Agenda item

The Committee received a joint report of the Corporate Director of Regeneration, Economy and Growth and the Corporate Director of Resources which provided an update the council’s Health, Safety

and Wellbeing (HSW) performance for Quarter two 2024/25 (for copy see file of minutes).

Mr I Rudd asked if there were any special ways in which to dispose of vapes.

The Corporate Health and Safety Compliance Manager responded that vapes should not be disposed of in normal household waste.  There were designated points and they should be disposed of in the similar way to batteries.  The council tried to encourage and educate residents to dispose of batteries in the correct manner as they were the cause of fires in bin lorries.

Mr I Rudd referred to the Durham bus station and queried whether there had been an issue with the design or specification of the building or whether the external cladding had been incorrectly fitted to cause the issues that had been found with the cladding system.

The Head of Corporate Property and Land responded that the bus station was in her remit.  She advised that the Council were in the process of resolving the issues that had been highlighted.  It continued to be a delicate situation which highlighted no issues with the design, but instead with workman installation. 

Councillor D Sutton-Lloyd informed the committee of an excellent scheme called the WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) which the Council ran to recycle undamaged vaping devices.  There was a map on the council’s website of all collection points.

Councillor B Kellett referred to Table 1 in the report regarding fire safety audits.  He thought that the Fire and Rescue service carried out audits on care homes.

The Corporate Health and Safety Compliance Manager declared that there were two layers to the process.  There were internal fire safety officers who carried out internal health and safety checks on the council’s properties and the Fire and Rescue Service also carried out audits which were in relation to enforcement for assurance purposes.

Resolved:

That the contents of the report be agreed and noted