Lead Member – Councillor Gwilym Butler – Portfolio Holder for Finance and Corporate Resources

Report of James Walton – Executive Director of Resources

RESOLVED:

i)                To note the contents of the report; particularly noting:

Good progress has been made during 2021/2022 on managing health and safety across the Council.

·       Reportable employee accidents to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) have decreased and minor accidents have increased compared to last year’s figures.

·       Service Areas and the Health & Safety Team work well together.

·       The Council continues to maintain a good relationship with the HSE.

·       The Health & Safety Team were involved with various aspects of the floods, including advice, support and PPE advice.

·       The team started to resume business as usual activities to a pre-pandemic level as restrictions started to ease. The team had some capacity issues this year due to staff changes from a retirement and also some significant absence issues.

ii)               That the work programme was also noted.

The Portfolio Holder for Finance and Corporate Resources presented the report which provided a review of the health and safety performance for 2021/22, detailing the key health and safety challenges for the Council, progress on last year’s Annual Report and identifies key priorities for 2022/23. He thanked Carol Fox and her team for the work they have done in keeping the council and its staff safe in the ever-changing environment we find ourselves.

Questions were raised on the safety and testing of lighting columns, the data relating to stress related absence, site security at TMBSS Bridgnorth and the reduction of Health Visitors in North Shropshire from twelve to three. The Portfolio Holder confirmed that he had been advised that appropriate safety measures had been put in place by the Highways team to look at similar models of streetlamps across the county for incidents of internal corrosion with some already being replaced. With regards to the data, he advised that it was not possible to compare to the previous year as this was during lockdown and therefore any comparison should be to 2019 for more accurate figures. With regards to the site security at TMBSS, it was felt that this should be risk assessed and form part of the school’s budget based on its need in comparison to other budgetary pressures. Finally, with regards to staffing cuts, it was acknowledged that these were difficult times and there would be an opportunity for each party to re-evaluate budget priorities in the coming months.

RESOLVED:

i)                To note the contents of the report; particularly noting:

Good progress has been made during 2021/2022 on managing health and safety across the Council.

·       Reportable employee accidents to the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) have decreased and minor accidents have increased compared to last year’s figures.

·       Service Areas and the Health & Safety Team work well together.

·       The Council continues to maintain a good relationship with the HSE.

·       The Health & Safety Team were involved with various aspects of the floods, including advice, support and PPE advice.

·       The team started to resume business as usual activities to a pre-pandemic level as restrictions started to ease. The team had some capacity issues this year due to staff changes from a retirement and also some significant absence issues.

ii)               That the work programme was also noted.