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Health and Safety Committee

Terms of Reference

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Mandate of the Committee

The Health and Safety Committee is a "Workplace Safety Committee (WSC)", as defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Department (OSH), and it exists to satisfy the following requirements at the departmental level:

• Satisfy the requirements of the Health and Safety in Employment Act, 1992, and amendments.
• Satisfy the requirements of the University Policies dealing with Health and Safety.
• Satisfy the goals in sections 4.3.5, 13.2.4, 13.2.16 and 14.4.2 of the University Plan.

Membership

• The committee is convened by the Departmental Safety Officer.
• Other staff are assigned to the committee from time to time.
• We encourage input from all Computer Science and Software Engineering (CSSE) Department members, and encourage everyone to make submissions to the committee and to attend meetings.

Functions of the Committee

1. The Health and Safety Committee, via the Departmental Safety Officer, is responsible to the Head of Department and to the University Safety Officer.
2. The Health and Safety Committee must, in consultation with employees, identify all hazards in the workplace, and report them the the University Safety Officer.

In the CSSE Department the only major hazard peculiar to our work is Occupational Overuse Syndrome (OOS). However, this is a very considerable hazard and every IT worker must watch out for it.

3. Having identified workplace hazards the WSC must take all practicable steps to either eliminate the hazards, or to isolate them from employees and others, or, through training and other means, to minimise the effects of the hazards. Because OOS cannot be eliminated, it is necessary to work to try and minimize this hazard.

   There is a University Policy on OOS, aimed at providing rapid assistance for employees who suspect they are suffering from OOS: Contact the Safety Officer for information about the procedures. There is also general OOS information under these pages.

4. The Committee must then monitor the workplace to ensure that all safety procedures are properly followed, and that new hazards are dealt with as they arise. It will perform this function by liaison with the CSSE Dept employees, and by meeting regularly. Minutes are published with these web pages.

5. The Departmental Safety Officer has other responsibilities assigned by University policy and legislation.

Legal Obligations of Staff

In simple terms, the Health and Safety in Employment Act requires all University employees to:

• Inform their employer (via the WSC in our case) of any hazards they encounter in their workplace, where a hazard is defined as anything that could harm an employee or other person in the workplace.
• To carry out their duties in a way that does not harm themselves or other people.

For Computer Science staff, the best way to comply with your legal obligations is to be aware of the contents of this and other Health and Safety pages.

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To the main page for CSSE Health & Safety.