Purpose

The purpose of this report is to present the updated Corporate Health & Safety Policy 2026 to the Cabinet for approval and formal adoption. This overarching policy governs occupational health and safety across all council services, reinforcing the council's commitment to providing a safe working environment for employees, contractors, and the public.

Decision

Cabinet agreed the following:

1. To approve and adopt the Corporate Health & Safety Policy 2026 (Version 5), replacing the previous November 2023 version, to ensure legal compliance, clear governance, and continuous performance improvement across all undertakings.

Reasons for the decision

The prospective decision to adopt Version 5 of the Corporate Health & Safety Policy is being made to reformat the framework into the new corporate format and simplify its content by reducing legislative repetition. It also moves extensive supplementary documentation to a separate Annex to keep the core policy focused and manageable, whilst establishing updated commitments and clear lines of organisational responsibility.

Alternative options considered

Do Nothing (Reject the Update). This was rejected because maintaining Version 4 would leave the council with outdated corporate formatting and an overly dense policy structure containing unnecessary legislative text, contrary to evolving best practices.