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Jamie Hailstone is a freelance journalist and author, who has also contributed to numerous national business titles including Utility Week, the Municipal Journal, Environment Journal and consumer titles such as Classic Rock.
May 10, 2018

Local Authority

Health and safety incidents at Moray Council ‘static’

The number of health and safety incidents at Moray Council remain fairly static with just one more reported than last year, according to a new report.

The report, which went before the council’s policy and resources committee earlier this week, shows there were 243 health and safety incidents recorded in 2017, which was one more than in 2016.

The local authority’s environmental services department reported the highest number of incidents, but still saw the figure drop from 120 in 2016 to 100 last year.

The education departments saw an increase with 89 incidents reported in 2017, compared to 71 in the previous year, while the council’s social care department reported 54 incidents, compared to 49 in 2016.

According to the report, the number of working days lost to industrial injury or accident “fluctuates considerably”, but 224 days were lost in the last three months of the year.

And the number of reported incidents of violence and aggression in local schools fell from 823 in 2015/16 to 659 last year.

“The council is aware of the root cause of these statistics and specific work is being undertaken to address this with improvements being planned,” the report notes.

In addition, there were 74 violence and aggression incidents reported by the council’s other services last year, which was an increase of 12% on 2015/16 when 66 were reported.

“The 2017 annual health and safety report shows that the council continues to provide a healthy and safe environment for its employees and service users,” the report states.

“While progress is moderate, it also shows that some actions are starting to impact positively on an improved safety culture.

“It is therefore planned to continue this work to allow the council’s safety culture to continue to develop as the actions taken embed fully so that managers and employees in taking responsibility for and giving priority to the health and safety of themselves and others,” it adds.

To read the full report, click here.

Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders

In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.

Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.

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