The Leader reported to Council that Councillor HM Williams had been appointed as Deputy Leader of the Council. He advised that Councillor Williams was a very experienced Member and he would be personally looking forward to working closely with him over the coming months. He added that he would be making an announcement about Cabinet Members portfolios in due course. 

New laws on renting out houses in Wales were due to begin very soon as part of the Housing Act (Wales) 2014, and landlords and agents have until 23 November to register with Rent Smart Wales. Those who fail to do so could be fined or even prosecuted, so he hoped that all Members will help to make their constituents aware of this. Applications could be made online at www.rentsmart.gov.wales or by calling the Rent Smart Wales helpline on 03000 133344.

The Lead Association for Catering in Education Wales Awards, had allocated the title of Frontline Catering Team of the Year to kitchen staff at Brynteg Comprehensive. The team won the award in recognition of the way in which they had worked closely with pupils to cook up a range of healthy meal options such as burritos, pulled pork pasta sauce and a new fruit and salad bar. Whilst all of BCBC’s schools met the WLGA’s Healthy Eating in Schools regulations, this was a fantastic achievement, and congratulated the team at Brynteg for their hard work and success.

Members would be aware the Leader announced, that the Council works hard to ensure that pupils with disabilities or additional learning needs are educated in their local community. Seven-year-old Trelales Primary pupil Leo Burgess was the latest to benefit from this as he has become the first pupil in Wales to use a high-tech Cosmo Electronic Brailler that the local authority had provided to the school. Such technology is invaluable in making learning more accessible, and he was looking forward to seeing more of it introduced to classrooms throughout the County Borough. He further added, that the Education Department had also funded the latest amplification technology on school classrooms, that gave increasing support to children with hearing loss or impairment.

Finally, the Leader advised that Members may be aware of incidents at Swansea University and Gower College that had occurred over the last few days. Reports had included references to unstable chemicals such as Dinitrophenylhydrazine; buildings evacuations and controlled explosions.

He therefore asked the Council’s Health and Safety Manager, to explain the details of the actions carried out by the Authority to address this situation in Bridgend.

Health and Safety Manager’s announcement

The Health and Safety stated that Elected Members may be aware of incidents at Swansea University and Gower College that had occurred over the last few days. Reports had included references to unstable chemicals, buildings evacuations and controlled explosions.

The UK wide incidents have been linked to the storage and use of 2,4 DNP (2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine) which is commonly used in the syllabus for A level chemistry, and is perfectly safe if stored correctly. However, if stored incorrectly, there is a potential for it to become explosive.

CLEAPPS provides advice and guidance on all aspects of practical work in science, technology and art. As a result of the incidents above CLEAPSS issued a briefing document about 2,4 DNP to all higher education establishments on 28th October 2016.

The advice circulated by came to the attention of the Corporate Health and Safety Unit (CHSU) on the morning of Tuesday 01/11/2016 from a partner organisation Bridgend College. As part of a considered response to this urgent matter, an immediate desk top audit of the 9 schools in the Borough was undertaken by Officers based within CHSU. This was achieved by contacting the school by telephone and speaking with the Head of Science or Chemistry Technician to obtain the necessary information.

The key element of the briefing note related to the storage requirements of the chemical.  If the chemical had not historically been stored in the right manner then it would need to be treated as potentially explosive and disposed of properly. The only safe disposal route was for the bomb squad (EOD) to deal with the chemical as there are NO safe methods for school staff to carry out.

Initially, four schools identified that the chemical was being stored correctly. It turned out though, that five however were not.

Of the five schools not storing the chemical properly, one was using the chemical to prepare for an experiment at the time of the audit call. Further advice was sought in relation to this matter and the advice provided by CLEAPSS was that the school implement the appropriate storage requirements from this point forward to keep the chemical stable.

Three schools contacted OED on 999 on the 1st November 2016, and each had a controlled explosion on school sites during the last night.

One school has since updated the initial audit information provided and advised that, contrary to information provided at the time, they have assured that the chemical has been stored in line with approved guidance at all times.

The Health and Safety Manager concluded her submission, by advising that a further pro-active audit would be undertaken by CHSU with support and assistance from Senior Management in Education and Family Support, to gain assurances that the storage and management of chemicals in schools were managed appropriately.

A Member stated that he was aware that there were rocks in the vicinity of Cynffig Comprehensive School that were contaminated with a radioactive substance, and that these had been there in the region of 25 to 30 years. He asked if these were intended to be included in the health and safety audit.

The Leader confirmed that this school would be audited as part of the overall audit of all schools.

A Member asked what arrangements were available in schools and colleges to ensure that chemicals were not easily made available to pupils and students.

The Health and Safety Manager advised that all schools had in place health and safety arrangements based upon the local authorities or their own Health and Safety Policy. Also, each school maintained records of their chemicals stored for safeguarding and monitoring purposes, and these records also included details regarding their usage.

A Member that there had recently been a fire in Gower College, and he asked if this had resulted from a chemical source.

The Health and Safety Manager confirmed that this had taken place on the Ty Coch site and had been an accident resulting from and electrical fault, and was therefore not chemically related.