Meeting documents

To consider the attached report.

 

Contact Officer:  Joanne Crosby (01296) 585194

The Scrutiny Committee received a report that would be submitted to Cabinet on 6 September 2017, advising Members of the work undertaken to update the Council’s Corporate Health and Safety Policy.  The revised policy and the accompanying Strategy / Action Plan were a budget and policy framework document and, as such, would be reported in due course to full Council for formal approval.

 

Members were informed that it was essential for the Council to have a comprehensive approach to health and safety and that this was properly embedded within the organisation.  The existing documents had not been recently reviewed and the latest refresh took account of changes in legislation and the extensive transformational changes within the Council.

 

The policy (attached as Appendix A to the Cabinet report) would apply to all staff employed by the Council, either directly or indirectly and to any other person or organisation that used Council services or premises for any purpose.  The existing Policy had not been comprehensively refreshed since 2014.  The Policy would also apply to temporary staff, young workers, staff working from home and contractors working on Council business.

 

The principles of the Policy would apply to all Council work activities, regardless of who has supplied or provided them.  The aims of the policy were to:-

 

·                    Outline the requirements of Health and Safety Regulations.

 

·                    Outline Health and Safety Guidance and Approved Codes of Practice that applied to the Council.

 

·                    Inform Managers, Supervisors and Staff as to their roles and responsibilities in relation to health and safety.

 

·                    Demonstrate the Council’s commitment to reducing accidents and incidents causing ill-health, as well as other environmental hazards and risks in the workplace.

 

·                    Set out clearly and unambiguously the organisation’s arrangements for health and safety in accordance with the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Guidance – HSG65, Managing for Health and Safety.

 

·                    Set out the organisation’s training requirements for health and safety.

 

The Policy identified the roles and responsibilities of Directors, Assistant Directors, Managers, Supervisors and Staff and reflected legislative changes that had occurred since it was last reviewed.  It was anticipated that the policy would result in the following outcomes:-

 

·                    To ensure that there was a standardised approach to the Council’s health and safety management system.

 

·                    To prevent foreseeable accidents or incidents so far as was reasonably practicable by undertaking suitable and sufficient risk assessments.

·                    To demonstrate how the Council complied with its statutory health and safety responsibilities against Legislation, Regulations, Approved Codes of Practice (ACOP’s), best practice etc.

 

·                    The prevention of reoccurrence of adverse events so far as was reasonably practicable.

 

The Council had a Corporate Health and Safety Board (Executive) and in accordance with HSG65 – Managing for Health and Safety, the Board would review the policy and performance against the Policy annually.

 

The Strategy (attached as Appendix B to the Cabinet report) set out the Council’s approach to managing a positive health and safety culture.  It would put in place a defined and coordinated process for health and safety performance.  The Strategy had last been reviewed in 2015.

 

A corporate health and safety action plan would be prepared to support the Strategy.  It would be monitored by the Corporate Health and Safety Manager and the Corporate Health and Safety Board.  The targets would be reviewed and updated annually by the Board.

 

The aims and objectives of the Strategy were to:-

 

·                    Ensure that there was a standardised approach to the Council’s health and safety management system.

 

·                    Regularly measure and monitor the Council’s health and safety performance.

 

·                    Use accident, incident and near miss software for the Council to record and consolidate accurate reports and data.

 

·                    Ensure that there was an appropriate level of health and safety risk control throughout the Council.

 

·                    Ensure that all Managers, Supervisors and Staff were engaged actively in the positive management of health and safety.

 

·                    Ensure that there was a standardised approach for Event Safety Planning and Resilience.

 

The following outcomes would be delivered:-

 

·                    Necessary key performance indicators would promote a positive health and safety culture within the Council.

 

·                    Appropriate means of cooperation and communication between Sectors and roles would be secured.

 

 

·                    The Council would automatically audit, monitor and review all health and safety policies, guidance notes, safe systems of work and risk assessments.

 

·                    Health and Safety Management would be embedded as an integral part of the management approach to achievement of objectives.

 

·                    Staff would be involved  in health and safety performance within the Council.

 

Members commented as follows:-

 

(i)            Reference was made to stress in the workplace and its impact on mental health.  It was indicated that due regard would be paid to all policies when taking operational actions.  The intention here was to streamline the processes and add clarity.  Any references to disability, equalities and mental health would blur the overall position and these matters were more appropriately dealt with within the Equalities Strategy.  There was no obligation under the Health and safety at Work Act (HSAWA) for mental first aid.  However the Council was a responsible employer and there would be a clear statement of how it would respond to mental health issues in the Council’s HR policies.  Due regard would be given to equalities issues when undertaking risk assessments.

 

(ii)           Some clarification was sought around the section concerning working at height.  The Policy contained the statutory definition.

 

(iii)          Reference was made to the need for consistency in the manner in which the delegations proposed.

 

(iv)         Reference was made to the need to ensure that the Council’s CCTV policies were properly reflected within the revised Health and Safety Policy, and in particular the need to preserve CCTV evidence within the context of violence towards staff.

 

(v)          There was a need to clarify the terminology used to describe the responsibilities of the Health and Safety Board and the Health and Safety Committee.

 

(vi)         It was felt that perhaps the policy should include high level key performance indicators.

 

(vii)        As a general point it was hoped that any grammatical/typing errors would be removed before final publication.

 

However, the Committee was very supportive of the Policy and Strategy and in the circumstances it was,

 

 

RESOLVED –

 

That  Cabinet be advised that although supportive of the revisions, it be asked to take account of the views expressed by Members at (i) – (vii) above in considering the  recommendations to be submitted to Council in relation to the adoption of the revised Corporate Health and Safety Policy / Strategy and the accompanying Action Plan for it’s implementation.