| Description | Signed minutes of committees responsible for the implementation of and compliance with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and related legislation. The Safety Executive Committee was intended to enable Council to discharge its responsibilities under health and safety legislation, and statutory consultation with employees on matters which may affect their health and safety took place in the Joint Safety Advisory Committee which reported to the Safety Executive Committee. The Safety Executive Committee was responsible to Council for the formulation of Safety Policy throughout the University, and for ensuring the full implementation of that policy. The only surviving minutes in the University Archives cover the period from April 1979 to March 1981, and February 1990 to April 1994. References in the printed University Calendars and in the minutes indicate that the committees were preceded by the University Safety and Environmental Health Committee
Membership of the Safety Executive Committee between 1979 and 1981 consisted of the Vice-Chancellor; Deputy Pro-Chancellor; Deputy Treasurer; former chair of University Safety and Environmental Health committee; chair of Joint Safety Advisory committee; Director of the Safety Unit; University Medical Officer; Estates and Buildings Office; Industrial Relations Officer; University Secretary, and members of academic staff. Membership of the committee in the 1990s consisted of Deputy Treasurer and two members of academic staff, with the Registrar and Secretary; the Director of Estate Management; the Director of Safety Unit; University Occupational Health Physician; the Director of Staffing Services; the chairs of the Specialist Advisory Groups Control of Chemical hazards, Control of Radiation Exposure, and Control of Biological hazards; the University Occupational Health Nurse; a secretary provided by the Safety Unit, and an additional member of academic staff also attending.
Membership of the Joint Safety Advisory Committee was similar, but Trade Union representatives also attended, and membership was composed of an equal number of Trade Union representatives and University management. Meetings of both bodies were usually held close together and by the 1990s meetings were usually held on the same day, and there were often joint agendas. The committees usually met two or three times a year.
The Safety Executive Committee received reports on actions taken in response to Health and Safety Executive Inspectors' recommendations, and approved funding of safety projects recommended by the Joint Safety Advisory Committee's Safety Projects Sub-Committee. Minutes of the committees dating from both the 1979-1981 period and the 1990-1994 period contain information about occupational health, safety in relation to pathogens, the control of hazardous substances, electrical safety, safety regulations, inspections including by Trade Union representatives, the control of substances hazardous to health (coshh), and employers liability insurance, and include health and safety policy statements. There is discussion about food hygiene and the formulation of food safety policy in minutes of meetings held in 1992, and the formulation of policy on display screen equipment and use in minutes of meetings held in 1993
The committee received accident reports, the annual report of the Fire Officer; the annual report of the Advisory Group for the Control of Pathogenic Organisms and Infectious Materials; the annual report on Control of Genetic Manipulation; relevant details from report of Director of the Safety Unit and from the report of University Medical Officer, and the annual report of Advisory Group for the Control of Radiation Exposure. There are also annual reports of the Safety Executive Committee, and some reports of working parties appointed to discuss specific aspects of health and safety at work.
References in the printed University Calendars indicate that the Safety Executive committee was re-named again in 2000, becoming the Health and Safety Executive Committee. This continued to be listed as a committee of Council into the 2000s |