Agenda item

(i)           Report of Director of Transformation and Partnerships.

(ii)          Presentation by Kevin Lough, Occupational Health and Safety Manager, Resources.

The Chair introduced the Occupation Health and Safety Manager who delivered an overview presentation providing an update of the partnership work on open water safety within County Durham and activity of the City Safety Group (for copy see file of minutes). 

The Committee were informed of joint work that had been carried out by the Safe Durham Partnership, Durham City Safety Group and the County Durham Open Water Safety Group to promote water safety across the County.  The presentation provided information on drowning incidents in both open waters and inland waters. Information highlighted that nationally this was predominantly a male dominated issue. Figures also showed that there had been a reduction in the number of fatal incidents with individuals who had alcohol or drugs in their system.

The Occupational Health and Safety Manager advised that the largest grouping of people losing their lives were those who had no intention of going into the water at all. Within the last 12 months there had been one fatality in the Durham City area and two outside of the City Centre.

Members were informed that there had been several proactive initiatives/campaigns carried out in 2018/19 including ‘Don’t drink and drown’ and the ‘Cold water shock awareness’ campaign.  In addition, links had also been made with the Best Bar None initiative through the Durham City Centre Manager to promote the risks of drinking and drowning via social media, Twitter and Facebook.

In addition, Durham Constabulary and Durham County Council had carried out two weeks of activities including the designing of wraps for phone boxes to create a visual campaign to target teenagers and their parents.

The Committee was informed that the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) had been commissioned to undertake an independent review of new building developments in Durham City, with work undertaken with Site Managers and Developers around safety measures of building works being carried out near the river. 

It was confirmed that Durham County Council investigated any concerns that were highlighted from members of the public and assessments were carried out on potentially dangerous areas, sometimes with the Public Rights of Way Officers to ensure all measures of safety and controls were put in place.  This could involve working with private land owners as it was their responsibility to ensure public safety on their land.  It was highlighted that work was continuous in assessing areas where there was high foot fall to ensure there were no risks.  An example of this was where extra fencing was installed near the rowing club in time for the Durham Regatta event.

The Committee was advised that another campaign re-launched this year was ‘Dying to be cool’.  This used various ways of promotion including cinema advertising, adverts at bus stops and Durham County News which was sent out to all residents in County Durham. Work was underway to look at plans for education and awareness for next year.

The campaign was in its fourth year and was delivered to schools in June and July in the lead up to the 6 weeks holidays.  Fiona Gosling who lost her son to drowning fronted the campaign which was a huge success as 2,500+ pupils had now received the message.

Members were informed that partnership working with Northumbrian Water was to be strengthened to reduce risks and that campaigns/initiatives were continually being monitored to see where things could be improved.  The Occupational Health and Safety Manager advised Members that information from fatal incidents was provided to the Public Health Team as they have a key role in reducing the number of suicides. 

The Chair thanked the Occupation Health and Safety Manager and noted the good work that was taking place around water safety.  He asked Members of the Committee for their comments and questions.

Councillor J Turnbull commented that communities outside of the Durham City area had to raise their own funding to replace fencing along the river where it was believed to be dangerous and gave the example of Daisy Lane at Langley Moor.  The local community had found it difficult to raise £3,000 to erect fencing in order to provide a safe environment for children who use the route as they walked to school. 

The Occupation Health and Safety Manager noted Councillor J Turnbull’s comments and agreed to investigate the safety aspects of this area.  He stressed that there were issues with any safety investigations that involved land that did not belong to Durham County Council as it was difficult to identify land owners in order to make areas safe.

Councillor D Stoker raised the same issue with an area in Durham along the stretch of river near the Honest Lawyer Pub which was well used by dog walkers and pedestrians. To date there had been no fund raising for this stretch of water to erect/repair any safety fencing and highlighted there was a steep drop that was a cause for concern. 

The Occupation Health and Safety Manager agreed to investigate this stretch of water for any safety breaches.  He noted that sometimes fencing was not always the best way to address water safety issues. 

Councillor D Stoker informed the Committee that there may also be safety issues at Low Burnhall, Durham which was again heavily used by dog walkers.  In this area the water was very fast flowing.  The Occupation Health and Safety Manager agreed to look at this area and would check if there had been any fatalities.

Resolved

That the report and presentation be noted.

That a progress report on Open Water Safety and the City Safety Group be included in the Committee’s work programme.