LANDSCAPE AND GROUNDS MAINTENANCE A PROCESS A Too many organisations are failing to mitigate hazards in the outdoor environment


In the UK there are over 16m square metres of property owned by the government. This vast estate comprises almost 14,000 buildings, from schools, hospitals, leisure centres, libraries and museums, to the office spaces housing our 5.5 million public sector workers. For the public sector organisations responsible for properties that include outdoor spaces, the maintenance and upkeep of pathways, car parks and landscapes is not simply a matter of aesthetics. Perhaps the greatest challenge they face is in managing risk.


According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) around five million days are lost each year through workplace injuries, with slips, trips and falls making up more than half of all reported major/specified injuries and almost 29% of over-seven-day injuries. This costs the UK economy billions of pounds. In the public administration category alone, accidents of this type account for 28% of employee injuries.


Of course, when an organisation fails to manage risks it’s not only its own workforce that can suffer: The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 not only states that employers have a Duty of Care to provide a safe working environment to ensure the welfare of its own employees, but also of anyone visiting or passing by a site, including suppliers and members of the public.


Failure to achieve this not only risks injury to individuals, but can also have a major impact on an organisation’s reputation and finances. While in the UK we have yet to reach the extremes of our American cousins when it comes to ambulance chasing, recent years have seen the flourishing of a compensation culture fuelled by “no win, no fee” legal services, with accidents from trips and falls having the greatest potential for high value claims and compensation.


As well as the risk of action being taken on an institutional level, it’s also vital to remember that there is also the possibility for action to be taken against individuals within an organisation whose actions – or inaction – result in health and safety lapses. It’s also important to note that breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act fall under criminal rather than civil law, which means that liable individuals may end up facing far tougher financial sanctions and even end up with a criminal record.


Despite the enormity of the risks and consequences, many organisations still leave far too much to chance in how they manage outdoor spaces. Consider the fact that more than 50% of slips and trips occur in the autumn/winter months. According to the Hospital Episode Statistics for England, over 7,200 people were treated in hospital after slipping on snow or ice during the harsh winter of 2017/18.


Research by the IWFM found that almost a quarter of facilities managers said that they don’t have a winter maintenance plan in place to ensure that the right


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What does an effective plan look like? Let’s take as an example the key elements of an effective winter maintenance plan for handling snowy and icy conditions. This should include:


• Use of a recognised health and safety management system such as OHSAS1800115 to ensure the plan is fit for purpose.


• Clearly defined and communicated responsibilities - both on the ground and with a senior ‘champion’ to ensure high level management buy-in.


• A process for documenting the proactive actions, incidents and investigations undertaken with records maintained and kept for a minimum of three years.


• Ensuring the plan is based on detailed surveys to identify hazard areas and that action is undertaken according to agreed action triggers for service (e.g. accurate real time weather data).


• Adequate resourcing – whether via specialist contractors or in house - with a dedicated, trained team, sufficient and well-maintained PPE.


• Clearly defined KPIs to measure performance against and a process to review the plan and any KPIs on a regular basis (at least bi-annually)


While these elements would constitute best practice for taking on snow and ice, very similar professional discipline and principles (identifying roles and responsibilities, documenting activity and reviewing against KPIs) can be applied to other contexts where risks may arise.


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