Policy Ref: Issue Number: Approved: For Review: Expiry:
CA-PL-007 005 June 2016 March 2017 June 2017
Health and Safety Policy 1.0
Introduction and Statement of Intent
Coast & Country Housing (the Group) regards health and safety as a priority that is to be embedded into its culture through the Health and Safety Management System. The Group ensures health and safety is a value by: • • • • • • • • • •
Considering all accidents, incidents, injuries and ill health caused by work preventable; Ensuring a robust Health and Safety Management System is maintained and made available to all relevant or interested parties; Ensuring compliance with legal and other requirements applicable to our business and activities; Empowering our employees to stop any unsafe act or activity within their control and encouraging the reporting of near misses and cause for concerns; Setting and reviewing health and safety objectives and targets from which to drive continual improvement; Ensuring effective communication of Group policies and procedures/arrangements including consultation with employees to determine if further measures are required; Ensuring all risks are identified and assessed with suitable control measures adopted to maintain a safe and healthy working environment; Ensuring that roles and responsibilities are identified clearly with arrangements in place for the management of health and safety; Ensuring effective monitoring and communication takes place with regard to the activities we undertake; and Ensuring the effective management of contractors who conduct work on our behalf.
The Leadership Team are responsible for the overall ownership of the Health and Safety Management System and for ensuring suitable arrangements and resources (including financial) are provided. The commitment to, and ownership of, the Health and Safety Management System including the Health and Safety Policy are endorsed and agreed by the Leadership Team. This policy applies to all activities covered by the Group.
2.0
Objective
2.1
This policy has three principal objectives: •
To set out the separate and distinct responsibilities that together underpin the Group’s shared commitment;
•
To ensure effective arrangements are in place to protect employees, customers and the general public against risks to injury or poor health arising out of the operations carried out by the Group; and
•
To encourage all employees and stakeholders to seek continuous improvement in their health and safety processes and health and safety performance; and to share good practice with one another.
2.2
In pursuing these objectives the Group will aim to: •
Maintain health and safety at the forefront of its activities by treating it as a core management function;
•
Promote high standards of health and safety;
•
Strive for continuous improvement in health and safety, using both internal and external benchmarking to test progress;
•
Work together with employees and their representatives to improve health and safety, including consultation on health and safety matters with appropriate representatives;
•
Promote a culture of co-operation and open communication, in which every opportunity is taken to learn from actual and potential failures of the health and safety arrangements;
•
Provide effective training and development to support employees in meeting legal requirements, recognising that individuals have responsibilities for ensuring the safety of themselves and others. This contributes to the delivery of high standards and continuous improvement in health and safety;
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•
Ensure that specific procedures which include roles, responsibilities and processes are implemented and continually developed to effectively manage those areas of significant risk to the Group;
•
Ensure line responsibility for health and safety is both clear and unambiguous and that, separate from this line, there is a function whose role is to provide independent assurance on health and safety and which has right of access to the Group Board through the Chair of the Health and Safety Forum;
•
Pro-actively manage health and safety by maintaining a clear documented health and safety management system to deliver this Group policy and carry out regular reviews to test the system’s effectiveness and enable performance to be benchmarked and improved from experience;
•
Maintain control of contractors' work by appropriate specification, supervision and monitoring; and
•
Regularly review and, where necessary, revise this Policy and the supporting procedural documents.
2.3
The implementation of this Policy will be conducted through following the supporting procedures which form the arrangements section of this Health and Safety Policy in compliance with legal requirements.
2.4
The procedures are documents which set out the standards and requirements expected by the Group to ensure a safe and healthy working environment and to ensure legal compliance is maintained.
2.5
Under this policy, all Group employees are required to follow the procedures at all times in conducting their activities. All contractors utilised on works will be further expected to conduct themselves in a manner to achieve the high standards of health and safety the Group requires and expects, at all times.
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3.0
Definitions
3.1
Definitions used in this document are as follows:Accident: An accident is an unplanned, uncontrolled event which has led to injury to people, damage to plant, machinery, or the environment and/or some other loss; Incident: An incident is an unplanned, uncontrolled event which has resulted in either an accident or a near miss;
Near misses: Near misses are unplanned, uncontrolled events that had the potential to lead to injury to people, damage to plant, machinery, or the environment and/or some other loss; Procedures: Procedures form the arrangements section of the Health and Safety Policy. Procedures detail the requirements and standards expected by the Group in terms of health and safety to ensure compliance with statutory requirements. Procedures shall be followed by all employees and are aimed specifically at assisting employees in ensuring a safe and healthy working environment;
Control measures: A control measure in health and safety is any action, activity or use of equipment that can be used to prevent or eliminate a health and safety hazard or reduce it to an acceptable level; Actual Failures: This relates to conditions that have already, or are in the process of, occurring due to weaknesses with current health and safety arrangements; Potential failures: Potential failures are identifiable or known conditions which indicate that a functional failure is either about to occur resulting from weaknesses within current health and safety arrangements; Health and safety Forum: The Health and Safety Forum is the Group’s internal forum chaired by the Chief Executive Officer. The purpose of the forum is to provide a mechanism for communication and consultation relating to health and safety matters; Health and Safety Committee: The Health and Safety Committee is the Groups mechanism for consulting with the workforce on matters regarding Health and Safety. The Committee is chaired by the Health and Safety Manager and is attended by employee representatives
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across the group. The representatives are both union and non-union appointed employees and have volunteered for this role;
Hazard: A hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm including ill health, injury, loss of product and/or damage to plant and property; Safe systems of work: A safe system of work is a formal procedure based on a systematic examination of an activity in order to identify the hazards present and details the key step by step actions required by employees at critical points of an activity to ensure that the activity is completed both safely and without risk;
Health and safety risk assessments: A risk assessment is a careful examination of what hazards are present within a workplace, their potential of causing injury or harm and who may be affected by these hazards. This enables suitable control measures to be identified to reduce those hazards to levels which negate or mitigate those risks. Relevant or interested parties: A relevant or interested party may include, but is not limited to, customers, clients, insurers, contractors, legal teams, Health and Safety Executive, Local Fire Authorities, Environment Agency, Local Authority, Professional associations and awarding bodies.
4.0
Responsibilities
4.1
This section explains the role of each level of management in supporting the Statement of Policy and demonstrates the interaction of designated roles, with health and safety responsibilities, within the Group (highlighted via the organisation chart as Appendix A). Notwithstanding this interaction, all personnel employed by the Group have health and safety duties conferred upon them by sections 7 and 8 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, Regulation 14 of The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999; and this policy. Subsections below outline the responsibilities required with the business practices/procedures defining specific responsibilities to the subject matter.
4.2
Group Board
4.2.1 In the context of effective corporate governance, managing health and safety risk is a key issue for the Group Board, who have a collective role in providing committed leadership in the continuous improvement of health and safety performance. The Group Board will ensure that their actions and decisions always reinforce this commitment, and they will review the
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effectiveness of the Health and Safety Management System and performance, at least annually.
4.2.2 The Group Board will consider and approve strategies/policies and resource allocation as necessary to ensure the Group maintains a safe and healthy working environment. This will generally be based on information and reports presented.
4.3
Chief Executive
4.3.1
The overall responsibility for health and safety lies with the Chief Executive, who will: •
Maintain a broad awareness of current statutory requirements and principles of good practice for health, safety and welfare and the specific issues which are relevant to the Group’s operations;
•
Ensure an up-to-date statement of the Group’s policy for health and safety is prepared and brought to the attention of all employees;
•
Ensure that health and safety objectives are defined and reviewed on an annual basis with benchmarking criteria established to monitor performance;
•
Obtain commitment from senior management to the Health and Safety Management System and encourage them to foster health and safety consciousness and awareness;
4.4
•
Chair the Health and Safety Forum; and
•
Report health and safety performance to the Group Board.
Leadership Team
4.4.1 The Leadership Team, chaired by the Chief Executive, are responsible for the strategic and financial management of the Group and for the delivery of services. They are therefore responsible for ensuring that governance, risk management, health and safety and assurance systems operate and thereby underpin the Corporate Plan.
4.4.2 Overall responsibility for ensuring a robust Health and Safety Management System is in place within the Group.
4.4.3 In order to assist the Chief Executive in discharging their designated health and safety responsibilities, the Leadership Team will be responsible for facilitating compliance with health and safety legislation by promoting health and safety management throughout Heads of Service/Senior Managers, which will involve:
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•
Co-ordinating and monitoring the effectiveness of safety arrangements within the Group and advising the Chief Executive of serious adverse incidents, unacceptable risks and associated remedial plans;
•
Ensuring that arrangements exist for the development and review of appropriate procedures and guidance on health, safety and welfare issues;
•
Assisting the Chief Executive in developing corporate health and safety objectives and success criteria for monitoring overall performance;
•
Ensuring that adherence to this policy is maintained across the Group and is incorporated in all contracts with external agencies;
•
Ensuring that effective health and safety communication exists between all operational and functional disciplines;
•
Ensuring that adequate resources are available to implement this policy and supporting procedures and guidance; and
•
Ensuring that appropriate employee training requirements are identified and that effective arrangements exist for training provision and delivery.
4.5
Group Company Secretary (Appointed Responsibility for Health and Safety)
4.5.1 The Group Company Secretary has delegated responsibility for providing strategic leadership, direction and overview of the Group’s Health and Safety Management System, which supports the implementation of this Policy, and has specific responsibility to: •
Maintain a broad awareness of current statutory requirements and principles of good practice for health, safety and welfare and the specific issues which are relevant to the Group’s operations;
•
Consult with the Leadership Team and Heads of Service/Senior Management to ensure adequate resources and facilities are made available to achieve the objective of this policy;
•
Develop corporate health and safety objectives and associated success criteria to monitor performance;
•
Ensure that adherence to this Policy is maintained across the Group and is incorporated in all contracts with external agencies;
•
Ensure that adequate resources are available to implement the Health and Safety Policy and supporting procedures and guidance;
•
Ensure that effective health and safety communication exists between all operational and functional disciplines;
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•
Review and present regular health and safety reports to the Group Board and Chief Executive that details incident trends, levels of performance and matters of concern with regards to health and safety.
Additionally, this report will include an action plan
containing objectives and prioritised risk reduction programmes; and
• 4.6
Chair the Health and Safety Forum, in the Chief Executive’s absence.
Heads of Service/Senior Management
4.6.1 Heads of Service/Senior Management are responsible for the strategic implementation of this policy. In particular, this will include: •
Ensuring that all employees are made aware of this Health and Safety Policy and general and procedural documents;
•
Ensuring that health, safety and welfare implications are considered during operational planning agendas to enable adequate resources to be apportioned for the implementation of this Health and Safety Policy, supporting procedures and guidance;
•
Ensuring that adequate safety arrangements and plans for controlling risk, in accordance with this policy and supporting procedural documents, are established;
•
Developing health and safety objectives and success criteria commensurate with their area of responsibility; and
•
Ensuring commitment to the health and safety management system within their area of responsibility.
4.7
Managers and Service Team Leaders
4.7.1 Managers and Service Team Leaders are responsible for the operational implementation of this policy by operating a safety culture and ensuring adequate communication, training and the assessment and monitoring of risks. In particular, this will include: •
Assisting the Heads of Service/Senior Management in the development of health and safety objectives and success criteria to monitor performance, and advising them of all adverse incidents and unacceptable risks;
•
Ensuring health and safety management responsibilities are included in job descriptions and identified in individual performance reviews;
•
Providing both strategic and operational input into the development of specific health and safety procedures;
•
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Developing and maintaining appropriate business continuity plans for their departments;
•
Undertaking risk assessments of work activities and the environment in accordance with Group business practices/procedures. Prioritising risks identified and developing risk treatment plans to eliminate or minimise exposure. Where risks cannot be eliminated, developing written safe systems of work and ensuring that employees are aware of them through training and supervision;
•
Ensuring that incidents, hazards and near misses, whether injury is sustained or not, are reported and investigated in accordance with procedures;
•
Ensuring that any action to prevent recurrence is implemented as soon as is reasonably practicable;
•
Ensuring that employee induction and refresher training on health and safety issues is provided, covering policy, procedures, safe systems of work and safe operation of equipment;
•
Ensuring that all employees are made aware of the general and specific health and safety procedures, hazards and any other safety information, which they require in order to perform their duties safely;
•
Undertaking regular inspections of service areas/teams, to ensure that procedures/safe systems of work are being followed and that any shortcomings are identified and dealt with;
•
Ensuring that written records of all inspections and actions for improvement are maintained; and
•
Taking responsibility for ensuring that any actions identified in audits, inspections and similar processes are closed out as per the agreed target dates.
4.8
Employees
4.8.1 All employees have a duty to take reasonable care of themselves, colleagues and any person who might be affected by their actions and to work in a safe manner. In particular, this will include: •
Co-operating with managerial and supervisory staff to ensure that all relevant statutory regulations, policies and procedures are followed;
•
Attending as requested, health and safety training sessions designed to further the cause of health and safety and increase individual awareness;
•
Ensuring that, where required, safety equipment/devices are used as directed and appropriate protective clothing worn;
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•
Reporting to their Manager/Service Team Leader all faults, hazards, unsafe practices, accidents, adverse incidents, dangerous occurrences and near misses whether injury is sustained or not;
•
Ensuring that any ill health or medical condition, including the use of medication or substances which may affect their ability to work safely, is reported immediately to their Manager/Service Team Leader; and
•
Ensuring compliance with the Groups procedures.
4.8.2 Intentionally interfering with, or misusing, or not using, any equipment or materials provided to ensure a healthy and safe environment is a disciplinary matter. In some circumstances, it could lead to prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive.
4.9
Contractors
4.9.1 Independent contractors are responsible for health and safety within their organisations. However, the Group will endeavour to support independent contractors with regard to health and safety requirements. The Group will also expect, where employees are based in independent contractors’ premises, that the independent contractor will co-operate fully with the Group in ensuring the health and safety of its employees at all times.
4.9.2 Contractors working on Group premises will be required to: •
Conduct their work so as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that other persons are not exposed to risks to their health and safety;
•
Ensure that all plant, equipment and machinery complies with the relevant regulations;
•
Comply with working rules, which must be made clear to them when tendering for work. Copies of relevant departmental safety-related procedures will be supplied to them prior to the commencement of work;
•
Report on arrival to the department manager or other identified officer so as to be informed of any particular hazards; and
•
4.10
Report all injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences (occurring on Group premises).
Health and Safety Team
4.10.1 The Health and Safety team has a specific responsibility for: •
Developing appropriate procedures to provide the Group with necessary guidance for achieving compliance with legislative requirements;
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•
Co-ordinating and advising on the implementation of Health and Safety legislation;
•
Regularly consulting with relevant personnel, including the HSE, Local Authorities, Fire Authorities, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA), British Safety Council and the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH), International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM), Association for Project Safety (APS), etc.;
•
Monitoring health and safety performance of the Group and making regular reports;
•
Bringing to the attention of the Group Board, the Health and Safety Forum and Heads of Service/Senior Management, details of incident trends and levels of performance on a regular basis;
•
Co-ordinating all nominated Health and Safety site representatives to ensure that they carry out their delegated duties;
•
Ensuring that reporting mechanisms for accident/incident reporting (including statutory reports to necessary authorities) function effectively;
•
Investigating/monitoring accidents and health and safety related incidents within Group premises or where employees or customers/tenants are involved, recommending follow up action where appropriate;
•
Providing Health and Safety advice and guidance support to employees;
•
Ensuring the dissemination of all safety related information, in particular Health and Safety Alerts/Bulletins, for action and monitoring responses;
•
Ensuring that health and safety risk assessments are carried out by Managers/Team Leaders across all the Group;
•
Supporting with delivery and advice on Health and Safety Training;
•
Ensuring that appropriate health and safety audits and inspections are carried out in all areas; and
•
Liaising with contractors and agencies used by the Group in conjunction with managers, to ensure they have relevant Health and Safety Policies and procedures in place prior to the commencement of work at Group premises to satisfy health and safety requirements under their statutory obligations.
4.11
Safety Representatives
4.11.1 Safety representatives play a vital role in: •
Representing employees in consultations with Managers on health, safety and welfare issues;
•
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Working in partnership with management on all issues of health and safety at work;
•
Assisting with investigations of potential hazards and dangerous occurrences at the workplace and to examine causes of accidents;
•
Investigating complaints by any employee they represent on health, safety and welfare issues;
•
Carrying out inspections in accordance with the relevant regulations;
•
Making representation to the employer on matters relating to, or affecting the health, safety and welfare at work of employees, representing appropriate employees in consultations at the workplace with inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive and of other enforcing authorities; and
•
4.12
Receiving information from inspectors in accordance with the statutory provisions.
Building Custodians
4.12.1 Building custodians are defined as being a person in control of and/or managing premises on behalf of the Group. Specific responsibilities are outlined within the business practices/procedures of which primarily focus around the key areas of: •
Ensuring they are aware of any emergency equipment and controls in their responsible building, i.e. gas shut off valves, fire alarm panels, intruder alarm panels;
•
Ensuring defects are reported in a timely manner, dependent upon the impact on safety;
•
Maintenance requirements on servicing of equipment and facilities, i.e. passenger lifts; and
•
Ensuring access is granted, when required, to the premises for works to be completed in the interests of health and safety, i.e. annual gas servicing.
5.0
Reporting
5.1
Health and Safety performance is reported at numerous different levels throughout the Group. Written reports are provided on a quarterly basis to:
5.2
•
The Health and Safety Committee
•
The Health and Safety Forum
•
The Business Meeting
Verbal reports are provided regularly to the Property and Assets Managers meetings and other meetings on an as and when requested basis.
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5.3
All Health and Safety reports are supported by statistical information such as accident and near misses reported.
6.0
Consultation
6.1
The Group recognises that the aims and objectives of this policy cannot be discharged without the co-operation of employees at all levels. Therefore, the Group operates a Health and Safety Forum and a Health and Safety Committee that consists of employees and representatives at all levels of the business to discuss and review current health and safety practices.
6.2
In addition, the Group will consult and communicate with appointed trade union safety representatives
and representatives
of
employee safety in accordance with the
Representative and Safety Committee Regulations 1977 and the Health and Safety (Consultations with Employees) Regulations 1996.
6.3
Consultation on Health and Safety Policy reviews will take place with Heads of Service, Health and Safety Champions and members of both the Health and Safety Forum and Health and Safety Committee.
7.0
Review
7.1
The Group is fully committed to continuous development and improvement of health and safety performance. In order to meet this commitment, the Heads of Service/Senior Management and key Service Managers shall ensure that safety arrangements, plans for controlling risk and improving performance are reviewed and revised at appropriate intervals, or when deemed necessary due to known changes that affect the validity of any current document.
7.2
The Health and Safety Team may undertake specific reviews on health and safety matters within the Group as necessary.
7.3
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This Policy will be subject to an annual review as a minimum or sooner if there are: •
Changes to existing, or the introduction of new, legislation;
•
Changes in technology or operational procedures;
•
Changes to organisational structure;
•
Significant learning following operation of the arrangements;
7.4
•
The findings of a major accident investigation; or
•
A request by the Health and Safety Executive.
It will be the responsibility of the Health and Safety Team to: •
Assess any requests for a review of the Policy and associated documents;
•
Consult with stakeholders on the required change;
•
Undertake the review and update the policy, procedure(s) and guidance as required; and
•
All records of changes to the policy and procedures will be retained for future reference and subject to audit as required.
8.0
Monitoring
8.1
The monitoring of health and safety performance will highlight any failures and weaknesses in the Health and Safety Management System, equipment, procedures, training, provision of information and other risk controls. Early identification of any such failures or weaknesses will allow for appropriate action to be taken.
8.2
The Health and Safety Team shall continually measure the health and safety performance through the scrutiny of audits, workplace inspections, ill health cases and accidents.
8.3
All premises will be audited on a regular basis. This will aid with ensuring compliance with current legislation and the effective implementation of this Policy and the Health and Safety Management System. Workplace inspections may be carried out on any location, or part thereof, within the Group on the authority of the Health and Safety Team.
8.4
All accidents, including injuries and near misses will be monitored and analysed by the Health and Safety Team in conjunction with Heads of Service/Senior Management with a view to identifying trends, eliminating their causes, and therefore reducing incidences.
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Appendix A – Health and Safety Organisation Chart
Group Board Board Champion (Health & Safety) Paul McGrath Chief Executive Iain Sim
Group Company Secretary Lyn Peacock
Leadership Team
Group H&S Manager Paul Smith
Heads of Service/Senior Management Team
H&S Team
Managers / Team Leaders
1 x Senior H&S Advisor/Fire Safety Advisor Paul Teece 1 x Senior H&S Advisor/CDM Advisor Gavin Prothero
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Employees
