Guidance Note GN 021

The Health & Safety Management Role of the Research Supervisor

December 2000

This guidance note contains information on the health and safety responsibilities for all project leaders, principal investigators and research supervisors, as set out in the Health and Safety Commission document ‘Managing health and safety aspects of research in higher and further education’.

This guidance note includes an overview of:-

  • General requirements
  • Risk assessment
  • Hazard identification
  • Risk judgement
  • Record keeping
  • Control of risks
  • Monitoring work
  • Co-operation

General

The health and safety management of research projects is normally delegated to research supervisors. Research supervisors are the key to making sure projects run well, comply with current legislation and do not cause illness or injury. Supervisors are likely to know more about the projects they manage than anyone else, and should understand the risks involved. Supervisors are usually seen as the people the College can turn to for complete information (including health and safety information) about a project. However, responsibility for ensuring supervisors carry out their responsibilities remains with the College.

Supervisors have duties under health and safety at work legislation. As employees, they must take reasonable care for their own safety, and for that of anyone who might be affected by their activities at work. They must also co-operate with the College to help the College comply with its legal duties. Supervisors carry a good deal of responsibility for making sure that projects under their direction do not jeopardise the College’s ability to comply with the law.

Good supervision and good research needs good preparation, and this includes thinking about health and safety. Supervisors need to understand what the departmental[1] and College health and safety policies say; these policies explain their responsibilities and how they will be held to account. It is essential that supervisors comply with the requirements of these policies, and attend any training required by the College which is necessary to help supervisors understand their responsibilities.

Supervisors have an essential part to play in assessing the risks of their work, and ensuring their staff and students do likewise. The significant findings of these assessments must be recorded,. Before defining a protocol, applying for funds(sponsors and fund-holders may ask for health and safety information), or agreeing to explore new areas and ideas generated by the research team, supervisors will need to consider how the new work might affect peoples’ health and safety. Departmental/ Divisional Safety Officers, together with the College Safety Unit and Occupational Health Department will be able to advise on relevant legal requirements.

There are very few absolute prohibitions in health and safety law. Modern legislation is goal-setting rather than prescriptive and is unlikely to restrict the nature of research, although it will require supervisors to work in a way that ensures the risks are properly assessed and controlled.

Risk assessment

Risk assessments should be carried out by competent people. The main purpose of the assessment is to identify what measures are necessary to control risk. At the end of the process those carrying out the assessment should understand how they or others might be hurt as a result of the project, and whether the proposed method and equipment do control the risk.

The process of risk assessment is no different in research than in any other job,. However, in the case of research, risk assessment might involve consideration of less well-known hazards, particularly when new materials and processes are under investigation. Supervisors and their teams are possibly the only people who know the work well enough to make valid judgements about risk, and should be prepared to justify their conclusions.

Initial risk assessment should be done before work starts, so it makes sense to think about this when planning and preparing for the project itself. Resources and facilities must be adequate to provide any necessary safeguards before any commitment to the project can be made, and the risk assessment will help ensure this.

For example, if the assessment reveals that a fume cupboard fitted with flameproof electrical equipment is essential, and there are none available, then the project may need to be revised. It may still be possible to go ahead, but there may need to be different methods used, or other suitable facilities identified.

The assessment should also consider the skills and experience of the project team members. This may not be possible at the outset, as some team members may not have been recruited, but these factors must be taken into account, and the risk assessment revised, if necessary, at the earliest opportunity.

Supervisors will need to take responsibility for all the assessments associated with their projects. It may be necessary to ask research workers to make assessments of parts of the work from time to time, but the supervisor will need to check that these have been done, and are of a satisfactory standard.

Hazards

The first step in any risk assessment is hazard identification. Hazards will be present regardless of the facilities available or the level of experience of the research workers. Hazards may be related to the workplace where the research is going to be done, the nature of the work involved, or the working practices used. Most injuries at work result from everyday hazards such as those leading to slips, trips and falls, or those resulting from manual handling. But there may be other hazards that are specific to the project, such as dealing with aggressive people, the use of high-pressure equipment, or work with flammable and hazardous substances.

The following, not necessarily comprehensive, list gives some idea of possible problem areas. There are specific legal requirements relating to those marked with an asterisk (for further details please see the Appendix); the others are covered by the general requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. Risk assessments must take account of the relevant legal requirements:

  • confined spaces;*
  • electricity;*
  • experimental rigs;
  • exposure to extreme temperatures;*
  • falls from a height;*
  • falling objects/collapsing structures;*
  • fire and explosion;*
  • ionising radiations;*
  • lifting operations, i.e. use of lifting equipment;*
  • manual handling;*
  • noise;*
  • non-ionising radiation;
  • personal safety and violence, including lone working;
  • pressure systems;*
  • slips, trips and falls;
  • substances hazardous to health;*
  • transport of dangerous substances;*
  • vibration;
  • work equipment;*
  • work-related stress;
  • working environment;*
  • work-related upper limb disorders, e.g. from use of computers.*

Of course, not all the above will present significant hazards in all situations. The purpose of a risk assessment is not to catalogue every potential hazard. Rather, consider what could be expected to cause harm given reasonably foreseeable events and behaviour. Concentrate on significant hazards which could result in serious harm or affect several people.

Risk judgement

When the significant hazards associated with a project have been identified, a judgement must be made about the risk they each present, i.e. how likely are they to cause harm? This will allow decisions to be made about reasonably practicable ways of minimising the risk. This process is necessary even when the workers are considered to be very experienced.

How likely is it that any particular hazard will cause harm? Supervisors will need to consider everyone whose health and safety might be affected by the work; this could include managers, students, teaching and support staff, as well as contractors and other visitors. There may also be members of the public involved, particularly if the work involves volunteer subjects. Some of the people will be more vulnerable to hazards than others, such as new and expectant mothers.

Defining how any harm might be caused will help to identify how risk is to be controlled. Useful questions to consider during this process are:

  • What could go wrong?
  • Where is there likely to be a problem?
  • Who might be hurt?
  • Why might it happen?
  • When could it happen?
  • How could all this be avoided?

Decisions about the level of risk can be made easier by consulting other people, such as Departmental/ Divisional Safety Officers, relevant safety representatives, the College Safety Unit and Occupational Health Department, building and maintenance managers, and technical staff. The assessment process allows people to make decisions about what needs to be done to reduce the risk so far as is reasonably practicable. So it is important that when carrying out the assessment, “informed” common sense is used. This will ensure the use of appropriate control measures which do not inhibit research unnecessarily.

The skills needed by members of the project, and their level of competence, are important considerations. Techniques are often used across disciplines; for example, microbiological materials are sometimes used by engineers, who may not have experience in handling them. It is important to establish the necessary level of expertise, in this case possibly through consultation with an expert in biological safety. It may prove necessary to identify a source of suitable training for project team members.

Record keeping

The significant findings of risk assessments must be recorded in all cases where an employer has five or more employees. Some departments use their own standard forms, while others prefer the use of researchers’ own notebooks or databases. What is important is that the record shows that the aspects of a project which could cause ill health or injury have been identified. They should also clearly show what measures are being taken to eliminate or control the risks. Whichever system is used, the record will need to be accessible to those monitoring and auditing the health and safety performance.

The information about the risks and how to control them must be shared with everyone working on the project, and all employees who might be affected by the work.

Where people who are not employees are affected by the project they will also need information about health and safety precautions. Local safety representatives may also require access to the information during their inspections of the workplace.

Controlling the risk

Supervisors should take all reasonably practicable steps to make sure people will not be hurt or made ill by their project. There is a useful hierarchy of control measures that can help to identify the best way to minimise risks:

  • getting rid of specific hazards completely is the best strategy;
  • substituting a less dangerous alternative;
  • removing or controlling hazards in a way that will protect everyone;
  • controlling hazards by safe working procedures;
  • personal protective for individuals - this is always the last resort.

Monitoring and review

When the project is underway, supervisors will need to check that their team members are following any necessary safe working procedures, and that all the other control measures are working properly.

It is not enough to tell people about working safely, it is essential to check they are actually doing it.

Regular reports on health and safety from team members, for example during tutorial sessions, are a useful supplement to this direct monitoring.

It is good practice to nominate a second supervisor who can be referred to in case of emergencies, or during absences. They do not need to have detailed knowledge of the project, but should know enough to sanction further work, or to stop the work, if necessary.

From time to time, and especially when the project is finished, it will be necessary to review how well the health and safety arrangements for a project have worked. It is particularly important to do this when there has been a significant change, for example, in personnel, location or type of activity. It will also be necessary to review arrangements after an accident or incident, to check that control has been regained. It will also be necessary to review the risk assessment if there are any significant changes during the life of the project.

Co-operation with employers’ policies

The College is required by law to check that their health and safety management systems are effective. In order to do this Heads of Departments/ Divisions will need confirmation that supervisors are managing projects in accordance with College policies and procedures. This may be done, for example, through departmental inspections or by asking for a progress report on the health and safety aspects of projects.

Health and safety law required individual employees to co-operate with their employer’s procedures for ensuring compliance with health and safety law.

Further information

Further information on the health and safety responsibilities of academic supervisors can be obtained from the College Safety Unit

A specific health and safety training course specifically for academic supervisors is run internally by the Safety Unit and details of this, and other courses, can be obtained from the Safety Unit web site (address above) or from Christine Wright on 020 7594 9422.

Reference

Managing health and safety aspects of research in higher and further education HSE Books 2000 ISBN 0 7176 1300 3

Appendix

Specific legal requirements

  1. Management of health and safety at work. Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Approved Code of Practice and Guidance L21 HSE Books 2000 ISBN 0 7176 2488 9
  2. Safe work in confined spaces. Confined Spaces Regulations 1997. Approved Code of Practice and guidance L101 HSE Books 1997 ISBN 0 7176 1405 0
  3. Electricity at work: Safe working practices HSG85 HSE Books 1993 ISBN 0 7176 0442 X
  4. Workplace health, safety and welfare. Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. Approved Code of Practice and guidance L24 HSE Books 1992 ISBN 0 7176 0413 6
  5. Working with ionising radiation. Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999. Approved Code of Practice and guidance L21 HSE Books 2000 ISBN 0 7176 1746 7
  6. Safe use of lifting equipment. Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998. Approved Code of Practice and guidance L113 HSE Books 1998 ISBN 0 7176 1628 2
  7. Manual Handling. Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. Guidance on Regulations L23 HSE Books 1998 ISBN 0 7176 2415 3
  8. Guidance on the Noise at Work Regulations 1989 L108 HSE Books 1998 ISBN 0 7176 1511 1
  9. Safety of pressure systems. Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000. Approved Code of Practice L122 HSE Books 2000 ISBN 0 7176 1767 X
  10. General COSHH ACoP, Carcinogens ACoP and Biological Agents ACoP. Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 1999. Approved Codes of Practice L5 HSE Books 1999 ISBN 0 7176 1670 3
  11. Safe use of work equipment. Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. Approved Code of Practice and guidance L22 HSE Books 1998 ISBN 0 7176 1626 6
  12. Display screen equipment work. Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992. Guidance on Regulations L26 HSE Books 1992 ISBN 0 7176 0410 1
  13. Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 2000. Compendium of Guidance. Guidance from the Health and Safety Commission’s Advisory Committee on Genetic Modification HSE Books 2000 ISBN 0 7176 1763 7

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[1] Please note: the reference to “department” should be taken to mean Department or Division, it does not refer to departments within a Division of the School of Medicine.