Agenda item

To present the report of the Principal Corporate Health and Safety Advisor.

The report of the Head of Regulation and Economic Development outlining the Authority’s performance with regard to Health and Safety during the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 was presented for the Committee’s consideration. The report provided an overview of the health and safety activity at the Council during the period including an analysis of accident and incidents and key achievements and set out an action plan for the following year.

Points of discussion by the Committee –

·      In light of the increase in reported incidents as well as RIDDOR reportable incidents in 2022/23 compared to the previous two years, the inclusion of pre-Covid data would have been helpful to ascertain whether the figures are comparable to those in the years immediately before Covid and reflect a change in Covid restrictions, or whether they are indicative of an underlying cause for concern and therefore require a review of the health and safety strategy going forward.

·      Whether reported incidents to date in 2023/24 indicate any emerging pattern or trend

·      Whether the incident of slips or falls include those within Authority run residential care homes and whether that information can be drilled down in the report given that the impact of a fall can affect the nature of the care provided for older people.

·      Whether the increase in health and safety incidents has led to an increase in insurance claims resulting in additional costs to the Council.

The Principal Health and Safety Advisor advised that it is difficult to measure 2022/23 against previous years due to the lifting of restrictions over those periods and that 2023/24 is likely to provide a better comparison as more normal working arrangements have resumed. He outlined the legal requirements as regards the retention of the various categories of health and safety incident data and he confirmed that to January 2023 the incident rate was up on that of the previous year but added as a caveat that the increase may not necessarily reflect an issue and that the data needs to be analysed and not just benchmarked before drawing conclusions. The Officer clarified that incidents noted within the report cover all incidents reported and that they include falls suffered by clients in care homes as well as pupil slips and falls in school, and he advised that the data for older people’s slips and falls in care homes can be extrapolated if so required.

The Head of Audit and Risk advised that she did not have data regarding insurance claims against the Council and their costs immediately to hand but that the information is available.

It was resolved to endorse the recommendation of the report that the Council should follow the strategic plan for management of Health and Safety and implement the Corporate Health and Safety Action Plan.

Additional Actions –

·      To ask the Head of Regulation and Economic Development to include pre-Covid data for reported and reportable health and safety incidents in the 2023/24 Corporate Health and Safety Annual Report

·      That the data for slips and falls in the Authority’s residential care homes for older people be extrapolated and shown separately in the annual report.

·      That the Committee be provided with information regarding insurance claims against the Council and their costs for the same period.