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Mr
Austin presented the report. He said that the Kier contract was
taken over by this Council last year. All of the working
arrangements were revisited to ensure that they are all compliant
ensuring public and officer parts of the building are
managed.
An
incident involving a tree felling is still under investigation. A
contractor had been employed by this Council to undertake the work.
Officers are confident that the work was procured correctly.
Councillor Hall said that a report has been prepared following this
incident; he asked for a copy of the report to be sent to all
members of this Committee. Officers said that there may be an
ongoing HSE investigation on the incident but Mr Austin agreed to
look in to this matter.
Mr
Austin referred to the statistics in the report. He said that the
more significant figures are the Riddor
incidents, they report to the HSE. He said that the dangerous
occurrences are all Asbestos related and have been referred to the
HSE.
Councillor Best asked about the Asbestos related incident and
where it was. Mr Austin said that It was not on the asbestos
related register, it relates to a void in the Abbey Manor School.
The work was commissioned, it was not expected that contractors
would go into the void. However, they took it on themselves to go
in to the void. It should not have been entered and investigations
are being undertaken now. Learning good
practice and how to avoid a similar situation in the future, will
be concluded as part of the investigation.
Mr
Austin said that Lewisham have an asbestos register and there are
surveys but Lewisham do not pay for intrusive surveys because there
would be high costs for something that may not be
needed.
Councillor Hall said with regard to the incident involving the
tree which took place in October 2018. There was an allegation at
the time that there had not been any traffic control. He understood
that the Council commissioned an internal report into the incident.
He asked whether the report will be available to members of this
Committee. Mr Austin is not aware of this report; it could be that
the HSE have not completed their investigation. Ms Der Man said
that the findings could be confidential. Officers agreed to look
into the matter and take a view.
Councillor Hall asked to see a copy of the asbestos register. Mr
Austin agreed to look into the matter.
Councillor Millbank asked where responsibility for schools
begins and ends with regard to Health and Safety. Mr Austin gave a
brief outline of these responsibilities. Mr Cummins had raised
unions concerns that as more schools are not under the control of
local authorities it is becoming more difficult to obtain
information regarding health and safety within these schools. Ms
Der Man said that this subject had been discussed at the last
meeting of this Committee and the minutes had been referred to the
Director of Children and Young People. Mr Austin said that it had
been raised but this authority can only make representation and
enquire but schools are not obliged to respond. He confirmed that
academies report health and safety issues to the Department for
Education. Councillor Hall recommended that the Chair of this
Committee should write to the Chair of Governors of all schools
requesting information about health and safety within their
schools.
Councillor Kalu said that the number of assaults by a
pupil/client on pupil/client is high. She asked the reason for this
and what is being done to reduce this number. Mr Austin accepted
assaults are always of concern. With regard to customer services,
this is mainly front of house and dealing with housing and tax /
benefit enquires, where staff manage stressful situations. During
the refurbishment of Laurence House, there was a lot of training
with staff with regard to how best to disperse these situations.
There are signs which state that the Council has a zero policy to
staff being abused. The Chair asked about abuse of public by a
member of staff. Ms Knappett said that training for staff in
schools has been around advice about de-escalating rather than
escalating potential aggressive situations. Mr Cummins said that in
the 3 ½ years as a union representative, he has never had to
represent a member of staff accused of abusing a member of the
public.
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