Health and Safety Policy

Report type: Policy

This policy seeks to meet best practice in health and safety and all relevant legislation. Its purpose is to safeguard the health and safety of all who work for, with or participate in an event run by Culture for Climate Scotland.

Our approach to health and safety

Culture for Climate Scotland regards the health, safety and welfare of its staff and the people it works with as being of prime importance and considers the promotion of health and safety measures to be a mutual objective for its trustees, management and staff at all levels.

Culture for Climate Scotland provides and maintains working conditions and equipment for all employees, workers, contractors, participants and visitors that are safe, healthy and comply with statutory requirements and codes of practice.

You have a duty whilst at work to take reasonable care for the health, safety and wellbeing of yourself and of other persons who may be affected by your acts or omissions. Anyone working with or for Culture for Climate Scotland should report any risks to health and safety, whether immediate or long term, to their line manager and their line manager should respond within an appropriate period with information about how the risk is being mitigated. If the matter is not resolved, it should be reported to the convenor.

You also have a duty to co-operate with the organisation in complying with any duty or requirement concerning health and safety at work. Please ensure that you have read and comply with the Culture for Climate Scotland Health and Safety Policy, and all the health, safety and fire rules and procedures in force on our premises and at any other premises where your work is for Culture for Climate Scotland.

Any breach of our safety rules will be regarded seriously and may result in disciplinary action. Where an action or neglect is so dangerous as to constitute gross misconduct, you may be liable to summary dismissal.

Statement of intent

Culture for Climate Scotland recognises its responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and other related legislation and seeks to satisfy its obligations by achieving these general aims.

Our statement of general policy is:

To provide adequate control of the health and safety risks arising from our work activities.
To consult with our employees on matters affecting their health and safety.
To provide and maintain safe equipment.
To provide information, instruction and supervision for employees.
To ensure all employees are competent to do their tasks and to give them adequate training.
To prevent accidents and cases of work-related ill health.
To maintain safe and healthy working conditions.
To review and revise this policy as necessary at regular intervals.

Key safety advice for staff

When working in Thorn House, we must comply with the Ethical Property Company’s Health and Safety policy for the building, and you should familiarise yourselves with this (Codes of Practice 2).
We also work in other people’s venues and buildings. You should ensure your own safety and that of any colleagues or event participants or visitors by complying with the policies and instructions of the venue you are working in.
The fact that you are working in someone else’s venue does not mean you should not take responsibility for health and safety.
When we choose locations for events the health and safety of all involved should be a major criterion of selecting the location. Where there are any risks associated with the event or location, a risk assessment of the project should be undertaken and discussed with your line manager before confirming the venue or location.
Whether in a location you know well or a new one, ensure you know the locations of fire exits, fire appliances (and how to use them) and the assembly point to proceed to if there is a fire.
Ensure fire doors are kept closed at all times.
Report any faulty equipment or fire exits.

Responsibilities

Board

Overall and final responsibility for health and safety matters lies with the trustees. They are responsible for ensuring that the director and staff are meeting the requirements of this policy and reviewing its implementation on a regular basis.

Director

Day-to-day responsibility for ensuring this policy is put into practice is delegated to the director, who is responsible for ensuring that suitable and sufficient arrangements are in place to meet the requirements of this policy, ensuring that adequate resources are made available to address health and safety issues and reviewing all arrangements on a regular basis.

Staff

All employees have a specific responsibility under the H&S at Work Act and must:

Take reasonable care for the health and safety of yourself and of others who may be affected by what you do, or do not do.
Co-operate with your employer on health and safety.
Be careful not to interfere with or misuse anything provided for your health, safety and welfare.
Report all health and safety concerns to an appropriate person (as detailed in this policy statement).

Contractors/external organisations

Any other organisation working with or for Culture for Climate Scotland should meet the relevant requirements of this policy whilst carrying out their work. In practice this is likely to involve carrying out suitable and sufficient risk assessments for the work that they have been contracted to do, sharing the findings of these with the relevant Culture for Climate Scotland staff and ensuring that any person working on their behalf is competent to work safely for the activity they are undertaking on Culture for Climate Scotland’s behalf.

Health & safety risks arising from our work activities

Risk assessments

Risk assessments will be undertaken by:

Senior operations manager to complete office-based risk assessment and to sign off home-working risk assessments for staff.
Relevant staff to complete formal risk assessment and emergency management plans when utilising venues for project delivery.
Ethical Property company share their risk assessment for the Thorn House building as a whole.

The findings of the risk assessments will be reported to the line manager as part of the reporting structure. Should action be required, the appropriate line manager follow up to ensure delivery is not affected.

The senior operations manager will be responsible for ensuring the action required is implemented, in relation to overall project delivery and office practice, and will check that the implemented actions have removed/reduced the risks.

Assessments will be reviewed annually or when the work activity changes, whichever is sooner.

Risk assessments should also consider adaptation and what measures should be put in place to ensure delivery can take place in the event of situations that result from climate change, such as extreme weather.

Manual handling

The senior operations manager should ensure that staff have assessed all significant manual handling activity in their areas of control and, where reasonably practicable, eliminated or reduced it. Under no circumstances should people lift heavy loads alone.

The main points to consider are:

Make sure that the route is clear and as easy as possible.
Are there mechanical aids that can be used, such as a lift?
Should this be a two-person lift?
Bend from the knees not the back.
Make sure you can see past the load once it is lifted.
Move your feet, not your trunk when turning.

A short guide to manual handling can be downloaded at: www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg143.pdf

Safe equipment

Culture for Climate Scotland equipment

Staff are responsible for ensuring that any equipment (new or second-hand) for organisational use meets health and safety standards before it is purchased.
All electronic equipment that connects to the mains electricity is PAT tested by Culture for Climate Scotland every 24 months. Responsibility for PAT testing electrical equipment lies with the administration officer.
Any problems found with equipment should be reported to the administration officer and rectified where possible or removed from use until it can be repaired/replaced.

Personal equipment

If any personal equipment is used, staff are responsible for ensuring that it meets health and safety standards and is regularly PAT tested.
Employees have the right to take any regularly used personal equipment to the office to be PAT tested. Liaise with the administration officer to ensure that any such equipment can be included in the organisation’s PAT testing schedule.
If a personal electronic device fails the test it should not be used for any further Culture for Climate Scotland activity. If the employee wishes to continue to use the device privately it is at their own risk. Culture for Climate Scotland is not responsible for the repair of any personal device that fails the PAT test but may contribute to the costs of repair pro rata at the line manager’s discretion.

Competency

This health and safety policy will be provided as part of induction for all staff when they start with Culture for Climate Scotland .
Any questions should be raised with your line manager to ensure comprehension of all requirements.
Specific projects/delivery requiring special training are identified by the director/line manager and training provided by Culture for Climate Scotland or an external trainer as most appropriate.

Organisation and arrangements

Fire safety

All office-based staff will be instructed on the fire precautions and evacuation procedures as part of the induction process and receive refresher training thereafter.

Culture for Climate Scotland relies upon its landlord to provide adequate fire management arrangements. In summary, these are:

All staff should make themselves familiar with the location of extinguishers and fire exits in all premises in which they are working and with fire escape procedures for the building in which they are working.
All fire exits must be kept free from obstruction at all times.
All staff must comply with any practice drills undertaken. These will normally be done in March and September each year.
Full details are provided in Codes of Practice 2 Thorn House.

Preservation of life should be your primary concern. This should be remembered at all times and in all circumstances.

On discovering a fire – unless it is a small fire that can be tackled quickly and safely, leave it, get out of the building and leave firefighting to the fire service. Do not try to fight the fire unless you are absolutely sure you can put it out.

If you cannot fight the fire – smash break glass unit to sound the alarm.

Upon the alarm sounding – unless previously informed that a test is taking place, upon the alarm sounding, the building must be evacuated. There is NO reason for not evacuating. IN THE EVENT OF A FIRE, DO NOT USE THE LIFT.

When emergency evacuation procedures are instigated, you should check the sign-in buttons on the white board on your way out of the office. Ensure the Culture for Climate Scotland office is clear and proceed to the main assembly point next to the bike racks to the west side of Thorn House (by Marks & Spencer).

NB: This location will be reviewed once the street returns to normal following Jenners building renovation work.

If you are in the building but not in the office, proceed directly to the muster point and meet the rest of the team to confirm you are safe. Other staff will be responsible for clearing the building.

Do not return to the building until instructed to do so by a representative of the company in charge at that time or the fire brigade.

There is an alternative assembly point on Abercromby Place opposite the junction with Nelson Street. This should only be used if the main assembly point is unavailable for any reason or if advice is given to move further out of the area.

First aid

The director is responsible for ensuring that suitable first aid cover is provided at the Culture for Climate Scotland premises. In general, the first aid arrangements are:

Appointed person – all staff trained as first aiders.
First aid box is kept in the office.
There are communal first aid kits in the kitchen/prep areas on each floor.
All accidents and cases of work-related ill health are to be recorded in the accident book. The book is maintained by the administration officer, who is responsible for reporting accidents, diseases and dangerous occurrences to the enforcing authority.

General points to remember

Stay calm.
Assess the situation.
Is there any further danger to the casualty or yourself?
Make sure that you are safe – you cannot help if you are also injured.
If electricity is involved, do not touch the casualty. Switch off electricity at the mains, before approaching the casualty.
Send for assistance – call for emergency services (999) – any delay may cause further injury or even death. Get a first aider
Do not move the casualty, unless necessary, to protect the casualty from further injury.
Support the casualty, talk to him/her, be confident, give assurance and try to find out what happened.
When assistance has arrived give as many details as possible. Tell them what you have done and when. Repeat what the casualty has said. The emergency services will need this information, and more, to enable them to do their job.

Culture for Climate Scotland will ensure that it has at least one qualified first aider in its permanent employment and will ensure that the first aid box is kept fully equipped at all times. Make sure you know who they are and where the first aid boxes are located. In addition, the other office tenants should also have a first aider for their organisations so you may be able to call upon them if required.

You should not normally take action involving the casualty without a first aider present.

Legally, any accident or injury at work (including any that occur if you are working from home) must be reported to your line manager detailing the date, time and nature of the incident, and whether it was witnessed. All accidents at work should be reported – no matter how minor – in the accident book located in the Culture for Climate Scotland office and, once informed, your manager will file a copy of the report centrally.

Any accident or dangerous occurrence must also be reported to the administration officer.

COVID-19

Specific risk assessments for minimising the risks associated with CVODI-19 are no longer in place. Any future guidance changes from the Government should be adhered to and full attention given to the requirements that may come about at short notice.

At all times all staff are expected to maintain their vigilance in preventing further spread of this and any other disease. The following measures are expected at all times:

Thorough and regular handwashing.
Wiping down of desk areas and any equipment used.
Being aware of social distancing and other’s comfort with close interactions.
Not attend meetings or visiting the office if you have symptoms and may potentially share any illness.
Using face coverings in line with current guidance.
If you are suffering with COVID-19 symptoms, self-isolate in line with Government requirements, take a test and share the results so anyone you may have been in contact with can be informed.

In the case of a large-scale outbreak in the community, Culture for Climate Scotland default position will be for staff to work from home.

Workplace inspections

General work areas, reception areas and rest areas must be kept clean and tidy at all times.

The director and senior operations manager are expected to ensure that staff carry out ongoing reviews of risk control measures within their own areas of control to ensure that they are suitable and being consistently adopted.

Home working

Under normal circumstances Culture for Climate Scotland staff are not expected to work from home every day, though they may undertake hybrid working and those who live outwith Edinburgh may use a mix of work locations to reduce commuting.

Home workers are required to ensure that their home insurance policy covers them for working at home.

Most health and safety legislation applies to home workers as well as to employees working at Culture for Climate Scotland premises. However, home workers themselves must also take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of anyone else who may be affected by their actions or omissions.

A risk assessment will be carried out for each employee who regularly, or only, works at home. Completing a risk assessment involves identifying hazards relating to the employee’s work activities and deciding whether enough steps have been taken to prevent harm to them or to anyone else who may be affected by their work.

Home workers are requested to ensure that they have adequate workspace where they will be free from non-work-related interruptions or distractions, that there is adequate lighting, heating and ventilation and a secure reliable internet connection. If a home worker encounters any personal or domestic difficulties that prejudice the home-working arrangements, they should inform their manager so that alternative arrangements can be discussed. If a house move is anticipated, this should be discussed with the manager as far in advance as possible and the continuance of home working will be subject to the location and facilities of the new home (including broadband provision) being acceptable to us.

If an employee wishes to work from a location other than their home, approval must be sought from their line manager in advance. If the location is within the UK, staff must be able to show that they have an adequate workspace available, as in their usual place of home working, and there are no clashes with planned activity. If staff wish to work from home abroad, they must follow the working from home abroad policy as there are additional legal requirements that must be considered.

Workstation set up

Workstation risk assessments will be carried out for those workers (including home workers) who use laptops on a regular basis. Eyesight tests are free in Scotland and Culture for Climate Scotland encourages all staff to take advantage of the opportunity to get their eyes tested every two years.

A DSE workstation checklist can be used to review the workstation within office and home environments. The employee should use the checklist to identify what equipment, furniture and materials they require to set up a working station that meets current health and safety standards.

NB: As the office does not have assigned desk spaces, some flexibility may be required when conducting the assessment and where individuals may sit depending on the balance of tasks likely to be conducted on any given day.

The employee should discuss with their line manager what gaps they have identified and how these might be filled.

Any new equipment purchased as a result must be recorded in the Equipment Register. Equipment provided by Culture for Climate Scotland must be returned to Culture for Climate Scotland at the end of an employee’s contract. Exact arrangements for this will be agreed by the employee and their line manager before the employee’s contract comes to an end.

Culture for Climate Scotland will not be liable for any loss, injury or damage caused by furniture or equipment that we have not installed or provided.

Lone working

Culture for Climate Scotland recognises that you may be required to work by yourself at separate premises, travel as part of your role or work alone at our offices or at home. It is our duty to assess the risks to lone workers and take such steps as necessary to avoid or control these. You are also responsible for taking reasonable care of yourself and others affected by your work. You are required to follow our guidance and co-operate with your manager in meeting our legal obligations.

Managers will carry out risk assessments when lone working may be required. The risk assessment will consider factors including, but not limited to:

Are there any medical implications?
Are there adequate channels of communication in an emergency?
Are you sufficiently experienced in the activity?
Does the workplace or activity present a special risk to you?
Can you be traced?

Where there is any reasonable doubt about your personal safety in a given situation, consideration should be given to sending a colleague with you or making alternative arrangements.

If you need to make an appointment with someone you do not know, obtain as much information as possible about the person you are meeting and consider arranging to meet the person at our premises, and/or with other colleagues nearby where this is feasible.

Details of any visits or appointments should always be entered into your calendar, which your colleagues should have access to. Booked appointments should clearly give the time of appointment, the name and address of the person you are visiting and a contact telephone number (if available).

Any incidents, dangers or potential risks identified, or any concerns you might have in respect of working alone, should be reported to your manager. Where appropriate, the details will be shared with colleagues to minimise risk to others.

To get some useful tips on personal safety, we recommend guidance information produced by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which can be downloaded at https://www.suzylamplugh.org/personal-safety-at-work.

Smoking at work

We operate a ‘no smoking’ policy throughout our office and public premises. This includes the use of e-cigarettes. Smoking is only permitted during breaks in designated smoking areas approved by your line manager.

Please note that failure to observe our no smoking rules may lead to disciplinary action.

The ban on smoking in the workplace does not extend to workers who work alone in their homes other than when visited on business. However, home workers are required not to smoke whilst a colleague, supplier or client/customer is visiting their home on business.

Capability for work

It is a condition of contract, for all staff, volunteers and employees of other organisations that they are fit for work during reasonable hours. Any legitimate reason why this is not the case (for example, prescription drugs, illness) must be discussed with the senior operations manager as soon as possible to allow for rescheduling of work etc.

If unfitness for work is caused by alcohol or other recreational drug use, this will be viewed as misconduct and dealt with appropriately.

If you have a health or medical condition or disability that could affect your ability to undertake your activities, either on a temporary or ongoing basis, or that may be aggravated by the tasks you are being asked to undertake, please discuss this with your line manager, as this will enable us to consider and implement any reasonable adjustments. We will treat these details confidentially, update them as appropriate and ensure that the information is available to the relevant people in an emergency situation.

Medication should also be reported to us if there is likely to be any involvement needed in providing the treatment. It is important that you update us of any changes to your medication or if you cease taking it.

Monitoring and review

To check our working conditions, and ensure our safe working practices are being followed, we will review our health and safety policy regularly and discuss issues relating to health and safety in the regular team meetings.
The senior operations manager is responsible for investigating work-related causes of sickness absences amongst staff.
The senior operations manager is responsible for acting on investigation findings to prevent a recurrence.
The policy will be reviewed by the trustees on an annual basis.