The official recognition of IOSH as a professional body through the granting to them of a Royal

Charter has made membership an even greater valued goal. This, in turn, will demand high
standards of academic attainment in the qualifying examinations. While the uni versities have
established their own standards of excellence that they demand of their graduates – standards
that are moderated by IOSH – other teaching and training establishments have to rely on
nationally available standards. Following discussions, led by the National Training Organisation
for Employment (ENTO) in which a range of interested parties participated, a set of occupational
health and safety standards was developed. These have been integrated with the Scottish and
National Vocational Qualifications (S/NVQ) to form the basic academic back ground leading to
membership of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). Examinations against
these new standards will be administered by the National Examination Board in Occupational
Safety and Health (NEBOSH) and certified through the awarding of a Diploma. Much of the
content of the book is pertinent to those studying for this Diploma and to guide students to the
relevant parts, a suggested reading list has been included as an appendix. Major changes have
and still are taking place in the procedures and conduct of cases in the courts following the
recommendations of the Woolf report. The aim is to make the administration of justice more
dynamic through the more flexible use of resources and representations. Those changes in court
procedure that have already been made have been incorporated into chapter 1 Explaining the
law. It is to be hoped that we, and in particular claimants for compensation following injuries, will
benefit from these changes through the quicker settlement of litigations and other matters of legal
contention put before the courts. Although we have included much that is new in the way that
health, safety and environmental responsibilities are viewed and accepted, we have not ignored
the solid foundation on which the past high levels of health and safety in the UK have been based.
The text includes those basic concepts, techniques and practices that have served so well the
cause of health and safety of workpeople for so many years. Not least among these are the
relationships that have developed between employers and employees that are so essential for
good performance in, not only health and safety, but all the aspects of occupational activities.
Risk assessments have been a growing and central feature of health and safety activities through
their application to general employment and chemical hazards. The gay abandon with which the
phrase risk assessment is used gives rise to the risk that it is becoming a ‘buzz’ word and that the
essential nature of the technique is being brought into disrepute by misunderstanding of its role
and purpose in the overall pattern of health and safety activities. Our approach has been to put
the technique into perspective and view it in the overall context of all the other actions that are
taken to reduce the risks faced by workpeople and to improve the quality of their working life.
Many injuries and much of the ill health from work activities can be laid at the door of inappropriate
physical demands being made on the operators. Not only through strains and sprains from
overloaded limbs
but subjection to unsuitable working environment, difficult manual operations, etc. A new chapter
on Applied ergonomics has been included that approaches the subject from the point of view of
what the body and its limbs can reasonably do. This will allow the manager and practitioner to
design processes and operations in the confidence that the work to be carried out will not
overstretch the operator beyond the limits of what the human body is physically capable of doing.
While there appears to have been a reduction in the rate of propagation of new EU directives – a
respite resulting from the updating of many of the existing directives to bring them in line with
technological develop ments since they were first adopted – there has been no relief from the
flow of European and international standards that put the meat on the bones of legislative
requirements. A number of these standards are based on UK originals that have been modified
(some might say diminished) to relate to the employment and industrial climates of other EU
member states. Once a standard is adopted as harmonised (European) or international, it takes
precedence over the equivalent national standard. A notable casualty in this process has been
BS 5304 Safety of Machinery. However, because it is so well known and provides such a breadth
of guidance on good safety practices, BSI have re-issued it as a ‘Published Document’ PD 5304
which is advisory and cannot be used as evidence of conformity with legislative requirements and
as such it is referred to in the text. An objective of the book has always been, and still is, to provide
information and guidance in understanding health and safety legislative requirements and
standards. Also to assist all those involved in this field in attaining the highest standards, whether
as a practising manager, safety practitioner or student. We hope that this new edition carries this
objective forward and in so doing points the way for future developments.