Health and Safety Department

Health and Safety Department
Health and Safety Awareness High Risk Areas Session 1 Good morning everybody, and welcome to the Health and Safety Department’s training course for people who work in high risk departments The purpose of the three sessions that comprise the course is to give a broad overview of the Health and Safety responsibilities that we all face at work, and the way that Edinburgh University manages these responsibilities. By the end of the course you should have an understanding of the systems that are in place centrally, what the situation should be in your own department, and what you as individuals are expected to do. Mixed audience - DSAs, risk assessors, interested people - from a wide variety of Departments. General points, but time for questions at the end. Lawrence Dickson Training and Audit Co-ordinator

Summary Health and Safety and the Law University Management Structure
University Health and Safety Policy Health and Safety Department 1. The various regulations that apply in the workplace, where they come from, and some of the responsibilities that they put upon employers and individuals at work. 2. The University’s Management structure and how it is geared to meet the requirements of the law. 3. The University Health and Safety Policy, which is the institution’s formal statement of how it will meet both the legal obligations and it’s own aims, in terms of the health and safety of it’s staff. 4. The structure of the Health and Safety Department, and the role it plays in the above three points. 5. Sources of information and the help available for DSAs and individuals. 6. And finally the University’s systems and tools for monitoring and reporting. A+I reporting SAFENET etc. Sources of Information Systems and Tools

Health and Safety and the Law
UK Legislation EC Legislation Any Health and Safety presentation or discussion I think has to have a section dealing with the Law. The Law indicates clearly what we are expected to do to ensure our own Health and Safety at Work, and it puts responsibilities on employers, the self employed and employees. It also perhaps formalises the moral obligations that employers have, that we should feel to our selves and our colleagues while we are at work. I’ll talk briefly this morning about UK Law, and about the influence of EC Legislation has had on Health and Safety at work.

UK Legislation The Health and Safety at Work Act, 1974 UK Health and Safety Regulations HSC Approved Codes of Practice HSE Guidance Notes To deal first with UK Law, the main piece of legislation governing our activities at work is the Health and Safety at Work Act, which has been with us now for over twenty-five years and has been a fairly successful attempt to unify legislation under one umbrella. The Act covers everyone at work in the UK except domestic servants. It has a parallel in the Road Traffic Act in that both set up a framework which if followed, should successfully prevent injury and ill-health. The Act lays out in very general terms what employers and employees are expected to do to ensure health and safety at work. It states that employers must provide a safe environment in which to work, with safe procedures and equipment, and that employees must work with employers to ensure health and safety at work - very general. Other UK Health and Safety Regulations are numerous and include for example, the Electricity at Work and the Noise at Work Regulations - many others besides. The Regulations which affect our activities in the University can be traced back as far as the Petroleum Consolidation Act of 1928. These Regulations are supported by Health and Safety Commission Approved Codes of Practice and HSE Guidance Notes, which although not Law themselves, are acted upon as if they are , since for any particular work activity, you have to demonstrate a standard at least as good as that set out in the Approved Code of Practice.

EC Legislation Commission of the European Communities EC Directives Member States: Transposition UK Health and Safety Legislation Legislation from the European Commission comes to us via Brussels in the form of an EC Directive. Member States have to form these directives into their own Law by a process called transposition. The UK is no exception, and it was this process that gave us the so called “six pack” of regulations in 1992, which I’m sure most of you will have heard of, and is now very much part of this Country’s Health and Safety Law. Examples of UK regulations that have been transposed from EC directives are the Manual Handling Operations and Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations, both of which were part of the “six pack”.

Two more examples form the “six pack” are shown on this slide.
The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations tell us in very general terms what we are expected to do, and contain quite vague statements which, for example, tells us that we have to make suitable and sufficient assessments of risks arising from work activities. At the other end of the scale, the Display Screen Equipment Regulations are very specific and are detailed enough as to tell us how many legs the base of a computer workstation chair must have. Furled flag, political point. So, as I said at the start, this combination of UK and EC Law indicates what we have to do when considering Health and Safety at Work.

Enforcement Agencies Health and Safety Executive Compliance Letters
- Routine and Specialist Inspections - Accident Investigations Compliance Letters Improvement Notices So, who enforces these Laws? Well, the Health and Safety Executive are the main enforcing authority for the Health and Safety at Work Act, although the City of Edinburgh Environmental Health Department are responsible for Halls and Houses, and certain other areas remote from teaching and research. These bodies have the authority to arrive unannounced and carry out inspections, of a routine nature or for specialist areas such as genetic modification work, or in response to an accident having happened. Any point with which they are not happy will usually be dealt with in a letter to the Secretary of the University asking for action to be taken within a reasonable time scale to ensure compliance with a particular statute. Occasionally the HSE will use their further powers by issuing improvement notices in which changes must be made within a specified period, and in more serious cases a prohibition notice can stop the work activity with immediate effect, requiring specific changes to be made before work can begin again. In extreme cases the HSE may bring a criminal prosecution, usually against a “body corporate”, but occasionally against an individual - this normally only occurs after a serious or fatal event, which is attributable to fairly gross negligence. GM prosecution? Prohibition Notices Criminal Prosecutions

Advisory Agencies: Civil Law
University’s Liability Insurers Liability Surveys & Reports Claims Investigations University’s Insurance Brokers H&S Management Audit and Compliance Audit Programme Input to Health & Safety Policy To talk briefly about Civil Law, which is the branch of Law involved when employees lodge claims against the University, support and advice in terms of meeting our legal responsibilities is available from our Liability Insurers, who provide the University’s Employer’s and Public Liability cover, and also from our Insurance Brokers, who place our various insurances for liability, fire, engineering equipment etc. Aon audits? It should be noted that, whilst these agencies like to give the impression that their aims and objectives are entirely at one with those of the client institution, they are basically most concerned with a minimisation of claims, and hence the amount of money that they have to pay out to settle claims for compensation. However, we can and do usefully co-operate with these agencies, and an example of this is the sponsorship of the production costs of the current version of the central University Health and Safety Policy by our Brokers.

Management Structure University Court (through the Principal)
Head of College University Health and Safety Committee (convened by DOCS) Head of School Head of Division/Institute/Unit/etc. School/Institute Health and Safety Committee, Safety Adviser A schematic representation of the management set up at Edinburgh University is shown on this slide. Our equivalent of a Board of Directors is the University Court, which has ultimate responsibility for the Health and Safety of University employees and students. The Court devolves the responsibility for the management of Health and Safety matters to Heads of Department, and they are responsible to Court for the areas under their control. They in turn, can further devolve duties down to Heads of Section and Heads of Research groups, and as I said earlier, the Health and Safety at Work Act also places responsibilities on individuals. The University H&S Committee consists of representatives from all staff categories and students, reps from all the Trade Unions with which the University negotiates, and is convened by the Vice-Principal. This committee operates in a purely advisory capacity, so is not part of the line management structure. This is also true of the Departmental Safety Adviser who will talk more about shortly, and the Departmental Safety Committee, in that they are purely advisory. The Health and Safety Department is involved at all levels. Talk about the “true” situation, situation is not at all like e.g. Civil Service Departments, ~200 Departments, semi-autonomous islands, diversity, etc. Head of Section/Research Group/PIs Individual Workers

University Health and Safety Policy
Part 1 : Framework Part 2 : General Precautions Part 3 : Electrical Equipment Part 4 : Mechanical Equipment Part 5 : Chemical Laboratories Part 6 : Biological Laboratories We now move on to the University Health and Safety Policy. The Health and Safety at Work Act requires every employer to publish a statement of its Health and Safety policy. In the case of the University this statement has become quite expanded over the years and now constitutes eight parts as shown in the next two slides, plus a keynote guide. Starting off with the University’s Policy Statement and consideration of the legal framework covering occupational safety and health in this institution, it then covers the general types of safety precautions relevant to most workplaces within the University. The Policy then moves on into the more specific topics of electrical and mechanical equipment, and into the chemical and biological laboratory environments.

University Health and Safety Policy
Part 7.1 : Ionising Radiations Part 7.2 : Non-Ionising Radiations Part 7.3 : Laser Equipment Part 8 : Fieldwork and Outdoor Activities The three sections of Part Seven, produced by the Radiation Protection Service, cover the various types of radiation work in which some Departments indulge, and the final part concerns itself with an area of proven risks, namely fieldwork projects of a wide variety, and other outdoor pursuits. Keynote Guide - show and tell! The idea of splitting the policy into eight parts is to make information easier to find, so that people in the Department of East Asian Studies don’t have to plough through sections on Genetic Modification and corrosive chemicals to get to the information on office safety. Show booklets. With changes in legislation and University personnel, these booklets rapidly become out of date, and the current statement of University Health and Safety Policy can be found on the Health and Safety Department web site, which I’ll talk about later on. The web information is sub-divided in the same way as the booklets and can all be downloaded locally. The booklets were last reprinted in 1996, and may well be the last of the paper type copies because of our increasing reliance on the web. Reasons for splitting policy. The Keynote Guide

School (area) Health and Safety Policy
Dovetail with the Core Policy Highlight Specific Local Hazards Detail Precautions and Controls Subject to Regular Review Central Monitoring The full University Health and Safety Policy consists not only of the core booklets, but also of Departmental Policies / Codes / Safety Rules etc., which your own Department should produce and disseminate, and this will dovetail with the relevant parts of the core Policy. This Departmental document should contain local information on hazards, and will detail precautions, controls and safe systems of work, which can only be compiled by those intimately acquainted with the research and teaching activities of an individual Department. These documents should be regularly reviewed to take account of changes in procedure and personnel, and their existence is monitored centrally via the Head of Department’s Annual Safety Report. Show examples.

Monitoring H & S Performance
School/area Self-Inspections Accident and Ill Health Reporting The School/area Safety Adviser Annual School H&S Report The University does not only have to set up a Policy and a managerial structure for health and safety at work. It must also ensure that the intentions of the fine sentiments contained in its Policy Statement are actually carried on into the reality of people’s everyday working environments. We must therfore carry out a process of monitoring our own health and safety performance. At departmental level, this monitoring is assisted by having a requirement that departments must carry out a self-inspection exercise, hopefully at least annually, to pick up any defects in the accomodation, equipment, work practices, etc.. An efficient accident and ill health reporting system is also an essential, and we feel that the University’s current A&I system functions very well in most areas of the University. The focal point for health and safety endeavours within a Department is the Departmental Safety Adviser, who really should not feel that he or she requires to be some sort of safety professional. Rather they should act as a conduit for the dissemination of information from Health and Safety Services into the Department, and in the opposite direction, and oversee the setting up of systems, e.g COSHH assessments, actually carried out by other members of the Departmental staff. As a prompt towards the matters which they should be considering, and a feedback process to allow us to monitor Departmental performance, every Head of Department is required to submit an Annual Health and Safety Report to the Secretary to the University. This allows us to take an overview of the entire Institution’s performance, and to target attention at specific areas in which it is required.

Head of College “Heads of College….are responsible to the University Court….for the management of health and safety matters within the area of the University under their control. Whilst retaining this management responsibility to Court, Heads of College are required to delegate duties to, and place management responsibilities upon, Heads of School….”. The Head of Department’s duties are clearly defined in the University Health and Safety Policy which sets out definitions such as this one: read. This is from Part One - Framework. Further duties are also indicated in this document: go through. These are just a selection from the ten duties which are formally listed in the Health and Safety Policy. The Keynote Guide to the University Health and Safety Policy, 2004

Head of School Written Health and Safety Policy
“Heads of School, and managers of other equivalent autonomous Units, etc, are responsible…., to the University Court for the management of health and safety matters within the area of the University under their control. Heads of School (or equivalent) are required to ensure that local policies and practices for the effective management of health and safety, at School level and below, are in place and are published”. The Keynote Guide to the University Health and Safety Policy, 2004 Written Health and Safety Policy Effectiveness of Policy - monitoring The Head of Department’s duties are clearly defined in the University Health and Safety Policy which sets out definitions such as this one: read. This is from Part One - Framework. Further duties are also indicated in this document: go through. These are just a selection from the ten duties which are formally listed in the Health and Safety Policy. Information, instruction, training, supervision Appointment of School Safety Adviser

School (area) Safety Adviser
Court requirement to appoint a SSA Advisory position Must be allocated sufficient time and resources There is no legal requirement for this appointment to be made, but it is a University Court requirement that a DSA is appointed in each Department. This is in contrast to appointments such as RPS and BSO which are legal requirements. If the Head of Department does not make such an appointment, that HoD, by default is the DSA. The DSA is a purely advisory position, with the individual appointed being the focus for all the day to day Health and Safety issues in the Department. The appointed DSA must therefore be familiar with the activities of the Department, and be experienced and senior enough to carry out their duties in an authoritative manner. Usually Academic or Senior Technical person. The HoD must allocate sufficient resources, both of time and of finance, in order that the DSA can carry out his or her duties effectively. It must be remembered that the DSA’s duties are in addition to his or her normal duties within a Department. The DSA has no additional legal responsibilities, other than those placed on any individual by the H&SAWA. Same responsibilities as any other individual, under H&SAWA

School Safety Adviser SSA Health and Safety Dept. Other Colleagues
The University Health and Safety Policy gives clear guidelines as to the duties of the DSA, but the most basic functions of the DSA are shown on this slide. He or she should act as a conduit for the flow of information from the Health and Safety Department to the Head of Department and vice versa. The DSA should disseminate information from both these sources to colleagues, and should liase with staff in other Departments when outsiders visit the area which he or she oversees, or where there is a benefit in sharing information with other Departments involved in similar work. This looks like a simple enough set up on this slide, but I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that it can be an onerous task when, for example, information on COSHH risk assessments is to be disseminated to colleagues, and perhaps one of the most useful skills a DSA can develop is to delegate some of his or her tasks. Head of School

Training Central training D/SSA H & S awareness first aid
manual handling head of school induction course ergonomics radiation biological safety fire stewards fire extinguishers IOSH Managing Safely The University Health and Safety Policy gives clear guidelines as to the duties of the DSA, but the most basic functions of the DSA are shown on this slide. He or she should act as a conduit for the flow of information from the Health and Safety Department to the Head of Department and vice versa. The DSA should disseminate information from both these sources to colleagues, and should liase with staff in other Departments when outsiders visit the area which he or she oversees, or where there is a benefit in sharing information with other Departments involved in similar work. This looks like a simple enough set up on this slide, but I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that it can be an onerous task when, for example, information on COSHH risk assessments is to be disseminated to colleagues, and perhaps one of the most useful skills a DSA can develop is to delegate some of his or her tasks.

Training In-house (School/area) training Induction: policy
emergency procedures accidents and incidents reporting procedures School/area H&S contacts health and safety committee The University Health and Safety Policy gives clear guidelines as to the duties of the DSA, but the most basic functions of the DSA are shown on this slide. He or she should act as a conduit for the flow of information from the Health and Safety Department to the Head of Department and vice versa. The DSA should disseminate information from both these sources to colleagues, and should liase with staff in other Departments when outsiders visit the area which he or she oversees, or where there is a benefit in sharing information with other Departments involved in similar work. This looks like a simple enough set up on this slide, but I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that it can be an onerous task when, for example, information on COSHH risk assessments is to be disseminated to colleagues, and perhaps one of the most useful skills a DSA can develop is to delegate some of his or her tasks. “Model” Induction Pack available on H&S Department web site

Training Training In-house (School/area) training “Hands on”:
equipment substances risk assessments / standard operating procedures The University Health and Safety Policy gives clear guidelines as to the duties of the DSA, but the most basic functions of the DSA are shown on this slide. He or she should act as a conduit for the flow of information from the Health and Safety Department to the Head of Department and vice versa. The DSA should disseminate information from both these sources to colleagues, and should liase with staff in other Departments when outsiders visit the area which he or she oversees, or where there is a benefit in sharing information with other Departments involved in similar work. This looks like a simple enough set up on this slide, but I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that it can be an onerous task when, for example, information on COSHH risk assessments is to be disseminated to colleagues, and perhaps one of the most useful skills a DSA can develop is to delegate some of his or her tasks. Records of training in School/area activities must be kept

Management Responsibilities
Recognise the HAZARDS of each Activity Assess the RISKS in each Hazardous Activity CONTROL these Risks All the vast plethora of Regulations, Approved Codes of Practice, and official Guidance material, as well as the University’s core and Departmental Health and Safety Policies, in the end boil down to a requirement to carry out the following tasks successfully. Whatever the activity, be it in a laboratory, workshop, office, kitchen, or in the field, we must identify all the significant hazards inherent in the work activity we are about to pursue. Hazard is the intrinsic property of a material or process which gives rise to it having a potentially negative effect on an individual’s health. Once we have identified the hazards, we must assess the likely foreseeable risks to health which will result from doing this type of work. Risk is a product of the degree of hazard and the probability that that hazard will actually contact with a person to cause them harm. Once this risk assessment process is complete, we must implement suitable and adequate control measures to minimise or prevent the risk translating into actual injury or ill health. All health and safety legislation emanating from the EC, and hence finding its way into UK law, operates on these simple commonsense principles, but of course this simplification means that the process is easier said than done.

Individual Responsibilities
Assist in Hazard Recognition Contribute to Risk Assessment Implement Control Measures Avoid being negligent! Of course, what really concerns individual employees within this and any other organisation is “What do I have to do to avoid coming into any contact whatsoever with the force of the law whilst I am at work?” Again, the seemingly huge and complex process can be distilled down into a few general pointers to keep in mind. You should assist in whatever way is possible to identify the hazards presented by the activities you are, or will be, carrying out. Likewise you should take part in the risk assessment process by stepping back from the activity and thinking about the real foreseeable potential for these hazards to harm you. When precautions and controls have been identified, you must cooperate in their implementation, whether this involves the use of engineering controls, the wearing of PPE etc.. In a nutshell, what we must all do at work is try as best we can to ensure that we do not act in a way which could be construed as negligent. Again this is very simple to say, but really only means thinking about what we are doing, and conducting ourselves in a reasonable and commonsense way. If something concerns you and you feel that it is outwith the scope of your own knowledge or abilities, then seek help - this institution has expertise in virtually every subject that it is possible to identify, and we can often obviate the need to re-invent the wheel by making use of it!

Occupational Health Unit BioSafety Unit Fire Safety Unit Health and Safety Office Radiation Protection Unit Training & Audit Unit Health and Safety Office - amongst other things, deals with interpretation of H&S legislation and implementation of University Health and Safety Policy, accident reporting to HSE and subsequent investigation, provision of information via web site and leaflets, and training such as the course today. Occupational Health Unit - cases of occupational ill health and disease, advice on vaccination, first-aid training. Strict code of Medical Confidentiality. Fire Safety Unit - fire risk assessment, maintenance of fire fighting equipment, fire safety training. Occupational Hygiene Unit - measurement of the physical parameters of the work environment, e.g. noise, dust, manual handling training. Radiation Protection Service - advice on all matters concerned with the handling and disposal of radioisotopes, and other sources of radiation. Occupational Hygiene Unit

Locations: Health and Safety Office BioSafety Unit Occupational Hygiene Unit Radiation Protection Service Charles Stewart House, Chambers Street Fire Safety Unit 41, Forrest Road Ways of contacting the various members of the Health and Safety Department are shown on the next two slides. The Director, Alastair Reid, the Deputy Director, Karen Darling and myself are based in the Health and Safety Office at 41, Forrest Road. The Occupational Health Unit, Occupational Hygiene Unit, Fire Safety Unit, and the Radiation Protection service are all in the Drummond Street Annexe, in front of the main entrance to Geography. These Units are overseen, respectively by Dominique Desoutter, John Adamson, Mike Moore, and John Simpson. Occupational Health Unit Drummond Street Annexe

Contacts: The first point of contact would normally be the Health and Safety Office on the ‘phone number shown here, although the full list of numbers is published in the University ‘phone book. There are also several easy to remember addresses as shown here.

Sources of Information
University Health and Safety Policy School/area Health and Safety Policy School Safety Adviser Health and Safety Department I’ve spoken about the University and Departmental Health and Safety Policies, the role of the Departmental Safety Adviser, and the Health and Safety Department, and you should by now have some idea of how to approach these as sources of information. Nowadays, perhaps the most used source of information is the world wide web, which I have mentioned earlier, but will talk about in more detail over the next few slides. World Wide Web

Demonstration of Health and Safety Department web site
The Health and Safety Department websitehas recently been given a complete face lift to make information more easily accessible, and to make navigation aroubnd the site simpler. The URL address remains the same, at

The Health and Safety Department web site provides links to many other web sites, such as the Health and Safety Executive’s site shown here, with it’s URL address. This is another huge web site which contains a vast amount of information. Clicking on the “Information sources” here takes you into…..

……. this page, detailing Press releases, videos, statistics, etc
……..this page, detailing Press releases, videos, statistics, etc., and clicking the “Leaflets About Hazards at Work” takes you into…..

……. an alphabetical listing of all their leaflets
……. an alphabetical listing of all their leaflets. Some topics of which you can see at the bottom of the slide. By selecting “R” you are taken to………..

………..this page, which as you can see has many links which may be of interest in your own work place. Go through. Selecting “Risk Assessment” here takes you to……..

……..this page, which should apply to all of you in your own work place.
Here you can download the leaflet in Adobe Acrobat format, or click this link….

……….to see the document on screen.

View information on line
HSE web site View information on line Download information for distribution. So, the HSE web site can be used to view information on line, and to download information for distribution. One of the most recent documents for downloading is this one, which is similar to the poster which many of you will have seen on the wall in various workplaces, although it can also be obtained as a leaflet direct from the HSE.

So, the HSE web site can be used to view information on line, and to download information for distribution. One of the most recent documents for downloading is this one, which is similar to the poster which many of you will have seen on the wall in various workplaces, although it can also be obtained as a leaflet direct from the HSE.

Accident and Incident Reporting
Legal requirement Individual remedial action Accidents and incidents, including near misses, should be reported to the Health and Safety Department using the book shown above, which I’m sure you’re all familiar with. These books are available from the Health and Safety Department, and consist of very simple, one side forms which don’t take long to fill in, but which we feel are very useful. Reporting accidents and incidents is a legal requirement under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases, and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR), which some of you may have heard John Adamson from our Department talk about. These reports allow remedial action to be taken in individual cases, and having them sent to a central Department allows University wide view to be taken. Give examples. As a point of interest, RIDDOR accidents include “acts of non-consensual physical violence done at work”, so if you or one of your colleagues punches somebody on the nose at work, that should be reported too. University wide view

Accident / incident statistics 01-02
20 15 10 5 % of total accidents Accident type slips/trips/falls handling striking against/ by objects hand tools glass/sharps cuts animals spillages/releases A summary of the types of accident that are reported to the Health and Safety Department at Edinburgh University is shown on this slide. These are the most recent statistics I have, for the academic year Go through. So, as you can see, we have very few instances of mad professors blowing the roof off the Chemistry Department, or spreading plague around Edinburgh. Most accidents involve slips and trips, or minor cuts, or sore backs from lifting heavy objects, and are the type of thing which you may suffer in the perceived safety of your own home. I would like to think that this is thanks to the systems that we have spoken about this morning, and is an indication that these systems are working. hot/cold contact other sports fires disease traffic machinery electrical poisoning/infection explosion total number = 529

Health and Safety Awareness Session 2
Risk Assessment Generic treatment Types of risk assessment This is the last slide and is a sort of “forthcoming attractions” advert. In session 2, which is on Friday the 12th. of May here, or Wednesday 17th. May at KB, I will talk in more detail about the risk assessment process and how it is a central theme running through much of the legislation, and will give a practical example. I’ll again give details of the sources of help and information that are available, and I’ll go into SAFENET in detail and will show you how the forms it contains are intended to be used. Sources of help and tools to assist SAFENET

Health and Safety Department

Similar presentations

Presentation on theme: "Health and Safety Department"— Presentation transcript:

Similar presentations

About project

Feedback

Log in

Auth with social network:

Health and Safety Department

Similar presentations

Presentation on theme: "Health and Safety Department"— Presentation transcript:

Similar presentations

About project

Feedback