Memorandum to the Board

MEMORANDUM TO THE BOARD

CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S REPORT – MARCH 2010

1.Health and Safety Report

The Health and Safety Report is attached at Appendix 1.

The increase in RIDDOR accidents is a concern and continues to be the main focus of our attention.

2.Defra

I attended a briefing for all Defra sponsored Chief Executives where we were given details of their plans and programmes for preparing for a new government and spending cuts. I was impressed by the much greater ‘grip’ the management team had on their finances and the organisation as a whole, compared to a couple of years ago.

They have already identified savings of over £100m but realise that new targets will emerge requiring another £500-600m over the next four years. There is still great uncertainty as to where and when these cuts will be implemented.

They are working to the following timetable:

• Budget – 24 March – will announce savings already identified (will have an accompanying suite of papers that will include proposals for rationalising Arms Length Bodies and improving their governance).

• Election plus 50 days – if Conservatives win there will be a mini budget announcing further in year (2010/11) cuts.

• September-October – Comprehensive Spending Review for 2011/12-2013/14. This will identify scale of cuts and how they are to be achieved. Details will be announced in PBR in November.

3.Third Sector Proposals

We hope there will be a statement within the budget that says government have decided that BW should become a third sector organisation with a company limited by guarantee being the favoured vehicle. This is a fantastic achievement albeit it will not be binding on a new government. We are going to work with Defra during April to try and embed the decision and resolve as many of government’s outstanding issues as possible so that new ministers are less inclined to reverse it.

Meanwhile we have now received letters of support from all four of the major user groups.

Steve Dunlop and I also recently met with Jonathan Price, the senior civil service contact in Scottish Government. They are clearly surprised at the speed of developments in Westminster and some way off knowing what Scottish Government’s preference will be. However, they accept the status quo is probably no longer an option and will be working with us to explore the best solution for the Scottish Canals.

4.Planning for the Future

We face huge challenges over the next 12 months as we seek to obtain the new government’s agreement, and then implement proposals. Although none of this is certain, we need to start planning.

I have therefore decided to take on a Change Management Consultant on a short term contract from May to December to work on the detail implementation plans for this. I am also asking Jim Stirling to spend a dedicated proportion of his time to this planning and with Nigel Johnson and myself, this will form a Transformation Board.

5.Business Plan

The Finance Director has set out our Corporate Plan for the next 4 years in his papers.

We have not found it easy to put this plan together and there are some very challenging assumptions built into the plan. As we seek to identify and obtain the savings necessary, we will be guided by the following key principles:

• We wish to maintain our expenditure on core waterways and major works throughout the plan
• We are prepared to accept greater risk in achieving full compliance with statutory obligations rather than cut expenditure on waterway maintenance
• We believe it is important to maintain expenditure on marketing and customer engagement as we build the foundation for entry into the third sector.

ROBIN EVANS

BWB3393

APPENDIX 1

HEALTH & SAFETY MANAGEMENT supplement – March 2010

1.0Introduction

1.1This report covers the period January to March 2010. The format of the report is in line with the format of reports presented at each Board meeting during the year and covers the four areas of risk – Assets, Visitors, Contractors/Volunteers and our People.

1.2 There are items for the Board to note in this report, in particular:

1.2.1Asset Management – development of our risk based approach, up-rating of Asset Inspection Process (AIP) and achievement of Principal Asset holding state levels (item 2.1).

1.2.2Port Marine Safety Code – action to undertake an external verification process during March 2010 (Item No. 9.1).

1.2.3Visitor Safety – There was 1 reportable injury to a member of the public (Item 3.2) and 2 serious near miss incidents (Item 3.3).

1.2.4Contractor/Volunteer Safety – there were no reportable incidents during the period involving a contractor or volunteer.

1.2.5Occupational Health and Safety – Some progress on reducing overall injuries (Appendix 1A). Manual Handling Injuries and Slip, Trips and Falls have reduced overall, but there has been a disappointing increase in reportable and major injuries. On 20 January, an emergency Safety Conference with 130 supervisors, engineers and waterway managers took place to agree a plan of action in response to the rise in serious injuries to colleagues in 2009. A comprehensive action plan has been worked up to cover the key issues identified (Appendix 1B).

1.2.6External Verification of Occupational Health and Safety Systems - appointment of RoSPA to undertake external verification process (Item 8.1).

2.0Assets

2.1Asset Management

2.1.1It has been reported previously that site inspections have been carried out where assets have been reported as difficult to access. Our Asset Inspection Process allows for an asset to be marked as not seen. This then raises a notification and action must be taken to improve access over a specified timescale. This has clarified an area of AIP. A project is now in place, with a budget ring fenced within the major works programme and with a single project manager, to tackle priority access issues across the network.

2.1.2The length inspection teams within each waterway now come under the direct management of the Waterway Engineer in the new structure.

2.1.3The audit work is continuing in a risk prioritised order on D graded assets. In addition, work continues on the location and review of pre 2004 (pre-SAP) principal inspection reports to ensure that they are properly recorded and that recommended actions have either been undertaken or reviewed by management and such decisions recorded. Work is complete on embankments and will continue in risk priority order. Work on culverts has now commenced.

2.1.4Work has commenced on the calculation of the base-line Stewardship Score. The score comprises a number of components calculated using our network asset data, safety data and customer perception information and will be calculated annually.

2.1.5From 2 November 2009, our Head of Asset Management has taken over responsibility from the business units for the statutory and BW mandatory inspections of operational buildings. The validation and transfer of data and inspection records from the business units is now underway with a full dataset for upload to SAP expected by March 2010. Some issues have already become apparent, mainly around inconsistent recording of data, which will be resolved during 2010. Any urgent issues will be actioned immediately in conjunction with the relevant Waterway Manager.

2.2Property

2.2.1 Having previously identified that there are gaps in the inspection of the non-operational vacant properties held by British Waterways, a national contract has been awarded to ensure that a safety risk assessment has been prepared for each property in accordance with the BW Standard.

2.2.2The teams continue to work to improve safety compliance in other aspects of the property business area. One example is the testing of gas and electrical services in the commercial and residential estate where stricter monitoring is producing improvement in compliance, but this is an area in which further improvement will be made. In relation to asbestos regulations, a Duty Holder has been identified for each property and an asbestos management strategy is in place. This strategy is being refined to cover properties controlled by tenants on fully repairing and insuring leases and residential properties.

3.0Visitor Safety

3.1The focus on Minimum Safety Standards (MSS) has been a major initiative impacting public and customer safety. Ensuring delivery of MSS remains a key action aimed at driving down the number of infrastructure related customer incidents.

3.2There has been 1 Reportable Injury to a Member of the Public since the last report. A customer moored his boat at the Fradley Yard Water Point. On exiting the front of his boat, the sandstone coping stone gave way under his feet and dropped around 10 inches. The resulting shock of the drop injured his left leg and back. The customer was taken to hospital and detained for 2 days with suspected internal injuries.

3.32 serious near miss incidents occurred during the period. In late January, a tree from our land fell across towpath at LlangollenCanal causing significant damage to an unoccupied moored boat – see photograph below.

3.3.1Tree surveys are under review and significant tree work is planned for 2010/11 in several waterways subject to funding availability.

3.3.2During February, a welded metal balance beam broke on the Trent and MerseyCanal – see photograph below.

3.3.3Investigation has established that the weld failed. The weld which was probably undertaken 30+ years ago might have partially failed sometime prior to incident and was not identified by routine inspection as indications may not have been visible. All similar welded beams are being located and will be inspected over the next 2 months including specialist non distributive testing where necessary.

4.0Contractors

4.1There were no reportable incidents involving contractors working for BW.

5.0Volunteers

5.1There has been no significant injury reported to a volunteer during the period. We are currently working with the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust to achieve self-supervising status.

5.2Volunteer health and safety arrangements have been the subject of audit. The audit concluded that the health and safety of volunteers is being managed appropriately.

6.0EmployeeOccupationalHealthandSafety

6.1Lost Time Injuries

6.1.1The improvement in Lost Time Injury rate has slipped back and no improvement over the year has been achieved and our efforts are concentrated on improving this situation. The programme of action following the emergency Safety Conference outlines our plans (Appendix 1B).

6.2Safety Benchmarks

6.2.1In the period of this report, our performance measurement against the Construction Industry Safety Benchmarkslipped back to 58%. Several years ago, we set ourselves the target of reaching the top quartile of companies and have done this several times but are unable to consistently stay there. We firmly believe that further improvement will be linked directly to improvements in behavioural safety and implementing the action plan that has been developed.

6.3Progress against Targets 2009/10

-25% reduction in lost time injuries to B.W. employees (start point 28,March2010) –No improvement

-25% reduction in Manual Handling injuries (start point 21,March 2010) - progress 17 for 12 months to February2010 - 20% Decrease

-25% reduction in Slip/Trip/Fall injuries (start point 47,March 2010) - progress 33 for 12 months to February2010 – 24% Decrease

-400 worksite safety inspections by SMT members - progress to the end of February 2010 –240 inspections & 220 behavioural safety discussions recorded.

-Achieve 95% of visitor risk assessment plan – 87% reported complete (subject to audit)

7.0OccupationalHealth

7.1There have been no further cases of Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome since the last Board H&S report.

8.0Compliance

8.1RoSPA commenced an audit of our Safety Management System during February by undertaking the first stage of their very comprehensive audit process. Early feedback indicates good measures of compliance and there were no urgent improvement actions to undertake. The second stage of the audit will take place in June/July to enable a full report to be presented to the September Board.

9.0Port Marine Safety Code Compliance

9.1The Port Marine Safety Code (PMSC) is a non-statutory Standard produced by the Department for Transport (DfT), compliance with which will enable harbour authorities to demonstrate that their statutory duties for marine operations have been discharged by using the powers available to them.

9.2During 2010, we are taking the following actions:

• External Audit of PMSC compliance covering all port operations is taking place in March 2010.

• Quarterly reports by "harbour masters" in standard format with the first report made in January 2010.

• Competence for Harbour Personnel - Training by specialist external consultants underway and will be completed by April 2010.

APPENDIX 1A

EMPLOYEE SAFETY STATISTICS

Lost Time Incidents

The following Lost Time Injuries were reported since the last Board Report:

2/12/2009 - Reportable Over 3 Day Injury - Kennet and AvonCanal
Keith Pithouse injured his back whilst bending down low to lay bricks at Widmead lock. Following an investigation, it may have been due to the scaffolding being set too high. This resulted in a pulled lower back muscle.

6/1/2010 - Reportable Over 3 Day Injury - Canal Office, Ardrishaig, Crinan Canal
Lovat Cross was entering the Canal Office at the rear exit when he slipped on an area of untreated ice injuring his right arm.

22/1/2010 - Reportable Over 3 Day Injury - LeeBridge Sluices, London

Colin Wright was injured whilst clearing the walkways on the Lee Bridge Sluice when a board gave way under his foot and his leg went through to the groin.

27/1/2010 - Reportable Over 3 Day Injury - Bridge 73 on the Lancaster Canal
An agency worker was part of a team of two removing ivy from bridges and structures on the Lancaster canal. He had cut the ivy off at the root and as he pulled the ivy off a large section fell towards him, as he moved away he twisted his knee. He continued working for the rest of the day and reported sick the day after.

5/2/2010 - Reportable Major Injury - Paddington Basin, London
Peter Andrews was replacing the rear mooring line on a weed boat. The boat then drifted away from the bank to a 45 degree angle To get back onto the towpath he walked back towards the centre mooring chain and jumped and landed awkwardly causing him to fall and break his leg in two places.

10/2/2010 - Reportable Over 3 Day Injury - Kirk Lane Bridge, New Junction Canal, South Yorkshire Navigation
When Mark Lownes was bending down to knock a nail into a fence rail he felt a sharp pain in his lower back. He continued working for the rest of day however, the next morning the pain was worse and he was unable to come to work.

26/2/2010 - Reportable Over 3 Day Injury – Staffordshire & WorcestershireCanal, West Midlands

Neil Hunt was pumping water from a hopper loaded with stoppage equipment when boat tipped causing the old lock gate in the boat to pivot from its carrying cradle. Neil was struck a glancing blow to his side causing bruising injuries. This extremely serious incident is under investigation.

Performance Statistics

APPENDIX 1B

SAFETY CONFERENCE ACTIONS

Actions for Conference delegates

• Supervisors and Managers to commit to spend more time actively supervising their teams - immediate effect
  
• Group to clarify Operations Supervisor responsibilities by end March – (Dean Davis,
  David Baldacchino, Wendy Capelle, Tony Stammers and HR Representative
  
• Group to clarify Works Planner responsibilities by end March – (Simon Bamford, Sean McGinley, Debbie Lumb, Nick Worthington and HR Representative
  
• Safety Improvement Pledge - All to have completed, discussed and agreedwith line Manager by end of February – pledge available on Gateway Safety Page
  
• Systematic review of RA/MS to simplify and sharpen process to be completed by end March- HSA/Supervisors/Engineers
  
• Risk Assessments to be signed off by at least Supervisor level and approved by line manager - immediate effect
  
• POWRA understanding to be checked and improved, where necessary, by end of February– Supervisors. HSA Audit of implementation - April
  
• Supervisors to commit to attaining NEBOSH/NVQ3 accreditation by end December – Supervisors
  
• Risk management training programme to be completed by end December - Head of Safety
  
• New management safety audit process to be introduced by end March - all managers/HAS
  
• RoSPA audit of safety management system to be undertaken by end March - Head of Safety

Waterway Management specific actions:

• Ensure all processes are implemented consistently by cross checking with other Waterway Managers and reporting back to monthly Operations Meeting. Implementation response questionnaire confirming agreed roll out process has been undertaken to accompany new standards and processes. This will be completed by RLM for their unit.
  
• Drive safety message by regularly engaging in safety discussions. 2nd half 2010 - Workforce Behavioral Safety Revitalisation project to accompany Risk Management training program for managers.
  
• Drive message that shortcuts,which compromise safety, are absolutely not acceptable anddeal swiftly with any examples to the contrary discovered.
  
• Implement Operations Process work undertaken by project group.
  
• Training record update exercise to complete. Ensure return of training record forms to HR.