Minutes of the 121 meeting of the board of the Health and Safety for Northern Ireland held on Thursday 28 July 2022 at the Maldron Hotel, Belfast International Airport at 09:30am.
Present:
Board Members:
- Mr D Martin – Chair
- Mr H Sinclair
- Mr T Wright
- Mr S McDowell
- Mr A Cooke
- Mrs S Rooney
- Dr P Hart
HSENI Officials:
- Mr R Kidd - Chief Executive
- Dr B Monson - Deputy Chief Executive
- Mrs N Monson - Deputy Chief Executive
- Mr K Neeson - Deputy Chief Executive
- Mr L Burns - Deputy Chief Executive
- Mr P Hughes - HSENI
- Ms L Nelson - Minutes
The Chair welcomed everyone to the 121 meeting of the HSENI Board.
The Chair highlighted the following key points from the agenda:
- Item 7 - the new format of the board papers
- Item 12 - a presentation on the draft Corporate Plan
The Chair, on behalf of the Board, congratulated Mr Sinclair and Mr Downey on their recent recognition from the Farm Safety Partnership (FSP).
1. Apologies
- C Irwin
- G Strong
2. Corporate Health, Safety and Welfare
The Chief Executive reported that there were no issues to report.
3. Declaration of Conflict of Interest(s)
None to report.
4. Previous minutes
The minutes of the Board meeting held on 5 May 2022 were circulated to Board members prior to the meeting. The minutes were approved and adopted.
5. Matters Arising
The Chief Executive reported that all action points have been actioned.
6. Audit and Risk Management Committee (ARMC) Report
The ARMC Chair highlighted the ARMC Annual Report to the Board and thanked Mrs Mullan for her work in producing the report.
The ARMC Chair reported that the new Committee members had settled in well, bringing experience from both the public and private sectors. The ARMC Chair stated that the annual report provides assurance to the Chair and Board Members of the strong internal audit and financial systems and controls within HSENI. He is confident that this high level of control will continue to be provided.
The ARMC Chair reported that pre pandemic, the Department held an annual meeting of Arm’s Length Bodies (ALB’s) ARMC Chairs. The ARMC Chair has been in contact with Mr Woods, Chair of the Departmental Audit Committee, to arrange a meeting to discuss the Department’s view in relation to budgets etc. He will also suggest to Mr Woods to re-instate the Departmental annual meeting of all ALB ARMC Chairs which has not taken place since the start of the pandemic.
The ARMC Chair thanked the ARMC members for their work carried in what was a very productive year.
Dr P Hart thanked the ARMC members for the amount of work carried out throughout the year stating she has a great deal of confidence in the work. Dr P Hart asked what item 8 on the Annual Report, the ARMC Self-Assessment Checklist, entailed. The ARMC Chair reported that this was a checklist circulated to all ARMC members for completion and any areas for improvement were then discussed at the meeting.
Also In relation to item 8 of the report, Dr P Hart enquired if the need to review the wording of the ARMC Terms of Reference (TOR) was shared with the Board. A discussion took place and Mr S McDowell commented that the ARMC TOR was last reviewed in June 2020. Mrs S Rooney commented that following discussion at a previous ARMC meeting re roles and responsibilities, it was felt that the ARMC TOR needed to be updated. The ARMC Chair agreed to look over previous minutes and update the Board on the outcome.
The Chair encouraged all members to enrol on the ARMC training due to take place in October. This has been offered to all Board members and not just ARMC members. He stated that the training was a good source of information. The Chief Executive endorsed the comments made by the Chair, stating it was a good opportunity for networking and to meet people from other ALB Boards.
- Action point: ARMC Chair to review previous ARMC minutes re: ARMC TOR and update the Board on the outcome
7. Board Papers - Overview of New Format - Verbal Update
The Chief Executive reported that after the Board workshop in May, the Board papers have been updated to reflect comments from the day. The papers are more concise with headline figures. A lot of the text has been condensed into bullet points and graphs. It was hard to fulfil all comments received, but he is hopeful that everyone is content with the papers and finds them beneficial.
The Chief Executive thanked Mr L Burns and Dr B Monson for their work carried out to produce the new format of Board papers.
Mr L Burns stated that he had nothing further to add to the Chief Executive’s comments on the Board papers.
8. Chief Executive’s Report
The Chief Executive highlighted the following key points:
- Ladas Drive re-occupation
- fatalities
- inspection numbers
- trainee inspector update
- governance – draft year-end financial statements and draft Annual Report
- 2021/2022 projected underspend
- Internal Audit results
- Quarterly Monitoring report
- Operating Plan
- Corporate Plan
- budget settlement
- annexes
Mr H Sinclair commented that it was good to see the budget settlement at the start of the year. Mr S McDowell asked if HSENI would be penalised by the Department for the 2.7% underspend and due to the early budget settlement this year if it would be difficult to spend this. The Chief Executive reported that the Department was kept informed throughout the year and accepted the underspend was due to the delays experienced in the recruitment of staff to fill vacancies. The Chief Executive also explained that the budget consists mainly of salaries and with most vacancies now filled this would not cause a problem. In addition, money can only be surrendered at formal monitoring rounds.
The Chair asked if the Senior Management Team (SMT) was confident that the September deadline for completion of the external audit to review the accounts would be met. The Chief Executive and Mr P Hughes commented that the audit commenced on Monday 25 July and there was no cause for concern. The Chief Executive reported that there would be a new Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) appointed on 1August 2022.
Mr A Cooke stated that he thought the new format of the Board papers was very good. He did suggest moving Annex B fatalities to Annex A straight after the graphs. A discussion took place and it was agreed to move Annex B to Annex A.
Mrs S Rooney asked why in Annex A there were such large numbers of publications distributed, downloaded and promotional items issued in May 2022. Dr B Monson replied this was as a result of the Balmoral Show. Mrs S Rooney asked if the effectiveness of this was known. A discussion took place in relation to publications and promotional items and how to measure their effectiveness. The Chair stated that it was good to see a significant number of downloads and that the graphics in the report were excellent. Mr A Cooke agreed, stating that the graphs were very useful and asked if there was a mechanism to review or adjust targets. Dr B Monson reported that going forward they can be tweaked as necessary. Mr L Burns stated that targets from the Corporate Plan cannot be amended but trends can be analysed and any findings will be reported to the Board.
Mrs S Rooney asked if the rise in Improvement and Prohibition Notices was a realistic comparison and would we need to compare with 2019. A discussion took place and it was agreed to include a footnote to explain the comparison.
The Chair reported that he can see a lot of work taking place on the ground and he is happy to see the numbers increased.
- Action point: Annex B to be moved to Annex A
- Action point: A footnote to be included under Prohibition and Improvement Notices explaining the rise in cases
9. Finance Report
The following items on the Finance report were highlighted by Mr L Burns:
- all Covid-19 and EU Exit Recovery funding has been absorbed into the baseline this year
- no June monitoring round this year
- update on adjustments made to the budget figure
- update on budget vs forecast
- capital allocation breakdown
- internal reallocation
Mrs S Rooney expressed a concern over the wording of line four in No.1 of the Budget heading and suggested it should be removed. All agreed to remove this line.
Mr S McDowell commented that the finance report format was excellent.
The Chair thanked the Finance team for their management of the budget.
The Chair thanked Mr L Burns for the update.
- Action point: Under Budget, No 1. line four to be removed
10. Legislation Report
Mr L Burns reported progress in relation to the delivery of HSENI’s Legislative Programme since the previous report highlighting consultations, Approved Codes of Practice (ACoPs) and EU Exit Regulations and asked if the Board had any questions.
Mr T Wright asked if there was a delay in obtaining Ministerial approval of ACoPs and if this could cause any issues for HSENI in carrying out their statutory functions. Mr L Burns assured Mr T Wright that the risk to HSENI is very small. The Chair asked if there was a delay in obtaining Ministerial approval, were there regulations in place to cover this. Mr L Burns confirmed that this was the case.
The Chief Executive assured the Board that the risk was minimal to HSENI and the bigger risk was with the Department.
Mr L Burns asked the Board if they would like to continue to receive a Legislation Board report or to include Legislation as an Annex to the Chief Executive’s Report. It was agreed to continue to receive a Legislation Board report.
- Action point: Legislation Board Report to be kept on the Board agenda as a stand alone item
11. Draft Operating Plan
Mr L Burns presented the draft Operating Plan to the Board via a power point presentation and invited comments from Board Members.
Mr S McDowell asked if HSENI would be increasing budget or focus on farming due to the number of farming fatalities last year. Dr B Monson replied that due to Covid restrictions, a limited number of farm inspections and advisory visits had been carried out last year. All focus this year will be on farm safety inspections. 90 school advisory visits have been carried out to date, along with attendance at agricultural shows. The focus will very much be on agriculture this year and will contribute to the FSP action plan. The trainee in the Agri-food group is now in a position to carry out inspections on lower risk sites. The team will target certain areas in farming with higher incidents eg. older farmers and the dairy sector.
Dr B Monson reported that the sector is under severe strain with increased prices and lack of availability of equipment and that as a result there is less focus by individuals on health and safety, HSENI is hoping to improve this with more inspections. Mr H Sinclair commented that it is harder to communicate with older farmers as they tend not to be online and face to face meetings are better. The FSP will do what it can to assist with targets.
Mr S McDowell asked if the seven staff members in the agri-food team can be increased but was advised that unfortunately there is no funding to allow this. Dr B Monson reported that at the start of the FSP all inspectors got involved in farm safety inspections. A discussion took place in relation to the importance of the FSP, the FSP ambassadors and affiliates.
Mrs S Rooney asked if with only seven staff in the Agri-food team, were there areas in Northern Ireland not being covered. Dr B Monson reported that CMS can locate where inspections have been carried out and that this was not the case. The focus will also be on part-time farmers, as it is difficult to access this group when they have other jobs. The team is working with rural women’s groups in order to reach the families.
The Chair asked if there were statistics on how NI compares with other regions of the UK. Dr B Monson reported it would be best to compare with the Republic of Ireland, Scotland or Wales as they were similar to NI. England consists of large arable farming land.
A discussion took place in relation to further recruitment and funding.
The Board is content to approve the draft Operating plan.
12. Corporate Plan 2023 – 2028 Update
Mr L Burns provided a PowerPoint presentation on what would be included in each sector of the draft Corporate Plan 2023 – 2028 and the next steps in the consultation process of the plan to the Board. He invited comments from Board members.
Mr S McDowell commented that the plan shows the amount of work taking place. Mr H Sinclair commented that it reminds the Board and industry of the risks involved in the workplace.
A discussion took place in relation to new topics included in sections, new sections, new technologies, inspector specialisms, succession planning, oxygen safety, battery energy storage and chemicals at docks. The Chair stated that we need to decide how we are going to increase awareness within teams of new technologies. Mr L Burns reported that on the plan under Operating Environment, Approach to Enforcement it will be set out strategically how we will do this.
Mr L Burns reported that the consultation exercise would set out the high level principles. It is hoped to launch the consultation in August and that a draft corporate plan will issue to the Board in late September in advance of requesting Ministerial approval.
It was agreed to hold an extra Board meeting if deemed necessary in late September to discuss the draft document.
The Board approved the consultation exercise for the Corporate Plan.
13. NI Audit Office (NIAO) Board Effectiveness – Good Practice Guide
The Board was asked to note the NIAO Publication – Board Effectiveness – Good Practice Guide. The Chair encouraged all members to read the document as it contained good information.
14. Any Other Business (AOB)
The Chief Executive reported that HSENI had been awarded best Medium Sized Trade Stand at the Clogher Show on 27 July. The show provided a good opportunity to reach the farming community and was attended by the DAERA Minister. He expressed his gratitude to all involved.
The Chief Executive reported that the Health and Safety Manager from Re-Gen Waste in Newry had invited the Board to attend for a site visit. A discussion took place and it was agreed to decline the invitation as the visit may affect the Board’s impartially and independence. The Board expressed its thanks to Re-Gen for the invite.
The Chief Executive updated the Board on an ongoing issue in relation to Crown Censures. A lengthy discussion took place and the Board offered its full support to SMT and asked to be kept abreast of the situation.
Mr H Sinclair expressed congratulations to Dr B Monson as he had received recognition at the Balmoral Show for his work in the FSP.
The Chair thanked all for attending.
15. Date of next Board Meeting
The next Board meeting will be held on Wednesday 31 August 2022 at 11:30am.
The meeting ended at 13:20pm.