HSENI/40/12
MINUTES OF THE 73rd MEETING OF THE BOARD OF THE HEALTH AND
SAFETY EXECUTIVE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND HELD ON THURSDAY 25
OCTOBER 2012 AT 10.00am IN ROBENS ROOM, LADAS DRIVE, BELFAST.
Present:
Board Members:
Mr George Lucas – Chairman
Mr C Cleland
Mr G Campbell
Mr P Lyons
Mr B Graham
Mrs H Singleton
Mr M Wilkinson
Mr J Kane
Mr M Mawhinney
Agenda Item
1. Apologies
2. Corporate
Health, Safety
and Welfare
3. Declaration of
Conflict of
Interest(s)
4. Minutes
HSENI/32/12
HSENI Officials:
Mr D Breen – Acting Chief Executive
Dr B Monson-Deputy Chief Executive
Mrs J Leathem – Board Secretary
Miss J Ireland - HSENI
Record of main discussion and Actions Arising
The Chairman welcomed the five new Board members to
their first HSENI Board meeting.
Mr L Fawcett
Mrs Hilary Singleton joined the meeting at 10.30am.
Mr Crosby Cleland joined the meeting at 10.40am and
left at 12.00pm.
Health and safety inspections have taken place in Ladas
Drive and Longbridge House in Belfast and the Lancer
Building in Omagh since the last meeting with no
significant issues to report. No work-related injuries to
staff have been recorded since the last report.
Work is ongoing by HSENI’s Continuous Improvement
Team to consider feedback from the focus groups
established to consider specific issues arising out of the
most recent staff attitude and stress surveys.
Chairman George Lucas declared he has taken up a
position as Director of Tennis Ireland and this has been
recorded in Gifts and Interests Log.
The minutes of the Board meeting held on 26 July 2012,
were approved and adopted.
Action by
Board Members/
Official(s) and update
on progress from
Actions Arising
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5. Matters Arising: HSENI’s Continuous Improvement Team will consider
benchmarking against other parts of the NI Civil Service
(NICS).
A NICS Staff Attitude Survey carried out in 2011 showed
70% employee engagement in HSENI compared to a
48% NICS average. A presentation delivered at the last
Board meeting by Mr Breen, based on the results of Staff
Attitude Surveys, will be sent to all Board members.
6. Farm Safety
A presentation on farm safety was delivered to the
Bo the Board by Dr Monson which encouraged lengthy
discussion among the members present about the
current issues surrounding farm safety and how best to
prevent serious injury and death on farms in the future.
Th The Board was also informed that a meeting with the ETI
committee concerning farm safety issues would take
place on 29 November and would be attended by the
Chairman along with members of SMT.
A Farm Family Roadshow organised by UFU, NFU
Mutual and others took place on 23 October at
Hillsborough Castle and was attended by the Minister.
The Board noted a letter from Mr Neil C Oliver
suggesting ways to reduce deaths on farms due to slurry
gases and a response has been issued on behalf of
Board members by HSENI.
7. Audit and Risk
Management
Committee
Report
HSENI/34/12
The report was presented and the following items noted:
1. The ARMC committee met on 11 October 2012.
2. HSENI’s Management Statement and Financial
Memorandum has been returned from DETI to HSENI
and will be finalised as soon as possible.
3. The Risk Register for the second quarter has been
presented to the Board in the format based on the
current Departmental model and in accordance with
current Treasury guide lines. The Risk Appetite
framework was presented to all board members for
guidance. It was again acknowledged the fact that
HSENI has a robust internal control system and
processes
4. The current IT vacancy within HSENI was discussed
in relation to the 4 year Internal Audit Plan from PWC.
It was pointed out that all internal audit checks will still
be carried out in relation to IT systems but that the
Staff Attitude
presentation to be
sent to all board
members.
D Breen
Presentation on Farm
safety to be sent to
all Board members
B Monson
Draft action Plan on
Farm Safety to be
issued to all Board
members
D Breen
All correspondence
sent on behalf of
Board to be shared
with Board members
at time of issue.
D Breen/ J Leathem
PWC Internal Audit
Plan to be sent to all
Board members
J Leathem
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8. HELANI
Committee
Report
HSENI/35/12
9. Chief
Executive’s
Report
HSENI/36/12
date for this work had been adjusted within the four
year plan to accommodate business needs.
5. The Board noted that GAU would be invited to talk to
ARMC in the near future about their role in campaign
advertising and target reach.
6. The Board noted the current procedures in place for
procurement within NICS regarding campaign spends
and the fact Ministerial approval is required on
advertising spend.
7. The next meeting of the ARMC will take place on 17
January 2013 in Ladas Drive.
The Board were updated as follows:
(1) Mrs Brenda Maitland retired from the Board at the
end of September and therefore finished her term as
Chair of the HELANI Committee.
(2) Mr John Briggs of Solace was guest speaker at
meeting on 12 September 2012 and explained how
HELANI was seen as a success story by SOLACE and
should be viewed as a model for effective partnership
working. He also discussed the impact of RPA and how
HELANI might find it beneficial to meet with
representatives involved in the current ICE
(Improvement, Collaboration and Efficiency) programme.
(3) Workplace Transport is a key joint HSENI/District
Council initiative for next year, with a Working Group
currently in place to determine how best to manage the
programme. This initiative will be lead by the District
Councils.
(4) A successful meeting took place between Mrs Nikki
Monson and Mrs Brenda Maitland and members of
CEHOG on 26 September about partnership working to
date and in the future.
The Chairman praised the hard work carried out and
success achieved by HELANI.
The following items were highlighted by CEX:
1) The Chair and Deputy CEX attended an Oversight
and Liaison meeting on 2 August 2012.
2) The Chair and Deputy CEX attended a meeting
with Health and Safety Authority in Dublin
regarding farm safety on 14 August 2012.
3) A Tripartite meeting was attended by Chair and
Deputy CEX on 24 October 2012 where farm
safety was one of the main topics discussed.
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4) HSENI participated in a range of events
throughout the period of the report including the
Clogher Valley Show and NI Ploughing
Championships. It was agreed that live
demonstrations were very useful in getting safety
messages across at agricultural shows.
5) Current system of traffic lights indicating progress
of targets on QMR was discussed at length with
Amber meaning on track to be achieved or likely
to be achieved but with some delay. It was noted
that prioritisation of targets to address crisis
situations could mean other targets would be
postponed. It was agreed that the QMR would
have a separate heading on future Board
agendas.
10. HR Report
HSENI/37/12
QMR to be given
separate heading on
future Board agendas
J Leathem
The Board was updated in regard to the HR Report and
the following items highlighted:
Sickness Absence:
It was reported that HSENI’s sickness absence rate for
August (the latest NISRA figures) was 2.6% compared
with DETI’s at 3.2% and NICS at 3.9%.
Staff Complement and Vacancies:
The staff complement sits at 131 with 13 vacancies.
Recruitment process is currently underway to fill the CEX
vacancy. Candidates have been identified to fill the SO
vacancy in IAS and the ICT level post in Corporate
Support. The Workplace Health Nurse post continues to
be filled by an agency nurse. Preliminary work has been
undertaken to recruit 5 inspectors. Four remaining posts
remain under review.
Learning and Development:
HSENI’s Learning and Development Plan 2012/13 was
approved by Senior Management Team and has been
placed on Sharepoint.
Bullying and Harassment Briefing Sessions:
The Labour Relations Agency, in partnership with the
Equality Commission, has been engaged to deliver a
number of Bullying and Harassment briefing sessions
during November. DHR will be inviting all staff to attend
these.
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10. Finance
Report
HSENI/38/12
11. Legislation
Report
HSENI/39/12
14. A.O.B.
It was noted that expenditure for the second quarter was
in line with projections and the experience of previous
years.
The Staff and Operating Costs budget has been updated
to show the successful bid for £41K in the June
monitoring round in relation to the transfer of funding for
staff related costs from DETI HR. At the end of August
approximately 38% of this budget had been spent. It was
noted that an NICS wide pay deal has been agreed and
that this is expected to be paid in November and back
dated to August.
Programme Expenditure to 31 August has not been
adjusted to include the proposed £100k transfer from
Staff and Operating Costs as a result of projected
savings brought about by vacancies or the transfer of
£38k from the Department of Justice to fund the
Explosives Compliance Officer post as these have not
yet been confirmed.
It was agreed that a “phased budget” column should be
added to the budget tables so that actual spend against
planned spend could be monitored.
Phased budget
column to be added
to the budget tables
D Breen
Report noted by Board Members.
(i) A letter from Minister Arlene Foster was shown to all
board members praising HSENI on delivering on the
important work reflected in its Annual Report and
Statement of Accounts for 2012/13.
ii) The Board was informed that a number of vacancies
currently exists within the Board and it’s Committees namely a Deputy Chair for the HSENI Board and a Chair
for both ARMC and HELANI, two vacancies for ARMC
(including Chair vacancy) and two for the Remuneration
Committee. Board members can consider applying for
these vacancies in the near future and this will be
discussed at next Board meeting.
(iii) Board members were advised that the next Board
meeting would take place on 23 and 24 January 2013
and would incorporate essential training for Board
members and refresher training for existing members.
Tender exercises are currently being carried out for best
VFM.
Board members to be
informed of venue
and training provider
once decided.
J Leathem
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(iv) Following the Board meeting there was a closed
session at which the Chairman updated the Board on the
Chief Executive Recruitment competition.
Board closed at 12.40pm
Julie Leathem
Board Secretary
Board Minutes adopted and approved:
Signed:
Dated: 23/01/2013
George Lucas, HSENI Chairman
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