Health & Safety Meeting
Dear all,
Here are the outcomes of today’s health and safety meeting.
a) Smoking Policy
The JCR have managed to get feedback from students regarding smoking at College. Most were in favour of banning smoking from all public areas. The JCR thus proposed to ban smoking from public areas at College but still allow the liberty for smoking in individual rooms.
The MCR has expressed its opinion in favour of this. The policy is not definitive yet; we shall discuss among ourselves at the next committee meeting and perhaps suggest alterations or improvements. A paper will be drafted and presented to Council.
b) Designated smoking areas
A change in the College’s smoking policy would be accompanied by the set up of designated smoking areas around the College and Wolfson Court. These areas are:
College: Ash Court, outside the JCR, outside the Kitchen loading bay.
Wolfson Ct: Opposite the Porter’s Lodge in the inside court, Cafeteria Court, and another area in the vicinity of the Bar/Fletcher Moulton Room.
However, no smoking shelters will be installed. Moreover, more cigarette bins or larger ones will have to be installed in the designated areas as part of this policy. The emptying and cleaning of these bins will be the responsibility of the College.
c) Use of the swimming pool
There are some concerns about the cleanliness of the swimming pool. The Clerk of Works has kindly asked people using the pool to shower before entering the pool. A kind notice will be put up soon.
d) Graduate Houses Fire Alarms
A new fire detection system will be installed which will allow, in case of fire, to notify the fire brigade directly. This was decided because the graduate houses are not supervised during the day (i.e. nobody home). This new system may allow to prevent large-scale damage to the hostels in case of fire.
e) Student welfare
Some problems have been reported in terms of student “mental health”. The JCR and MCR are thus requested to remind students of the welfare services that are available to them. This would be something our Welfare Secretary could look into.
f) Portable Appliance Testing
PAT has been conducted for all student electrical possessions. It proved to be successful as some appliances have failed the test. PAT ensures that students are not exposed to live voltage from bad wires/appliances. College hopes to carry out this exercise every year.
These points are those that I feel are most directly related to our issues as MCR/graduates.
Best wishes,
Alexios