Issue 1
APPENDIX B
Strategic Health and Safety Improvement Plan
April 2011
1
Strategic Health and Safety Improvement Plan Issue1
Strategy Outcome / What does success look like / Actions / HSE Inspection Ref. / Lead Officer / Target date / Completion date- Compliance with the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, Regulation 5 and other health and safety law where non-compliance would give rise to significant risk.
- The health and safety policy is appropriate and is implemented across the Council.
1.2.Include the role and responsibilities of the Lead Member with responsibility for health and safetyin the Health and Safety Policy. / 11 / HHPP / June 11
- An effective health and safety management system is in place to implement the health and safety policy.
- Significant health and safety risks have been identified and are controlled.
- Improved control of the Council’s key risk areas, as identified in our Corporate H&S Plan.
1.4.Members to be briefed on this plan and how it relates to their role in the delivery of health and safety across the Council. / HHPP / Aug 11
1.5.Identify the appropriate resources to deliver this plan. This will include identifying and addressing any internal or external challenges to delivery.
(Consider resources required at Corporate & Departmental levels – care should be taken not to overload Corporate H&S) / 3 / CEO / May 11
1.6.Departments to consider the Corporate Key Risk areas and identify and prioritise their own key risk areas. / HoD / HoS / July 11
1.7.Publish Corporate H&S Standards that set minimum standards (benchmarks) for Departments to measure themselves against. Publication will be phased over 12 months based on the Council’s priorities. / HHPP / Apr 12
1.8.Departments to review how well they assess and control risks against the Corporate H&S Standards for their key risk areas. They will identify any actions needed to meet the Corporate H&S Standards (i.e. a gap analysis).
(Corporate H&S to prioritise based on Departmental risk profiles) / 18 / HoD / HoS / Apr 12
1.9.Departments to review their health and safety action plans and ensure that they contain SMART actions that will eliminate gaps or reduce them to an acceptable level. / HoD / HoS / Aug 11
1.10.Corporate Health and Safety Steering Group to be established and to monitor delivery of plan through quarterly reports. / CE0 / Quarterly from Jun 11
1.11.Develop a plan for the control of slip and trip risks in all schools (and subsequently all non-domestic premises) under the control of Wrexham County Borough Council. This will incorporate the recommendations within the HSL report. (Links to 7.8 – ownership & accountability for risk in schools). / 24 / HLL / Jun 11
Strategy Outcome / What does success look like / Actions / HSE Inspection Ref. / Lead Officer / Target date / Completion date
- To build “Sensible Health and Safety” in to the Council’s health and safety culture
- Managers and employees understand and demonstrate sensible health and safety.
2.2.Introduce an employee comments/feedback system. (Links to 3.2) / NL / Sep 11
- Priority is given to real risks – both those which arise more often and those with serious consequences.
2.4.Review Departmental action plans to ensure that actions promote sensible health and safety. / 1 / TS / Jan 12
Strategy Outcome / What does success look like / Actions / HSE Inspection Ref. / Lead Officer / Target date / Completion date
- To improve the way health and safety incidents* are recorded, investigated and to improve how lessons learned within the Council and from external organisations are communicated.
- Employees report safety related incidents, which are investigated satisfactorily and appropriate action is taken to prevent further harm. Lessons learned from the incidents are shared.
3.2.Review how employees raise health and safety concerns or make suggestions and how these are investigated or considered. / 20,21 / HHPP / Jun 11
3.3.Identify the competence required for corporate health and safety personnel, managers & other departmental staff who investigate incidents. / 19, 20 / HHPP / Sep 11
3.4.Identify training needs and the resources requiredto deliver training. / 19, 20 / HHPP/ HoD / Sep 11
3.5.Revise the criteria for the selection of accidents/incidents investigated by departments and Corporate Health and Safety to include potential severity as a trigger for an independent investigation or review by Corporate Health and Safety. / 22 / HHPP / Sep 11
3.6.Consider establishing an enquiry panel to review the investigation of serious incidents. Managers should be expected explain to the panel what were the causes of the incident and what has been done as a result.
(Not to allocate blame but to ensure that we have responded appropriately and lessons learned have beenshared) / 23 / SPD-LR / Sep 11
- Lessons learned (including those from other departments and/or external organisations) are shared within a department and with other departments so that the maximum value is obtained and safety performance improved.
3.8.Review how information on improving the management of health and safety from external sources is gathered and communicated throughout the Council. / HHPP / Oct 11
3.9.Ensure all project reviews consider how well significant health and safety risks were managed, identify lessons to be learned for future projects and how widely the information needs to be communicated. / SPD-LR / Oct 11
Strategy Outcome / What does success look like / Actions / HSE Inspection Ref. / Lead Officer / Target date / Completion date
- To ensure managers demonstrate leadership in health and safety and thereby improve health and safety performance.
- Good leadership in health and safety is defined and manager’s leadership competencies are developed.
4.2.Identify leadershiptraining needs for Senior, Middle and Line Managers and Supervisors across the Council. / 10 / HoD / Jan 12
4.3.Develop and deliver health and safety leadership workshops and training based on the training needs analysis for Senior, Middle, Line Managers and Supervisors. / 10 / HHPP/ HLL / April 12(Senior/Middle)
July 12 (others)
4.4.Elected members will be given appropriate information on their role with regard to health and safety leadership and strategic decision making.
This should include arrangements for identifying relevant advice to be given to members under paragraph 8(a) in Part II of the Code of Conduct for Members. / 10 / HCCS / July 11
- Health and safety leadership is demonstrated and nurtured by members, senior managers, middle managers, line managers and supervisors.
- appointing the CEO (including SPD interim) to lead on H&S
- delivery of the health and safety plan as a personal objective of the Chief Executive Officer
- H&S as an agenda item at SLT once per quarter.
Oct 11
May 11
4.6.All Members will be asked to demonstratetheir commitment to health and safety by attending Member H&S briefing / induction.(Links to 4.4)
Consideration should be given to making Member Induction and member Training mandatory (e.g. via the Code of Conduct) / HCCS/All members / Oct 11
4.7.The collective commitment of the SLT, Leader of the Council & Lead Member for health and safety to be communicated to all staff via Link Up. This will include (a) what they are trying to achieve, (b) the importance of the Corporate H&S Strategy & Improvement Plan and (c) how delivery will be monitored. / 9, 10 / LR- SPD / June 11
4.8.Health and safety to be included as a standing item on Departmental and Service Management Team meetings. / 10 / HoD / HoS / June 11
4.9.Review the attendance at Corporate, Departmental & Service level H&S groups or committees to ensure that senior and middle managers regularly attend and demonstrate the importance and value of these groups. / SPD-LR / July 11
4.10.Develop a programme of “back to the floor” visits by Lead Members, Senior & Middle managers which includes feedback to DCoT.
(This could include more than just health and safety issues) / 10 / SPD-LR / Oct 11
Strategy Outcome / What does success look like / Actions / HSE Inspection Ref. / Lead Officer / Target date / Completion date
- To ensure that employees and elected members have the appropriate health and safety competence to meet their responsibilities anddo their job safely.
- the appropriate health and safety competence for managers at all levels and employees have been identified.
- Any training or development necessary to achieve competence has been identified, quantified, planned and resourced to ensure timely delivery.
5.2.Carry out Corporate level training needs analysis and the resources required. Develop a prioritised corporate development programme (as part of the corporate learning and development plan). / HHPP / Jan 12
5.3.Departments to identify the specific health and safety competence required for employees at all levels (appropriate to theirrole and the hazards involved in the work they are responsible for). / HoD / Jan 12
5.4.Departments to identify training needs and the resources required to deliver training. Develop a prioritised programme of delivery. / HoD / Jan 12
5.5.Review the arrangements for the procurement and provision of health and safety training across the Council in order to:
- achieve clarity and consistency of provision (including the roles of Corporate Training and Corporate H&S)
- integrate development of H&S competencies fully into the corporate learning and development plan and appraisal process for 2012/13.
- the appropriate health and safety competence for the Lead Member with responsibility for Health and Safety, other Lead Members and other elected members have been identified.
- any information or training required is identified and delivered.
5.7.Review the support mechanisms available to enable the Lead Member with responsibility for health & safety to enable him/her discharge the generic and specific responsibilities of the post.(Links to 4.4 and 4.6) / 12 / HHPP / Oct 11
5.8.Develop and deliver a programme of training and information briefings for elected members.(Links to 4.4 and 4.6) / 12 / HHPP / Oct 11
Strategy Outcome / What does success look like / Actions / HSE Inspection Ref. / Lead Officer / Target date / Completion date
- To ensure that where the Council contracts out work, works in partnership with other organisations or works with volunteers suitable arrangements are in place to properly and satisfactorily address health and safety risks.
- Where the Council supports activities undertaken by others, consideration of the adequacy of health and safety arrangements will be part of the process in selecting projects to support.
6.2.Introduce a suitable mechanism to ensure that Senior Managers and Members appropriately challenge the H&S aspects of organisational change (transformation), policies and projects and that these are given proper account in Senior Manager / Member decision making. / 15 / SPD / Oct 11
- Effective health and safety systems are in place to procure and manage contractors, assess their competence to work safely and to deal effectively with poor H&S performance.
6.4.Identify training needs for managers and other staff supervising contracts as part of the Corporate and Departmental training needs analysis. / HHPP/ HoD / Jan 12
6.5.Ensure that clear standards for health and safety performance (including arrangements for dealing with poor performance) are laid down for contracted work (e.g. in contract documentation). / HHPP / Jan 12
6.6.Review supervision and monitoring arrangements to ensure the level of performance required is met and poor performance is dealt with effectively. / HHPP / Jan 12
6.7.Complete the current programme of competence assessment for construction contractors. / HHPP / Jan 12
6.8.Identify the minimum competence required for managing health and safety for non-construction contractors and implement a programme of competence assessment.
(Examples include cleaning, equipment maintenance, grounds maintenance, waste removal, events ) / HHPP / Apr 12
6.9.Establish a database of “approved” contractors (those assessed to be competent) and include arrangements for contractors to be (a) “flagged” for enhanced monitoring and (b) to be removed from the database. / HHPP / Sept 12
- Effective systems are in place to co-operate and co-ordinate health and safety with partners (other organisations and volunteers) who help deliver our services and, where appropriate, assess their competence to work safely.
6.11.Share the benchmarking exercise and summary report for Commissioning Care in the Private Sector with North Wales Local Authorities and give consideration to how this initial work can be taken forward by all the North Wales Authorities. / 29,30 / SPD-PW / Oct 11
Strategy Outcome / What does success look like / Actions / HSE Inspection Ref. / Lead Officer / Target date / Completion date
- To create a positive effect on health and safety culture and performance throughincreased employee involvement in health and safety matters (inclusive of union and non-union members).
- Managers involve employees and health and safety representatives in inspections, investigations and risk assessments.
7.2.Review Departmental arrangements for risk assessment and health and safety monitoring (inspections & investigations) to ensure there is appropriate input from employees and their representatives. / HoD / HoS / Aug 11
- A genuine management /workforce partnership exists based on trust, respect and co-operation.
7.4.Review the arrangements for communicating health and safety information (vertical and horizontal) throughout the Council, identify barriers to communication and develop a plan to address the barriers. / SPD-LR / July.11
7.5.Review the arrangements in place to consult employees and their representatives at Corporate, Departmental, Service and team levels to ensure that:
- Employees are engaged and consulted in the process of setting H&S policy, management arrangements, performance standards and performance measures.
- there is adequate representation at Corporate, Departmental & Service level H&S groups or committees for all staff (employees, union safety representatives and employee H&S representatives).
- Employees receive appropriate feedback from active and reactive monitoring.
HoD / HoS / Oct 11
7.6.Complete Health and Safety Climate Survey and work with HSE to identify priorities for improvement. / HHPP / Oct 11
7.7.Repeat Health and Safety Climate Survey to evaluate the impact on culture and behaviour. / HHPP / May 12 (annually)
7.8.Evaluate methods for developing and sustaining positive culture and behaviours and develop a plan for improvement. / 16 / SPD-LR / Oct 11
7.9.Evaluate the factors affecting the perception of accountability and responsibility for health and safety in schools H&S responsibilities in order to identify, plan and implement improvement actions. This shall include:
- A critical review of the appropriateness and effect of the Service Level Agreement between Corporate H&S and Schools.
- Relevant Information from other local authorities.
7.10.Corporately recogniseexamples of good practice where managers and employees have worked together to improve H&S performance. / SLT / Apr 12
Strategy Outcome / What does success look like / Actions / HSE Inspection Ref. / Lead Officer / Target date / Completion date
- To improve the way that health and safety performance is measured and monitored.
- Key areas of health and safety performance are identified
- The most effective and meaningful data, both reactive and proactive is identified.
- Systems to measure, analyse and publish the data are in place
- Performance measures are SMART.
- Monitoring data is used as part of the planning process to improve health and safety performance further.
- There is a consistent approach to auditing within and across departments, focusing on predetermined standards that influence improvements in health and safety performance.
- Safety management systems adopted at all levels of the Council are measured against the agreed standards.
- Effective benchmarking is undertaken with other similar organisations where appropriate.
8.2.Identify key health and safety performance measures at the corporate level and set performance targets.
See performance measures PM1 – PM6 in the Corporate Health and Safety Strategy. / 6 / SPD-LR / May 11
8.3.Develop and implement a suitable system (e.g. balanced scorecard) to performance manage the key corporate health and safety performance measures.
This system could be “piloted” in 2011/12 and refined for 2012/13 onwards. / 4 / HHPP / May 11
8.4.Review accountability for health and safety performance (at all levels) and identify appropriate outcomes for both good and poor performance. / 5 / SPD-LR / Jun 11
8.5.Include appropriate health and safety objectives in the personal objectives of the Chief Executive and Heads of Departments. / SLT / Oct 11
8.6.Review the role and resources of Corporate Health and Safety and develop a plan to take the role of Corporate Health and Safety forward. / 27, 28 / SPD-LR / Oct 11
8.7.Review the role and operation of Corporate, Departmental & Service level H&S groups or committees to ensure that mechanisms are in place to implement actions in good time and escalate matters that have not been actioned. / HHPP / Oct 11
8.8.Give all managers, employees and elected members clear information on how employees should raise concerns about health and safety (links to development of corporate standard in 3.2). / HHPP / Sep 11
8.9.Work together with local authorities across North Wales (and all Wales as appropriate) to identify opportunities for benchmarking, inter authority auditing and partnership work that will improve the robustness of the Council’s health and safety management system. / HHPP / Mar 12
Strategy Outcome / What does success look like / Actions / HSE Inspection Ref. / Lead Officer / Target date / Completion date
- To improve employee health and well-being
- Employee health and well-being is incorporated into the management processes and culture of the Council.
- Key preventable ill health issues in the workplace are identified and dealt with (WAG Health Challenge Wales objectives for 2015)
- The Corporate Health Standard Award has been achieved.
- Employees are encouraged to take responsibility for their own health and fitness.
9.2.Consider how Workplace Health is positioned in the Health and Safety vision, how success can be measured, and how this should be presented to Members / HHPP / Sep 11
9.3.Consult employees and their health and safety representatives on how they can contribute to improving Workplace Health. / HHPP / Jun 11
9.4.Set up a Workplace Health Steering Group and develop an action plan to achieve the Bronze Corporate Health Standard. / HHPP / Jun 11
9.5.Complete action plan and prepare for external assessment. / HHPP / Sep 11
Other Outcomes / What does success look like / Actions / HSE Inspection Ref. / Lead Officer / Target date / Completion date
- HSE recommendations relating to Environment Department are actioned
- The significant areas of non-compliance raised by HSE with the Department and Corporate Health and Safety are addressed and the outcome reported back to HSE.
10.2.Head of Environment to agree timescales with SLT and to report progress to S&P Director and SLT on a monthly basis until actions have been completed. / 17, 18 / JB / May 11
Key