HR Committee – 19 June 2025
Corporate Health and Safety Quarter 1 Report
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Purpose |
For Review
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Classification |
Public |
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Executive Summary |
This Report highlights the significant work undertaken by the Corporate Health and Safety Team in quarter 4 2024 – 2025. This report also includes key feedback from the service safety panels and working groups, which are the Councils primary function for health and safety cooperation and consultation. The quarterly accident/incident report provides statistics from the financial year 2024 – 2025 and any key significant incidents which occurred in quarter 4. |
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Recommendation(s) |
· Acknowledge the findings from all Service Safety Panels and Working Groups
· Acknowledge the findings from the annual accident/incident report for 2024 – 2025 |
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Reasons for recommendation(s) |
Support the legal requirement of the Council as outlined within the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and associated legislation and guidance. |
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Ward(s) |
All |
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Portfolio Holder(s) |
Councillor Jill Cleary – Leader of the Council |
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Strategic Director(s) |
Alan Bethune – Strategic Director Corporate Resources & Transformation – Section 151 Officer |
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Officer Contact |
James Loring Corporate Health and Safety Manager 02380 285 332 |
1. This report highlights the significant work undertaken within the Corporate Health and Safety Team and throughout the Council from 1st January 2025 – 31st March 2025 (quarter 4).
Significant Work Undertaken by H&S team
2. James Loring (Corporate Health and Safety Manager) was asked to meet with James Carpenter (Strategic Director – Place, Operations and Sustainability) and Richard Knott (Strategic Director – Housing & Communities) to agree the priority actions within their service area. Priority action tables have now been created for both departments and will be discussed at the Housing Safety Panel and Operations Safety Panel. See appendix 1
3. George Gale (Corporate Health and Safety Advisor) undertook a H&S management audit with the Gas team in Housing Maintenance in Q4. The team scored 84.32%. 39 actions have been identified, only 1 is high priority.
4. Antony Whittle (Corporate Health and Safety Advisor) undertook a H&S management audit with the streetscene team in Q4. The team scored 80.38%. 18 actions have been identified, 5 are high priority.
5. The H&S team are now in the position to move the current Warning Marker Register onto SharePoint; this will allow operational staff with NFDC mobile devices to access the register. Training will be provided to all managers and supervisors who have staff who require access to the register. Managers and supervisors will then be responsible for providing training to their staff. The H&S team have also been working with ICT to develop a PowerApps application for the register. This will be rolled out following the training.
6. To improve work processes and statistical analysis of accidents/incidents, the H&S team have created a new accident/incident database on MS lists. This will allow the team to store employee, member of the public and contractor incidents in one place and make relevant changes to data sources as the council goes through change. The H&S team are now looking at integrating PowerBI to provide service managers with live dashboards for their services.
Service Safety Panels
7. Operational Service Safety Panel – The Operational Safety Panel was undertaken on 29th April 2025. All documentation including the minutes from the panel can be found here. The main concerns raised were:
· IT skills anxiety questionnaire – feedback was provided to the group following the completion of an IT skill anxiety questionnaire. This questionnaire was completed by all supervisors and admin staff within Operational Services. The results showed that supervisors and admin staff did feel comfortable using applications such as word, outlook and PowerPoint however were not comfortable using apps such as MS forms and MS lists. Employees also requested additional face to face training and smaller bite size bits of training focusing on different aspects of a system. The H&S team will lead on providing further training on H&S systems such as the Appello Lone Working system and Eco Online Chemical Manager. Chris Noble (Assistant Director – Place Operations) will discuss additional training with Transformation colleagues.
· Conflict Management Training– Place, Operations & Sustainability have seen a significant increase in verbal abuse incidents this financial year. A further increase in verbal abuse is expected as part of the waste roll out in 2025 – 2026. The H&S team and transformation will be delivering conflict management toolbox talks style training to all waste operatives. Members of the panel agree this training would be beneficial to all operational services. The H&S team and Transformation will look to deliver this training across the service in early 2025 – 2026.
· Snags at Hardley – H&S reps at the panel raised a number of snagging issues with Hardley Depot. This includes, renewing pedestrian crossing markings not being visible due to the yellow paint being hard to see against the concrete, installing a screen around the wash down area to prevent debris being sprayed into the walkway and material storage compound and installing hand sanitiser and sun cream station within communal areas. All snags have been raised with facilities and are being looked into.
· Training Records Storage and Retention– Streetscene supervisors reported that they are required to store employee training records in 3 places as employee training data is deleted once they leave the organisation. Additionally, supervisors within Streetscene cannot view each other’s employees training records which make it difficult to ensure staff are suitably trained to undertake certain work.
Following the panel the H&S team followed up with HR who advised that managers can view training data by reviewing the service dashboard view. A demo of how to access this area has been provided to Tony Wade (Streetscene Supervisor), HR will follow up with other supervisors within the service. HR also advised that the ops teams need to save their training records to a shared folder the HR team can access, the HR team will then move into the relevant folder based on the retention record requirements. HR team have advised Sam Marrache (Admin Supervisor) and Vanessa Constant (Admin Supervisor).
8. Housing Service Safety Panel – The Housing Safety Panel was undertaken on 9th April 2025. All documentation including the minutes from the panel can be found here. The main concerns raised were:
· Stress and Mental Health support: Colleagues from within the homelessness team raised that they would like to receive additional mental health support as part of their role, this would take the form of “supervision”. Supervision refers to the practice of individuals involved in mental health support receiving guidance and support from more experienced mental health practitioners, this is a common practice for mental health roles within the NHS. Prior to the panel, employee H&S reps asked for employees within their service to provide additional feedback about how they feel mental health and wellbeing is managed in their service and what they would like to see going forward. Responses were correlated and shared with the safety panel. The majority of employees were aware of the EAP line however were unaware of the specific policies within the council. Further information will be communicated via a H&S bulletin, the H&S team will also undertake a corporate workplace stress and wellbeing risk assessment for the council, this assessment will be based on the HSE’s stress management standards.
· E-Learning Training Data: Jane Follett (Housing Performance and Training Officer) stated that the training data provided by the LMS to the H&S team was not correct. Following this feedback the H&S team raised with Saskia Andrews (LMS Administrator). Saskia advised that she has fed back to Jane to check any completion records where users have issued policy declarations (user error). Saskia has also been working with ICT to build a new data set showing as training complete rather than as a percentage. The H&S team will use this data set to create a new LMS report in time for the next Service Safety Panels. The H&S team will also ensure to include Saskia on the next set of Safety Panels.
9. Office Service Safety Panel – The Office Safety Panel was undertaken on 22nd April 2025. All documentation including the minutes from the panel can be found here. The main concerns raised were:
· Lighting in the benefits area (south wing ground floor) – It was reported that suitable blinds have not been provided on one side of the south wing ground floor, this has resulted in staff going home on sunny days due to glare. It was agreed that the blinds will be provided.
· Incident/Accident forms feedback – Employees have requested additional feedback when they have submitted an accident/incident form. This is currently down to the relevant supervisor/manager to provide feedback to their staff. The H&S team have spoken with the data protection team to see if the incident form could be shared with the injured person. Data protection confirmed that employees would need to submit a subject access request form for this information. The H&S team are looking into ways for action taken to be automated and provide an update to the injured person.
· Manual Handling Concerns - post room employees have reported concerns with large deliveries being ordered and not communicated to them. This has resulted in 2 manual handling incidents. The H&S team are working with the post room to develop a delivery booking system, reviewing risk assessments and providing additional manual handling training to post room employees. All services have been reminded to notify the post room of any delivery within a reasonable timeframe, they must also provide additional information on the size of an order, potential weight, size etc.
Additional concerns were raised by UNISON member Bertie Russell over the change in mandatory manual handling e-learning. Managers at the panel were also unaware of the changes to mandatory training, including the requirement for managers to identify the need for manual handling e-learning training within their team. This has now been raised with HR in relation to sending additional communications about changes to mandatory e-learning training.
Working Groups
10. Control of Contractors Working Group – The Control of Contractors Working Group was undertaken on 2nd May 2025. All documents including the minutes can be found here. The following topics were discussed:
· CDM SOPs – relevant members of the working group provided an overview of their draft Control of contractors Standard Operating Procedures. The procedures for Corporate Resources & Transformation were agreed, some minor tweaks are required. Once these changes are made the procedures will be communicated and training provided to the relevant employees. The procedures for Housing & Communities has been finished however the service is currently looking into using a free application called “cibt CDM Wizard”, the app is currently with IT to undertake a security assessment. Once the assessment has been agreed the SOPs will be updated to include the use of this app. The procedures for Place, Operations & Sustainability has been drafted, further discussion will be held with Planning colleagues to ensure they are suitable and sufficient for their service area. A deadline of 31st May was agreed.
· Work Authorisation form– the H&S team have been working with colleagues in ICT to create a new online work authorisation form for employees to complete for certain works being undertaken by contractors. This form will provide greater assurances for service managers to ensure suitable and sufficient control measures are in place prior to works being undertaken.
11. Asbestos Working Group – The Asbestos Working Group was undertaken on 28th April 2025. All documents including the minutes can be found here. The following topics were discussed:
· KPI’s 2024/2025 – the KPI’s for 2024/2025 were reviewed. 7 out of 9 KPI’s were achieved. The KPI report for Q4 2024/2025 is held on the Asbestos Working Group SharePoint site.
· KPI’s 2025/2026 – new KPI’s for 2025/2026 were agreed. The new KPI report will be published and held on the Asbestos Working Group SharePoint site.
· Cameras facing the skips at MLD– following 2 near miss reports of potential asbestos containing materials not being placed within the asbestos skips at MLD, a request has been made to put up new cameras facing the skip area in the yard. The current cameras are managed by Kestrel not the CCTV control room. Upgrade works are scheduled which will move the control of the current cameras into the control room. A request for an additional camera facing the skips has been made to Brian Byrne (Service Manager – Community Safety and Support).
· White goods being left by skips– reports of white goods being left by the skips at MLD. Workshops have been unable to confirm which service has been leaving these items. As MLD is not a waste transfer station, fridges cannot be taken to MLD and placed within the skips. Additional communications will be sent to all operational staff for awareness.
12. Housing Operational Working Group – The last Housing Operational Working Group was held on 5th March 2025. The group discussed workplace clothing and PPE, Contego (the corporate PPE supplier) also attended the meeting. A new standard of clothing and workwear was agreed at the meeting. Samples have been sent to Marsh Lane Depot for staff to try on and test.
Accident/Incident Annual Report 2024 – 2025
13. Appendix 2 contains the annual accident/incident report for 2024 – 2025. Key headlines from the report include:
· A total of 327 reports were received in 2024 – 2025. This is an increase of 12 compared to the previous year.
· A total of 11 RIDDOR reportable incidents were reported to the HSE in 2024 – 2025, this is a decrease of 1 compared to the previous year. 60% decrease in the number of RIDDOR reportable incidents within Place, Operations & Sustainability.
· The council’s significant incident rate (number of employees who would suffer a RIDDOR reportable incident per 1,000 employees) is 10.87 for 2024 - 2025.
· A total of 420 days were lost due to incidents/accidents this financial year, this is a slight decrease from the previous year (449).
· Housing & Communities reported 240 days lost this financial year, 179 were reported by Place, Operations & Sustainability. Only 1 day lost was reported by Corporate Resources and Transformation. This is a 51% decrease in the number of lost days within the Place, Operations & Sustainability service this financial year.
· Verbal abuse was the top reported employee incident (51). Carrying/lifting/handling was 2nd with 27, slip, trips and falls were 3rd with 24 reports. The H&S team expects there to be a significant reduction in carrying/lifting and handling incidents with the introduction of bins within the waste service.
· Superficial injuries and sprains and strains were the top reported employee injuries.
· We have seen a reduction quarter by quarter in member of the public reports.
· We have seen a sharp increase in the number of reports in Q4 from teams within Place, Operations & Sustainability. This is partly due to increase reporting of verbal abusive reports from car parking enforcement and slip, trip and falls injuries during the winter period.
· Walking and loading were the top reported activity within Place, Operations and Sustainability. The H&S team expect to see a reduction in reports due to the introduction of bins within the waste service in 2025 – 2026.
· Housing & Communities has seen a reduction in reported incidents quarter by quarter in 2024 – 2025. However, we have seen an increase in the number of RIDDOR reportable incidents.
Vehicle Incidents
14. Vehicle incident stats are reported by Simon Cooper (Transport and Depot manager). Q4 stats have not been provided in time to include within this report.
Q4 2024 - 2025 RIDDOR Reportable Incidents
15. 3854 – Housing Maintenance (Cut) – while working on a Perko door closer the operative removed their gloves due to the work being awkward and the screws being small. While removing the spring the cylinder sprang from the frame and impacted their fingers splitting the skin. This injury required 4 stitches and 10 days lost due to the incident. Employee was reminded that he must wear the protective gloves provided for the work.
Other Significant Incidents Q4 2024 – 2025
16. 3827 – Waste & Recycling (Crushing) – While carrying out defect checks on a lorry at Claymeadow Depot (CMD), the injured person pressed the wrong button resulting in the bin lift being placed on automatic lift. When the injured person went to move himself away from the rear of the vehicle, the bin lift activated resulting in a crushing injury. Medical assistance was provided to the employee onsite who was then taken to hospital by Mike Aldin (Workshop Supervisor). A full accident investigation has been undertaken by the H&S team. The employee should not have been undertaking the bin lift defect checks at that location due to the lack of space at the rear of the vehicle. Defect checks must only be carried out where there is a 1.5M safe zone behind the vehicle. This incident did not result in any days lost. As a result of the accident investigation, the following actions have been identified:
· Immediate instruction to all waste drivers and operatives that a safe working area of at least 1.5M, must be maintained when defect checking and operating a bin lift. To be carried out by toolbox talks (this has been actioned).
· Checks to be carried out on all refuse vehicles to ensure that the guarding around the ‘automatic’ mode buttons are sufficient to prevent accidental activation.
· Toolbox talks to be carried out with all Supervisors, Drivers and Operatives regarding the importance of following safe working procedures at all times.
· Specific risk assessment for defect checking of refuse vehicles to be completed to include all known hazards present.
· Update safe working procedures for defect checking the refuse vehicles and bin lift mechanisms.
Health and Safety Training
17. Antony Whittle (Corporate Health and Safety Advisor) has provided face to face training for drug & alcohol awareness, office safety and driving awareness due to the on-going issues with accessing e-learning training for operatives. Antony had very positive feedback from the session and has been asked to do some additional sessions with Waste & Recycling.
Legal Updates
18. The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 3rd April 2025. The act seeks to strengthen the security of public events and venues.
19. The legislation establishes a tiered approach linked to the different uses of premises and the number of individuals it is reasonable to expect may be present at the same time at the particular premises or event. Premises that satisfy the following four criteria will be within scope of the Act:
· There is at least one building (or the premises are in a building).
· The premises are wholly or mainly used for one or more of the uses specific at Schedule 1 to the Act.
· It is reasonable to expect that at least 200 individuals (including employees) may be present at least occasionally.
· The premises are not excluded under Schedule 2 of the Act.
20. The responsible person for standard duty premises will be required to:
· Notify the Security Industry Authority (SIA) of their premises
· Have in place, so far as reasonably practicable, appropriate public protection procedures.
21. “public protection procedures” are those which should be followed by people working at the premises if an act of terrorism were to occur at the premises, or in the immediate vicinity. These relate to things like evacuation, invacuation (moving people to a safe place), locking down the premises, and communication. There is no requirement for physical measures to be put in place.
22. Guidance to support business comply with the requirements of the Act will be provided by the government shortly.
23. There will be a 24-month period to implement the legislation.
24. As identified within the requirements outlined above, ATC will potentially be within scope of a Standard Duty Premises.
Corporate plan priorities
25. All recommendations fall under the corporate values (LEAF), specifically within the Learning and Ambition categories.
Options appraisal
26. All recommendations have been made to ensure the Council complies with its legal duties as set out in the relevant legislation.
Consultation undertaken
27. Not identified as part of this report.
Financial and resource implications
28. Not identified as part of this report.
Legal implications
29. None Identified
Risk assessment
30. A formal risk assessment is not required at this level. All significant risks are identified as part of this report.
Environmental / Climate and nature implications
31. None identified.
Equalities implications
32. None identified.
Crime and disorder implications
33. None identified.
Data protection / Information governance / ICT implications
34. The data protection impact assessment (DPIA) for the use of the Warning Marker Register on SharePoint and the use of the PowerApps application has been updated with consultation from ICT and Data Protection.
EMT Comments
35. EMT encouraged the H&S team to work closely with colleagues within HR and transformation to ensure consistent messaging and action planning is taken in areas which cross services, such as stress and wellbeing.
36. James Carpenter agreed to chase the outstanding vehicle stats and ensure they are reported in time next quarter.
37. EMT agreed to wait for further guidance from the government before assigning a lead service for the implementation of the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025. Richard Knott will consult with Jo McClay (Environmental and Regulation Service Manager) on the potential impact on events in the district.
ESLP Comments
38. No comments
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Appendices
List appendices here:-
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Background Papers:
None identified |
Appendix 1 – Priority Workplans 2025
Appendix 2 – Corporate Accident/Incident
Annual Report 2024 – 2025