Agenda item

3.1

3.2

3.3

3.4

Mr Austin said that the Health and Safety Board met on 26 January 2018: no union members were in attendance. He outlined the main points discussed.

• Overall the number of H&S incidents reported are down. Officers are looking into the reasons for this. Officers believe that RIDDORs are being reported correctly because the numbers are at a sustained level.
• Lewisham’s buildings are still being evaluated following the Grenfell Towers tragedy. Investigations are now far advanced. Following this, officers are considering other health and safety risks. Making sure that building managers and premises officers understand where responsibilities lie and that those occupying these buildings understand their responsibility when they are in them and that training is identified if needed. For example, officers are looking at restacking Laurence House as part of smarter more agile ways of working, which gives staff flexibility but breaks some of the assumptions around fire marshals and first aiders. If a member of staff works part time or on different floors, even coverage cannot be assured. Health and Safety officers are working with Regeneration to evaluate what needs to be done as part of the change programme.
• The Civic Suite lift has been refurbished but a member of staff was trapped in the newly refurbished lift in the Civic Suite for nearly 2 hours. The fault has been rectified but Lewisham intends to discuss the matter seriously with the contractor. There are a few issues outstanding and the remaining balance for the works will not be paid until all issues have been resolved.
• Most of the inside work of Laurence House is complete. However the materials have not yet arrived to finish the new glass frontage which has been moved away from the bus stops outside.
• The incident at Wearside where a member of the public was injured has concluded. The Council was found to have been at fault. All recommendations made at the time by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have been addressed and the improvement notices lifted. The person who was injured went back to China and is well.

Councillor Handley said that the lift company was originally owned by Temple lifts but it had been bought out by a large Japanese company. He asked whether the conditions agreed with Temple lifts, had been transferred to the new owner. Mr Austin agreed to look in to the matter.

Councillor Britton said that he had witnessed a large crowd of children crossing the road outside Trinity school. There was no supervision. He asked what could be done about this situation. Ms Knappett said that schools try to educate children about crossing the road carefully. Supervising secondary children outside of school hours is difficult, because staff become responsible for those children who do not want to take instruction outside school hours. She gave an example of where a teacher was sued for trying to break up a fight outside school between two pupils. Trinity school has one exit; Forest Hill, where Ms Knappett works, has access via the front and rear of the school, which eases the volume of children leaving together from the same exit at the end of the day.

Ms Knappett said that concerns around the navigation of pedestrians around Laurence House during the building works, had been discussed at the last meeting of this Committee. She asked whether it had been resolved. Mr Austin said that he believed that they have been resolved. Health and Safety Officers had been on a walkabout with Annettal Crossley and Eileen Walker to make sure that signage and passage ways were in place. There have also been fire drills; two were planned, two were not. They all went well. One issue previously discussed was regarding the barriers. When the works began originally, barriers were put up around the walkways to separate pedestrians from traffic. They have been moved, probably by the high winds. The Contractors had been asked to check the walkways again. Ms Knappett said that when works commenced, it was difficult to gain access to Laurence House but the situation has improved.

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