Agenda for Health and Safety Sub-Committee on Monday 24 June 2019, 4.00 pm

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Training Room, District Offices, College Heath Road, Mildenhall, Suffolk, IP28 7EY

Contact: Christine Brain: Democratic Services Officer (Scrutiny)  Email: christine.brain@westsuffolk.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Substitutes

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.

Minutes:

No substitutions were declared.

 

2.

Appointment of Chair: 2019/2020

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 2019/2020, 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.

 

Minutes:

It was proposed by Councillor Karen Richardson, seconded by Councillor John Smith and with the vote being unanimous, it was

 

          RESOLVED:

 

That Councillor Ian Houlder be elected as Chair of the Health and Sub-Committee for 2019-2020.

 

Councillor Ian Houlder then took the Chair for the remainder of the meeting.

 

 

                                       

3.

Appointment of Vice-Chair: 2019/2020

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 2019/2020, 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.

 

 

Minutes:

It was proposed by Stephanie Grayling, seconded by Nigel Dulieu and with the vote being unanimous, it was

 

          RESOLVED:

 

That Paul Goodspeed be elected as Vice-Chair of the Health and Sub-Committee for 2019-2020.

 

                                       

 

4.

Apologies for Absence

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Lance Alexander and Paul Goodspeed.

 

Councillor Trevor Beckwith was also unable to attend the meeting.

 

5.

Minutes of the Meeting of West Suffolk Health and Safety Group held on 8 May 2019 pdf icon PDF 105 KB

Report No: HSS/WS/19/001

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Health and Safety Sub-Committee received and noted Report No: HSS/WS/19/001, which included at Appendix 1, the minutes of the West Suffolk Health and Safety Group Meeting held 8 May 2019.

 

In response to a question raised from the minute relating to used needles, the Sub-Committee was informed that the council only picked up used needles in public spaces and did not collect from private properties.

6.

Presentation on the Corporate Functions of Health and Safety within West Suffolk

Minutes:

[Councillor Carol Bull, Cabinet Member for Governance arrived at 4.10pm during the consideration of this item].

 

The Service Manager (Health and Safety) gave a presentation on the corporate function of health and safety within West Suffolk, which also included events held on council owned property. 

 

The main legal requirement for health and safety was encompassed in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. 

 

There were various regulations, one of which was for employers to consult with their employees or their representatives on health and safety matters. 

 

The law sets out how employees must be consulted in different situations and the different choices employers had to make.  There were two different regulations which required employers to consult their workforce about health and safety:

 

-      The Safety Representatives and Safety Committee Regulations 1977 (as amended); and

 

-      The Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations  1996 (as amended).

 

To ensure that the Health and Safety Sub-Committee covered all relevant issues, the Sub-Committee would consider standard agenda items and would allow for other items to be added as necessary.  These were:

 

-      Minutes from previous Health and Safety Sub-Committee

-      Minutes from previous Health and Safety Group meeting

-      Incident statistics

-      Health and safety policy (if there were amendments to report)

-      Legislation updates (if there were changes to report)

-      Health and safety corporate updates (including wellbeing)

-      Health and safety lessons learnt (local authority specific)

 

The presentation also included information on policy; audits; fire risk assessments; health and safety advice (internal and external); the Safety Advisory Group; event safety; liaison with third parties; management systems; training which included e-learning; projects; occupational health; and drug and alcohol testing.

 

There being no decision required, the Sub-Committee noted the contents of the presentation.

7.

Employee and Members of the Public Incidents pdf icon PDF 101 KB

Report No: HSS/WS/19/002

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Health and Safety Sub-Committee received Report No: HSS/WS/19/002, which provided statistics relating to accidents/incidents involving employees and members of the public from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019.

 

It was a legal requirement under health and safety legislation to maintain a safe working environment for all staff and users of our facilities, which included the monitoring and investigating incidents so as to reduce the risk of re-occurrence.

 

Attached at Appendix A to the report were statistics relating to employee accidents and accidents involving members of the public for April 2018 to March 2019.  Appendix A also included comparison of incidents for the last  three years.

 

The Service Manager (Health and Safety) drew relevant issues to the attention of the Sub-Committee, including providing details of the types and locations of accidents/incidents of employees and members of the public during the reporting period. He then reported the amount of days lost due to workplace accidents/incidents for the same reporting period.

 

In response to a question raised regarding whether there were any physical incidents reported, the Service Manager (Health and Safety) informed the Sub-Committee that the highest place that this might occur would be with car park attendants and market inspectors. The council had recently purchased body cameras for car park attendants and market inspectors to record any such incidents.

 

There being no decision required, the Sub-Committee noted the contents of the report.

8.

Health and Safety Lessons Learnt (Local Authority Specific) - Verbal Report

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee received a verbal report from the Service Manager (Health and Safety) on the following lessons learnt:

 

(a)         The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) had increased their hourly fee for intervention charge for firms on 6 April 2019 from £129 to £154. 

 

(b)         The HSE had made a change in Enforcement Expectations for Mild Steel Welding Fume, which meant all businesses undertaking welding activities should ensure effective engineering controls were provided and correctly used to control fume arising from those welding activities.

 

(c)         Recycling firm Veolia ES had been fined £1m after a refuse worker was ran over and killed by one of its refuse trucks in October 2013.

 

(d)         Pendle Council had been fined after a worker’s leg was crushed by a refuse collection vehicle in October 2015.  The Council pleaded guilty to breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Total fines of £40,000 were imposed with costs of £14,000.

 

(e)         Basildon Council had been fined £133,000 after a 6ft wall collapsed seriously injuring a six year old girl in August 2016, which it part owned on a housing estate. 

 

The Sub-Committee then asked a number of questions, not in relation to the above, such as email stress; hot desking which could be an issue with employees who had disabilities; and employees with hearing disabilities in open plan offices, to which the Service Manager (Health and Safety) provided comprehensive responses.

 

In response to a question raised about where to find information for volunteer litter picking and how to carry out risk assessments the Service Manager (Health and Safety) agreed to email the Sub-Committee after the meeting were to find links on the Intranet on litter picking and guidance for volunteer litter pickers.

 

There being no decision required, the Sub-Committee noted the contents of the verbal update.

 

 

 

9.

Dates of Future Meetings

The following dates for future meetings of the Health and Sub-Committee are listed below. All dates are Mondays starting at 4.00 pm and will be held at the venue as indicated:

 

·         21 October 2019 at West Suffolk House, Bury St Edmunds

 

·         10 February 2020 at the District Offices, Mildenhall

Minutes:

The Sub-Committee noted the dates for future meetings, as listed below. All dates were Mondays starting at 4.00pm and would be held in the venues, as indicated:

 

·         21 October 2019 at West Suffolk House, Bury St Edmunds

 

·         10 February 2020 at the District Offices, Mildenhall

 

 

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