NEBOSH International General

Certificate in Occupational Safety

and Health
Unit IGC1

Element 1:
Foundations in Health
and Safety
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Learning Outcomes
On completion of this element, you should be
able to demonstrate understanding of the
content through the application of knowledge
to familiar and unfamiliar situations. In
particular you should be able to:
Outline the scope and nature of occupational
health and safety
Explain the moral, social and economic
reasons for maintaining and promoting good
standards of health and safety in the
workplace
Explain the role of national governments and
international bodies in formulating a
framework for the regulation of health and
safety
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Unit IGC1
Element 1.1
The Scope and Nature of Occupational
Health and Safety

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Scope and Nature of

Health and Safety
Multi-Disciplinary
Barriers to Good Standards
Definitions

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Multi-Disciplinary
Health and safety practitioners need to be familiar with:
Chemistry/Physics/ Biology
Engineering
Psychology
Sociology
Legislation
Standards which apply
Strengths and weaknesses of options

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Barriers to Good
Standards
Complexity of the Workplace
Conflicting Demands

Timescales
Standards
Budgets
Behavioural Issues

People failing to act as

desired or making
mistakes

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Definitions
Health - absence of
disease
Safety - absence of
risk of serious
personal injury
Welfare - provision of
facilities
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Definitions
Environmental Protection:
Prevention of damage to air, land,
water and living organisms

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Group Syndicate Exercise

Why might the management of an
organisation not consider health and safety
to be a priority?

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Group Syndicate Exercise Answers

Key points include:
Competes with other business aims

Requires time and resources

Seen as a cost to business

Ignorance of true costs of

injury/illness
Ignorance of legal duties
Ignorance of hazards

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End of Section Quiz

1. What barriers might there be
to good health and safety
practice?
2. Define the terms

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Health
Safety
Welfare

Unit IGC1
Element 1.2
Reasons for Maintaining and Promoting
Good Standards of Health and Safety

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Why Manage Health and

Safety?
Moral reasons

Legal (or social)

reasons
Economic reasons

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The Size of the Problem

Global statistics from the International
Labour Organisation (ILO) SafeWork
Programme:
270 million accidents and 160 million
diseases a year due to work
2 million fatalities a year
4% of global GDP is
lost
355,000 on-the-job
fatalities each year
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Group Syndicate Exercise

An employee at your workplace has
been seriously injured in a workplace
accident.
In groups, as indicated by the tutor,
list the possible effects and
implications of this accident on:
The injured employee
The company
The line manager
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Group Syndicate Exercise

- Answers

Key points include:

Injured Employee

Pain and suffering, lost time/wages,

impact on family, ongoing impact on
work

The Company
Payment of sick pay, overtime cover for
employee, recruitment costs for
replacement, insurance claims,
fines/prosecutions, increased insurance
premiums

The Line manager

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Loss of skills from team, time and cost of

retraining replacement, effect of
overtime cover on shifts

The Legal and Social

Expectation
Health and safety law is usually
based
on:
International standards from the International
Labour Organisation
A countrys own health and safety standards

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Who's Responsible for

Health and Safety?

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Everybody - but most of the

responsibility lies with the
employer
to
provide:
Safe place of work
Safe plant and
equipment
Safe systems of
work
Training and
supervision

The Business Case

Accidents and ill-health cost money
Costs may be:

Direct - measurable costs arising directly

from accidents
Indirect - arise as a consequence of the
event but may not directly involve money.
Often
difficult
quantify
H&S
failure
cantoaffect
the

broader economy as well as

individual companies

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Group Discussion

An employee has been injured

at work
Identify potential
Direct costs of the accident
Indirect costs of the accident

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Group Discussion Answers

Direct costs include

First aid treatment, sick pay, lost

production time
Fines and compensation

Indirect costs
Lost time for investigation
Lost morale and damaged worker
relationships
Cost of recruitment of
replacements
Lost reputation
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The Cost of Accidents at

Work
Insured Costs

Fire
Worker injury/death
Medical costs

Uninsured Costs

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8 - 36

Loss of raw materials due to

accidents
Sick pay
Overtime
Equipment repairs
Lost materials

End
of
Section
Quiz
1. What are the 3 main reasons
for managing health and
safety?
2. What should an employer
provide to ensure health and
safety:

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Safe place of _______________

Safe plant and ______________
Safe _______ of work
Training, _____ and competency
of ______

Unit IGC1
Element 1.3
Role of National Governments and
International Bodies

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Roles of National
Governments and
International Bodies
International Labour
Organisation (ILO)
Agency of United
Nations
Most countries are
members
Sets international
standards for H&S by
publishing:
Conventions
Recommendations
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The International
Framework
Conventions
Create binding obligations or
policies to implement their
provisions
No legal authority, unless ratified
by the member-state into its own
legal structure
Recommendations
Provide guidance on policy,
legislation and practice
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Examples of Regulatory
International Frameworks
Regulations adopted by the International
Labour Organisation (ILO):
Occupational Safety and Health Convention
(C155) - a goal setting policy for companies
and nations
Occupational Safety and Health
Recommendation 1981 (R164) - supplements
C155 and gives more guidance on how to
comply with its policies

We'll talk about these a lot during the course!

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Employers
Responsibilities
Article 16 of C155 identifies obligations placed
on employers:
To provide and maintain workplaces, machinery,
equipment and work processes
To ensure that chemical, physical and biological
substances and agents are without risk to health
when protective measures have been taken
To provide adequate protective clothing and
equipment to prevent risks of accidents or
adverse health effects

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Employers
Responsibilities
Article 10 of R164:
Provide and maintain workplaces, machinery and
equipment and use working methods that are safe
Give necessary instruction, training and supervision
in application and use of health and safety measures
Introduce organisational arrangements relevant to
activities and size of undertaking
Provide PPE and clothing without charge to workers
Ensure that work organisation, particularly working
hours and rest breaks, does not adversely affect
occupational safety and health
Take reasonably practical measures with a view to
eliminating excessive physical and mental fatigue
Keep up-to-date of scientific and technical
knowledge to comply with the above
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Regulatory Frameworks
ILO has also published Conventions
associated with specific hazards:
C115 - Radiation Protection (1960)
C162 - Asbestos (1986)
C167 - H&S in Construction (1988)

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What Employers Must

Provide

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Safe place of work and safe access

and egress

Safe plant and equipment the need

to inspect, service and replace
machinery will depend on the level of
risk

Safe system of work should be safe

in all circumstances - appropriate review,
planning and control ensure continued
safety of methods

What is Competence"?
K NOWLEDGE
A BILITY
T RAINING
E XPERIENCE

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Group Exercise
Apart from employees, who else must the employer protect?

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Group Exercise
Anyone affected by their business
activities:
Visitors
Invited / uninvited
Lawful / unlawful (law differs
from country to country)
Contractors
Members of the public
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Workers Responsibilities
Article 19 of C155 also places
obligations on workers, expanded in R164
as follows:
Take reasonable care of their own
safety and that of other people
Comply with safety instructions
Use all safety equipment properly
Report any situation which they believe
could be a hazard and which they
cannot themselves correct
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Report any work-related accident/illhealth

Workers Rights
Article 19 of C155 states that every
be: information on actions
worker
Givenmust
adequate
the employer has taken to ensure safety
and health
Given the right to the necessary training
in safety and health
Consulted by the employer on all matters
of safety and health relating to their work

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Given the right to leave a workplace

which he has reason to think presents an
imminent and serious danger to his life or
health, and not be compelled to return
until it is safe

Enforcement Agencies
No harmonised global standard
Country-specific agencies may
include:
H&S Enforcement Agency
Fire Authority
Insurance Companies

Police may be involved in

enforcing H&S law in some
countries
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Consequences of NonCompliance
Breach of H&S legislation is usually a criminal offence leading to:
Enforcement action

Improvement
Prohibition
Prosecution

Organisation may be fined

Individuals may be fined or
imprisoned

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Claims for Compensation

Fault-Based Compensation Systems

Worker brings claim against

employer
Civil legal system
Must prove employer was
negligent and therefore to
blame for injury/ill-health
UK and USA
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Claims for Compensation

No-fault systems
National or regional
schemes
No need to prove
negligence
Decided by a panel of
experts
No lawyers or courts
New Zealand and
Sweden
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Syndicate Group Exercise

Discuss the criminal and civil law implications of the
following:

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A technician escapes injury by diving under a bench

when a vessel blows up as a result of a design defect
A 12-year-old boy breaks his arm falling into a pit
whilst playing on an unfenced building site
A machine operator is blinded in one eye by a
colleague trying to help him remove a jammed
machine part using a hammer. There is a safe way to
remove the jammed part which does not involve the
use of a hammer and the area they are in is a
mandatory eye protection zone
A scaffolder is electrocuted when the pole he is
carrying touches a live overhead cable. The
scaffolder works for a company contracted to a
roofing company, in turn contracted to a factory
owner.

Other International
Standards
International Organisation for
Standardisation
World's largest developer of
management standards, for example:
ISO 9001 Quality Management
ISO 14001 Environmental Management
ISO 12100 Safety of Machinery

These standards are not "law", they're

good management practice
They lead to a worldwide common
approach to good management
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Other International
Standards
Internationally recognised standard for Occupational Health and Safety is
OHSAS 18001
Compatible with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001

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Sources of Information
Sources can be

Internal

External
... to the organisation

List all the internal and external sources you can think of and discuss
them

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Sources of Information
Internal

External

Accident records

National
legislation

Medical records

Risk assessments

Maintenance

reports

Safety
inspections

Audit reports
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Safety data sheets

Codes of practice
Guidance notes
Operating
instructions
Trade associations

Safety committee Safety

Source Organisations
International Labour Organisation (UN)
http://www.ilo.org
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (USA)
http://www.osha.gov
European Agency for Safety and Health at
Work (EU)
http://agency.osha.eu.int
Health and Safety Executive (UK)
http://www.hse.gov.uk
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Worksafe (Western Australia)

http://www.safetyline.wa.gov.au

End of Section Quiz

1. What are the two main standards that
the ILO has produced for health and
safety? What do countries do with
these standards?
2. What are employers responsibilities
under R164?
3. What are employees responsibilities
under R164?
4. What action could be taken against
organisations breaking health and
safety law?
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