Health & Safety news

Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR) change - 6th April 2012

From 6 April 2012, subject to Parliamentary approval, RIDDOR’s over three day injury reporting requirement will change. From then the trigger point will increase from over three days’ to over seven days’ incapacitation (not counting the day on which the accident happened).

Incapacitation means that the worker is absent or is unable to do work that they would reasonably be expected to do as part of their normal work.

The deadline by which the over seven day injury must be reported will increase to 15 days from the day of the accident.

New guidance that explains the change will be available to download from the HSE website on 16 January 2012.

Swine Flu Update

The above link includes important information regarding the swine flu pandemic for staff and students.

Swine flu: stay vigilant

While the threat to the public in Scotland remains low, there have been a small number of cases of swine flu in the country so you should stay vigilant.

Stay home: In line with Government advice, University Secretary Jan Hulme has emailed staff and students to advise anyone experiencing a fever and other flu-like symptoms to stay at home and telephone their GP or NHS 24 on 0845 4242424.

Report your symptoms: If you do have to stay at home because you are unwell, you should report your symptoms through the normal absence reporting processes. It is important that the University is able to contact you and if you have recently changed any of your personal details (including home address, telephone number and mobile number) please amend this directly into Oracle via employee self service or email your new details to the HR department on HR@gcal.ac.uk

Reduce your risk: The following recommendations have been widely communicated and should help you to reduce your risk of infection and help you to stay healthy:

• wash your hands frequently with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand gel where soap and water is unavailable
• cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and dispose of the tissue promptly and considerately
• ensure that you wash your hands after coughing or sneezing
• make sure your friends and family follow this advice

Stay up to date: The most up to date information and advice regarding swine flu is available on the Scottish Government website: www.Scotland.gov.uk

Healthy success

The University has been successful in its bid to achieve the Silver Healthy Working Lives Award. The Healthy Working Lives Award programme is designed to help employers and employees work together to make workplaces safer and healthier and to benchmark progress. It also bases health promotion activities around the diverse requirements of staff.

The silver award follows the University’s successful renewal of its bronze award, which was presented at a ceremony on March 31.

The Occupational Health Adviser states “Achieving this award is great news for the University, showing that we are committed to working towards making the campus a healthier and happier place for staff and students. I’d like to thank everyone who was involved in making this happen, and look forward to going for gold next!”

Smoke Free Campus

GCU is committed to creating a high quality, healthy working environment for staff, students and visitors. In accordance with that commitment, the University Executive and the Joint Consultative Committee, have recently approved an updated version of the Smoke Free Campus Policy.

The main effect of the updated policy is that from 15th October 2007, smoking is prohibited on any part of the University campus. This policy applies equally to members of staff, students, visitors and contractors.

The policy seeks to promote the wider health and wellbeing agenda, with the Occupational Health team and the Students Association providing a number of supporting initiatives to anyone who wishes to stop smoking.

Please see below link to the revised Smoke Free Campus Policy. For staff who have any queries in relation to the policy or provision of smoking cessation information, please contact the OH Adviser on ext 1422. For students, please contact the Student’s Association/Welfare Department.

• http://www.gcal.ac.uk/occhealth/documents/smokefreecampuspolicy.pdf
• http://www.gcal.ac.uk/occhealth/documents/smokefreecampusapp.pdf

Support for staff interested in smoking cessation.

The Occupational Health Adviser can provide advice and information to individual members of staff on smoking cessation.

The following links may be useful for those looking for more information, support and advice on how to stop smoking:

• Directgovuk/HealthAndWellBeing
• Ashscotland.org.uk.
• British Heart Foundation
• QUIT