Hampshire Fire and Rescue Authority

Item 10

26 September 2001

Health and Safety Progress Report

Report of the Chief Fire Officer

Contact:

Chris Bacon

T/Assistant Chief Fire Officer

Tel: 023 8064 4000

ext 207

1

Introduction

1.1

This report provides an update on actions taken following the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) formal inspection/audit of HFRS during September 2000. A presentation was made to the Authority on 7 February 2001, highlighting that HFRS had not been subject to an improvement notice or any enforcement action but it had been issued with a report containing a number of recommendations.

1.2

The HSE had praised HFRS, stating "we recognise that there is a clear commitment throughout the Service to improving health and safety and much progress has been made in recent years."

1.3

The presentation on 7 February 2001 identified that continual improvement was necessary and that achieving minimum standards based on legislation was not considered good enough.

1.4

The impact of the HSE report was that:

* HFRS must comply with the recommendations;

* additional improvements were essential;

* there would be significant impact across the Service, especially within the Operations Department;

* tight deadlines had been set which would be difficult to achieve.

1.5

Further pressure has been placed on HFRS by government reports produced in partnership with the Health & Safety Commission (HSC). 'Revitalising Health and Safety' and 'Securing Health Together' laid down targets to reduced working time lost from injuries and ill health at work, and recommended steps be taken to achieve the rehabilitation of those affected to achieve an earlier return to work. The emphasis of these reports is that public bodies are expected to set an example and that increased scrutiny from enforcing authorities will follow to monitor progress.

2

Progress with Action Plan to address HSE recommendations

2.1

The HSE report, which can be viewed in full on the HFRS website at:

http://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/manage/safety/Reports/hseinspection.html

www.hantsfire.gov.uk/manage/safety/Reports/hseinspection.html

contained 15 key recommendations. HFRS responded with an action plan and the progress of each item is reported below with the paragraph numbers corresponding to those in the HSE report.

2.1.1

A health and safety strategic plan should be produced which encompasses the points outlined in the report.

Action by: Manager Occupational Health and Safety to draft plan for consideration by Health, Safety and Welfare Committee and approval by the Service Management Team (SMT). This should also be reported to the fire authority for information. Completion by: 1 April 2001.

Progress: COMPLETED. The strategic plan can be viewed in full on our website http://www.hantsfire.gov.uk/manage/polplans/corporateplan/occhealthstratplan.html.

2.1.2

The policy and procedures for lone workers should be reviewed to ensure adequacy and consistency of control measures.

Action by: Policy review by Manager, Occupational Health and Safety. Procedural checks by function heads, including SDO Fire Safety, Workshops Manager, IS Manager, to ensure measures suitable and sufficient. Completion by: 1 June 2001.

Progress: COMPLETED. The existing Service Order fully reviewed and re-issued. Arrangements are in hand to check the control measures are effective.

2.1.3

The proposed system of workplace audits should be reviewed to ensure it covers the points detailed in the report.

Action by: Quality Manager/Function Heads. Completion by: 1 September 2001.

Progress: The system for workplace audits is under review and the changes will be implemented by 1 October 2001.

2.1.4

The current system of accident reporting and investigation should be reviewed to improve the quality of investigations and the interface with Service investigations clarified.

Action by: Manager, Occupational Health & Safety and Divisional Officer (DO) Professional Standards. This also requires consultation with colleagues with the Chief and Assistant Chief Fire Officers' Association (CACFOA) region and alignment with Home Office requirements. Completion by: 1 April 2002 (was originally 1 September 2001).

Progress: See 2.1.5 below.

2.1.5

There should be greater analysis of accident, ill health and near-miss data.

Action by: Manager, Occupational Health & Safety and DO Professional Standards. This also requires consultation with colleagues with the CACFOA region and alignment with Home Office requirements. Completion by: 1 April 2002 (was originally 1 September 2001).

Progress: These actions have been recognised as being onerous and are described in more detail within the strategic plan. The actions link to the targets to reduce work related absence from injuries and illness.

At the Health, Safety and Welfare Committee Meeting in July 2001 it was agreed to extend these action completion dates to 1 April 2002.

A new database application has been purchased which will be used to collate and analyse data so that meaningful information can be produced.

2.1.6

An annual report on health and safety performance should be produced.

Action by: Manager, Occupational health and Safety. Completion by: 1 April 2002.

Progress: This report will be produced with a relevant summary being presented to the Authority at its February 2002 meeting.

2.1.7

There would be improved integration of documents for operational risk assessments.

Action: Senior Divisional Officer (SDO) Operations. Completion by: Stage 1, framework to be in place by 1 September 2001 and Stage 2, implementation by 1 March 2002.

Progress: Significant progress has been made and a new methodology for operational incident risk assessment has been developed. Occupational Health & Safety and Operations Departments are producing the risk assessments and updating relevant Service Orders. The new system is highly regarded and is on target to achieve the outcome well-ahead of schedule.

2.1.8

Information from Training Centre risk assessments should be shared to provide the basis for assessment of on-station training.

Action by: SDO Training. Completion by: 1 September 2001.

Progress: COMPLETED. Information is available on Firenet and our website.

2.1.9

The fire behaviour training risk assessments should be reviewed against the advice in Dear Chief Officer Letter (DCOL).

Action by: SDO Training. Completion by: 1 April 2001.

Progress: COMPLETED on schedule.

2.1.10

Manual handling assessments should be carried out for operational activities and consideration given to reducing manual handling wherever possible.

Action by: SDO Operations. Completion by: 1 April 2001.

Progress: The originally identified risk assessments were completed and circulated throughout HFRS by 1 April 2001. Additional risk assessments have been identified and these were circulated by 31 August 2001.

2.1.11

The new programme for manual handling training should be evaluated to ensure it provides appropriate and effective training.

Action by: SDO Training. Completion by: 1 September 2001.

Progress: COMPLETED. Arrangements are in hand to check that the training has been effective.

2.1.12

The issue of safety shoes should be reviewed to ensure that they are freely available.

Action by: SDO Operations. Completion by: 1 April 2001.

Progress: COMPLETED. Safety shoes are readily available alongside other items of personal protective equipment (PPE).

2.1.13

The PPE log should be introduced as soon as possible.

Action by: SDO Operations. Other function heads to ensure their staff have PPE logs. Completion by: 31 December 2000.

Progress: COMPLETED. The log books were issued before target-date.

2.1.14

The defect recording systems should be reviewed so as to allow better analysis of incident and failure trends.

Action by: SDO Operations for operational equipment, Transport Manager for appliances and Premises manager for premises. Completion by: 1 August 2001.

Progress: COMPLETED. Significant work has been achieved within the timescale to introduce data systems which enable defect recording and analysis of equipment defects for operational equipment and appliances. Property Services Department has also reviewed the system for recording premises defects.

2.1.15

The systems for repair of PPE and provision of replacement PPE should be monitored so as to ensure that delays are not excessive and that any PPE provided is fit for purpose.

Action by: SDO Operations. Revised date: 31 October 2001 (originally 1 June 2001).

Progress: The system for repair and provision of replacement PPE has been improved on schedule. However, ensuring PPE is fit for purpose has revealed the need for another project to carry out risk assessments to verify 'fit for purpose'. The revised target completion date for this part of the action was agreed at the HFRS Health, Safety and Welfare Committee meeting held in July 2001.

3

Future resource implications

3.1

The effort and resources that have been focused towards meeting the above targets, and those identified in the Occupational Health & Safety Strategic Plan, have been significant and has meant that other work has had to be delayed. If continual improvement and legislative compliance is to be achieved, it is expected that further resources will be required, in particular to assist the Operations and Training Departments meeting their statutory obligations and the Personnel Department in reducing sickness absence from injuries and accidents. Further work is essential in developing policy and procedures and ensuring the arrangements are in place for monitoring and measuring of performance.

4

European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998

4.1

The proposals within this report are compatible with the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998.

Recommendation

That the report be noted.

Section 100D - Local Government Act 1972 - background papers

The following documents disclose the facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and has been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of the report.

Health & Safety Executive (HSE) Report

HFRS Action Plan

HFRS Occupational Health & Safety Strategic Plan

NB The list excludes:

1 Published works

2 Documents that disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act

Dir-fin HFRA 26 Sep 01 - HS Progress