London Borough of Lewisham Corporate OH&SMS

Communication, Participation, Consultation and Representation -

Contents

Purposes

Responsibilities and authorities

Activities

Communication

Identification of Required Communications and Communication Channels

Communication on OH&S Issues

Involvement and consultation

Representation

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Author
Approved by
Issue
Date of issue
Review date
Change history

Purposes

The purposes of this procedure are to ensure that:

pertinent OH&S information is communicated to and from employees

employees are involved in the development and review of policies and procedures for managing OH&S risks

employees are consulted when there are changes that affect workplace health and safety

all employees who wish to be so are represented on OH&S matters.

Contractors are consulted when there are changes that affect their OH&S

Relevant external interested parties are consulted about pertinent OH&S matters

NOTE 1. Informing employees about their OH&S representatives, the Management Appointee and their Directorates’ Management Nominees are dealt with in CP002 “ Procedure for OH&S competence, awareness and training”.

NOTE 2. Communications with other interested parties are included in the procedures dealing with those interested parties.

Roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and authorities

The following have responsibilities in this procedure.

The Management Appointee

Directorate Management Nominees

The Corporate Health and Safety Manager.

Authorities are commensurate with job titles.

Details of the responsibilities and exercise of authority are given in the Activities section of the procedure.

Activities

Communication - Internal

Identification of Required Communication and Communication Channels

The Corporate Health and Safety Manager will monitor requirements for OH&S communications relevant to the Council and, where such a requirement is identified, take appropriate action to set up the necessary channels of communication.

The Management Appointee monitors the requirements for OH&S communication between functions within the Council and where necessary, devise, implement and maintain effective communication channels between the different Directorates...

Communication on OH&S Issues

The Corporate Health and Safety Manager will monitor external sources of OH&S information and, where such information is relevant to Council personnel, ensure effective communication of the information to all relevant personnel.

The Management Appointee ensures that all personnel communicate with, and encourage communication from, all persons under their control on all pertinent OH&S issues.

The Management Appointee ensures that communications on OH&S matters between functions within the Council are maintained at an appropriate level.

.Communication - External

The Management Appointee in conjunction with the Corporate Health and Safety Manager monitors the requirements for OH&S communication to and from contractors and where necessary, devise, implement and maintain effective communication channels between the different Directorates

The Management Appointee in conjunction with the Corporate Health and Safety Manager monitors the requirements for OH&S communication to and from these visitors, where necessary, devise, implement and maintain effective communication channels for these visitors.

The Chief Executive Office receives, documents and forward these to the Corporate Health and Safety Manager who responds to communications sent to the Council by the Health and Safety Executive and other interested parties.

Participation

The Management Appointee encourages participation in OH&S of all persons in the Council by

Appropriate involvement in risk assessment

Appropriate involvement in incident investigation

Involvement in the development and review of OH&S policies and objectives

Consultation where there are changes that affect their OH&S, and

Representation on OH&S

Consultation via Committees

The Management Appointee ensures that the Joint Consultative Committee meets at the frequency set out in the written constitution of that committee. The written Constitution for this committee is maintained by the Committee Officer??? Who posts the up to date version on the intranet.

The Management Appointee attends the Corporate Joint Consultative Committee which is the forum for consultation between the council and members of the public.

Involvement and consultation

Direct involvement and consultation

Management Nomineesare required to ensure that all Line Managers

  • involve all persons under their control in the development and review of all relevant policies and procedures for managing OH&S risks, and
  • consult all persons under their control when there are proposals for changes that may affect the workplace health and safety of those persons.

NOTE 1: Relevant policies and procedures are primarily policies and procedures which directly affect how a person does his or her job (for example risk assessments). Directorate level and Corporate level policies and procedures are dealt with via representation, see below.

NOTE 2: Appendix 1 (add link) shows a diagrammatic structure for the process of employee involvement in, and consultation about, OH&S via OH&S representation.

Involvement and consultation with trade unions and staff representatives via OH&S representation

The Corporate OH&S Committee is the formal corporate forum for employee involvement in, and consultation about, OH&S via OH&S representation.

The Management Appointee (The Executive Director for Resources), will ensure that the Council’s Corporate OH&S Committee, meets at the frequency set out in the written Constitution of that Committee (see Appendix 2 (add link)).

The Corporate Health and Safety Manager will maintain the written Constitution for the Corporate OH&S Committee and will post the up to date version at the Corporate Health and Safety Sharepoint site.

Directorate OH&S Committees

Directorate OH&S Committees are the formal Directorate forums for employee involvement in, and consultation about, OH&S via OH&S representation within the Directorates.

Management Nominees are required to ensure that:

  • within each Directorate, there is one formal Directorate OH&S Committee, and that any local OH&S committees for employee involvement in, and consultation about, OH&S feed into the formal Directorate OH&S Committee.
  • the Directorate OH&S Committee meets at the frequency set out in the written Constitution for Directorate committees.

The Management Nominee will:

  • chair the Directorate OH&S Committee and
  • attend the Corporate OH&S Committee as an Ex-Officio member

Management Nominees will maintain a written Constitution for their individual Directorate OH&S Committee and post the up to date version at their Directorate’s Sharepoint site. (Appendix 3(add link))

Representation

Management Nominees are required to ensure that:

  • all employees are informed of their right to OH&S representation during their induction period and how to contact them, so that at the end of the induction, the employee is able to contact their OH&S representative (see CP002 Procedure for OH&S competence, awareness and training). (see Time Off For Trade Union Activities, TOFTUA)
  • all employees are reminded of their right to OH&S representation at least annually.
  • all employees’ wishes with regard to OH&S representation are identified (Safety Representatives and Employee Representatives).
  • an appropriate number of OH&S representatives is specified, such that all categories of the Directorate’s employees are represented
  • Guidance for time off for H&S representation is contained in the Council’s TOFTUA agreement which can be found on the HR policies and procedures Sharepoint site.
  • the nomination or election of these OH&S representatives is facilitated.

Management Nominees should

  • ensure that duly nominated or elected OH&S representatives have such access to workplaces, employees, other Council personnel, interested parties and relevant documentation, as will enable them to carry out their activities as OH&S representatives.
  • ensure that a relevant OH&S safety representative is invited to take part in any incident investigation, OH&S inspection, being carried out within the Directorate where appropriate.

Consultation with Contractors

The Management Nominees ensure that managers in charge of contractors consult with these contractors when there are changes which affect the contractors OH&S.

Consultation with External Interested Parties

The Management Appointee and Management Nominees consults the Health and Safety Executive and other external interested parties about pertinent OH&S matters.

Records

The following forms are used in this procedure:

Constitution for the Corporate OH&S Committee

Corporate OH&S Committee Agenda and Minutes

Constitution for the Directorate OH&S Committees’

Constitution for Directorate OH&S Committees

Minutes of Directorates OH&S Committee

BS18001OHAS/Corp/CP103VERSION :

DATE : AUTHOR :Beatrice Aciro