Ref: 174branch-Min06Sept.doc Date: 11 Oct 2006
IOSH EDINBURGH BRANCH
Minutes of 174th Edinburgh Branch Meeting
Craighouse Campus, Napier University, Edinburgh – Thursday 14 September 2006 - 130pm
Sederunt: L Crichton N Govela B Anderson C McG;ade J Burt A Milne SRW Mambo K Lloyd I O’Neill A Pittendrigh D Richardson S Beaton J Dwyer R McLean R Brydon P J Colquhoun R Weir J Hamilon L Young J Davis A Diment B Hammond J Fenton R Robertson S McGarricle R Lovering M Johnstone P M Veith R Innes M Gorman A James P Keogh R Thomson A Bell A Dick S Scott I Paton A Leaver S Hughes G Macnab M Powell K O’Donnell G Laine M Grimmer S Heesom
Apologies: Max Bancroft, Dave Sinclair, Derek Cawkwell, Craig Pender, Neil Docherty, John Fagen
• Accuracy: Proposer - Richard Lovering Seconder - Liz Youngg
Details given of the following all of which were also on the website:
• 11 Oct: NaSHiCS (National Association for Safety and Health in Care Services): Seminar on Voilence at Work
4.1 Alan Dick (construction) - reported from his last group meeting in Leicester. They were looking at Guidance for the CDM Regs and duty holders. It should be available as a free download when published. He also outlined the possibility of a Working at Height internet survey. For those in the group who need to contact Alan, please note that he has changed his mobile and email address - his mobile is now 07747 636430
4.2 Marion Johnstone (Public Services) - thier symposium at a hotel venue proved successful and may be repeated. A networking meeting was held in Huddersfield where a representative from Local Governmnet Employers spoke on Sensible Risk Assessment
4.3 Julian Davis (Environment) The fate of the Waste Management people is still unclear - they could either go to Public Services or Environment. The last group meeting in Leicester included a briefing from the Society for the Environment on how to become a Chartered Environmentalist using competence based criteria but we need to get Council to sign up to this for it to be of benefit to IOSH members who undertake some environmental duties. Further information is at www.socenv.org.uk.
•Dave Sinclair thanked everyone for their support in his election to Council
• Richard Lovering gave details of the Roger Midson Trophy to be held this year on 17th Novemeber at Thankerton Bowling Club (2pm). This year's event will be Target Bowls (be prepared to be kneeling down). The cost of £10 per head includes a 3 course meal. Please indicate your intention to go to either Max or Richard via e-mail - there is no upper limit on participatingg but the catering staff obviously need to know accurate numbers.
Anne Ireson - Development Officer - of The Disability Rights Commission
– Disability & Employment - An Overview and Update
Kevin Lloyd introduced the speaker to the assembled members, but stated that he nothing more than Anne’s name and Job Title, as he had only just met her and had not had an opportunity to find anything more of her background and details as she had unfortunately gone to the wrong venue prior to being redirected to the correct location. Anne then indicated that she felt she had been through some form of “Indoctrination of Water” in the first and incorrect venue, as the car park had been more than just a little flooded. She then explained that although she had not been a Development Officer with the DRC for very long, she had gone through basic training with the Manchester based team prior to starting work in the Practice Development Team here in Scotland and she hoped that the presentation which she was to deliver would show some practical guidance to the members in areas and activities related to health and safety
Some Key Facts and Figures
• There are around 10 million disabled adults of working age in Great Britain with a wide range of disabilities and health impairments from visual impairment to arthritis, diabetes and depression. There are approximately 1 million disabled persons in Scotland.
• Most people who become disabled do so in their working lives and there is a ratio of 1:5 who apply for DDA were not born with the condition. This being the case you can see there is a very close link to health and safety conditions at work.
• The speaker then asked the members to consider – “If it happened to me – how would I like to be treated”
• Definition of Disability as utilised by the DRC is -
• “A physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term adverse effect on the ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities” – This includes “Sensory” impairment to eyesight or hearing and the issue of “long term” means it lasts longer than 12 months, or is a recurring condition.
• “Normal Day-to-Day Activities” as utilised by the DRC includes consideration of -
• mobility (unaided)
• continence
• manual dexterity
• physical co-ordination
• lifting, carrying, or moving
• speech, hearing, or eyesight
• memory or ability to concentrate, learn or understand
• perception of risk or physical danger
DDA and Employment – This is aimed at protecting the disabled
• Prohibits discrimination in employment covering advertising, recruitment, training, promotion, benefits, dismissal etc
• Prohibits discrimination after employment has ended
• Requires employers to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ – (give further detail later)
• Prohibits discrimination by trade organizations & qualification bodies – every organization is included with the exception of the Armed Forces
• Provides procedures for enforcement and provision of remedies for discrimination – this is aimed at making sure legislation is followed and failure and related actions can be very costly and time consuming
DDA - Some Key Changes
December 2005 :
• Scope of DDA extended to cover HIV, MS & Cancer from the point of acquiring the condition – NB: There is no requirement to wait the normal 12 months to verify its long terms effect in these cases.
• Removal of the requirement for a mental illness to be ‘clinically well recognized’ – this was done to make legislation more consistent as there had previously been a “loop hole” with requiring clinical recognition of the condition
• New Disability Equality Duty (DED)for public bodies - to be effective from December 2006 – there would be further detail relating to this later
Forms of Discrimination
• Direct discrimination – e.g. Making a blanket statement that no person with epilepsy will be permitted to drive fork lift trucks
• Failure to comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments
• Disability Related Discrimination – Consider here the procedure for sickness absence adopted by the Company, where timescales and trigger points for discipline may be reached a lot easier for those suffering a particular disability as the disability causes the absence.
• Victimisation
• Harassment
The Duty to Make Reasonable Adjustments
Where :
• any provision, criteria or practice applied on or behalf of the employer
or
• any physical feature of premises occupied by the employer
place the disabled person concerned at a substantial disadvantage in comparison with persons who are not disabled, it is the duty of the employer to take such steps as is reasonable, in all the circumstances, in order to prevent the arrangements or feature having that effect.
i.e. there is a need to put in place something to counteract the disadvantage and the speaker pointed out that it is often more costly to dismiss the disabled person and have to recruit a replacement and then train them, than it would have been to make the adjustments.
Reasonable Adjustments Under the DDA include:-
• adjustments to premises – wheelchair ramps, lighting, highlighted stairs, height of switches and handles etc.
• acquiring or modifying equipment, or providing a reader or interpreter
• job modification – minor modifications to two jobs could be the answer
• transferring person to fill alternative vacancy or place of work – the speaker indicated a case which went to the House of Lords (Archibald v Fife) where a road sweeper was not appointed to a desk job as the rate of pay was not in the same grouping and the attendance at 100 Competitive Interviews for this individual was not seen as being reasonable
• allowing person to be absent for rehabilitation, assessment or treatment – such as physiotherapy or operation recovery
• modifying procedures and policies – e.g. the Company Sickness Absence Procedure
• giving training or arranging for mentoring (for the disabled person or other people – consider is it necessary to train colleagues how to deal with the disabled person)
• Whilst the following do not appear specifically in the Act they are contained in Guidance :-
• Allowing flexible working hours
• Participating in supported employment schemes – those with mental health or learning difficulties having meetings with their support workers
• Employing a support worker to assist a disabled employee
• Adjusting redundancy selection criteria – take care if the Sickness Absence system is one of the selection factors for redundancy
• Modifying performance related pay arrangements – the disability may not make it possible to achieve the same output
• Remember – There is no “one size fits all” answers, each needs to be considered and varied by the individual’s needs
Examples of reasonable adjustments
1. - A machine operator on a rotating shift ppattern develops epilepsy. Following discussion with the employee and recommendations made by her GP, the employer alters the employee’s work hours to a fixed day shift. This adjustment to a more regular working pattern assists the employee in managing her condition.
2. - As a result of a head injury, a telephone sales consultant has difficulties in hearing. Sound absorbing partitions are installed to reduce noise and distractions at his workstation and his telephone ring tone reprogrammed so that he can hear when his phone is ringing. He is also supplied with a vibrating pager alert, which can be activated to alert him in the event of an emergency.
The DDA and the New Disability Equality Duty
This is of specific importance for Public Functions
• The purpose and focus of the DDA in 1995 was to give disabled people rights
• The intent of the new Disability Equality Duty (DED) – via separate Regulations, is to create a Pro-active approach rather than a reactive one. There is an obligation on Public Bodies to embed equality for disabled persons into its procedures
What is the Disability Equality Duty?
General Duty: applies to all bodies with a public function, from 4 December 2006, to -
• promote equality of opportunity
• eliminate unlawful discrimination
• eliminate harassment of disabled people
• promote positive attitudes towards disabled people
• encourage participation by disabled people in public life
• to take account of a person’s disability even where that means more favourable treatment – for example this may mean creating a greater number of disabled parking spaces than is normally considered necessary.
Specific Duty: to produce a Disability Equality Scheme including:
• statement of how disabled people have been involved –NB: this does not mean just meeting them, but actually involving them in creating the action plan etc.
• an action plan
• arrangements for gathering information about performance on disability equality – i.e. where are we now – for any new policy, is it considered as an integral part
• arrangements for impact assessment of activities
• details of how the information will be used to review effectiveness and improve future performance
Current developments in the area of health & safety
• The DRC is aiming to tackle perceived barriers to disabled people's employment in relation to health and safety issues.
• The DRC is working with the HSE and practitioners to develop good practice guidance
• H and S practitioners have a role to play in promoting the Disability Equality Duty
Tackling perceived barriers to the employment/ retention of disabled people
DRC / HSE/ IRS joint research found :
• Inconsistent approaches to risk assessment
• Some disabilities seen as harder to ‘deal with’ e.g. Epilepsy, visual impairments, mental health
• Lack of understanding – disabled people automatically assumed to be ‘more risky’
• Lack of understanding about managing risk through reasonable adjustments
• Difficulty understanding and tackling legal issues around disclosure, liability and decision making – there are a number of disabled persons who are not happy that employers are informed of their disability
DRC is working with the HSE and practitioners to develop good practice guidance
Compiling and promoting jointly supported good practice principles on risk assessment in employment.
The project is ongoing and the results may be ready around March 2007
Producing more detailed guidance for:
• Risk Assessors
• Senior Managers
• Disabled people.
What can H and S Practitioners Do?
• Be aware of developments and guidance on risk management –( DRC Webb site)
• Base decisions and recommendations about disability issues on thorough and detailed individual assessment
• Ensure that risk assessment audits are carried out by someone with expertise and involve the individual
• Seek other more expert advice and reports where necessary
• Apply the requirements of the DED to your professional role
And finally ....
• In the words of the HSE, ensure that health & safety is not an used as an ‘excuse’
Help & Information
DRC Helpline, FREEPOST, MID 02164, Stratford upon Avon, CV37 9BR
Telephone 08457 622 633 Textphone 08457 622 644 Fax 08457 778 878
DRC website www.drc-gb.org DRC DED website www.dotheduty.org
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Max Bancroft, MRSC, CMIOSH Branch Secretary |
Julian Davies, CMIOSH Branch Executive Committee |
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Richard
Lovering, CFIOSH |
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