Issue - meetings

That the drawdown of the total grant amount of £65k to be used as set out in Paragraphs 3.4 to 3.12 of the Report.

Bromley Council takes the safety of employees seriously, especially when risks to their health and safety may not be as easy to identify as others. We know that Lone working and the risks to employee’s safety from this, require extra effort to identify the risks. We are committed to making Bromley a fantastic place to live and work, where everyone can lead healthy, safe, and independent lives.

The Council had a range of guidelines and policies for staff to cover the requirements for Lone Working (lone workers are those who work by themselves without close or direct supervision). In August 2022, ‘Peoplesafe’ was introduced supplying staff with the relevant personal safety device to ensure, as far as is reasonably practical, that staff are safe while lone working. Adult Services were allocated 31 devices and Children’s Services were allocated 56.

It was recognised that Lone Worker devices and apps, such as ‘Peoplesafe’ could play a useful part of an organisation’s overall personal safety strategy. The Council applied for funding from South East London Integrated Care System (ICS) to help expand the number of ‘Peoplesafe’ devices offered to staff working in adult’s and children’s services, develop the #WorkSafe Campaign to raise awareness, remind people how to report and record incidents, offer bespoke training and support to staff and embed the ‘Work Safe’ approach across adult’s and children’s services that has been developed through staff engagement.

The Council was awarded £65,000 from South East London Integrated Care System Workforce Programme to deliver the ‘Work Safe Project’.  The report sought authorisation to drawdown the £65,000 grant received from South East London Integrated Care System Workforce Programme to deliver the Work Safe Project to support staff working across adult’s and children’s service in Bromley.

The report had been scrutinised by the Executive, Resources and Contracts PDS Committee at its meeting on 15 May 2023 and the Committee had supported the recommendations.

RESOLVED: That the drawdown of the total grant amount of £65k to be used as set out in Paragraphs 3.4 to 3.12 of the Report be approved.