Agenda and minutes

Any member (which includes councillors and staff representatives) who is substituting for another member should so indicate, together with the name of the relevant absent member.

No substitutions were declared.

The approved Terms of Reference for the Health and Safety Sub-Committee, requires that Chairmanship of the Sub-Committee shall alternate between the Employer’s and Employees’ side.  When the Chair is a Member of one side of the Sub-Committee, the Vice-Chair shall be a Member of the other side.

In 2023 to 2024, a Chair is required to be elected from the Employer’s side.

The Sub-Committee is requested to ELECT a Chair in accordance with this arrangement.

It was proposed by Councillor Peter Armitage, seconded by Councillor Mike Chester and with the vote being unanimous, it was

          RESOLVED:

That Councillor Phil Wittam be elected as Chair of the Health and Sub-Committee for 2023-2024.

Councillor Phil Wittam then took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

The approved Terms of Reference for the Health and Safety Sub-Committee, requires that Vice-Chairmanship of the Sub-Committee shall alternate between the Employer’s and Employees’ side.

As the Chair of the Sub-Committee shall be from the Employer’s side in 2023 to 2024, the Vice-Chair is required to be appointed from the Employees’ side.

The Sub-Committee is requested to APPOINT a Vice-Chair in accordance with this arrangement.

It was proposed by Nigel Dulieu, seconded by Gary Quilter and with the vote being unanimous, it was

          RESOLVED:

That Stephanie Grayling be elected as Vice-Chair of the Health and Sub-Committee for 2023-2024.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillor Janne Jarvis and from Sylvia Bayford (staff representative).

Councillor Ian Houlder was also unable to attend the meeting, along with Lance Alexander (staff representative).

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2023 (copy attached.)

The minutes of the meeting held on 13 February 2023 were confirmed as a correct record by the Chair.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest or other registerable interest which they have in any item of business on the agenda, no later than when that item is reached and to leave the meeting prior to discussion and voting on the item.

Members’ declarations of interest are recorded under the item to which the declaration relates.

Paper number: HSS/WS/23/003

The Sub-Committee received and noted report number: HSS/WS/23/003, which were the minutes of the West Suffolk Health and Safety Group meeting held on 31 August 2023.

Presentation (attached) which covers:

-      Health and Safety updates

-      Legislation updates and other news

-      Training.

[Councillor Andy Neal joined the meeting at 4.29pm during the consideration of this item].

The Sub-Committee received a presentation provided by the Health and Safety Manager, which covered the following areas:

-      Introduction

-      Health and safety statistics

-      Legislation updates and other news

-      Training.

Introduction:

This set out the purpose of the Health and Safety Sub-Committee and its role.

Health and safety statistics:

The presentation provided statistics relating to accidents/incidents involving West Suffolk Council employees and members of the public from April 2023 to July 2023.

The Health and Safety Manager drew relevant issues to the attention of the Sub-Committee, including providing details of the types and locations of accidents/incidents for employees; public and contractors during the reporting period.  He then reported the number of days lost due to workplace accidents/incidents and compared them with statistics from the past three-years.

Legislation updates:

The Health and Safety Manager advised that the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 received Royal Assent on 29 June 2023.  The Act would automatically revoke or “sunset” a list of around 600 Retained EU Laws by the end of 2023.  However, there were a few pieces of legislation relating to health and safety in civil aviation; maritime; nuclear industry and football matches but nothing relation to mainstream health and safety.  There was currently no immediate impact on the council regarding the future of health and safety law.

The Health and Safety Manager reported the council was compliant with all changes relating to the Building Safety Act 2022 (Section 156). 

Also on 1 October 2023, new fire safety legislation in addition to the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 and Fire Safety Act 2021 was introduced.  The new fire safety legislation applied to:

-      All non-domestic premises and non-domestic parts of multi-occupied residential buildings, for example communal corridors, stairways and plant rooms.

-      Responsible person must record their fire risk assessment and fire safety arrangements for their premises.

-      Responsible persons must co-operate/co-ordinate with other responsible persons in shared buildings.

-      FRA’s appointed by responsible person must be suitably trained and competent.

The council was complaint with the new changes to fire legislation.

Other news:

-      Work related fatality figures for 2022 to 2023 had recently been published.  The three most common causes of fatal injuries to workers were:

o   Falls from heights (40)

o   Being stuck by a moving object (29)

o   Being stuck by a moving vehicle (20).

The highest number of deaths were found to be in the construction industry. 

-      Following the coroner’s report over the missing Airman Corrie McKeague, the LGA had reminded local authorities of the guidance provided by the Waste Industry Safety and Health forum on managing access to large waste and recycling bins.  As a reaction to this the Operations Team had recently communicated a “look before you lift” procedure to all its operators.

-      RAAC (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete): Recent concerns of RAAC failing in school and NHS buildings had highlighted the likelihood of RAAC having  ...  view the full minutes text for item 137.

The following dates for future meeting(s) of the Sub-Committee are listed below. All dates are Mondays starting at 4pm as indicated: 

·         26 February 2024 (MS Teams)

The Sub-Committee noted the date(s) for future meetings, as listed below. All date(s) were Mondays starting at 4pm and would be held via MS Teams, as indicated:

·         26 February 2024