Minutes of Health and Safety Committee Meeting Held on Wednesday 5th December 2018 at 2pm

Present: Philip Ratcliff, Deputy Director, Human Resources (Chair)Debby Roberts, Deputy Director, Campus ServicesSteven Westcough, Health and Safety Adviser, Human Resources David Errington, Occupational Health Adviser, Human ResourcesHazel Wright, Well-being Services Co-ordinator, Student & Library Services Lynn Smith, Health and Safety Officer, Human ResourcesSophie Bennett, President Welfare, Students’ UnionEmma Shaw, Administrator, Human Resources (Secretary)

Apologies: Mandie Hall, School Manager, School of Computing, Media & the ArtsEmma Teare, UCURobert Dove, UNISON

The Committee welcomed David, Lynn and Sophie to their first meeting.

745 Notes of the last Meeting

1. It was agreed to:

a. approve as an accurate record, the minutes of the meeting held on Wednesday, 18th April 2018.Action: all

746 Matters Arising

1. Further to minute 734,2 (b), – ‘Email Students’ Union about negative health implications of Shisha Tobacco’, it was noted that:

a. an email had been sent to the Students’ Union.b. the Well-being Services Co-ordinator stated that two further events

had been hosted promoting this type of activity.c. the Chair explained the wellbeing of students had been highlighted to

the Students’ Union.

2. Further to minute 737,2 (d), - ‘Provide further Counselling figures to UCU’ it was noted that:

a. These figures had been provided by the Chair.

3. Further to minute 742,2 (a) – ‘Investigate SafeZone a tile within the MyTU app’, it was noted that:

a. The Deputy Director, Campus Services to action.

747 Safety Report

1. It was noted that:

a. the safety report was provided to the Committee and the Health and Safety Adviser gave a brief overview, see Appendix A.

b. the annual Health and Safety Report was available to download from the website and now reports based on the financial year.

c. 18 staff members have had DSE assessments conducted by external assessors during the reporting period.

d. fires on campus were discussed and changes to student University accommodation had been made.

e. Cleveland Fire Brigade had been on campus and the following buildings inspected due to refurbishment or changes to the fire strategy; Middlesbrough Tower and Teesside University Business School.

f. General Safety Awareness Training had been delivered which had targeted administrative staff, academics and technicians from certain departments.

g. during the summer over 50 fire marshals had been trained.

h. a first aid review had been carried out, with drop-in sessions offered to current first aiders; an additional 24 first aiders were scheduled to be trained.

i. SafeZone could highlight first aiders locations, but as works phones were not provided the University could not ensure staff would add this app to their personal phones.

It was agreed to:

j. look at the visibility of first aiders.

Action: Deputy Director, Campus Services, Health and Safety Adviser, Health and Safety Officer

748 Occupational Health Report

1. It was noted that:

a. the Occupational Health Report was provided to the Committee and the Occupational Health Adviser outlined the report, see Appendix B.

b. there were no dramatic changes to the statistics compared with previous years and referral numbers were roughly the same.

c. the Health and Wellbeing Strategy would be submitted to UET next year and part of the strategy was the risk assessment of mental health and stress.

d. it had been identified that Senior Managers would be trained further in mental health awareness; a champion role within each area was discussed with this being an integral part of their management role.

e. stress risk assessments from the HSE were queried and it was confirmed that changes had been made by the relevant government department.

f. CIPD publication on Mental Health support was being investigated for use by managers.

g. health promotion was a lot of work and the client offer would be reviewed to see if the University needed to organise the same range of events or reduce the offer to have events which achieved greater engagement.

749 Student Health Report

1. It was noted that:

a. the Student Health and Wellbeing report was provided to the Committee and the Well-being Services Co-ordinator explained the report, see Appendix C.

b. campaigns were ongoing in line with the health needs assessment which the Extra Life Group met to discuss. This had meant new groups were considering particular areas of work and action plans were being developed.

It was agreed to:

c. share the action plans

Action: Well-being Services Co-ordinator

750 Accident Statistics Report

1. It was noted that:

a. the details of the accidents reported since the last meeting were outlined, see Appendix D.

b. statistics were discussed and currently remained consistent.

c. investigations into all accidents detailed in the report had identified no campus defects.

d. the Chair queried if any trends were identified. The only trend found was within the minor accidents relating to sharps in School of Health &

Social Care. This had initiated a procedure review and minor changes had been made.

e. the Committee queried if trend analysis could be included in this report.

It was agreed to:

f. put trend analysis into the next Accident Statistics Report.

Action: Health and Safety Officer

751 Students’ as First Aiders

1. It was noted that:

a. the Deputy Director, Campus Services, had been approached by a paramedic student who had queried training student first aiders.

b. the Chair noted that as students were not employees of the University there was no requirement under legislation for training to be provided to students as first aiders. It was noted that the priority was for staff first aiders to be trained to fulfil the obligations on the University to enable a safe working place.

752 PEEPS

1. It was noted that:

a. the Health & Safety Adviser stated that a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEPS) procedure was in development.

b. PEEPS would be issued to those who were not able to evacuate the building unaided, for example those with mobility issues, visual or auditory impairments.

b. this procedure would be presented to the Exec Health & Safety Committee for approval next year.

c. initially the Health & Safety Adviser would write the PEEPS but this approach would be evaluated, noting that there was potential for coordinated support from Student and Library Services in respect to student requirements.

d. a PEEPS sub group would meet to discuss and agree this procedure, including Security Manager, Equality and Diversity Adviser, Student & Library Services Disability Adviser and Accommodation Manager.

e. the Chair queried the inclusion of students in this procedure?

f. the Health & Safety Adviser stated they were looking at a 2 prong approach; initially offering everyone a PEEP and then implementing a system whereby new starters would be provided with the information.

g. it was agreed the data needs to be held locally, but further work needed to identify who had access to this document.

h. the procedure had an option to have a temporary PEEP eg someone on crutches.

i. the Occupational Health Adviser would discuss risk assessing with any individuals he met.

j. the PEEP was the staffs’ responsibility and duty of care within the organisation needed to be looked at.

k. within the procedure there could be a form to sign to say they were offered a PEEP.

753 Defibrillator Provision

1. It was noted that:

a. defibrillators were located within Middlesbrough Tower, Olympia Building, Centuria (Dental use only), MIMA, Darlington and externally in Campus Heart.

b. the Deputy Director, Campus Services queried improving awareness of the equipment for First Aiders and this was currently being done.

c. the Occupational Health Adviser queried whether there was adequate provision. Currently it was believed this was appropriate, but this would be reviewed periodically.

d. the Deputy Director, Campus Services asked about putting these locations on a campus map.

It was agreed to:

e. ask the Health & Safety Officer to liaise with Student Recruitment & Marketing about putting health and safety points such as defibrillators and first aid cabinets on the campus map.

Action: Health & Safety Officer.

754 Any Other Business

1. It was noted that:

a. the Well-being Services Co-ordinator mentioned the no smoking audit carried out by the Secretary and herself.

b. some staff still had concerns about asking others to stop smoking.

c. more signage to be investigated and a proposal provided to Exec Health & Safety Committee next year.

d. the Deputy Director, Campus Services stated at a recent meeting with Public Health England allergens were discussed and they suggested having epi pens handy as they were generic and might save a life.

e. the Occupational Health Adviser stated this was a medication for the identified person and therefore could not be held on campus.

f. the Health & Safety Adviser stated that the recent Festival of Wellbeing event had provided sessions offering ergonomic advice and that another session would be available at the next festival arranged for February/March 2019.

It was agreed to:

g. investigate further no smoking signage and put a proposal to the Exec Health & Safety Committee,

Action: Health & Safety Officer

Appendix AHealth and Safety Committee

Safety ReportDecember 5th 2018

The Health, Safety and Well-Being Annual Report for 2017/18 is now available to view on the Health and Safety homepage. This is the first report for the period August – July which is now in line with the USHA statistics release and other organisations.

We continue to engage external providers to complete DSE assessments following OH referrals. Since the last committee meeting the external providers have assessed 18 members of staff and feedback from those assessed continues to be very positive.

Following the 2018 Radiation Safety Committee the Health and Safety Adviser has completed all allocated actions to ensure the University’s continued compliance with the appropriate radiation legislation. This has included updating the Local Rules for SSED and reflecting changes in SoH who no longer utilise radiation generating equipment. Since the last committee meeting we have also trained a new RPS for SSED.

There were 4 minor fires since the last committee meeting. Only one of these fires required the assistance of the Fire Brigade.

Cleveland Fire Brigade’s Fire Safety Enforcement Officers and Middlesbrough Councils Building Control Officer undertook inspections of the TUBS prior to our official occupation. The feedback received was very positive, some remedial works were identified and are ongoing, an official handover will be undertaken following completion of the North Entrance.

A further inspection was carried out with Cleveland Fire Brigade’s Fire Safety Enforcement Officers for the Middlesbrough Tower and it was agreed that changes to the fire evacuation strategy would be implemented. This included decommissioning sounders in the staircases, following communication concerns with the refuge intercoms and the introduction of beacons.

PricewaterhouseCoopers undertook a follow up audit for Health and Safety following the initial assessment in January. Two low risk items were identified and action plans were agreed to resolve any issues that were identified in the audit reports. All actions regarding this report were completed during October 2019.

The Health and Safety team have reviewed the current arrangements for mandatory H&S training and developed new training packages, General Safety Awareness for Academics, Administrative and Technicians. These sessions are running on a weekly basis and are bookable via unity.

Following feedback of the TU Fire evacuation process we have rolled out Fire Marshal Training for a number of University Buildings. To date over 50 members of staff have received this training.

During the summer Fire Extinguisher Training was delivered to Technician staff identified as requiring this training following a recommendation from University insurers UMAL.

The Health and Safety Centre continues to deliver regular Health and Safety information and training sessions which have included the following:

Manual Handling Training Accommodation Wardens training Risk Assessment training

DSE Training

Additional training is scheduled for the new year for colleagues in Legal and Governance Services and at MIMA

Following a review of First Aid arrangements on Campus we have arranged for an additional 24 First Aiders to receive the standard 3-day FAW training. This will take place in December and February.

The Health and Safety Adviser attended the following externally provided training session: Lift Release Training – Delivered by Lerch Bates

Annual fire evacuation drills for all buildings were completed. Additional evacuation drills were carried out for the University’s high-rise buildings Central Halls and Middlesbrough Tower. All evacuation times recorded were satisfactory.

To improve fire evacuation procedures the Health and Safety team have introduced Fire Assembly Point signage for all buildings on the Middlesbrough Campus.

The Health and Safety team have carried out a variety of inspections including regular building inspections, Catering Outlets (including allergen information reviews), First Aid Cabinets, means of escape evacuation routes including external fire escape staircases, footpaths, car parks, pavements and roads inspections.

The Health and Safety Adviser has provided support to colleagues in Campus Services on current and upcoming campus developments including the TUBS refurbishment, Parkside West refurbishment, Student Accommodation proposals and the ongoing development for the Student Life Building and the National Horizons Centre.

As well as supporting current development work significant support was provided in regard to the demolition of Centre House and the Brittan Building.

Health and Safety support was provided for the following events organised by the University: Open Days Community Markets in the Campus Heart UCAS Exhibition Winter Graduation (this week)

The Health and Safety Adviser attended NEUSG meetings and assisted with IOSH conferences/seminars held on Campus.

Finally I’d like to formally welcome Lynn Smith to the H&S Committee. Lynn is our new H&S Officer and has been with us for a few months now. Lynn is quickly establishing herself as an integral part of the H&S team.

Appendix B

Occupational Health Report April – October 2018

Occupational Health Referrals: April - October 2018 / 2017

Reason for Referral April – October 2017 and 2018

Gynaeco

logical

Heart, Circ

ulation, resp

ira...

Infections

Long Term Ill

ness

Management Issu

e

Mental Health

and Stress

Musculoske

letal

Neurological

Stomach, D

igestion, li

ver ..

.

Surgery

Health Surve

illance

25 7

41

58

29

8

26

15 6

3

9

62

23

83

7

1

20172018

The number of referrals remains near consistent with 127 in 2018 and 123 in 2017 with a 3.14% increase.

The graph below shows which Schools and Departments have referred into Occupational Health during 2018.Schools/Department Referrals May – October 2018

Academic E

nterprise

Academic R

egistry

Campus Servi

ces

Department f

or International D

evelopment

Finance &

Commercial D

evelopment

ITaCS

Legal and G

overnanceMIM

A

Research

& In

novation Servi

ces

School o

f computing, m

edia & th

e arts

School o

f Health

& Socia

l Care

School o

f Scie

nce, Engineerin

g & Desig

n

School o

f Socia

l Scie

nce, H

umanities & La

w

Student & Li

brary Servi

ces

Student Recru

itment &

Marke

ting

Students' U

nion

Teesside U

niversi

ty Busin

ess Sch

ool

1 2

24

14

10

3 2 1

8

28

1216

9

2 31

May - October 2018

School of Health and Social Care, Campus Services and School of Social Sciences, Humanities & Law are the highest refers.

Occupational Health Stress-Related Referrals: April - October 2017 / 2018

The number of recorded as mental health/stress-related Occupational Health referrals has shown a slight increase from 58 to 62.

The chart below shows the mental health referrals for April – October 2018 came from the following areas with the School of Science, Humanities and Law having the highest referral number of perceived work-related cases, as was the case in the last reporting period.

School/ Dept Month received 2017 2018Academic Registry Aug 1

Sep 1 Campus Services May 2

Jul 2 Aug 1 3

Finance & Commercial Development Jul 1 1ITaCS Jul 1

Legal and Governance Jun 1 Sep 1 1

MIMA May 1 Research & Innovation Services Sep 1

School of Computing Apr 1 School of computing, media & the arts Apr 3

Jul 1 Aug 1 Sep 3 Oct 1

School of Design, Culture & the Arts May 1 School of Health & Social Care Apr 1 2

Jun 1 1 Sep 1 Oct 2

School of Science and Engineering May 2 Jun 1

School of Science, Engineering & Design Apr 1 Aug 2 1 Sep 1 Oct 2 1

School of Social Science, Business & Law Apr 1 May 4 Jun 1

School of Social Science, Humanities & Law Apr 1

Aug 2 Sep 5 Oct 3 2

Student & Library Services Sep 1 Teesside University Business School Jul 1

Sep 1 39 31

Occupational Health Promotion: January – April 2018

The table below shows the Occupational Health Promotional activities undertaken since April 2018. Activities are delivered by the Occupational Health service. These activities contribute towards retaining and attaining higher Better Health at Work Award 2018. The aim is to have one activity every month (apart from August) that links in with the award campaign themes, national health campaigns, local health issues, or health and wellbeing issues within the University.

The next couple of health and wellbeing activities planned are: Jan: be the Best Version of Yourself for 2020: Begins with meditation for stress

reduction. Suicide awareness.

NATIONAL CAMPAIGN

UNIVERSITY CAMPAIGN

EVENT DETAILS TIME FRAME

COMMENTS / ACTIONS NEEDED

EVAULATION OF EVENT

APRIL 2018

Stress Awareness Month

Colour Your Stress Away

Colouring sheets and pens available in all café’s across campus with information on the benefit of adult colouring

During the month

Emma Shaw

Both staff and students have been seen colouring in whilst in the cafés.

MAY 2018

Mental Health

Rainbow Rounders

Dementia Awareness

LGBT event for staff

Staff awareness

25th April 2018

23rd May 2018

Arranged by LGBT+ Focus

Group

Delivered by

Staff team competing against other local organisations, came 3rd place

4 staff attended the generic training provided

Awareness Week session to coincide with Dementia Action Week

Emma Shaw by the Alzheimer’s Society and are now Dementia Friends.

JUNE 2018

Beginners Running Group

Open to all staff to come along and run

Every Monday lunchtime during the month

Led by Dominic Dunn

Open session for all staff to attend to find out about running and to assist them participating in the park fun run in July.

Bike Week Biking Awareness Free water and fruit for all staff showing their helmet and TUSC

11-15th June 2018

Emma Shaw

5 completed evaluation forms completed over week who were put into the prize draw to win a silver service at Skinnergate Cycles

Men’s Health Week

MFC Foundation Promoted Walking Football and Football Fans in Training sessions organised by MFC Foundation

11-15th June 2018

Emma Shaw Advert in University Update promoting two MFC Foundation sessions men can attend for free

JULY 2018

Target Ovarian Cancer Event

Run/Walk 3k or 5k 4th July 2018 Hazel Wright/ Dom Dunn/

Emma Shaw

Sing Away Singing event for all cleaners during the last ½ hour of their shift

July 2018 David Errington/ Emma Shaw

53 staff participated in the run/walk raising over £500 to the charity

60+ staff taking part in a sing-a-long

AUGUST 2018- NO NATIONAL CAMPAIGNS

SEPTEMBER 2018

Know Your Numbers Week

Blood Pressure Stations

See October

OCTOBER 2018Know Your Numbers Week

Blood Pressure Stations

Blood Pressure Stations across campus

October 2018 David Errington/ Emma Shaw

61 staff came and had their BP’s taken, 38 in the morning and 23 in the afternoon. 13 were recorded as high and all came and had their numbers rechecked with a further 7 advised to seek GP advice.

Appendix CHealth and Safety Committee Wednesday 5th December 2018

Student Health and Wellbeing report

Extra Life The Extra Life leadership group met recently on December 4th 2018. The group now has

new priorities following on from the most recent Health Needs Assessment and are now planning key objectives and action plans for the next budget year beginning March 2018. The next meeting will be held in February 2019 to agree key objectives and action plans to move Extra Life forward.

Health campaigns and events update.

Since the last H&S committee the following student campaigns have run. Festival of Wellbeing, Exam Fit, sexual health clinic x 2, Community Market, Wellbeing welcome fair

The Festival of Wellbeing ran over a 2 week period, w/c 19th and 26th November and the theme was Lifestyle and mental wellbeing – eat, move, sleep. It was a great success. There were approximately 30 events/activities. Both staff and students attended. Some very positive feedback was received. A report will be produced and available for the next meeting.

Campaigns planned for the remainder of the academic year are, Exam Fit, National No Smoking day, sexual health clinics and a repeat of the Festival of Wellbeing over a fortnight period in semester 2.

Yes to Respect – this campaign focusing on Consent, hate crime, harassment and bullying continues to run as a joint campaign between the SU and the University as an annual campaign. Promotion has taken place throughout term.

The Veg Patch – this project aims to deliver a weekly fruit and veg stall on campus for staff and students to access affordable, accessible fruit and veg. The project will work with Middlesbrough Environment City’s (MEC) Veg power project which aims to provide surplus veg from supermarkets and local producers to the local community to help increase fruit and veg intake. The project will be sponsored by the local Co-op on Linthorpe Road and will tie in with other Food related projects including the cookery classes planned for semester 2.

Cookery classes – we have some dates booked in February 2019 to run a 3 week cookery club course and we are also in the process of organising some cookery classes in student accommodation.

Drug and alcohol support for students – we are currently working with Recovery connections and Care, Grow, Live (CGL) to support students in Recovery and also more generally requiring advice and support if they have concerns about their own alcohol or drug consumption. We are aiming to begin these services in semester 2

Healthy Universities Network

HW attended the last HU network meeting in November 2018. The network continues to grow and provides an excellent information sharing and networking opportunity for us.

North East Universities Health and Wellbeing Network – there is now a NE network including, Durham, Northumbria, Newcastle, Sunderland and Teesside. We aim to meet twice a year and focus on one particular topic where we can share good practice. The most recent meeting was held here at Teesside during the Festival of Wellbeing. It was about suicide and self-harm. Previous meetings have been about Alcohol and also Sexual Violence. The next meeting is currently being planned.

Smokefree Campus We are currently looking at signage around campus to further develop awareness of

Teesside University as a Smokefree campus. The issue of people smoking in areas where they should not smoke has also recently been raised at the student experience committee. This issue is discussed via the health and safety committee and executive committee, and further meetings following the issue being raised as an issue with student experience committee are also to be held over the next few weeks and months.

Student Life building We have had input into the wellbeing support services and spaces that will be provided in

the new student life building. This is ongoing as the building is planned for completion by approximately October 2019.

The gym and fitness classes The gym and fitness classes continue to be busy The new CV equipment and the indoor cycling bikes are now in place and proving

popular.

Students expressing milk/breastfeeding There is now a small fridge in the Meeting House, 20 Kind Edward Square that can be

used by students to store milk and/or breastfeed if they wish to have somewhere more private

Faith and Spirituality The prayer room has been re-located to the Waterhouse building. Also in the

Waterhouse building there is a quiet space for those students who wish to have somewhere to go for quiet activities such as meditation, reading etc. This space does require some further advertisement.

A new Faith coordinator will be recruited soon who will work with the local faith communities to ensure students and staff faith and spirituality needs are met.

Lifestyle clinics We are currently developing an idea for delivering Lifestyle clinics and drop-in sessions

for students to provide advice and support for students specifically on their lifestyle - food, exercise and sleep, due to the connection with mental wellbeing. This will fit into the services offered via counselling in the Student Centre.

Appendix DAccident Statistics Report

(1st April 2018 – 30th November 2018)

Between the 1st April 2018 and the 30th November 2018 there were 32 minor accidents, 18 involving Staff, 8 involving Students and 6 involving Visitors.

There were also 3 HSE reportable accidents in this period, involving staff members:

These figures are static with the last reporting period in relation to minor accidents, however, there was an increase of 1 RIDDOR reportable accident.

Details of the RIDDOR Reportable accidents are as follows:

Employee Major Injury – IP slipped whilst walking to MIMA, was not aware of the severity of injury until next door when they visited hospital and found that they had 2 broken bones in their foot. The area was inspected and no defects were found in the paving.

Employee Major Injury – IP slipped on hand sanitizer that had been spilt on the stairs which was not noticed as the lights were not on. Slipped and fell down the stairs injuring head, shoulder, upper cervical and thoracic spine, hip, lower back, knee and ankle. Had concussion and soft tissue damage.

Employee Major Injury – IP fell in the disabled toilets and knocked head on sink, sustaining a head injury. Ambulance called and conveyed to James Cook hospital with bleeding and haematoma injury.

The above accidents were reported to the HSE and no further actions were required.

There was 1 Near Miss events recorded in the reporting period, which involved an employee mistakenly walking into a wall and smashing the cups they were carrying, which fell onto hand and caused bruising.