(Paragraph 159)

Statement of Intent

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.

Policy

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

Policy Review

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 Establishment Officer 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.

Signed on behalf of

the House of Lords

Clerk of the Parliaments    J M DAVIES

Date         15 December 1999

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 Establishment Officer on a day to day basis.

Heads of Office

12. Heads of Office are responsible for the implementation of this policy in the areas over which they have control.

Managers/supervisors

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:

• carry out risk assessments and ensure that safe working conditions are maintained;
• ensure that staff within their control are trained and instructed in safe methods and comply with them;
• ensure that all accidents, incidents and near misses are reported and investigated and steps taken wherever possible to prevent a recurrence.

Employees

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

Establishment Officer

15. The Establishment Officer 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 Establishment Officer in his 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.

Fire Safety Manager

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.

Codes of practice

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.

Training

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.

Risk assessment

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.

Health and safety audits

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 Establishment Officer. 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 Establishment Officer 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) Establishment Officer

  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.