Agenda item

To receive the briefing update from the Head of Development and Corporate Landlord.

The committee received the health and safety audit update briefing, presented by the head of development and corporate landlord. The report was brought to the committee as it was a regular yearly item.

The head of development and corporate landlord informed members that the latest audit field work in 2022 lead to a limited assurance rating and 18 recommendations being made. He also confirmed that the team had successfully filled the two vacancies in the team meaning that they could now make progress on those actions, starting with the highest risks.

The report itself was an update on the team’s actions and outlined their plans moving forward. The head of development and corporate landlord outlined their major task schedule, including a full review of the health and safety management system, LEAH training, and review of their policies and procedures. He also noted that progress on these actions would be reported to internal audit team and the Joint Audit and Governance Committee.

As the previous audit for health and safety was in 2017, the committee inquired into the reason why there was such a large gap between the audits and the internal audit and risk manager confirmed that this team had experienced regular staff turnover, resulting in the audit being delayed. Members then highlighted that it was areas experiencing this type of fluctuation which may indicate risk and so the committee asked for assurance that gaps in audits were being picked up by the internal audit team. The internal audit and risk manager noted these concerns and confirmed that she would check their audits against the risk register to find any gaps in audits. She also encouraged the committee to bring attention to any areas where they believed there had been too long between audits which could then be picked up by the internal audit team.    

On a specific question about if tiredness at specific points in the day, such as early morning, was being accounted for in the driving at work policy, the head of development and corporate landlord confirmed that the policy that was drafted had included this point.

The committee asked how the implementation of health and safety policies had been reflected in outcomes for the council, such as the data about the number of accidents at work before and after policy adoption and training, The senior health and safety advisor, Andrew Huckstep, informed members that the council did not have sufficient baseline data to provide these figures and that it might take 18 months until that baseline had been established. The committee expressed some concern about the length of time it would take before they could examine the data and the head of development and corporate landlord confirmed that they would start to gather data that could be presented on a regular basis so that they would not have to wait the full 18 months. He also confirmed to the committee that the health and safety team had sufficient resources to meet their schedule but was open to bringing in more resources if was shown to be needed.

Overall, the committee thanked the head of development and corporate landlord for the report and emphasised the need for more data around health and safety in order to assess if the policies, procedures, and training were making a quantifiable positive contribution to the council.