Corporate Governance at the University

The mandate for the HSWC is as follows:

• Fulfil the legal requirements of The Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977
• Monitor
• New health and safety law and regulations
• Changes to the workplace, workforce, technology and working practices
• The working practices and safety standards of University-appointed contractors
• Approve University health and safety policy and procedures
• Approve any health and safety action plans
• Review the Annual Health, Safety and Wellbeing Report
• Monitor health and safety performance against legislation and University strategies & policies
• Review:
• Occupational injury and ill health statistics and trends
• Health and safety training courses and attendee data
• Work-related sickness absence data
• Safety audit reports
• Reports into serious incidents at work
• Reports arising from inspections and/ or enforcement action by relevant Enforcing Authorities
• Reports submitted by employee trades unions and partnership bodies.
• Occupational Health activity reports
• Reports from other relevant health, safety or wellbeing forums as appropriate
• The impact of health and safety initiatives on health and safety performance
• Make recommendations on improvement of health and safety performance and minimisation of occupational injury and ill-health as appropriate

Note:

The remit will include all activities carried out by University of Glasgow staff and students regardless of location as well as work conducted by persons from other establishments who are invited to work on our premises. This remit extends to work-related travel, including call out travel, but excluding travel between home and the employee’s usual place of work during their normal contracted work hours.

The following details the delegated authority for HSWC and shows how it is placed in the overall University Scheme of Delegation with escalation to Court, advising other committees as required:

Membership:                                                        

• Chief Operating Officer and University Secretary (Chair)
• 4 x management representatives from the 4 Colleges
• 8 x Trades Union appointed Safety Representatives
• 2 x Students Representative Council (SRC) representatives
• Executive Director of Estates
• Executive Director of People & Organisational Development

Ex Officio:

• Director of University Safety and Resilience
• Other appropriate University Officers and Advisors

In attendance:

• Other University officers and advisors as required
• PA to Director of University Safety and Resilience (clerk)

Court has final accountability for health and safety.  Each committee member has a responsibility to:

• Fulfil the legal requirements of The Safety Representatives and Safety Committees Regulations 1977
• Aspire to best practice in the management of health and safety in the workplace
• Approve University health, safety and wellbeing policies, procedures and action plans
• Openly and constructively challenge where the university does not meet its key criteria for health and safety regulations
• Provide health and safety insight, scrutiny and challenge to the associated strategies, policies and business cases presented
• Assess health, safety risk at an operational, programme and project level
• Take ownership for specific actions and risks in the HSWC Action and Risk Logs. All actions and risks must have a committee member as overall owner
• Ensure activity and behaviours embody the University’s values (click here for details)

Meetings will be held quarterly and timetabled to enable minutes to be circulated to the next meeting of the University of Glasgow Court. Extraordinary meetings can be called by agreement through the Executive Members.

INPUTS

• Health and safety performance reports
• Local health and safety meeting minutes and reports, as appropriate
• Changes to health and safety regulations, working practices and standards
• Business cases that impact health, safety or wellbeing changes to the workplace, workforce, technology or working practices
• Health & safety risk register (annually)
• Cross university health and safety risk report (6 monthly)

OUTPUTS

• Updated health, safety and wellbeing policies
• Annual Health, Safety & Wellbeing Report
• Action Log
• Minutes

Substitutions may be made with prior notice given to the clerk.  There must be a minimum of 8 (excluding clerk) providing at least 3 management and 3 partnership representatives in attendance for decisions or approvals. In the event of a consensus not being reached, the convenor will escalate to Court.

The HSWC will follow the UofG procedure for the management of any conflicts. The procedure defines declaration of conflicts as a standard agenda item at the start of the meeting, the maintenance of a register of conflicts, and a process for managing all conflicts which are declared.