Welcome to UNISON public service trade unionin Wokingham Berkshire UK

There is a quarterly Schools Health and Safety meeting with discussions taking place between WBC, UNISON and the other public service unions.

If you have issues that you feel need raising please pass them on to your steward or tell me directly here.

Agenda for 11 March

Minutes

Schools Health & Safety Committee

SCHOOLS H&S COMMITTEE

Record of Meeting

Date:           WED 10 DEC 2008
Venue:        CR1
Time:          2 – 4PM
Chair:          JAN NOWECKI                                                          Minutes: Adam Stevens

Present: Veronica Glenister, David Armstrong, Graham Dewey, Sian Elms, Rosemary Rogers, Susanne Richards, Alan Youd, Andy Boseley

Apologies: Jean Bateman; Mike Coke; Andrea Stephens; Nicola Barlow

AGENDA	BRIEF COMMENTS / ACTION	BY WHOM & BY WHEN
Introductions
Matters arising
H&S manual feedback	The Health & Safety Manual was launched at beginning of this term after a number of delays. Several schools have come forward to give feedback on manual and to say what they’d like covered. This information has then been recorded and will be worked on. E.g. more information about lettings and all issues surrounding letting. Veronica would like to publish a schedule of topics to let people know what’s coming and when. All feedback so far has been very positive with everyone wanting more information included.
Personal safety	This is a corporate initiative endorsed by elected members and is about ensuring staff are adequately protected. A steering group has been formed and initial work has been done on planning this as a project. Best practice has been investigated from other LAs and businesses on how they handle personal safety. A step back has been taken to research practice internally and see how lone working and violence at work can be managed. The outcomes of the conducted research will be taken to a focus group once research is done. A site controller will need to join focus group to describe what will be expected.
Maiden Erlegh	The school has felt that it has been well supported with the educational psychology team supporting both staff and pupils. A lot of learning has been done in handling both the situation and dealing with the press. It has come to light that corporately we haven’t been using some of our expertise as well as we could have. Business continuity was well supported with the debrief occurring the week of the 15th December. Key feedback has been given.
Update on Training for H&S Governors	38 school governors attended the Health & Safety briefing with the focus being on several key issues in our schools. A main area of discussion was on asbestos. All schools apart from two secondaries have received their type 2 surveys and have received their files. The governors gave very positive feedback on event and are eager to continue with further meetings.
Work at Height Reviews	51 schools so far have been visited and reviewed with outstanding schools being visited in January. There has been a good take-up on ladder training. Good practice will need to be passed along once reviews have been completed. Alan Youd – Praised the email inviting people along to the training, saying that it non-threatening and supportive in a way that encouraged people to sign up.
Science Technician’s Network	Some safety issues in terms of training were raised at the initial meeting. Training can be organised locally but there are potential issues re-training with size of classrooms. There is a large increase in the number people applying for training. As a federation, we need to try and establish accredited people within the secondary school workforce to train others internally. For both site controllers and site technicians workshop there is no feedback into this committee with no idea what their decisions or agenda is. Action: Network updates need to be a regular agenda item.	All
Children’s Services H&S Draft Action Plan	See booklet Jan issued. Action: Any comments, suggestions or queries to be forwarded to Jan Nowecki.	All
Kilns	A one-off baseline check was performed on school kilns. See David Armstrong’s sheet RE overview. Clear guidelines need to be established regarding equipment procurement to prevent future issues. Issues with kilns are spread across both primary and secondary schools. 5 sites have kilns that need to be taken out of use. There is a dispute between advisers and school’s views on safety advice at one site. 3 sites have kilns that need replacing. Issues around ventilation have been raised. One issue raised a lot is regarding door interlocks (which is an off-switch on kiln doors as they open). A number of kilns do not have this. Action: Guidance needs to be decided on kiln procurement. Siting and location policies need to be established. Schools need to procure kilns through dedicated suppliers for education authorities.	DA
AOB	Paediatric First Aid – Action: Get names of accredited companies issued to schools. Accreditation needs to be done by Easter 2009 with at least 2 people from each school being accredited. Qualification requirements will be changing as of 2009. Retraining will need to be done periodically. Action: David Armstrong to follow through with Janice on approved training providers. First aid at work – The Health & Safety executive has not yet published training guidance. The appointed person role will be changing. Advice will be provided about changes nearer the time. Accident Statistics – A lot of behavioural issues from Addington with issues arising from the nature of the pupil base. There has been very good reporting at both Addington and Southfield in particular. We need to know about accidents that occur so that we can support schools. This currently relies on schools sending in a report individually. Action: Sian Elms to take discussion on nil returns to team meetings. If a member of staff has an accident, then the accident needs to be reported. Railings outside schools – Highways would need to be contacted regarding railings. Contact - steve.potts@wokingham.gov.uk	DA DA SE

Meeting Closed: 15:45

Date of next meeting: Wed 11 March 2009
Venue: CR2

Date:           THURS 11 SEPT 2008
Venue:        CR5
Time:          2 – 4PM
Chair:          JAN NOWECKI                                                          Minutes: SUNDEEP CHIMA

Present:
Apologies:

AGENDA	BRIEF COMMENTS / ACTION	BY WHOM & BY WHEN
Minutes of last meeting (12 June 08)
Online Schools H&S Manual, inc. demonstration
Update on fire risk assessments
Draft SLA - schools
Feedback from the Site Controllers Network
Working at height
Headteachers H&S update
Personal Safety Focus Group
AOB

SCHOOLS HEALTH & SAFETY COMMITTEE

Record of Meeting

Present: Veronica Glenister, David Armstrong, Graham Dewey, Sian Elms, Rosemary Rogers, Susanne Richards, Alan Youd, Andy Boseley

Apologies: Jean Bateman; Mike Coke; Andrea Stephens; Nicola Barlow

AGENDA	BRIEF COMMENTS / ACTION	BY WHOM & BY WHEN
Introductions
Matters arising
H&S manual feedback	The Health & Safety Manual was launched at beginning of this term after a number of delays. Several schools have come forward to give feedback on manual and to say what they’d like covered. This information has then been recorded and will be worked on. E.g. more information about lettings and all issues surrounding letting. Veronica would like to publish a schedule of topics to let people know what’s coming and when. All feedback so far has been very positive with everyone wanting more information included.
Personal safety	This is a corporate initiative endorsed by elected members and is about ensuring staff are adequately protected. A steering group has been formed and initial work has been done on planning this as a project. Best practice has been investigated from other LAs and businesses on how they handle personal safety. A step back has been taken to research practice internally and see how lone working and violence at work can be managed. The outcomes of the conducted research will be taken to a focus group once research is done. A site controller will need to join focus group to describe what will be expected.
Maiden Erlegh	The school has felt that it has been well supported with the educational psychology team supporting both staff and pupils. A lot of learning has been done in handling both the situation and dealing with the press. It has come to light that corporately we haven’t been using some of our expertise as well as we could have. Business continuity was well supported with the debrief occurring the week of the 15th December. Key feedback has been given.
Update on Training for H&S Governors	38 school governors attended the Health & Safety briefing with the focus being on several key issues in our schools. A main area of discussion was on asbestos. All schools apart from two secondaries have received their type 2 surveys and have received their files. The governors gave very positive feedback on event and are eager to continue with further meetings.
Work at Height Reviews	51 schools so far have been visited and reviewed with outstanding schools being visited in January. There has been a good take-up on ladder training. Good practice will need to be passed along once reviews have been completed. Alan Youd – Praised the email inviting people along to the training, saying that it non-threatening and supportive in a way that encouraged people to sign up.
Science Technician’s Network	Some safety issues in terms of training were raised at the initial meeting. Training can be organised locally but there are potential issues re-training with size of classrooms. There is a large increase in the number people applying for training. As a federation, we need to try and establish accredited people within the secondary school workforce to train others internally. For both site controllers and site technicians workshop there is no feedback into this committee with no idea what their decisions or agenda is. Action: Network updates need to be a regular agenda item.	All
Children’s Services H&S Draft Action Plan	See booklet Jan issued. Action: Any comments, suggestions or queries to be forwarded to Jan Nowecki.	All
Kilns	A one-off baseline check was performed on school kilns. See David Armstrong’s sheet RE overview. Clear guidelines need to be established regarding equipment procurement to prevent future issues. Issues with kilns are spread across both primary and secondary schools. 5 sites have kilns that need to be taken out of use. There is a dispute between advisers and school’s views on safety advice at one site. 3 sites have kilns that need replacing. Issues around ventilation have been raised. One issue raised a lot is regarding door interlocks (which is an off-switch on kiln doors as they open). A number of kilns do not have this. Action: Guidance needs to be decided on kiln procurement. Siting and location policies need to be established. Schools need to procure kilns through dedicated suppliers for education authorities.	DA
AOB	Paediatric First Aid – Action: Get names of accredited companies issued to schools. Accreditation needs to be done by Easter 2009 with at least 2 people from each school being accredited. Qualification requirements will be changing as of 2009. Retraining will need to be done periodically. Action: David Armstrong to follow through with Janice on approved training providers. First aid at work – The Health & Safety executive has not yet published training guidance. The appointed person role will be changing. Advice will be provided about changes nearer the time. Accident Statistics – A lot of behavioural issues from Addington with issues arising from the nature of the pupil base. There has been very good reporting at both Addington and Southfield in particular. We need to know about accidents that occur so that we can support schools. This currently relies on schools sending in a report individually. Action: Sian Elms to take discussion on nil returns to team meetings. If a member of staff has an accident, then the accident needs to be reported. Railings outside schools – Highways would need to be contacted regarding railings. Contact - steve.potts@wokingham.gov.uk	DA DA SE

Meeting Closed: 15:45

Date of next meeting: Wed 11 March 2009
Venue: CR2

Minutes

Date:           THURS 11 SEPT 2008
Venue:        CR5
Time:          2 – 4PM
Chair:          JAN NOWECKI                                                          Minutes: SUNDEEP CHIMA

Present: David Armstrong, Nicky Barlow, Jean Bateman, Andy Boseley, Sundeep Chima, Mike Coke, Graham Dewey, Veronica Glenister, Chris Herd, Jan Nowecki, Nigel Matthias, Rosemary Rogers, Cllr Rob Stanton, Andrea Stephens.

Apologies: Alan Youd

AGENDA	BRIEF COMMENTS / ACTION MINUTES	BY WHOM & BY WHEN
Introductions
Minutes of last meeting (12 June 08)	Kilns update – an inspection service contract has been set up to carry out a one off inspection of all school kilns.
Online Schools H&S Manual, inc. demonstration	The online Schools Health and Safety Manual was officially launched on 3rd September. Schools have been asked to “ditch and re-cycle” their old manual. The manual can be found on the public area of the website on Wokingham Schools’ Learning Community (WSLC). It is school specific and offers a practical approach to health and safety. It is has been designed to be user friendly and is made up of standards and guidance, checklists, it is supplemented by practical aids, example risk assessments and model procedures. Because each school is different, schools can create their own personalised H&S handbook by adapting the model procedures into what works for their school. Example risk assessments can also be adapted to suit. The headteachers on the Committee felt the online manual provided a more than comprehensive checklist, and felt comfortable that the manual would prevent schools from making mistakes. They agreed time is need for heads to go through and adapt procedures. The feedback Jan has received from heads so far has been positive. Veronica welcomes feedback, including feedback on additional topics for the manual. It was felt by all that the new manual was a great improvement. There is a schedule in place for updating the manual, which is flexible. Any updates to the manual will be publicised in the Education News bulletins. Every week in Education News there will be a spotlight topic, with a link to the relevant area of the website. Feedback on manual to be added as an agenda item to the December meeting agenda.	SC
Update on fire risk assessments (FRA)	Children’s Services in conjunction with Property will be carrying out baseline fire risk assessments (FRA) in all schools. There will be a list of prioritised schools, and all schools should be completed by January/February next year. Property will be meeting with the two shortlisted FRA contractors this week to finalise their choice of contractor. Two schools (one primary and one secondary) have been selected to pilot the baseline FRA and host the pilot FRA course; these schools are Hawthorns Primary and the Forest school. Once the pilot has been completed, the programme will be rolled out to all schools. The feedback from the previous FRA training sessions was that is was not very focused, therefore the new round of Zurich Municipal FRA training will be adapted to fit the Wokingham approach to fire safety. The training will not be paid for centrally.
Draft SLA - schools	The Corporate H&S Advice Service – Service Level Agreement (SLA) describes the level of service Corporate H&S will provide to schools and what schools should expect of them. The level of service will be monitored on a monthly basis. It will be taken to the Heads’ Steering Committee for feedback. All H&S items are brought to this group before going to the Headteachers’ Steering Committee.
Feedback from the Site Controllers Network and Personal Safety Focus Group	The personal safety initiative is a council wide initiative. Veronica fed back to this group some of the concerns site controllers have raised with regards to personal safety at their last network meeting. A number of site controllers have come forward to express concern over their personal safety. A lot of time is spent working alone; there are many issues to explore surrounding safe systems of work. In many incidences site controllers described how verbal abuse quite often comes from parents and not pupils. This issue is not restricted to site controllers, often teachers and headteachers find themselves working alone at school outside school hours. A focus group is needed to explore issues and share good practice. The Committee supported the idea of setting up a personal safety focus group, which would bring together school and non school staff. Ideally, the group would include a site controller, a couple of teachers and a headteacher who is without a site controller. At the next Primary Heads’ Briefing on 16 October, heads could discuss this within their cluster groups to spread the word and find out if they know of anyone who is interested in getting involved in this type of focus group. Graham was asked if he would like to get involved as a NUT representative and as a secondary representative. Personal safety to be added as a standard item for these Committee meetings.	SC
Working at height	Veronica updated the Committee on the schools Work at Height (WAH) review programme, which is now underway. All schools are WAH aware; many have attended ladder safety training and are investing in new access equipment. There is another ladder safety training course in place for November. The working at height in a drama setting will be addressed separately in the autumn term
Headteachers H&S update	A collection of H&S articles that have previously appeared in Primary and Secondary Education News have been collated and will be sent out as an attachment in this week’s Education News.
AOB

Meeting Closed: 3:40pm

Date of next meeting: Wed 10 Dec 2008, 2 – 4 pm
Venue: CR1

SCHOOLS HEALTH AND SAFETY committee

Record of Meeting

Date: THURS 12 JUNE 2008

Venue: CR5

Time: 2 – 4PM

Chair: JAN NOWECKI Minutes: SUNDEEP CHIMA

Present: David Armstrong, Andy Boseley, Sundeep Chima, Mike Coke, Graham Dewey, Veronica Glenister, Jan Nowecki, Rosemary Rogers, Paul Simmons, Andrea Stephens, Alan Youd

Apologies: Nicky Barlow, Jean Bateman

AGENDA

BRIEF COMMENTS / ACTION

BY WHOM & BY WHEN

Introductions

Minutes of last meeting – 12 March 2008

Updates:

High temperatures

Regulating high temperatures in classrooms can be very difficult for headteachers especially with the economic and practical restraints they face. There is lots of guidance available. A risk management approach is the best approach to take.

Educational visits

Funding has been allocated through the business plan to purchase an online system to monitor off-site visits. This system will allow the LA, schools and Brian Mallet to track the approval process of off-site visits. EV1 paperwork will be completed online. New DCFS guidance is due to be released shortly and so the LA is waiting for this to be issued before commencing with the new electronic system.

Kilns

A sum of money has been identified for the one off inspection of all kilns, this has gone out to tender. The kiln specialist will carry out a one off inspection after this schools must then maintain.

Asbestos

Paul Simmons informed the group that all schools have had type 1 surveys carried out by Bob Rychlik. Bob is now conducting type 2 surveys, all primary schools have been completed and he will move on to secondary schools over the summer holidays to minimise disruption.

Paul made it clear that if a school were in any doubt regarding asbestos in their school, this must be reported to Property Services who will send Bob to the school to investigate.

With schools being asked to comply with a number of policies and regulations, a number of heads are considering a more collaborative means of working with their cluster group, by employing someone to help them complete work and assessments, e.g. fire risk assessments. It’s often a time and skills issue when a headteacher decides to recruit an individual to complete the work. It is important to remember that ultimate responsibility for compliance falls to the Headteacher.

When WBC policies are developed and put into place, the idea is to incorporate the policy into day to day school life.

Concerns were raised about asbestos not being marked by labels. Paul explained the thinking behind not attaching asbestos stickers to school buildings was that it may increase attention to the problem area and cause unnecessary alarm to parents. However, Property is prepared to change this to meet individual school requirements. Property will issue schools with maps with asbestos clearly marked; this information must be shared with all school staff. It is important to raise awareness of asbestos.

Fire Assessments

The Committee were informed that funding has been agreed for all schools to have a fire risk assessment in 2008/09. Paul Simmons is drawing up a new brief to go out to tender. Schools will be prioritised with schools with residential facilities getting top priority.

Additional fire safety guidance will be re-issued to schools; this will include information on general housekeeping and a checklist.

All heads that didn’t attend previous training sessions must complete training. SC to confirm training dates. Training will then be amended and everyone will be re-trained next academic year.

Support from Legal Services

Neil Allen spoke at the last Headteachers Briefing about corporate manslaughter and received very positive feedback. Neil has offered his expertise and Jan explained to the committee that the LA and schools will draw on Neil for his area of expertise if the need arises.

Update on the Schools Health and Safety Manual

The Schools Health and Safety Manual will be updated, with policies being tailored to meet school requirements. The Manual will be user friendly and once it is updated all staff need to be encouraged to use it. It will be available on the public area of the website on the Wokingham Schools' Learning Community (WSLC) area.

Annual Report

The Annual Report will go to the Council Executive on 31 July 2008. The report highlights key issues and developments and then looks forward.

Veronica ran through the Employees Accident and Incidents Statistics information. These statistics are purely for internal review. There is a concern that not all school based staff are reporting all incidents. All employee incidents must be reported, this includes any type of incident no matter how minor. Many of these incidents reported were trips and slips, which could have been avoided.

Violence at Work

Serious violent issues at Wokingham are rare. Site controllers have raised concerns about lone working and some can feel vulnerable at times. Social care staff can also feel anxious about lone working.

There are plans to develop a working group. A site controllers meeting has been arranged to discuss their concerns about lone working and violence. Veronica will consolidate their feedback and bring this back to this Committee.

H&S Training for School Governors

Concerns were raised that no health and safety courses were offered for governors. The courses such as the e-leaning and the Bracknell run course are very basic and don’t provide information relevant to the current Wokingham context.

It may be useful to offer subject specific sessions on topics such as legionella, asbestos to help governors make better informed decisions when it comes to their school. By increasing governors’ knowledge of health and safety issues, this will also help in their overview role. Jan will feed this back to Sylvia McDonald, Governor Services Manager.

Swimming Pools

There was a good attendance at the last swimming pools course. There are plans to re-issue old re-assessments (which are about 3 years old) so that these can be reviewed following attendance at the training.

The course provider will have updated information on his website that delegates can refer to.

Children with Diabetes

Wendy received an email from a prospective parent who got the impression that one of Wokingham’s schools was not prepared to take her child because he had diabetes. She did not name the school.

The group were encouraged to share their thoughts on this issue and after much discussion there doesn’t seem to be anything that supports the above claim. If a school has a child with a medical or special needs attending their school, staff have been trained and supplied with the necessary information to help support the child. Diabetes nurses have been brought in to talk to staff, posters put up in schools. Linda Allen cannot recall a single case where a child has had to be educated outside of schools because of diabetes.

There is a Clinical Procedures Policy available on the WSLC which was developed to support the inclusion of children with medical difficulties.

AOB

Emmbrook flooding and the recent overflowing sewage outside the school was discussed. As sewage is in the road outside the school grounds it is a Thames Water problem. The LA is aware of the situation and discussions are being held with Thames Water.

Ways to increase representation on this Committee were discussed. A site controller is needed on this Committee now that Ken Galloway has left.

Sundeep to email Sarah Hunter to add ‘union representation at the Schools Health and Safety Committee’ to the agenda for Schools Working Force Party.

Jean Bateman (Grazeley Primary) will provide the aided school voice. Andrea Stephens will represent views of small schools without site controllers. Nigel Matthias (Emmbrook) will also be representing the views of secondary heads at the Committee. All three heateachers to be added to committee circulation list.

David Lee is new leader of Council. Councillor Rob Stanton to be invited as a guest to the next Schools H&S Committee meeting. JN will send Cllr Stanton an invite. Councillor Patman to be taken off circulation list.

Date of next meeting: Thurs 10 Sept 2008

Venue: CR5

Meeting Closed: 3:55PM

Date:           12 MARCH 2008
Venue:        CR5
Time:          2:00 – 4:00PM
Chair:          DAVID ARMSTRONG                                               Minutes: SUNDEEP CHIMA

Present:
David Armstrong (DA) Children’s Services
Andy Boseley (AB) Keep Hatch Primary Governor
Mike Coke (MC) Addington and Hawthorns Governor
Sundeep Chima (SC) Children’s Services
Graham Dewey (GD) Waingels College/NUT H&S Rep
Sian Ellmes (SE) Health & Safety Adviser WBC
Veronica Glenister (VG) Principal Health & Safety Adviser WBC
Chris Herd (CH) Addington, UNISON H&S Rep

Apologies:
Stuart Alexander (SA) Waingels College
Nicola Barlow (NB) Children’s Services
Ken Galloway (KG) Ryeish Green Site Controller & UNISON Representative
Jan Nowecki (JN) Children’s Services
Cllr Barrie Patman
Rosemary Rogers (RR) Corporate Health & Safety Advice Service WBC
Alan Youd (AY) Headteacher at Hawkedon Primary