Overview

Background

The University has been issued with an Improvement Notice (currently appealed and suspended) by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) with regards to our safety management system in the University including the retention of particular types of staff/student records under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH).  These regulations require the University to be able to demonstrate compliance with COSHH health records requirements in order to protect staff/student health.  The University does currently comply with these regulations, but this is difficult to effectively demonstrate, as the data is stored in a variety of different sources at central and local School level and in different formats.  This means that collating a full COSHH health record for an individual requires the manual extraction of data from systems such as the Occupational Health Unit's OPAS record management system, corporate Health and Safety Department's Face-fit Testing database, and various other data sources, such as School records.

Access to certain labs & animal facilities requires health surveillance to be conducted prior to admittance.  Lab Managers are currently unable to easily check these records.  There is therefore a risk of allowing admittance to people who may not have received all of the required health checks, or had suitable assessment and training for respiratory protective equipment, and who may therefore be at increased risk of experiencing health issues in the future.

Scope

The project will consolidate all relevant data, from the currently dispersed data sources, into a single data repository.  This repository will be able to provide a COSHH-compliant and PIL-compliant health record for affected personnel. 

The project will provide an application that will be used to maintain the data.  

The application will provide a number of reports, which will be downloadable in the form of lists and/or csvs.  The reports will run from a search facility, with specific selection criteria.  Commonly-used reports are expected to include full details for individual users, and a list of users who have incomplete checks and should therefore be denied access to a specific facility.

The application will be EASE-enabled.   In addition, authorisation to specific areas of the application's functionality will be controlled for specific groups and/or roles.

Out of scope: 

• BI reporting
• Decommisioning of any software this project may replace (although this will be reviewed at the end of the analysis stage)

Objectives

1.  To develop a mechanism to collate the data from the various University sources, in order to provide a COSHH-compliant health record for affected personnel.  The delivered mechanism must:

     - satisfy the Health & Safety Executive's  Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH) requirements 

     - satisfy the Home Office's Personal Licence (PIL) requirements, for handling animals

     - be suitable for multi user access within the University

2.  To provide a restricted view of the collated data to authorised personnel (e.g. Lab Managers), so that they can ensure that only approved people can access their facilities.

     - e.g. a facility manager's dashboard, to include a list of people whose record has significantly changed (timeframe tbc)

3.  To reduce the need for individual schools to maintain separate databases of similar information

4.  To mainitain a single record for each identified individual, as s/he moves around the University

Deliverables

1.  A database that will include all data fields that are required to meet the legislative reporting requirements for COSHH and PIL.  The database must include:

• the University's Organisational Hierarchy (GaSP)
• person information, pulled in from the appropriate "golden copy/ies" (as currently pulled in to AIR and RETAIN)

2.  A means of transferring data from the current diverse data repositories, into the new database.

3.  An application, via which users throughout the university will be able to maintain the data in the database.  The application must be:

• EASE-authenticated to access
• Additionally authenticated for access to specific data and to specific application functionality, according to user groups/roles

4.  A range of reports, against the new database, that will meet the legislative reporting requirements. 

• The preferred delivery method for these reports is from within the application

5.  A means by which authorised personnel may view, or report against, a restricted view of the database.

• The preferred delivery method for these reports is from within the application

6.  A means by which the application may alert facilities managers to significant changes in users' status .

Benefits

Improved sharing of information across the organisation.

Improved access to real-time information, for the managers of animal and other relevant facilities.  This will enable them to manage access to their facilities in a more timely manner.

Better management of information about staff & students who may encounter hazardous substances subject to health surveillance, particularly laboratory animal allergens.

Provision of a personal exposure record for staff & students, who would then be able to take that record to subsequent employers.

More efficient means of complying with COSHH Regulations.  Less time-consuming for staff involved.

Reduction of Enforcement action from the Health and Safety Executive, such as Improvement Notices, and hence reduction of risk of prosecution.

Success Criteria

1.  The data from the currently diverse University sources has been collated into a single point of access.

2.  Appropriately authorised colleagues within Health & Safety can maintain the data via an application.

3.  Appropriately authorised colleagues across the University have restricted access to the collated data, and can run and download selected reports.

4.  Appropriately authorised Facilities managers are notified of significant changes to users' status, to enable them to quickly adjust users' access to their facilities.

5.  A COSHH-compliant health record for affected personnel can be quickly generated. 

6.  A PIL-compliant health record for affected personnel can be quickly generated. 

7.  A personal exposure record can be quickly generated, on request, for individual staff & students.  

Milestones