FORTH AND TAY DISTRICT

of

EDINBURGH BRANCH

28th Meeting

Dewar Centre, Glover Street, Perth

at 7.30 pm Thursday 14th September 2006.

 

Sederunt.

C. Lawson              P. Szawlowski                   D.Devey                  K. Paterson

D. Mann                  J. Gorgon               W. Reiche               E. Stobbie

J. Goddard             H. McCrea              B. Stainton              D Binnie

A. Pill                      B Davidson              J. Morran                F. Calvin

M. Powell (Ms)        M. Powell (Mr)        J. Little                   S. Chisholm

K. McDonnell           C. Kinnaird              R. Turner                G. McClure

 

Apologies

P. McCusker           K. Driscoll               J. Noblett                G. McNab

D. Clark                  R. McDonnell           P. Brunton               D. Stephen

T. Mellon                 D. Murray               R. Greer                 A. Stark

S. Fowler                A. Harwood

1.       Chairperson           Karen McDonnell

 

·       The Chairperson opened the meeting at 7.30 pm welcoming everyone who had braved the bad weather to attend the 28th Meeting of the Forth and Tay District.  Karen outlined to the meeting the actions to take in the event of an emergency.  She also reminded the audience of the administrative arrangements at the Centre.

 

·       The Chairperson then went on to apologise to the Meeting and to explain that the nominated speaker for the evening – David Stephen from the HSE in Edinburgh – could not attend because he was required to be in court for a case that had to be completed.  Instead, Karen stated that she proposed to update the meeting with IOSH’s progress and involvement with health and safety in Scotland since the last Dewar Centre meeting in April.  The meeting was sympathetic that this last minute alteration to the programme had been forced upon the Meeting and left no time to arrange an alternative.

 

2.               Minutes of the 27th Meeting on the 6th April 2006

 

·       The Secretary informed the meeting that copies of the 27th meeting had been distributed by e-mail in April.  However, paper copies were also distributed throughout the room for reference.  The meeting was asked if there were any comments to be made regarding the Minutes of that meeting. No comments were forthcoming and, so, it was proposed that the Minutes be accepted as a true record of that meeting.

 

Proposed :    Andy Pill                  Seconded :   Kirsten Paterson

 

3.       Secretary’s Report                    Dick Mann

·       The Secretary informed the meeting that the following addressees for e-mails had failed (“bounced”) when the April Minutes were sent out:

 

Mike Ranaich               C. Ireland (Angus)   Neil (Neal?) Robertson

 

·       Bounced e-mails from Tuesday 12th September:

Mike Ranaich               C.Ireland                 Phillip Brunton

Robin Russell               John Bird

 

Dick requested that anyone who was in contact with any of the people listed contact them and explain the situation; if they telephoned him using the number given on the IOSH  Branch / District website he would alter their e-mail details.  In the meantime, apologies are extended to those not getting e-mails.

 

·       The Secretary gave the details of the District’s programme for the 2006 – 2007 season:

·       9th November – Speaker, George Dickson, Health and Safety Advisor on the topic “Managing Safety within the Scottish Ambulance Service”.

·       8th February (AGM) – Speaker, Kirsten Paterson, Health and Safety Advisor, University of Dundee on the topic “Artists to Zoologists; Managing Health and Safety in Higher Education”.

·       12th April – Speaker, Jim Wallace, Risk Manager, Diageo on the topic “Global Risk Management”.

 

·       The Secretary had briefly mentioned at the AGM in January that any member wishing to be considered for the Committee would be welcome. He restated that volunteers for the Committee to take up post from the next AGM are still sought. One person had already expressed an interest and others would provide a welcome injection of new ideas.

·       The Secretary informed the meeting that he was in receipt of a job vacancy –for a post as a temporary Site Safety Advisor had been received by e-mail from Eleanor Scott, Principal Safety Advisor, Babcock Naval Services, Faslane. Anyone interested in this vacancy was requested to contact Dick at the end of the meeting for details.

 

4.     Correspondence

The Secretary had received two items of correspondence to report to the meeting:

 

1.     an e-mail from Mary Sturgess – Branch Liaison Coordinator at IOSH sets out :

“Summary of IOSH’s Strategic Plan 2006 – 2010”. This can be downloaded from –

                         www.iosh.co.uk/index.cfm?go=about.vision

 

2.     A letter containing the Edinburgh Branch programme for 2006 / 2007.  (These details can also be found at the Branch Website)

 

5.       Branch Liaison – Karen McDonnell

 

·       Karen informed the meeting that volunteers were being sought for IOSH Leicester Standing Committees from Branches and Districts UK wide.  This would provide an opportunity to “get your voice heard” at a strategic level within IOSH.

 

·       The Branch is active in helping to prepare a health and safety “handbook” for the benefit of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSP’s). Similar documents have been launched at the Welsh Assembly and Westminster: it is hoped that the booklet will be provided at Holyrood next year.

 

·       The Branch is closely considering the upcoming changes to Fire Legislation and the implications it has for Scotland.

6.       Any Other Competent Business

Hugh McCrea, who is also a Member of the Scottish Chamber of Safety (SCOS), informed the meeting of a Seminar that SCOS has organised for Wednesday the 8th November 2006.  The theme of the seminar is “Dermatitis”; the venue is McDiarmid Park, Perth; start time about 09.30; speakers will include the HSE.  The fee for the day is £75. Anyone wishing to take advantage of this seminar should check the SCOS web site.

7.       Speaker –  Karen McDonnell, District Chairperson.

After apologizing to the meeting again for the unavoidable absence of David Stephen, who had been due to address the meeting, Karen outlined the four subject areas she intended to deal with.  The four items were:

1.               IOSH in Scotland in 2006

2.               POOSH in Scotland

3.               The Safe Start Initiative week 23rd – 27th October

4.               Wiseup2work.

 

IOSH in Scotland in 2006.

 

·       IOSH in Scotland has 2824 members, 587 of who are considered fully competent in the legal sense.

·       Scotland has 3 Branches with 2 associated Districts

·       Joint meetings of representatives from Branches and Districts were re-established in 2005 with a primary purpose of being able to provide a united and common front when dealing with other agencies in the field of health and safety at work.

POOSH in Scotland.

 

POOSH (Professional Organisations in Occupational Safety and Health) exists to promote the continuous improvement of the practice of occupational safety and health through education, communication and the encouragement of cooperation between all persons and agencies in the provision of a healthy and safe working environment.

 

Members of POOSH include:

·       Association of Chartered Physiotherapists in Occupational Health and Ergonomics

·       British Occupational Hygiene Society

·       Division of Occupational Psychology Scotland

·       Ergonomics Society

·       Faculty of Occupational Medicine

·       IOSH

·       Occupational Health Nurses Forum Scotland

·       Partnership on Health and Safety in Scotland

·       Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland

·       Scottish Centre for Healthy Working Lives

·       Scottish Chamber of Safety

·       Society of Occupational Medicine.

The objectives of POOSH include:

·       Exchanging views, information and knowledge

·       Offering comments on Consultation Documents put out by government agencies and on national strategies for health and safety

·       Discuss and develop common initiatives and policies for consideration by PHASS – the Partnership of Health and Safety in Scotland.

·       To promote professional standards and competence among practitioners, including appropriate qualifications and CPD (continuing professional development) schemes.

Mapping Occupational Safety and Health Professional Body activities in Scotland.

 

·       POOSH has submitted draft “mapping” (across the various groupings that make up the whole) in September 2006.

·       Details can be found on line through the POOSH web site

·       There are background details on each of the groupings

·       Membership Grades are set out

·       Courses and Qualifications for the groupings are available

·       A contact point is given

·       There are hyperlinks to relevant data.

 

“Safe Start” – Safe Start Week 23rd – 27th October 2006.

 

“Safe Start” is run by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.  It seeks to involve young workers, their representatives and their employers and supervisors.  It also seeks to encourage the education community to prepare young people for work, and to involve individual schools, classrooms and students themselves.

 

More details on “Safe Start” can be found via the HSE’s web site.

“Wiseup2work” and www.wiseup2work.co.uk

 

Wiseup2work has been created by IOSH and is sponsored by the Learning Skills Council and supported by the National Youth Agency and the British Chambers of Commerce.

 

Current statistics over five years show:

·       66 under 19’s killed

·       14,500 suffering major injuries

·       52,000 hurt or made ill

·       500,000 school students put out to “work placements”

·       250,000 on government supported apprenticeship schemes

·       Across Europe young people suffer 50% more accidents at work than more experienced workers.

Most teenagers think that “bad stuff” only happens to young people and therefore it is difficult to talk to them about health and safety and retain their interest and attention.

 

Wiseup2work is a free online resource that can be used to help keep the attention of young people when dealing with the topics of their health and safety.  The website – www.wiseup2work.co.uk provides jargon-free interactive exercises and games, a chat forum, lesson plans, worksheets, real life stories, case studies and more all designed to help bring health and safety alive for young adults.

In conclusion to her presentation Karen challenged the meeting to think about how they have been dealing with preparing and protecting young people and influencing them to take care for their safety and health.  She gave an example of a RoSPA initiative – in which she has a very personal interest – of young drivers’ safety.  From the floor, Kirsten Paterson mentioned a similar initiative from Leicester (University?) targeting young male drivers in particular entitled “For my Girlfriend”.  Joan Goddard told the meeting about her workplace’s (Branstons, Abernethy) liaison with a local primary school where the children were taught about the difference between health and safety for children today compared with Victorian times.

 

8.       Vote of Thanks – Dick Mann

 

At the end of Karen’s presentation to the meeting, Dick Mann thanked her on behalf of everyone present for having the courage to fill-in at the very last moment after the nominated speaker found himself unable to attend.  To do this, and provide us all with a very informative update was no mean feat!  The meeting agreed and showed their appreciation in the usual manner (applause.).

 

9.       Next Meeting

 

The next meeting will be held at the Dewar Centre on Thursday the 9th November 2006 commencing at 7.30pm.  The topic for the guest speaker – George Dickson – is Managing Health and Safety within the Scottish Ambulance Service.