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Establishing a Departmental Safety Committee

A Departmental Safety Committee should assist and advise the Head of Department on planning, prioritisation and implementation of measures to manage the risks of departmental activities.

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What is a departmental safety committee?


To assist and advise the Head of Department on planning, prioritisation and implementation of measures to manage the risks of departmental activities, the Head of Department should constitute a Departmental Safety Committee or management group whose size, representation and meeting frequency should be commensurate with the magnitude of the risk and complexity of departmental activity.

This information should be recorded in the committee Terms of Reference that should be reviewed annually. Where appropriate, and especially in smaller departments, health and safety matters should be considered regularly at departmental management meetings.

Role


The role of the departmental health and safety committee will cover the following:

  • Ensuring the department is complying, as a minimum, with applicable legislation, UCL and departmental health and safety policies and any other adopted requirements.
  • Ensuring the health and safety risks are managed effectively, to as low as reasonably practicable, through the process of risk assessment and risk control.
  • Developing actions to meet corporate and departmental safety objectives.
  • Developing a programme of active monitoring (visits, checks and inspections) and the recording of significant findings and improvement actions.
  • Establishing communication and consultation arrangements with staff, including where appropriate, local union safety representatives.
  • Establishing effective communication and co-operation arrangements with other parties in shared workplaces.
  • Monitor and review health and safety performance.

Membership


It is a mandatory requirement for the Head of Department or higher senior manager to chair the Departmental Safety Committee for high hazard departments.

There is no correct number of committee members as each department will differ. The size and representation of the committee should be commensurate with the magnitude of the risk and complexity of departmental activity.

The size should be kept reasonably small so that decisions can be made and actions arising are accountable to relevant individuals. 

Representatives to consider as part of the committee are:

  • Head of Department or higher senior manager is required to chair the Departmental Safety Committee for high hazard departments but this responsibility can be officially delegated by the HoD to another senior manager within the department in low hazard departments
  • Managers, Supervisors or Principal Investigators 
  • Departmental Safety Officer (DSO)
  • Employee representatives from each significant group within the department (e.g. each team)
  • Union appointed safety reps
  • Safety Services lead safety advisor for the department
  • Specialist safety role holders (e.g. Fire Evacuation Marshal, Radiation Protection Supervisor etc)
  • Research groups and student representatives (excluding taught and undergraduates)

Frequency


There is no correct frequency of committee meetings, how often it meets should be commensurate with the magnitude of the risk and complexity of departmental activity.

A common frequency for a health and safety committee to meet is quarterly. If the group finds that actions are not being closed and information is reaching the group too late, the frequency can be increased. If the group finds that there is no significant change from each meeting, the frequency can be decreased.

It is recommended that the Departmental Safety Committee meets at least once per academic term.

Reporting


To effectively carry out the role of monitoring and reviewing health and safety performance, a comprehensive report on health and safety performance should be provided at each committee meeting for the group to scrutinise, which will enable them to drive improvement.

> Further guidance on departmental health and safety committee reports

> Committee indicator monitoring report template

The committee should produce an annual report of health and safety performance, key findings and achievements to be presented to the Senior Management Team (SMT) in an appropriate forum (e.g. an executive level meeting). The committee should expect a response from the SMT to outline resources, priorities and actions to be taken.

Last updated: Wednesday, January 26, 2022