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H&S Round Up June 2025

News

Posted on Thursday 19 June 2025

Latest updates from the Workplace Health and Safety Office
A bench overlooking a field of yellow flowers

WHSO Update

Approved Overseas Travel Process

The final piece of the Overseas Travel Process - the process for Severe Risk Travel - was approved at the Workplace Health and Safety Committee. See our Travelling Overseas pages for the latest updates. 


Adverse Weather Advice

Read "How do health alerts work?" to understand what health alerts mean and how heat can affect the body.

To keep yourself safe, we recommend staff and students at the University follow the NHS advice for how to cope in hot weather


Reminder....

As we approach the holiday season, we would remind people to check their workstation, and any other relevant equipment, is turned off and unplugged before going away. It is also a good time for a quick check for up to date PAT testing and a visual check for damage to the cables when unplugging them. Refer to our Safety Alert - Electrical Safety for more links and guidance.


 

*NEW* Latest updates from the Workplace Health and Safety Committee

Reporting period 21st Jan 2025 to 20th May 2025

Incidents reported 220
Fire risk assessments 38
Fire alarm activations 56
Overseas travel trips 811
  • H&S Governance

In H&S Round Up - May 2025, WHSO published the approved Health, Safety and Wellbeing Governance Framework. H&S Business Partners will work with relevant areas to implement the framework in proportion with the level of risk in the area.

  • Overseas Travel

The new procedure for managing severe risk overseas travel was approved.

  • Mandatory Training

The mandatory training target is 90% completion. 

Fire Safety training is still at levels that are unacceptable at 82%.

DSE training is at 91%.

  • Fire Update

The Fire team continue to focus resources on

  • reviewing and updating UoY fire-safety policy, roles and responsibilities and training programme

  • managing and monitoring fire arrangements.

  • completing fire risk assessments for priority and high-risk areas.

  • organising and delivering Fire Wardens and Fire Sweepers training.

The new PEEPs process was launched in 2024, there are many active PEEPs and the process is undergoing a 12 month review.

  • H&S Internal Audit

WHSO will be carrying out a series of internal audits in two phases. Phase 1 of these audits will focus primarily on University Estates and will assess management of fire safety, statutory compliance, and assurance.

  • Wellbeing

The HR Leadership Team have agreed to reallocate some H&S and HR team resources to work together on Wellbeing/Occupational Health priorities. These include:

  • develop UoY Occupational Health & Wellbeing Strategy
  • develop UoY Work-Related Stress Risk Management Strategy in line with new HE sector guidance (to be published by USHA / UCEA) 
  • review & Revise UoY health surveillance process 
  • develop UoY Mental health first aider proposal based on the previous / current arrangements and any proposals from the past
  • further development of KPIs for staff wellbeing including management of Quality Control process

 

For further information please see the Workplace Health and Safety Committee pages.

Mandatory Health and Safety training completion

  Fire Safety Training DSE Training
Feb 2025 81% 90%
March 2025 83% 91%
April 2025 82% 91%
May 2025 82% 91%

 


Health and Safety training

Course 

Target Audience

Spaces Available

Booking information

First Aid at Work (Full course)

Operational staff

6-12

Contact us to book your place

First Aid at Work (Requalification)

Operational staff

6-12

Contact us to book your place

Emergency First Aid

All Staff (lower risk areas)

6-12

Contact us to book your place

Gaining Confidence in Risk Assessment

(Practical Workshop)

DSAs and operational staff

12

The online RA training is a prerequisite.

Book your place

Fire warden training

DSAs/managers

10

Contact us to book your place

PEEP (Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan) Assessor training 

DSAs and operational staff

14

Contact us to book your place

Travelling Safely Overseas

All staff

12

Book your place

 Manual Handling - Practical (SMART)

Operational staff

 12

The online Manual Handling Introductory Training is a prerequisite

Book your place

COSHH Risk Assessment - A Practical Guide 

Operational staff

12

The online COSHH - an Introduction course is a prerequisite

Book your place

For further information see our Health and Safety Training pages.


Reporting of Estates-related maintenance issues

It is important to report maintenance issues immediately to prevent the problem getting worse and causing further disruption.

To report a fault, log in to the Helpdesk Portal.

Reporting of Health and Safety incidents

Reporting adverse events and hazardous situations is an essential part of managing health & safety at work. To report an accident, incident, near-miss or hazard observation, use the SOLAR System.


For general enquiries, contact us on whso@york.ac.uk.

For fire safety queries, contact us on firesafety@york.ac.uk