Kent Health & Safety Group

5 November 2009

Larkfield Village Halls

Minutes

Attendance List R H Mees AEM Ltd J Snell Kita Ltd Paul Durkin KCC (KASS) Stuart Markey RS&EAS Pete Hyland Burtons Medical Group Gary Smith KHSG Dave Tyler Safetywise Doug Chenery KHSG Gary Hewitt Gravesham Borough Council

Apologies for absence Doug Baguley, Richard Pavey, Eddie Adrian, Carole Shepherd.

Welcome to members and visitors The Chairman welcomed members to the meeting.

He explained that Executive had met immediately prior to this meeting and one matter which had been discussed was the order of agenda items. This had been changed to the speaker after general business had been dealt with, as people were disappearing immediately the speaker had finished. However there was now a proposal to change back to the speaker after apologies for absence and Executive had agreed to put this proposal to those members attending the meeting. It was agreed that the speaker would be first.

Emergency Planning

Gary Hewitt introduced Steve Scully from KCC’s Emergency Planning department who explained that he had been an Emergency Planning Officer with KCC for about 10 years, prior to that he had been in the military.

What is a major emergency? An event or situation which threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK, the environments of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK.

Steve said that one Sunday morning a World War 2 bomb was found having worked its way to the surface of Trossley Country Park. He explained that four people had been involved in getting rid of it and this had taken a couple of hours. However if this incident had been in the middle of Maidstone instead, it would have been much more complicated.

Meeting Number 441 - 1 - Types of emergency

Natural – storms, floods, snow, landslides Eg - 1953 – tidal surge; - 1986 – hurricane.

Technical – damage to structures, buildings, industrial, transport Eg - cinema wall collapsed in Medway; - tanker overturned where M26 joins M25 closing the road; - explosion at Bunsfield oil refinery.

Health – epidemics, poisoning food chain Eg - swine flu H1N1.

Environmental pollution – air, water or land pollution Eg - Torrey Canyon.

Dave Tyler told the Group that he had been on board the ship Hengist on the night of the hurricane. The main generator had failed and a second generator was under repair and was propelled around the engine room during the storm. Eventually the ship ran ashore and the conditions were so bad that the crew did not even know where they were.

A video of the following past emergencies was shown:  Deal bombing;  Herald of Free Enterprise;  Ramsgate walkway disaster;  Cowden rail crash;  Margate tower block fire;  Deaths of Chinese asylum seekers in the back of a lorry;  Floods in 2000;  Collision of a cruise ship and a container ship in the Channel;  Channel Tunnel fire;  Anthrax alert at Sittingbourne Research Centre.

There could be the same emergency in two different places on two separate occasions and it would be treated totally differently.

Possible sites for emergencies  Dover Straits – the busiest shipping channel in the world.  UK airspace – the wreckage from the Lockerbie disaster was strewn from the east to the west of Scotland, but over a very sparsely populated area, if this was replicated over Kent which is much more populated, injuries on the ground would be even worse.  Montgomery – there are regular surveys of the wreckage, from which it is known that the ship is gradually falling apart. The explosives are falling out onto the seabed. There is degradation of the explosives and a lot of it will not even go up.  Dover Docks.  Channel Tunnel.  Dungeness Power Station.  Bluewater.

Meeting Number 441 - 2 - Legislation now says that properties built on floodplains or flood risk areas cannot have low level sleeping accommodation.

Duties under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 are as follows:  Risk assessment  Emergency planning  Business continuity management  Warning – informing and alerting the public  Information sharing  Co-operation  Business continuity management promotion.

Category 1 organisations such as the emergency services must carry out all the above duties, while Category 2 organisations such as the utility companies only need to carry out the last two duties.

The military are used in emergencies, but they cannot be included in planning, because they might not be there when an emergency happens.

What can an H&S advisor do?  Provide specialist advice;  Carry out risk assessments;  Liaise with other H&S professionals;  Stop things going wrong before they happen.

Humanitarian assistance When the earthquake happened in Folkestone, everybody was taken into centres, but these were not designed for this specific use. H&S advice/support is needed; risk assessments must be carried out as the public is in Local Authority care.

Steve said that there is a role for Health & Safety; he would much rather have a Health & Safety advisor than a booklet.

Emergency Planning is not a consultee in development; they are called in once something has been built.

Stuart Young works in Business Continuity. He explained that he is more concerned with preventing the big bang, rather than clearing up after it.

A generator can be provided in case the electricity goes off in an operating theatre. He said that they have to plan ahead and have to learn from history.

Business Continuity Management processes are as follows:  Assess what the business is;  What is crucial to you;  Develop your strategy and plan;  Do a walk through and test your plan;  Test your feedback and make changes. These processes should be reviewed annually.

Managing risk or perception of risk – our perception of risk can be flawed.

Typical risks include:  Loss of data, documents or records;

Meeting Number 441 - 3 -  Missing or broken equipment, essential services or people;  Breakdown of supply chain;  Inability to deliver product for a significant period of time for any reason;  Negative perception of the organisation by clients, staff or public.

Stuart Young finished his part of the presentation by saying that if you find something that works, let other people know. Also practise your plan in the same way as you have fire drill.

Further information can be found on www.kent.gov.uk/businesscontinuity

Gary Hewitt gave a vote of thanks to Steve Scully and Stuart Young for their presentation. Those members attending would have picked up a lot of interesting facts. Everybody has to play a part in Emergency Planning.

General Business

 Minutes of previous meeting The minutes were agreed.

 Help! / Learning experiences There were no issues which members wished to raise.

 Accidents and dangerous occurrences Paul Durkin reported that there had been a bomb scare at one of his buildings. A package was delivered which seemed like a nail bomb. A quiet evacuation was carried out to the normal fire muster point, but the police moved everybody further back so that they were 200 yds away. It turned out that the package was a delivery of a bag of nails.

Gary Hewitt circulated pictures of a scissor lift failure.

Any other business

It was reported that Russell Mees had volunteered to take over as Hon Treasurer from Doug Chenery. He will be liaising both with Doug Chenery and Chris Pavey.

Doug Chenery had agreed to look into putting together an entry for an award.

The next meeting will take place on Thursday 3 December at Larkfield Village Halls. Huw Kellett from Riverside Consulting will give a talk on Vibration.

Meeting Number 441 - 4 -