ms-sc-02!11!10 h&s final audit report

INTERNAL AUDIT

FINAL REPORT

Health and Safety

October 2010

Broxbourne Borough Council Health and Safety

July 2010 Page 1

CONTENTS

Section PAGE 1 Introduction 2 2 Background 2 3 Executive Summary 3

4 Conclusion 4 5 Corporate Response 5 4 Acknowledgment 5 5 Management Action Plan 6


July 2010 Page 2

1. Introduction 1.1 As part of the agreed 2009/10 Internal Audit Plan we have reviewed the controls in

place with regard to the Health and Safety system. 1.2 The reporting aspect of this document is broken down into the following sections:

• Executive Summary: This summarises the fundamental issues arising from this review;

• Management Action Plan: this details the audit observations and

recommendations that address the management issues identified by the review.

1.3 For the scope, objectives and methodology please refer to the Terms of Reference

previously issued.

1.4 It is intended that the report will be presented to the Scrutiny Committee in November 2010. The implementation of the recommendations will be monitored with a follow up review in six months time.

1.5 Agreed recommendations that remain outstanding at the time of the follow up will continue to be tracked through a separate report to Scrutiny Committee.

2. Background 2.1 Health and safety is an essential element of the corporate governance of an

organisation. Accidents at work could result in loss of employees, services, reputation and corporate prosecution. In general poor health and safety management could lead to operational problems.

2.2 Examples of services operated by the Council include Broxbourne Services depot

which provides refuse and recycling services as well as income earning activities including grave digging, site clearance and property maintenance. Building Control, Planning and Environmental health officers work off site on construction/dangerous sites. Administration officers may have to deal with aggrieved customers. Council buildings, offices and equipment require maintenance and inspection. The Broxbourne Leisure Management SO (BLMSO) provides the leisure services to borough residents/customers. The majority of daily activities undertaken by the Council, its employees and its dealing with members of the public have health and safety implications.

2.3 A health and safety audit of Broxbourne Services was undertaken in 2004 and

followed up in 2005. Reports no’s 01.04/05 and 13.05/06 refer.


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2.4 The scope of the audit was extended to cover health and safety in respect of field officers, especially civil enforcement officers, covering preventative actions and post event follow ups with special regard to threatening and violent behaviour by the public.

3. Executive Summary 3.1 Health and safety Law states that organisations must:

• provide a written health and safety policy (if they employ five or more people); • assess risks to employees, customers, partners and any other people who could

be affected by their activities; • arrange for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of

preventive and protective measures; • ensure they have access to competent health and safety advice; • consult employees about their risks at work and current preventive and protective

measures. (Health and Safety Executive/Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.) This report also refers to other relevant legislation such as the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Examples of additional health and safety legislation that may apply to the Council are; Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992, Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002. Management will be aware of the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

3.2 The remit of the audit was to test the controls in place to ensure that Broxbourne Council is meeting its legal obligations and adhering to best practice guidelines. Recommendations made from audit findings are listed in the management action plan at Appendix A. Fundamental recommendations are made where it is considered that there may be legal implications.

3.3 A presentation on Corporate Responsibility for Health and Safety was recently given to BMT members and officers with responsibility for health and safety. Potential areas for further consideration were highlighted. These should be considered in conjunction with this report.

3.4 It is recognised that the Council undertakes a diverse range of activities. Specific

health and safety policies relating to individual departmental activities have been adopted. These include policies relating to Broxbourne Services, Community Care and BLMSO. These policies are in addition to the corporate Safety Policy, contained within Working for Broxbourne, to which all employees must adhere as part of their conditions of employment.

3.5 There does not appear to be one person who has responsibility for co-ordinating

health and safety across the whole council. The Council employs a Facilities Manager based at the borough offices. Part of the job description for the Facilities Manager is


July 2010 Page 4

‘…to co-ordinate corporate health and Safety management and train staff in safety issues’. This is in respect of the Borough offices and not for the entire council. The Council also employs a Health, Safety and Quality Manager within the Department of Community Services. One of their health and safety duties listed is to ‘support the implementation of the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 ensuring compliance and assist the Facilities Manager on council-wide health and Safety issues.’ The Street Cleansing Manager based at Broxbourne Services has included within his job description ‘taking a lead role in Health and Safety for the SO.’

3.6 The Environmental Health section within the Environmental Services Department is

responsible for enforcement of health and safety of certain premises within the Borough of Broxbourne. They run external health and safety courses. They cannot serve notice on Council premises. They do not have an official role in enforcement of corporate health and safety due to the conflict of interest, however, they can and do provide health and safety advice. This was noted in respect of advice given to the Community Services Department.

3.7 Because health and safety affects all employees within the Council an audit

questionnaire was devised and was sent out to approximately 50 members of staff, cutting across all sections and departments. Responses were received from 24 employees and their answers collated. Anonymous responses were accepted. A copy of the questionnaire is attached at Appendix B.

The responses provided were used to obtain relevant documents and policies and for three of the specific test results. It is acknowledged that employees may be uninformed about the current policies and procedures in existence on health and safety; however the responses obtained provide evidence that policy is not being effectively communicated.

4. Conclusion 4.1 There is a wealth of expertise and knowledge of health and safety across the Council.

However, due to the number of policy documents in existence and the lack of formal co-ordination between departments, there is a risk that health and safety is not being communicated to all employees effectively.

4.2 An IT database to log incidents, accidents and near misses has been in development for several years. Without such a corporate database it is difficult to monitor data and report corporately on trends, which could be used to help mitigate risks.

4.3 There are notable weaknesses in respect of DSE workstation assessments. There does not appear to be any formal procedure in place within the borough offices to ensure new members of staff are given assessments or who should give them.

4.4 Risk assessments with health and safety implications are not co-ordinated corporately or held in a central location on the IT network where they can be accessed by all staff. Without corporate co-ordination there is a risk that duplicate risk assessments may be in place, or that risk assessments have not been undertaken as required by law.


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4.5 The corporate safety policy refers to the ‘Safety Committee’. The Council does not have a Safety Committee at member level. The Council does have a Facilities Working Party, which is attended by officers. It does not have authority to make policy decisions, is not attended at director level, does not issue minutes to directors and is not attended by representatives from all departments. Its emphasis is on borough office activity. Health and safety is not a standing item on the BMT agenda.

4.6 The overall audit opinion is that limited assurance can be given concerning the effectiveness of management’s controls in meeting the objectives of the system. Our opinion is based on the evaluation of controls and testing of their effectiveness.

5. Corporate Response 5.1 A meeting was held on 6 July 2010 with the Borough Management Team and

nominated representatives. Following the meeting the audit recommendations and the contents of the audit report were taken forward to discussions with Hertsmere Council in order to establish a joint health and safety Co-ordinator post. The post is currently being advertised. It will be the responsibility of the new post holder to ensure that the recommendations within this report are implemented.

5. Acknowledgement 5.1 We would like to thank all of the staff involved for their help and co-operation during

the course of this audit.

July 2010 Page 6

Management Action Plan

Fundamental recommendations relate to essential control requirements, which should be implemented as soon as possible. Significant recommendations relate to be important control requirements that should be implemented within 3 months. Merits Attention recommendations are considered to be best practice and should be implemented within 6 months.

Ref Observation Risk Category Recommendation Managers

Comments Implementation Date

1 Working for Broxbourne (WFB) contains a safety policy, a violence at work policy, a passenger and driver safety Policy and a Lone worker policy. BLMSO, Broxbourne Community Care and Broxbourne Services have their own health and safety Policies.

Duplication of policy. Lack of adherence to policy.

Significant It is recommended that one corporate Health and Safety Policy is introduced that covers all Council departments and their employees. Separate appendices could be used to provide the level of detail required for BLMSO, Community Care, etc. H&S Co-ordinator

This will be a priority objective for the H & Safety Co-ordinator.

February 2011

2 In respect of the policies contained within WFB dates of updates are not currently kept. The other departmental health and safety policies have all been reviewed at various times during the past year.

Out of date/inaccurate corporate policy

Significant Merits Attention

All policies relating to Health and Safety within WFB, should be reviewed annually. H&S Co-ordinator The HoP&P should ensure that Working for Broxbourne contains the date of the current Health and safety appendices updates and dates of revisions should be maintained by the Head of Personnel and Payroll (HoP&P) in case of the

Agreed once policy adopted. Agreed, once policy adopted.

Once policy adopted On adoption of policy.

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Ref Observation Risk Category Recommendation Managers Comments

Implementation Date

requirement to refer to previous revisions. (R. Pennell, HoP&P)

3 From discussion with The Facilities Manager, The Health Safety and Quality Manager and the Assistant Director of Community Services, it was unclear which council employee has overall responsibility for updating and revising the Safety Policy within Working for Broxbourne, to ensure it expresses best practice and achieves compliance with legal standards.

Failure to comply with legal requirements, failure to follow best practice guidelines. Lack of co-ordination of health and Safety

Significant Significant

It is recommended that one ‘competent’ officer is given responsibility to undertake an annual review and update the corporate health and safety policy as changes in legislation and/or best practice dictate. H&S Co-ordinator It is recommended that one or more employees are given the specific responsibility for communicating Health and safety matters across all Council sites/premises. (The post should have an appropriate level of seniority to ensure that issues will be addressed.) H&S Co-ordinator

This will form part of the role of the H&S Co- ordinator. This will form part of the role of the H&S Co-ordinator.

On take up of post. December 2010

4 From the 24 health and safety audit questionnaires completed and returned by Council employees, 2 (8%) did not know where to obtain expert Health and Safety advice or did not supply an appropriate response. The other answers given ranged

There is a risk that employees of the Council will not know where to obtain expert health and safety advice from.

Merits Attention

It is recommended that the updated corporate safety policy contains relevant officers’ names/links to where expert advice should be obtained. H&S Co-ordinator

It will be the responsibility of the Health and Safety Co-ordinator to ensure the corporate policy contains contact details.

February 2011

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Implementation Date

from officers within the Council, the Env. Health Section, the HSE, government websites and health and safety manuals. The corporate Safety policy lists each director as responsible for their own department, but does not specify where expert advice can be obtained.

5 16% of employees who returned the audit health and safety questionnaire did not appear to be aware of their own legal responsibilities in respect of health and safety, which are; 1. Follow the training you have received when using any work items your employer has given you. 2. Take reasonable care of your own and other people’s health and safety. 3. Co-operate with your employer on health and safety. 4. Tell someone (your employer, supervisor, or health and safety representative) if you think the work or inadequate precautions are putting anyone’s health and safety at serious risk. The WFB safety policy and the corporate health

Accidents occur or are not reported due to ignorance.

Merits attention

It is recommended that the Council’s newsletter and IT systems (e.g. when logging on to the network) are utilised in reminding employees about basic health and safety responsibilities. H&S Co-ordinator

There is scope for utilising a variety of council systems such as the intranet, risk management newsletter and staff appraisals to enforce basis health and safety principles.

On completion of the corporate health and safety policy.

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and safety training does refer to employee responsibilities.

6 There are no specific local or national performance indicators relating to health and safety that are reported to the Scrutiny Committee. There is a corporate indicator C8 on 'the proportion of working days lost to sickness absence'. It is unclear if any analysis is undertaken on the days reported that are directly related to health and safety issues. Accident and Incident data is reported to the Facilities Working Party (FWP) from an excel spreadsheet maintained by the Treasury, Risk and Insurance Manager. Broxbourne Services data is recorded separately and reported to Broxbourne Services as they do not attend the FWP. BLMSO record accidents and incidents through their PMS system. This does not produce reports. An IT database to record accidents and incidents has been in development for several years.

Accident and Incident statistics are not reported to senior management and/ or members.

Merits Attention Significant

It is recommended that analysis of corporate performance indicator C8 is undertaken to calculate the number of days sick that relate to health and safety (Accidents and Incidents.) (R. Pennell, HoP&P in conjunction with R. Webb, Head of IT) It is recommended that one corporate database to record all the Council's accidents, incidents and near misses is introduced at the earliest opportunity. (R. Webb, Head of IT)/J. Brook, ICT Consultant

Agreed. Agreed.

October 2010 March 2011

7 From review of the 24 audit questionnaires returned and

Duplication of work, failure to

Significant It is recommended that the Facilities Working Party (or

The Health and Safety Co-

October 2010

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Implementation Date

from discussion with officers it was confirmed that specialist H&S advice is obtained from various internal and external sources. However, it was unclear how specialist advice was co-ordinated and relayed to other relevant departments/sections. It was noted that a health and safety guide for contractors previously used by Construction Services and Community Services had been introduced through the Council's procurement group and was due to be issued to all contractors. BLMSO have independent Health and Safety audits conducted at their sites. An officer within Construction Services is a CDM Co-ordinator (construction design and Maintenance regulations). Community Services employ an external consultant for any large projects where CDM regulations apply. Environmental Health are

obtain the correct specialist advice resulting in accidents/ incidents.

a stand alone Health and Safety Committee) co-ordinate specialist health and safety advice. Advice should be fed through the minutes to inform relevant officers/departments. The council's named competent Health and Safety Officer(s) should lead on co-ordinating specialist advice. H&S Co-ordinator

ordinator will have responsibility for co-ordinating specialist advice. and. ensuring effective communication across the Council

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Implementation Date

responsible for specialist advice to residents and commercial premises within the borough, however, they are not the Council's Health and Safety advisors.

8 From discussion and questionnaire responses it was confirmed that there is no corporate Health and Safety group which issues minutes to all members of staff. The Facilities Working group discusses health and safety issues and issues minutes to attendees. BLMSO and Broxbourne Services hold bi-monthly health and Safety meetings. The staff forum does not have health and safety issues as a standing item on its agenda. 36% of audit questionnaire responses stated they had no involvement with health and safety meetings and/or access to minutes from Health and Safety meetings. A further 8% of respondents only discussed regulatory

Employees are not kept informed of health and safety issues.

Merits Attention Significant

The staff forum should have health and safety as a standing item on its agenda to inform employees of any Health and Safety matters. (R. Pennell, HoP&P) The Facilities working party or other health and safety committee minutes should be made available to all employees. (S. Billington, HoSS)

Agreed in principle, dependent on any new systems of communication that may be introduced. Agreed. Through the Council’s intranet.

Once the H&S Co-ordinator is in post. FWP after July 2010

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health and safety issues. 9 The Facilities Manager's and

the Community Services Health, Safety and Quality Manager job descriptions have health and safety listed within their duties. The Facilities Manager role is to co-ordinate corporate health and safety management and train staff in safety procedures. It is intended that the role covers the borough offices only. The Health, Safety and Quality Manager is responsible for 'implementing the H&S at Work Act 1974 and the management of Health and Safety at work regulations 1992 (1999) ensuring compliance and assist the Facilities Manager on council wide health and safety issues.'

Lack of co-ordination/communication leading to increased health and safety incidents.

Significant Merits Attention

The Facilities Manager, Health, Safety and Quality Manager and other officers with specific H&S responsibility should be listed as Health and Safety Co-ordinators within the corporate safety policy. They should have regular documented meetings with each other to ensure knowledge is shared. H&S Co-ordinator Broxbourne Services, Community Care, Resources, Chief Executive’s and Environmental Services departments should formally nominate an officer to act as a health and Safety representative for their department/sections, to ensure that knowledge can be passed from The Facilities Manager and Health, Safety and Quality Manager. H&S Co-ordinator

It will be part of the new role to ensure knowledge is shared/communicated The H&S co –ordinator will determine appropriate methods of communication and knowledge sharing

Once the H&S Co-ordinator is in post. Once the H&S Co-ordinator is in post.

10 The TIRM sent a report to the Finance and Personnel Committee in March 2009 on

Lack of relevant management information.

Merits Attention

Health and Safety legislative/best practice updates and or any health

Agreed.

As and when required.

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Implementation Date

Personal accident data arising in the course of business of the borough council and on the Authority's premises. This report is due to be presented once every 3 years, for information only. BLMSO sent a report on health and safety to the SO board on 17/11/09. Perusal of other SO board reports did not reveal any health and safety reports from Broxbourne Services or Health and Safety as a standing item.

and safety issues should be reported to BMT as required. H&S Co-ordinator Updates to health and safety policy and health and safety data such as risk assessments and accident data should be reported to Committee level at least on an annual basis. H&S Co-ordinator

Agreed that there should be an annual report on Health and Safety. Agreed that performance targets in respect of Health and Safety should be set, monitored and reported on.

When updated policy is adopted.

11 In respect of Health and Safety training, an internal mandatory health and safety awareness course is run by the Facilities Manager for new members of staff. The course is for all council employees. At the present time members do not receive formal training on Health and Safety. The Health, Safety and Quality Manager is responsible for running a risk assessment training session. If managers within

Lack of Legislative knowledge.

Merits Attention Merits

Consideration should be given to providing health and safety training to Councillors, appropriate to their role. H&S Co-ordinator Consideration should be given to identifying relevant

The H&S Co-ordinator will identify training requirements. Agreed and ongoing.

Once the H&S Co-ordinator is in post. December 2010

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departments wish for employees to attend specialist H&S training courses, they must request external funding. A perusal of the short external courses folders for 2007, 2008 and 2009/10 identified that officers from DES, BCS, Community Care and Env. Health had attended external first aid and health and safety related courses. It was confirmed by discussion with the Health, Safety and Quality Manager that BLMSO employees may attend external training courses and Personnel not be made aware.

Attention Merits Attention

external health and safety training requirements at induction stage and ensuring that all employees attend relevant health and safety courses. This should be co-ordinated centrally by Personnel. (R. Pennell, HoP&P) BLMSO should inform Personnel of any H&S courses that their officers attend, even if not paid for from the corporate training budget. (I. Orton, DoCC)

Agreed.

Immediate

12 From discussion with Personnel Officers it was confirmed that a list of attendees on the mandatory Health and Safety course are maintained along with a waiting list. It was unclear if employees that had worked for the Council for a number of years had been identified as requiring Health and Safety training. Prior to the corporate Health and Safety course, a manual handling course was run.

Lack of health and safety training.

Significant It is recommended that all council employees’ training records are reviewed to ensure that they have all attended the mandatory health and safety course. (R. Pennell, HoP&P)

Agreed. December 2010

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Implementation Date

13 Refresher training on the

mandatory health and safety course is not currently provided. The Council’s nominated first aid officers do not currently receive first aid refresher training. H&S guidelines ‘strongly recommend that first aiders undertake annual refresher training’.

Lack of knowledge resulting in increased health and safety risks. Lack of up to date first aid knowledge.

Merits Attention Merits Attention

Consideration should be given to providing corporate health and safety awareness refresher training for all Council employees, with links to the Corporate Health and Safety Policy. (R. Pennell, HoP&P) Consideration should be given to providing annual refresher training to the Council’s nominated first aiders. (A BLMSO employee is qualified to provide training.) (R. Pennell, HoP&P)

The H&S Co-ordinator will recommend whether annual refresher training is required for all Council employees and nominated first aiders. To be discussed with the H&S Co –ordinator

November 2010 When in post.

14 The Council has a duty to undertake inspections of its properties. A Buildings Health and Safety Compliance, term partnering agreement contract is due to commence in April 2010 for 5 years. This covers all non-BLMSO leisure properties. Discussion with the Senior Building Surveyor confirmed that communal areas of Property Services properties are not included and 2 public toilets that are historically the responsibility of

Lack of co-ordination, Lack of knowledge sharing, failure to comply with best practice or legislation

Merits Attention

An exercise to ensure that all council premises have the required health and safety inspections and tests conducted should be carried out. (This could be undertaken by Broxbourne Construction Services in the first instance and then monitored by the FWP.) H&S Co-ordinator A corporate log of all tests and inspections that are a legal requirement should be

The H&S Co-ordinator to direct The H&S Co-ordinator will have

When in post When in post.

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Implementation Date

Environmental contracts. Client monitoring is undertaken by Community Services staff at BLMSO sites and includes Health and Safety issues/inspections. It was confirmed by discussion that the Health Safety and Quality manager undertakes inspections of BLMSO sites and recently undertook a fire risk assessment at one of the hostels. As landlord Broxbourne Borough Council has responsibility to conduct inspections under HMO regulations (houses in multiple occupation). These include fire risk assessments, legionalla assessments, CoSHH etc. Environmental services provide advice and assistance. It was confirmed by discussion that H&S yard inspections are conducted by managers at Broxbourne Services following H&S meetings. These are due to be recorded on health and safety meeting minutes.

Merits Attention

maintained centrally to ensure health and safety requirements are being met. The competent named health and safety officers should be responsible for ensuring it is kept up to date. (The Estateman system could be used.) H&S Co-ordinator

responsibility for monitoring inspections and test and maintaining a central log.

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These are in addition to the managers normal daily routine of walking the yard. It was confirmed by discussion that the Facilities Manager is responsible for the fire log book for the Borough offices. Emergency light testing, fire drills and fixed wire inspection testing are undertaken at the borough offices. A recent insurance risk survey was undertaken with a positive response. Each council site should have a Fire log book on their premises to record testing and servicing. A table of fire safety checks is reported to the FWP. It is held on the R:\ drive and should be updated by individual sections. With the exception of the borough offices the table had not been updated. It does not contain details of Central Control or hostels.

15 Accident reports were noted from Broxbourne Services and other council departments. They are held by the TIRM. It is understood that standard

Lack of shared knowledge, lack of information.

Significant.

Standard accident and incident procedures and forms should be introduced council wide. (Forms should be sequentially numbered to ensure they

Agreed. This will form part of the Health and Safety system.

On take up of the H&S Co-ordinator post.

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Implementation Date

accident forms are not in use across the Council. The borough office accident forms do not provide space for details of how to prevent an accident of the same nature re-occurring. In addition there appeared to be gaps in the numbering of the forms. There is no formal corporate process to follow to report if employees end up taking time off work due to their injuries. During the course of the audit an accident was observed. The first aider involved had not received training to inform her that an accident form required completion or where to find it. A follow up by audit confirmed that the department was responsible for investigating, however, there did not appear to be any formal guidelines to follow to ensure relevant outcomes were reported. In respect of BLMSO accidents and incidents are recorded on their PMS system. It is currently difficult to produce relevant reports.

Insurance claims, financial penalties, damage to reputation.

Significant

are not mislaid.) H&S Co-ordinator Accident investigations should be undertaken by named, competent officers, within departments. Outcomes of investigations should be recorded and reported corporately to help mitigate risk. (The TIRM could issue guidance.) Any sick leave taken at a later date resulting from the accident/incident should be recorded centrally and reported. H&S Co-ordinator

Agreed. This will form part of the Health and Safety system

On take up of H&S Co-ordinator post.

16 Riddor (Reporting of Injuries, Lack of shared Merits It is recommended that Refer to no. 6

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Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations) forms are completed as required. The TIRM keeps copies of Broxbourne Services and the other Council departments. BLMSO keep their own.

knowledge. Health and safety risks will remain unchanged.

Attention completed Riddor forms are logged on a central database and used to inform health and safety risks. H&S Co-ordinator

17 Discussion with the Health, Safety and Quality Manager and review of documents, confirmed that risk assessments are in the process of being compiled within Community Services. BLMSO has a spreadsheet containing all assessed risks. A risk assessment template is in use, which is slightly different to the corporate risk assessment template held on the Council's 'R' drive. Environmental Health has completed some risk assessments. Parking control were in the process of preparing risk assessments.

Lack of co-ordination. Duplication of work. Failure to comply with legislation and best practice.

Fundamental. Significant

One named officer should be responsible for co-ordinating completed risk assessments for the Council, including the use of the corporate template. Any gaps should be identified and addressed. H&S Co-ordinator Officers responsible for completing risk assessments should be competent and use the agreed corporate standard template. Officers should have access to all current risk assessments to prevent duplication of work. (Co-ordination between BLMSO, Health Safety and Quality Manager and the TIRM may help achieve this) H&S Co-ordinator

The H&S Co-ordinator will assume responsibility for management. The H&S Co-ordinator to will investigate linking risk assessments to procedures/work instructions.

Once the H&S Co-ordinator is in post. On take up of post.

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There is no corporate library of all completed risk assessments.

18 Near miss or threats of violence reporting is not undertaken corporately. Individual departments keep records of incidents including assault and threats of violence. The TIRM has not been informed of any threats to field officers. The Head of Environmental Contracts confirmed that there have been no recent threats or assaults on Field Force officers. The Head of Building Control confirmed that there had been no assaults on staff. The Head of Planning was unaware of any assaults on employees. The Parking Services manager keeps a record of serious threats and assaults on staff.

Trends will not be identified without central co-ordination. Risks will not be identified and addressed.

Significant. Merits Attention

Risk assessments in place that affect field officers should be reviewed to ensure that they cover all essential risks and are not duplicated. (The Facilities Working Party could be used as the forum for the review.) H&S Co-ordinator The accident and incident IT database should include criminal assault, threats of violence, and near misses. All departments with field officers should work together to ensure they share knowledge and when procuring personal safety alarms. H&S Co-ordinator

To be co-ordinated by the H&S Co-ordinator Refer to no. 6

On take up of post.

19 Audit attempted to test DSE/ workstation assessments. From discussion with the Head

Failure to comply with legislation

Fundamental DSE/workstation assessments should be carried out by competent

H&S Co-ordinator to oversee.

Once in post

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of Personnel Services, the Facilities Manager and the Health, Safety and Quality Manager, it was concluded that there is not a current list of officers who are responsible for completing DSE/workstation assessments or any corporate records kept of employees who have had an assessment undertaken -either through new employment or change in circumstances. It was confirmed that out of 9 recent employees 4 had not had DSE assessments undertaken.

officers. Personnel should be informed of the assessment. H&S Co-ordinator Personnel should retain records of DSE/ workstation assessments on snowdrop. If employee circumstances change e.g. through pregnancy, further assessments should be undertaken. H&S Co-ordinator

H&S Co-ordinator to oversee.

Once in post.

ms-sc-02!11!10 h&s final audit report

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