NEBOSH

International General Certificate

Unit IGC1
Management of international health & safety
Element 2

Health & safety management systems 1 - policy

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 Policy

Learning outcomes

2.1 Outline the key elements of a health and safety

management system
2.2 Explain the purpose and importance of setting
policy for health and safety
2.3 Describe the key features and appropriate
content of an effective health and safety policy

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 Policy

Contents

2.1 The key elements of a health and safety

management system
2.2 Purpose and importance of setting policy for
health and safety
2.3 The key features and appropriate content of an
effective health and safety policy

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 Policy

Contents

2.1 The key elements of a health and safety

management system
2.2 Purpose and importance of setting policy for
health and safety
2.3 The key features and appropriate content of an
effective health and safety policy

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 Policy
The key elements of a health and safety management system
Setting policy
• Organisations that are successful in achieving high
standards of health and safety have health and safety
policies
• Contributes to their business performance
• Satisfies the expectations of shareholders, employees,
customers and society at large
• Policies are cost effective
• Policies influence all their activities and decisions

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 Policy
The key elements of a health and safety management system
Organising
• Structured and operated to put their policies into effective
practice
• Helped by the creation of a positive culture that secures
involvement and participation at all levels
• Sustained by effective communications and the promotion of
competence
• The visible and active leadership of senior managers is
necessary to develop and maintain a culture supportive of
health and safety management
• Their aim is not simply to avoid accidents, but to motivate
and empower people to work safely

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 Policy
The key elements of a health and safety management system
Planning and implementing
• Successful organisations adopt a planned and systematic
approach to policy implementation
• Their aim is to minimise the risks created by work activities,
products and services
• Use risk assessment methods
• Performance standards are established and performance is
measured against them
• Specific actions are needed to promote a positive health
and safety culture
• Risks are eliminated by the careful selection and design of
facilities, equipment and processes or minimised by the use
of physical control measures
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 Policy
The key elements of a health and safety management system
Evaluation
• Health and safety performance in organisations that manage
health and safety successfully is measured against pre-
determined standards
• Reveal when and where action is needed to improve
performance
• The success of action taken to control risks is assessed
through active self-monitoring
• Includes an examination of both hardware and software
including individual behaviour
• Failures of control are assessed through reactive monitoring

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 Policy
The key elements of a health and safety management system
Auditing

• Specifically designed to determine the extent to which the

health and safety management system, or elements of it, are
compliant with standards
• Internal auditing will confirm compliance with internal
standards
• Critical that the whole health and safety management
system be audited by an independent organisation
• To determine the extent to which it complies
• An audit policy and programme should be developed, which
includes auditor competency, the audit scope, the frequency
of audits, audit methodology and reporting
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 Policy
The key elements of a health and safety management system
Action for improvement

• It is critical to take prompt preventive and corrective

action related to system non-conformities,
• Arrangements should also be established to aid the
continual improvement of health and safety management
system elements and the system as a whole
• Taking into account such areas as the health and safety
objectives of the organisation, changes in national laws and
regulations, voluntary programmes and collective
agreements and any other new relevant information
• Commitment to continuous improvement involves the
constant development of policies, approaches to
implementation and techniques of risk control
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 Policy
The key elements of a health and safety management system
Action for improvement
Key elements of successful health and safety management

Copyright RMS Source: ILO-OSH 2001

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 Policy

Contents

2.1 The key elements of a health and safety

management system
2.2 Purpose and importance of setting policy for
health and safety
2.3 The key features and appropriate content of an
effective health and safety policy

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 Policy
Purpose and importance of setting policy for health and safety
Role of the health and safety policy in decision making
• Without active management involvement in health and
safety any attempt at organised accident prevention will be
restricted and predominantly reactive
• The overall role of a policy is to provide direction for an
organisation
• Will influence the decisions made by an organisation
• Many employers are required to have a health and safety
policy by the national or local legislation
• It is a key element of any occupational safety and health
management system, certified or voluntary

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 Policy
Purpose and importance of setting policy for health and safety
The needs of different organisations
• Organisations differ greatly in their aims, risks, structure and
what they feel capable of committing themselves to
• A policy is a ‘personal’ thing setting out a particular
organisation’s position at that point in time
• The policy enables the organisation to communicate its
personal commitment, expectations from people and
approach to health and safety
• Any policy must be appropriate to the size and nature of the
organisation’s activities and the nature and scale of its
health and safety risks

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 Policy

Contents

2.1 The key elements of a health and safety

management system
2.2 Purpose and importance of setting policy for
health and safety
2.3 The key features and appropriate content of an
effective health and safety policy

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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content

• Key elements
• Overall aims of the organisation in terms of health and
safety performance
• Health and safety roles and responsibilities of individuals
within the organisation
• Health and safety arrangements
• Reviewing the policy
• Standards and guidance relating to health and safety policy

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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Key elements
An effective health and safety policy contains:
• A general statement of management commitment (What) -
states the overall aims of the organisation
• Details of the organisation (Who) - defining structure, role,
relationships and responsibilities of individuals
• Arrangements to control the risks (How) - expected to set
the direction, scope and actions of an organisation to
manage health and safety

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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Key elements
To be effective the policy should be:
• In a number of formats
• Effectively communicated
• Revised as appropriate
• Monitored through audits

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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Key elements
• Effective communication of the policy is important
• Merely posting it on a notice board or distributing a copy to workers
is not enough
• Training and briefings will be necessary
• For new workers this is often done as part of the induction process
• Format, complexity and language used should be considered
• No one form of document is adequate to meet everyone's needs

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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Overall aims of the organisation in terms of health
and safety performance
• The health and safety policy should clearly set out the aims of
the organisation in terms of health and safety performance,
establishing a statement of intent
• The statement should be signed by the most senior member of
the management team and dated
• Organisations should translate their overall aims into
objectives
• In line with other business objectives, health and safety
objectives should be set out as quantifiable targets
• Many organisations seek to compare their performance against
other organisations, sometimes called ‘benchmarking’
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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Health and safety roles and responsibilities of
individuals within the organisation
• Organising for health and safety
• Worker participation
• Lines of communication
• Feedback loops
• Allocation of responsibilities
• Communication lines
• Role of the line manager
• Monitor the effectiveness of the policy

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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Health and safety roles and responsibilities of
individuals within the organisation
• This section of the policy gives employers the opportunity to
clearly identify typical duties, for example:
- Ensuring their own health and safety and that of other
workers
- Co-operating with the employer
- Refrain from interfering with or misusing anything provided
in the interests of health and safety
- Follow health and safety instructions
- Wear PPE where provided
- Report accidents, ill-health and other incidents
- Report hazards and defects in risk control measures
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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Health and safety arrangements
General arrangements
• Allocation of finance for health and safety
• Planning
• Organising
• Control of hazards
• Consultation
• Communication
• Competence
• Accident, ill-health and other incident reporting
• Hazard reporting
• Monitoring compliance

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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Health and safety arrangements
Specific arrangements for hazards relating to:
• Contractors
• Electricity
• Fire
• Maintenance
• Manual handling
• Stress
• Substances
• Transport
• Work at height
• Work equipment

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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Health and safety arrangements
• The scope of the arrangements needs to reflect that of the organisation
• Will be some elements common to organisations
• A policy for a construction company should be different to one for a
retail outlet, as the risks they manage are different
• Essential to have good consultation and communication with those who
will be affected
• Ongoing monitoring will ensure that the best practices are being used
and that they remain effective

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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Reviewing the policy
• As time passes the arrangements for control of health and
safety are influenced by workers finding different ways of
doing the same thing
• Technological change is happening in the workplace all the
time - arrangement may be set out against circumstances
that do not exist anymore
• Changes in organisation have a specific bearing on the
arrangements
• Legislation changes periodically and usually reflects a
strengthening of society’s expectations
• If monitoring methods are in place and are working they
could identify a gap in a specific arrangement or that
something is unclear or contradictory
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 Policy
The key features and appropriate content
Standards and guidance relating to health and safety
policy
• In the UK it is a mandatory requirement under the Health and
Safety at Work etc. Act (HASAWA) 1974 that employers have
a health and safety policy
• Similar requirements exist in primary legislation of other
countries
• Information on policy requirements can be found within:
- OHSAS 18002: Guidelines on occupational safety and
health management systems
- ILO - Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health
Management Systems (ILO-OSH 2001)

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 UK relevant statutory provisions

• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act (HASAWA) 1974

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