Minutes of 167th Edinburgh Branch Meeting

 Craighouse Campus, Napier University, Edinburgh – Thursday 8 December 2005 - 130pm

Sederunt:     S Morton G Oxtoby S McMorland D Cawkwell  L Johnson L Crichton C Wilmott      B Anderson S Brown         K Breem J Hepburn    R McLean     G Foggo R N Mambo J Anderson I Brown C Lawson     A Pittendrigh C Black R Allan J R Brownlee      D Richardson I Munro A Polhill        K Heatley      S Boucher    C Pender L MacNeil    L Jacomb S Milligan          P Gallacher  C Shiels          R Innes H Gardner J Little A Dick A James      V Stewart      N Doherty         J Hamilton    C Amati M Bancroft LYoung M Johnstone          D Collins       M McPherson          J Battles       J Fenton A McLeod         K Murray       D Sinclair      A Reid S Daly          J Robertson     T Elliott J Craig R Kotas

Apologies:   Karen McDonnell, Graeme Lyall, Julian Davis, Kevin Lloyd, Richard Lovering, Andrew Reid, Simon Heesom, Bob Hammond, Paul Graham, Tom Neilson, Bob Bertram, Barry Davies, Ali Milne, Alastair Baily, Alan Thomson, Dick Morrison

1. Chair: Marion Johnstone took the Chair and outlined the Safety arrangements (Fire)

2. Minutes of previous meeting: November 2005

• Receipt: anyone not receiving them should contact the Secretary.

• Agreed a true record: Proposer – H Gardner; Seconder – S Daly

• Matters arising not on the Agenda: None

3. Correspondence:

3.1 Events

• 6-10th March 2006: HU-TECH: Ergonomics Essentials (BOHS Syllabus) Edinburgh, (£925) Further details are at: http://www.hu-tech.co.uk/training-ergonomics_essentials.html

• 30/31 March 2006: Wales & Chester Circuit: major medico-legal conference: industrial disease litigation: Cardiff.

• 10-12 April: Universities Safety and Health Association: Annual Conference: Join us for the main day, Tuesday 11th April. Learn how to convert compliance into added value for your organisation.  A full day of 6 expert presentations and 2 participative workshops with teas, coffees and lunch, all at the City Quay Apex Hotel, Dundee. £145. http://www.dundee.ac.uk/safety/conference2006

3.2 From HQ

No breakdown of membership but current Branch membership is 806.

3.3 Others

• The Institute of Occupational Medicine - undertaking research for the HSE: “Assessing the Effectiveness of the Manual Handling Assessment Chart and Associated Website.” Trying to locate companies currently using the MAC tool (ideally for a number of tasks rather than just the one) and that would be willing to participate in this research. May involve a visit by one of our staff to view the tasks performed and look at the results obtained from the MAC tool then discuss any problems encountered in using it (and the website).

    Looking for different sized companies (small especially welcome) from different sectors.

    e-mail: Alison.melrose@iomhq.org.uk

3.4 Job Spot

• Emtelle UK Limited: manufacturer of tubing, ducting and fibre bundle, employing 150 personnel in the Borders area. Health and Safety Manager based in Hawick factory.  Liz Sneddon, Emtelle UK Limited, Haughhead, Hawick,TD9 8LF: Tel:   01450 364013; E-mail: lizs@emtelle.com

• Jacobs Babtie: construction health and safety adviser to support our supervisory team of dams and tunnels experts for Scottish and Southern Energy [SSE] £100m+ Glendoe project: Scottish Highlands.          peter.gotch@jacobs.com

4. Group Reports

• Branch Education Development Officer    – Liz Young: Have you registered for CPD yet?

• Specialist Groups

– PUBLIC SERVICES        – Marion Johnstone;  The visit to the Irish Branches had been most successful and the Groups were looking at the 2006 programme which might include a networking visit to Scotland.

– CONSTRUCTION                     – Allan Dick. Nothing to report.

– FIRE RISK MANAGEMENT – Dave Sinclair

NEXT FRMSG Committee Networking Meeting: The Grange (IOSH HQ) in Wigston: 15 December: "Emergency Preparedness". All aspects of Business Continuity. Principal speaker: Ron Edmond of SIESO (Sharing Information and Experience for Safer Operations). 80 delegates booked. The following meeting: joint meeting with the Irish Fire Section on the 23rd of February 2006 in Dublin.

Membership: Now standing at 1374.

FRMSG Committee: As we continue to reach out to other Professional Bodies we have a representative from the Institute of Fire Prevention Officers attending our next meeting.

Newsletter: Latest Newsletter published and distributed to all members, copies available via FRMSG Section on IOSH web site. Next due to be issued in May 2006.

In reply to a question Dave commented that the implementation of the new fire safety laws might be slightly behind that in England & Wales.

– HEALTHCARE               – Martin Scott-Smith.  Nothing to report.

– ENVIRONMENT            – Julian Davies

Year on year SG membership has increased as a percentage of total IOSH membership from 11.66% to 11.86% over the last 12 months. We are still the third largest SG but are closing in on Public Services.

Communication remains one of our main priorities for this year and much work is being done on the web-site to raise the profile of environmental issues as it is one of only a couple of SGs that span all the other SG interests and we continue to seek partner ventures e.g. a joint meeting with the Retail SG at Hull yesterday (7th Dec) following on an IOSH conference link up with the Rural SG, and last year's joint meeting with the Construction SG in Birmingham.

Looking forward to next year, it has been agreed that Environment SG will participate in both the shared SG stand at IOSH 2006 and the parallel sessions for SGs. The stand content will include a quiz!

Under objective 19, the SG is committed to helping NEBOSH resolve its problems with their environmental diploma.

A new objective was agreed to undertake a survey of Environmental SG members which should be issued early (Q1) 2006

It was also agreed that next year's plan to be submitted to the SGMC must have fewer objectives than the current one!!

Julian continues to circulate Environmental issues via the Branch environmental SG e-mail group - both those issued from IOSH HQ and locally collected news. Anyone wishing to be included in the circulation, please e-mail Julian or give the Branch Secretary your name

– OFFSHORE                   – Tam Boyd.           Nothing to report.

– CONSULTANCY – Derek Cawkwell: Nothing to report.

– SAFETY SCIENCES      – Steve Boucher: Nothing to report.

– COMMUNICATIONS/MEDIA      – Graeme Lyall: the networking meeting yesterday had been well attended.   

– EDUCATION                  - Chris Lawson: Nothing to report.

• Forth & Tay District: no meeting since last Branch meeting.

5. Members Items

5.1 Karen McDonnell (IOSH Forth & Tay District Chair) has replaced Karen Niven as the representative of OSH professionals in Scotland on the HSE’s PHASS. S Brownlee offered his congratulations to Karen on her organising the RoSPA initiative “Scottish High Performers Challenge”.

5.2 Branch Officials Conference – Max Bancroft.  Max reported he and Karen had attend this event organised by IOSH HQ at Alton Towers in November.  This had included the AGM at which the rules changes creating individual Chartered had come into effect.  Presentation had included one on Branch achievements – our sponsorship of the Dundee Uni Fire Safety DVD had been explained and well received.  The Chief Executive had presented the IOSH Corporate Plan for the next 5 years.  This was available on IOSH HQ website.  It included a growth in membership to 40,000 (currently 28,000), growth in overseas Branches and IOSH becoming the OSH thought leader

5.3 From the floor: Dave Sincalir hoped to make a presentation on the new Scottish smoking legislation next month.

5.4 IOSH Response to CDM Consultaton: Allan Dick gave a short overview of how he saw the new regulations and how they might develop following from our input last June and the special meeting of IOSH’s Construction Group.

Objectives

• To provide a review of the C.D.M. Regulations 1994 as outgoing (old CDM)

• To preview the C.D.M. Regulations 2006 as pending (new CDM)

• To inform of the I.O.S.H. response to the Con.Doc. 200 on C.D.M. 2006

• To provide comment on the possible impact of C.D.M. 2006.

Old CDM

• Construction (Design & Management) Regulations 1994

• Intended to:- ‘protect the H&S of those engaged in in or affected by construction activities’

• Implemented March 95 – by EU directive & amended 2000 & 2002

• ACOP & Guidance ( Man.H&S in Construction) intended to clarify

• Introduced 5 main duty holders i.e. CLIENT / DESIGNER / PLANNING SUPERVISOR / PRINCIPAL CONTRACTOR / CONTRACTORS

• Set out the duties responsibilities and competence requirements of the 5

• Introduced key documentation; - H&S Plan (Pre-tender & Construction Phase) and the H&S File.

• BUT DID IT DO WHAT IT SET OUT TO ? ‘protect…………………………’

New CDM

• Construction(Design & Management) Regulations 2006

• The principle remains the same but intends to consolidate the provisions of CDM 94 & the CON.(HS&W)Regs. 96

• AIMS:- “less Bureaucracy - more Communications”

    -simplify& improve clarity

    -maximise flexibility

    -focus on planning & management (rather than paperwork)

    -encourage co-op/co-ordination (part. between designers & contract)

    -simplify assessment of the competence of  organisations

• Implemented ; probably Oct 2006

• Consultation – completed July 05

       “Evolution not Revolution” S.W.

• Changes: To duty-holders:- 

      Planning Supervisor- out.   Coordinator – in (but not necessarily as a direct replacement) 

      Duties:-

C: (as before) + ensure suitable project H&S (can’t abdicate this)  

D: (as before i.e.design in H&S)+ ensure C is aware of duties & that Co is appointed. Consider H&S of the end users.

Co: Clients friend?-early appointment client support & education- ensure C allocates adequate resources- coordinate design& advise on competence of D & Cons. gather & convey info.

P.C: as before- manage construction H&S- ensure C aware of duties/Co has been appointed & HSE notified prior to starting work

Cons: as before ; ensure C is aware of duties if it suspected they do not have an awareness.

Changes

Miscellaneous Changes  -

- Major increase in C duties

 -C to inform P.C. of min mob time.

 -Information pack:- to provide back-ground info for tender & H&S Plan

 -Breach of CDM:- employee may sue employer.

 -Competence: more emphasis ie all duty-holders must ensure that their appointees are competent.

 -Possibly ACOP only No guidance

CDM 2005:- IOSH Response

• General

• Reg.4 Competence

• Reg.5&6 Co-operation & Election

• Reg.7 Clients Project management

• Reg.8 Client appointments

• Reg.9 Project notifications

• Reg.10, 11&12 Client duties

Allan commented that there was little doubt that these regulations would come in in due course. HSE had invested a lot in them. The Co-ordinator had a major task (we might need phone boxes for Superman to change clothes in!).  He hoped the accident statistics in due course would show this had been the right approach.

6. Guest Speaker

Chiara Anne Amati

Chartered Occupational Psychologist

The Keil Centre, Edinburgh

Stress at Work: Effectiveness in practice

Overview

• Stress: definitions & developments

• A comprehensive strategy for taking action

• Key to successful projects

• HSE Support & Standards

• FAQs:

– How to distinguish pressure/ stress?

– How to ensure stress is tackled effectively?

– How to educate/ inform workforce?

– How to accurately record incidence?

Reasons for Tackling Stress

• From HSG 218

• Legal case

– Health & Safety Law

– Other: Disability Discrimination Act etc.

• Economic case

– Reduction in absence / accidents

– Increase productivity

• Ethical case

– Protecting health & safety

Demands & Resources

Pressure & Stress

• Pressure -  Resources match demands

• Feeling : motivated, enthusiastic, challenged, rewarded, relaxed, energetic

• Stress – Mismatch

• ‘Adverse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them’ (UK HSE)

• ‘State which is accompanied by physical, psychological or social complaints or dysfunction and results from individuals feeling unable to bridge a gap with the requirements or expectations placed on them’ (European Agreement)

Stress & Safety

• TKC project to analyse impact of psych. ill-health on safety

– Looking at:  depression; anxiety; stress

– By: Lit review & accident database analysis & SME interviews

• Initial results

– Anxiety – Quicker reactions & poss. over-reaction; decreased efficiency and greater fatigue;

– Depression – Slower reactions; impact on motivation & social functioning;

– Stress – combination of both; links to accidents in home, driving & at-risk behaviour

Best Practice

• Prevention

– Stress risk assessments

– Policies for mental wellbeing at work; absence

• Management

– Increasing resilience in staff & managers

– Skills for managers to tackle effectively at individual & team level

• Treatment

– Access to professional support

Stress Risk Assessment

• Assess risk against key sources of stress

• Implement Action Plan

• Effective assessments have:

– Management Commitment to action from start

– Staff Involvement in assessment & action plan

– Solution-focus from start of assessment

– Small-scale to take action / Large-scale as info-gathering

HSE Management Standards

• Process to follow

– Simple risk assessment process for stress

– Include assessment: e.g. HSE Indicator Tool

• Documents of best practice

– Define effective stress management

– 6 key risk areas: 

• Demands; Control; Support

• Relationships Role; Change

StressTools

• Toolkit for carrying out risk assessments independently, flexibly and effectively

• 3 Stress risk assessments & Set Management Standards

– Simple, risk assessment based process

– Solution-focused

– Proven effectiveness

•  Used as ‘one-off’ or licensed

• Training for independent in-house use

Team-Based Stress Risk Assessment (on Edinburgh Branch IOSH)

• Online/ paper completion

• Individual confidential & team report

• Effective as:

– Simple to use – easy to understand

– Focus on what needs to be changed to make the biggest impact

– Staff suggestions to ensure understanding & effectiveness

Report Results – Overview

This had had a 19% response from the members.

32% said they perceived their work as ‘high stress’ compared to 18% in mixed occupations. This was a significant difference.

Sources of Stress – the three most frequently cited sources of stress (“always” or “often”) were high workload, information not getting passed between different departments and constant interruptions.

Sources of Stress – those deemed to be most severe (ranked as the top 3) were high workload, constant interruptions and the accumulated effect of minor daily hassles.

Understanding & Taking Action – the assessment also asked for suggestions of action by the employer and the employee as to what might be done to reduce the stress arising from the employee’s own identified 3 greatest stressors.

Policies & Culture Change

• Setting expectations of role, responsibilities and behaviour of Staff & Organisation

• Most effective when:

– Linked to key organisation objectives/ priorities

– Integrated with related efforts (e.g. absence management)

– Contain clear outline of behaviours/ expectations

– Positive focus: e.g. well-being & performance

– Backed-up by organisation resources: support, training etc

Stress Management

• Varied: training, ad hoc interventions etc

• Most common training topics:

– “Stress skills” - Stress/ anxiety mgt; work-life balance

– Tailored skills - Assertiveness; time mgt etc

• Most effective when:

– Based on training needs analysis / risk assessment

– Tailored content for diff. audiences

– Focused on easily applied skills

– Integrated into competency-based model for training

– Include strong positive focus

Stress Treatment

• Professional input from psychologists & counsellors:

– e.g. EAP (Employee Assistance Programme)

• Integrated with return-to-work management

• Most effective when:

– Organisation receives some feedback & is able to monitor trends

– Stress-related absence handled actively: e.g. case management

FAQs … and Answers

• How to distinguish pressure/ stress?

– Vary between individual; need to involve staff

•  How to ensure stress is tackled effectively?

– Adopt: prevention, management, treatment

– Ensure management commitment

– Tailor to need; monitor & review effectiveness

• How to educate/ inform workforce?

– Tailor to training need; offer variety & choice

• How to accurately record incidence?

– Increase open-ness and awareness

• Focus on positive – wellbeing & performance

Useful Resources

• HSE - www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards

• Research - http://www.hsebooks.com/

• Case-studies

– www.ohstrategy.net

– Real Solutions, Real People (HSE)

• Consultants:

– British Psychological Society (BPS)

– International Stress Management Association (ISMA)

www.keilcentre.co.uk  www.stresstools.com

7. Closing details

Dates of next meetings

Edinburgh Branch

12 Jan 2006: Biohazards: Managing the Risk of infection at Work: Gillian Fletcher: Occupational Health Safety Advisory Service

Forth and Tay District

February 2^nd: Annual General Meeting and Developing Our Safety Influence beyond the Workplace.

Max Bancroft, MRSC, MIOSH  

Branch Secretary