You Win Some...

NCC was justifiably proud for coming second in the 'UK's Cleanest City' awards. So proud that they spun it into winning 'Cleanest Big City' award which doesn't actually exist, on the basis that the actual winner Truro only has 18,000 residents.

I hope the workers on the ground were invited to the glitzy do and rewarded individually. After all they'd need something to take their minds off the increased risk of mesothelioma and other diseases, thanks to their employer failing to tackle the asbestos at the Woolsthorpe depot.

But of course you don't see that latter detail mentioned on the NCC website.

NCC Fined for Asbestos Management Breach

The Post is reporting that NCC has been fined £30k plus £12k costs for breaches of health and safety at work rules for the management of asbestos at the Woolsthorpe depot in Bilborough.

Apparently the issue has been going on since 2005, subjecting 148 workers to risk. The Health and Safety Executive issued an improvement notice in Feb last year but, confusingly, this is marked as having been complied with.

Of course NCC is responsible for prosecuting some health and safety and public health issues itself and loudly publicises when it gets one over the little guy.

This conviction is hardly likely to enhance the council's credibility and moral authority in future cases. And of course we still have the Viccy flats lift accident investigation to to finish which may not help matters.

Fire in the Hold!

Noticed a brief report in the Post yesterday about a fire in the basement of the Council House.

My first thought was that it was an insurance/clearance job. After all, apart from a couple of die hard councillors, NCC has largely abandoned the Council House for its shiny new home at Loxley House and it could be described as a prime location. However, its listing status was recently upgraded to Grade II* so it would be incredibly difficult to make any alterations to the building. The normal fate for such properties is to suddenly find themselves aflame and oh noes! they have to be demolished, leaving room for new development and the landowner bathing in filthy lucre, instead of burdened with a money pit.

But jesting aside, a clue in the report points to a more likely scenario. Apparently the fire started in a lift mechanism before spreading. I'm no expert but I presume (hope?) that lifts aren't normally prone to spontaneous combustion unless, perhaps, they haven't been maintained properly.

Now lift maintenance is currently a live issue with NCC following the accident in the lifts at Victoria Centre flats. NCC used to employ a lifts maintenance team but this was cut in the 2009 workforce reductions to make savings. I understand that this decision is quite high in the minds of the health and Safety Executive which is currently investigating the Viccy flats incident.

Looks like we might have been subjected to a cut too far.

Update - just had it confirmed that the fire did start in the car lift as suggested by Niles in the comments. NCC isn't responsible for that so they're in the clear over that one.

Interestingly have been told that NCC has hired consultants Dunbar and Boardman to look after their lifts since the Viccy flats incident. Chances are that won't be cheap and the decision to engage them should have been published on the NCC website (either as a delegated officer decision or portfolio holder decision) but I haven't seen any sign of it. But they're being very secretive about lift related stuff at the moment. I've got a freedom of info request in about all that so it'll be interesting to see how much info they give me or whether they hide behind exemptions. I know which one my money's on...

Snippets

According to the Post, Jon Collins is in the running to become Chair of Notts Police Authority. The Post also reports a "Labour source" as questioning whether this is a good idea but predictably, they asked to remain anonymous. There are two other candidates and the decision will be made on 27 May.

As well as being a councillor in St Anns and Leader of the City Council, JoCo is also the Chair of 'One Nottingham', Chair of the Crime and Drugs Partnership, Chair of the Renewal Trust and a member of the East Midlands Development Agency board. He is also already heavily involved in NPA as Chair of its Change Management Committee and has been no stranger to controversy there. It's not been revealed whether he will give up any of these if here to be given the new NPA role.

(Update - just found out he is also Vice-Chair of the East Midlands Leaders Board)

Following the lift accident at Viccy flats, which may or may not be due at least in part to NCC's decision to make the lift maintenance team redundant last year, NCC have shown a keen sense of irony in loudly reporting its prosecution of a Radford shop owner for a defective lift which caused a strikingly similar accident to the Viccy flats incident. Still, at least they got a guide figure for the size of the fine.

Quite a risky PR strategy really because, although NCC will probably be able to pass the buck on to Nottm City Homes for Viccy flats, there are still a number of NCC buildings with lifts in which are probably just at risk.

Lift Issues

The Post has a report on a chap who had an accident in one of the lifts at a Nottingham City Homes owned block of flats, resulting in 'leg injuries'. I'm hearing that it was actually Victoria Centre flats and that the particular leg injury concerned was 'loss of...' which sounds pretty nasty.

NCH have acted in the only way they know how i.e. they have appointed a consultant.

There is an interesting comment at the bottom of the article and I've got a bit more info on that.

Phrases like 'only a matter of time have been' have been heard to be muttered by people who know about these things. It seems that, prior to the 'workforce reductions' decided last year in order to cut costs (as opposed to those announced THIS year), Nottm City Council employed a Lifts Service. It was these guys' job to look after and inspect the lifts across NCC and NCH (about 1400 in total I'm told) and to commission any repairs needed. However they were deemed surplus to requirements and made redundant. Apparently NCH took on one of the team members who has since been forced to do a convincing impression of the proverbial blue arsed fly with a rocket up its arse.

The workforce reductions were supposed to have been risk assessed for health and safety issues but unfortunately all that, along with any details of the jobs that were lost, was kept confidential so I can't find out any more about it.

The savings achieved were around £80,000. I wonder if the poor chap in hospital thinks it was worth it.