Issue - meetings

We have a statutory requirement to regularly review our Health, Safety and Welfare Policy. The current policy dates from May 2012.

This report outlines main content of the Council’s revised Health, Safety and Welfare Policy including details of the Council’s commitment to, management of and arrangements for the effective implementation of Health, Safety and Welfare controls.

The policy also identifies clear responsibilities for health, safety and welfare which includes officers as well as Members of the Council.

Note: Councillor Omer KouKou-Tchri returned to the meeting/Chamber for the remainder of the meeting.

The Committee received a report which outlined the main content of the Council’s revised Health, Safety and Welfare Policy, including details of the Council’s commitment to, management of and arrangements for the effective implementation of Health, Safety and Welfare controls.

The Committee was informed that the Policy was last reviewed in May 2012 and that the Council had a statutory duty to regularly review its policy.  The review had not highlighted the need for any fundamental changes but the revised policy reflected the change in organisational structure and new Health and Safety Executive Guidance.

It was highlighted that the General Policy statement contained a list of objectives which therefore implied that the Council would take a certain course of action.  Eight of the twelve bullet points contained the word “will”: four did not and were statements rather than objectives (bullet points 4, 6, 7 and 9).  It was confirmed that these bullet points would be re-phrased to become objectives, for example: “Competent advice would be available to assist employees in meeting their responsibilities”.  The bullet points would also be replaced by numeric points.

Regarding the allocation of general responsibilities, Officers agreed to amend the text to read that it was the “responsibility of members” to “review and endorse the Health and Safety Policy Statement” and that Heads of Service should “contribute” to rather than “find” corporate solutions to health and safety issues.

The Committee was further informed of a reprographic error in the Introduction to Part 2 (Organisation for Health and Safety) in which the first two paragraphs were exactly the same except for the very last word.  It was confirmed that the intention had been to delete the first paragraph.

It was clarified that, although not responsible for the day to day management of health and safety, members did have a role in making decisions about the provision of services and associated budgets which could affect the health, safety and welfare of staff.  Members also had a role in holding officers to account for the management of any risks.

Officers were committed to continuous improvement in the effective management of health and safety through a programme of communications and training for Officers, the frequent auditing of levels of compliance and effective management of risks by means of quarterly reports to the Leadership Team and an annual report to the Human Resources Panel.

Accordingly, the Committee endorsed the Council’s Health, Safety and Welfare Policy.