Health, Safety and Wellbeing
Renfrewshire Council · 12 June 2025
Back to Joint Consultative Board (Non-Teaching) — 12 June 2025 and its agenda
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2 ___________________________________________________________________ To: Joint Consultative Board: Non-Teaching On: 12 June 2025 ___________________________________________________________________ Report by: Director of Finance and Resources ___________________________________________________________________ Heading: Health, Safety, and Wellbeing achievements for 24/25 and future priorities ___________________________________________________________________ Summary 1.1 This report provides an update on the Health, Safety and Wellbeing arrangements and performance of the Council for the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. 1.2 The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (as amended) place duties on the Council to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health of their employees and others that could be affected by work activities. 1.3 This report demonstrates the Council’s continued commitment to ensuring the health, safety, welfare, and wellbeing of our employees. It supports the aims of the “Our People, Our Future” People Strategy, the Councils’ Values and contributes to the delivery of best value outcomes. _________________________________________________________________ 2.0 Recommendations 2.1 Members are asked to note the following health, safety and wellbeing activities and performance of the Council. _____________________________________________________
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3 3.0 Background 3.1 A safe and healthy organisation is one that successfully balances the needs of individuals with the needs of the organisation. Health and Safety at work is not only about health and safety management, occupational health and promoting healthier lifestyles, it is recognised that the way in which work is organised and how people behave, is significant to nurturing positive outcomes. To be truly effective, health and safety must be an everyday process and continue to be an integral part of the workforce culture at all levels across the Council. 4.0 Health, Safety and Wellbeing Activities and Performance 4.1 The Council works in collaboration with a range of key stakeholders including Trade Unions, Services, One Ren, Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board (RVJB), Scotland Excel and the NHS to review our policies and guidance documents in line with statutory compliance, as well as business needs. 4.2 To ensure a collaborative approach to health and safety engagement with employees, the Corporate Health and Safety Committee (CHSC) continues to progress health and safety issues that cannot be resolved at Service level. The Committee has representation from Services and Trade Unions. During this reporting period the CHSC met 4 times to discuss and resolve health, safety and welfare issues raised by our Trade Union colleagues. 4.3 The Health and Safety team provides professional advice, guidance, and support to the Council’s construction activities and during the reporting period there were 33 construction site visits. The team supported major Council projects such as: Paisley Grammar, Renfrew Bridge Project, Dargavel Primary School, St James’s Primary School, Castlehead and Park Mains High Schools as well as other smaller projects within the school estate. 4.4 The Council’s Workplace Inspection Programme which looks at the welfare and safety arrangements across the Council’s estate has significantly progressed since the last report to members, with the Council’s Health and Safety Team carrying out 110 site visits, 16 safety inspections and 55 audit visits. 4.5 The Health and Safety team ensures compliance with safety standards by assessing supplier documentation during the Council’s procurement process. Over this period, they examined 127 high-risk and 35 low-risk contracts. 4.6 The Council’s Health and Safety team continues to drive and progress the fire, health and safety arrangements within the Corporate Fire Working Group. All adult, children’s respite units and schools have had refreshed fire risk assessments completed during the reporting period. 4.7 The Council has an ongoing commitment to reducing incidents, so far as is reasonably practicable and encourage employees to play their part in achieving this important objective. Each Service Health and Safety Committee/Group involving employee representatives, are required to focus on the causes of incidents. Further to this, weekly meetings with the Service Health and Safety Coordinators and the
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4 Health and Safety team, assists in the development of strategies and local accident reduction programmes. 4.8 During the reporting period there were 1,803 health and safety incidents reported in total, compared to 2,948 in the previous reporting period (2023/24). 38 of these incidents were reported to the HSE. The most pressing challenge for the Council remains incidents of violence and aggression, accounting for 81% of all reported cases, continuing to mirror national trends. All incidents are fully investigated, and preventative actions are put in place to prevent a recurrence. 4.9 Protecting the mental health and wellbeing of our workforce remains a key priority as defined in the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Plan. The number of Council trained and accredited mental health first aiders remains at 91. The Council’s mental health first aiders support our workforce by initially providing a safe space to discuss mental health concerns and available specialist support in areas such as financial or psychological wellbeing. Plans are in place to increase the number of MHFA’s in the coming months, alongside running an event with the current MHFA’s to better understand the usage of mental health first aid support and issues that are being presented. 4.10 The Quality of Working Life (Stress) Risk Assessment (QWLRA) is an important tool to identify perceived workplace stressors and to generate an action plan that may remove or reduce the impacts of the perceived stressors. The team have supported 10 specialist risk assessments during the reporting period. 4.11 To support employee wellbeing, Council officers have worked with a few subject matter experts to deliver a range of successful Rentalks. These sessions covered current topics such as ‘Supporting Menopause’, ‘Raising our Teens’, ‘Learning for Life’, ‘Men’s Mental Health’, ‘Gambling Awareness’, ‘Budgeting Skills’, ‘Woman Health’ ‘Insights to CBT’, ‘Mastering Work life Balance’, ‘Discussing HRT’, ‘Breastfeeding’, ‘Support for Carers’, with ‘Holistic Well- Being’ being scheduled for later this year. These Rentalks have been recorded and are available for all employees as either toolbox talks or training through the Council’s I’Learn Training Platform. 4.12 Eleven supporting wellbeing sessions were delivered to our frontline service employees in Environment, Housing and Infrastructure and Renfrewshire Health and Social Care Partnership, covering the Rentalk topics mentioned above, and where to seek support, if needed. Within Finance and Resources, 2 Breastfeeding Friendly Scotland awareness sessions were provided to our Customer Services Teams, following our accreditation for being a Breastfeeding Friendly employer. This equipped our teams with training, knowledge, and tools to ensure breastfeeding parents feel confident and comfortable, whether they are navigating their return to work or feeding their child on our premises. 4.13 The Council’s new Menopause Champion has also introduced ‘Let’s Pause’ monthly sessions for employees, which are supportive spaces for anyone experiencing menopause who wish to share their experiences and connect with others in a relaxed and friendly setting.
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5 4.14 The Council works closely with its Occupational Health provider to deliver its Health Surveillance programme. The programme provides focussed support mainly to employees within Environment, Housing and Infrastructure and Children’s Services. During the reporting period there were 394 appointments, covering a mixture of audio, hand arm vibration, skin, respiratory and workplace functionality. There have been no RIDDOR reportable diseases reported to the HSE during the reporting period. 4.15 During the reporting period, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) conducted 2 visits, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) conducted 2 visits, and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFR) conducted 8 visits. All were in response to reported incidents, but none led to enforcement action. 4.16 Data support for insurance claims, subject access requests (SAR), and freedom of information (FOI) requests continues to be a key function of the Health and Safety team. A total of 60 SAR/FOI requests were processed during 2024/25, primarily concerning workplace incidents and accidents. 4.17 To support of the Council’s Corporate Events Plan, the Health and Safety Team were involved in the planning and delivery of major events such as the Food Festival, Renfrew Gala Day, Barshaw Day, SMA Shot day, Halloween festival, Winterfest and local Christmas lights switch on events. 4.18 The Health and Safety team continue to support the new ways of working arrangements being developed across the Council. This includes reviewing floor plate designs and ventilation impacts. The team supported the recent relocation of staff from the Renfrewshire Valuation Joint Board to Renfrewshire House. 5.0 Future Plans 5.1 The HSE have selected priority programmes which concentrate on hazards or sectors where improvements are needed. The HSE’s priority programmes for 2025/26 that may impact on the Council are: • Dust. • Legionella. • Musculoskeletal disorders. • Work related stress. • Planned Preventative Maintenance. • Asbestos. • Construction related activities; and • Raising awareness of the need to prevent injury to members of the public from accessing large commercial waste and recycling bins. 5.2 In addition, The Council recognises and applies the HSE’s aims to their workplace strategy: 'Helping Great Britian work well’. 5.3 The overall aim within the Council is for Services to continue to address concerns in relation to the above issues and incorporate these into their Health and Safety Action Plans which should include relevant performance indicators. This will ensure that
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6 health and safety continues to be a significant driver and should result in enhanced health and safety performance. 5.4 The Council will continue to work in partnership with our occupational health provider People Asset Management and our employee counselling provider Timefortalking, to review and develop innovative health and well-being programmes with the focus on supporting attendance at work. 5.5 Over the next twelve months, key areas to be targeted in relation to health safety and wellbeing are: • Continued monitoring of ill health trends and analysis. • Promotion of occupational health services to support employees to remain at work, including physiotherapy and occupational health surveillance. • Targeted promotion across the Council, to increase the use of the employee counselling service. • Health education and training of employees on occupational health related subjects for example occupational exposures or mental health awareness. • Provision of expert advice and development of occupational health-related procedures or guidance as required. • Continued focus on the delivery of the health surveillance plan, testing and outcomes. 5.6 In order to continue to promote and sustain a positive health, safety and well-being culture, further objectives have been set for 2025/26 which includes: • Development of a New Health and Safety Strategy 2025-2030, aligned with the Council’s People Strategy. • Continuing to examine the presentation of accident/ill health statistics within Businessworld ERP and how this may be improved to give clearer information and to encourage their use by services to provide a focus for proactive accident prevention programmes. • Continuing to promote, provide, develop, and expand the health and safety and well-being courses in line with the business needs. • Continuing to promote the Council’s health and wellbeing plan, including mental health awareness, the supporting role of the mental health first aiders, wellbeing supports for employees, employee benefits and the use of the Quality of Working Life (stress) risk assessment Council wide to minimise personal and work-related stress. • Driving safety cultural change within the Council through a Challenge Culture and Safety Felt leadership. • Reviewing the safety risk assessment and legal registers to ensure compliance and governance with new and existing legislation. • Linking health and safety interventions to support the four main themes contained within Council’s health and well-being plan. • Horizon scanning to ensure we adapt and control new and emerging technologies in the workplace such as artificial intelligence or green initiatives. 5.7 The Corporate Health and Safety Service has recently undergone an external health check, with findings within the report outlining significant strengths within the team in terms of incident management and the expertise and competence of the corporate
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7 team. The report also makes some recommendations in terms of the breadth of responsibilities within the team and that they should be clearly focussed on core H&S activity; while rebasing the relationship between the corporate team and services would be of benefit with a clearer focus on key risks which will inform a revised H&S policy, strategy and reporting arrangements. It was also suggested that a specific compliance system should be considered to improve the efficiency of current arrangements for recording, monitoring, and reporting H&S compliance information. The report also made comment on the overall level of resource within the corporate team and that this should be supplemented in order to further improve monitoring and compliance, audit activity and training. 5.8 In order to address the recommendations in the report, elected members of the Finance, Resources and Customer Services Policy board agreed in April 2025, that the corporate health and safety team relocates under the management of the Council’s business services arrangements – specifically to improve overall linkage with the Council’s risk management arrangements and to clearly separate the service from its current position within the People and OD service. 5.9 Currently the corporate health and safety have responsibilities in terms of employee wellbeing, occupational health, and absence management; and while these responsibilities are clearly of relevance to the Council’s overall health and safety arrangements, they potentially do not allow the team to focus on their core objectives. It was agreed that employee wellbeing, absence management and occupational health are consolidated within a revised People & OD, with the health and safety team therefore refocussing their efforts in core health and safety objectives. 5.10 Plans are currently being developed to enable the change to happen smoothly, ensuring a seamless transition of teams, responsibilities, and operational arrangements over the coming months. Implications of the Report 1. Financial - Continuing to improve health and safety performance will reduce accidents/occupational ill health/claims and associated costs. 2. People & Organisational Development - This report supports the Council’s commitment to the health, safety, and wellbeing of employees. 3. Community/Council Planning – This report and plan supports the objectives contained within the community and council plans. 4. Legal - The Council will continue to comply with current health and safety legislation. 5. Property/Assets - Having a robust health and safety management system in place and an effective risk control system can reduce the risk of property damage and potential loss of premises which could be caused by fire for example. 6. Information Technology - Not applicable. 7. Equality & Human Rights - The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report as it is for noting only. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and
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8 monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety - This report supports and demonstrates the Council’s commitment to ensuring effective health and safety management. 9. Procurement - Finance and Resources, People & Organisational Development Health and Safety Section has a valuable input to the Council’s procurement system. 10. Risk - This report supports the overarching management of risk within Renfrewshire Council. 11. Privacy Impact - Not applicable. 12. Climate Risk – Good health and safety practices support environmental controls. 13. Children’s rights – Not applicable 14. Cosla Policy Position- Not applicable _______________________________________________________ List of Background Papers- None ________________________________________________________________ Author: Steven Fanning, Strategic Lead Partner (Health and Safety) steven.fanning@renfrewshire.gov.uk Tel. 07747790211
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