Vita Safety reviews current controls at Imperial College London

Stockport-based health and safety consultancy, Vita Safety, has concluded an independent review on the status of property risk management at Imperial College London.

Working in collaboration with Imperial College’s skilled property management and risk experts, the review aimed to verify the adequacy of current controls, gain an insight into the unique needs and challenges faced whilst setting a strategy to close any gaps and continually improve.

Vita Safety’s Managing Director Ian Hutchings explained the process:

“To allow a clear road map for project completion, the work was carried out in two distinct phases: Discovery and fact finding; and site-based risk evaluation, data correlation and reporting. 

“By identifying areas requiring support, specific to the risk topics, and highlighting areas of good practice, we were able to foster greater transparency for property risk management across differing levels of the organisation.

“Given the complexity and scale of Imperial’s operations, it was essential to assess the connections between campuses, departments and contractors from a property risk management perspective while also evaluating the status of planned preventative maintenance, both internal and external, across the estate.”

Following the conclusion of both phases of the review, Vita’s subsequent report highlighted areas of good practice as well as identifying areas requiring additional support.

Robert Kerse, Chief Operating Officer, Imperial College London, concluded:

“Although we have a highly skilled team on site, it is important that we look to external resource and expertise to validate our work while providing a new perspective to ensure full compliance.

“Vita Safety’s report indicated Imperial is performing well for compliance relating to the premises risk topics. Areas which require support were also noted in the report, including the need for targeted training on the recently implemented planned preventative maintenance system for managers to enhance their overview of completed tasks, and a greater overview on the completion of remedial actions. 

“The main outcome was a trusted partnership and the assurance we provided in the agreed premises risk topics. ?This has allowed the respective teams to allocate resource into areas which require some support whilst recognising the areas of property risk which are being managed well.

“At Imperial, we aim to cultivate a proactive risk management culture where everyone feels empowered to raise concerns and contribute ideas without hesitation. ?Our open partnering approach adopted with the support from Vita Safety demonstrated this desire for continual improvement.”