Items
No. |
Item |
54. |
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:
The following substitution was declared:
Natasha Holdgate substituting for Nigel Dulieu
(Employees’ side).
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55. |
Appointment of Chair: 2021-2022
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 2021-2022, a Chair is required to be
elected from the Employee’s side.
The Sub-Committee is requested to ELECT a Chair in accordance with this arrangement.
Minutes:
It was proposed by Lance Alexander, seconded
by Councillor Robert Nobbs and with the vote being unanimous, it
was
RESOLVED:
That Gary Quilter
be elected as Chair of the Health and Sub-Committee for
2021-2022.
Gary Quilter then took the Chair for the
remainder of the meeting.
|
56. |
Appointment of Vice-Chair: 2021-2022
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 Employee’s side in 2021-2022, the Vice-Chair is
required to be appointed from the Employer’s side.
The Sub-Committee is requested to APPOINT a Vice-Chair in accordance with this
arrangement.
Minutes:
It was proposed by Councillor Elaine McManus,
seconded by Councillor Robert Nobbs and with the vote being
unanimous, it was
RESOLVED:
That Councillor Ian
Houlder be elected as Vice-Chair of the Health and Sub-Committee
for 2021-2022.
|
57. |
Apologies for absence
Minutes:
Apologies for absence were received from
Councillor John Smith and from Nigel Dulieu, Paul Goodspeed and
Stephanie Grayling.
Councillor Cliff Waterman was also unable to
attend the meeting.
|
58. |
Minutes PDF 235 KB
To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on
8 February 2021 (copy attached.)
Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting held on 8 February
2021 were confirmed as a correct record by the Chair.
|
59. |
Declarations of interest
Members are reminded of their responsibility
to declare any pecuniary or local non pecuniary interest which they
have in any item of business on the agenda, no later than when
that item is reached and, when appropriate, to leave the
meeting prior to discussion and voting on the item.
Minutes:
Members’ declarations of interest are
recorded under the item to which the declaration relates.
|
60. |
Minutes of the meeting of West Suffolk Health and Safety Group: 4 May 2021 PDF 132 KB
Paper number: HSS/WS/21/004
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received and noted paper
number: HSS/WS/21/004, which were the minutes of the West Suffolk
Health and Safety Group meeting held on 4 May 2021.
|
61. |
Employee and members of the public incidents statistics PDF 120 KB
Report number: HSS/WS/21/005
Additional documents:
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received and noted report
number: HSS/WS/21/005, which provided statistics relating to
accidents/incidents involving West Suffolk Council employees and
members of the public from 1 April 2020 to 31 March
2021.
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 and compared them
with statistics from the past three years.
The Sub-Committee considered the report in
detail and asked questions to which the Service Manager (Health and
Safety) provided comprehensive responses. In particular discussions were held on the various
types of violence at work incidents being reported; which service
areas were being affected by violence at work and whether employees
received wellbeing checks, to which the Service Manager provided
responses.
There being no decision required, the
Sub-Committee noted the contents of the report.
|
62. |
Legislation Updates (Verbal)
Minutes:
The Service Manager (Health and Safety)
advised that there were no legislation updates to report.
|
63. |
Covid-19 Update (Verbal)
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received a verbal update
from the Service Manager (Health and Safety) on Covid-19 as
follows:
-
Continue to provide guidance and support across the council.
-
Continue to carry out generic risk assessments.
-
Continue to procure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
-
Lateral Flow Tests (LFT): Staff were being asked to do a LFT if
they were coming into any of the officers.
-
Mobile LFT unit: This had been
organised through Suffolk County Council. The mobile unit visited the Waste Hub on
Monday’s and Thursdays, to test staff. However, the council was waiting to hear when this
would finish, then staff at the Waste Hub would have to revert back
to using home LFT kits.
The Sub-Committee considered the verbal update
and asked questions to which the Service Manager (Health and
Safety) provided responses.
In response to a question raised about staff
returning to the offices, members were informed that “agile
working” was being introduced which was more flexible, as
some staff find it difficult to work from home. The plan was to have a desk booking system at West
Suffolk House and at the Mildenhall Hub.
There being no decision required, the
Sub-Committee noted the verbal report.
|
64. |
Health and Safety Training (Verbal)
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received a verbal report
from the Service Manager (Health and Safety) on the following
training updates:
1)
IOSH (Managing Safely): 12 people attended and passed the
face-to-face training course held in April 2021.
2)
E-learning courses.
There being no decision required, the
Sub-Committee noted the verbal report.
|
65. |
Health and Safety Corporate Update including Health and Wellbeing (Verbal)
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received a verbal report
from the Service Manager (Health and Safety) on health and safety
corporate updates and wellbeing as follows:
1)
Inspections, Audits and Fire Risk Assessments
2)
Projects / Events: Provided advice on various projects, for
example, the Elections and the Mildenhall Hub.
3)
Support to third party clients
4)
Reactive work
5)
Occupational health
6)
Wellbeing: Continue to work with all staff on wellbeing.
7)
Drugs and alcohol: 24 random tests and pre-employment tests were
carried out, which were all negative.
There being no decision
required, the Sub-Committee noted the verbal report.
|
66. |
Health and Safety Lessons Learnt (Local Authority Specific) (Verbal)
Minutes:
The Sub-Committee received a verbal report
from the Service Manager (Health and Safety) on the following
health and safety updates:
1)
Health and Safety Executive (HSE): Members of Parliament were told
that Covid-19 had highlighted a HSE funding crisis. The HSE had suffered cuts of 54% since 2010,
reducing the ability of the HSE to respond to the
virus. The majority of proactive site
visits conducted by the HSE in response to Covid had been conducted
by external contractors, such as debt collection agencies.
2)
Waste collection firm: A waste
collection firm in Luton has been ordered to pay nearly £2m
in fines and costs after being found guilty of health and safety
failings following the death of a binman. The brakes on the lorry’s second axle were
faulty and a mechanism that prevented the bin lift being operated
when the vehicle was in gear had been disabled.
3)
Wearing of face coverings: A lorry driver who was sacked after
refusing to wear a facemask inside his cab on a client’s site
was fairly dismissed. The case was believed to be the first time a
tribunal had ruled on facemask refusal.
4)
Drone users: New rules came into force in January 2021 governing
how pilots can operate their drones. A
major change was the removal of the distinction between commercial
and recreational use, which might result in an increase in drone
uses. The new rules also make it clear
where drones can be flown, whilst also making tracing of ownership
more streamlined. Under the new rules,
even small drones will need to be registered with the relevant
aviation authority, which in the UK was the Civil Aviation
Authority. This is to ensure
authorities can trace who owns a drone if they are used in an
irresponsible way or flown somewhere, they are not allowed to be
used.
There being no decision required, the
Sub-Committee noted the verbal report.
|
67. |
Dates of future meetings
The following dates for future meetings of the
Sub-Committee are listed below. All dates are Mondays starting at
4pm as indicated:
·
11 October 2021 (Venue to be confirmed)
·
10 January 2022 (Venue to be confirmed)
Minutes:
The Service Manager (Health and Safety)
informed the Sub-Committee that he proposed changing the meeting
scheduled for 10 January 2022 to 14 February 2022.
The Sub-Committee agreed to the proposed date
change and noted the dates as follows for future meetings, as
listed below.
All dates were Mondays starting at 4pm as
indicated:
·
11 October 2021 (Virtual meeting)
·
14 February 2022 (Virtual meeting)
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