Agenda item

To consider the annual report on the Council’s health and safety arrangements. 

27.1          The report of the Head of Community Services, circulated at Pages No. 51- 69, provided a summary of the activities carried out to secure health and safety compliance in the financial year 2018/19.  Members were asked to consider the report.

27.2          The Head of Community Services advised that the health and safety report was presented to the Committee on an annual basis to allow Members to consider health and safety arrangements across the organisation and those of its contractors and partners.  Health and safety and wellbeing was managed via the Keep Safe, Stay Healthy Group which was chaired by the Deputy Chief Executive and attended by senior managers as well as the Lead Member for Organisational Development.  The report itself, attached at Appendix 1, was both backward and forward looking with key achievements from the last 12 months highlighted at Page No. 59 and a summary of the good work that had been done throughout the year set out at Page No. 60 which included a considerable amount of training.  There were a number of policies/procedures related to health and safety and it was noted that these were reviewed on a rolling three year programme.  Members were reminded that health and safety was not just about the physical aspects, mental wellbeing was an important consideration and a significant amount of work had been carried out with HR in relation to that which would continue over the coming year.  The Council also had a duty to monitor health and safety of contractors, particularly the larger ones such as the leisure centre and Ubico which were highest risk.  Ubico had recently achieved the Occupational Health and Safety standard ISO45001 which provided a framework for organisations to instigate proper and effective management of health and safety in the workplace.  It was noted that the Council was also responsible for the management and monitoring of the Materials Recovery Facility contract with Suez Resource and Recovery Ltd. which was based in Avonmouth.  The Health and Safety Work Plan for 2019/20 was attached at Pages No. 67-69 of the report.

27.3          A Member noted there had been a spike in the number of personal accidents/incidents relating to waste, street cleansing and grounds maintenance in December 2018 and he asked if this was weather-related and how it compared to previous years.  The Head of Community Services explained that, unfortunately, Ubico had not been monitoring health and safety as well as it should have been and had reported only four accidents during 2018/19 which was highly likely to be an under-estimate purely due to the nature of the service; he gave assurance Officers were confident that had now been addressed and accurate figures would be provided for 2019/20.  The Chair felt that the majority of information within the report was encouraging and he made particular reference to the positive reactions to the way staff had responded to an incident which had been subject to RIDDOR reporting (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013).  Staff health and wellbeing, particularly in terms of mental health, was a very important issue for the Council and he was pleased that awareness was being raised and that staff were engaged.

27.4          Accordingly, it was

RESOLVED         That the annual health and safety report be NOTED.