APPENDIX G:
HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY
(Paragraph 8.1)
1. This is a statement of policy by the House of Lords
about its intentions, organisation and arrangements for ensuring
the health, safety and welfare at work of its employees, and the
health and safety of any other person working in or visiting the
House of Lords part of the Parliamentary Estate.
2. It is the intention of the House to do all that is reasonably
practicable to provide safe and healthy working conditions for
its employees and to enlist their support in achieving this. The
House also recognises its responsibilities to ensure the health
and safety of Peers, their staff, members of the public, visitors
and contractors when on its premises.
3. It is the policy of the Clerk of the Parliaments, as employer,
that he will endeavour to comply fully with the requirements of
the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and all other relevant
statutory provisions, subject only to such exceptions, exemptions
and qualifications upon the obligations of the Crown as are provided
in the legislation.
4. This policy is supported by Codes of Practice that apply
throughout the House. The Codes of Practice will reflect:
minimum legal requirements
best practice
and will have the same status as this policy.
5. The House of Lords will do all that is reasonably practicable
to prevent personal injury and illness, loss and damage to premises,
plant and equipment by:
risk assessing all activities and seeking to eliminate
hazards and/or reduce risks;
ensuring competence of all employees in health
and safety by the provision of information, instruction, training,
supervision, management support and performance appraisal;
ensuring close co-operation and participation of
management and staff through normal working relationships and
consultation with the staff side.
6. The House of Lords will pursue the above aims by the implementation
of the strategic objectives and five-year action plan.
7. The remainder of this policy contains the following
sections:
Organisation and responsibilities
Arrangements for implementation
Health and Safety Committee Arrangements
Appendix A - Strategic objectives and five-year action plan
Appendix B - Objectives, Constitution, Procedure and Functions
for the House of Lords Health and Safety Committee
8. This policy will be reviewed, in consultation with
the staff side, annually by the Head of the Occupational Health,
Safety and Welfare Service who will advise the Head of Human Resources
on possible amendment.
9. The Codes of Practice will be reviewed by the Head of
Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service as and when legislation
changes or best practice dictates.
Organisation and responsibilities
10. This part of the policy describes the organisational
arrangements within the House of Lords for ensuring health and
safety at work. Health and Safety issues are line management responsibilities
alongside and of equal importance to responsibilities for the
provision of services and the management of resources.
Corporate Officer (Clerk of the Parliaments)
11. The Corporate Officer has overall responsibility to
ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety
and welfare at work of all his employees and to ensure, so far
as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of others
who work in and visit the House of Lords part of the parliamentary
estate. The performance of this duty has been delegated to the
Head of Human Resources on a day to day basis.
12. Heads of Office are responsible for the implementation
of this policy in the areas over which they have control.
13. Managers/supervisors are responsible for ensuring
the implementation, co-ordination and monitoring of this policy
and associated Codes of Practice, and the overall health and safety
management of the staff within their control. In particular, they
must:
l carry out risk assessments and ensure that safe working
conditions are maintained;
l ensure that staff within their control are trained and
instructed in safe methods and comply with them;
l ensure that all accidents, incidents and near misses
are reported and investigated and steps taken wherever possible
to prevent a recurrence.
14. Employees shall:
take reasonable care for the health and safety of themselves
and of other persons who may be affected by their acts or omissions;
co-operate with their manager in the implementation of this
policy;
follow safe working practices at all times;
report accidents, incidents and near misses to their line manager;
report unsafe working conditions and hazards to their line manager
or appropriate other.
Key staff with safety responsibilities
15. The Head of Human Resources must:
ensure, on behalf of the Clerk of the Parliaments, that
the House's Health and Safety Policy and Safety Action Plan are
developed and implemented within the House of Lords;
advise the Clerk of the Parliaments on matters relating to
health and safety as required;
attend any meetings concerning health and safety either in person
or ask a nominated representative to attend, as required by the
Clerk of the Parliaments;
oversee the work of the Office Safety Co-ordinators and ensure
that adequate resources are available to implement health and
safety policies within the House of Lords;
undertake other activities appropriate to the role.
Office Safety Co-ordinators
16. The Office Safety Coordinator's role is to:
take a lead, on behalf of their Head of Office in preparing,
monitoring and co-ordinating the implementation of the House's Health
and Safety Policy and Office Safety Action Plan;
identify with line managers key personnel for risk management
activities and
maintain an up-to-date list;
receive incident reporting forms and take follow-up action as
appropriate;
disseminate literature and materials to Office staff on health
and safety matters;
act as Office representative on the Health and Safety Committee
and other inter-Office bodies concerned with health and safety matters;
liaise with and report to the Head of Human Resources in her capacity
as the Officer with
delegated responsibility for health and safety;
undertake other activities appropriate to the role.
Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service
(OHSW)
17. The Houses of Parliament Occupational Health, Safety
and Welfare Service provides advice on matters relating to health,
safety and welfare at work across both Houses of Parliament. Its
objectives are:
to help promote and maintain a high standard of total health
(physical and mental) for all persons working in the Houses of Parliament;
the safeguarding of all staff from health and safety hazards arising
from their work or environment by means of accident prevention,
environmental control and prevention of injury and illness;
to receive all Incident/Near Incident reports, maintaining Incident/Near
Incident database and publishing performance statistics.
18. The Fire Safety Manager is responsible for the planning,
discharge and monitoring of all fire strategy, the Fire Action
Plan and the liaison between the Parliamentary Works Directorate,
London Fire Brigade, Health and Safety Executive, English Heritage
and the Home Office (Crown Premises Inspection Group), in terms
of fire safety issues throughout the Parliamentary Estate. The
Fire Safety Manager reports to Black Rod in all matters relating
to fire safety.
19. The Fire Safety Policy adopted within the Parliamentary
Estate is the responsibility of the Fire Safety Manager to develop
and implement. The Fire Safety Policy is agreed by the Fire Safety
Committee and the Home Office Fire Service Inspectorate's Crown
Premises Inspection Group.
20. The Fire Safety Manual has been developed by the Fire
Safety Manager and is held by key managers across the Parliamentary
Estate.
Arrangements for implementation
21. This part of the policy describes the general arrangements
for implementing and monitoring health and safety at work.
Strategic aims, objectives and five-year action
plan
22. The aims, objectives and five-year action plan [not
printed] set out the House of Lords' commitment to provide a healthy
and safe environment for all those who work in and visit the Parliamentary
Estate. The plan reflects best practice and is based on the principles
of i.e. loss control and quality management
23. This approach is designed to:
address the health and safety implications of the various
activities of our organisation;
identify the hazards and assess the level of risk;
eliminate risks where possible;
reduce the effect of those risks that cannot be eliminated.
24. Where a need is identified, through legislation, risk
assessments, best practice, health and safety auditing, the proceedings
of committees or other means, a Code of Practice will be established
to set the standard of implementation and operation for the identified
topic. These Codes of Practice will be reviewed as and when legislation
changes or practice dictates.
25. The Codes of Practice shall have the same status as the
main policy document.
26. The Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service
will provide a comprehensive Health and Safety Training Prospectus
outlining all general training needs and identifying who should
attend. The OHSW Service will administer health and safety training
across the organisation.
27. Each Office will ensure that good working arrangements
for health and safety training exist. This training will include
appropriate induction training.
28. Each Office will develop a health and safety training
plan as an integral part of their Safety Action Plan.
29. Each Office will need to maintain records of the safety
training given to their staff.
30. The Health and Safety training needs of managers and
supervisors will be identified through individual Performance
Review and Objective setting.
31. Each manager/supervisor shall make a suitable and
sufficient assessment of :
the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they
are exposed whilst they are at work; and
the risks to the health and safety of others who may be affected
by their activities,
for the purpose of identifying the measures necessary to ensure
a healthy and safe place of work.
32. In addition to the general risk assessment set out at
paragraph 31, where legislation exists requiring a specific risk
assessment and that specific risk is present in an area, another
risk assessment shall be carried out. The requirement to carry
out the specific risk assessment is set out in subordinate legislation
to the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The areas covered,
non-exhaustively are:
manual handling (lifting up, putting down and carrying a
load);
display screen equipment (computing and word processing);
hazardous substances etc.
33. Risk assessments will be reviewed periodically, if
an accident, incident or near miss occurs, when purchasing new
equipment or moving into a new work area.
34. Each Office will make their own arrangements for a
programme of health and safety auditing. The audit procedure should
show that the management of risk has been carried out. The programme
should be designed to reflect the needs of the Office and the
particular kinds of hazard or health and safety issues encountered.
Small Offices may be inspected together, in one audit; other Offices
may be best audited a section at a time. The timing of health
and safety audits will appear in the Safety Action Plan for the
Office and will reflect the level and scope of the hazards and
risks present.
35. A form of health and safety audit questionnaire or checklist
appropriate to the Office under survey will be adopted. The Occupational
Health, Safety and Welfare Service will provide standardised forms
for the Offices to use to ensure consistency. The programme of
safety audits will be monitored, and matters of importance arising
from health and safety audits will be considered through the review
process.
36. The review process will ensure that the audits have been
produced correctly and cover all appropriate aspects. The results
will be analysed, considered, prioritised and shaped into an action
programme. The Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service
will review all audit reports and action programmes.
37. The Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service will
carry out an independent audit of each Office on a three-year
cycle.
Health and Safety Committee
38. The House of Lords' Health and Safety Committee is
chaired by an Officer appointed by the Head of Human Resources.
The committee meets quarterly to discuss and consult on all major
health and safety issues and initiatives.
39. The Committee membership shall be comprised of Office
Safety Co-ordinators and staff side safety representatives employed
in the Offices of the House of Lords.
40. The Objectives, Constitution, Procedure and Functions
for the committee appear below.
41. Office Health and Safety Committees shall be instituted
where a need is identified by an individual Office and with the
advice of the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Service.
House of Lords Health and Safety Committee: objectives, constitution,
procedure and functions
Title
The Committee shall be called the House of Lords Health and
Safety Committee.
Objectives
The objectives of the Committee shall be:
i) To keep under review the measures taken to ensure the
health and safety of all those who work in and visit the House
of Lords.
ii) To promote cooperation between the employer and employees
in instigating, developing and carrying out measures to ensure
the health and safety of all employees, Peers, and visitors.
iii) To ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that
persons not in the House of Lords' employment are not unnecessarily
exposed to risks to their health and safety.
Constitution
i) The Head of Human Resources shall appoint the chair.
ii) The Committee shall be comprised of the Office Safety
Co-ordinators and staff side safety representatives employed by
the Offices of the House of Lords. Where there are no staff side
safety representatives an employee representative shall be appointed
to make up the membership of the Committee.
iii) The Chair may coopt as necessary suitable specialist
advisers.
iv) The Committee shall set up Sub-Committees as appropriate.
Procedure
i) Meetings shall be held at least quarterly or as agreed
by the Committee.
ii) The Committee shall agree the date, time and place
of the meetings.
iii) The Committee Secretary will agree the agenda with
the Chair and circulate to Committee members. Items for discussion
are to be submitted to the Secretary by an agreed closing date.
iv) No business other than that appearing on the agenda
shall be transacted at any meeting unless its introduction as
a very urgent item is agreed.
v) The minutes of all meetings of the Committee shall
be drawn up by the Secretary as soon as possible after each meeting
and copies supplied as soon as possible after the meeting to:
a) Members of the Committee
b) Head of Human Resources
c) Each workplace within the House of Lords.
Functions
The functions of the Committee shall be:
i) To make policy proposals and other initiatives relating
to health, safety and welfare at work to the Planning and Management
Committee.
ii) To assist in the implementation of the House of Lords
Health and Safety Policy through the development of common safety
rules and safe systems of work.
iii) To monitor the progress of the House of Lords Health
and Safety Risk Management Strategy.
iv) To monitor the effectiveness of the safety content
of employee training.
v) To review at regular intervals statistics on accidents
and notifiable diseases, risk assessments, accident reports and
other submissions to the Committee, in order to report to the
Planning and Management Committee on unsafe and unhealthy conditions
and practices, together with recommendations for corrective action.
vi) The examination and discussion of safety audit reports
together with identification of any consistent trends.
vii) To consider reports and factual information provided
by inspectors of enforcing authorities appointed under the Health
and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.
viii) To act as a conduit for health and safety communication
and publicity across the House of Lords.
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