New health and safety committees

As part of the review and improvement process of UCL's Safety Management System, a recent external audit recommended that we look at the way in which UCL has oversight of the management of significant hazards within UCL. Over the last year a number of changes, facilitated by Safety Services, have been agreed by the University Management Committee (UMC) and the Work Health and Safety Committee (WHSC) to ensure better oversight.

The governance structure has been updated to provide closer relationships between specialist health and safety committees and the WHSC. The remit of the Ionising Radiation and Genetic Modification committees have been expanded and an additional three sub-committees have been established in areas that the WHSC has agreed would benefit from in-depth discussion by specialists in that area. 

The chairs of the sub-committees will also be members of the WHSC so that they can provide updates to the WHSC on the work of the sub-committee and be responsible for leading on actions given to the sub-committee by the WHSC. 

The Chairs will have the authority to direct the establishment of working groups and to ensure that the sub-committees meet their terms of reference. 

Safety Sub-Committees

• Radiation Safety Sub-Committee (RSSC) – previously the Ionising Radiation Committee but now with an expanded remit to cover lasers and other non-ionising radiation as well as work with ionising radiation
• Genetic Modification and Biological Safety Sub-Committee (GMBSSC) – previously the Genetic Modification Safety Committee but now with an expanded remit to provide oversight of all work with biological agents as well as to monitor and review work carried out with genetically modified material
• Chemical Safety Sub-Committee (CSSC) – this sub-committee has been established to help ensure that there are UCL standards for the storage, use and waste management of all chemical substances. Each Faculty, including UCL Estates, has been asked to nominate at least one person to sit on the committee as even those departments that do not use chemicals in day-to-day research will use chemicals for cleaning and other activities
• Fire Safety Sub-Committee (FSSC) – this sub-committee covers compliance with the Fire Safety Act and other relevant standards and statutes
• Infrastructure Safety Sub-Committee (ISSC) – this sub-committee has been established to ensure that safety is fully embedded in the work carried out to support UCL’s estate and infrastructure. The key performance measures it will set and review will cover statutory compliance, building repair and interaction between UCL Estates and academic departments

Each of the sub-committees has met at least once and once their Terms of Reference, membership and meeting schedules are confirmed, Safety Services will update the Safety Governance webpages to reflect this.