Lecture Minutes
Minutes of the Group Meeting held at CardijnRoom,St Antony’s Centre, Trafford Park,Manchester, on 28January 2015commencing at 2.20 p.m.
Present:
M Nixon, SSC
C Nixon, SSC
M Nicholas, Beldam Crossley Ltd
L Roberts, BMCD/Malbec 42 Ltd
G Cropper, Red24
M Hardman, JDS
L Campbell, M & I Materials
E Humphreys, Safetyforce
B Wilkinson, Retired
J Hayward, Pulse Training Partnership Ltd
M Styan, Timpson Ltd
S O’Sullivan, Pharmaserve Ltd
S Moore, Glosta Engineering
M Dutton, Stockport College
I Campbell, Independent
A Baguley, Fruitful Health and Safety Training
D Howell, Cargill PLC
G McSweeney, Cargill PLC
M Brady, Knowsley Housing Trust
K Talbot, XFS
R Warburton, XFS
A Todd, Together Trust
C Bruce, Together Trust
N Mandow, Together Trust
C Watkins, The Salvation Army
L Smith, Oldham Council
A McEnteggart, Linde MH
R Martin, University of Salford
A Weinberg, University of Salford
E Ford, TSK Group
M Craven, Together Housing Group
P Horan, Matheson Horan Associates
C Caddick, Ozroks
1 Apologies
Apologies were received from the following members
J Sowerbutts, C Conroy, D Marsden, D Spence, T O’Donnell, K Ross
Due to the absence of Dave Spence, Mike chaired the meeting and welcomed all present including any new members as there were some unfamiliar faces.
2Correspondence
Mike apologised for the lack of magazines on this occasion. Most correspondence is either received or sent out electronically.
3 Updates
a)SGUK
Mike indicated that although Cathy is the rep he would give the report on her behalf. To keep a balance, Mike represents North Manchester on the SGUK Management Committee.
The Alan Butler and Maurice Adamson Awards had beenpresented on January 26 in the House of Lords. The attendance had exceeded all expectations with 120 booked for lunch and over 90 at the morning meeting with a presentation from Jane Willis, HSE. The Silver and Bronze Awards were presented at the morning meeting with the Gold and Maurice Adamson Awards after the Luncheon.
Gold Award Winners were: Birmingham, North Lincs., Isle of Wight, Sheffield, Swansea & West Wales, London, Suffolk and North Essex and Thames Valley. The overall Gold went to Isle of Wight.
Photos should be on the SGUK website shortly.
The Maurice Adamson Award was awarded to Steve Horrocks from North Manchester Health, Safety and Advisory Group who sadly died just before the Award was due to be presented. His funeral was held just after the presentation took place. Chris Bamber who accepted the Award posthumously gave a very poignant presentation about Steve’s involvement with young people and H & S in general. Some MOHSG members assist in the running of the Group and others also attend. Mike recorded the presentation of the Shield. Some of the family will be invited to attend next year to make the presentation to the next winner. Thanks to Brian Wilkinson for attending the funeral.
The Health Risks at Work campaign is still being rolled out and it is anticipated the next module will start to be covered later this year. Two new Groups have recently joined us, one in Scarborough and the other in Guernsey. There is a possibility that there will be a WISH group for safety set up also.
Admin support continues and the Deputy CEO has agreed the funding on an ongoing basis.
b)NWRA
This is a mini umbrella organisation comprising of the Groups in the North West plus Wrexham and North West Wales. Our speakers today gave a talk at last year’s Conference at Barton Grange.
There were several changes at the AGM in December when Eddie Miles retired as Secretary to further his music. North Manchester are represented by Chris Bamber and Shelagh O’Sullivan. South Cumbria is represented by James Woolgrove and Chris Shaw represents the CDM Group. Lisa Fowlie for North West Wales is a corresponding member only due to the distance. Phil Watson is an additional representative for East Lancs. The previous Treasurer, Martin Fishwick also resigned and was replaced in the role by Mark Burns of Lancashire Group. Mike and Cathy Nixon are now Vice Chair/Exhibitions Officer and Secretary/Reservations Officer/Webmaster respectively.
The Annual Conference will take place on 9 September at Barton Grange Hotel and will focus on ‘Back to Basics– the fundamentals of Health and Safety’ and will have up to 16 20 minute topics during the day ranging from COSHH to Driving for Work. If you know of anyone who would be interested in speaking on any of the topics, or can suggest speakers, please contact Mike or Cathy for details of subjects that are still available.
4HSE Update
The report came from a different organisation on this occasion as no representative present.
Legislation covered the Sikh requirement to wear hard hats. The De-regulation bill was also covered and some ACoPS republished, including CDM which is currently at the report stage for de-regulation. EU-OSHA is in its second year of Stress in the Workplace.
5 Members Corner
There were no issues raised today but members were reminded they can always contact Cathy or Mike and an e-mail request will be circulated and responses either collated by Cathy or direct to member depending on their request. The newsletter and website are there for the benefit of members, so please try and help keep it fresh with contributions.
6Presentation
Mike then introduced Dr Ashley Weinberg and Rachel Martin from Wellness Works at the University of Salford.
The presentation was Work Related Stress and how to identify and prevent plus supporting where possible.
The question was asked as to why we should consider stress in the workplace. Rachel and Ashley attempted to answer this and provide some solutions.
If an absence is caused by work related stress then where possible counselling should be offered together with a phased return to work, particularly where a job cannot be adjusted to remove the stress.
Some stress at work can come from workload and potentially result in a nervous breakdown where support is necessary to prevent a reoccurrence.
What is stress? Stress can result in sleeping problems, concentration difficulties, eating, drinking or smoking to excess or even anxiety. We all need a small amount of stress in our lives.
A healthy workplace is one in which workers and managers collaborate to use a continual improvement process.
There are example standards on the HSE website to assist
Where stress can be home related it can impact on the work environment, especially if child care issues cannot be successfully addressed.
There was a lively question and answer session after the presentation.
See presentation for more details
Mike then thanked Ashley and Rachel on behalf of the Group and presented them with a small gift.
7 Any other Business
Thanks are given to Elaine Humphreys for the use of her laptop for use during the presentation.
Mike thanked those who had attended indicating that there were in excess of 30 present at the meeting.
Ian Campbell who attended the meeting indicated he was looking for employment.
Date of next meeting – Wednesday 18March 2015,at St. Antony’s Centre, Eleventh Street, Trafford Park, Manchester, Debbie Pettitt from Posturite on DSE – Back to Basics
The meeting closed at 3.45 p.m.
Minutes accepted as being a true record
Signed ______
Date ______
1