Agenda item

Mr S Dobby, Head of Corporate Health, Safety and Emergency Resilience, submitted his annual Health and Safety report for the period April 2020 to March 2021. 

The detailed report indicated, amongst other things, that there had been further improvements in the Council’s health and safety performance and also the implications of challenges faced in the delivery of these services and maintenance of this performance.  He commented, however, that the year had been like no other and this had impacted on the performance data included within the report and, therefore, comparisons with previous years was not really possible. 

The report gave details of the Health and Safety statistics with comparisons to the previous year, all of which were positive and had shown a decrease in the number of incidents.  There were, however, some negative indicators in relation to an under-reporting of near miss accidents and presumed lower-level (and potentially all) incidents of violence and aggression.

The report also outlined areas for improvement and detailed the proposals for addressing them.

There had been no formal enforcement action by the Health and Safety Executive or the South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and the Council had achieved the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Order of Distinction for Occupational Safety and Health and the British Safety Council International Safety Award.  In addition, in relation to the latter, the Council had also won the Sector Award for the public sector and defence.

In the ensuing discussion, the following matters were highlighted:

·         In relation to specific questioning, Mr Dobby outlined the action taken to support staff mental health and well being

·         It was noted that the responsibility for health and safety extended into people’s homes when working from home.  The action taken to support staff, including the provision of chairs and workstations, was outlined

·         Information was provided about how ‘near miss’ accident comparisons were made and why it was thought that there might be an under-reporting

·         The difficulties in making statistical comparisons with other authorities was outlined together with the reasons for this.  It was noted that many Councils no longer provided their own risk management services and thig made it increasingly difficult to compare with other authorities

·         In relation to current performance, the Service was currently analysing quarter 3 statistics which indicated a continuing low trend in accidents with no reports to the Health and Safety Executive

RESOLVED that the report be received and Mr Simon Dobby, Head of Corporate Health, Safety and Emergency Resilience, be thanked for attending the meeting and for answering Members questions.