January 2010 Minutes
Minutes of meeting 19th January 2010
Chairman's Welcome and Introduction
Apologies were received from:
Nick Wilson - Weightmans
Jayne Hatcher
Mike Kershaw
Bill Thistlewood
Welcome to new Guests : Chris McCann Guest via John Evans
Last months minutes
No longer circulated but available to read on website www.mohasg.org.uk/
Agreed J Evans, seconded Frank Hunsperger
Matters arising
John Edmonds Moving Goods Safely - 11th Feb £55 @ DW Stadium. Interest in the seminar or offers of support help on the day via John Edmonds jedmonds42@tiscali.co.uk or Secretary via the website.
AGM 2009 Feed back - David Thurston (Davids full notes are availabe at the bottom of the minutes.)
We strive to improve topics by relevance and increase participation from members. This years programme has been put together as a result of the feedback forms and requests for information last year.
Website improvements continue, we intend to add areas for Members out of work, support in career changes, job finding etc, Minutes are now on the website, presentations, networking options will be available very soon. Also the additions of links, useful websites, contact to other group members.
Networking continuies to be available from 1.30pm, prior to our monthly presentation, with tea and coffee in an informal and freindly atmosphere. Guests are welcome for up to three visits, but we will then approach them for full membership.
Members Issues - There does seem to be a reluctancy to air issues in public, however why not not send any queries or issues in advance via secretary, they can remain anonymous to the group and offered for discussion by the commitee?
From February we will have a monthly update from HSE / Rospa - Secretary to do!
Membership certificates will be issued this year as subs are acknowledged and we will be removing those members who have not paid by end of March unless we are notified of a payment delay by larger companies.
Treasurers Report - Eileen Blackmore
Some visitors are taking advantage of guest visits and not paying subs !! As mentioned earlier we welcome guests to visit us for upto three meetings, after that we will be invoicing for annual subscription.
It was noted that expenditure had gone up this year, and this was due to the introduction of committee meetings prior to each meeting and the provision of lunch. This year we will return to lunch only provided for guest speaker, Chair and Secretary. Committee meeting will continue with coffee only.
Eileen Blackmore stepped down as our treasurer and was thanked by David and the group. The group welcomed Pauline Evans who has volunteered to take us into 2011. Clive Moss group member - agreed to audit group accounts.
Jayne Stephens will be auditing and updating members details over the next few months and will be contacting members to confirm emails , telephone numbers etc.
Dates of next meetings
MOHASG - 16h February - Risk Assessment
IOSH - Tue 2nd Feb @ Village Hotel Bromborough - 2pm Fire Risk Assess and Presidents Address
MCCSG - Monday 8th Feb LACE, Sefton Park - Safety of Public in Construction 2.15
Presentation - Violence in the Workplace - David Thurston, Probation Service Merseyside.
(Copy of Presentation will be added to the website shortly, if you would like a copy of the PPT please contact Jaynes@healthandsafetyclick.net )
Opening discussion on members experiences or understanding of stress at work, risk assessment. There is an identifiable risk from pre assessment, due to the nature of work, also the unforeseen personal response from members of the public, staff, visitors etc. due to a reaction to a given situation.
David started his presentation with a couple of case studies from the probation service, highlighting how situations can arise and very quickly get out of control.
1. L'pool South probation office shooting - dramatic physical attack with without weapons.
2. North L'pool probation interview - threatening client.
Work place stress is not always obvious and can be caused by many different scenarios - bullying, stalking, 'sent to Coventry', exclusion - psychological stress. 'Cyber stalking, mobile phones, pc's, emails etc.
Dealing with violence at work should be supported by Risk Assessment. There are several ways of dealing with eliminating the issues of violence within the workplace.
Physical approach - physical barriers , prevention from approach, entrance, CCTV, overt security. But can these overt measures, antagonise ?? Enter you in to the ever increasing security systems? Prevention can sometimes lead to provocation!
Alarms Fixed / mobile for travelling officers lone working External alarms / GPS systems - lone working protection, risk of violence (these need to be put on in advance for location tracking).
Training
Conflict resolution Break away training Control and restraint Dealing with weapons It is al about understanding your business your customers/ clients and risk assessment.
Legal Aspects covering violence at work
Criminal Justice Act 1988 Section 39 - common assault
Offences Against the person Act 1861
Section 47 ABH Section 20 GBH/ malicious wounding
Section 18 GBH with intent Self Defence - Criminal Law act 1967
Reasonable and justifiable force to protect your self - Tony Martin Case study discussed.
Joint guidance in association with HSE, TUC, Dept. For Business Innovation & Skills. You can download a copy here : Www. Workplaceharassment.org.uka
Jayne Stephens Honorary Secretary 2010
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Text of Chairman's Report for 2009
I'd like to begin by welcoming you all here, and thanking you all for you attendance both for this meeting, and for the meetings over 2009. In this review of the year, I'm not going to give a meeting by meeting summary, because, that would either be a very long review, or it wouldn't do justice to some of the excellent speakers that we have had during 2009. I will pick out two personal highlights, but you may have others.
I particularly enjoyed the presentation and discussion on ergonomics - the opportunity to try out all sorts of different chairs, and the way in which the presenters told me something new and something different about a topic that I thought I was very familiar with - the other highlight was more recent - the update from the HSE, including some memorable photos of some of the hazards that have been found in workplaces.
Normally, I would be coming to the end of my chairmanship, having been in post for one year, but earlier in the year, the committee proposed that the role of chair, change from a one year appointment to two years. This is in line with the Construction Group, and also IOSH. It provides more continuity, and consistency. This has been an organisational change over the past year, but as a committee, we have tried to make some other changes in the way that the group runs : to make the topics that we talk about more relevant, to make it more useful, and encourage more people to participate.
Earlier on in the year we circulated a questionnaire, which asked a whole range of questions, and sought your views on what topics we should cover in the meetings during 2010. Today's : Violence at Work, was one of the topics that was voted for in this process. We did this as - we all know that in these uncertain times, it can be increasingly difficult to justify to an employer attending a meeting, unless that employer can see a real benefit to our attendance.
A number of members have also lost their jobs over the past year, and we are looking at ways in which we can help people find other opportunities. We have a website, but it has been recognised for some time, that even though we, as a group, are spending substantial sums of money to keep the site open and up to date, we might not be using the site to it's full advantage. We have arranged for the minutes of meetings to be put on the website, and where presenters agree, copies of the presentations themselves.
Another question from the questionnaire was what kind and size of employers are represented by the membership. It was quite surprising. I for one thought that most of the members came from large public sector organisations, for example the NHS, but that's not actually the case. I would encourage you to seek out and talk to as many people as you can in the time before the main meeting, as I think you will find the breadth of knowledge and experience of individuals here, may be very helpful to you. To help you do this, we've given some more time before the meeting starts, to encourage networking - coffee is now available from 1:30pm.
We are still looking to improve the way in which the group operates. We have introduced a 'welcomer' - as a friendly face to meet people as they arrive, and remind everyone to sign in. Volunteers for this role are always welcome. In the past we have asked for 'members problems' - but with a few exceptions, organisations - particularly commercial organisations - can be very reluctant to 'wash their dirty linen in public'. An option is to use the website - another is for people to hand in written questions / comments before the meeting. We've tried this on a couple of occasions - but if the person wants to be anonymous, it can be difficult if other members need clarification of the problem. The Construction Group give updates of general interest, and I, and the other members of the committee would be interested in your views as to whether this would be better than concentrating on problems.
Finally, and we'll talk in a little more detail about this in a moment, there is the question of money. For some organisations, paying £35 per year, is very difficult, not because they don't have £35, but because of their bewildering purchasing systems. However, we have had a number of instances where the membership invoice issued at the beginning of the year is still outstanding 8 or 9 months later. In the meantime, the employer concerned is still receiving the information and networking opportunities that the group can provide. As a result, we will be issuing membership certificates to those organisations that pay formally recognising their membership for the year, and we will be removing organisations from our membership list if they haven't paid by end March 2010.
Thank you for listening, and for your continued support, it is a hackneyed phrase, but it is true : without you, there would be no Merseyside Occupational Health and Safety Group. January Presentation - Will be added to the website shortly.
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