Safe working – a toolkit for managers and staff

This toolkit is designed to help managers and staff work safely as we move into a hybrid way of working. It directs you to key information and documents to help you make safe working decisions. 

The health, safety and wellbeing of our staff is very important. While Covid-19 and other respiratory diseases are still present in the community, we're working towards a hybrid framework based on a service led approach.

We will focus on team agreements that support workplace attendance to enable face to face team meetings, collaboration and support. 

This toolkit should help us have a consistent approach across all council workplaces. Each building will have a Site Responsible Person who will work with services in that building to make sure the working environment is safe for everyone. 

In addition to the toolkit, support, advice and guidance is available to all Site Responsible Persons and managers.

Contacts 

To get help to fill in risk assessments, send an email to HealthAndSafety@brighton-hove.gov.uk. 

For technical information about the building you're responsible for, send an email to PremisesTeamHelpdesks@brighton-hove.gov.uk. 

For help with applying design principles to your workplace, send an email to Workstyles@brighton-hove.gov.uk. 

For support with managing staff issues, contact your HR business partner.

A Service Risk Assessment has been developed to enable managers to assess the risks from COVID-19 and other respiratory Diseases within their services/teams.   

You should complete it as part of your planning for reopening services and/or bringing more staff into the workplace. It’s important that you review Risk Assessments when changes are made to things like working arrangements or guidance.

Building Risk Assessments, with the 'workplace' section of the form already completed for the main corporate buildings, are also available.  

You can get advice from your Health and Safety Business Partner. 

What the risk assessment can help with

The council’s COVID-19 Individual Risk Assessment and guidance was developed to support vulnerable staff and staff that are concerned about returning to the workplace. 

The risk assessment is designed so managers and employees can: 

• agree on and record individual control measures for an employee who is:
  • immunosuppressed
  • at greater risk of illness
  • at a higher risk than others of developing serious or life-threatening symptoms 
• use it in any other circumstances where an individual Risk Assessment is required to consider particular individual issues or circumstances related to COVID-19 or other respiratory disease 

What the risk assessment includes

The risk assessment includes a section for staff to discuss their personal circumstances and any concerns they have about returning to the workplace

It provides a list of suggested control measures and prompts to help you discuss measures needed to support the individual's personal circumstances.

The risk assessment also helps encourage staff to discuss personal information about themselves or their domestic circumstances that are relevant to COVID-19, as well as other respiratory diseases.

The pandemic may have made some staff feel anxious about travelling to work, being around others and/or being in the workplace. The Risk Assessment should be undertaken in a supportive and open way. 

Who the risk assessment is relevant to

The risk assessment is most relevant for those who have concerns about returning to their normal place of work. It will allow you to hold a structured conversation to record any worries you have and agree any additional control measures that can be put in place to improve staff safety. 

You can get more advice from your Health and Safety Business Partner. 

All staff need to have completed a workplace re-induction with their line manager before entering the office. This can take place in person if the manager is based in the same building as the staff member. Otherwise the re-induction should be delivered remotely via Teams.

To complete the re-induction, you'll need to do the 'Returning to the workplace' elearning course on the Learning Gateway. 

This guidance is designed to help assess teams’ needs for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and cleaning materials, such as hand sanitiser and surface wipes.

Our PPE guidance will help you develop relevant risk assessments and procedures and covers the following:

• rationale for use of PPE
• PPE Demand Management Plan
• wearing PPE in hot weather

Guides have been produced to advise staff and managers on updated safety procedures that must be followed when using the main corporate buildings during COVID-19. They include guidance on:

• updated emergency evacuation procedures and routes
• first aid
• cleaning desks
• building hygiene

These are available for Barts House, Brighton Town Hall, Hove Town Hall. Moulsecoomb Hub North and South, and Whitehawk Hub. 

Other sites will have their own procedures. Please contact the relevant Site Responsible Person for more information. 

Download building safety notices

You can view the floorplans and desk layouts for both Hove Town Hall and Bartholomew House.

Our First Aiders guidance and advice on First Aid delivery provides information for First Aiders about:

• hygiene measures
• PPE
• cardiopulmonary resuscitation
• providing assistance to an individual who may have COVID-19
• cleaning the area where assistance was provided

Fire safety has been updated in recognition that designated Fire Wardens may not always be present in council buildings. 

• Fire safety in council buildings

Many staff use Display Screen Equipment (DSE) for work, so it’s essential that any risks associated with using DSE are identified and managed, especially if staff are working at home or at another location away from their usual place of work.

• General DSE advice
• DSE self assessment form
• DSE eLearning

Looking after your health and wellbeing is an important part of being able to work safely.

We have a number of tools that can help you and your staff (including those who are at higher risk - our Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff, those with underlying conditions, those with disabilities and staff who are pregnant) look after your wellbeing:

• Wellbeing Zone
• Wellness Action Plan
• Wellbeing eLearning

Consider taking the opportunity to review ways of working with your team and whether you want to do things differently in future. You could use the team agreement template to have conversations with your team, asking questions such as:

• What support do you need from your team members for us to be successful and effective?
• What kind of service do our customers/stakeholders need from us?
• How will we measure our performance? What are the team priorities?

You and your team can access a wide range of development opportunities to support new ways of working, through eLearning, virtual training sessions, coaching and so on. These include:

• Management: coaching, managing remote teams, compassionate leadership
• New ways of working: remote working, returning to work during COVID-19
• Wellbeing: resilience, managing stress
• Personal development: managing your time, effective PDPs

The Learning and Development team can also provide tailored support, such as facilitating team discussions. Access  development opportunities on the Learning Gateway.