Newcastle University Safety Office

University Safety Policy

The current University Safety Policy (published in 2010) after being approved by the University Council. Policy documents are approved by the University Safety Committee, EB and Council.

In addition to the main policy document there are many Safety Policy Supplements. These documents provide more detail on specific items than is in the main policy document. They are approved by the University Safety Committee in accordance with the main policy and on license from the University Council.

Paper copies of University policy documents can be obtained from the University Safety Office but the electronic copies are more readilly available and can be downloaded from this site - see below. Anybody requiring electronic copies of these documents in formats other than Acrobat PDF should contact the University Safety Office.

The Structure of the Safety Policy System at the University

The University Safety Policy sets the main controls under the general direction of the Safety Strategy. Under the Policy there are various University level Safety policy Supplements. To aid in interpretation of the detail there are also several Safety Policy Giodance documents. In parallel to the main University Safety System and subordinate to it there are also Faculty and School policy documents. These may only provide additional detail unless they are speciifcally approved by the university Safety Office on behalf of the University Safety Committee to replace various elements of the unviersity Safety System, If approval is given it will be clearly stated in the document concerned and documented at the University Safety Committee meetings.

Additional Information about building work

The University Safety Policy prohibition on Schools undertaking structural work on the buildings they occupy is being temporally modified by the EB approval of a specific project between ESS and SAgE. The prohibition is ONLY lifted for work in this project. The prohibition on Schools undertaking structural work on buildings will remain for all work proposed outside this pilot project. For further details please contact the ESS Safety Officer Gary Morton.

Safety Policy Documents

The following are lists of the various University level Safety Policy documents. Additional documents will be found in the University Schools, Institutes and Services and in some cases for specific facilities. All of the following apply to the whole of the University unless a specific exemption has been authorised by the University Safety Committee (which will be annotated below with an alternative document provided).

University Safety Policy Documents

These documents remain in force until they are replaced by newer documents. The date provided refers to the date that they first came into force.

NEW University Safety Policy as a full document (27 pages) [from July 2010]
- Contents page (1 page)
- University Safety Policy Statement (signed by the VC 19-07-2010) (1 page)
- Part 1 - University Safety Policy (8 pages)
- Part 2 - General Safety (13 pages)
- Part 3 - Summary of Health and Safety Policy Statement (2 pages) and a special version for HR
OLD University Safety Policy [from August 2004 to July 2010]
University Fire Safety Policy [May 2007] (Currently under revision)
University Radiation Protection policy is provided in the form of a set of Local Rules on the Radiation Safety pages. These are monitored and managed by the University Radiation Protection Committee, and the system is explained in the document "The Management of radiation Protection" which is also on the site.
University Diving Policy (termed Local Rules) [January 2010 due for revision January 2013]

How Safety Policies are Made

The University Safety Policy is drafted by the University Safety Office, sent out for consultation via the University Safety Committee, revised and then after the Committee sanctions it is sent on to the University Executive Board then to Council for approval and enaction. It therefore is a document owned by Council..

The Safety Policy Supplements are drafted by the University Safety Committee before being sent to the University Safety Committee for consultation and then approval and enaction. These are documents owned by the Committee.

Guidance on the Policy Docuemtns are drafted by the University Safety Office before being consulted on via the University Safety Committee and published by the University Safety Office. These documents are owned by the USO.

General Guiadance documents are drafted and published by the USO and may be provided to the University Safety Committee for information. These documents are owned by the USO.

Document Type	Authored By	Consultaion	Ratification	Ownership
University Safety Policy	University Safety Office	University Safety Committee (2 meetings) Executive Board (1 meeting) Council	Council	Council
Safety Policy Supplements	University Safety Office	University Safety Committee (2 meetings)	University Safety Committee	University Safety Committee
Policy Guidance	University Safety Office	University Safety Committee (2 meetings)	University Safety Committee	University Safety Office
Guidance	University Safety Office	University Safety Committee (1 meeting)	University Safety Office	University Safety Office

Newcastle University Safety Office

Newcastle University