NEBOSH

International General Certificate

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NEBOSH International General

Certificate in Occupational Safety
and Health
Unit IGC1

Element 1:
Foundations in Health
and Safety
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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

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What do you mean or understand by the

term Health & Safety or Occupational
Health & Safety or Workplace Health
& Safety?
It is an area concerned with the health,
safety and welfare of people engaged in
work or employment.
Health has been defined as a state of
complete physical, mental and social well
being and not merely absence of disease.

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Occupational Health is a multidisciplinary field of healthcare concerned

with enabling an individual to undertake
their occupation, in the way that causes

Scope and Nature of

Occupational Health and
Safety
Multi-Disciplinary: Multi-disciplinary is
something that combines several fields of
study.
Barriers to Good Standards: Factors that
affect providing proper HSE
implementation.
Definitions: Common terms used in HSE.

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Multi-Disciplinary

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The study of H&S involves the study of

many subjects mentioned below since you
need to be familiar with technical
background to the H&S issue and have the
relevant knowledge, standards that may
apply to the workplace and possible
strengths and weaknesses of the various
options available to solve the problem.
Science (Chemistry/ Physics/ Biology)
Engineering
Psychology (science that deals with mental
processes and behaviour)
Sociology (science that deals with social
behaviour, its origin and development)
Laws (local and international laws)

Barriers to Good Standards

of H&S
Complexity of the Workplace eg. A
workplace can be a complicated area when
there are many people doing different work
activities which needs co-ordination, there
by making it complex to find a solution to a
specific H&S problem/issue as it requires
background knowledge and awareness of
the possible consequences of the various
courses of action that are available.
Conflicting Demands eg. A need to finish
a project within a specified time so as to
make profit and the need to do the work
safely without risk to peoples health.

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Barriers to Good Standards

of H&S
Behavioral Issues of individuals: To
follow good H&S practice at workplace
relies on the good behaviour of the
individuals. However not all individuals
behave in a good way. eg. a worker on
construction site should wear hard hat
to protect from overhead falling objects,
but forgets to wear or deliberately does
not wear the hard hat.

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Definitions
Health a state of well
being (absence of disease
or ill-health). Can be
physical ill-health due to
infections from the from the
work place or psychological
ill-health due to work
related stress.
Safety - absence of risk of
serious personal injury

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Welfare access to basic

facilities at workplace
(toilet, rest room, dining
area, drinking water, first

Definitions
Environmental Protection the
prevention
of
damage
to
the
environment (air, land, water and living
creatures).
With reference to a workplace, the
word environment would be referring
to the air, temperature, humidity,
ventilation, light.

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Dangerous occurrences - Readily

identifiable event as defined under
national law and regulation, with
potential to cause an injury or diseases
to persons at work or the public eg fire

Definitions
Near miss: an unplanned, unwanted
event that had the potential to lead to
injury or property loss but didnt occur.
Accident: An unplanned, unwanted event
which leads to ill-health, injury, death or
property loss.
Note the difference between a Near Miss
and an Accident.
Incident: it is a situation that leads to an
event (near miss or accident).

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Definitions
Incident, Near Miss, Accident
Eg. someone leaves a ladder leaning in a
dangerous position and it falls over:
Causing no injury and no damage to
property
Causing injury and no damage to
property
Causing injury and damage to property
Incident: leaving ladder in dangerous
position.

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Near miss: ladder falls, no injury and no

damage.

Definitions
Work related ill-health: Harm to workers
health caused by their work.
Commuting Accident: An accident to a
worker thatoccurs when they travel to or
from the work place to their rest
place/home.
Hazard: something that has the potential
to cause harm eg. knife, wet floor,
electricity.

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Risk: The likelihood of a hazard that will

cause harm in combination with the
severity of injury, property damage that
may occur.
Risk = Likelihood X Severity

Group Syndicate Exercise

Why might the
management of an
organisation not
consider Health &
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. Outline the barriers that prevent good
health and safety practices to be
followed at a workplace?
2. Give the meaning of the terms
Health
Safety
Welfare
Accident
Near miss
Hazard
Risk
Dangerous occurrence

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Unit IGC1
Element 1.2
Reasons for Maintaining and Promoting
Good Standards of Health and Safety

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The Size of the Problem

Global statistics from the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) states that:
270 million occupational accidents and 160 million
occupational diseases are recorded every year
2 million fatalities from occupational accidents and
occupational diseases every year
4% of global gross domestic product (GDP) is lost
due to costs arising from absence, injury and death
355,000 on-the-job fatalities each year namely in
agriculture, construction, fishing industries etc.
The above figures are based on the reported and
recorded cases. There may also be cases that
might have not been reported. As such the above
figures could have been higher.

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Why should an organisation

manage H&S?
Moral (societal) reasons:
Many
people
get
sick/injured/killed by their
work.
Morally this is not
acceptable because people
go to work to earn for their
livelihood and to feed their
family members and not to
get sick or injured or die.
Therefore employers have a
moral
responsibility
to
provide the employees with
safe and healthy working
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Why should an organisation

manage H&S?

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Social (legal) reasons: There are laws

(international and national) that govern
the way a business has to be conducted
with regard to H&S.
The legal
responsibility for H&S at work rest on the
employer. Therefore an employer should
provide a safe place of work, safe plant
and equipment, safe systems of work,
training,
supervision
and
competent
employees. Economic
Failure of these can
lead to
reasons:
enforcementAccident
action by
authority
or
andthe
ill-health
cost
prosecution in
court.
money
which
is
an
expense/loss
for
the
company some of which can
be covered under insurance
and some not.

Group Syndicate Exercise

An employee at your workplace has been
seriously injured in a workplace accident.
In groups, list the possible effects and
implications of this accident on:
The injured employee
The company
The line manager

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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 spent for
retraining the replaced employees, effect
of overtime cover on shifts
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The H&S Laws

Health and safety law is usually based on:
International
standards
from
International Labour Organisation.
A countrys
standards.

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own

health

and

the
safety

Who's Responsible for Health

& Safety?
Everybody - but most of the responsibility
lies with the employer who has to provide:
Safe place of work
Safe plant and equipment
Safe systems of work
Training, supervision and
competent staff

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Who's Responsible for Health

& Safety?
Safe place of work: an employer should
provide a workplace that is safe without risk
to health, has easy access to and from the
workplace.
Safe plant and equipment: an employer
should provide machinery, tools, plant and
equipment that are safe to use and without
health risk.
Safe systems of work: an employer
should make work procedures that are safe
to do.

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Who's Responsible for Health

& Safety?
Training: an employer must provide
training to employees so that they are
aware of the hazards and the risk involved
in the work, the safe systems of work and
the emergency procedures.
Supervision:
An
employer
should
supervise the workers to ensure that the
workers are doing their work with minimal
risk to themselves and to others.
Competent staf: An employer should
ensure that all workers, supervisors and
managers are competent in their work.
A competent person is one who has sufficient knowledge, ability, training
and experience of doing the work safely and without risk to health.

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The Business Case for Health

& Safety
Accidents and ill-health cost money. This cost
is a loss to an organisation which may be
recoverable through insurance and some may
not recovered through insurance.
Costs as a result of accidents and ill-health can
be classified as:
Direct costs- measurable costs arising directly
from accidents
Indirect costs - arise as a consequence of the
event but may not directly involve money. Often
difficult to quantify and identify. The cost may
also be very high.

H&S failure can affect individual companies

as well as the broader economy.
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Group Discussion
An employee has been injured
at work
Identify potential
Direct costs of the accident
Indirect costs of the accident

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Group Discussion - Answers

Direct costs include:
Fines in criminal courts
Compensation
payable
to
the
injured/deceased, which will be paid
through the insurance thereby increasing
the insurance premiums
First aid treatment
Worker sick pay
Repairs to, or replacement of damaged
equipment and buildings
Lost or damaged products

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Group Discussion - Answers

Direct costs include: (contd)
Lost production time whilst dealing with
the injury
Overtime to the other employees to
makeup for lost time
Costs associated with rehabilitation of
the injured worker and their return to
work

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Group Discussion - Answers

Indirect costs
Loss of staff from productive duties in order
to investigate the incident, prepare reports,
doing hospital visits, deal with relatives of
the injured, attend court proceedings
Lost time by other workers who stop work
or reduce performance due to loss of
morale.
Cost of remedial action following an
investigation eg change of work process or
materials, and/or introduction of further
control measures
Cost of recruiting and training temporary or
replacement worker.
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Group Discussion - Answers

Indirect costs
Difficulties in recruiting and retraining
staff as an indirect result of the
accident
Loss of goodwill with clients following
delays in production and not fulfilling
delivery of orders on time
Activation of penalty clauses for failing
to meet delivery dates
Damage to public image and business
reputation.
Damage to industrial relations which
could lead to industrial action eg strikes
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Insured
Uninsured
Costs/
Insurance
is &
done
to cover some
of the
losses that mayLiability
foreseeablyInsurance
occur in an
Employers
organisation.
The employer will do an employers liability
insurance so that if workers are injured or
killed, there is an insurance in place to pay
the
worker
or
their
dependants
compensation.
Insurance will also be done to insure the
premises and goods against fire.
But not all losses can be insured eg
costs incurred towards prosecution and fines in
criminal courts
loss of revenue if the organisations reputation
is damaged because of a major accident at the
workplace.

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Insured & Uninsured Costs/

Insured
Costs Liability Insurance
Employers
Damage to equipment and building
due to fire
Compensation paid to workers
Medical costs
Legal costs (civil claims)

Civil law: branch of law concerned with

compensating individuals for the wrongs done to
them

Uninsured Costs

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Production delays
Loss of raw materials due to
accidents
Accident investigation time
Criminal fines & legal costs
Sick pay to injured
Hiring & training new workers
Overtime to makeup for loss of
production

8 - 36

End of Section Quiz

1. Identify the reasons why an organisation
should manage H&S?
2. Outline the responsibilities of an
employer?
3. Identify the possible costs to an
organisation following a workplace
accident?
4. Identify 4 Insured and Uninsured costs?

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Unit IGC1
Element 1.3
Role of National Governments and
International Bodies

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Roles of National Governments

and International Bodies
International Labour Organisation (ILO)
Is an agency of the United Nations
Most countries are members of ILO
ILO sets international standards for H&S
by publishing:
Conventions
Recommendations

Countries that are members of the ILO

have accepted the Conventions and
Recommendations and have
implemented them in their national laws.

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The International Frameworks

Regulations adopted by the International
Labour Organisation (ILO):
Occupational Safety and Health
Convention (C155) 1981 describes a basic
policy for H&S at both the national level and
for the organisations.
Occupational Safety and Health
Recommendation (R164) 1981 gives more
detail guidance on how to comply with the
policies of C155. It identifies obligations of the
employers and employees in order to achieve
the basic goal of a safe and healthy
workplace.

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Employers Responsibilities
Article 16 of C155 identifies obligations
placed on employers:
To provide workplaces, machinery, equipment
and work processes that are safe and without
risk to health
To ensure that chemical, physical and
biological substances and agents are without
risk to health
To provide adequate protective clothing and
equipment to prevent risks of accidents or of
adverse effects on health

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Employers Responsibilities
Article 10 of R164 identifies obligations placed on
employers:
To provide workplaces, machinery and equipment
and use work methods that are safe and no risk to
health
To provide appropriate instruction, training and
necessary supervision for the workers
To introduce H&S arrangements relevant to the size
and nature of the undertaking
To provide PPE without charge to workers
To ensure that working hours does not adversely
affect employees safety and health
To remove any extreme physical and mental fatigue
To stay up-to-date with knowledge in order to
comply with the above

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Group Exercise
Apart from employees, who else must the
employer protect?

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Group Exercise
Anyone affected by the employers
business activities:
Visitors
Invited (businessmen) / uninvited (eg.
public)
Lawful (eg. inspectors) / unlawful (eg.
thieves)
Contractors and sub-contractors
Members of the public

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Workers Responsibilities

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Article 19 of C155 states that all workers

have to co-operate with their employer so
that the employer can fulfil his safety
obligations.
R164 says that workers should:
Take reasonable care of their own safety
and that of other people who might be
affected by the things that they do and the
things that they fail to do
Comply with safety instructions and
procedures
Use all safety equipment properly and not
to tamper with it
Report any situation which they believe
could be a hazard and which they cannot

Workers Rights

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Article 19 of C155 states that every

worker must be:
Given adequate information on actions the
employer has taken to ensure occupational
safety and health
Given the right to the necessary training
in occupational safety and health
Consulted by the employer on all matters
of occupational 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

Role of Enforcement Agencies

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Legal and enforcement systems vary

between countries because there is no
global standard for enforcement of health
and safety law
Each country may have enforcement
agencies for health and safety law that
provides advice, investigates workplace
accidents and take formal enforcement
action to force employers to comply with
the law and start criminal proceedings
against the organisations or persons that
have committed offences. These
agencies may include:
Fire Authority for fire safety regulations
Insurance Companies

Compliance
Breach of H&S legislation is usually a
criminal offence. Failure to follow legal
standards may lead to:
Enforcement action on an employer
To improve the workplace within a time
period or
Prohibit high risk work activities until
improvements are made
Prosecution of the organisation in criminal
courts which can result in fines
Prosecution of individuals eg directors,
managers and workers which can result in
fines and/or imprisonment
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Claims for Compensation

Fault-Based Compensation
Systems
Worker brings claim against
employer
Must prove employer was negligent
and therefore to blame for injury/illhealth
No-fault systems
Worker does not need to prove
employers negligence
Decided by a panel of experts
No lawyers or courts
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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
Internationally recognised standard for
Occupational Health and Safety management is
OHSAS 18001 which is compatible with ISO 9001
and ISO 14001
These standards are not legal documents, but
they demonstrate good management practice

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Sources of H&S Information

Sources can be
Internal
External
... to the organisation

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Sources of Information
Internal

External

Accident records
Medical records

National
legislation

Risk assessments

Safety data sheets

Maintenance
reports

Codes of practice
Guidance notes

Safety inspections Operating

Audit reports
instructions

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Safety committee Trade associations

minutes
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
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End of Section Quiz

1. Identify the two main standards that the ILO
has produced for health and safety and what
do member countries do with these
standards?
2. Identify the responsibilities of an employer?
3. Identify the responsibilities of an employee?
4. Identify the rights of an employee?
5. Identify what action could be taken against
organisations breaking health and safety
law?
6. Identify the sources of internal and external
information of H&S

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