University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory

Health and Safety Committee

Chairman: Dr P Brooks                                                                        Secretary: Mrs L Heptonstall

Minutes of a meeting of the Health and Safety Committee held at 14.15 on Wednesday 19^th January 2005 in Room GC22, William Gates Building.

Present:            Dr P Brooks                             Mrs C Matthews

                        Mrs L Heptonstall                     Mr M McDonnell                    

                        Mr A Brown                            Mr D Cottingham

                        Mrs R Moss                             Mrs A Barreto             

                        Mrs F Billingsley                       Mr A Wonfor

Apologies:        Mrs M Levitt                            Dr M Kuhn                 

1. Minutes of the last meeting

1.1 The minutes of the meeting held on the 15^th December were approved and signed.

2. Matters arising from the Minutes

None

3.   Correspondence

3.1 PB advised the group of an Assistive Technology in Higher Education: Introduction course taking place on the 15^th Feb. PB recommended this course as it enables you to help people with a wide range of problems associated with pc users. As PB cannot make this course he requested for any volunteers and some names have been put forward.

3.2 PB is attending a safety forum on the 1^st of March about who to tell what after accidents.

3.3 There are two laser safety classes for 3B and 4B users on the 16^th Feb. MK confirmed we have no need for them, and AW has his own arrangements for Optics.

3.4 PB has updated the H&S web pages and asked the group of they knew of anything else to let him know.

3.5 There are also 2 other courses, “Writing a Safety Policy” on the 22^nd February, and “Remind yourself about safety: New Job New Risks?” on the 17^th February.

4   First Aid and Accidents

4.1 Two new accident report forms have been received;

NR052 – A member of Intel came to a FA complaining of difficulty breathing, a car was arranged to take him to hospital. No follow up was needed as he was OK after attending hospital.

NR053 – A member of staff injured himself with a blade while moving equipment. The wound was cleaned and dressing applied. Purely human error, more care is to be taken.

4.2 New First Aid notices are now available and have been put up around the building, electronic copies are to be sent to CE and Intel. It was agreed by the committee that everyone should be given a copy in their pigeon hole so they have the information to hand.                 

                                                                                                                        ACTION LH

4.3 All First Aiders have had a session on Paediatric care (CPR) which will be beneficial should any nursery attendees have an accident and FA’s from here are asked to attend.

4.4 It was confirmed that the new Ambulance callout policy is in effect and there are now 3 different grades of emergency. The telephone operator will ask as many questions about the incident to ascertain whether an ambulance is absolutely necessary. It is therefore essential that the person who is calling emergency services has as much information as possible.

4.5 The group agreed that MMcD is the person responsible for the stocking up of First Aid Kits around the WGB.

5.  Workplace Assessments 

5.1 Ear protectors are now available for anyone working in GC09.

5.2 RM is to keep PB informed of any updates to whether or not they will be having a new member of staff joining them who is in a wheelchair.

6 Fire

6.1 concerns were raised as the Fire Extinguishers have not been put back correctly, and it was confirmed that they will not be in place until the new reception area has been installed. The extinguishers are in the right place, just not on the wall.

6.2 David Cottingham pointed out the fact that the supply panel near the main entrance keeps beeping. AB confirmed that he has been in touch with Defensor and they confirmed it is an alarm to notify us that a piece of equipment is not working, but as they can’t pinpoint the problem and it doesn’t affect the system, they have deemed this a low priority. AB does have a timescale in which this should be remedied, and will be chasing them up.

6.3 MMcD and AB informed the committee that lists of contact names are now on display next to the security information in reception. A list will be put in main entrances for out of ours contacts.

7. Building Matters

AB confirmed that we still have no one trained to do PAT testing. He has sent an email but has had no response. He will chase up.                                                                     

                                                                                                                        ACTION AB
8. West Cambridge Site

9. Any Other Business

9.1 Nothing else had arisen from the syndicate meeting except concern about the chicanes on JJ Thomson Ave which are now to be redirected to Simon Moore.

Dates of the future meetings:
The next meeting will be on Wednesday the 16^th March. Please note that the February 2005 meeting is cancelled due to staff absences and shortage of meeting rooms.