Health and Safety POLICY

18. MONITORING OF SCHOOL HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICY

The School's Health and Safety Policy is reviewed annually and updated on a regular basis.

To monitor the effectiveness of the health and safety policy Internal Self-Inspections (Safety Audits) of the School take place at least once annually. These inspections are carried out by the H&S Manager accompanied by the H&S Assistant  and an appropriate member of the academic or technical staff familiar with their particular work area.  A written record of each inspection and subsequent remedial action is kept in the Safety File and is available for scrutiny. 
Additionally, informal checks of the workplace are undertaken on a regular basis by H&S Staff including checking of means of escape, fire doors, fire extinguishers and safety notice boards.

Temperature surveys (to measure both high and low temperature levels) are carried out on request with the aid of a temperature logger.

Formal and informal inspections as well as checks of high risk areas such as workshops are carried out regularly by the H&S Staff to ensure that all working procedures detailed in the guidelines and risk assessments are followed e.g. the use of guards on the machines, the use of personal protective equipment. Noise surveys are carried out in the workshop areas to ensure compliance.

Systematic inspections of plant and equipment take place at appropriate intervals to ensure the effective operation of workplace precautions. Examples of these inspections include: engineering examinations of lifting equipment, air receiver pressure testing, Inspections of LEV equipment, PAT Tests, formal and informal inspections of ladders.

Periodic examination of documents such as risk assessments and training records are carried out on a regular basis to ensure they are kept up to date and that training requirements and needs are properly addressed.

The School is subject to external audits by the University’s Insurance Brokers, Aon Risk Services. These audits mainly focus on a detailed examination of the systems that are in place to effectively manage health and safety within the School and also to check compliance with the H&S Policy by carrying our a tour of selected (by the Auditor) areas within the School.

Fire Risk Assessments are carried out annually by the University Fire Safety Officer to examine the fire safety procedures and measures required in the buildings. The full evacuation procedure in each building is rehearsed at least once a year in the form of fire  drills in order to identify any weakness in the evacuation strategy.

The Health and Safety Plan is used to identify health and safety objectives and provides a timetable to ensure that these objectives are met. The plan is monitored by the Health, Safety and Security Committee.