Agenda item

Health and Safety Update April 2023 to March 2024

This report highlights the Council’s activities and performance in health and safety at work for the financial year 2023/2024.

 

Minutes:

Paul Neary (Head of Corporate Safety) introduced the report which highlighted the Council’s activities and performance in health and safety at work for the financial year 2023/2024 as follows:

 

  • there was an increase in incidents, and incidents relating to violence and aggression in a lot of areas, particularly libraries.

 

  • eight RIDDORs (Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrence Regulations) were reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which did not issue any follow up responses.

 

  • additional training was conducted for staff on the accident and incident recording system, AssessNET and the new Risk Assessment module.

 

Councillor Lisa Homan understood that some incidents of violence and aggression against LBHF’s staff had been reported to the Police. She enquired about the number of prosecutions, if any, and the support provided to the victims during the process.

 

Paul Neary noted that there was no record of prosecutions which would happen only if the victims wanted to take the case forward. Nonetheless, each case would be investigated by the Corporate Health and Safety team to see if the relevant training delivered by the Community Safety team or Civil Enforcement team needed any adjustment. Any colleagues having issues and concerns could seek help from the Employee Assistance Programme via their manager.

 

Councillor Florian Chevoppe-Verdier expressed grave concern about local public servants being attacked while providing public services. He asked about the point of friction in libraries leading to incidents of violence and aggression. Paul Neary pointed out that libraries were not the quiet place they used to be. Some people went into libraries to get off the street, and get warm. Sometimes, violence and aggression occurred when staff requested them to lower their voice or stop searching the bins. The responsible director was currently looking into the feasibility of deploying security staff in libraries.

 

Sharon Lea (Chief Executive) remarked that libraries in H&F were a wonderful resource for the community, and  were well used by many residents for gaining knowledge through reading, doing research and/or participating in activities. People causing disturbance or violence and aggression in libraries were only a small minority. While violence had increased in society generally across many areas, the Council had worked closely with the public-facing library staff and supported them with the excellent CCTV network and unique Law Enforcement Team. Deploying additional resources to make library staff feel safer must be done with them as they might not prefer having security staff on the premises. The Health and Safety Officer responsible for libraries had written to the Director and Assistant Director about further measures that could be taken to ensure the safety of library staff.

 

On incidents of violence and aggression against H&F staff and prosecution, Sharon Lea reassured the Committee that she personally would take up the matter with the Police. It was the staff’s decision to pursue further having regard to their willingness to be a witness or their preference to come back to work sooner. To prevent these incidents from happening again, the Council had recently run a public awareness campaign about valuing people who worked with residents and a zero tolerance approach to abusing H&F staff.

 

Councillor Chevoppe-Verdier thanked Sharon’s reassurances in looking after H&F staff and shared her view that library staff might prefer to diffuse the situation instantly rather than calling security. He understood a piece of legislation making attacking government staff/public servant a separate criminal offence was on the pipeline and looked forward to its enactment.

 

Councillor Adrian Pascu-Tulbure said he was shocked to note an incident at a school had caused a staff’s bone fracture and asked about the outcome. Paul Neary advised that the incident was reported and investigated by the school, with oversight provided by a health and safety advisor who did a RIDDOR report to the HSE.

 

The Chair was concerned about the Council’s roles in providing statutory services through staff who had previously been assaulted or abused by a resident. He asked about the procedures in place to protect the staff concerned. Paul Neary referred to the Employee Protection Register, which could be added to by Directors. There were tailor-made sanctions to ban them from contacting the council officers for 6 months or longer. The Corporate Health and Safety team would then add that person to the register after they had sighted the letter informing them the details. Currently, there were 14 people on the Employee Protection Register (updated every Monday) and compliance was between 90% and 100%.

 

Councillor Lisa Homan was concerned about the potential implications of Martyn’s Law to local authorities in terms of health and safety for example it might cover venues licensed by the Council. Paul Neary said Martyn’s Law applied to venues having more than 200 seats and it was currently undergoing parliamentary scrutiny. The Corporate Health and Safety team was reviewing the policy details and would prepare the relevant documents after enactment.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Committee agreed to note the health and safety at work performance of the Council during the period of April 2023 to April 2024.

 

Supporting documents: