Agenda item

Report of the Director of Open Spaces.

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Open Spaces on the department’s Health & Safety Audit 2013.

The Technical Manager noted that whilst there had been a reduction in the number of accidents resulting in injuries during the year – from 55 to 46 – the nature of the work carried out by Open Spaces staff meant that it was difficult to eliminate the risk of accidents entirely. He added that effort had been put into improving reporting processes to ensure the data collected for audit purposes was as accurate as possible. He concluded by noting that a new Technical officer, appointed at Epping Forest, was supporting improvements in Health and Safety.

In response to a comment from a member, the Chairman requested that officers provide a short report at a subsequent Committee meeting, detailing across an annual quarter, the nature of reported accidents. The report would provide more detail than was available in the current report and outline any lessons arising. He commented that he was pleased to hear that the reporting process was considered robust.

In response to comments from members querying the reason for some issues marked as completed following the 2011 Audit reverting to ‘work in progress’ following the 2013 Audit, the Technical Manager responded that each Audit inevitably revealed new areas for improvement. Items such as Fire Assessments required renewal when they reached their term of expiry – thus explaining incidences such Fire Safety reverting to work in progress.

RECEIVED