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.

The following substitution was declared:

Paul Goodspeed substituting for Sylvia Bayford (staff representative)

Apologies for absence were received from Sylvia Bayford (staff representative).

Councillor Andy Neal (employer’s side) was also unable to attend the meeting, along with Lance Alexander (staff representative).

To confirm the minutes of the meeting held on 16 October 2023 (copy attached.)

The minutes of the meeting held on 16 October 2023 were confirmed as a correct record.

Members are reminded of their responsibility to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, other registerable or non-registrable 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.

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

Paper number: HSS/WS/24/001

The Sub-Committee received and noted paper number: HSS/WS/24/001, which were the minutes of the West Suffolk Health and Safety Group meeting held on 16 January 2024.

Report number: HSS/WS/24/002 covers the following information:

-      Health and Safety statistics

-      Legislation updates and other news

-      training

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

·         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 through to December 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 also reported on the number of days lost due to workplace accidents/incidents which were compared with statistics from the past three years.

·         Legislation updates

There were no updates to report on this occasion.

·         Other News

-      Protect Duty (Martyn’s Law) – The Home Office had launched a further consultation period of six weeks and the consultation would now close on 18 March 2024. Therefore, there was still no guidance (ACOP) produced by the Government and currently no regulator had been announced. The lead time for implementation was still envisaged as 2025.  The Council’s Health and Safety Team attended regular government update meetings with the National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) and would communicate any changes to ensure that the Council remained compliant.

-   Electric vehicle (EV) charging points in multi-storey car parks - In response to recent Government and Suffolk Fire Service safety guidance, the Council were in discussions to remove/relocate their current EV charging points within its multi-storey carparks in Bury St Edmunds (Parkway) and Newmarket (Guineas). This was in the interest of fire safety.

-      RAAC (Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete): Provincial House, Haverhill - Intrusive investigations, as part of the phase three refurbishment package, had identified RAAC in two contained areas on the second floor. These areas were not occupied and had no public access. Partners and the main tenant had been informed and access had been limited to all concerned.  Further investigations had been undertaken, with a full engineer's report on the condition of the RAAC panels expected within the next few days. A suitable action plan would be put in place following the report recommendations.  Extensive works were being undertaken on the site and any required remedial action would now form part of the project and it was not envisaged at this stage that the vision for the site was compromised. A reactive statement had been prepared should there be any media interest.

-      New Health and Safety System - A new health and safety system (Work Wallet) was now operational via the Council’s intranet.  Training had started to be delivered to the users of the system.  The new system would allow for:

-   Improved accessibility (App based/cloud system)

-   Improved user experience

-   Improved visibility of incidents reported, investigations and actions carried out

-   Ability to grow the system for other aspects of the business, if required

-   Reduced annual cost

Two new issue reporting categories had also been added:

-   Safety  ...  view the full minutes text for item 144.

The following future meetings of the Health and Safety Sub-Committee are listed below – dates yet to be confirmed, but will be held on Mondays starting at 4pm:

·         June 2024

·         October 2024

·         February 2025

The Sub-Committee noted the dates for future meetings, as listed below. The dates had yet to be confirmed, but would be held on Mondays starting at 4pm:

·         June 2024

·         October 2024

·         February 2025