Agenda item

Report of the Corporate Director Community

The Forum received an information report from the Corporate Director of Community, which summarised the Council’s health and safety performance for the year 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019.  The report gave an overview of health and safety for 2018-19 financial year, including updates on activities and outcome of measures.

 By way of introduction, an officer highlighted the following key points:

·                     No enforcement action had been taken by the Health and Safety Executive in 2018/19.

·                     Significant increase in incident reporting, mainly in schools (73%), where a lot of work had been undertaken by the Corporate Health and Safety team.

·                     Decrease in number of RIDDOR incidents (Reporting of Incidents, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations).

·                     Development of Health and Safety Strategy 2019-22, set out in Appendix 3 to the report.

In response to a question on mitigation measures taken to address the increase in incident reporting, an officer advised that there had been training for senior managers which was almost complete.  It was clarified that the volume of incidents was not unusual but the contrast was more noticeable this year as there had been more reporting.  Majority of the reported incidents originated from schools, with a number of incidents relating to cases of SEN.  The Council was liaising with schools to try and mitigate these issues.  Furthermore, walkabouts were also being carried out but impact from these required a wider cultural change.  About 80% of scheduled walkabouts have been completed, with the remaining due to be completed in the next 8 weeks.

Referencing p.8 paragraph 2.41 of the report, an employee side representative enquired about the work which was being done to address Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) matters.  In noting that reality at work often differed from that depicted in reports and emphasising on the lack of practical change, Union representatives pointed out that much of the PPE currently provided to staff was not suitable for the work they carried out and further assurances were needed that this would be resolved accordingly.  In response, the Interim Director for Environmental Services expressed his commitment that PPE was seen as high priority and noted the importance of it being fit for purpose and informed the Forum that work on safety was already under way with Council directorates.

An Employee-side representative expressed concerns of the lack of policy on protecting staff from assault and accusations alongside consideration of staff mental health needs and a review of the relevant council programmes to ensure the adequacy of the support offered.  The Interim Director for Environmental Services acknowledged the comments and stated that further work had to be done on policy and procedures.  In the interim, the Council was focusing on consultations and identify joint agreement on provisional solutions.

A further comment was made by a Council side member who remarked on the need to provide frontline staff with further protection during working hours, through implementation of measures such as installation of protective glass screen for reception staff or introduction of a limited entry system to the council offices.  Officers acknowledged the comments and suggestions on enhancing security but noted that enhancing security for staff had to be offset by finding a balance through the provision of accessible and professional service to local residents.  Officers undertook to continue identifying health and safety risks and respective mitigations and share these as appropriate with the ECF.

RESOLVED:  That the report and the comments made in the preamble above be noted.