North East Wales NHS Trust

Trust Health & Safety Committee Meeting

Minutes of the Meeting of the Trust Health & Safety Committee

Held in the Trust HQ Board Room at 1.30 pm on

Wednesday, 21st June, 2006

Present

xxExecutive Nurse (Chair)

xxHealth & Safety Manager

xxGeneral Manager, Clinical Governance

xxMaternity Unit

xxOperational Manager, Imaging

xxMental Health

xx RCM

xxDeputy DGM, Medicine

xxOccupational Health Manager

xxClinical Governance Co-ordinator C & F

xxInfection Control

xxEstates Manager

xxUnison

xxCSP

xxTraining Manager

xxRCN

In attendance

xxSupport Officer H & S Manager/Risk Manager (minute taker)

xxManual Handling Trainer

001.06Apologies

xx Deputy Director Personnel, xx Risk Manager, xx represented by xx, xx Unison, xx Occupational Therapist.

002.06Minutes of Last Meeting

xx – Deputy DGM, Medicine not SATCH, otherwise minutes 15th March 06 were approved as a correct record.

003.06Presentation – Stress At Work Research Project

xx welcomed xx, Occupational Health Psychologist to the meeting. xx had been invited to give the committee an update on the training and workshops undertaken as part of her research project.

xx explained that the training sessions are user friendly and were being carried out to small groups in their place of work. Feedback has been positive. The training is near completion, all statistical data has been collected with the aim of having the results available by next year. A full published report will be available in 2008.

xx thanked xx and asked her to return to give the committee a further update on her report in the summer of 2007.

Action

xx: to invite xx back to the Trust Health & Safety Committee Meeting in the Summer of 2007 to update the committee.

004.06Matters Arising

Action List

  • Draft Stressat Work Policy

The Policy has been distributed to the Health & Safety Committee Members for comments, and is to be brought back to the group for ratification in September 06.

Action:

xx: to table the Draft Stress at Work Policy to the September meeting of the committee for ratification.

  • Violence & Aggression Risk Assessment/Training Needs Analysis

xx will meet with xx to discuss the above for the Corporate Directorate.

Action:

xx: will give feed back to the committee at the September meeting on the progress of the Risk Assessment/Training Needs Analysis for the Corporate Directorate.

  • Trust Security Framework Strategy

Any comments regarding the strategy to be sent to xx, this will then be brought back to the September meeting for ratification. xx will check if an Equality Impact Assessment needs to be carried out on this document.

Action:

Trust Committee Members to send comments on the Trust Security Framework Strategy to xx. xx to check with xx if an Equality Impact Assessment needs to be carried out.

  • Reporting, Recording and Investigation of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences/Policy

Xx informed the committee that an Equality Impact Assessment has now been carried out on the above policy.

005.06Health & Safety Annual Report April 05 – March 06

The committee accepted the above report which will now be sent to the Trust Board for approval.

  • Health & Safety Plan 06/09

The above plan setting out the objectives for 06/09 was tabled to the committee for discussion/information. The committee were informed that several of the objectives not completed in the previous plan have now been completed. A short discussion took place on training and record keeping. The committee accepted the plan.

  • Accident/Incident Statistics April 2005 – March 2006

xx discussed with the committee the above statistics for staff and patients. xx asked what accidents/incidents were contained in the category Trust. xxgave several examples and agreed to ask xx, Risk Manager to do a small presentation on the DATIX system.

The committee accepted the statistics.

Action:

xx: to give a brief presentation on DATIX, explaining what accident/incidents are listed under the category of Trust.

  • Health & Safety and Manual Handling Plan 05/08 Progress Report 2005-2006

The above report was presented to the Health & Safety Committee by xx to provide an overview of progress made against the objectives set out in the 2005-2008 Clinical Governance Development Plan for Health and Safety and Manual Handling. xx discussed with the committee the specific reasons why the objectives below had not been fully met.

Manual Handling training to meet HSE target

Review of COSHH arrangements within the Trust

Training figures for H & S maintained but not improved

Occupational Hygiene monitoring arranged but not carried out

The committee approved the above report and agreed to support a review of resources required to enable the Trust to be in a position to meet its Health and Safety obligations over the next three years.xx agreed to bring back a paper to the September meeting regarding the proposed Health and Safety review.

xx stated that a Task and Finish Group needs to be established to review the First Aid requirements within the Trust. This group willprovide the committee with a positional statement with expected time-scales for action. It was agreed that xx would set up this group and update the committee at the December’s meeting.

The committee asked for assurance that COSHH was being managed effectively across the Trust. xx requested that xx give an overview of the position within the Trust at the September meeting

Action:

xxwill present a paper to the September meeting following the review of Health and Safety/Manual Handling.

Action:

xx: to set up a First Aid Task and Finish Group and report back to the committee on progress made at the in December committee meeting.

Action:

xx: to give a brief overview on how COSHH is managed across the Trust at the next committee meeting in September 06.

006.06Manual Handling Passport Training Scheme Update

xx tabled to the committee a report providing a positional statement in relation to the Manual Handling Training Plan/Passport Scheme. The Trust is required to have all staff identified as in need of training to the All Wales Manual Handing Passport Standard trained by December 2006. An action plan was approved in November 2004 outlining the Trusts plan to meet this requirement. However the Trust remains behind schedule in relation to the number of staff trained to the appropriate level. The report contained charts that illustrated the number of training places provided and the actual numbers trained between 04-06.

The report demonstrated that despite accomplishing an increase in numbers of staff trained to the passport standard and effective risk assessment carried out, the Trust will not achieve the HSE target by December 2006. xx also discussed in detail a plan by which additional training can be achieved.

The committee accepted the report and supported the proposed review of resources required to enable the Trust to meet its Health & Safety obligations.

007.06HSE 3 Year Business Plan – ‘Fit 3’

The HSE have set out their 3 year programme where by they target specific areas for inspection as part of the Revitalising Health and Safety Campaign. The ‘Fit 3’ Strategic Delivery Programme is based on statistical information gathered and which high-lights the high risk areas needing attention ( Fit 3 - Fit for Work, Fit for Life, Fit for tomorrow).

Action:

xx: to send out the summary used to brief the committee.

008.06Directorate Health & Safety Reports

The following reports were tabled to the committee to inform them of the activities over the last year of each of the Directorate Health & Safety Groups:-

  • Mental Health Directorate
  • Child, Family & Community Directorate
  • Clinical Support & Diagnostics Directorate
  • COSHH
  • Medical Directorate
  • SATCH Directorate

xx thanked the Directorates for submitting the reports and acknowledged the work that had been achieved. The committee accepted the reports.

009.06NHS Wales Staff Survey 2005

The above information – Section 5 and 10 were tabled to the committee to inform them of the findings following the survey.

010.06Radon Annual Report

The above report was tabled to the committee to inform them of the findings following the recent monitoring exercise.

xx, gave a brief overview of the report and informed the committee that the Estates Department had undertaken the annual monitoring of the Trust’s properties that had been identified as having radon present and undergone remedial work to reduce the levels to below the accepted thresholds.All the results were within the workplace exposure level with the exception of Room 4 in Clwyd House

The committee accepted the report and it was agreed that future reports would be included in the Radiation Annual Report.

011.06Policies for Approval

The committee was informed that minor changes to a number of the Health & Safety Policies had been made as part of the policies procedure; prior to updating the Trust Intranet Site.

  • Christmas Decorations
  • Construction Design & Management
  • COSHH
  • Health & Safety at Work Act
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Statutory Inspections of Plant and Equipment
  • Trade Union Safety Representatives Inspections of the Workplace
  • Transportation of Patients, Staff or Equipment by Mini Bus or Other
  • Work Equipment Provision and Use
  • Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare

The committee approved the changes to the policies.

012.06Any Other Business

Pedestrian Crossing – xx reported that staff are complaining about the position of the pedestrian crossing which is situated out side Trust HQ e.g. drivers not noticing pedestrians using the crossing until they are extremely close, and suggested that signage or speed bumps be installed. xx informed the committee that a review of all Car Parks etc is taking place. xx agreed to contact xx, Estates Manager with regard to the problem identified

Action:

xx: will contact xx, Estates Manager re: above issues

Staff Attitude Survey Section 10 (Appendix 5) – xx expressed his concern over the statement that staff who were asked if they had experienced any physical violence in the last 12 months had stated that they had from a manager/supervisor. xx agreed to check records/IR1 Incident/Accident records to check if any had been reported to the Health & Safety Department.

Action:

xx: to check if the Health & Safety Department had received any reports of physical violence to staff from their managers/supervisor and e-mail the findings to xx.

Non Smoking Policy – xx informed the committee that patients were still smoking out-side the Trust buildings, and stated that staff are worried about approaching them as the Trust Policy indicates.xx stated that as per Trust Policy no one should be smoking on Trust premises and therefore staff were quite in their rights to inform smokers that they should not be smoking on Trust property, alternatively Security can be contacted.

013.06Date and Time of Next Meeting

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 20th September 2006, 1.30 pm in the Trust HQ Board Room.

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