NEBOSH International General Certificate in

Occupational Safety and Health

Unit IGC1

Element 1: Foundations in
Health and Safety
 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 scope and nature of occupational health and

safety
• Explain the moral, social and economic reasons for
maintaining and promoting good standards of health
and safety in the workplace
• Explain the role of national governments and
international bodies in formulating a framework for the
regulation of health and safety

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 Unit IGC1
Element 1.1
• The Scope and Nature of Occupational Health and
Safety
 Scope and Nature of Health and Safety

• Multi-Disciplinary
• Barriers to Good Standards
• Definitions

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 Multi-Disciplinary
Health and safety practitioners need to be familiar with:
• Chemistry/Physics/ Biology
• Engineering
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Legislation
– Standards which apply
– Strengths and weaknesses of options

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 Barriers to Good Standards

• Complexity of the Workplace

• Conflicting Demands
– Timescales
– Standards
– Budgets
• Behavioural Issues
– People failing to act as
desired or making mistakes

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 Definitions

• Health - absence of disease

• Safety - absence of risk of

serious personal injury

• Welfare - provision of
facilities

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 Definitions

Environmental Protection:
Prevention of damage to air, land, water and
living organisms

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 Group Syndicate Exercise

Why might the

management of an
organisation not
consider health and
safety to be a priority?

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 Group Syndicate Exercise - Answers
Key points include:
• Competes with other business aims
– Requires time and resources
• Seen as a “cost” to business
– Ignorance of true costs of injury/illness
• Ignorance of legal duties
• Ignorance of hazards

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 End of Section Quiz
1. What barriers might there be to good
health and safety practice?
2. Define the terms
– Health
– Safety
– Welfare
 Unit IGC1
Element 1.2

• Reasons for Maintaining and Promoting Good

Standards of Health and Safety
 Why Manage Health and Safety?

Moral reasons

Legal (or social) reasons

Economic reasons

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 The Size of the Problem
Global statistics from the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) SafeWork Programme:

• 270 million accidents and 160 million diseases a

year due to work
• 2 million fatalities a year
• 4% of global GDP is lost
• 355,000 on-the-job
fatalities each year
 Group Syndicate Exercise
An employee at your workplace has been
seriously injured in a workplace accident.
In groups, as indicated by the tutor, list the
possible effects and implications of this
accident on:
• The injured employee
• The company
• The line manager
Group Syndicate Exercise - Answers
Key points include:
• Injured Employee
– Pain and suffering, lost time/wages, impact on
family, ongoing impact on work
• The Company
– Payment of sick pay, overtime cover for employee,
recruitment costs for replacement, insurance
claims, fines/prosecutions, increased insurance
premiums
• The Line manager
– Loss of skills from team, time and cost of retraining
replacement, effect of overtime cover on shifts
 The Legal and Social Expectation
Health and safety law is usually based on:

• International standards
from the International
Labour Organisation
• A country’s own health
and safety standards
 Who's Responsible for
Health and Safety?
Everybody - but most of the responsibility
lies with the employer to provide:
– Safe place of work
– Safe plant and equipment
– Safe systems of work
– Training and supervision
 The Business Case
• Accidents and ill-health cost money
• Costs may be:
– Direct - measurable costs arising directly from
accidents
– Indirect - arise as a consequence of the event but may
not directly involve money. Often difficult to quantify

• H&S failure can affect the broader

economy as well as individual
companies
 Group Discussion

• An employee has been injured at work

• Identify potential
– Direct costs of the accident
– Indirect costs of the accident
 Group Discussion - Answers
• Direct costs include
– First aid treatment, sick pay, lost production
time
– Fines and compensation
• Indirect costs
– Lost time for investigation
– Lost morale and damaged worker relationships
– Cost of recruitment of replacements
– Lost reputation
 The Cost of Accidents at Work
Insured Costs £1
• Fire
• Worker injury/death
• Medical costs
£8 - £36
Uninsured Costs
• Loss of raw materials due to accidents
• Sick pay
• Overtime
• Equipment repairs
• Lost materials
 End of Section Quiz
1. What are the 3 main reasons for
managing health and safety?
2. What should an employer provide to
ensure health and safety:
– Safe place of _______________
– Safe plant and ______________
– Safe _______ of work
– Training, _____ and competency of
______
 Unit IGC1
Element 1.3
• Role of National Governments and International
Bodies
 Roles of National Governments and
International Bodies
International Labour
Organisation (ILO)
– Agency of United Nations
– Most countries are
members
– Sets international
standards for H&S by
publishing:
– Conventions
– Recommendations
 The International Framework
Conventions
– Create binding obligations or policies to
implement their provisions
– No legal authority, unless ratified by the
member-state into its own legal structure
Recommendations
– Provide guidance on policy, legislation and
practice
 Examples of Regulatory International
Frameworks
Regulations adopted by the International Labour
Organisation (ILO):

• Occupational Safety and Health Convention (C155) -

a goal setting policy for companies and nations

• Occupational Safety and Health Recommendation

1981 (R164) - supplements C155 and gives more
guidance on how to comply with its policies

We'll talk about these a lot during the course!

 Employers’ Responsibilities

Article 16 of C155 identifies obligations placed on employers:

• To provide and maintain workplaces, machinery, equipment
and work processes
• To ensure that chemical, physical and biological substances
and agents are without risk to health when protective
measures have been taken
• To provide adequate protective clothing and equipment to
prevent risks of accidents or adverse health effects
 Employers’ Responsibilities
Article 10 of R164:
• Provide and maintain workplaces, machinery and equipment and use
working methods that are safe
• Give necessary instruction, training and supervision in application
and use of health and safety measures
• Introduce organisational arrangements relevant to activities and size
of undertaking
• Provide PPE and clothing without charge to workers
• Ensure that work organisation, particularly working hours and rest
breaks, does not adversely affect occupational safety and health
• Take reasonably practical measures with a view to eliminating
excessive physical and mental fatigue
• Keep up-to-date of scientific and technical knowledge to comply with
the above
 Regulatory Frameworks
ILO has also published Conventions associated
with specific hazards:
– C115 - Radiation Protection (1960)
– C162 - Asbestos (1986)
– C167 - H&S in Construction (1988)
 What Employers Must Provide
• Safe place of work – and safe access and egress

• Safe plant and equipment – the need to inspect,

service and replace machinery will depend on the
level of risk

• Safe system of work – should be safe in all

circumstances - appropriate review, planning and
control ensure continued safety of methods

• Training and supervision to ensure competency

 What is “Competence"?

K – NOWLEDGE
A – BILITY
T – RAINING
E – XPERIENCE
 Group Exercise
Apart from employees, who else must the
employer protect?
 Group Exercise
Anyone affected by their business activities:
• Visitors
– Invited / uninvited
– Lawful / unlawful (law differs from
country to country)
• Contractors
• Members of the public
 Workers’ Responsibilities
Article 19 of C155 also places obligations on
workers, expanded in R164 as follows:
• Take reasonable care of their own safety and that
of other people
• Comply with safety instructions
• Use all safety equipment properly
• Report any situation which they believe could be
a hazard and which they cannot themselves
correct
• Report any work-related accident/ill-health
 Workers’ Rights

Article 19 of C155 states that every worker must be:

• Given adequate information on actions the
employer has taken to ensure safety and health
• Given the right to the necessary training in safety
and health
• Consulted by the employer on all matters of safety
and health relating to their work
• Given the right to leave a workplace which he has
reason to think presents an imminent and serious
danger to his life or health, and not be compelled
to return until it is safe
 Enforcement Agencies
• No harmonised global standard
• Country-specific agencies may include:
– H&S Enforcement Agency
– Fire Authority
– Insurance Companies

• Police may be involved in enforcing H&S

law in some countries
Consequences of Non-Compliance
Breach of H&S legislation is usually a criminal offence leading to:
• Enforcement action
– Improvement
– Prohibition
• Prosecution
– Organisation may be fined
– Individuals may be fined or imprisoned
 Claims for Compensation
Fault-Based Compensation Systems
• Worker brings claim against employer
• Civil legal system
• Must prove employer was negligent and
therefore to blame for injury/ill-health
• UK and USA
 Claims for Compensation

No-fault systems
• National or regional
schemes
• No need to prove negligence
• Decided by a panel of
experts
• No lawyers or courts
• New Zealand and Sweden
 Other International Standards
International Organisation for Standardisation
• World's largest developer of management standards, for
example:
– ISO 9001 – Quality Management
– ISO 14001 – Environmental Management
– ISO 12100 – Safety of Machinery
• These standards are not "law", they're good management
practice
• They lead to a worldwide common approach to good
management
 Other International Standards

• Internationally recognised standard for

Occupational Health and Safety is
OHSAS 18001
• Compatible with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001
 Sources of Information

Sources can be
• Internal
• External
... to the organisation

List all the internal and external sources

you can think of and discuss them
 Sources of Information
Internal
– Accident records
– Medical records
– Risk assessments
– Maintenance reports
– Safety inspections
– Audit reports
– Safety committee
minutes
External
• National legislation
• Safety data sheets
• Codes of practice
• Guidance notes
• Operating instructions
• Trade associations
• Safety publications
 Source Organisations
International Labour Organisation (UN)
http://www.ilo.org

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (USA)

http://www.osha.gov
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU)
http://agency.osha.eu.int
Health and Safety Executive (UK)
http://www.hse.gov.uk
Worksafe (Western Australia)
http://www.safetyline.wa.gov.au
 End of Section Quiz
1. What are the two main standards that the ILO
has produced for health and safety? What do
countries do with these standards?
2. What are employers responsibilities under
R164?
3. What are employees responsibilities under
R164?
4. What action could be taken against
organisations breaking health and safety law?