Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to provide the Audit and Governance committee with:

A)  a progress update on the Health & Safety Performance Framework

B)  a progress update against delivery of the H & S Management System (HSMS) Improvement Programme.

The Health and Safety Specialist introduced the report:  

·         The key elements of the report were business as usual performance where significant progress had been made, including each directorate having a risk management action plan in place and each directorate was able to review their risk management performance in their Tier 3 directorate health and safety meetings.  

·         Tier 2 and Tier 3 levels of health and safety governance boards had been meeting on a monthly basis. Monthly scorecards were provided to each directorate.  

·         All actions generated from any of the boards were added to a consolidated action plan and tracked.   

·         For the improvement programme all workstream progress was reviewed at the Tier 2 management level board. Significant progress had been made on the health and safety policy review and on the contractor management policy. 

·         Had been working with the procurement team on building a contractor database which would include information on health and safety vetting for all contractors the Council engaged with.  

During the debate the following points were raised:  

·         It was asked which software was used for the health and safety database. It was responded that the database was held in SharePoint currently. Moving forward work would be undertaken within the LGR Workstreams to identify a suitable contractor for the system.  

·         It was asked if clarification could be given regarding different officers’ roles in terms of Health and Safety. It was responded that James Barrah was lead Director for Health and Safety. Kate Lusty was responsible for leading the Health and Safety team and reported on Health and Safety to James Barrah.  

·         It was asked about the directorate risk assessments reviews and the percentage of reviews which had been completed and whether there was a grading system based on the occupations of officers. Officers responded that the figures included in the report were the current breakdown of what had been completed as part of the ongoing risk scoping exercise. Action plans had been pulled together with all mangers across the organisation and these had been RAG (Red, Amber, Green) rated to prioritise the order in which reviews were completed.  

·         It was raised that there were significant number of new starters to the organisation. It was asked whether there was an individual conversation with each new starter of their risks and to what extent day one health and safety training was delivered and how it was checked that this training had been received. It was responded that training was delivered by the Health and Safety team. The team were notified whenever there was a new starter at the organisation. The new starter would then receive a Health and Safety induction or potentially several inductions dependent on their role. The task manager also completed risk assessments and training requirements were identified.  

·         It was asked how concerned the committee should be about the number of accidents and how severe those accidents were. Officers responded that there had been eight accidents which needed to be reported under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulation (RIDOR) which included accidents such as fractures. There had been a RIDOR near miss which involved a gas escape event in one of the Council’s tenanted properties.  

·         It was raised that incidents had increased by 71% but accidents had decreased by 43%. Officers responded that accidents had decreased by 43% over the last three years. The additional 71% for incidents was a positive as it meant that more events were being reported. Incidents being reported and investigated reduced the number of accidents which occurred due to corrective action being taken.  

·         It was asked about Health and Safety training for members. Officers responded that a members’ induction refresher pack for training was in development. A risk assessment of activities undertaken by councillors would also be completed.  

The Committee resolved to note the recommendations in the report:  

2.1 The committee is asked to note and endorse:  

A) the H & S Performance Scorecard data, together with the observations/recommendations/conclusive summary (appendix A) 

 B) the HSMS Improvement Programme progress update (detailed in section 4.7.5 with further summary breakdown in appendix B) 

It was asked if there could be a glossary introduced for acronyms included within future similar reports from officers across the organisation. The monitoring officer responded that they would look to implement this.