Unit 301

Engineering health
and safety
Level 3
Credit value: 9
GLH: 80
 Aim
• This unit is concerned with the requirements that are essential
to enable engineering activities to be carried out safely and
effectively.

• It includes dealing with statutory and organizational

requirements in accordance with approved regulations, codes
of practice and procedures.

• It covers responsibilities relating to accident reporting and the

identification of hazards and risks
 Learning outcomes
The learner will:
1. understand compliance with statutory health and
safety regulations and organisational requirements
2. understand compliance with statutory
environmental regulations and organisational
requirements
3. know how to implement accident and emergency
procedures
4. understand safe working practices and procedures
Health and safety is
intended to bring
about condition free
from risk of injury or
threat to our health
and well-being.

This objective is not a

natural state of affairs.
Workplace accidents, illness and incidents

are preventable
provided that

Health and Safety

is Managed
What could happen?

Near- Minor
miss injury

Major Death
injury
 1.1 describe the health and safety regulations applicable to
engineering operations
• Health and Safety at Work etc. Act,
• Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH),
• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER),
• Electricity at Work Regulations,
• Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations (COMAH),
• Control of Noise at Work Regulations, Lifting Operations and Lifting
Equipment Regulations (LOLER)
Health and Safety at Work Act,
• The Health and Safety at Work etc Act was instituted
in 1974
• It is also referred to as HSWA, the HSW Act, the 1974
Act or HASAWA)
• The aim of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
(HSWA 1974) was to create a single comprehensive
system of regulatory law covering occupational
health and safety in Great Britain.
• HSWA 1974 imposes various general duties upon both
employers and employees and its three primary objectives
are to:
secure the health, safety and welfare of persons at work;
 protect persons other than persons at work against risks to
health or safety arising out of, or in connection with, the
activities of persons at work;
 control the keeping and use of explosive or highly
flammable or other dangerous substances, and generally
prevent the unlawful acquisition, possession and use of such
substances.
Employers owe the following duties to their employees:

• ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees and others
who might be affected by their business;
• assess risks in the workplace, tell employees about these risks and
how they will protect them and provide training on how to tackle
these risks;
• ensure the safety of employees in connection with the use, storage
and transport of articles;
• ensure the safe maintenance of the place of work;
• consult employees on health and safety issues.
Duties owed by employees at work

• to take care of the health and safety of themselves and other persons;
• to cooperate with any requirement imposed by the employer so the
employer can comply with any required duty;
• not to intentionally or recklessly interfere or misuse anything
provided in the interests of health, safety or welfare.
Duties owed to persons who are not employees

• There are also limited duties owed to persons who are not
employees:
• not to expose such persons to risks in relation to their health and
safety;
• provide such persons with information about the way in which the
employer or self-employed person conducts their undertaking.
Duties of manufacturers (articles and substances for use at work)

• There is duty on any person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies

any article for use at work to ensure:
• it will be safe when being set, used, cleaned or maintained by a person at work;
• there will be adequate testing and examination of such articles;
• persons using the article are provided with adequate information about its
usage;
• persons using the article are provided with any revisions of information about
the article;
• the carrying out of any necessary research with a view to the discovery,
elimination or minimisation of any risks to health;
• the erection or installation of any article is done so safely
 Governing authorities

In the early days HSWA 1974 created two governing authorities: The Health and Safety
Commission and the Health and Safety Executive. On April 1st 2008, both authorities
were merged to form the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).. The HSE performs its
functions on behalf of the Crown. Its main role and functions include:
• anticipating, identifying and preparing for new or changing risks in the workplace;
• preventing death, injury and ill-health in the workplace;
• enforcing health and safety rules;
• assisting and encouraging people in the health and safety community to be better
prepared;
• encouraging research publication, training and information in connection with its
work;
• ensuring government departments, employers, employees and representative
organizations provided are kept informed on health and safety matters;
• proposing new regulations if need be.
• It is the duty and responsibility of the HSE to make adequate arrangements for the
enforcement of health and safety legislation.
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH),
(2002)
• These Regulations apply to all “substances hazardous to health” at work.
These are:
• any chemicals that have, by law, to be labelled as ‘very toxic’, ‘toxic’,
‘harmful’, ‘corrosive’ or ‘irritant’;
• any substance with a workplace exposure limit (WEL). WELs have
replaced maximum exposure limits (MEL) and occupational exposure
standards (OES);
• substantial quantities of airborne dust of any kind;
• biological agents (this means a micro-organism, cell culture or human
endoparasite, whether or not genetically modified, which may cause
infection, allergy, toxicity, or otherwise create a hazard to human
health); • any other substance which creates a comparable health
hazard.
 COSHH is Required to:

• Assess risk to health from exposure to hazardous substance(s) and steps that
need to be taken to prevent or control exposure.
• Keep the assessment up to date.
• Ensure that exposure to hazardous substances is prevented or reduced
(‘controlled’).
• Maintain control measures in clean and efficient state and repair or replace as
needed.
• Review systems of work and supervision at suitable intervals and revise if
necessary.
• When necessary, monitor exposure to hazardous substances and carry out health
surveillance.
• Prepare procedures to protect the health of employees from an accident, incident
or emergency related to a substance hazardous to health in the workplace. This
 Electricity at Work Regulations,
These Regulations impose health and safety requirements with respect to
electricity at work., they impose duties upon employers, self-employed
persons, and employees. Amongst other things, the Regulations:
• Impose requirements with regard to the construction and maintenance
of electrical systems.
• Impose requirements with regard to the carrying out of work activities
(including the operation, use and maintenance of electrical systems and
work near electrical systems).
• Impose requirements with regard to the provision of protective
equipment.
• Impose requirements with regard to the putting into use of electrical
equipment.
• Impose requirements with regard to the construction and protection
of electrical equipment which may reasonably foreseeably be exposed
to adverse or hazardous environments.
• Impose requirements with regard to the insulation and protection of,
and the taking of precautions in respect of, conductors.
• Impose requirements with regard to the taking of precautions to
prevent danger in respect of certain conductors.
• Impose restrictions with regard to the placing of any thing which
might give rise to danger in any circuit conductor which is connected
to earth or to any other reference point.
• Impose requirements with regard to the mechanical and electrical
suitability for use of joints and connections in electrical systems.
• Impose requirements with regard to the protection from excess
currents of electrical systems.
• Impose requirements with regard to the availability of suitable means for
cutting off the supply of electrical energy to, and the isolation of, electrical
equipment which is not itself a source of electrical energy and (where
necessary) the taking of such other precautions as will, so far as reasonably
practicable, prevent danger in respect of electrical equipment which is itself a
source of electrical energy.
• Impose requirements with regard to the taking of such precautions in respect of
electrical equipment which has been made dead in order to prevent danger
while work is carried on or near it as will prevent that equipment from
becoming electrically charged.
• Impose restrictions on persons being engaged in work activities on or near
certain live conductors.
• Impose requirements with regard to the provision of adequate working space,
adequate lighting and adequate means of access at specified electrical
equipment.
• Impose restrictions with regard to who may be engaged in work activities where
technical knowledge or experience is necessary to prevent danger or injury.
 Class activities-
in a group of fives to research ‚ discuss and present the following regulations

• Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER),

• Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations (COMAH),
• Control of Noise at Work Regulations, Lifting Operations and Lifting
Equipment Regulations (LOLER)
• Reportable Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations
(RIDDOR)

What the content should be :

 who instituted it?
 When ?
 What was it meant to address?
 What lessons can you draw from the regulation that can be applied in your daily life and Nestle as a work
place