Agenda item

The Risk and Health and Safety Manager presented a report of the Director of Legal and Governance Services, the purpose of which was to outline the Council’s approach to health and safety management and summarise activity in the past year, together with planned activity for 2025, in order to provide the Committee with assurance that the Council had robust arrangements in place, as required by the Health and Safety Act 1974.

 

The Council had a governance framework structure in place to oversee health and safety, ensure compliance with legal requirements and deliver ambitions in relation to Health and Safety.  This framework set out the Council’s plans for a three-year period and was supported by an action plan.

 

It was explained that within the last year, there had been significant advancements regarding the Health and Safety Plan and the digitised health and safety management application (My Compliance).  My Compliance now had a fully operational legal register, which further enhanced how the Council managed risks.  Due to there being a significant level of data now on the system, it had allowed the Council to improve the level of intelligence it could develop from:

 

· Incident reporting and investigation.

· Health and safety audits.

· Service area audits.

· Fire risk assessment.

· Action tracking.

 

Regular reviews of underpinning documentation with the governance framework

were undertaken.

 

During 2024 the following procedures were implemented and/or reviewed:

 

·        Incident Management Procedure (reviewed).

·        First Aid Procedure (reviewed).

·        Legal and Other Requirements (reviewed).

·        Risk Assessment Procedure (reviewed).

·        Communication and Consultation (implemented).

·        Display Screen Equipment Procedure (reviewed).

·        Objectives and Targets Procedure (reviewed).

·        Working at Height Procedure (reviewed).

·        Allergen Policy (created and implemented throughout the local authority).

 

A key focus for the Health and Safety Team during 2024 had been the implementation of the service area health and safety audits, which ensured compliance with the health and safety management system.  A self-assessment health and safety compliance list was sent to all heads of service to establish, with evidence, that service areas were complying with internal policies, procedures and best practice.

 

Throughout the year there had been more focus on deliverable training and, in addition to the eLearning made available to staff, the following had been provided in 2024:

 

·        Face-to-face incident investigation awareness, evacuation chair and fire warden courses to supplement e-learning.

·        Face-to-face manual handling and people handling courses to support operational areas.

·        Face-to-face personal safety, including breakaway techniques training, to improve the safety of both officers and Elected Members.

·        eLearning resources were refreshed to enhance manual handling training.

·        A use of fire extinguishers eLearning package.

·        An external contractor had been tendered to deliver multiple scopes of first aid training to Middlesbrough Council officers.

 

In 2025, further work would be undertaken to implement the new strategic plan for health and safety.

 

The Health and Safety Team would continue to oversee and offer assistance in developing the digital solution.  In order to create improved intelligence on health and safety incidents, Power BI and My Compliance would be interlinked.  Further work was also planned for the development of safety training information from Middlesbrough Learns and PowerBi to further develop business intelligence available to senior management.

 

The following policies and procedures would be produced, reviewed and

uploaded onto the intranet in line with planned refresh cycles:

 

·        Drugs and Alcohol Procedure.

·        Fire Safety Procedure.

·        Incident Management Procedure.

·        Lone Working Procedure.

·        Manual Handling Procedure.

·        Potentially Violent Persons Policy.

·        Risk Assessment Procedure.

·        Training and Competency Procedure.

·        Work at Height Procedure.

 

Health and safety audits for service areas would be carried out to further enhance

the Council’s health and safety framework.  These audits were scheduled

throughout the fiscal year, following self-assessments carried out by heads of

service.  This approach enabled the health and safety team to verify the

implementation of best practice across all levels of the Council.  Fire risk assessments and health and safety audits against all Council occupied buildings would also continue.

 

The Health and Safety Team would continue to deliver training to both Elected Members and officers on Personal Safety and Breakaway Techniques.  The Health and Safety Team would also conduct a complete review of all eLearning training, and continue to deliver the following face-to-face health and safety training:

 

·        Manual handling of Objects.

·        Fire Warden Training.

·        Incident Investigation Training.

·        Evacuation Chair Training.

·        Personal Safety and Breakaway Techniques.

 

One of the Health and Safety Team’s priorities in 2025 was children and young people, particularly ensuring there was always a robust system in place for Children’s Services and Adult Social Care, with the appropriate level of support available from a data protection and more general health and safety perspective.  An example of this was the development of the Allergen Policy and ensuring that this had been pushed out in schools, children’s homes, food businesses, etc.

 

AGREED that the information provided assurance that health and safety management arrangements were suitable and that plans to further strengthen those arrangements were sufficient.