Health and Safety Report

Agenda item
Meeting
Date
6
Lambeth Living Board
11 June 2014
Health and Safety Report
For
Information
Approval
Prepared by: Beverley Williams
Title: Head of Health &Safety (Acting)
Phone: 020 7926 6373
Purpose
To provide the Board with an update on Health and Safety matters
associated with Lambeth Living and associated audits.
Summary
This report provides an overview of Health and Safety activity that has
taken place over the last two quarters. The report includes and updates on
the following:
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Enforcement Notices
Fire Safety
Asbestos
Water treatment
Electrical testing
Health and safety audit reviews
Key risks
There are no key risks associated with this report.
Financial
implications
If the Council decide to install sprinkler systems in sheltered
accommodation and hostels, additional funding will be required. The
extent of funding has not yet been established as a decision is yet to be
reached.
Recommendation
That the Board notes the content of this report.
1.
Fire
Enforcement Notices
Lambeth Towers
Lambeth Towers received an Enforcement Notice following an audit and after a period of works it
was inspected and was given a partial compliance letter. This letter is given when it has been
deemed by the Inspecting Officer to have had sufficient works carried out to significantly lower the
risk to occupants and visitors to the building.
When a partial compliance letter has been sent it works similarly to a full compliance letter in so
much that the building is put back into our system for re-inspection at some point in the future, the
risk score on the building is lowered and the Enforcement Notice remains on the public register for
three years irrespective.
The works required at Lambeth Towers were vast and at one time in consultation with the London
Fire Brigade fire engineering department there was consideration of prohibiting the use of part of
that building, however sufficient works were carried out immediately to prevent this.
There have been massive improvements in the fire safety standards which have been reflected this
building which will be inspected again at some time in the future by the new Lambeth/Wandsworth
London Fire Brigade team.
Southwyck House
The London Fire Brigade carried out an exercise at Southwyck House on the 22nd January in
partnership with Lambeth Living. It gave the fire crews and Station Commander attending from
Brixton good orientation of the building and the opportunity to use the dry riser and the marking
system we have implemented with the new fire-fighter access switch also installed as an
improvement to the building. Peter Green attended from the Lambeth Living communications team
and is writing a piece on it and will also issue to the client a press release on the event.
Park View House
The London Fire Brigade and Lambeth Living carried out a joint inspection of Park View House a
high rise block on 30/01/14. This block is of a similar design to blocks where we received
enforcement notices; we received a clean bill of health from the London Fire Brigade.
The London Fire Brigade and Lambeth Living will continue to undertake joint inspection of the
remaining high rise blocks.
2.
Fire management
The First quarter (April, May & June) of the fire risk programme will deliver 246 assessments
across a range of properties in line with 2 full time fire risk assessors and one contract assessor.
Properties continue to be risk graded which means that the re-inspection programme and its
delivery is managed set against the target of the risk grade and the additional logistics of access.
The current staff allocation is required to maintain the programme at a manageable level set
against the broad remit of fire safety across the housing stock and educating residents in line with
the recommendations of the Lakanal enquiry.
The transfer of URH properties has come across to LL with each property having an FRA. These
are now being transferred into the fire risk assessment re-inspection programme. Some require reinspection due to some of the actions identified being inconsistent. The logistical plan for property
types through this year is as follows
10+ Storey Buildings
Re-assessment programme started April 2014 each high rise will be inspected through the next 12
months. Kelvedon House has already been inspected in partnership with London Fire Brigade and
was satisfactory not incurring any enforcement action. Capital works have been finalised through
the capital fire programme to all high rise blocks over the next three years. With significant
improvements taking place at 9 blocks this year. In line with the Lakanal enquiry each high rise
block is having a type 4 evasive fire risk assessment survey to determine void or additional
refurbishment standards
6 – 9 Storey Buildings
All buildings individually risk graded and from that the selected risk grading will determine the
number to fall into the re-inspection programme through 2014/15
5 Storey and below directly managed by LL
All buildings individually risk graded and from that the selected risk grading will determine the
number to fall into the re-inspection programme through 2014/15
TMO managed
All buildings individually risk graded and from that the selected risk grading will determine the
number to fall into the re-inspection programme through 2014/15
Hostels
Re-assessment programme started April 2014 each hostel will be inspected through the next 12
months. 50% of hostels receiving significant improvement to their fire safety package
Sheltered accommodation
Re-assessment programme started April 2014 each sheltered
accommodation will be
inspected over the next 12 months. Assessments surveys for sprinklers are taking place
We continue to work closely with LFB and respond proactively to requests this has stopped
enforcement notices being issued and reduced notices of deficiencies
The programme is now driving extensive capital work compartmentation upgrades to 50% of the
10+ stock
Continuing programme of risk based front entrance door replacements with 3000 replacements
programmed for the financial 2013/2014 year.
A programme of compartmentation works and fire alarm upgrades to all hostel stock.
A package of fire safety upgrades to street property stock through the LHS programme.
Premises information plates
The information for the Premises Information Plates have been returned to LL and they are being
fitted through June 2014 Once the plates have been fitted we will be carrying out further work with
LFB on the provision of 4 – 5 Gerda boxes at the same addresses and the information to be
provided in them and the building criteria.
Sprinklers quote
Quotations were sought from specialist companies to retrofit a micro bore sprinkler system for
Northwood House and Dykes Court which contain our most vulnerable residents. A feasibility
report has now been produced with costs for the installation of sprinkler systems at Dykes Court
and Northwood House. This will be provided to the Council's Housing, Regeneration and
Environment client team to make a decision as to proceed or not with the installation.
Fire Safety Guidance document
A fire safety guidance note for High rise blocks was signed off by Lambeth Livings Senior
Management Team 0n 02/10/13. A copy is provided with this report. The document is now being
distributed to all new residents.
A similar document needs to be devised for Street Properties but its issue needs to coincide with
the completion of refurbishment works at the street properties. There are compartmentation &
detection requirements within the street properties which will be addressed during the
refurbishment works. To meet current guidance
Lakanal Fire Report update
The response to the key issues raised under the Lakanal Fire report has been updated and a copy
provided to the Housing, Regeneration and Environment client team.
3.
Asbestos
We have undertaken a mini competition as part of a tendering exercise using the Brent
Housing framework.
We approached all three consultancy firms on the Brent Housing Framework. We used EU
supply, the electronic procurement system to undertake the mini competition, the tender
submissions were evaluated and a report approved by procurement board to award the
contract to Armstrong York the existing provider.
This meant there would be a seamless transition from the existing contract to the new
contract which commenced on 31st January 2014 and will expire in March 2015.
Going forward we will procure new contracts for asbestos consultancy services and a
separate contract for asbestos removal, we aim to have these in place before the expiry of
the Brent Housing Framework in March 2015.
Issues have been identified with Lifespan asbestos data which shows some asbestos
communal street property surveys recorded against the flat to the same address.
This has been discussed with the Housing, Regeneration and Environment client team and
a proposed solution was put forward to the Councils Asset Management provider Property
Tectonics who are currently implementing the proposal which involves loading all structure
codes onto a new version of the asbestos module and then loading relevant data to the
correct property structure code.
We are currently verifying data has been correctly matched, once confirmed the original
version which contains incorrect and missing structure codes will be turned off. Property
Tectonics are expected to complete this by the end of June 2014.
It is expected that by September 2014 all data will be transferred onto Keystone Asset
Management +from Lifespan.
4.
Water Treatment
Lambeth Living do not carry out a programme of water treatment as it is not required under
HSE's Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) L8 - Legionnaires' disease: The control of
legionella bacteria in water systems.
Our position on the inspection of water tanks is as follows. We worked closely with Lambeth
Council to produce their “Policy and Procedures for the Management of Water Systems and
the Control of Legionella Bacteria” with which all our works comply. This policy was written
around the Approved Code of Practice for the control of legionella bacteria in water
systems otherwise referred to as L8 published by the Health & Safety Commission.
Within Lambeth Council’s Policy (Checklist 2 p.34) it requires cold water storage tanks to
have a visual inspection annually and temperature readings taken every six months. From
the annual inspection carried out by our specialist contractors, should they believe the
water is compromised in any way which could affect our customers they would report this
and remedial action would ensue, whether this was in the form of a full tank clean &
chlorination and/or water testing for specific parameters.
We do carry out water testing when our customers report discolouration and/or taste and
odour problems in order to help us identify a possible source or cause, but this is very much
reactive and not routine.
Legionella risk assessments
Technical Services have instructed our term contractors to visit all multi-occupancy
buildings which are not currently included in the planned works programme. This exercise
will provide a definitive list of communal cold water tanks in the borough.
Legionella remedial work
Tank inspections and associated remedial works continue to be managed by use of
spreadsheets pending the introduction of an integrated asset management system.
Water Tank Replacement Programme
Technical services have instructed a programme of water tank replacements across the
borough and this is underway.
5.
Electrical Testing
There has been good progress in this area and Lambeth Living will continue to monitor the
contractors to ensure that all remedial works are undertaken according to risk. All Priority 1
and 2 works orders are directly scheduled by the contactor for remediation. All remedial
works are post inspected by the Lambeth Living in house team within 10 working days of
completion on Northgate SX3 is extensively utilised to manage this programme. Our
management of this and other technical data would be greatly enhanced by the provision of
an integrated asset management database
6.
Health and Safety Audit review
The auditors Price Waters Cooper have classified the review as high risk based on the
number of recommendations that are still open. Progress has been made in resolving
recommendations that were determined to be still open after the last follow-up review
reported, with 6 being closed or re-graded. However, 9 remain open. Lambeth Living is
working to clear the 6 open recommendations by the end of the financial year and the
remaining 3 by the end of August 2014.
The total of 9 open recommendations comprises:
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8 medium risk recommendations; and
1 low risk recommendations.
In total:
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Of the 6 recommendations that were outstanding in December 2012 – 4 remain open and
require action by management; and Of the 6 recommendations raised as part of the
2012/13 internal audit programme have been reviewed – 5 of these remain open require
action by management.
Of the 8 medium recommendations reported, specific actions that have not been completed
by management include:
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Completion of asbestos surveys – Asbestos surveys to identify asbestos in communal
areas have been completed for all structures with communal areas apart from
approximately 150 street properties where there have been access issues. The Asbestos
Safety Advisor is working closely with the asbestos consultancies in completing these
surveys.
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All asbestos surveys to the hostels and community centres are expected to be completed
by the end of July 2014.
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Completion of electrical assessments – Periodic inspection reports (PIRs) and reinspection of PIRs are not performed promptly since their last inspection. This increases
the risk of electrical issues arising with properties. This may result in health and safety
incidents to residents, Lambeth Living staff and/ or contractors (finding 8.c)
The ongoing rolling programme of inspections is August 2016.
•
Legionella risk assessments – Legionella risk assessments and tank inspections are not
completed for all properties promptly since their last inspection. This increases the risk of
legionella health and safety incidents to residents (finding 8.e)
The planned programme of Legionella risk assessments is due to be complete by 31st
August 2014.
•
Legionella remedial work – Priority remedial action may not be undertaken promptly. This
increases the risk of a legionella health and safety incidents to residents (finding 8.f)
The remedial action is due to be complete by 31st August 2014.
•
Lone worker training – Lone workers sampled were not registered on the Lone Worker list
supplied as having attended or being booked to attend the training (finding 8.g)
Training records have been updated by the Human Resources Team and all staff have
attended lone worker training.
•
Lone worker risk communication – Team managers do not have a formalised process of
recording where staff have had the outcomes of lone worker risk assessments, including
the risk management plan communicated to them (finding 8.h)
A process has been implemented for recording the outcomes of lone working risk
assessments.
•
Lone worker risk assessment records – Risk assessment records were not sufficiently
maintained for all job titles which involve lone working (finding 8.i)
Lone working risk assessments are currently being reviewed by managers along with
staff, new job roles are having lone working risk assessments undertaken by the
respective managers.
•
Fire alarm tests and drills – The process for the recording of fire drills and alarm tests to
ensure they are completed appropriately is not performed, with the duty to carry out fire
alarm testing and fire drills made difficult due to confusion with the contractor in place
(finding 8.l).
There was a period of three weeks at one of the area offices, where a Fire Marshall was
off sick and the weekly fire alarm tests was not carried out. Additional Fire Marshalls have
been trained at that office. The Area Housing Manager has also been reminded to ensure
weekly tests are carried out.
•
A formal review of the lone working policy and arrangements for managing lone working
to be undertaken annually (finding 8J)
A formal review of the lone working policy and arrangements is underway.
7. Incident statistics
Incident reporting is improving. In particular, reporting by Contractors. Anecdotal evidence
suggests that there is still some under reporting from in house staff and the figure for this reporting
remains low. The LL H&S team meets regularly with the contractors’ safety teams and continues to
work on sharing of information. Going forward our work to embed the LL Accident and Incident
policy should improve incident reporting and better enable us to review policy and procedure in
response to specific incidents.
Lambeth Living staff and contractors have been reminded to report all incidents and accidents. We
are now producing accident statistics and reporting these at quarterly Health and Safety
Committee meetings.
8. Training
A full review of Fire Marshalls and First Aiders was carried out, this was particularly important as
large numbers of staff moved to the new offices at Chartwell Business Park, many of which
covered these roles at the area offices or Hambrook House. Fire Marshall and First aid training has
been undertaken and sufficient numbers are in place for each role are in place at the respective
offices.
This year we have completed training for relevant staff in Conflict Management and CDM
workshops are due to be completed once a final workshop for senior managers is completed.
Mandatory Asbestos Awareness training is being undertaken and weekly sessions are planned
until the end of June 2014 which should see all relevant people trained in Asbestos Awareness and
emergency procedures.
Working at Height training is being undertaken and for all relevant staff, to date there have been
eight training sessions which have taken place.
There have been many new staff join Lambeth Living and we need to run a series of trading
sessions on the Fundamentals of Health and Safety, which is a two day course. We are currently
working with Human Resources to produce a schedule of dates for this training.
We have also began a programme of Manual Handling refresher training for staff, which will be
rolled out throughout 2014 and offered to TMO staff
When Lambeth Living undertakes Health and Safety training we notify Paula Philips of the HRE
client team, this is so she can inform the TMOs they can attend the training.
A Leadership in Health and Safety Presentation was present to the Lambeth Living Board in April
2014. This was very well received and will now be rolled out to all senior managers.
9.
Construction Safety
A substantial part of our responsive repairs and capital works is notifiable to Health and Safety
Executive under the Construction, Design and Management Regulations (CDM) 2007. The
Construction Design Management, CDM Advisers have produced a suite of documentation to be
used on Lambeth Living projects to ensure project effectiveness, including a CDM policy and
procedure, health and safety file format, CDM tracker document and monthly reviews to update the
tracker. Mandatory training sessions have taken place for all relevant staff and one final session is
planned to capture relevant senior managers.
10. Health and Safety Committee
There now seems to be improved attendances at the Health and Safety Committee and the Union
have now nominated Safety Representatives and are having them trained. This should result in a
more effective Health and Safety Committee which will be consulted on relevant matters.
11. Tenant Management Organisations
A full audit of TMOs overseen by Lambeth Living on behalf of HRE was undertaken in September
2012. The results showed strengths in some and clear weakness in others. The Head of Health
and Safety together with Fire and Asbestos advisers presented a Board level training session in
January 2013 and this is being followed up by the HRE TMO clienting team.
Recently a meeting took place between, Corporate Health and Safety, the HRE Client Team and
Lambeth Living Health and Safety. The reason for the meeting was to establish who was
responsible for general health and safety matters at the TMO’s, it was agreed responsibility lies
with the TMO’s. The HRE client team will explore ways of improving the skills and knowledge base
of the TMO’s where it is necessary.

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