Agenda item
Port Marine Safety Code (PMSC) Designated Persons and Health and Safety Report
To consider a report by the Designated Person for Dorset Councils Harbour and the Senior Health & Safety Consultant.
Minutes:
The Committee considered a report by the Designated Person
and the Health & Safety Consultant.
The Designated Person introduced his second report for the
period ending February 2021, stating that a good level of contact had been
maintained with the Harbours teams despite home working due to the Covid restrictions.
He outlined some highlights of the report including:-
·
the approval of the Weymouth Harbour Revision
Order (HRO) and ongoing preparation of the HRO for Bridport and Lyme Regis;
·
that the harbour teams had fulfilled the
obligations of the Port Marine Safety Code despite the pandemic and the change
of Weymouth Harbour Master;
·
the implementation of a new incident reporting
system in Weymouth which was now live;
·
that navigational risk assessments had been maintained;
·
the ongoing development of Marine Safety
Management Systems and early development of General Directions at Weymouth;
·
ongoing stakeholder engagement despite remote working;
·
useful information displayed on the Weymouth
Harbour website in relation to Covid, which had been
quickly updated in response to rapidly changing government guidance.
In response to questions it was confirmed that
·
there was an opportunity to ensure that Port
Marine Safety was included in the Marine Safety Management Plan going forward
and for Harbours Committee to take ownership of the Plan.
·
that further to issues with the Melway, an agreement with Portland Port for use of its
pilot vessel in Weymouth Harbour was imminent.
The Health & Safety Consultant also gave an overview of
the Health & Safety audits. These
had been included in the report further to a request made at the previous
Harbours Committee for consideration of those elements that were outside the
remit of the Designated Person.
The Health & Safety Consultant stated that all staff had
been very co-operative, helpful and open. The new
Weymouth Harbour Master had put in place many new procedures at Weymouth,
including the control of contractors and associated competencies, which had
been impressive. He had been able to
delegate work appropriately and this could be replicated by the Bridport &
Lyme Regis Harbour Master should he be provided with further staffing
resource. Closer working relationships
between the harbours would be an aspiration going forward and further health
& safety visits would be undertaken once Covid
restrictions were lifted. Overall she had been very
impressed by the harbours teams in what was considered to be a high risk
environment.
These comments were echoed by the
Chairman and Jim Clark, Independent Member who congratulated the teams on such
positive news.
The Chairman was particularly encouraged as the Committee
relied on the harbours teams for its safe working
harbours and it was encouraging for Duty Holders to know how well the teams
were doing and continuing to improve.
Proposed by Cllr Mark Roberts, seconded by Cllr Rob Hughes.
Recommended
to Full Council: That the Harbours Committee approves the Designated
Person’s report and that the report is sent to Full Council for information
Reason
for Recommendation: Harbour operations have been reviewed and
assessed
throughout the period by the Designated Person and as a result
compliance with the Code is reported.
Supporting documents:
- Designated Persons and Health and Safety Report, item 36. PDF 66 KB
- Designated Persons Report App 1, item 36. PDF 290 KB
- Health & Safety Report Weymouth App 2, item 36. PDF 75 KB
- Health & Safety Report Bridport App 3, item 36. PDF 79 KB
- Health & Safety Report Lyme Regis App 4, item 36. PDF 80 KB