Agenda item

Report of the Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development

The Forum received a report which provided details on the annual review of Health and Safety performance of the Council for 2023-2024.

An officer briefed the Forum and highlighted the following:

·                 The health and safety policy had been reviewed, with several policies as well as the Health and Safety Handbook updated.

·                 604 officers had received refresher training on the use of the Health and Safety management system.

·                 Engagement with stakeholders continued through the Corporate Health and Safety Board, with ‘safety circle’ meetings reintroduced.

·                 Wellbeing support continued through multiple initiatives.  This included Wellbeing Champions that met monthly; return to work assessments; stress risk assessments along with resources and events made available.

·                 Future plans included a ‘don’t ignore it, report it’ campaign as well as Health and Safety restructure that supported the whole of the Council.

·                 There had been a 52% increase in reported incidents.  With 4 incidents required to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive, no enforcement action was taken from the Health and Safety Executive.

·                 There were 370 risk assessments, 63% required a review, an action plan was in place for these assessments to reviewed.

·                 An Employees Assistance Programme was in place, where staff had access to free confidential counselling sessions.

·                 The implementation of the Council’s Health and Safety strategy continued with the strategy due to be reviewed in 2025.

·                 Future plans included a health and safety audit due to take place in October 2024 and the continued rollout of the new health and safety management software.

The Chair invited members of the Forum to ask questions, with the following raised:

·                 It was asked how many incidents had resulted in injury and more specifically, recurring injuries.  The statistics were also sought for the number of claims taken against the Council, including information on the insurances and how the Council was minimising the risks.  An Officer explained that a report was produced and presented to the Health and Safety Board on a quarterly basis and that the information sought was not to hand and would be provided to the Forum once available.

·                 Asked what training was in place for staff, it was explained that training was locally arranged and that the training was due to be reviewed to ensure it was adequate and to identify if ongoing training was required.

·                 It was raised that not all staff were able to undertake their training online and that there did not seem to be enough training in place for those who worked within Special Needs Transport.  This was because it appeared that this was where a lot of the incidents were occurring.  Clarification was also sought over whether there had been an improvement in staff training over the past 6 months within the Special Needs Transport Team.  The officer explained there were intentions for the types of injuries occurring to be reviewed and for the appropriate training to be arranged to combat the areas in need of improvement.  In addition, the officer would need to investigate further if there had been an improvement within the Special Needs Transport Team and would report back to the Forum in more detail at the next meeting. 

·                 Accredited training was raised and it was asked what processes had been put in place to improve the take up of accredited training.  The officer explained that accredited training for this year had been provided through the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, with work underway to revitalise the training for managers.

·                 It was raised that sometimes the nature of particular roles within the Council were exposed to challenging behaviour, however, under the Place directorate, there had been 14 incidents of physical assault, it was asked if this was staff that had been physically assaulted.  An officer explained that there had been 14 incidents that were likely to be when staff were out on visits.

·                 The Forum wanted to know if any of the assaults on Council staff had resulted in prosecution, to which an officer explained that this information would need to be researched for the Forum.

·                 It was noted that the number of attacks seemed to be high and that any assault needed to be reported to the police.  It was unacceptable that any member of staff was assaulted and that a briefing specifically on this this matter would be welcomed, to which officer agreed to provide.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.