AB PAPER J.419.6.2013

Author Ms M Kanwar, Director of Occupational Health and Safety

Deadline for submission to Clerk 30 May 2013Date received by the Clerk 30 May 2013

TITLE OF PAPER/REPORT

1 PURPOSEHealth and Safety Annual Report 2012

2 SYNOPSISThis report provides an overview of the activities relating to the Occupational Health and Safety Office and safety statistics from May 2012 to May 2013.

3 RISK ANALYSIS

To increase monitoring of fire safety going forward due to an increase in construction activity and a change of management of Halls of residence provider at the College Lane campus.

4 RECOMMENDATIONSThe Board are asked to note the report

UNIVERSITY OF HERTFORDSHIREHEALTH AND SAFETY IN THE UNIVERSITY

1. Introduction

May 2013

This report covers the period from May 2012 to May 2013. It provides the Board of Governors with an overview of monitoring activities across the institution to drive safety engagement across the University. This includes statistical data on training, accidents (for 2012) and fire safety.

One main focus for the office this year has been to realign local safety management to the post agile structure at UH and a safety assurance audit of the UH companies.

2. Changes to Safety Team and Professional Development of Advisers

The office is going through a period of staff change. By using a consultant and specialist trainers where possible we have been able to maintain a good level of advisory support and continue with important projects.

UH are already seeing benefits from the investment in competence development of the School Safety leads/contacts who provide frontline advice on specific School related issues to their staff and students. They are supported and mentored by the Safety team.

I am part of a sector working group reviewing UCEA sector guidance on management of safety for University’s.

One final change this year will be the retirement of Teresa Benjamin, the Occupational Health Nurse Adviser in July 2013 who has been part of the team for 12 years and would like to note her contribution to the University in Occupational Health.

3. Safety Development and Training

Main training/development highlights for 2012/13 have been:-

1. Post Agile line managers briefings2. IOSH managing safely3. Development of School Safety Officers and leads4. Development of a toolkit on influencing and leading safety across UH.

UH now have over 60 line managers trained to IOSH managing safely which is an accredited and nationally recognised safety qualification that provides a good basic knowledge and competence level.

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The team are always looking at new ways to approach traditional generic training. A recent example of this is a new training approach for manual handling activities. We have invested in an online course which provides the legal requirements and basic manual handling principles after which a local School specialist can provide more customised training/briefing on the particular needs of the SBU e.g. moving lab equipment, or moving computer equipment based on the manual handling aids they use in their areas. This will allow SBUs to reinforce good manual handling techniques in situ. This approach will be more effective and less time intensive than generic 3 hour sessions which may not fit the needs of the individual or team. It is also in keeping with current thinking on behavioural safety and effectiveness of manual handling training.

The intention is to use these trainers as a ‘pool’ of trainers to help out once or twice a year for generic (office manual handling) training sessions when required.

I consider this an effective way of training/development and we will look at how this principal can be used for other safety areas.

We have also developed a tool kit to support senior managers to lead and influence on safety within their area. The initial feedback from HSCC has been very positive. A short briefing will sit alongside this which will be aligned to IOSH directing safely. The intention going forward will be to look at accreditation of this session alongside other courses to the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

4. Enforcing Authority Update Table 1 below represents the number of visits from the enforcing authorities over 2012/13

Enforcing Authority Date Reason for visit/communication Current Status

Chemical Weapons Authority

Jan 2013 Submission Complete

Fire Service Visits 2012/13

1. General familiarisation and update on fire alarm response procedures for UH.

2. Familiarisation of areas impacted by College Lane phase 1

On-going visits and communications.

Fire Safety Unit 2012/13 Visits in relation to College Lane phase 1 and the Science building. On-going communications

Environment Agency Inspection

October 2012

Compliance with Environmental Permitting regulations –A thorough review of the management documents and local procedures took place.

Good Assurance from the EA on compliance to the permit conditions.Post Agile changes to documents needed.

Environment Agency Visit

October 2012 New Permit Application - Bio Park New permit received

May 2013

Anticipated for 2013/14

Environment Agency Visit

Summer 2013 New Permit Possibly 2013/14

5. Agile

Impacts of agile on the management of health and safety were related to the realignment of the safety structures that were originally in place at Faculty level and mapping them to each School. This has meant:

At organisational level revisiting our Policy and some of our documentation Developing statements on safety for job descriptions Bite size training sessions for line managers One to one meetings with each Dean to advise on roles and responsibilities Advise on expectations of local safety management arrangements Identification of School Safety contacts/leads Development of a skills and mentoring schedule for the School Safety contacts/leads Development of risk profiling for each School

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Reviewing processes which have mainly been manual and should now be brought in line with current technology, so that safety can be managed effectively e.g. accident reporting.

Looking at ways of providing information in a manner that Deans and Senior managers can monitor and measure their safety performance at a glance.

Table 3 below illustrates the current status for safety structures across the Schools and Estates

School

H&S Risk Register &ACTION PLAN

2012/13 focus on higher risk SBUs

H&S leadSome Schools

may have other staff.

H&SManagement

Structure

H&S Inspections Programme 2013

H&S incidents

REPORTING PROCESS

FIRST AIDERS

DSE Assessors

Estates Yes Agreed

Business School Generic Risks DiscussedIncorporated in to

Fire Risk Assessment

Life & Medical Sciences In progress Agreed

Health & Social In progress Agreed

Education Generic Risks AgreedIncorporated in to

Fire Risk Assessment

Law Generic Risks AgreedIncorporated in to

Fire Risk Assessment

Humanities Generic Risks AgreedIncorporated in to

Fire Risk Assessment

Engineering Awaiting date Agreed

Creative Arts Awaiting date Agreed x

Computer Science Generic Risks AgreedIncorporated in to

Fire Risk Assessment

PAM Awaiting date Agreed x

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6 University Health and Safety Consultation

The HSCC met three times over the course of the year, providing an opportunity for consultation on University-wide activities with staff representatives and recognised trade unions, and to review and discuss the work of the Occupational Health and Safety Office.

Consultation also takes place in individual academic schools and professional SBUs. This allows for more detailed discussion on particular health and safety risks associated with specific areas, but also enables discussion and follow-up of accidents related to these areas, so that more attention can be provided on local monitoring on safety. The University Radiation committee met in January and an update to all appropriate staff will be organised for the summer. Biological Safety Committee has now been incorporated into the LMS safety committee structure.

7 Audit Activities

a. Liquid Nitrogen usage across UH and reviewing safety practices

A full audit of liquid Nitrogen usage at UH was undertaken this year. The audit was based around the Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance on liquid nitrogen for life-science applications and other industry specific guidance. Findings throughout the audit have been remedied and over the next year a review will take place to ensure all controls are being maintained.

b. UH Company Safety assurance audit

A safety assurance audit was undertaken of seven of the UH Holdings companies. The audit examined standards of health and safety within these companies. Each audit was taken to the appropriate board and an overview report submitted to UH Holdings. Each company was provided with an action plan. They were required to agree a response and timings for resolution. See Appendix 1 for current status.

8 Safety Statistics

a. Training & Development

The graph (Fig 1) illustrates safety training data comparing 2012/13 to last year 2011/2012. A total of 847 attendees in 2012/13 of which 34 sessions were face to face safety training compared to 751 attendees of which 48 sessions were face to face in 2011/12. The courses that have been undertaken are split into categories (see Table 2). The specialist courses vary from year to year and are customised to the needs at the time by different Schools, which may be highlighted through inspections, SBU planning round, or guided by external drivers such as new sector guidance.

Fig. 1: Graphical representation of safety training data Comparing 2011/2012 with 2012/2013 data.

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Table 2: Illustrates the categories used to group safety courses run by the team.

Category Courses within the categories.Online Module The Health and Safety Online

Student Focused Student Induction Student Risk Assessment (GTR)

Induction Corporate Induction Senior Manager Induction

First Aid

First Aid Awareness Defibrillator 3 day First Aid at Work 2 day First Aid at Work Requalification

Fire Safety Fire Warden Fire Marshal Fire Safety for Managers

Ergonomic Manual Handling DSE Assessor

Specialist

Bespoke Safety Training for Schools COSHH Risk Assessment Emergency Plan General Risk Management NEBOSH Biosafety Awareness HSCC Workshop

HSCC Training for Members Management Conference Safety Awareness Safety Inspection IOSH Managing Safely Overseas PAT Gas Cylinder Safety Cryogenic Gas Safety

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b. Accidents and Incidents

In 2012 there were 5 accidents to staff members that were reportable to the HSE under the RIDDOR regulations.

Graphs below illustrate the total number of accidents to staff; total reportable accidents to staff and show a breakdown of the two highest categories of injuries that occurred to staff over the last 5 calendar years (see Fig 2).

Also illustrated below are the University of Hertfordshire’s staff statistics compared with UK Universities’ benchmark statistics from the University Safety and Health Association (USHA) over 5 years for reportable accidents (see Fig 3).

The sector statistics going forward will now be organised and submitted to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). The first submission will be for 2012/13 and subsequent years. The data will be submitted in the Estate Management HESA return in early 2014. There may be some overlap in reporting next year to the board.

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Graphs (Fig 4 and 5) below illustrate the total number of accidents to students, total reportable accidents to students, and show a breakdown of the accidents that occurred to students during their teaching and learning activities over the last 5 calendar years (see Fig. 4).

Also illustrated below are the University of Hertfordshire’s student statistics compared with UK Universities’ benchmark statistics over 5 years for reportable accidents (see Fig. 5).

Fig. 4

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Fig. 5

c. Fire Statistics

Fig 6 and 7 illustrate the fire statistics for 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 for Halls of Residence and other buildings for UH. They are compared with sector statistics. Definitions of the categories are in Appendix 2.

Malicious Activations There has been a drop in Malicious Activations within the Halls of Residence. We continue to work with other stakeholders to reduce these figures (Fig 6). Reduction to malicious activations has been seen through interventions such alarm boxes over the manual call points.

Near Miss Incidents The most common cause of near miss incidents are burnt food due to students wedging open kitchen doors and therefore allowing smoke to infiltrate from the kitchen into communal areas. This is a sector wide problem and there is a USHA fire working party looking at other control measures to tackle this. We are monitoring this closely with the Dean of Students office and Estates.

Fig. 6

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Fig. 7

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9 Occupational Health

Core OH services:

Figure 8 shows the core services for 2012 and gives a percentage comparison of the use of each service. Figure 9 looks at the use of the services over the past 3 years.

This data show variations in the various categories especially in the referrals and training where the numbers continue to increase.

Fig. 8

Paper Screening56%

Health In-terviews

12%

Health Surveil-lance2%

Referrals14%

Training9%

Assessment7%

Core services for 2012

Fig. 9

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Seasonal Flu vaccination programme

Free seasonal flu vaccination was offered to all staff for the fourth year running. A total of four sessions were held and 590 staff were successfully vaccinated. There is more than 20% uptake of this service which is comparable with the national trend.

Wellbeing

OH provided both opportunistic and planned wellbeing activities this included OH physiotherapy, office chair massage, and reflexology and laughter workshop (See Fig 10). Occupational Health have been involved in the UH wellbeing group and were part of the organising group for the wellbeing fair held in October 2012 (see photo below) this launched the UH Wellbeing framework and Wellbeing Wednesdays programme for the year.

Fig. 10

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OH Physiotherapy

Laughter works

hop

Office ch

air massa

ge

Reflexology

Blood Transfusio

n Service

249

50

259

55

271

Wellbeing Activities in OH

Activities

Appo

intm

ents

10 Forward Look for the Office

To formalise the safety risk profile and support Schools to develop their own safety risk profiles. To continue development of School safety management structures post Agile. Roll out new accident reporting process. Continue the development of tools, training and e-learning to enable Schools to manage safety more

independently Continue the development of competence of School safety contacts. To work closely with Estates on the 2020 Vision Hosting USHA conference 2014. For further info please see www.USHA.org.uk

May I take the opportunity to thank Philip Waters, Secretary and Registrar for chairing the HSCC for the last 5 years and also his leadership on safety at OVC level.

Monica Kanwar, BSc, MSc, PgD, MISTR, CMIOSH, MEPSDirector of Occupational Health and SafetyMay 2013

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Appendix 1: Company action plan

Companies Units within companiesAction Plan Response Received by Director

of H&S. Progress to be monitored by board.

Points for discussion with companies with Director of H&S RIDDOR reporting by

UH VenturesConference Hertfordshire (CH)

Fielder Centre and Club Dehavilland.

Yes

CH responsible for liaising with EHO on Food Safety.

UH Safety will support CH with HSE or Fire Safety visits.

UH SAFETY TEAM-Agreed

UH Pharmacy , Biodet, Not auditedThey would report through academic School.

UH SAFETY TEAM – Agreed - PART OF SCHOOL

Evalu8 N/ANot received

Evaluate must identify someone responsible for safety within the company.

Assumption to use UH Safety advice. TO AGREE ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR

SAFETY

Polyfield property Sport Village - operational sports village Yes- reporting direct to PP board on progress. Director of sports has been sent a generic

SLA to be discussed.

SPORTS VILLAGENeed a mechanism to have oversight of RIDDORs and

other accidents.

Innovation Centre – tenantYes- reporting direct to PP board on progress.

Documentation collation for each tenant – expected end of Nov 2012.

Clarification on tenants

Exemplas BioPark Yes- reporting direct to Exemplas board on progress Request update from board Exemplas- for their staff.Clarification for tenants

UNOYes – reporting direct to UNO board

UNO must identify someone who will act as a safety officer permanently.

Awaiting for appointment of Safety Officer. Currently by UH – when UNO provide information.

Monitoring by UH Holdings

Low- progress to be monitored by company board and assurance given to Director of Health and Safety

High – no action planBoard action needed

Medium – regular updates needed from company board on progress.

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Appendix 2 – Fire Statistics definitions

Definitions

There are 3 parts to the definition of a fire incident.

Major Fire Incident – an incident involving smoke, heat and flames causing property damage to multiple building fixtures or fittings.

Minor Fire Incident – an incident involving smoke, heat and flames causing only localised damage to equipment or property.

Near Miss Fire Incident – an incident involving only smoke, without flames, which may or may not cause damage.

Examples of near miss fire incidents:

Some cooking incidents, which are restricted to burnt food, pans boiling dry, etc. generating smoke but no flames and/or damage but prompts occupants to operate a call point or actuation of the fire alarm.

An overheating fluorescent tube capacitor causing sufficient smoke to prompt occupants to operate a call point, but with virtually no damage occurring beyond the capacitor.

Kitchen fires

These are fires which occur in either halls of residence/accommodation (self-catered and catered) and in academic buildings.

External fires

This is a fire (see definition of a fire above) which occurs outside of buildings but within the boundaries of the university or its property. When providing data on the total number of fires, external fires must be included. However do not include external fires in the total number of fire alarm activations, unless the fire alarm system in a building was activated as a direct result of that incident.

Malicious alarms

A deliberate improper actuation of a fire alarm system, e.g. hitting break glass

False activations

This is when a fire alarm system is activated by actuation of a detector, device or accidental manual call point resulting in the sounding of the fire alarm in a building which is not a fire incident. False activations include:

false alarm with good intent (where someone raises the alarm in the belief there is a fire in the building), equipment defects causing activations, e.g. faulty detector head environmental conditions, e.g. dust due to contractors or steam from showers

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