Agenda and minutes

An apology for absence was received on behalf of Councillor Allan Bailey.

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 be considered.

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 2^nd February, 2023.

Moved by Councillor Andrew Joesbury and seconded by Councillor Maxine Dixon

RESOLVED that the Minutes of a Safety Committee meeting held on 2^nd February 2023 be approved as a correct record.

The HR Business Partner presented the Sickness Absence report for Quarter 4 (January – March 2023) and highlighted that for this period the average number of days lost per employee was 2.82 days. If Covid related symptoms were discounted this number would reduce to an average of 2.66 days lost.

It was noted that the actual outturn figure for 2022/23 was averaged at 9.4 days lost per employee. The outturn figure with Covid related symptoms discounted was 7.83 days. The annual target up to the end of March 2023 was 8.5 days so the average had been higher than target.

Table one in the report detailed the number of days lost and the cost of these absences compared to previous years. Table two detailed what percentage of

absences were short term and what percentage were long term.

It was noted that for quarter 4 for three main reasons for absence were:

·       Stress/Depression

·       Operations/Hospital

·       Other Musc. Skeletal

The overall average days lost due to sickness had increased from 2.29 days in Q3 to 2.82 in Q4. 65 days had been lost in Q4 due to Covid19 symptoms (employees unfit for work) compared with 160 days lost in the last quarter.

Stress/Depression had remained in the top three reasons for absence since Q2 of 2019/20. There had been 13 cases of absence due to Stress/Depression during Q4, three of which had been work related and 10 were not work related.

A Union Representative raised concern that stress and depression remained prominent in each quarter. The HR Business Partner advised that Mental Health Awareness sessions had started to be delivered as part of the corporate training programme and so far 23 staff had attended these sessions.

Moved by Councillor Andrew Joesbury and seconded by Councillor Maxine Dixon

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

The Health & Safety Manager presented the Quarter 4 (January – March 2023)

Health and Safety update.

It was noted that the total number of accidents reported involving members of the public was 41 and that one of these was RIDDOR reportable as the injured party had suffered a fracture.

Quarter 4 of 2022/23 had 12 employee accidents, these 12 accidents had taken place in the following service areas:

·       Streetscene – 6

·       Housing – 4

·       Property Services – 1

·       Democratic Services – 1

One of these accidents was RIDDOR reportable as the employee had suffered lost time over 7 days.

There had been a total of 3 near misses/hazards reported during the quarter, all related to trespassing on Dragonfly sites.

The table within the report showed a detailed breakdown of the accidents that had occurred and the number of days lost.

During Quarter 4, training delivery continued with the following courses taking place:

·       Manual Handling Training – 51 BDC employees trained

·       COSHH Training – 26 BDC employees trained

·       Accident Investigation Training – 4 BDC employees trained

·       2 Day First Aid at Work Refresher – 4 BDC employees trained

·       3 Day Full First Aid at Work – 6 BDC employees trained

·       Evacuation Chair Training – 3 BDC employees trained

A total of 94 BDC employees had been trained in this quarter.

The Health and Safety team noted that staff had been reminded of the importance of reporting accidents and therefore over the next reporting period there may be an increase in the total number of accidents reported.

A new schedule for site inspections had been drafted and was detailed in

paragraph 2.8 of the report.

Moved by Councillor Andrew Joesbury and seconded by Liz Robinson

RESOLVED that the report and comments be noted.