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Mandatory Safety training

By Benjamin Meunier, on 25 February 2022

UCL Library Services is continuing to work to meet UCL’s safety objectives, in line with the H&S statement signed by Paul Ayris as Head of Department. The T100 Lite programme for Library Services is underway, with a set of departmental arrangements now published on LibNet which form the basis for Site-specific arrangements (available at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/libnet/library-procedures/health-and-safety/site-procedures). A programme of mandatory training was rolled out across the department in 2021. UCL’s Management Committee (UMC) are monitoring the completion rates of safety inductions and fire safety training: this training must be completed by the end of March 2022 if you have not completed this training within the past 2 years.

Additional core training aimed at managers is listed below and should also be completed by staff with managerial responsibilities.

New Starters Mandatory Safety Training

All new members of UCL Staff are required to complete a number of mandatory safety training modules. The Line Manager is responsible for ensuring that all new members of staff under their managerial remit have completed these mandatory modules. The mandatory modules consist of.

  • UCL Local Safety Induction conducted by Departmental Safety Officer. This induction will be arranged by Library HR.
  • Local Fire Safety Induction and Familiarisation using the Building Fire Familiarisation Checklist (Form TN-086.). This training will be arranged by Library HR in conjunction with the Site Manager / Site Advisor.
  • Safety induction at UCL (eLearning). The Line Manager must ensure that time is allocated in the first week of employment for this module to be completed.
  • Basic Fire Training (eLearning). The Line Manager must ensure that time is allocated in the first week of employment for this module to be completed.

The Line Manager must ensure that all mandatory training has been logged on MyHR (by the employee if the session is not organised by the Organisational Development Team) and the new starter checklist (supplied by Library HR) has been completed and returned to Library HR. Probation must not be confirmed until all the mandatory training has been completed (managers can check completion on MyHR).

Refresher Mandatory Safety Training

All members of UCL staff are required to complete refresher training on the below modules.

‘Basic Fire Safety’ and ‘UCL Safety Induction’ modules were launched in February 2020. Staff who undertook training prior to that date will not be compliant and will need to complete the new training.

  • Local Fire Safety Induction and Familiarisation using the Building Fire Familiarisation Checklist (TN086). This training must be refreshed every 2 Once the training has been successfully.
  • Safety induction at UCL (eLearning). This training must be refreshed every 2 years and it is the responsibility of the Line Manager to ensure it is completed.
  • Basic Fire Training (eLearning). This training must be refreshed yearly, and it is the responsibility of the Line Manager to ensured it is completed

The Line Manager must ensure that all refresher training has been logged on once completed (by the employee if the session is not organised by the Organisational Development Team). Library HR will produce a report on a termly basis for the Director of Operations to ensure all staff members mandatory safety training is valid.

Safety Training

If additional safety training is identified or required, the Line Manager should contact the Departmental Safety Officer for guidance.

Managers Core Safety Training

In addition to the mandatory safety training for all members of UCL staff, members of Library staff that have any managerial responsibilities should attend the courses listed below. These courses will assist in gaining an understanding of Safety procedures that are required for all Managers and Supervisors.

The below training courses must also be attended if they are applicable to the staff that they manage. The Organisational Resilience and Business Continuity Management training should be completed by all Duty Officers and Site Managers,

All Safety training needs should be discussed and agreed with the Line Manager and included in the yearly appraisal. All training will also be required to be refreshed as required, but Fire Safety training must be refreshed every 2 years. Further information training provided by Safety Services can be found at Safety Training.

The Line Manager is responsible for ensuring that all training has been logged on MyHR. The Departmental Safety Officer (noel.forrester@ucl.ac.uk) can advise and offer guidance on any safety training related issues.

Mandatory safety training for all Library staff

By Benjamin Meunier, on 14 April 2021

UCL Library Services is continuing to work to meet UCL’s safety objectives, in line with the H&S statement signed by Paul Ayris as HoD (UCL Library Services Safety Statement). The T100 Lite programme for Library Services is underway, with a raft of departmental arrangements being drafted which will form the basis for Site-specific arrangements. In order to raise awareness amongst Library Services staff, and as part of the compliance requirements for T100, a programme of mandatory training should be rolled out across the department with a target for all staff to have completed this training by the end of June 2021. Training to be undertaken is grouped between training aimed at staff without managerial responsibilities and further training aimed at managers.

The attached sets of training has been approved by the Library Services Operational Oversight Group and T100 Working Group . To support managers with monitoring the completion of initial and refresher training, we have created a Mandatory Training template which can be used to review dates for refresher training. Where the training below is available as e-learning, a link is included.

New Starters Mandatory Safety Training

All new members of UCL Staff are required to complete a number of mandatory safety training modules. The Line Manager is responsible for ensuring that all new members of staff under their managerial remit have completed these mandatory modules. The mandatory modules consist of:

  • UCL Local Safety Induction conducted by Departmental Safety Officer. This induction will be arranged by Library HR.
  • Local Fire Safety Induction and Familiarisation using the Building Fire Familiarisation Checklist (TN086). This training will be arranged by Library HR in conjunction with the Site Manager / Site Advisor.
  • UCL Safety Induction (ELearning). The Line Manager must ensure that time is allocated in the first week of employment for this module to be completed.
  • Fire Safety (ELearning). The Line Manager must ensure that time is allocated in the first week of employment for this module to be completed.

The Line Manager must ensure that all mandatory training has been logged on MYHR (by the employee if the session is not organised by the Organisational Development Team) and the new starter checklist (supplied by Library HR) has been completed and returned to Library HR. To ensure that all new starters have completed all the mandatory training Library HR will produce a report for the Director of Operations on a termly basis to ensure Library Services has met its legal requirement for mandatory safety training. Probation must not be confirmed until all the mandatory training has been completed (managers can check completion on MyHR).

Refresher Mandatory Safety Training

All members of UCL staff are required to complete refresher training on the below modules.

  • Local Fire Safety Induction and Familiarisation using the Building Fire Familiarisation Checklist (TN086). This training must be refreshed every 2 The Line Manager is responsible for arranging this training. Once the training has been completed, fill out form TN086 and return it to Library HR. The training must also be logged on MYHR.
  • UCL Safety Induction (ELearning). This training must be refreshed every 2 years and it is the responsibility of the Line Manager to ensured it is completed.
  • Fire Safety (ELearning).  This training must be refreshed every 2 years and it is the responsibility of the Line Manager to ensured it is completed

The Line Manager must ensure that all refresher training has been logged on MYHR once completed (by the employee if the session is not organised by the Organisational Development Team). Library HR will produce a report on a termly basis for the Director of Operations to ensure all staff members mandatory safety training is valid.

Safety Training

If additional safety training is identified or required the Line Manager should contact the Departmental Safety Officer for guidance.

Managers Mandatory Training

In addition to the mandatory safety training for all members of UCL staff. Members of Library staff that have any managerial responsibilities must attend the below courses. These courses will assist in gaining an understanding of Safety procedures that is required for all Managers and Supervisors.

The below training courses must also be attended if it applicable to the staff that they manage.

All Safety training needs should be discussed and agreed with the Line Manager and included in the yearly appraisal. All training will also be required to be refreshed as required, but Fire Safety training must be refreshed every 2 years. Further information on manager training provided by Safety Services is available.

The Line Manager is responsible for ensuring that all training has been logged on MyHR. The DSO can advise and offer guidance on any safety training related issues.

Incident/accident reporting at UCL.

By Noel Forrester, on 21 October 2019

Since January 2011, it is mandatory at UCL that all accidents, incidents and near misses are reported via the on-line tool RiskNET. Anyone can report the incident or accident including the individual involved, the individual’s line manager, a witness or First Aider.

The RiskNET on-line incident reporting system uses the following incident types.

Incident Type Description.

  • Work-related Injury Incident resulting in an injury to a member of staff or student (other than undergraduate) Student Injury Incident resulting in an injury to an undergraduate student.
  • Violence at Work Incidents which involve actual or threatened violence to staff or students on UCL premises or while on UCL ‘business’. Recreational/ Sporting Accident Incidents including injuries to people not taking part in ‘work’ including incidents in Residences.
  • Taken Ill at Work Includes reports of staff/students who suffer acute onset of illness at work. It does not cover staff who leave work due to minor illness such as colds. NB Staff absence due to illness must be reported using the sickness absence recording procedures (see HR website).
  • Road Traffic Accident Road traffic accident (RTAs) whilst travelling on UCL business or in UCL vehicles NB Does not include RTAs while travelling to and from work.
  • Damage or Loss Incidents resulting in damage to equipment or loss of resources including lost time NB This does not include theft which should be reported to Security.
  • Hazard Observation of an unsafe condition or activity that could result in injury or loss. Near Miss an incident that caused no injury or loss but which had the potential to cause harm.
  • Fire Incident An incident involving a real fire or activation of the fire alarm or use of a fire extinguisher or any injury resulting from a fire Pollution Incident Incidents involving actual or potential (i.e. near miss) pollution, contamination or damage to air, land, water, flora, fauna and aquatic species. This includes exceeding environmental permit or external reporting requirements and notifications from environmental regulatory bodies.

I would like to remind all staff of the importance to immediately report any accidents or incidents, especially near misses or hazard observations. All reports submitted are confidential and fully investigated by Safety Services and the Library Services Departmental Safety Officer to:

  • Ensure action is taken to prevent recurrence.
  • Meet statutory requirements.
  • Help monitor and improve health and safety performance.
  •  Provide information for responding to claims made against UCL.
  •  Enable UCL to respond quickly and accurately to external enquiries

If you have any doubt about reporting an incident or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. For more information on RiskNet and Health and Safety at UCL, see http./www.ucl.ac.uk/safety-services/risknet

 

Safety Services – New Website.

By Noel Forrester, on 10 October 2018

In line with UCLs policy to adopt a standard website content management system Safety Services website has had a makeover and can now be found at the following link:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/safety-services

If you are unable to find the information you are looking for please e-mail safety@ucl.ac.uk and a Safety Advisor will contact you.

NB. The old web address https://www.ucl.ac.uk/estates/safetynet/ will be redirected to the new home page.

Emergency Vehicle Access South Quadrangle – New Student Centre Works.

By Noel Forrester, on 20 September 2018

As part of the New Student Centre works, MACE need to remove access via the Emergency Vehicle Road from Gordon Street to South Quadrangle for a temporary period from THURSDAY 20th SEPTEMBER 2018 for 3 weeks.  This means that we cannot provide any fire brigade or ambulance vehicle access during this sensitive period to buildings off the South Quadrangle.

What does this mean – during this period it is recommended that staff / Fire Evacuation Marshals (FEMs) remain extra vigilant to the potential of fire breaking out.

Please find attached a briefing note issued by The UCL Fire Officer.

UCL Estates and the Principal Contractors apologies for any inconvenience that these restrictions may cause your departments but this work is essential for the New Student Centre to progress.  Your cooperation and assistance in all matters of safety is greatly appreciated.

 

051-NSC-FireSafetyBrifingNote-20Sep18

Wellbeing Champions.

By Noel Forrester, on 30 November 2017

There are currently 40 Wellbeing Champions across UCL,  but it is hoped to increase this to 50 by the end of the year and 100 by the end of the academic year. 12 champions have attended Mental Health First Aid Training for HE and further dates are planned. UCL has funded seven MHFA instructor places, enabling UCL to deliver an increased number of courses and relieve the pressures on the Head of Wellbeing. These seven instructors will be Senior Wellbeing Champions and form part of the Wellbeing Champion Framework. It is recognised that not every Faculty or Professional Services Department has taken part in a wellbeing activity. In the 2017/18 academic year Wellbeing will work with local champions to deliver an event/initiative in each Faculty / Professional Services area. If you are interested in becoming a Wellbeing Champion for Library Services, further information can be found at www.ucl.ac.uk/wellbeing/wellbeing-champions. Please obtain permission from your Manager before applying.

Further information on Wellbeing @UCL can be found at www.ucl.ac.uk/wellbeing.

Contacting the Duty Officer in an Emergency.

By Noel Forrester, on 3 October 2017

The Library Services Duty Officer is here to be the single, senior representative of UCL Library Services in a variety of non-standard and potentially serious events/circumstances. The D.O. is expected to act as senior decision-maker, a communication link in the event of an emergency and may be required to act as a spokesperson for Library Services within UCL. As you are aware, the Duty Officer rota is sent out on a weekly basis to all Library Services staff and is available at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/libnet/duty-officer.

In the event of an emergency, where you are not able to access the rota, due to a building evacuation, loss of power or lack of available IT equipment, UCL Security will make contact with the Duty Officer on your behalf. UCL Security can be contacted on 020 7679 2222 or extension 222.

UCL Security are available 24/7. Please ensure that you memorise this important information – in an emergency call 222 from any UCL phone. If you have any questions regarding contacting the Duty Officer, please do not hesitate to contact me or refer to the Duty Officer guidelines at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/libnet/duty-officer/policy.pdf.

Noel Forrester
Departmental Safety Officer & Security Manager
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
Tel: 0203 108 7855 (57855)
Mobile 07917555624
noel.forrester@ucl.ac.uk

Incident/accident reporting at UCL.

By Noel Forrester, on 2 October 2017

Since January 2011, it is mandatory at UCL that all accidents, incidents and near misses are reported via the on-line tool RiskNET. Anyone can report the incident or accident including the individual involved, the individual’s line manager, a witness or First Aider.

The RiskNET on-line incident reporting system uses the following incident types.

Incident Type Description.

  • Work-related Injury Incident resulting in an injury to a member of staff or student (other than undergraduate) Student Injury Incident resulting in an injury to an undergraduate student.
  • Violence at Work Incidents which involve actual or threatened violence to staff or students on UCL premises or while on UCL ‘business’. Recreational/ Sporting Accident Incidents including injuries to people not taking part in ‘work’ including incidents in Residences.
  • Taken Ill at Work Includes reports of staff/students who suffer acute onset of illness at work. It does not cover staff who leave work due to minor illness such as colds. NB Staff absence due to illness must be reported using the sickness absence recording procedures (see HR website).
  • Road Traffic Accident Road traffic accident (RTAs) whilst travelling on UCL business or in UCL vehicles NB Does not include RTAs while travelling to and from work.
  • Damage or Loss Incidents resulting in damage to equipment or loss of resources including lost time NB This does not include theft which should be reported to Security.
  • Hazard Observation of an unsafe condition or activity that could result in injury or loss Near Miss An incident that caused no injury or loss but which had the potential to cause harm.
  • Fire Incident An incident involving a real fire or activation of the fire alarm or use of a fire extinguisher or any injury resulting from a fire Pollution Incident Incidents involving actual or potential (i.e. near miss) pollution, contamination or damage to air, land, water, flora, fauna and aquatic species. This includes exceeding environmental permit or external reporting requirements and notifications from environmental regulatory bodies.

I would like to remind all staff of the importance to immediately report any accidents or incidents, especially near misses or hazard observations. All reports submitted are confidential and fully investigated by Safety Services and the Library Services Departmental Safety Officer to:

  • Ensure action is taken to prevent recurrence.
  • Meet statutory requirements.
  • Help monitor and improve health and safety performance.
  •  Provide information for responding to claims made against UCL.
  •  Enable UCL to respond quickly and accurately to external enquiries

If you have any doubt about reporting an incident or questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. For more information on RiskNet and health and safety at UCL, see http://www.ucl.ac.uk/estates/safetynet/.

Library Duty Officer – what is their role?

By Jay Woodhouse, on 31 July 2015

*All Staff Please Read* (sorry a little long, but important)

The Library Duty Officer role is in place to make day-to-day service and emergency decision on behalf of the Director of Library Services. The aim is to have one clear point of responsibility, which is able to take the lead and react quickly to immediate issues.

The Duty Officer is in this way is the final authority for any immediate problems across Library Services and as such their advice and instructions must be followed. The SMT and Director will not intervene on day-to-day problems unless requested to do so by the Duty Officer.

It is therefore vital that any immediate issues be reported to the Duty Officer. The areas that should be reported are:

  1. Staffing issues
  • Where a site or service may have to close. This should not happen without the knowledge and approval of the Duty Officer
  • Staffing will drop below minimum numbers for the site. This is listed in the Safety Arrangement documents for each site and we must not open or operate a site below this number of staff. The Duty Officer will prioritise services and may choose to close another service / site rather than the one that is short of staff.
  • Where there is a risk of lone working. This is where a staff member will be alone for more than one hour and where they are not due to have contact with another member of staff. (A member of staff on their own at the start of the day, but with other staff arriving within the hour is not lone working. A member of staff working for the same hour at the end of the day, when no one will be checking on them, is lone working and must be avoided.)
  1. Medical Emergencies – the Duty Officer must be informed if:
  • A member of staff is taken ill at work.
  • An ambulance is called and a staff, student or visitor is taken to hospital (please ensure you deal with the person before you contact the Duty Office unless you need assistance.)
  1. Fire or Flood
  • All instances of fire or flood must be reported as soon as possible to the Duty Officer. The Library has access to a number of support resources and the Duty officer will be able to assist immediately or initiate recovery planning.
  1. Bomb or Terrorist Threat
  • Any direct threat received by the Library must be reported to UCL Security via 222 or your local emergency number immediately and then inform the Duty Officer as soon as possible. If you have been requested to evacuate, please contact the Duty Officer after you have cleared the Library and are in a safe place.
  • Threats outside the Library will be assessed by the Duty Officer in conjunction with UCL Security. Advice and / or instructions will be issued by the Duty Officer to all of Library Services.
  1. Student or Other Occupation
  • Library Services has a standing agreement with UCLU that they will not occupy Library space during protests. If there are any individuals or groups occupying Library space and refusing to leave, contact UCL Security via 222 or your local emergency number and then inform the Duty Officer as soon as possible.

How do I contact the Library Duty Officer?

By e-mail on lib-dutyofficer@ucl.ac.uk

The Daily Diary is stopping from 31st July 2015. A weekly e-mail with the Duty Officer rota for the following week will continue for the time being. This will be replaced by an entry on LibNet displaying the current Duty Officer. When this feature goes live the weekly e-mails will stop.

Who will be Duty Officer?

The list of staff who will act as Duty Officer is as below:

Regular Duty Officers List:

Noel Forrester – noel.forrester@ucl.ac.uk

020 7679 2545 ext: 32545 – mobile: 07917 555624 #6496

Jay Woodhouse –james.woodhouse@ucl.ac.uk

020 7679 7094 ext: 37094 – mobile: 07500 605994 #6592

Robert Lamb – robert.lamb@ucl.ac.uk

020 7679 2545 ext: 32545 – mobile: 07957 666817 #6602

Phil Watson – phil.watson@ucl.ac.uk

020 7679 1141 ext: 51141 – mobile: 07747 474798 #6568

Sam Temblett – s.temblett@ucl.ac.uk

020 7679 2545 ext: 32545 – mobile: 07824 857753 #6612 (on order)

Noreen Beecher – n.beecher@ucl.ac.uk

020 7679 4226 ext: 34226 – mobile: 07824 864322 #6619

James McCaughey – j.mccaughey@ucl.ac.uk

020 7679 2545 ext: 32545 – mobile: 07824 864350 #6618

Reserve Duty Officers:

Paul Ayris – p.ayris@ucl.ac.uk

020 7679 7834 ext: 37834 – mobile: 07771 974051 #6611

Martin Moyle – m.moyle@ucl.ac.uk

020 7679 7833 ext: 37833 – mobile: 07824 864504 #6614

Ben Meunier – benjamin.meunier@ucl.ac.uk

020 7679 2607 ext: 32607 – mobile: 07771 974069 #6593

Why should I contact the Duty Officer, can’t I sort this out myself?

The Library has a duty of care to both staff, students and visitors. In order to fulfil these obligations it is vital that we understand what is happening across all our sites. Therefor we need staff to inform the Duty Officer of any situation that is unusual. In many circumstances this will be just providing information on issues that have already happened, rather than asking for advice.

However, were there are situations such as those listed above, the Library procedures is that the Duty Officer should take the final decision. The Duty Officer will ask for information about the situation and have a conversation about what you feel is the correct course of action. The Duty Officer must consider the Libraries legal obligations as well as the service and will balance these sometimes conflicting requirements.

It is imperative that staff follow the Duty Officers instructions and advice. If you decide to ignore such instructions and do other than requested, you become legally responsible for any consequences and could open yourself up personally to criminal prosecution for any breach of Health, safety or Fire regulations. If you follow management instructions it is the manager and the organisation that are legally responsible and the individual staff member is protected from personal responsibility and possible criminal prosecution.

Examples of situations where the Duty Officer must balance Health & Safety needs against maintaining our services:

Problem: mains power goes off in library

Consideration: A public spaces must have working emergency lighting at all times.

Impact: Emergency lighting is designed, when new, to work for 3 hours on batteries. If the system is older it may not work for this long. Rule of thumb for safety is only use a third of the safe design. So it must be considered that the building has 1 hour of emergency lighting after which the building must be evacuated.

Action by Duty Officer: Allow library to continue working for one hour and then evacuate and close space if power is not returned in this time. If Maintenance state the power will be back on in 15-20 beyond the hour, if would be acceptable to hold off on evacuation, but for no longer.

Other Considerations: If the power has been off in the same space earlier in the day, the batteries for the emergency lights will be partly or full depleted. These batteries take 24 hours to fully recharge, so the space may need to be evacuated immediately.

 

Problem: a fire exit is blocked

Consideration: All public spaces must have two emergency exit routes which travel in opposite directions.

Impact: Taking the Institute of Archaeology Library as an example, which has three fire escape routes, one at the entrance, one in the middle and one from the rear in the stacks. If the stacks exit is blocked the front of the library could remain open, with the stacks area closed as there would be both the front and middle routes available. If the middle route was blocked the whole library could remain open as the front and rear stacks would be available. However, if the library was busy and near capacity, the two remaining exits may not be able to cope with the traffic and the library would have to close.

 

As you can see the decisions the Duty Officer make are not always as straightforward as they seem at first. In these situations it is important to take control, manage the problem and make a choice. Where there have been significant prosecutions under Health and Safety rules it is usually because no decisions were made, rather than the wrong decisions being made.

We ask you please to work with the Duty Officers and help them with a difficult role and when a decision is reached, follow that decision. We do review events and try to learn from them for the future and welcome input from staff on the scene. This should be done afterwards when we have time to reflect, delays at the time could lead to serious problems.

Thank You on behalf of the entire Duty Officer Team

Jay Woodhouse

Departmental Safety Officer

Off-site Working-New Guidance

By Jay Woodhouse, on 10 July 2015

UCL Safety Services have changed the guidance for Off-site Working, with the previous Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) for Fieldwork being withdrawn.

The scope of the guidance has been expanded to encompass more than just fieldwork and is now likely to cover some activities within Library Services that were not previously within the scope of the Fieldwork ACOP.

The new guidance covers Meetings & Conferences, Hosted Research, Work Placements, Home Visits and Fieldwork, or any work undertaken on a site not owned or leased by UCL.

All staff working away from a UCL site should view the guidance and undertake the action suggested, including a risk assessment, if required.

Off-site Working Guidance can be found at the following link:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/estates/safetynet/guidance/off_site/index.htm

A new role of Off-site Work Co-ordinator has been created. Library Services is reviewing our activities in this area and is likely to appoint this role in due course.

Off-site Work Co-ordinator responsibilities can be found at the following link:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/estates/safetynet/guidance/roles_responsibilities/index.htm

For more information or support please contact me directly.

Best Regards

Jay