Close
Health and Safety Meeting held on Friday 4th February at 11.00 a.m.
Present:
Dr S Dawson (SD)
Mr G Nevill (GN)
Mr J Kelly (JK)
Ms M Gomez (MG)
Mr A Pyne (AP)
Mrs R Al-Khafaji (DRUK) (RAlK)
In attendance Ms E Turner
1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies were received from Prof. D McAlpine (DMcA) C. Overington (CO), Bill Potter (BP).
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.
3. Matters Arising
There have been new Fire Marshalls appointed for some areas. Neil Roberts and AC are responsible for the Teaching Administration block. Cherilee Rutherford is unable to take up the role of Fire Marshall which leaves only Ghada responsible for the 2nd Floor. This is considered sufficient cover as it is a small area with few staff members.
The Ground Floor, Teaching Block is covered by Nick Jacobs, which includes the Students’ Common Room.
DRUK is to appoint a second Fire Marshall as Rada is presently the only person responsible for DRUK staff.
4. Safety Officers’ Update
We are still waiting for the fitting of the deaf paging hardware to allow the distribution of the pagers to staff who require them. There is currently one person in DRUK to whom this applies.
Action : AP / GN to follow up with UCL Estates & Facilities.
Linda Tilling, Safety Services, UCL has been assigned responsibility for UCL Ear Institute and is our contact at Main Camus for any safety concerns and information.
The rearrangement of the offices has now been completed in order to fit more desks into the General Office space on the Ground Floor of the CAR Building. This has resulted in wires having to be taped to the floor, which could pose a risk to employees. It was reported that CO said that this was an issue for UCL to resolve.
New area responsibilities have been assigned. Robert Heller is to be the new Student Safety Representative.
GN has distributed approved Codes of Practice Folders to relevant working areas – and these areas are Confocal Microscope and Animal House. Further copies are held with main safety records.
5. GM Officer
There was no GM Office Report
6. Radiation Officer
The EI had a visit from the Environment Agency to check that all necessary procedures are being followed. These visits are routine.
All record keeping now has to be done by RSS a new electronic system (similar to FIS) which means every use or movement of radiation must be recorded.
7. Building Supervisor
AP reported that the lift repairs were due to be completed by the end of the week. This has impacted on non-delivery to labs of goods and equipment.
The Front door to the CAR Building was current out of order awaiting a spare part from the manufactures.
8. DRUK Reports
There was nothing to report.
9. Student Representative Report
There was nothing to report.
10. Any Other Business
a. Maintenance of the building has deteriorated to such an extent that it is causing serious safety issues ( eg consistent lack of water supply, temperature below legal working minimum for several weeks and consistent problems with severe temperature and humidity fluctuations in the lab areas and main front fire exit door often out of action).
Action: This has to be escalated with E&F. Adam is trying to organise a meeting with Robert Hood but it was suggested action from HoD and Safety Officer via a letter copied to safety office might be necessary to get their attention.
b. A request was made for better communication via all staff email about these type of building issues as soon as they are reported. AP agreed to ensure this was actioned.
c. Miriam raised the service contract issue for equipment, in the last minutes Cheryl reported some monies would be available. The autoclaves currently are out of contract - it’s a legal requirement that they are tested and serviced regularly.
d. Clutter in corridors has built up due to lab/office moves and storage of coffee boxes etc in main corridors. These are trip and fire hazards. The laminator is still in the basement corridor a year after being raised in the last minutes - Adam reported David wanted to sell it but nothing has happened. AP to action with DMcA.
e. Ghada’s accident: Graham said this has been reported to UCL and they have not yet visited.
f. It was suggested that a Health & Safety folder be created on the public folder for documents so users can have a dedicated place to access documents.
11. Date of next meeting
To be arranged.