus and was now working towards the silver standard. All baseline environmental reviews had been conducted and from them a register of aspects and impacts had been drawn up. An analysis had been undertaken to identify the most significant environmental impacts at the University and this would inform policy. Eight environmental impacts had been identified including water consumption, waste disposal, use of fossil fuels. Key objectives and targets had been agreed and the environmental policy had been updated to reflect these. It was now a requirement that the policy should be published within the University and available to all stakeholders.

A member of the Committee offered to advise on the policy wording in the area of emissions, discharges and water.

It was noted that compliance with the legislation would be managed by the Environmental Management Systems (EMS) Team who would report to the HSE Committee on a regular basis.

It was confirmed that the hazardous and clinical waste contracts had yet to be confirmed and that the Council would only be responsible for recycled materials.

It was agreed that the policy should now be published subject to any rewording as previously proposed.

Action :JH

11/8 Sustainable Procurement

The Committee considered a policy on Sustainable Procurement, which addressed a gap in the University’s current procurement practices. This had been developed in line with Eco Campus guidance. The Committee agreed to recommend the policy to Finance Committee and to Council.

Action BPV

11/9 Re-Organisation to Schools

SAF11-P5

The Committee considered proposed organisational change to the arrangements for

the management of Health and Safety consequent on the re-structuring to Schools. Under the new arrangements for Schools it was inevitable that there would be impacts in the area of Health and Safety management, particularly with respect to the role of Departmental Safety Officer. The paper under consideration was a discussion paper which tried to address some of the issues. The Committee agreed that each School should have a Health and Safety Committee which should be chaired by the Dean. Each School should have a Safety Officer who would be responsible to the Dean of the School for health and safety matters. Since the role would not be a full time role and the member of staff would have other responsibilities, they would be line managed by the School Operations Manager. It had been suggested that all Safety Officers should have an NVQ level 3 qualification in Health and Safety. It was recognised that it would be easier to demonstrate competence if such a qualification was held, but it was also recognised that it would not be appropriate in all cases. Moreover the University provided substantial training opportunities in this area. It was felt that such a proposal might require further consideration at another time and was not consequent on the restructuring to Schools.

A member of the Committee asked for clarification of the reporting lines and accountability of the Health and Safety and Environmental Manager. It was confirmed that she reported to the Vice Chancellor directly on statutory issues regarding HS&E, but on a day to day basis was line managed by the Director of FM where her team were based. Concern was expressed that this reporting structure made the HSEM remote from the Vice Chancellor who was legally responsible for health and safety matters. It was further reported that the HSEM reported to the Provost as chair of the HSE Committee and that under a matrix management structure this was felt to be an appropriate model. It was agreed that a paper should be submitted to the Committee for further consideration.

Action JB/BPV

11/10 Annual Health and Safety Plan

SAF11-P6

The committee received a progress report from the deputy Health and Safety Manager on the implementation of the Health and Safety Plan for 2010/11. It was noted that progress was underway against targets and developments in the e-learning package and in training delivery were noted.

11/11 University Fire Officer’s Report

SAF11-P7

The Committee received a report from the University Fire Officer. It was reported that there had been one minor localised fire incident. The programme of controlled fire evacuation tests had continued on campus. Sub Wardens had been undertaking refresher training in fire safety. The problem of fire signal activations at Harry French hall had not been resolved and concern was expressed that this might lead to further student complaints during the examination period. It was agreed that imago would raise the issue again with Unite who managed the Hall.

It was suggested that the data contained in the Fire Officer’s report could be reported in graphical form and it was agreed that this could be considered for the next meeting.

Action MB, RH

11/12 Health and Safety Training 2010- Update

SAF11-P8

The Committee received a report from the Deputy Health and Safety Manager concerning the availability of health and safety training on campus. Members were pleased to note that a substantial programme was available. It was reported that further training would become available in the next session, particularly in the area of Occupational Health and Radiation Protection, now that new officers were in post.

11/13 Accident Report and Accident Statistics

SAF11-P9a

.1 The Committee received a report on recent accidents and insurance claims on campus.

SAF11-P9b, SAF11-P9c, SAF11-P9d, SAF11-P9e, SAF11-P9f

.2 The Committee received and consider an analysis of accident statistics for the period of 1 October 2010 to 31 December 2010 together with comparative data.

Some concern was expressed that according to the RIDDOR reportable data for 2009 the University had 6.21 reportable injuries per 1000 members of staff making it more hazardous than 90 other members of the sector. The committee considered why this might be the case and felt that in part it might be due to the efficiency of internal reporting mechanisms. It was noted that in 2009 there had been a spike in manual handling injuries and the University had addressed this with considerable additional training. It was felt that the University needed to be watchful in this situation and keep the position under careful review.

11/14 Any Other Business

A member of the Committee asked if there were any University guidelines about PAT testing for IT equipment and whether it was considered appropriate to use an external service provider which could be costly. It was reported that it was the responsibility of Departments to risk assess requirements and determine how frequently it was undertaken. Practice varied as to whether testing was delivered internally or externally. Courses were available to facilitate testing. It was requested that the deputy HSEM should consider this further and develop some guidelines.

11/15 Dates of Meetings 2010/11

25 May 2011

Author: Brigette Vale

Date: February 2011