Accidents involving council staff included poolside wrist fracture and ride-on mower incident

Three accidents in the last year involving South Staffordshire Council staff were required to be reported to authorities under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR).

The accidents were revealed as part of a report to the authority's standards and resource committee meeting on January 16.

There were also 17 "minor accidents" and several first aid treatments logged.

A report to the committee revealed that the three "more serious" accidents were a staff member slipping at a poolside while packing away inflatable equipment at a leisure centre and suffering a fractured wrist; a Street Scene employee suffering bruising to their elbow and shoulder while using a ride-on mower which was driven off a kerb, which led to more than seven days' absence; and manual handling practices led to a Street Scene employee with a pre-existing condition suffering a musculo-skeletal injury to their shoulder, which resulted in more than seven days' absence.

The report added: "Where accidents are reportable or more serious, an investigation is undertaken and appropriate action taken.

"For example, as a result of the Street Scene incident, new working practices have been developed and further staff training has taken place.”

However, during 2018/19 there was a decrease in staff absence levels for the top four main absence reasons, compared to the previous year.

There were 40 absences caused by cough, cold, flu or virus – down from 46; while there were 33 gastrointestinal illnesses – down from 35 the previous year. There were 12 eye, throat or mouth conditions, down from 17 – and 16 musculo-skeletal conditions, including bone injury – down from 22.

Absences caused by stress, anxiety and depression went up by one from 11 in 2017/18 to 12 in 2018/19.

But South Staffordshire Council has invested in a number of "employee assistance interventions" to boost health and wellbeing at work, including offering staff access to a counselling and psychology service at a venue not located on the authority's premises, a physiotherapy service and free flu vaccinations for those not automatically entitled to a jab via the NHS.

Wendy Bridgwater, South Staffordshire Council's corporate support manager, said: "We have a target not to exceed more than seven days’ absence per employee per year – our performance for 2018/19 was 4.32 for average days lost, which is an excellent result in the context of a public sector employer with an enhanced sick leave system of six months’ full pay and six months half.

“I think that’s a credit to our workforce – we have a very committed workforce.”