UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

STATEMENT OF HEALTH & SAFETY POLICY

2005/6

Part 1 : Statement of general policy

  1. It is the policy of the University of Manchester to pursue high standards(beyond minimum compliance with legal requirements) and progressive improvement in the health, safety and welfare of its staff, students, visitors and all others who may be affected by its work activities. It will do all that is reasonably practicable to implement best practice in the management of health and safety. In particular, the University recognises that health and safety is a core management function and best practice entails its full integration into the management of all other activities. The University will endeavour to ensure that adequate resources are provided to support this policy.
  1. It is the University’s intention, as far as is reasonably practicable:
  • to work towards good and best practice by a process of continual improvement and compliance with all relevant legislation, codes of practice, and other appropriate guidance;
  • to encourage managers to show leadership and commitment in managing health and safety
  • to manage health and safety through the processes of risk assessment and risk control, implemented by managers and academic supervisors;
  • to provide and maintain premises and equipment, plant and equipment, and systems of work that are, so far as is reasonably practicable, without risks to health and safety;
  • to provide appropriate information, instruction, training and supervision to all those involved in risk assessment and control, and in particular, to ensure that all its staff and students receive such training as is required for them to be able to discharge their tasks and duties in a competent and safe manner;
  • to maintain the workplace, and the means of access and egress, in a safe condition;
  • to provide and maintain a safe and healthy working environment;
  • to encourage staff to set a high standard of health and safety by personal example so that students leaving the University take with them an attitude of mind that expects, and accepts, good health and safety practice as normal;
  • to keep University policies and guidance under review and up-to-date;
  • to monitor and audit health and safety performance throughout the University, and to use the outcomes from these processes to inform and improve management practices as part of the commitment to continual improvement;
  • to encourage and facilitate the involvement of all employees in decisions affecting their health and safety at work.
  1. The University of Manchester has adopted the safety management principles described in the Health and Safety Executive document HSG65, Successful Health and Safety Management. In addition, it has adopted sector-specific guidance on:
  • University Health and Safety Management Code of Best Practice 1
  • Health & Safety Management Performance Standards (HASMAP) auditing package promoted by UCEA and USHA 2 and
  • Safety representatives’ Charter by Health & Safety Commission and the HiFEAC 3
  • Managing health and safety aspects of research in higher and further education 4

This list of documents will be regularly reviewed and updated by the Health & Safety Committee.

  1. This statement of General Policy shall be reviewed annually and revised as appropriate, and in any event, shall be submitted to the Board of Governors for renewed approval. The authoritative working copy of this statement will be maintained on the Health & Safety Services webpages and notice of changes to it will be circulated and posted on the website. A summary will be issued to all new students and new employees.

This Policy Statement for Health & Safety at the University of Manchester was considered by the University of Manchester Board of Governors on 24th April 2005. The Board delegated to the Risk Committee the task of dealing with minor amendments to the statement, and the Risk Committee approved the statement on behalf of the Board on 10th May 2005.

Signature : Date:

Chair of the University of Manchester Board of Governors

This Policy Statement for Health & Safety at the University of Manchester, and the organisation and arrangements for implementing it, have the approval of the President who is responsible for ensuring its implementation.

Signature: Date:

President of the University of Manchester

References :

  1. University Health & Safety Management Code of Best Practice, UCEA, November 2001, ISBN 0-9532431-3-3
  2. Health and Safety Management Performance Standards (HASMAP) auditing tool, University Safety & Health Association, 2003.
  3. Safety Representatives’ Charter, Health & Safety Commission Higher and Further Education Advisory Committee, (HEFIAC), 2003, available at
  4. Managing health and safety aspects of research in higher and further education, Health and Safety Commission, 2000, HSE Books. ISBN 0 7176 1300 3.

Part 2 : Organisation & Arrangements

Simplified representation of health & safety organisation

Organisation : Governance and consultation

Board of Governors

As the employer, the Board of Governors has overall responsibility for health & safety, and will exercise this by appointing a risk committee to oversee all relevant health and safety matters, and by requiring the President and Vice-Chancellor to be accountable, under Statute XII(g), for the University’s compliance with health and safety legislation. The duties of the Board in respect of health and safety are set out in Appendix 1A.

Risk Committee

The Board has appointed a risk committee to oversee all relevant health and safety matters and receive reports and recommendations from the Health & Safety Committee. The membership and terms of reference of the Risk Committee are given in Appendix 1B.

Health and Safety Committee

The Board of Governors has also set up a Health and Safety Committee, through which it consults its employees on matters relating to health and safety. The Health & Safety Committee is constituted in accordance with the Safety Committees and Safety Representatives Regulations 1977. and for the purposes of the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations 1996. Any employee may seek representation on health and safety matters through one of the Trades Union Safety Representatives. The Joint Campus Trade Unions Committee will supply a list of safety representatives to the Director of Health & Safety Services, and keep the list up-to-date.

Membership and terms of reference of the Committee is given in Appendix 2 of this statement. This Committee may constitute advisory groups to deal with specialist topics, including general occupational health, safety & training; fire safety; radiological protection (including lasers and non-ionising radiation), and biological & genetic manipulation work.

In addition, the Health and Safety Committee will:

  • advise and make recommendations to the Board of Governors through the Risk Committee on policies, codes, guidance documents and action plans to ensure compliance with health and safety obligations to staff, students and others, and any other matters relating to health and safety;
  • receive regular reports on occupational accidents and illness;
  • receive reports on health and safety auditing and performance monitoring throughout the University
  • encourage those with health and safety responsibilities to promote openness, transparency and fairness in all health and safety management activities, and support visibly the values and vision of the health and safety programme

Organisation : management roles

The President

Statute XII (g) of the University specifies that the President and Vice-Chancellor shall be required to establish arrangements for compliance by the University and by its members with health and safety legislation from time to time in force. The President is accountable to the Board of Governors on any issues to do with implementation of the Health & Safety Policy Statement, and the organisation and arrangements in place to implement it.

The President will, in so far as is reasonably practicable:

  • oversee the system of delegation and organisation throughout the university, which will implement the university’s policies and monitor performance;
  • appoint a senior manager to be responsible for overseeing health and safety management, and to identify the duties of heads of faculties, schools and others;
  • promote consistency and best practice in how health and safety is managed throughout and university;
  • be consulted by the Health and Safety Committee on proposals for codes;
  • ensure that health and safety performance is duly recognised and rewarded;
  • receive reports, through the Registrar and Health & Safety Committee, on health and safety auditing and performance monitoring exercises throughout the university;
  • hold accountable the Vice Presidents and Deans, the Registrar & Secretary, and other line managers who have been delegated health and safety responsibilities, through appraisal and review processes

Registrar & Secretary

The President has delegated to the Registrar & Secretary responsibility for planning and implementing the health and safety policy. The Registrar & Secretary will, in so far as is reasonably practicable:

  • appoint and manage a central unit (Health and Safety Services, HSS) to provide occupational health & safety advice and assistance to all stakeholders;
  • ensure the provision of appropriate resources and support for the development of competence of all those delegated with specific health and safety responsibilities, through the Staff Training and Development Unit;
  • ensure the implementation of policy and codes throughout all the administrative directorates and any other areas assigned to his office;
  • promote openness, transparency and fairness in all health and safety management activities
  • encourage the appointment of safety representatives

Vice Presidents who are not Deans

For the avoidance of doubt, Vice-Presidents have no health & safety duties by virtue of their appointment as Vice-Presidents, although individuals may have if they also hold managerial posts in a Faculty or Administrative Directorate.

Vice Presidents and Deans of Faculty, and the Registrar and Secretary.

The Deans and Registrar & Secretary are responsible for health and safety and are accountable to the President in this respect for all work carried out under their authority. In fulfilling these management responsibilities, they have access to support and advice from Health & Safety Services, and in particular the University Safety Co-ordinators.

They are required to, so far as is reasonably practicable :

  • prepare, approve and keep up-to-date a Statement of Faculty or Directorate Health & Safety Policy, which describes the specific organisation and arrangements within the Faculty or Directorate. Statements for Faculties should describe the relationship between the faculty and schools and research centres. The statement may be in accordance with a generic statement issued by Health & Safety Services. If it is not, it must include reference to all the topics covered by the generic statement. It must include the detailed arrangements for assigning responsibilities, carrying out risk assessments and for appropriate supervision;
  • establish and chair a Faculty / Directorate Health and Safety Committee, or other means of receiving regular monitoring and progress reports. The terms of reference, membership and frequency of meetings of the committee or other body should be commensurate with the magnitude of the risk and complexity of activity, and the need to consult and involve all employees, their representatives and students. Where relevant, a Faculty / Directorate Health & Safety Committee can refer issues of general application to the University Health & Safety Committee;
  • assess the competency of all staff charged with health and safety responsibilities, and provide training and other support as necessary to ensure competency;
  • monitor the performance of all staff charged with health and safety responsibilities, and
  • support visibly the values and vision of the health and safety programme by personal example and implementation of policy.

For the avoidance of doubt, where responsibility has not been delegated to a Head of School or holder of an equivalent office, it shall remain with the person directly responsible to the President and Vice-Chancellor.

Heads of Schools or equivalent and Directors in Non-academic areas

The Heads of School, Administrative Directors and equivalents (designated “HOS” for brevity) are responsible for health and safety within the School, Administrative Directorate or specified areas or as a consequence of their activities. The term “school” should be interpreted as including schools, administrative directorates or equivalent units.

In particular, HOSs must, so far as is reasonably practicable :

Governance issues

  • prepare, approve and keep up-to-date a Statement of School Health & Safety Policy, which describes the specific organisation and arrangements within the School. The statement may be in accordance with a generic statement issued by Health & Safety Services. It should include the detailed arrangements for assigning responsibilities, carrying out risk assessments and providing appropriate supervision. The roles of research supervisors (principal investigators) for research programmes, school administrative heads, and others should be made clear;
  • establish and chair a School Health & Safety Committee, or other means of receiving regular monitoring and progress reports from units within the school. The terms of reference, membership and frequency of meetings of these committees should be commensurate with the magnitude of the risk and complexity of school activity, and the need to consult and involve all employees, their representatives and students. Where appropriate, and with the agreement of the Dean or Registrar, health and safety matters could be considered regularly at management meetings, rather than at specially constituted health and safety committees;
  • ensure that all persons who may be affected by activities of the school staff and students are informed about the arrangements outlined in its Statement of Health & Safety Policy which shall be freely available for inspection;
  • consultwith, and actively seek participation of, staff representatives, including trade union representatives, through the school health and safety committee;

Matters pertaining to all school staff & students

  • ensure the provision of suitable and appropriate information, instruction, training and supervision to the staff, students and academic visitors under their control taking into account the competence, abilities, experience and skills of these people;
  • liaise with the Consultant Occupational Health Physician on the necessity for health surveillance of staff and students;
  • arrange for the investigation of accidents in accordance with University policies and guidance;
  • provide such resources as are necessary to enable safety management practices to be implemented and effective throughout the school;

Competent assistance and training

  • appoint a School Safety Advisor (SSA) to assist him/her in the creation, development, implementation, monitoring and review of the School’sarrangements for safe working;
  • where appropriate, appoint other specialist advisors with responsibilities and advisory functions for specific hazards, including work with ionising radiation, high power lasers, biohazards and genetically modified organisms;
  • ensure that SSAs and other specialist advisors understand their health & safety responsibilities, are competent to carry them out, and are provided with sufficient resources (time, finance, authority) to be effective in their assigned roles;
  • identify and keep under review health and safety training needs, and provide appropriate training;
  • ensure all new members of staff and full-time postgraduate research students attend the corporate and local health and safety induction processes;
  • arrange for suitable health & safety induction for all new undergraduate students;
  • ensure that all students and visitors to the University of Manchester are adequately supervised, so that they can ensure the health and safety of themselves and others who might be affected by their acts or omissions;

Liaison with other bodies within and external to the University

  • in consultation with the Director of Estates, participate in the arrangements for building-related work by external contractors and in-house staff, to ensure that all such work is adequately supervised by competent people;
  • notify the Director of Estates of defects in the fabric and common services of buildings, and take every reasonable step to minimise risk arising from any defects until remedial work has been carried out, even if this means taking a particular facility out of use;
  • in University of Manchester controlled buildings, seek the permission of the Director of Estates for any installation, construction, modification or alteration of building fabric or engineering service, so that safety checks for asbestos and other hazards can take place;
  • co-operate with other employers with whom the school shares a workplace and co-ordinate with them the measures taken to control the risks arising from its activities. This is particularly relevant to, but not exclusive to, hospitals and other care environments. This liaison shall aim to resolve any differences in the control of risks, generally in favour of the tighter or more effective controls;

Emergency procedures

  • in consultation with the Director of Estates, Health & Safety Services, and other appropriate bodies, ensure that emergency procedures (including those for emergency evacuation of buildings because of fire, bomb, or other threat to health or safety) have been agreed for the premises occupied by their staff and students;
  • in consultation with the University Fire Safety Officer and HSS staff, co-operate with requests from the emergency services for information about specific hazards;
  • ensure that staff and students are familiar with emergency procedures in so far as they require them to take actions such as making safe their immediate environment and vacating the building;
  • publicise the agreed emergency procedures within the school, for example, through the health & safety manual, induction training process, the school health and safety policy statement, and evacuation practices;

The HOS may also delegate to academic supervisors, administrative heads and other supervisors responsibility for health and safety matters in specified areas. They should ensure that the Policy Statements of Schools, Research Centres and Administrative Directorates assign authority appropriate for the work carried out within the specific unit. Each person with a line management role will have health and safety responsibilities commensurate with that role.