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Full text of "Nebosh IGC Revision"

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ELEMENT 1: HEALTH & SAFETY FOUNDATION

Q.1. Question

a. Explain the difference between the objectives of a criminal law system and a civil law

system. (2)

Ans The objective of a criminal law system is to punish anyone who breaches the requirements

of that law, whereas the objective of a civil law system is to determine appropriate
recompense for a wronged or injured party.

b. Outline the THREE standard conditions that are usually required to be met to prove a case

of negligence against an employer. (6)

Ans. 1 . Firstly, it is necessary to show that the employer owed the injured party a duty of care.

2. Secondly, it needs to be demonstrated that the employer's duty of care towards the

injured person was not fulfilled to the required standard i.e. that the employer had

breached their duty of care.

3. Thirdly, the injury, loss or harm needs to be shown to be a direct result of the employer's

breach of duty of care.

c. Outline the typical actions that might be brought against an employer who has breached

criminal law in relation to health and safety. (6)

Ans. Typical actions that might be brought against an employer who has breached criminal law in

relation to health and safety include:

1 . Providing health and safety advice and guidance to the employer to help him rectify

the breach. This will usually be in writing so it can be followed up.

2. Issuing legal mandates for the employer to make specified improvements to rectify

the breach.

3. Issuing legal mandates demanding that work in dangerous situations or with

dangerous equipment is stopped until it is made safe.

4. Taking out a prosecution against the employer with the intended result of

punishment, typically as fines or orders, but may include imprisonment.

d. Explain why health and safety legislation might be enforced to different standards in

different countries. (6)

Ans.

1. Health and safety legislation might be enforced to different standards in different

countries for a variety of reasons.

2. There may be differences in the health and safety legislation itself, which forms the

basis against which enforcement action is taken. For example, the fundamental

difference between prescriptive law and goal -setting law.

3. Even with a similar style of legislation, enforcement may vary due to factors within

the enforcing authority and its staff. The authority may not have robust systems in

place to adequately collect and analyse the workplace accidents, incidents and ill-
health that do occur, which would identify accident 'hot-spots' which can be targeted

by the enforcement programme.

4. Alternatively, the authority may not be adequately monitoring the enforcement

actions that take place to ensure they are being made in a consistent manner.

5. Additionally, there may be differences in the ability and knowledge of the enforcing

staff, especially where they have to work in widely different industrial settings.

6. Finally, the legal system may specify different levels of penalty for a particular health

and safety offence, and this might be influenced by cultural issues, i.e. how a

particular offence is viewed in society generally.

Q.2. Outline the key elements of an effective health and safety management system. (8)

Answer:

1. A clear organizational health and safety policy which sets out the arrangements for

managing health and safety.

2. The organization of staff for managing healthy and safety in terms of appropriate expertise /

competence and communication channels.

3. The planning of specific mechanisms for health and safety, such as the risk assessment

process and the incident reporting system, to ensure compliance with legislation and other

standards.

4. The implementation of the planned systems, including the provision of the necessary

reso