1. Carlow County Council has a clear commitment to provide a safe and healthy work environment for all Local Authority employees, service users and others who may be effected by Local Authority activities. The county council also places a high value on the principles of openness and accountability, including monitoring the services it provides.
2. The objective of this annual health and safety report is to demonstrate Carlow County Council's commitment to:
   
   • the ongoing effective implementation of the County Council's health and safety policies, organisation and arrangements.
   • to endeavor to comply with all legal enactments relating to Safety, Health and Welfare in the workplace.
   • monitor and measure health and safety performance, with a view to highlighting areas where the County Council perform well and also areas for improvement.
   • Ensuring a safe and healthy environment for employees, service users and visitors to the County Council premises.
3. The County Council will aim to achieve all of the above by continuing to work in partnership with all our stakeholders, both internal and external.

OVERVIEW OF ACTIVITIES IN 2016
There have been a number of major health and safety achievements and/or initiatives throughout the Local Authority since the previous annual report was prepared.

• Carlow County Fire and Rescue Service received an OHSAS 18001 re-certification audit in November by the NSAI and successfully retained their certification. They now have OHSAS 18001 certification four years.
• A new Health and Safety auditing system commenced development. The audit system comprises of the audit questionnaires in electronic format which can be filled in using a PDA. It is envisaged that the reports and actions part of the system will be completed in 2017.
• The Housing Section received the President Award at the NISO awards in October. This was a major achievement, winning a NISO Award demonstrates the positive and proactive culture of safety management that exists within the section.
• Carlow County Council were the lead on the review of the National Policy and Procedure Document on the Management of Violence and Aggression with involvement from Health and Safety Advisors from Wexford County Council and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. The document is due to be rolled out nationally in 2017.
• The County Council received an advisory report from the Road Safety Authority. Following from the report, a centralized system was set up to manage the fleet of 45, this includes keeping track of maintenance issues, weekly inspection sheets, and CVRT. The Safety section did "spot" inspections of work vehicles belonging to the following sections in 2016:
  1. Library
  2. Environment
  3. Carlow Municipal District
  4. Muine Bheag Municipal District
• Building Maintenance inspections were carried out in the following buildings:
  1. Tullow Civic Office and Library
  2. McGrath Hall
  3. Carlow Town Hall
  4. Assembly rooms
  5. County Buildings
• The following documents were updated/drafted in 2016:
  1. New Safety Manual for the County Council (currently in draft).
  2. New Prelim Plan Template
  3. Risk Assessments completed for the Planning Section with training to take place in 2017.
  4. Risk Assessments revised for Carlow Town and County Civic Amenity Trust.
  5. New Visitors/Contractors induction Package for use at Council Premises.
• Irish Water HSQE continued their programme of carrying out safety inspections of the Treatment Plants and the associated network.
• Consultation with employees on health and safety issues is carried out at a number of levels:
  1. Safety Consultative Committee comprising of Departmental Safety Representatives and a member of the Safety Management Committee, and the Health and Safety Advisor. The committee met 3 times in 2016. The HSA updated the Safety Representatives and Safety Consultation Guidelines in 2016, which were originally published in 2006. The new guidelines were given to each safety rep.
  2. Safety Management Committee comprising departmental management, chairperson of the Safety Consultative Committee and the Health and Safety Advisor. The committee met 3 times in 2016.
  3. As part of ongoing work in improving the Council's Safety Management System the SMS Implementation workgroup met 3 times and reviewed 8 policy documents for implementation. The group is made up of staff from all grades and directorates within the organisation. This ensures appropriate consultation takes place and that the policy documents approved are relevant to the work of the County Council and in line with legislative requirements.

HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING
The Local Authority provided an extensive programme of health and safety training courses during 2016. Statutory training is given priority and the following courses were provided by the Training Office in 2016:

• Management of Asbestos in Buildings
• Gas Networks Ireland Awareness
• CISM Network training
• Safe Pass
• Pesticide Training
• Induction Training (17 no. Staff)
• Legal Briefing with Michael Lanigan BCL.
• CSCS Locating underground services
• Safe use of pesticides and herbicides
• Working at height
• Driver CPC
• Chainsaw use
• Mobile Scaffold Tower
• Abrasive Wheels
• Managing the role of PSDP
• PSCS
• Handling Violence and Aggression

ENFORCEMENT
The Local Authority received two visits from the Health and Safety Authority in 2016. Both visits took place at Powerstown Landfill Site. One was a routine inspection and the other due to an incident involving a truck delivering waste to the site. One report of inspection was issued at the first visit.

ACCIDENT/INCIDENTS
16 incidents involving Council Staff were recorded in 2016. 4 no. were reported to the Health and Safety Authority compared to 11 no. in 2015. The majority of the incidents related to manual handling and slips, trips and falls.

LEGISLATION CHANGES
The Incident Reporting section of the Health and Safety page of the Staff Intranet was updated due a change in legislation - Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) (Amendment) (No. 3) Regulations 2016 (SI No. 370 of 2016).
Other legislation relevant to the County Council that was published in 2016 were the:

• Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) (Amendment) Regulations 2016, Part 12 Abrasive Wheels - All new training on Abrasive wheels will take into account this new piece of legislation.
• Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (Electromagnetic Fields) Regulations 2016
• Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (General Application) (Amendment) Regulations 2016, Part 11 Woodworking Machines

The following Codes of Practice were revised by the HSA in 2016 and circulated to staff:

1. Code of Practice for Avoiding Danger from Underground Services
2. Code of Practice for Safety in Roof work
3. Code of Practice for Chemical Agents

Carlow County Council, Athy Road, Carlow. R93 E7R7 Tel. +353 59 9170300.