Imperial College Union Health and Safety Roles and Responsibilities

The Imperial College Union Board of Trustees has devolved day-to-day Health, Safety and Welfare responsibilities to the Managing Director (MD). The MD and those acting on their behalf will ensure:

• The policy is effectively implemented, so there is always statutory compliance.
• Adequate resources are available to provide the appropriate health, safety, and welfare arrangements.
• Competent persons are nominated to assist with health and safety; external health and safety advice is available and sought when necessary.
• Imperial College Union complies with its responsibilities regarding compliance with current legislation.

The MD appoints the FHSM to undertake the following:

• The FHSM will manage the coordination and implementation of the ICU's responsibilities in relation to health and safety. Suitable training will be provided to ensure capability in this role.
• The FHSM will be an ICU Operational Health and Safety Committee member.
• The FHSM will ensure that the ICU’s Health and Safety Policy is current and will notify the MD when the safety policy needs revision due to legislative change, changes in circumstances, or annually.
• The FHSM will ensure that notifiable injuries, diseases, and dangerous occurrences are reported to the enforcing authorities as required by the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR, 2013).
• The FHSM will ensure that statistics for all accidents, incidents, dangerous occurrences and near misses are recorded, investigated, and reported to the ICU Operational Health and Safety Committee, ICU Trustee Board and the College’s Health and Safety Management Committee.
• The FHSM will assist ICU Line Managers, Officer Trustee and members of Clubs, Societies and Projects (CSPs) in producing risk assessments and advise on safe working practices and necessary revisions to the assessments.
• The FHSM will oversee the ICU's risk assessment process, ensuring that all parts of the organisation and all activities are covered by suitable and sufficient risk assessment. Reporting on significant risks to the MD and ICU Operational Health and Safety Committee. The FHSM should conduct inspections to ensure that the control measures arising from risk assessments are in place and that people are carrying out activities.

The FHSM will facilitate distributing and communicating relevant health and safety information to employees and CSP members.

Line Managers are accountable to their Senior Manager for the health and safety of their service delivery, compliance with ICU health and safety management, and statutory requirements. Line Managers have a duty of care for those employees and students under their responsibility.

Line Managers are responsible for the following:

• To ensure that effective arrangements are in place for implementing ICU health and safety policies, their arrangements, and procedures.
• To promote a positive health and safety culture by, for example:
• Ensuring effective communication of health and safety information amongst staff.
• Including health and safety as an agenda item at team-level meetings.
• Promoting and celebrating safe working practices.
• To liaise with the ICU FHSM to advise on health and safety issues.
• To ensure they know the principal hazards and risks in their service delivery areas and that appropriate risk assessments of all hazardous items, areas and activities have been undertaken. That work is being carried out in accordance with specified control measures.
• To ensure the service they are responsible for that arrangements are in place for the regular monitoring, reviewing, updating and approval of risk assessments, resulting in control measures that are properly documented and that these records are managed appropriately.
• Line managers must ensure that all staff receive the appropriate induction on-the-job training and receive health and safety information and instruction relevant to their duties,
• To ensure that health and safety are considered in planning and budgeting and that resources are used effectively and in proportion to the local risks.
• To suspend activities where health and safety are likely to be compromised.
• Line managers must implement the corrective measures identified from investigating accidents and incidents.
• Line managers must participate and engage in health and safety training where this has been identified as necessary.
• Ensuring proper arrangements for dealing with emergencies, providing first aid and reporting accidents, incidents, and non-compliance.

All ICU employees have a legal duty to take care of their health and safety, where their acts or omissions affect the health and safety of others.

All Imperial College Union staff will be responsible for the following:

• To comply with ICU and College health and safety policies, procedures, and arrangements to control health and safety risks.
• To ensure that their working area does not present unnecessary or uncontrolled risks to themselves or others.
• To understand that breaches of safety rules or interfering with safety equipment will be treated as a serious disciplinary matter.
• To ensure that their working area does not present unnecessary or uncontrolled risks to themselves or others.
• To ensure they do not undertake any task for which authorisation or training has yet been received.
• To ensure all incidents, accidents, and near misses are reported to their Line Manager via the College reporting system.
• To attend appropriate induction training and ensure that the Imperial Essentials compliance online training is completed within four weeks of commencing employment at ICU.

Imperial College Union has over 380 Clubs, Societies, and projects (CSP), all student-led and student-run. CSPs have a legal duty to cooperate and always comply with the ICU Health and Safety Policy and the instruction and training provided. CSPs are responsible for:  

• To ensure that effective arrangements are in place for implementing ICU health and safety policies, their arrangements, and procedures.

• All CSP leaders have a legal duty to assess their activities for risk (by creating a risk assessment). 
• Ensure that all CSP's trips and tours are individually risk assessed and should be submitted with a Trip and Tour proposal form. 
• Ensure that all participants are informed and made aware of any risks involved in activities provided by the group CSP. 
• CSPs are legally obliged to report accidents, incidents and near misses that occur during its activities.

Imperial College Union, an independent charity, is an integral part of the Imperial College community and could not exist without the College. The Union and College work in partnership to ensure that adequate measures are in place to ensure health, safety, and welfare within the Union. The Union is committed to working with the Imperial College London Safety Department and, where appropriate, ensuring that the Union's Health and Safety Policy, Codes of Practice and arrangements are in accordance with the College Health and Safety Policy, Codes of Practice, and arrangements.

The Union is in an unusual position in that while colleagues work directly for the Students' Union, their contracts of employment are with the College. While the Union accepts its duty of care and responsibilities, the College also has a duty to ensure and support the safe management and operation of the Students' Union.