41061 Unite AR22 HI-RES WEB-READY - Flipbook - Page 131
STRATEGIC REPORT
GOVERNANCE
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
OTHER INFORMATION
Safety award
Fire impairment management
We launched our new Safety Award, encouraging
contractors to submit innovative safety ways of working
at our development sites.
The Committee oversaw the ongoing fire impairment
remedial work, which is predominantly the remediation of
smoke control systems, external façades and passive fire
protection. Recognising Unite’s values and commitment
to “doing what’s right” and the emerging challenges
highlighted by the national building safety crisis, we
launched a dedicated Fire Impairment team in 2022, whose
focus is the remediation of non-external façade-related
impairments. This team works alongside another newly
created team, the Special Projects team, whose dedicated
focus is remediating external façades. The work of these
teams has led to significant improvements in the fire safety
of our properties.
Fire safety
Fire safety team
We have a dedicated Fire Safety team, whose sole focus
is fire safety. This team welcomed three new managers
this year, bringing in valuable hands-on knowledge and
experience from fire authorities. This hands-on experience
ensures we can continue to deliver on our Safe and Secure
promise, during a rapidly changing fire and building safety
regulatory environment.
Our Fire Safety team also work closely with Fire and Rescue
services, local authorities, the Department for Levelling Up,
Housing and Communities, as well as fire safety experts,
to provide advice and guidance through the life of our
buildings, from development design through to disposal.
These relationships have grown stronger through 2022
and with the increasingly complex and dynamic regulatory
environment, we expect this to continue through 2023.
Authority inspection activity
During 2022, we experienced an increase in inspection
activity by Fire Authorities and local authorities
alongside the Department for Levelling Up, Housing
and Communities prior to the coming into force of the
Building Safety Act 2022. These inspections have been
helpful and collaborative, allowing us to better understand
responsibilities and helping ensure we are ready for the
Building Safety Act and evolving fire safety legislation. The
Health and Safety Committee oversaw the progress of this
inspection activity throughout the year.
Fire Safety Regulations and Fire Safety Act 2022
The introduction of the Fire Safety Act 2022 and Fire
Safety Regulations 2022 this year highlighted the best
practice approach taken by Unite in our day-to-day fire
safety activities, with few minor changes being required to
ensure compliance with this newly introduced legislation.
This approach was overseen by the Committee to ensure
effective and efficient adoption of changes, alongside
challenging existing approaches.
Fire risk assessments
All our properties continue to be confirmed as safe to
operate by our external third-party accredited fire risk
assessors as part of the comprehensive annual fire risk
assessment completed at every property. This reflects
the robust fire safety and fire impairment management
across our portfolio, as well as the continued proactive
surveying and remediation of our external façades, smoke
control systems, passive fire protection and fire doors.
The Committee continues to drive improvement on the
completion of fire risk assessment actions, with changes in
national approach adopted to drive further improvements
in 2023.
Health and wellbeing in our workplace
Recognising the changing and challenging workplace
environment after the pandemic, we adapted our wellbeing
communication strategies during 2022 to ensure our
employees are getting the information they need regarding
the health and wellbeing benefits we offer and the support
available. This resulted in our new employee support
framework, designed with our people’s wellbeing in mind
and based upon employee feedback through structured
conversations, focus groups and surveys as well as our
employee forum, Culture Matters. This framework is being
rolled out in the first half of 2023 and includes resources
to promote better mental, physical, financial and social
wellbeing and encourages and empowers our people to
take ownership of their health and wellbeing.
Our focus for 2023
The Committee continues to oversee the governance of
health and safety practices across the business. We will
continue to prioritise the safety of our customers, people,
properties and our workplace and strive to deliver our value
“Keeping uS Safe”. Through upskilling our frontline teams
and establishing core standards for safety and security, our
people can assist to deliver our Safe and Secure promise.
Safety and Student Welfare continues as a priority as we
work closely with our University partners to help students
deal with the pressures of university living.
2023 safety priorities
•
Improving our safety culture, colleague engagement and
competence.
•
Ensuring effective business tools are provided to enable
teams to deliver safety.
•
Effective performance monitoring through assurance,
auditing & investigation.
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