H&S Round Up June 2025
Posted on Thursday 19 June 2025

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 |
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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.
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Overseas Travel
The new procedure for managing severe risk overseas travel was approved.
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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%.
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Fire Update
The Fire team continue to focus resources on
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reviewing and updating UoY fire-safety policy, roles and responsibilities and training programme
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managing and monitoring fire arrangements.
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completing fire risk assessments for priority and high-risk areas.
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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.
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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 |
Operational staff |
6-12 |
||
First Aid at Work (Requalification) |
Operational staff |
6-12 |
|
All Staff (lower risk areas) |
6-12 |
||
Gaining Confidence in Risk Assessment (Practical Workshop) |
DSAs and operational staff |
12 |
The online RA training is a prerequisite. |
DSAs/managers |
10 |
||
DSAs and operational staff |
14 |
||
All staff |
12 |
||
Operational staff |
12 |
The online Manual Handling Introductory Training is a prerequisite |
|
Operational staff |
12 |
The online COSHH - an Introduction course is a prerequisite |
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