Professional Documents
Culture Documents
y management system
5 or more employees must have a written policy. It should contain
three individual sections:
Statement of Intent What we intend to achieve
Organisational Responsibilities Who is responsible
Arrangements for Implementation How it will be done
Management Systems
Examples of how the policy can be communicated are: It is good practice for directors to have overall responsibility for health and safety,
Issue a hard copy to each individual employee, and obtain a and to show the collective director responsibilities as well as their own individual
signature of receipt. responsibilities to provide health and safety leadership within the organisation.
E-mail a copy to all employees and add a read receipt. Directors must ensure that board decisions reflect their health and safety
Training courses (good practice to include the policy in every training intentions and recognise their role in engaging the active participation of the
course). workers in improving health & safety standards.
Display the policy on notice boards or the intranet.
Employee handbooks if used. As a board member, directors will need to ensure that any health & safety failures
are clearly communicated at board level and that any investigation findings are also
Other interested parties may be: brought to this forum.
Visitors
Contractors Directors have responsibility under section 37 of the HSWA 1974 Where an
Enforcing Authorities offence is committed by the body corporate and is attributable to any neglect,
Clients / Customers consent or connivance of a director or senior manager, then that person may also
be prosecuted.
Shareholders
Every organisation has to ensure that it clearly defines safety roles and Organisation Roles and responsibilities Senior Managers
responsibilities across the workforce. The responsibilities will need to
Senior Managers can demonstrate commitment to health & safety by:
include provisions for anyone affected by the activities of the organisation. Ensuring adequate resources for health and safety
Managers and individuals must know what they are responsible for in order Defining roles and responsibilities of all staff.
to fulfil their duties and only then will it be possible to measure these Appointing a member of senior management with specific responsibility for health
individuals against their responsibilities. and safety.
Appointing one or more competent persons to advise on health and safety.
This can be achieved by a combination of the following: Conducting regular reviews of health and safety performance.
Job descriptions (including health & safety responsibility) This commitment can be further reinforced by senior managers setting the right
Appraisal systems example. For instance:
Arrangements for dealing with poor performance Wearing PPE when necessary
Following marked walkways
Disciplinary procedures.
Participation in safety inspections
Participations in safety meetings
In terms of organisational requirements, every level of employee should Initiating and being personally involved in any health and safety training.
have defined responsibilities including, directors, senior managers, line
manager / supervisors, employees, H&S manager / advisor.
Health & Safety Management Health & Safety Management
System System
Organisation Roles and Policy Communication of Health
Responsibilities - Directors & Safety Policy
Health & Safety Management
Health & Safety Management
System
System
Organising Legal and
Organisation Roles and
Organisational Roles and
Responsibilities Senior Managers
Responsibilities
Organisation Health & Safety Culture
Organisation Roles and Responsibilities - Employees
Tangible outputs or Indicators of an organisations health and safety culture.
Accident Rate A high number can indicate poor safety, whereas a low number
Employees should be given responsibility to report any shortcomings can mean accidents are not being reported.
within the organisations health & safety arrangements and report Absenteeism and Sickness Rates Excessive rates of sickness or absence can
immediately any unsafe acts or conditions. indicate a poor culture or unsafe environment of an organisation.
Staff turnover High staff turnover is unsettling and can slow production down as
new recruits learn the job. It can indicate a poor working environment if staff do
Employees should be instructed that they have a duty to work in not wish to stay at an organisation for long.
accordance with the organisations health and safety arrangements Level of health & safety compliance the level of compliance directly correlates
and should not endanger anyone they are working with or around by with the attitudes displayed within the H&S culture. Senior management can
unsafe behaviour. support this. Any decrease in compliance will impact the culture.
Complaints about working conditions Complaints about working conditions can
indicate a positive culture because the workforce actively tries to bring about
These requirements are set out in sections 7 and 8 of the HSWA 1974 change. It can be negative if complaints are not followed up or no feedback is
and regulation 14 of the MHSWR 1999. given, or could be used by the workforce as a reason not to work safely because the
work condition indicate as such.
Organisation - Health and Safety Culture Organisation Factors promoting a negative health and safety culture
There are certain factors that will influence the health & safety culture of an
Definition of a health and safety culture: A system of shared values and
organisation in a negative way. These include:
beliefs about the important of health and safety in the workplace. Lack of effective communication and /or consultation.
A blame culture
In health and safety guidance (HSG65), the four Cs of a positive health and Lack of leadership and commitment at senior level.
safety culture are defined as: Loss of key personnel.
Competence Competence of individuals with relevant skills, knowledge, Health and safety being put second to production / quality
ability, training and experience. Setting unrealistic / unachievable targets.
Control Method of control within the organisation, e.g. Supervision, Lack of monitoring / enforcement
monitoring, enforcement. Poor working environment / conditions.
High staff turnover
Communication Method of communication throughout the organisation,
External influences e.g. economy / unemployment
e.g. posters, DVDs e-mail, notice boards etc.
Reorganisation
Cooperation means of securing cooperation between individuals, safety Redundancy
representatives and groups, e.g. safety committee meetings etc. Influence of peers
Health & Safety Management
Health & Safety Management
System
System
Organisation Health & Safety
Organisation Roles and
Culture Tangible Outputs and
Responsibilities - Employees
Indicators
Health & Safety Management Health & Safety Management
System System
Organisation Factors Promoting Organising Health and Safety
a Negative Health & Safety Culture Culture
Organisation Job / Task Factors
Organisation Factors Influencing Safety Related Behaviour Task Demands Unachievable targets can lead to mistakes, pressure and could
lead to an accident. If high levels of alertness are required for long periods or the
tasks are monotonous this can lead to fatigue and could cause accidents.
Disturbance / Interruptions Being disturbed or interrupted can distract us from
what we are doing or we may miss vital information. Constant interruptions can
cause a lot of frustration and lead to mistakes.
Bonus Systems These can lead to mistakes being made or accidents not being
reported correctly.
Environment Suitable lighting and temperature makes a work environment more
pleasant to work in. Poor lighting, extremes of temperature, an unclean work area
can lead to poor safety culture, or least to occupational illnesses, or more
accidents.
Displays and Controls Displays and controls should be arranged in order relevant
to the operation required. They should be easy to see, reach and operate in a
logical manner. They should also be consistent such as red for stop, green for start.
Procedures Procedures need to be: current and up to date, supported by training,
use familiar language, identify hazards and precautions, be in a suitable format, be
accessible, use consistent terminology.
Organisation Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) The number of employee representatives that an employer has depends on a number of
factors:
Regulationss 1996
Size of the workplace and number of locations.
Total number of employees.
Scope: Employer can choose whether to consult directly (small Type of work and risks involved.
Variety of occupations at the workplace.
companies) or through an elected Representative of Employee Safety
Operation of shift patterns.
(RoES). Areas which might not be covered by Trade Union (TU) Consultation.
The functions of a non-unionised safety representative role are Consultation should happen when measures are introduced affecting employee health and
safety. It is expected that employees should be made aware of:
similar to the union safety rep, but with the following exceptions:
Any arrangements / measures at the workplace which may substantially affect their health
Non-unionised Safety Representatives are NOT entitles to: and safety.
Inspect the workplace Information from risk assessments and / or control measures.
Arrangements for appointing a competent person to assist in complying with health and
Investigate accidents
safety arrangements.
Attend safety committee meetings. Introduction of new technology / materials.
The employer does not have to disclose information if: it violates a legal prohibition,
endanger national security, individual who has not given consent, could commercially
damage the business, obtained in connection with legal proceedings.
The definition of risk is the likelihood of harm resulting from the hazard.
Risk is a calculation of how likely an event is to happen, and if it does
happen, how severe the outcomes are likely to be. Essentially this is
calculated as:
Collective Measures - This is the concept of creating a safe place. This is the This is defined as A list of risk control measures, which are considered in order
focus on ensuring everyone is protected rather than just the individual. of importance, effectiveness and priority.
Collective safety should always take priority over individual safety. The following is another example of a hierarchy of control for health and
Collective measures include avoidance of risk, controlling at source, replacing safety:
the dangerous with the non or less dangerous etc are all collective measures.
Elimination
Individual Measures The most obvious example is issuing PPE, so that the Substitution
individual is protected but does not directly reduce the hazard. An example of Engineering Controls isolated, guarding, barriers, local exhaust ventilation
this is falls from height. The collective measure is the use of scaffold to prevent Administrative Controls signs, training, SSOW, job rotation, supervision,
a fall, but an individual measure would be to wear a harness. changing tasks regularly.
PPE.
This should be with always providing the appropriate information, instruction, Then there are welfare facilities such as first aid, washing facilities, provision of
training and supervision, including the use of signage to reinforce the barrier cream or storage for PPE, and then monitoring and supervision to
communication. ensure tasks are carried out as per instructions and training.
Health & Safety Management
Health & Safety Management
System
System
Planning Risk Assessment Risk
Planning Principles of Prevention
Young Persons
Health & Safety Management Health & Safety Management
System System
Planning General Hierarchy of Planning Collective / Individual
Control Measures
Planning Safe System of Work (2)
Planning Safe Systems of Work A defined space is any space of an enclosed nature where there is a risk of death
or serious injury from a specific risk.
The duty to provide a safe system of work comes from the HSWA Section 2(2) to: Examples include: storage tanks, silos, enclosed drains, sewers, chambers, vats,
Provide and maintain a plant and safe systems of work that AFARP without risk to ductwork, and unventilated rooms.
health. Hazards to consider are: lack of oxygen, poisonous gas, fumes or vapour, ingress of
A definition of a safe system of work is A formal procedure, which results from liquids from free flowing solids, fire and explosion, residues, dust, hot conditions.
systematic examination of a task in order to identify all of the hazards. It defines Confined spaces are covered in specific legislation Confined Space Regulations
safe methods to ensure that hazards are eliminated or risks reduced. 1997.
This places the following requirements on this type of work:
When developing a safe system of work, the 5 steps of assessment should be Avoid entry to confined spaces
applied. If entry is unavoidable, follow a SSOW
Assess the Task Put in place adequate emergency arrangements before work starts.
Identify hazards The SSOW is likely to include:
Define safe methods Issuing of a permit to work, provision that the person must be medically fit and
Implement system suitably trained, incoming services are isolated (e.g. gas), adequate ventilation, air
Monitor system tests are conducted during work, tools and lighting are suitable, suitable PPE is
provided, emergency arrangements are in place, monitoring and supervision are in
place, with provision for communication (e.g. radio).
Health & Safety Management Health & Safety Management
System System
Planning Safe Systems of Work Planning Sources of Health &
(2) Safety information
Health & Safety Management
Health & Safety Management
System
System
Planning Safety System of Work
Planning Confined Spaces
(1)
Planning - Lone Working Measuring, Audit and Review
There are a number of reasons why we would want to monitor health & safety performance:
Lone working can include one person working alone, or people working on the Determine whether or not health and safety plans have been implemented and objectives
same site, but far away from each other. This can also be people working outside of achieved.
normal hours, or remote workers. Check that adequate risk controls are in place.
A safe system of work for lone workers is likely to include: Learn from health & safety failures (including management failures)
Training and competent staff ideally avoiding new recruits or recent trained Provide information that can be used to review and improve aspects of the health and
people, or vulnerable (young persons or expectant mothers). safety management system.
Organisations are required by law to have arrangements for effective monitoring and
Adequate supervision regular contact, regular visits where possible.
review. This is covered under regulation 5 of the MHSWR. It requires the organisation to
Regular contact Where physical visits are not possible. Helps make the person have in place arrangements for effective: planning, organisation, control, monitoring and
feel safe and sense of belonging. review.
Automatic Warning Devices Man down alarms, sensors (such as fire sensor or This is based on the Plan-Do-Check-Act theory of continuous improvement.
gas). Plan Establish the objectives and processes necessary to deliver results in accordance with
Personal Alarms to summon help is the person cannot do this themselves. the expected output.
Diary System Helps to identify the tasks and location of worker. Do Implement the new processes.
First aid provision and training - providing adequate training and first aid supplies. Check Measure the new processes and compare the results against the expected results.
Emergency Procedures / Contact details being aware of arrangements. Act Analyse the differences to determine where to apply changes that will include
improvement. You cannot manage, what you cannot measure.
A second person to assist when needed providing help is required.
There are a number of methods that an organisation can use to achieve active
monitoring. These include:
Workplace Inspections - Doing this should spot hazards and unsafe conditions
before an accident occurs. These can include, statutory inspections like lifting
equipment, safety sampling, enforcement authority inspections.
Safety Tours and Safety Sampling This is doing only a partial group or area to
indicate whole workplace compliance.
Attitude surveys These can be surveys using equipment to say measure noise
(Safety Survey) or of staff to measure opinion.
Behavioural monitoring Watching employees at work and correcting unsafe
behaviour and praising safe behaviour. Help promote a positive culture.
Environmental monitoring - Ensuring environmental aspects are measured (waste
etc)
Benchmarking against other organisations.
Health surveillance.
Reactive monitoring includes the use of historic data and focuses on what has An audit is a thorough, critical, examination of an organisation. Audits should be
already gone wrong within an organisation. The types of data that are used for planned for due to the in-depth nature and number of information sources
reactive monitoring include: required. The outcomes of an audit should be provided in report format, which
Accidents and ill health - (Shown on next card) good because accidents that are details performance standards against targets. The results should provide
RIDDOR are hard to suppress, good for benchmarking, can identify trends. Bad for confirmation that the H&S systems are in place and are effective, and provide
negative measures, random in nature, reporting rates can vary, poor at assessing evidence that the organisation is achieving legal compliance.
awareness raising as this can increase accident reporting. Where there are non conformances, these should be reported with suggested
Sickness absence can show trends in areas where sickness is high. Can highlight corrective actions.
stress or problem areas. An effective audit should be:
Dangerous occurrences Independent
Near Misses / property damage by investigating near misses, we can prevent Systematic
accidents, you can learn from it without the injury. More frequent than actual Critical
accidents. Comprehensive
Civil compensation claims Objective
Enforcement action. Evidence-Based.
Health & Safety Management Health & Safety Management
System System
Accident Calculations Active Monitoring
Health & Safety Management Health & Safety Management
System System
Health & Safety Auditing Planning Reactive Monitoring
Audit and Inspection Differences Pre-Audit Preparations
Typically , the audit uses three types of evidence:
There are several key difference between an audit and an inspection: Documentary
Observation
Audit Inspection Interview
Documentation can be prepared in advance and include: H&S policy, RAs, training
A lengthy process, examining the Shorter timescale, simple records, maintenance records, inspection / previous audit reports, H&S minutes,
whole management system. observation of workplace. SSOW / Procedures, liaison with enforcement agencies, accident/ incident reports,
complaints from employees.
A full, comprehensive report is Less detailed, can be carried out by
produced. supervisors, H&S reps. The audit must be communicated in advance so people are aware who will need to
be involved and documentation can be prepared, what the agenda is and a time
Involves external or internal auditors Short report / checklist
frame. A post audit meeting should be organised to go through preliminary findings
who observe, interview and review.
before the audit report is written up.
Requires detailed planning, and More frequent and less time and Internal audits these can be useful as can pick up issues before an external one,
carried out infrequently resources than audit. but can be biased.
External audits useful as the auditor is likely to have wide reaching experience,
Considerate resource and effort Gives early indication of declining and the report will be more credible. They will also be well qualified, training and
required. standard. up to date with the law.
The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations An organisation is duty bound to report major injuries, fatalities, dangerous
1995 state that certain types of event must be reported to the relevant occurrences and hospitalisation.
authority by the responsible person. These events include: In the event of any of these occurring, the responsible person must report
Death by the quickest practicable means. In case of a fatality or major injury this
Major injury
will be by telephone. This will need to be followed by form F2508 within 10
Dangerous occurrence
days.
Diseases
Any worker incapacitated for more than 7 days as a result of an accident at
work. Over 7 days injuries must also be reported within 15 days. These days are
Immediate hospitalization of a non worker. even if they include the weekend or days when the employee was not due
to be at work.
RIDDOR places specific duties on the reporting of certain accidents. The
requirements to report are based upon the severity of the injuries. These Most of these reports are now made to the HSE via the Incident Contact
include major accident, certain diseases and certain dangerous occurrences. Centre.
The information gathered should include not just physical evidence at the
scene, but documentary evidence and human evidence, such as witness
reports.
The findings must be analysed and causes determined. The team should make
recommendations and issue them as part of an action plan. The investigation
should include photographs, sketches relating to the incident, and include
relevant records such as training records, maintenance records or risk
assessments. The team should conduct interviews with witnesses, which should
be done soon after the event in a private room individually. They need to be
put at ease and informed it is a fact gathering interview, not to apportion
blame. A written record should be taken.
Once the initial investigation has been completed with determined root causes
the organisation may need to collect data for litigation purposes.
Consideration must then be given to the return to work of the injured person.
Remedial Actions