FORTH and TAY DISTRICT
of
EDINBURGH BRANCH

22^nd meeting and the AGM

Perth & Kinross Business Gateway, The Atrium, 137, Glover Street, PerthAt 7:30pm Thursday 3^rd February 2005.

Apologies

A Thomson N Doherty B McDonnell J Gordon B Pill R Turney

1.         Chairperson                        Kirsten Paterson

Kirsten welcomed everyone to the meeting, the 22^nd of the Forth and Tay District and our third Annual General Meeting.  She briefed all present on the emergency procedures, indicated where the toilets were to be found and then went on to outline the general proceedings for the night.  The guest speaker – Elizabeth Lumsden from RoSPA – and the Edinburgh Branch Chairman and Secretary – Richard Lovering and Max Bancroft - were also made welcome by Kirsten.

2          Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting (2004 AGM)

The Secretary stated that copies of the 2004 AGM had been sent out by e-mail last year but paper copies had been printed and were distributed about the room.  Rather than go through every line in detail the Secretary asked if anyone had any corrections or comments to make regarding the 2004 AGM Minutes.  No comments were made.  It was proposed that the Minutes of the 2^nd AGM on the 5^th February 2004 be accepted as a true record of that meeting.

Proposed:      Dick Mann                  Seconded:     Barry Davies

3.         Chairperson’s Report:                  Kirsten Paterson

Kirsten opened her report by expressing her pleasure that the District continues to thrive and shows signs of steady growth in the number of members who attend the meetings.  Indeed, nearly every seat in the room of the meeting’s new “home” – The Perth and Kinross Business Gateway in the Atrium, Glover Street – was full.

Kirsten went on to briefly outline the main topics that had been addressed in the previous year by guest speakers and at the site visit in June.  Briefly:

• In April 2004 Nancy Hamilton from the HSE in Edinburgh (EMAS) dealt with the ver-present problems associated with manual handling.
• In June the site visit to Perth Fire Station proved to be very good day. Of particular note was the way the Fire Service had to balance the need for realistic scenario training against the risks of trainees coming to harm.
• In September – in the new venue – Mr Robert Fife from the legal organisation Anderson Strathern gave a presentation on what companies should be doing to “avoid the unwelcome attention of the HSE”.  His talk was based on his experiences gained as an advocate both for both prosecution and defence in health and safety cases as well as sitting as a Sheriff on the Bench.
• In November two speakers from the HSE – David Cassells and David Stephen – gave a presentation that explained how improvements in company health and safety performance can be achieved by thoroughly investigating accidents and incidents when they occur.
• Finally, at this meeting, Elizabeth Lumsden from RoSPA in Edinburgh would give a talk on the subject “Safety is 24/7”.

4.         Secretary’s Report:           Dave Devey

Dave Devey commenced his final District Secretary’s report by echoing Kirsten’s comments about the how good it was to see so many at the meeting.  He observed that, on average just over 20 attended the meetings over the last year – a slight increase on 2003/4.  At this meeting there were 30 in the room.

Dave also agreed with the Chairperson that the move to the Perth and Kinross Business Gateway had proved to be a success.

Dealing with purely secretarial matters, Dave brought to the attention of the members that he still had more than half a dozen apparently incorrect e-mail addresses (based on mail sent out and “bounced” back).  He requested that if anyone knew of colleagues or associates not getting the Minutes or other e-mails from the District to please contact the Secretary as soon as possible.

The Secretary then pointed out that both the Chairman and Secretary of the IOSH Edinburgh Branch were in attendance this evening despite having helped to conduct a very busy seminar that day.  He thanked them for their trouble.

Finally, Dave gave the following notices:

·        Next Branch meeting           -           Thursday 10^th February 2005.

“Getting the best from your liability insurance”

·        Next District meeting           -           Thursday 7^th April 2005.

“Fleetsure” – Paul Richardson (Lothian and Borders Police)

·        IOSH 2005 – Conference and exhibition. 27/28 April 2005.

Cardiff International Arena and Conference Centre. “Red Tape or a Green Light?”

·        District visit to RAF Leuchars – 2 June 2005.

This visit will commence at about 1.30/ 2 pm with a small bus departing from the Leuchars railway station car park for an escorted tour of the military base.  Anyone wishing to attend is requested to contact the Secretary.

5.         Financial Report:   Sandy Chisholm

Copies of the 2004 / 2005 Financial Statement and Budget request for February 2005 – January 2006 were distributed and reviewed by Sandy Chisholm.  No questions or issues were raised: the statement will now be forwarded to the Branch Treasurer for inclusion in the Branch accounts.

6          District Elections

Nominations had been received in writing for the District Executive Committee.  As there were no comments or objections the following under-mentioned Principal Officers were elected:

            Chairperson:  Karen McDonnell

            Secretary:      Dick Mann

The under-mentioned Executive Committee Members were elected:

            Barry Davies              (Vice Chairperson)

            Sandy Chisholm        (Treasurer)

            Kirsten Paterson

            Dave Devey

            Joan Goddard

            Robin Greer

7.         Presentations:        Branch Chairperson -       Richard Lovering

                                    District Chairperson -        Karen McDonnell

As the outgoing Chairperson and Secretary stood down they were presented with gifts of appreciation for jobs very well done. (Unfortunately the Quaichs were empty!)  There was general and very well deserved applause as Kirsten and Dave received their gifts from Richard and Karen.

8.         Guest Speaker: Elizabeth Lumsden – RoSPA Edinburgh

Karen McDonnell introduced the guest speaker, her RoSPA colleague, Elizabeth Lumsden to present her talk “Safety is 24/7”.  Elizabeth has over 10 years experience working in the area of home safety but transferred over to road safety in September 2004.

Elizabeth began by giving an overview of RoSPA’s mission statement and challenged those present to have their own mission statement; “Be Safe”.  She proceeded to review 2002 statistics for accidents being the cause of 13,000 deaths, 500,000 injuries and 7 million requiring medical attention at A&E departments.  We were then challenged to match the percentage of deaths into various categories.  Home (32%), Road (29%), Water (13%), Other (21%) and Work (3%).  She stressed that despite the high percentage, deaths from accidents in the home is under reported with only freak accidents hitting the headlines.  She continued her holistic approach to safety by reviewing the potential hazards we face at different ages and in different places.  We were also asked to consider the impact an accident would have on us, our family and how it would affect our working lives.

After this very interesting and thought provoking talk there were many questions from the floor including the issues of occupational road risk, pass plus schemes for new drivers, advanced driver training and monitoring off the job safety statistics.

9.         Vote of Thanks

Andy Stark gave a vote of thanks on behalf of the District, for a most informative presentation.  Karen then presented Elizabeth with a gift as a token of the District’s appreciation for her excellent presentation.

The meeting was closed at 21.25 hours.  Karen, in closing the meeting pointed out that the next meeting would be on the 7^th April 2005: the guest speaker will be Paul Richardson on the topic “Fleetsure” – a Lothian and Borders Police initiative.