Health and Safety

It seems that Health & Safety is becoming ever more important in everybody’s life and St Joseph’s Parish is no exception. The Diocese decreed that all parishes should have someone to look after health and safety. This means having fire plans, making sure access routes are clear, carrying out a large number of checks and inspections and putting up official notices.
 
Work already implimented includes:
Fire plans detailing action to be taken in the event of a fire together with location of exit doors and fire extinguishers on display in the entrances.
Diocese health and safety policy on display in the entrances.
A new automatic fire alarm system in the Parish Centre.
Hand operated fire alarm bell in the church.
Additional fire extinguishers.
Notice in the car parks identifying the meeting point.
Training of first aiders.
 
A Health and Safety committee was formed which included: Mgr Tom McGrath, Terry Boland, Tricia Brooking and Michael Cashman. Meetings have been held on an ad hoc basis as required. Chris Pestridge represented St Elizabeth's on the committee and oversaw a number of changes before he was taken ill and sadly died. A replacement is being sought.

Everyone can play a part in keeping our buildings safe and limit any dangers by reporting anything that is a potential hazard or requires some remedial action to make safe. To this end forms are available for reporting incidents or hazards and are available from the Parish Centre and Parish offices or from Pam Carter at the Repository. This can include such items as a trip hazard or a screw protruding through a pew or anything that looks dangerous in any way.