Conference / Speeches

Health and Safety Report 2007.

During the past year I have attended and represented the Federation at Police Federation of England and Wales Health and Safety Seminars, Regional Health and Safety Meetings and the Police Federation of Northern Ireland Health and Safety Confernce. I also attend the Force Health and Safety Committee when circumstances permit. Current Facility time does not allow the Health and Safety Leader to attend any other Operational or Support Units where there may be concerns in relation to Health and Safety and there have been no invitations to attend any other Force committees.

The Civil Nuclear Police Authority's 2007 - 2010 Policing Strategy indicates that it will support the Health and Safety Executive's Strategy for Workplace Health and Safety in Great Britain to 2010 and beyond. That Strategy is to gain recognition of Health and Safety as a cornerstone of a civilised society and with that to achieve a workplace Health and Safety record that leads the world.

Major components of that Strategy are Education and Involvement of the Workforce. It states that an organisation's greatest assets is its workforce and indicates that employees are often best able to spot issues and bring about real improvements and can also influence health and safety through their own actions and by accepting personal responsibility. There is strong evidence to suggest that involving the workforce in health and safety matters has a positive effect on health and safety performance. This makes intuitive sense - those who perform tasks should know most about the hazards posed by their work and the actions required to work in a safe and healthy way.

This Federation agrees and wishes to contribute by assisting in the promotion of greater education of officers within the Force in relation to health and safety matters. By that education threw will be a promotion of greater worker involvement and pro-active assistance in the expansion of the numbers of Safety Representatives within the organisation who can undertake the valuable task of workplace safety inspections as their statutory functions allow.

It is pleasing to see that the Headquarters Health and Safety Section has now commenced safety audits of our Units and Departments and that much work has already been completed in relation to Estates Management . Most of our Units attain fairly high health, safety and welfare standards. However, there are exceptions and these have been reported by the relevant Federation Safety Representative. That report and subsequent verbal reports indicates that one Unit has a Workplace that does not have running water, a Workplace whose nearest toilet is approximately one hundred yards away, a Workplace that has no changing, storage facility or drying room, a Workplace that doesn't have it's own showers for officers who are working twelve hour shifts and wearing body armour. This Workplace does not appear to meet the legal standard and the Federation believes that regardless of the cost to the operator it, and any other Unit or department that does not meet that standard should be improved to meet that standard at the earliest possible opportunity.

Legislation requires (Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 Para 13) that an employer shall, in entrusting tasks to his employees, take into account their capabilities as regards health and safety. By that the employer must of recruitment but when being given a change of responsibility i.e. promotion, or when new equipment or new technology or new systems of work or changes to systems are introduced. This Federation wishes to see education from the lowest ranks to the top tier to ensure that every member of the organisation is aware of what is required of them in terms of health and safety and how it should be managed to the satisfaction of the Police Authority.

During the past year our officers, as they have always done, have responded magnificently to whatever has been asked of them. They responded magnificently at those Units where extra armed patrols were introduced at such short notice. However, much of that work required officers to work, in some cases, for twelve consecutive twelve hour shifts. Additionally training to ensure the retention of relevant firearms qualifications was in many cases completed when officers should have been on rest days. As a supervisor working twelve hour shifts at one of those units, it concerned me at times to witness how tired many of those officers appeared and what may happen should they be required to make a split second decision in the use of the weaponry with which they were issued. At least one officer at my unit did succumb to exhaustion and whilst it may be said that there could be other factors involved I'm quite sure that those extra shifts were a contributory factor. Of course all this extra work and training on rest days attracted overtime payment rates and it was suggested that 'the lads wouldn't be happy if their overtime was cut.' Well as anyone with any sense knows, excessive overtime can be a killer, not only to and individual but also to and organisation. Another comment was, 'Well have Working Time Regulations been breached and is it a problem?' I doubt whether they have been breached as they are calculated over a seventeen week period and if one has a three week annual leave period within that time then the average of 48 hours per week would probably most not be broken. It does not alter the fact that working excessive numbers of shifts must contribute to the inefficiency and possible ill health of anyone working them. If the HSE Fatigue and Risk Index Calculator referred to in recent Force Generic Risk Assessments is taken cognisance of it may indicate that the first day of four twelve hour shifts has a Fatigue Index of 4.3 and the last has a Fatigue Index of 45.8. From that it can be seen that the efficiency of the average person is dramatically degraded. If that individual then works a further four or more shifts then one can guess that the individual would not, if using this Index, be very efficient. This could lead to vulnerability not only of the officer and his supervisors but also the organisation and the problem should be dealt with proactively. Incidentally those who don't see a problem because everything to them seems to be going along 'just fine' are those members of the Constabulary who usually do not work those twelve hour shifts.

There is much training taking place currently within the Force that is linked to the Welfare and Efficiency of our members.

It has been pleasing to see the introduction of Less than Lethal options that have been long overdue particularly at the lower Category Units. The L104A1 Baton gun and L21A1 baton round is available to more of our Authorised Firearms Officers, TASER training is in full swing and Incapacitant Spray will become available to more of our officers within the coming year. Additionally Officers are to be trained in new standards of personal protection. All of these provide a greater spectrum of choice before the use of deadly force is considered.

The Federation is pleased to welcome the purchase by the Force of a high quality stab resistant personal protection item of clothing for each individual officer.

The Federation is also pleased to see the introduction of standard driver training. At least one Home Office Force does not allow its officers to drive a vehicle whose engine is in excess of 1.4 litres until this course has been completed.

The Federation has a concern that there is no resilience in relation to Chemical Biological Radioactive or Nuclear (CBRN) trained officers and is hopeful that this will be addressed. There are currently 7,000 CBRN trained officers in Home Office Forces although it has been stated that there is a target of 12,000 trained officers which would equate to an average of approximately 280 officers per force. At the present time I could not tell you how many officers of this Force are currently trained in CBRN techniques although I suspect that it is not enough.

During the past year the Health and Safety Executive were scheduled to complete inspections of seven Home Office Forces. As a result of two of those inspections Suffolk Constabulary has employed a full time Health and Safety Trainer and it has been recommended that each Basic Command Unit of the Merseyside Constabulary should have its own Health and Safety Advisor. My feeling is that a full time Health and Safety Advisor would be well employed in each of the Force's BCUs.

Following the forthcoming Police Federation of England and Wales Conference that organisation will launch a Near Miss Campaign. This is something that the Civil Nuclear Police Federation will be supporting. In order to ensure the safety of officers and staff, it is vital that the organisation is aware of when, where and why accidents happen. To assist in this process the reporting of 'near misses' cannot be stressed enough. When the need arises the organisation has a legal duty to report certain types of accidents or occurrences. Each of us should report accidents or situations that may lead to a possible accident promptly in order to allow the Unit or Force to take remedial or preventive action or to comply with its statutory duties. The prompt reporting of accidents on the relevant form can also act to safeguard the rights and entitlements of an individual. The injury that you think is minor now could lead to something more serious later in life and reporting it ensures that your future rights and entitlements are safeguarded. Near Misses should also be submitted in relation to equipment failure that may have an impact on Health and Safety issues, for example any failure of Airwave equipment.

A recent piece of legislation, The Annual Leave (Amendment to Working Time Legislation) Regulations 2007 will increase the annual leave entitlement of many of our young in service members from October the first this year and additionally from October the first in 2008.

The subject of the European Safety Week this year is MUSCULOSKELETAL PROBLEMS. This is very topical as and it would appear from recent reports from a couple of Units that several officers are currently suffering or have recently suffered this type of complaint. I have been informed that a vehicle has been removed from use as an ARV after advice from the local Occupational Health as it was considered unsuitable for that task and may have contributed to officers suffering such condition. At another Unit an officer suffered back pain after carrying out an everyday procedure. However, it would appear that the officer, since joining the Force has not been provided with any basic manual handling technique instruction. These are issues that should be documented in near miss reports and cascaded to your colleagues at other Units or Departments in an effort to ensure that others don't suffer the same way Support the Policing Strategy, support the Near Miss Campaign, support the European Safety Week and above all support your colleagues.

Terry Wroe
CNPF Health and Safety Leader

 

Addendum to report delivered at Conference.

On 16 April the first meeting of the Firearms Consultation Group took place chaired by Inspector Steve Edwards the Force Firearms Officer and attended by Police Constables and Sergeant from Dounreay and Harwell together with the General Secretary of the Federation.

On 10 May I attended the Force Standing Committee on Firearms as representative of the Federation.

This represents a great step forward and indicates a willingness of our current ACPO team to consult with the workforce and hopefully we will gain representation upon other relevant committees and groups. It is your Force too and you know what issues affect you most of all. This consultation will hopefully ensure that your views can be presented and that your voice is heard.

I also had the opportunity to speak personally to Chief Inspector Steve Hulland of Operations Support who assured me that progress is being made in the training of CBRN Instructors for the Force and the procurement of CBRN equipment.