HSQE Communication Bulletin — July & August 2026 (combined catch-up issue)¶
Document Reference: COMM_HSQE_0708_2026
Issue Number: 2
Issue Date: 04/09/2026 · revised 30/09/2026
Review Cycle: Monthly
Controlled By: HSQE Consultant
Document Type: Communication Bulletin
Document Control Information¶
| Rev | Changes | Date | Approved By |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Combined July–August 2026 catch-up issue | 04/09/2026 | Aaron Mason |
| 2 | Operational sections completed from the controlled record. Fire Marshal position corrected forward to the September 2026 issue | 30/09/2026 | Aaron Mason |
Why this issue is late, and why it is combined
The HSQE bulletin has run monthly and unbroken since April 2025. July and August 2026 were missed. The bulletin is a documented monthly control under Clause 7.4, so two consecutive gaps are a break in the record.
This single issue covers both months and is dated the day it was written. The two missed issues have not been backdated. The monthly cycle resumes with the September 2026 issue.
Cause: the post-audit period following the Achilles UVDB B2 assessment on 3–4 June. The same gap saw the annual policy review and the risk assessment review both run past their dates. That pattern is going to the September Management Review as a resourcing item.
Executive Summary¶
Two months of toolbox talks delivered; a Fire Marshal certificate lapsed; the full HSQE policy set and every home-and-office risk assessment reissued; the ISO 14001:2026 transition plan published. September is heavy: the extinguisher service, the annual Management Review and five corrective actions all fall due inside the last week.
🔴 Action needed — Fire Marshal cover¶
Jason May's Fire Marshal certificate expired on 24 July 2026.
Fire Marshal cover at AMWS now rests on Leanne Mason alone, and her certificate expires on 15 November 2026. Both need booking.
CAR-2026-003 was closed in May on the evidence of Jason's renewal, a certificate that ran to 24/07/2026. The closure was correct at the time and nothing re-tested it before it lapsed. The process has changed as a result: a corrective action closed on evidence with a future expiry date now gets a forward diary entry at that date. That prompt lives in the new weekly compliance call form.
Owner: Leanne Mason · Target: 31 October 2026
Corrected at the September 2026 issue
Jason May's Fire Warden (Fire Marshal) Training was renewed on 21/07/2026 and runs to 21/07/2029. The entry above was written from the superseded certificate, which ran to 24/07/2026. Fire Marshal cover is held by both Jason May and Leanne Mason. See September 2026.
🟠 Also outstanding¶
Leanne Mason's Emergency First Aid at Work certificate was rebooked in May 2026 with the certificate to be filed on completion. It has not reached the portal. First aid cover at the Northampton office depends on it.
Closed 22/09/2026 — the certificate is held and runs to 16/06/2029. Confirmed at the certificate-currency check of that date.
Toolbox talks delivered¶
| Month | Topic | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| July 2026 | COSHH — fuels and chlorine handling | SOP 8.5 · COSHH 04 / 07 / 23 / 24 |
| August 2026 | Manual handling — pipe and aggregate | SOP 8.2 |
Both talks were delivered by the Site Supervisor at morning briefing and recorded on the attendance template. Nothing raised at either talk was escalated to APP_21, and no corrective action on the 2026 register originates from either session.
Coming in September: Driving for work — fatigue and distraction (SOP 8.13). Ties directly to RA_HO_12 and RA_HO_18. This business covers a high mileage.
Summer heat — closing the season out¶
The June brief on heat and hydration ran across both months. No heat-related incident, early finish or work rotation was reported in either month. APP_22 records zero incidents of any class across the period.
Heat stress from PPE is now a scored line in RA_HO_15, with work rotation at the Site Supervisor's discretion as the control.
What changed in the management system¶
The full HSQE policy set was reviewed and the revised policies issued on 9 September. The set runs POL_HSQE_00 to POL_HSQE_31 — thirty-two policies, each at its own revision. Ten picked up legal or accuracy corrections where the law had moved since July 2025; the rest were reaffirmed unchanged in substance. The main one is that the PPE regulations cited were wrong. The correct instrument extends the duty to provide PPE to workers, not only employees. That affects how AMWS handles labour-supply subcontractors and is going to the Management Review.
Three policies existed but were missing from the policy index: Mental Health, IT Security and Fatigue Management. All three are now listed in it.
Every home-and-office risk assessment was rewritten on 4 September. RA_HO_01–17 are at Issue 2. The previous versions described controls AMWS does not have (eye test vouchers, an employee assistance programme, de-escalation training, satellite phones) and all of those have gone. What is left is what AMWS does, and each remaining gap is now stated with a name and a date against it.
The ISO 14001:2026 transition plan was published as APP_25. The standard was published in April 2026, AMWS has until 2029, and the transition happens at recertification in autumn 2027. Five clauses are already conformant, seven need depth adding and none is a gap.
Coming up — September is busy¶
| Date | What |
|---|---|
| 24 September | Fire extinguisher and fire blanket annual service — Oxford Fire Solutions. Confirm booked |
| 30 September | Annual Management Review |
| 30 September | CAR-2026-004, -006, -008 and -010 all fall due |
| 30 September | H&S Culture Survey results review — the first cycle was due to issue by 31 August |
| 30 October | Harassment law strengthens: "all reasonable steps", and third-party harassment extends to other protected characteristics |
Reminder — the notice boards have changed¶
Three new one-page summaries are going up at both units and in the welfare unit: what the law expects of you on site, the three environmental incidents that get us prosecuted, and how to speak up.
They follow an internal audit finding that the legal register is thorough but is not seen outside the office.
From the operational side¶
What the record holds for the two months:
| July & August 2026 | |
|---|---|
| RIDDOR-reportable injuries | 0 |
| Lost-time injuries | 0 |
| Dangerous occurrences | 0 |
| Road traffic accidents | 0 |
| Environmental incidents | 0 |
| Near misses and close calls reported | 0 |
| Operative-raised items escalated to APP_21 | 0 |
The near-miss figure is the one being worked on. Reporting has stood at zero for three years, which is treated as an absence of data rather than an absence of events. CAR-2026-009 carries it, and a direct route to the answer was put in place in September.
Van and equipment inspections run weekly under the supervisors on QA_FM_08 and QA_FM_09. The arrangement was confirmed on the ground at the premises inspection of 22/09/2026.
Issued by Sean Ashton, HSQE Consultant (Onyx Operations) on behalf of A M Water Services Limited. Paper copies are uncontrolled when printed.