NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational

Safety and Health

Unit IGC1

Element 3: Health and Safety

Management Systems 2 - Organising

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 health and safety roles and responsibilities of
employers, managers, supervisors, workers and other relevant
parties
Explain the concept of health and safety culture and its
significance in the management of health and safety in an
organisation
Outline the human factors which influence behaviour at work in
a way that can affect health and safety

Learning Outcomes
Continued
Explain how health and safety behaviour at work can be
improved
Outline the need for emergency procedures and the
arrangements for contacting emergency services
Outline the requirements for, and effective provision of, first aid
in the workplace

Unit IGC1
Element 3.1
Organisational Health and Safety Roles and
Responsibilities

Standards for Organising

Responsibility for ensuring that the workplace
is safe and free of health risk rests with the
employer.
As we noted earlier, this responsibility is made
clear in:
ILO Convention C155
ILO Recommendation R164

Reminder - What are the Employer's

Four Duties?
Safe Place of Work
Safe Plant and Equipment

Safe System of Work

Training and Supervision

Organisational Health and Safety Roles

and Responsibilities

Employer
Directors and senior managers
Middle managers and supervisors
Safety specialists
Workers
Controllers of premises
Self-employed
Suppliers, manufacturers, designers
Contractors
Joint occupiers of premises

Employer
The employer carries
ultimate responsibility for
ensuring that the workplace
is safe and free of health and
safety risks.
Ensures the safety of workers
and others e.g. visitors and
contractors

Directors and Senior Managers

Directors and senior managers:

Give an organisation its direction
Set its priorities
Allocate resources and appoint competent persons
Allocate responsibilities
Are responsible for ensuring that all of the legal
requirements are met

Middle Managers & Supervisors

Middle managers and supervisors are involved in the
day-to-day operational running of the organisation so
are responsible for the health and safety standards
within the operations under their control.

Safety Specialists
Safety Specialists (or
Practitioners) are responsible
for giving correct advice to
the organisation so that the
organisation can meet its
legal obligations and achieve
its policy aims.

Group Discussion
What are the typical responsibilities of
a health and safety specialist?

Group Discussion
Typical responsibilities include:
Providing advice and guidance on health and safety
standards.
Promoting a positive culture.
Advising management on accident prevention.
Developing and implementing policy.
Overseeing the development of adequate risk
assessments.
Identifying training needs.
Monitoring health and safety performance.
Overseeing accident reporting and investigations.

Workers
Workers have a
responsibility to take
reasonable care of their
own health and safety
and that of other people
who might be affected
by what they do (or
don't do).
Workers must also cooperate with their
employer on matters of
health and safety.

Controllers of Premises
To the extent that they
have control, controllers
of premises are
responsible for ensuring
that the premises are safe
to use as a workplace, and
that there is safe access
and egress to it and from
it.

Contractors & Self-Employed

These two groups have similar
responsibilities:
To take reasonable care of
their own health and safety
and the health and safety of
others who might be
affected by their acts or
omissions.

Suppliers, Manufacturers, Designers

Designers,
manufacturers, importers
and suppliers of items
and substances form the
supply chain.
They have responsibilities
to ensure their products
are safe.

Clients and Contractors

If a client can be held responsible for an
injury caused by a contractor working for
the client then it must be in the clients own
best interests to ensure that contractors do
not endanger workers or others.

Clients and Contractors

The way that a client manages
contractors can be broken
down into three key areas:
Selecting the contractor
Planning the work

Monitoring the work

Selecting the Contractor

Things you should check:
Health and safety policy
Risk assessments
Qualifications and training records
Membership of a professional organisation
Maintenance and equipment testing

Previous or current clients

Accident records
Enforcement action

Adequate resources

Planning the Work

Information to be shared between client and
contractor:
Hazards posed by the site and work carried out

Hazards posed by the contractors activities

Risk assessments
Method statements

Co-ordination of Work
Arrangements between the client and
contractor include:
Ensuring activities dont conflict
Permit-to-work system to control activities
Key contacts e.g. works foreman identified to
ensure continuity

Monitor and Control

Clients must:
Monitor the work to ensure
safety
The Client can:
Stop the work if it involves
unsafe practices
Auditing against agreed method
statements is a good technique.

Joint Occupiers of Premises

ILO Convention C155 Article 17
ILO Recommendation R164 Article 11
Employers in shared facilities should communicate
to develop appropriate health and safety standards
and appropriate policies and procedures.
This may include:

- sharing of procedures e.g. fire and

emergency response
- sharing of risk assessments

- joint management committee meetings

End of Section Quiz

1. Who does an employer owe a duty to
with regards to health and safety?
2. How can directors influence health
and safety?
3. What are the key workers
responsibilities?
4. What would you look for/check when
selecting a contractor?

Unit IGC1
Element 3.2
The Concept and Significance of Health and Safety
Culture

Group Discussion
What do we mean by the term health
and safety culture?
What features would you expect to see
in an organisation with a good health
and safety culture?

Definition of Culture
The safety culture of an organisation is
the shared attitudes, values, beliefs and
behaviours relating to health and safety.
Influenced by:

Management
Communication
Worker competence
Co-operation

H&S Culture Indicators

Poor health and safety culture leads to poor
performance
The following things need to be spotted early:
Accident records
Sickness rates
Absenteeism
Staff turnover
Compliance with safety rules
Worker complaints
Staff morale

Group Syndicate Activity

What factors could result in the
deterioration of an organisations
health and safety culture and hence
safety performance?

Factors Promoting a Negative

Culture

Lack of leadership from management

Presence of a blame culture
Lack of management commitment to safety
Health and safety a lower priority than other issues
Organisational changes
High staff turnover rates
Lack of resources e.g. too few workers, low investment
Lack of worker consultation
Interpersonal issues e.g. peer group pressure, bullying
Poor management systems and procedures
External influences e.g. economic climate

Reorganisation
Company takeover
Merger
Management buy-out
Change of management
Departmental restructure
Redundancy
Leading to:
Concentration on the 'new order'

Uncertainty over roles and responsibilities

Uncertainty

Increases at times of change

Reduces morale
Focus moves away from H&S
No clear framework for decision-making
Individuals make their own decisions

Blame Culture
What is it?
Workers believe that if they report an
incident or make a complaint, they are
going to get:
Blamed

Punished
Sacked

Poor Leadership
No clear rules or policies
Decisions

Not in line with policy

Inconsistent
Frequently reversed
Influenced by personal reasons

Conflicting priorities
Poor communication
No consultation with workers

Relationship Between Culture and

Performance
Group Discussion Point
We have already considered what can
influence an organisations culture.
What would an organisation with a
positive culture look and feel like?
What characteristics would it
demonstrate?

Relationship Between Culture and

Performance
In organisations with a positive safety
culture
Health and safety is important to everyone
There is strong policy and leadership
Managers and directors lead on safety and
workers believe in it
Health and safety performance is good:
People work safely
There are fewer accidents and ill health events

Relationship Between Culture

and Performance
In organisations with a negative safety
culture

Most feel safety isnt important

There is a lack of competence
Safety is low priority
Safety conscious workers are in minority
Health and safety performance is poor
There is a lack of attention to detail and
procedure
Lack of care and poor behaviour results in
accidents

Indicators of Culture

Accident rates
Absenteeism
Sickness rates
Staff Turnover
Compliance with safety rules
Complaints from employees about
working conditions

The Influence of Peers

In groups a hierarchy naturally forms

Pressure is exerted from the top down

Can happen in informal groups or formal
team

Peer group pressure can result in:

good people breaking rules to fit in
bad people coming into line and working
safely!

Key is to get the influential people on

board
e.g. through training.

Summary
There is a link between safety culture and
performance.
Safety culture can be assessed by looking at
indicators.
Certain factors promote a negative safety
culture.
Peer group pressure can result in the
individuals changing their behaviour to fit in
with the group.

End of Section Quiz

1. Give a definition of Health and safety
culture
2. What factors could result in the
deterioration of the health and safety
culture of an organisation?
3. What indicators can be used to assess
the health and safety culture?
4. What is peer pressure?

Unit IGC1
Element 3.3
Factors Influencing Safety Related Behaviour

Safety Related Behaviour

Three significant factors influence worker
behaviour:
The Individual
Personal characteristics

The Job
Nature of the job

The Organisation
Characteristics of the business
Graphic taken from HSG48 from
http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg48.htm

Organisational Factors
Safety culture
Policies and procedures
Commitment and leadership from
management
Consultation and worker involvement
Levels of supervision
Peer group pressure
Communication

Training
Work patterns

Job Factors

Task
Workload
Environment
Displays and controls
Procedures

Individual Factors
Competence
Skills
Attitude
Motivation

Risk Perception

Attitude, Competence and Motivation

Attitude
A persons point of view or way of looking at
something; how they think and feel about it
Motivation
A persons drive towards a goal; what
makes them do what they do
Particular care needed with the use of
financial incentives!

Changing Attitude
Education & training
High impact intervention
("aversion therapy")

Enforcement
Consultation

What is Competence?
A combination of:

Knowledge
Ability
Training
Experience

A competent person isnt just one who

is trained
nor is it someone who has been there
a long time!

Perception
Perception: the way a person interprets
information detected by their senses:

Sight
Hearing
Smell
Taste
Touch

Perception - Activity
You will be shown the following
slide for 20 seconds.
You are asked to count the number
of Fs.

Activity
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT

OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY

COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS

Perception
Factors which can affect perception
include:
Illness
Stress
Fatigue

Drugs and Alcohol

Previous experiences
Training and education

Group Discussion Point

How can workers hazard perception be
improved?

Improving Hazard Perception

Understand why hazards are not
noticed by talking to workers
Awareness campaigns/training
Highlight hazards e.g. signs
Ensure adequate lighting is available
Reduce distractions e.g. noise
Avoid excessive fatigue

End of Section Quiz

1. What three key factors influence a
workers behaviour? Give examples of
each.
2. What is competence
3. How can an organisation inadvertently
motivate people to behave unsafely?
4. Suggest reasons why two people may
perceive hazards differently

Unit IGC1
Element 3.4
Improving Health and Safety Behaviour

Management Commitment
Securing management commitment is
essential
Senior managers provide leadership and
motivation
Needs clear policy, priorities and targets

Commitment cascades down through

the organisation
Requires visible leadership

Group Syndicate Exercise

In groups discuss the leaders that you
have worked with. What made them
good (or bad) leaders, particularly on
health and safety?

From here think about what managers

can do to demonstrate their
commitment to health and safety.

Visible Commitment
Demonstrated by:
Behaving safely themselves
Involvement in the day to day
management of safety
E.g. attending safety meetings

Taking part in safety tours and audits

Promoting activities to improve safety
Enforcing the rules

Disciplinary Procedures
Sometimes rules are broken
Employees may endanger themselves
or others
Ignoring issues can result in injuries
Sometimes it is necessary to use
discipline to enforce the rules

Who Would You Discipline

A supervisor who orders the team to
cut corners to save time?
A reckless fork lift truck driver?
A persistent prankster?
An office worker who repeatedly fails
to wear PPE when in the factory area?
A maintenance worker who doesnt
isolate a machine as the job was only
10 minutes?

Competent Staff
Competence
Knowledge, ability, training, experience

Competent Managers
Understand the implications of their
decisions on health and safety
Often a weakness!

Competent Staff
Enables job to be done safely

Communication
Individual Activity
List as many methods of communicating in the
workplace as you can think of, splitting your list
into:
Verbal communication
Written communication

Graphic communication
What are the advantages and disadvantages of
each method?

Verbal Communication
Limitations

Language barrier
Jargon
Strong accent/dialect
Background noise
Poor hearing
Ambiguity
Miss information
Forget information
No record
Poor quality (telephone or PA)

Merits

Personal
Quick
Direct
Check understanding
Feedback
Share views
Additional information
(Body language)

Written Communication
Limitations

Indirect
Time
Jargon/abbreviations
Impersonal
Ambiguous
May not be read
Language barriers
Recipient may not be able
to read
No immediate feedback
Cannot question
Impaired vision

Merits

Permanent record
Reference
Can be written carefully for
clarity
Wide distribution relatively
cheaply

Graphic Communication
Limitations

Very Simple
Expensive
May not be looked at
Symbols or pictograms may be
unknown
Feedback
No questions
Impaired vision

Merits

Eye-catching
Visual
Quick to interpret
No language barrier
Jargon-free
Conveys a message to a wide
audience

Communication Media

Posters
Video/films
Memos/emails
Employee handbooks
Toolbox talks

Consultation With Workers

Often a legal requirement to consult
with workers
Consultation is a two-way process
Managers inform workers of plans, etc.
and listen to employee concerns

Methods of Consultation
Direct consultation
Employer talks to each worker and
resolves issues

Through worker representatives

Committee is formed to represent workers
Regular meetings to discuss and resolve
issues
Members may have rights in law

Typical Issues to Consult on:

Introduction of new measures
affecting health and safety
Appointment of new advisors
Health and safety training plans
Introduction of new technology

Co-operation & Consultation

Negative Culture
Informing
Dictatorial approach
Positive Culture
Consultation
Worker involvement

Training
What is Training?

Training (in the context of health and

safety) is:
. The planned, formal process of
acquiring and practising knowledge and
skills in a relatively safe environment.
A trained person will therefore be
competent.

Training
Dramatic effect on safety related behaviour
Without training workers try to do their jobs:
By copying others (with their bad habits)
By doing the job the way they think is best

Training
Helps workers to understand:
Hazards and risks
Rules and precautions
Emergency procedures
Limitations and restrictions

Training Opportunities:
When Do You Need to Train?
Induction
training

For new employees

Job
change

New hazards following a change in job

Process change

New hazards associated with new

ways of working

New technology New hazards associated with plant and

machinery
New legislation

Implications of the new legislation

Training Needs Analysis

Factors to be considered include:
The type and function of the organisation
The hazard and risk profile
The accident history of the organisation
There may be statutory training
requirements
The level of training previously provided,
together with the detail of which
employees have been trained and when.

Post Training Activities

Maintain training records
Who attended which sessions and when

Carry out evaluation of effectiveness

Look for indicators such as:
Reduced incidents
Increased awareness
Improved compliance to rules

Group Activity
Design a health and safety induction
training programme for new starters.
Consider the following:
What topics should be included?
In what order?

How long should the induction take?

When are you going to do it?
What problems might be involved in
doing it?

New Employee Induction Topics

Health and safety policy

Emergency procedures
First aid
Welfare facilities
Safe movement
Accident and incident reporting
Consultation arrangements
Safety rules
Personal protective equipment
Safe working and permits
Risk assessment system

End of Section Quiz

1. How can directors/managers
demonstrate their commitment to
health and safety?
2. What are the 3 different
communication methods that are
used?
3. What is the difference between
consulting and informing

Unit IGC1
Element 3.5
Emergency Procedures

Emergency Procedures
Why do we need them?
Because despite all of the precautions,
things can still go wrong!

Group Syndicate Activity

What emergency situations would the
following organisations have to
consider when developing emergency
procedures?
A primary school
A chemical manufacturing plant
A shopping centre

Be prepared to feed back to the group

Group Syndicate Activity

Primary School
Fire, first aid, bomb threat (possibly), severe
weather, outbreak of disease.

Chemical manufacturing plant

Fire, first aid (including multiple casualty
incident), bomb threat, severe weather, outbreak
of disease, chemical release, toxic chemical
exposure. Possible outbreak of disease.

Shopping Centre
Fire, first aid, terrorist threats including bomb
and/or suspect packages, multiple casualty
incident, severe weather, crowd control/panic.

Emergency Procedures
The organisation needs to arrange:
Procedures to be followed
Suitable emergency equipment
Responsible staff
Training and information needs

Drills and exercises

Contacting Emergency Services

Communication equipment
Phones, radios etc.

Contact Details
National and local emergency numbers

Responsible individuals
ESSENTIAL to understand whos
responsibility it is!
Must be trained

End of Section Quiz

1. What types of emergency situation
might an organisation need to
consider?
2. You are developing fire response
arrangements what key things would
you include?

Unit IGC1
Element 3.6
Requirements for, and effective provision of, first aid
in the workplace

First Aid
An employer has a duty to make
appropriate first-aid provision for his
employees which include:

Facilities
An appropriate location where first-aid
treatment can be given

Equipment
Suitably stocked first-aid kits and other equipment

Personnel
Trained staff

Must inform people of these arrangements

'The 3 Ps'
Basic principle of first-aid is to keep the injured
person alive until professional medical assistance
arrives, sometimes called 'The 3 Ps':

P reserve life
P revent deterioration
P romote recovery

Also provide treatment for minor injuries

Personnel and Coverage

Trained personnel:
First aider full training
Appointed person basic training only

Coverage will depend on:

The general risk level of the workplace

The hazards present in the workplace
Accident history
Vulnerable persons
The number of workers
Work patterns and shift systems
Workplace location (geographic)
The spread of the workplace

First Aid Facilities

Equipment
First aid boxes (minimum)
Plus
- Eye-wash stations
- Emergency showers
- Blankets
- Splints
- Resuscitation
equipment
- Stretchers
- Wheelchairs
- Other equipment as
required

First Aid Room (possibly)

Centrally located;
accessible by
emergency services
Clean and adequately
heated, ventilated and
lit
Hand-wash facilities,
chair, clinical waste bin,
etc.

End of Section Quiz

1. What is the basic function of a first
aider?
2. What should be considered when
determining the number of first aiders
on site?
3. What other factors should be
considered when evaluating the
overall level and type of first aid
provision for a site