HESAC 122nd Meeting 4 th March 2015 NATIONAL JOINT HEALTH, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY SECOND Meeting of the Committee held at ENA Offices, London on Wednesday 4 th March 2015. Present Chair Kevin Coyne... Unite Electricity Companies Members Murdo Allan... UKPN (Company Side Chair) Barry Bridgman... SSE Paul Norton... Northern Powergrid Lee Wallace... Western Power Distribution Vinny Cranny... Electricity North West David Riley... E.ON Phil Swift... Western Power Distribution Dr David Brown... EDF Energy Trade Unions Members Garry Graham... Prospect Ray Arrowsmith... Prospect (National Grid) Sarah Page... Prospect Bud Hudspith... Unite John Fish... Unison (Western Power Distribution) Dan Shears... GMB Ian Burkett... GMB (Western Power Distribution) Howard Beynon... Unite (National Grid) Others Nick Summers... HSE Jim Moyles... Doosan Babcock Martin Worthington... Morgan Sindall Andrew Howard... Morgan Sindall Stephen O Neill... Energy UK Jamie Reeve... ENA Mike Leppard... ENA Peter Coyle... ENA Paul Fidler... ENA 1. Appointment of the new Chair 1.1. Peter Coyle introduced Murdo Allan as the Company side Chair for National HESAC taking over from Doug Wilson. Members recorded their thanks to Doug Wilson for his work in support of the Committee over the past 5 years. 1
1.2. Chairmanship for the Committee was then passed to Kevin Coyne on behalf of the trade unions for 2015. 2. Welcomes and Introductions 2.1. Prior to starting the meeting Kevin Coyne asked that members hold a moment of silence following the passing of Phil Allan and Bob Parker, two Western Power Distribution colleagues who had tragically lost their lives in a recent road accident. John Fish wanted to take the opportunity to show the upmost respect that colleagues at WPD and throughout the sector had for both Bob and Phil, and shared a personal reflection on how they will be missed by many and remembered for being friendly hardworking, well valued individuals. Phil Swift added that our thoughts are with the friends, family and colleagues of both Bob and Phil and wanted members to consider the other individuals who lost their lives in the accident that day and those who are still recovering. Our condolences go out to the friends and families of those individuals. 2.2. Robert Good of Morgan Sindall (originally scheduled to attend) sends his apologies however Martin Worthington and Andrew Howard were able to attend the meeting on behalf of Morgan Sindall and will be presenting under agenda item 14. Members welcomed both Martin and Andrew to the meeting. 2.3. This meeting will be Ray Arrowsmith s (National Grid and Prospect) last meeting. Ray has been a member of National HESAC for many years; Members formally thanked Ray for his contributions in that time and wished him all the best in his future endeavours. 2.4. Jamie Reeve informed that David Riley of E.ON was attending his first meeting in place of Barrie Millet for E.ON and Dr David Brown was attending for EDF Energy; Kevin Coyne welcomed both Davids on behalf of the Members. 2.5. It was advised that this will be the first meeting under new arrangements whereby ENA (Peter Coyle), Trade Unions (Sarah Page) and Energy UK (Stephen O Neill) have shaped the Agenda in their capacity as Joint Secretaries. 3. Apologies 3.1. Apologies were received from: Ewan McMillan... Scottish Power Geoff Earl... Northern Powergrid Barrie Millett... E.ON John Ayre... EDF Energy John Armstrong... E.ON Louise Boston... E.ON Peter McCormick... ENA 2
4. Minutes of Meeting held on the 9 th September 2014 4.1. (a) Minutes Previous minutes were reviewed and accepted as an accurate record. (b) Matters Arising (i) Item 4.2 Funding for National HESAC a meeting will be arranged between senior management from Energy UK and ENA to discuss later in the year. (ii) Item 4.7 The revised ToRs for National HESAC have been agreed and are now available on the ENA Website. http://www.energynetworks.org/modx/assets/files/electricity/she/nation al_hesac/terms%20of%20reference_nationalhesac.pdf (iii) Item 5.1 Powering Improvement asset management workshops will be covered under Agenda item 5. (iv) Item 5.9 Sarah Page advised that Prospect are still capturing research information on middle management, around the issues of mental health and how they can be addressed appropriately through line management under Prospect s Sigma Solutions plan. Sarah Page advised that she will provide an update at a later stage when more information is available. Action: Sarah Page (v) Item 5.10 ISSA management guidance is covered under Agenda item 5. (vi) Item 6.1 The slides used by Mike Leppard at the last meeting on a presentation given at the World Safety Congress were circulated after the last meeting. Action Complete. 5. Powering Improvement Update 5.1. Peter Coyle introduced HESAC paper 780. The Progress Report for the first phase has been finalised. Hard copies will be issued at the SHE Management Conference in April. An electronic version will be uploaded onto the Powering Improvement Website. 3
5.2. The latest copy of the SHE Review which contains leadership case studies will also be issued at the SHE Management Conference. An electronic version will be uploaded onto the PI website. 5.3. Dates for the asset management workshops are currently being finalised. One has been confirmed at NIE for the 19 th March, taking place in Belfast. Other Companies are yet to be finalised. Murdo Allan stated that he expected all member companies that have yet to book the asset management workshops to do so in 2015. 5.4. The second phase is to be formally launched at an event in Parliament on 4th March immediately following the National HESAC meeting. The speakers are: David Smith CE ENA Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions) Mike Clancy, General Secretary. Prospect Stuart Fraser, MD, Leven Energy Services Steve Johnson, CE Electricity North West Samantha Peace, Director Wales, Midlands & South West, Health & Safety Executive. 5.5. Stuart Fraser, MD Leven Energy Services will act as champion for the working with contractors theme for 2015. He will take part in a number of events throughout the year including the SHE Management Conference. Peter Coyle explained that Leven are a contracting company for a number of DNO s including ENW and WPD, and explained that although they currently don t work for any of the Generation Companies, Stuart Fraser has contacts at a senior level within Generation contractor companies and is very enthusiastic to increase their engagement in Powering Improvement. 5.6. A joint workshop with contractors is to be held at the ENA offices on 7 th April focussing on working at height issues. A second workshop will be held at the ENA offices on 21 st October featuring case studies of best practice highlighting joint company-contractor H&S initiatives. A copy of the agenda and details for both events will be sent to National HESAC Members in due course. 6. Occupational Health Update 6.1. The occupational health update was planned to be provided by Louise Boston (E.ON) who had to send her apologies for this meeting. Mike Leppard was able to provide an update on her behalf. 6.2. Mike stated that under the new Terms of Reference (ToRs) set by National HESAC, Occupational Health will now be a standing agenda item for future meetings. It was also stated that Chairs of both the ENA Occupational Health Committee and the Energy UK Occupational Health Forum would be present at future meetings. 4
6.3. Mike then gave a brief overview of Occupational Health Governance within the Industry, starting with the ENA Occupational Health Committee, chaired by Mike himself. The Energy UK Occupational Health Forum, chaired by Louise Boston, of which both Mike Leppard and Stephen O Neill sit on. The Occupational Health Advisory Group (OHAG), Mike took the opportunity to welcome Dr David Brown from EDF Energy who is the Chair of OHAG who was in attendance. OHAG is a group comprised of senior occupational physicians who provide services within the Electricity Industry. 6.4. Mike also reminded attendees of the Powering Improvement focus area for 2011 on Occupational Health, the outputs from that year being the 6 Commitments, which were; Shared between companies how to best manage Occupational Health Risks. Identified the top 3 health risks and ensured they were being addressed. Health surveillance and fitness to work assessments being delivered to specification. Reviewed the management of Stress and identified opportunities for improvement. Developed policies for rehabilitation of individuals back into the workplace and consider fast track physiotherapy approach to the management of MSDs. Increased the importance of workforce involvement, specified H&S representatives and support them in carrying out health related activities to support the delivery plan. 6.5. A Health Needs Assessment Tool was also produced, case studies had been created on Health surveillance, HAVs (Hand Arm Vibration), MSDs (Musculoskeletal Disorders) and Stress by a number of both ENA and Energy UK member companies. Through this work and dedication the Energy UK Occupational Health Forum was formed. 6.6. Going forward the industry needs to focus on HSE priorities on occupational diseases, and address Government policies on public health issues and the ongoing implementation of recommendations from the Health at Work agenda. The 2016 Powering Improvement focus on occupational health will provide the opportunity to address both traditional and emerging health issues. 6.7. Members agreed to focus on a specific occupational health issues at each meeting. There is also a need for evidence of health monitoring through the use of KPIs, and a balance is required between meeting statutory duties and applying good practice in the area of health and wellbeing advice and support. Members agreed to Murdo Allan s suggestion that the topic at the May meeting should be approaches to managing an ageing workforce. Murdo offered to provide a UKPN speaker to start the discussion. 7. HSE at 40 Action: Murdo Allan/Mike Leppard 7.1. As HSE celebrates 40 years of the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), it was proposed that National HESAC should write to HSE (a joint letter to both Judith 5
Hackett and Richard Judge) to show on-going support of the HSE from the Industry, and to outline key achievements over the years to demonstrate the collective success that has been achieved and to highlight where we have seen programmes being developed in response to identified areas of need in health and safety. The letter is to be signed by Kevin Coyne and Murdo Allan as joint Chairs of the group. Action: Peter Coyle, Kevin Coyne and Murdo Allan 8. Worker Involvement 8.1. Sarah Page reminded the meeting of the background to Prospect s 2013 paper, tabled this time to prompt measurement of progress. For the benefit of new members, she explained that it highlights good worker involvement practice contained in HSE guidance. The expectation was that endorsement of the paper in 2013 would initiate a mapping exercise of health and safety consultative arrangements in member companies and how they interact, including with National HESAC. So that member companies could check compliance with HSE s L146 and HSG 263. 8.2. SHE managers expressed uncertainty about precisely what was required and requested a template clarifying the information that should be captured to ensure consistent reporting. Sarah Page and Garry Graham agreed to the drafting for next meeting of National HESAC. Action: Garry Graham and Sarah Page 9. HSE Report 9.1. Nick summers provided an update from HSE. Nick started by emphasising the agreement within the ToRs and the need for transparency between National HESAC and Company HESACs. 9.2. Nick also reported that he had sent an email dated 13th February 2015 stating that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Ofgem are reviewing procedures for how they work together, including updating the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). HSE and Ofgem have an interface for both electricity and gas ranging from generation, transmission, distribution, supply and meter operations. The current MoU gives an indication of how HSE and Ofgem should work together. The request from HSE for members of National HESAC was to provide comment on how the current MoU was working. Nick reported that the HSE had received over 30 responses which are currently being analysed. There is a requirement for the MoU to be reviewed every 3 years and there are currently two formal meetings a year between the regulators. 6
9.3. With reference to HESAC paper 782, Nick also highlighted that the HSE will be able to provide HESAC members with some up to date figures on Fatal and Major Injuries directly from the electricity industry; this will enable ENA and Energy UK to cross reference the figures against their own internal data. The data will be circulated with the minutes, but for HESAC member use only and not to be published. 10. Trade Union Report 10.1. Garry Graham provided a Trade union update. Garry reiterated that the Unions still support a collaborative letter to be sent from Trade Unions to Mark Harper (Minister of State at the Department of Work and Pensions, responsible for health and safety) to secure a meeting to discuss future engagements despite the initial refusal to the ENA letter. Garry asked for a copy of the original letter to be sent to him for information. Action: Jamie Reeve 10.2. Garry informed that the Deregulation Bill going through parliament in regards to the health and safety duties imposed on the self-employed (Consultation Document 273). He expressed concerns that there was a lack of clarity in this area and urged that collaborative working with companies on key legislative issues would be beneficial going forward. Peter Coyle informed that ENA had sent a response during the consultation period which outlined the point of view of ENA members to the changes in legislation. The response given stated: Self-employed contractors working for our member companies will, in the main, not be exempted by the proposed change so we do not expect that there would be any substantive impact directly on electricity distribution operations. However, ENA members believe that there is little need for the proposed change and suspect it will only serve to confuse matters further. Such additional confusion can only lead to increased risk in other sectors. 11. ENA Report 11.1. Mike Leppard provided an update from ENA. Mike started by highlighting that ENA had recently produced a new publication, titled Business Plan which had been produced to inform Members of ENA of its plans as a trade association, an outlook for the year and the strategic priorities of ENA as a business. A copy of the document was shown at the meeting. 11.2. Mike also took the opportunity to highlight the annual ENA SHE Management Conference 2015. The conference will be hosted by Western Power Distribution and will be held at the Bristol Royal Marriott Hotel on the 16 & 17 th April. To book a place, please follow the link below. https://www.regonline.com/register/checkin.aspx?eventid=1645290 7
11.3. ENA and the EMF Strategy Committee are doing a lot of work addressing the changes that will be needed to meet the requirements of new UK Regulations that will be introduced by 2016 to implement the EMF Directive. Compliance under the recently updated CDM 2015 regulations is to be discussed in detail at the next meeting of the SHE Managers Group in April 2015; Nick Summers was able to confirm that HSE can be present at the event to aid with the discussions. 11.4. Mike also updated the group on the developments via the Environment Committee on discussions regarding equipment containing SF6 and requirements on companies. With new Fluorinated Gas Regulations in place, the issues are now around training and certification requirements when handling SF6 and requirements for increased levels of awareness. Mike informed that the ENA are working with NSAP in this area via the Training and Competency Committee and the Environment Committee. 11.5. Mike also gave a brief update from the Public Safety Committee at ENA who are looking in detail at certain areas which will be outlined in the Commitment to Public Safety Document soon to be re-issued on the ENA Website, also another document is being produced to review the achievements in Public Safety for 2014. This will also be issued on the ENA website. http://www.energynetworks.org/electricity/she/safety/safety-advice/public-safetyoverview.html 11.6. David Riley of E.ON was interested to find out some further information on the Utility Strikes Avoidance Group that the ENA are involved in. Mike Leppard took an action to send some information and update David after the meeting. 11.7. It was also informed that the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) has issued some guidance on the developments of the CDM regulations (implemented on the 6 th April 2015) which is available on their website. Updated guidance will be available as the Regulations begin to be embedded. 12. Energy UK report 12.1. Stephen O Neill provided an update from Energy UK. He informed the group that a seminar will be held between Energy UK and the HSE on the 5 th March to discuss the implementation of CDM regulations 2015, explaining the changes to the regulation requirements. 12.2. Stephen O Neill also gave a brief update on the recent fire that had taken place at Didcot Power Station, and informed that Energy UK are currently working with DECC and the Cabinet Office to produce a paper that details procedures and processes to assist in Power Station resilience. 12.3. There is still some on-going work and discussions being had on producing a Generic Site Risk Assessment for Contractors with the idea to distil all of the necessary detail into shorter, feasible, fit for purpose documentation for the Industry. 8
A Contractor Workshop is being held on 20 th April where this will be discussed in more detail. Stephen O Neill informed that he will provide an update after the workshop to update on any developments. 13. SHE Developments Europe and UK Action: Stephen O Neill 13.1. Peter Coyle introduced HESAC paper 782; the purpose of this paper is to update Members of National HESAC in regard to developments in EU programmes of work and domestic (UK) legislation and activities. For noting. 14. Contractor Presentations 14.1. Martin Worthington and Andrew Howard attended the meeting on behalf of Morgan Sindall to give an overview of their company and the work they supply for their clients. They were able to give a presentation on their Safety performance and how they as a company have managed to remain Lost Time Incident free for 12 months, detailing the steps they have taken to achieve this. They were also able to provide an overview of some of the work they have been doing lately on behalf of Western Power Distribution for part of their asset replacement programme. They were also able to elaborate on their effective worker involvement programme, VOICE (Views of Operatives In the Construction Environment). 14.2. Jim Moyles attended the meeting on behalf of Doosan Babcock to give an overview on how Doosan have managed to set and maintain standards and expectations in safety. Jim provided some detail on a Critical Task Analysis risk assessment tool that has been developed to help Doosan focus on complying with regulations and ensuring the safety of their staff. 14.3. Kevin Coyne wished to thank both Morgan Sindall and Doosan Babcock for presenting at the meeting, and asked for members to consider other contractors to present at the next meeting of National HESAC. Presentations were agreed to be shared with attendees with the minutes. 15. AOB 15.1. ENA SHE Management Conference 2015. The conference will be hosted by Western Power Distribution and will be held at the Bristol Royal Marriott Hotel on the 16 & 17 th April. 15.2. There was no other business 16. Date of next Meeting 16.1. The 2015 dates are as follows: 6th May, and 9 th October. Meetings to be held at ENA s offices, London. 9