Kilmarnock College

Annual Health, Safety & Wellbeing Report

2011 - 2012

Kilmarnock College

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CONTENTS

Introduction 2

Executive Summary 3

Health and Safety Planning 4

Health and Safety Management System 4

Risk Register

Advice and Support

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The Role of the Health and Safety Facilitator 6

Health and Safety Training 6

Student Placements 7

Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee 7

Consultation/Task groups 8

Policies and Guidance 8

Accident and Incidents 9

Health and Wellbeing 10

Enforcement Agencies 12

Future Direction 12

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Health, Safety & Wellbeing Annual Report: 2011- 2012

Introduction

The annual Health, Safety and Wellbeing report provides a summary of the College’s

health and safety performance for the 2011/12 academic year.

This report provides an overview of the work carried out by and on behalf of Kilmarnock

College. It highlights key projects undertaken, issues considered over the past year,

and reflects on Human Resource Service’s performance against the Kilmarnock

College and Human Resources Operating Plans.

The report also provides a summary of incident statistics for the period 2011- 2012,

based on the number of incident reports submitted to the Health, Safety and Wellbeing

Advisor.

The College has continued to raise awareness of a range of Health, Safety and

Wellbeing issues during the year through updates, publications and identification of

significant seminars. Wherever possible, the College has sought to collaborate with

other agencies working in the area of Health & Safety, and to engage in joint projects

that would benefit the FE sector.

This report also provides a summary of work that is currently on-going or planned for

the future. The College will continue to align its future Health & Safety activities to

changes taking place within the sector and nationally.

In March 2011, the Government established an Independent Review of Health and

Safety legislation to make proposals for simplifying the existing raft of health and safety

legislation. Since the report, several legislative changes have been implemented, these

include, the change to the reporting of accidents, otherwise known as RIDDOR. The

timeframe for reporting is now extended from 3 to 7 days.

The changes remove the duty to report in cases where the information is of little use or

better collected through other means, while still ensuring that sufficient, quality data is

available.

The proposals include self-employed people no longer having to report injuries or

illness to themselves, and the removal of both the duty on employers to report

dangerous occurrences outside of high-risk sectors/activities and requirements to report

most occupational diseases.

Health, work and well-being is a crucial part of delivering on the Government’s

commitment to improving the health and well-being of the working age population and is

a central element of the wider welfare reform agenda.

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'Health Work Wellbeing is a cross departmental partnership between the Department

for Work and Pensions, the Department of Health, the Health and Safety Executive and

the Scottish Executive. The programme aims to help reduce health inequalities and

social exclusion by demonstrating clearly that work helps people maintain and possibly

improve their overall personal health and well-being. The aim is to prevent people

becoming injured or ill; keep them healthy in work and provide accessible support to

enable them to remain in or return to work more quickly.

The College continues to promote Wellbeing themes in partnership with NHS Ayrshire

and Arran departments.

Regulator Action and Visits

Since the 1st October 2012, the HSE will now implement a charging system when

visiting a company as the result of an incident.

The tariff charged by the HSE for a visiting inspector is costed at £124.00 per hour, and

this will multiply by the number of inspectors present.

Due to a serious incident which occurred in October, the College received a visit from

HSE inspectors. An external contractor was electrocuted whilst maintaining a coffee

machine in the Fairtrade Café, he touched a live element and became attached to the

power source.

The HSE are still investigating the incident and have reassured the College that they do

not intend to take any action against the College. Their focus is centred on the

contractor’s employer ‘Tchibo Coffee Company’, and their methods of work. The

College insurance broker is aware of the incident.

Executive Summary

Kilmarnock College Strategic Plan and an annual Human Resource Services

Operational Plan, setting KPIs have set the direction and focus for the period 2011-

2012. Both provide a yearly focus on health and safety priorities; and reviewed where it

is felt that immediate matters require action.

All Safety Policies and Procedures were reviewed during August 2012 and are available

through the staff extranet site.

During this period, there were a number of familiarisation visits by Fire Precautions

enforcement officers to both Holehouse Road and COSE campuses.

An external audit of Health and Safety Management was undertaken by BDO in May

2012 and covered:

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• The College Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy, Strategy and Framework;

• The Terms of Reference and Responsibilities of Board members;

• The College Risk and Operational Risk Register for Organisational Development;

• The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Report 2010-2011.

The College received an excellent report from BDO on all areas assessed.

Health and Safety Planning

Planning is a crucial part of any organisation’s strategy for progress and forward

thinking. Health and Safety is a subject that requires planning to enable priorities to be

identified and progress monitored.

The use of an annual HR Services Operating Plan has been extremely useful to the

College in providing direction and focus over a shorter period, impact is measured

through KPIs.

The annual plan is constructed with Health, Safety and Wellbeing priorities identified on

a risk assessment basis and linked to national targets for the further education sector.

Monitoring the progress of the plan is undertaken via several sources, the Senior

Management Team (SMT) the Organisational Development Committee (OD) and the

Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee with regular update reports from the Estates

Management Group. It is crucial for the success of the plan that identified priorities are

realistic, achievable and can be discharged within the allocated time and resources.

Health and Safety Management System

The ‘Safety Management Template’, has been tailored to include a defined set of

standards for safety management.

HASMAP is similar to the HSE model for “Successful Health and Safety Management”

which sets out a comprehensive management system for effective risk control.

The HASMAP indicators address the 4 indicators that are essential to a well founded

health and safety management system. The indicators are:

Commitment: ‘Commitment of the senior people in any organisation is recognized as

an essential element of good health and safety practice.

Organising: ‘Organising is regarded as consisting of four inter related and

interdependent set of arrangements i.e. control, co-operation, communication and

competence.

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Planning and risk control: ‘There should be an effective procedure for hazard

identification, risk assessment and risk control.

Measuring and reviewing performance: ‘There should be arrangements for

monitoring the management of health and safety in the organisation against pre-

determined plans and meaningful performance standards.

HR Services - Health and Safety Risk Register

HR Services maintain a risk register for each service, including a health and safety risk

register. The register mirrors the format of the College’s overall Risk Register.

The register summarises the main areas of health and safety risk and the risk control

arrangements which are in place.

During the course of each year the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee will satisfy

themselves that the scoring for each risk is an accurate reflection of the assessment of

the risk controls which are in place.

To this end, the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee will discuss the register on a

semi-annual basis.

The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee will also consider the adequacy of the risk

controls and where improvements should be made.

Advice and Support

The primary health and safety advice resource for the College is provided through the

Health, Safety and Wellbeing Advisor (HSWA) who advises on all aspects of health,

safety and wellbeing for both staff and students.

The HSWA’s core work involves:

• The provision of advice and support

• Health and safety management audits

• Safety inspections

• Accident investigations

• Assessing new and proposed health and safety legislation and its impact on the

College

• Consulting on health and safety policies and procedures

• Attending relevant meetings and committees

• Development and circulation of guidance on a variety of health and safety related

subjects

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• Provision of statistics and appropriate reports for committees, local site health and

task groups

• Liaising on first aid matters including First Aider training

• Administration of the Display Screen Eye Training and support

• Health and Safety training – Fire, Stress, Risk Assessment and Wellbeing topics

• Supporting Departmental Health and Safety Facilitators /Champions

• Liaising with Occupational Health Provider(s)

The Role of the Health and Safety Facilitator/Champion

Although the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Advisor strive to meet customer demands,

there is no substitute for day to day advice and support from within a department.

This important role provides extra support at departmental level for the advisory

element of the health and safety management system.

The departmental Health and Safety Facilitator/Champion will provide support and

advise staff and managers and aid them to discharge their health and safety

responsibilities.

The champions will report to the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee on

departmental issues and ensure that regular inspections of workplaces are undertaken.

Health and Safety Training

A range of Health and Safety courses are regarded as mandatory and are now

delivered as part of the e-learning programme.

Mandatory e-learning courses:

Course Name Staff undertaking

the courses 2011-

2012

Pass Resits

Assessing Risk 289 149 140

DSE/Workstation Safety - NEW 49 44 5

Fire Safety and Evacuation 257 154 103

Health and Safety at Work 269 149 120

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Mandatory e-learning courses continued/…..

Course Name Staff undertaking

the courses 2011-

2012

Pass Resits

Personal Safety - NEW 57 51 6

Slips, Trips and Falls 257 149 108

Stress At Work 264 118 146

Additional courses and non e-learning courses delivered during this period

include:

Induction Delivered within one week of new staff

member starting employment.

Health and Safety Awareness February and June staff development days

Stress Management Awareness June staff development days

First Aid Courses External provider (as required)

Fire Safety Awareness On-going as required

IOSH Managing Safely Service Leaders via British Safety Council

Student Placements

A procedural document and Health and Safety checklists were prepared to assist staff,

students and placement providers together with a range of risk assessments which

cover most work placement types, are available on the staff intranet site.

Scotland’s Colleges are currently working on a project to simplify the evaluation and

vetting of host organisations.

Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee

The College Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee is formed under statute and is the

principal consultation forum on health and safety within the College. The committee

meets at regular intervals and is chaired by the Assistant Principal for Human

Resources and Organisational Development.

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Membership represents all work groups and trade union and student representation.

The following provides an illustration of the primary issues dealt with by the committee

during the 2011-12 periods:

• Discussion on annual and termly accident reports

• Received overview of the Health & Safety management audit

• Discuss impact of legislative changes

• Advise on the College Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy

• Advise on amendments to existing forms and documents

• Discussion on asbestos identification and management action plan

• Monitored progress on the College’s Annual Operating Plan

• Consideration of all College Campuses in respect of Wellbeing and Safety initiatives

including staff’s personal safety

Consultation/Task Groups

The College has an extensive consultation framework in respect of Health, Safety and

Wellbeing.

In addition to the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee, other key work groups

include the HR and Facilities Management Working Group and the RESPECT Working

Group.

Periodically, task groups are formed to deal with specific subjects that require more

additional thought and consideration; examples include The Wellbeing Day Working

Group and The Graduation Day Working Party, whose members meet at specific times

of the year to provide good quality and practical advice for the specific activity or event.

The RESPECT and the Facilities Management Group provide operational reports which

will form part of the agenda of the College Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee.

Policies and Guidance

The College Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy and associated Procedures were

reviewed in August 2012, and all Health, Safety and Wellbeing documents can be found

on the staff extranet site, under the HR Services page, transferring the reader to the

Health and Safety or Wellbeing as shown in the extracts below.

During this reporting period, the pages have been updated to include a dedicated

section on Wellbeing which is proving very popular.

The section provided booking details for this year’s Staff Wellbeing Day in June 2012,

and more recently International Stress Awareness Day in November 2012.

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Staff and Students are accessing self-help booklets and leaflets as part of their

curriculum training materials.

Front Page-HR Staff Site Extract from Wellbeing Page

Accident and Incidents

The College is required by statute to record and maintain records of accidents that

occur in connection with its work, learning and teaching. Quarterly accident reports are

compiled for submission and scrutiny by the Senior Management Team, Organisational

Development Committee, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee and the Estates

Management Group.

To date, comparing statistics has been difficult largely due to the varying nature of

recording; some Colleges use the HSE method of incident recording, whilst others

favour different methodology. The College system mirrors that of the HSE accident

reporting system.

During this reporting period, there were 64 incidents reported to the Health, Safety and

Wellbeing Advisor.

Eight of the incidents were medical related illness, which are not normally recognised in

a typical workplace reporting system; however because of the nature of the College

environment, medical ratios have been included for trend analysis purposes.

Figure 1 provides details of the incidents reported within this period. Other covers Near

Misses and Dangerous Occurrences. Three incidents involved members of the public.

Two potentially dangerous situations arose when fires occurred in the Gallery. Another

dangerous occurrence involved a delivery vehicle, which ran into a power supply.

There were no incidents were reported to the HSE, however due to the serious nature

of the incident in October 2012, this has been included in the annual report.

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Figure 1: Incident Figures Sept 2011 – Sept 2012

Month

Total

Number of

incidents

Staff Student Contractor MOP HSE

RIDDOR

Medical

Related

Incident

V&A Other

Sept 2011 13 13 0 2 2

Oct 2011 4 4 0 2

Nov 2011 12 2 10 0 2 2

Dec 2011 5 1 4 0

Jan 2012 1 1 0

Feb 2012 3 1 2 0 1

Mar 2012 11 10 1 0 2 2

Apr 2012 2 2 0 2

May 2012 4 3 1 0 1 1

June 2012 1 0 1 0 1

July 2012 1 1 0

Aug 2012 2 1 1 0 1

Sept 2012 5 5 0 2

Total for

Period 64 4 56 1

3 0 13 7 3

Health and Wellbeing

SALUS – Occupational Health Provider’s Report

Appointments Attended DNA

Late

cancel Cancelled Total

Doctor - New Management Referral – as follows

Infections 1

Musculo skeletal 3

Neurological 2

Psychological/Psychiatric 1 7 1 1 3 12

Doctor - Medical Review 4

4

Doctor - New Management Referral Tele Consult 1

1

Nurse - New Management Referral Tele Consult

2 2

Nurse - Medical Review Tele Consult 1 1

2

Pre-employment Paper Screen 93

93

Pre-employment Telephone Screen 5

5

Case Conference 1

1 2

Total 112 2 1 6

121

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ECS – Employee Counselling Service’s Report

Service Analysis Clerical/

Admin

Manual/

Operational

Teacher/

Lecturer

Undisclosed Totals

Referrals - Personal Problems 1 0 2 3

Referrals - Work Related 0 1 0 1

Total First Appointments Kept 1 1 2 4

Failed To Attend First Appointment 1 0 0 1

Phoned To Cancel Appointment 0 0 0 0

Helpline contacts

A Personal Problems 5 5

B Work related Problems. 1 1

C Enquiry For Structured Counselling 0

D General Support / Information 2 2

Total Helpline Contacts 0 0 0 8 8

Total New Contacts 2 1 2 8 13

Wellbeing Day

Following a previous successful Staff Health and Wellbeing Day in 2010, the Wellbeing

Team scheduled another event for June 2012. Despite inclement weather conditions,

College staff demonstrated their incredible endurance, exuberance and determination.

Events commenced with an inspirational talk by Chris Moon MBE, followed by activities

and fun events which included: Fishing, Golf, Football, Samba Drumming, Relaxation

Therapies which culminated with a delicious barbeque prepared by Mark Hunter and the

Catering team. During the barbeque celebrations, trophies were presented to the

winners of the Fishing, Golf and Football events by the Principal, which concluded a

joyous event.

Stress Management

All staff received the HSE Stress Management Questionnaire during August 2012, with

46% of staff returning a completed form.

HSE’s guidelines suggest that a return of less than 50% should be treated with caution.

Curriculum Returns Service Returns Overall Returns

68 60 128

Follow up focus group meetings will support the overall analysis and conclusions and a

finalised Stress Management Report will follow as a separate paper.

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Enforcement Agencies

The College is still one of the largest local community employers and is subject to a

substantial number of statutory regulations. Therefore, it is not uncommon for the

College to be the subject of visits and inspections by a number of enforcement

agencies. Ensuring a positive relation with enforcement agencies has reduced the

potential for enforcement action.

The following summarises the visits to the College by relevant enforcement bodies

during the period under review.

Fire Authorities (Strathclyde Fire and Rescue) undertook routine familiarisation

visits.

Fire evacuations in Holehouse Road and COSE campuses were planned, and

included evening evacuations.

Environmental Health Services (East Ayrshire Council) were invited by Mark Hunter,

Catering Services Leader to audit the Kaleidoscope Café, and were satisfied with

the premises safety and services provided.

The Health and Safety Executive visited the College in October 2012 following a

serious incident involving a catering contractor. The damaged apparatus has now

been returned to the Catering Supplier. The College has since been cleared of any

wrong doing in relation to the incident.

Future Direction

Operating Plans

The College and Human Resources Operating Plans have identified the key areas for

future direction.

Key performance indicators are used to track how the College is doing in terms of

achieving Health and Safety goals. These indicators are used as a way of collecting

data and communicating trends relating to safety. Leading indicators serve as a

predictive indicator of future performance.

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A review of the Manager’s Self Audit Process

The current Self Audit template was based on HSE guidelines “HSG65, Successful

Health and Safety Management”, with department managers being asked to complete

the template in January of each year. This information gathered is matched against the

HR and Health and Safety Action Plans and KPI’s to ensure the department offers

suitable and sufficient training and support.

Generic findings from the 2011 – 2012 Self Audits:

More work is required to support those work groups with less experience in undertaking risk assessments.

Staff agree they have an increased awareness of Health and Safety, however, many staff require to undertake mandatory training.

Off Campus Trips are not always advised in advance of the trip and as per the timescale required.

Accident and Incident reporting is sporadic. All areas are under review with appropriate training provided.

The Health and Safety Management Profile Audit, as a replacement to

the HSG65 model.

The Health and Safety Management Profile Audit, has been accepted by the

Health and Safety Executive as a valid audit method for Higher and Further Education.

The overall purpose of the system is to reassure the relevant management of how well

they are complying, and to identify potential areas of concern and also provide

indications of how improvements can be made.

The Audit is broken down into a number of key indicators, covering such aspects as

leadership, risk analysis, organising controls, and monitoring. The outcome of the audit

gives a clear indication on areas of good performance or areas where improvements

can be made.

The new Audit template will be available for completion during February 2013.

Regionalisation Meetings

An initial introduction meeting took place in Kilmarnock College between Health and

Safety representatives from James Watt, Ayr and Kilmarnock College and provided an

opportunity to align many of the common processes in place.

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The programme of meetings are scheduled to commence late November 2012; with a

view to providing a benchmarking platform.

During the remainder of 2012 and through 2013, the Health and Safety Work stream

will endeavour to align all three Ayrshire Colleges Policies, Processes and Practices.

Liz Burley

Health, Safety and Wellbeing Advisor

November 2012