Agenda and minutes

Moved by Chris McKinney and seconded by Councillor Stan Fox

RESOLVED that Councillor Andrew Joesbury be elected as Chair of Safety Committee for the ensuing year.

Moved by Jessica Clayton (Unison) and seconded by Councillor Stan Fox.

RESOLVED that Chris McKinney (Unison) be appointed as Vice-Chair of Safety Committee for the ensuing year.

Apologies for absence were received on behalf of Councillors Maxine Dixon, Andrew Joesbury and Chris Kane, and Wayne Carter (Leisure Operations Manager), Matthew Cooper (Corporate Property Manager) and Steve Brunt (Assistant Director – Streetscene).

To note any urgent items of business which the Chairman has consented to being considered under the provisions of Section 100(B) 4(b) of the Local Government Act 1972.

There were no urgent items of business to consider.

Members should declare the existence and nature of any Disclosable Pecuniary Interest and Non Statutory Interest as defined by the Members’ Code of Conduct in respect of:

a)  any business on the agenda

b)  any urgent additional items to be considered

c)  any matters arising out of those items

and if appropriate, withdraw from the meeting at the relevant time.

There were no declarations of interest made.

To consider the minutes of the last meeting held on 5^th May, 2022.

The Health & Safety Manager requested an amendment to paragraph 4 in Minute Number SAF19-21/22 that “the same system” be amended to read “more aligned system”.

Moved by Chris McKinney and seconded by Liz Robinson

RESOLVED that subject to the above amendment, the Minutes of a Safety Committee meeting held on 5^th May, 2022, be approved as a correct record.

(Governance)

The HR & OD Manager presented the Sickness Absence report for Quarter 1 (April – June 2022) and highlighted that the average number of days lost per employee was 2.29 days, and the average number of days lost per employee, if COVID related symptoms were discounted, was 1.63 days.  The 2022/23 forecast figure for the average number of days lost per employee was 9.16 days.

It was noted that there had been a slight decrease in short term sickness absence in comparison to the previous quarter and an increase in the number of long term sickness cases.

Support and advice continued to be made available to employees and there were 14 long term cases in this quarter – 11 were physical health ailments and 3 were stress/depression, one of which was work related.  It was noted that Covid 19 sickness remained in the top 3 reasons for sickness absence and that this perhaps reflected the national position of ‘Living with Covid’ and the need for continued vigilance and measures to minimise the spread of Covid.

Mental Health Awareness sessions had been rolled out across the Council as part of the quarterly corporate training programme and the number of attendees would be reported at the year end.

Managers and Employees had accessed regular monthly Occupational Health Clinics which included counselling and physiotherapy.  It was noted that the telephone support contract had been renewed to enable relevant support to be continued.

Moved by Liz Robinson (Unison) and seconded by Councillor Allan Bailey

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Health & Safety Manager presented the Quarter 1 (April – June 2022) Health and Safety update.

It was noted that the total number of accidents reported by members of the public was 53, however, none of these were RIDDOR reportable. 

Quarter 1 of 2022/23 had seen 14 employee accidents reported compared to Quarter 1 of 2021/22, which had seen 9 accidents reported.  The 14 accidents had taken place in the service areas of Streetscene (10), Leisure (2) and Housing (2).

The Health & Safety Team had recently completed an evaluation of a triennial procurement exercise involving the evaluation of 19 courses and this had assisted with the preparation of the 2022-2025 Health & Safety Plan.

Training had continued to be delivered during Quarter 1, with the following courses taking place:-

• 3 sessions of Accident Investigation training for 15 people – this had achieved an attendance rate of 82%
• 4 employees had attended a 2 day First Aid refresher - this had achieved an attendance rate of 50%
• 7 employees had attended an Emergency First Aid course – this had achieved an attendance rate of 83%

Service Managers were reminded that reasonable excuses for non-attendance at training sessions were considered on their own merits.  Arrangements had been put in place for monitoring adequate training availability for all employees.

It was noted that future training courses would be advertised to the Derbyshire Safety Group if spare places were anticipated in order to achieve best value for money where possible.

In relation to safety Inspections, the Health & Safety Manager highlighted that two had taken place, these being at The Arc, Clowne, and Riverside Depot, Doe Lea.  A biannual Inspection Programme had been prepared to spread the inspections across all quarters and include a mix of locations from Bolsover and North East Derbyshire District Councils.

A Unison representative commented that the report was excellent and provided the correct level of information for the Committee to consider and he thanked the Health & Safety Manager for the report.

Another Unison representative referred to training and offered her thanks to the Council for involving Unison in discussions.

Moved by Chris McKinney and seconded by Councillor Allan Bailey

RESOLVED that the report be noted.