NEBOSH International

General Certificate

Foundations in Health and Safety

IGC1 Element 1
Course Aims & Objectives
This course is designed to provide delegates
with the ability to:

• Discuss the moral, social and economic

reasons for maintaining and promoting
health and safety
• State the role of national governments
and international bodies in formulating a
framework for the regulation of health
and safety
• Identify the sources of information on
health and safety
• State the key elements of a health and
safety management system
 Health and Safety

Since 1950, the International Labour Organization (ILO)

and the World Health Organization (WHO) have shared
a common definition of occupational health.
 Health and Safety
The definition reads: "Occupational health should
aim at: the promotion and maintenance of the
highest degree of physical, mental and social well-
being of workers in all occupations; the prevention
amongst workers of departures from health caused
by their working conditions; the protection of
workers in their employment from risks resulting
from factors adverse to health; the placing and
maintenance of the worker in an occupational
environment adapted to his physiological and
psychological capabilities; and, to summarize, the
adaptation of work to man and of each man to his
job."
Key Terms

Health - A State of well being.

Safety – Absence of danger or physical
harm.
Welfare – Facilities for workplace comfort.
Environmental Protection
- A measure used to prevent
harm to the environment of the world
OHS Foundations

• Accident
• Dangerous Occurrence
• Near miss
• Work related ill health
• Hazard
• Risk
 Why Health and Safety?

Moral - An employee should not

have to risk injury or death at work,
nor should others associated with
the work environment.
 Why Health and Safety?

Economic
•Many governments realize that poor occupational
safety and health performance results in cost to the
State (e.g. through social security payments to the
incapacitated, costs for medical treatment, and the
loss of the "employability" of the worker).
•Employing organizations also sustain costs in the
event of an incident at work (such as legal fees,
fines, compensatory damages, investigation time,
lost production, lost goodwill from the workforce,
from customers and from the wider community).
Why Health and Safety?

Legal - Occupational safety and health

requirements may be reinforced in civil law
and/or criminal law; it is accepted that
without the extra "encouragement" of
potential regulatory action or litigation, many
organisation’s would not act upon their
implied moral obligations.
 Moral

• Prevent suffering and maintain

quality of life
• No-one should be expected to risk
life and limb in return for a contract
of employment
Health and life at work: A basic
human right

•Health and Safety at work today is a basic

human right
•A moral obligation:
•The human costs are far beyond
unacceptable. T
•The cost of accidents and ill health amounts to
an estimated 4 per cent of the World's GDP.
•In the current global financial and economic
crisis, this situation may even worsen.
Legal
• Qatar Labour Law Article 99…
• Variety of other Acts and
Regulations
• Failures can lead to:
– Enforcement notices
– Prosecution
– Civil actions for compensation
Is good health & safety good
business?

“We recognise the importance of

costing loss events as part of total
safety management. Good safety is
good business”
Dr. J Whiston, ICI Group SHE Manager
Is good health & safety good
business?

“Safety is, without doubt, the most

crucial investment we can make,
and the question is not what it costs
us, but what it saves.”
Robert McKee, Chairman Conoco (UK)
Ltd.
Is good health & safety good
business?

“Prevention is not only better, but

cheaper than cure…Profits and
safety are not in competition. On
the contrary, safety at work is good
business.”
Basil Butler, MD British Petroleum plc
Accident Costs Iceberg
Accident Costs Iceberg

Insurance Costs

Uninsured Costs
Insurance Costs

• Employers Liability
• Public Liability
• Product Liability
• Motor Vehicle
 Uninsured Costs
• Product and material damage
• Lost production time
• Legal costs
• Overtime & temporary labour
• Investigation time/Administration
• Supervisors time
• Fines
• Loss of expertise/experience
• Loss of morale
• Bad publicity
Piper Alpha

• 167 dead
• Estimated cost of over £2 billion
Grangemouth

• BP refinery fire in 1987

• One person died
• Cost £50 million in property damage
• Cost further £50 million due to
business interruption
HSE Example

• Small engineering firm (15 workers)

• Workers sleeve caught on rotating drill
• Both bones in lower arm broken
• 12 days in hospital
• Off work for 3 months
• Admin duties for 5 months
• Unable to operate machinery for 8 months
• Managing Director Prosecuted
• 2 employees made redundant to prevent
company going out of business
Costs to Company

Wages for injured worker over period =

£10000
Lost production/remedial work required =
£8000
Overtime wages to cover lost production =
£3000
Wages for replacement worker =
£7000
Loss of time of manager/MD =
£4000
Legal expenses =
£3000
Fines and court costs =
£4000
Increase in Insurance Premiums =
£6000

Total cost to business = £45000

Typical Frameworks for regulating
Health & Safety
• National Policy
• Regulation – Law
• Standards – international, local
• Enforcement
• Monitoring and Review
Example: UK
Acts, Regulation,
ACOP’s, COP’s, Guidance, BSI,
HSE, HSC
International standards and
conventions

• ILO Labour Protection department –

SAFEWORK
• ILO Conventions,
Recommendations and
• Codes of Practice – accident reporting
• Guidelines - ILO 2001
• ISO
• British Standards OHSAS 18001
International standards and
conventions

• C155 -1981
• Convention concerning
Occupational Safety and Health and
the Working Environment.
• Not ratified in Qatar – interestingly
UK has also not ratified C155
C155

Part 2 Principles of National Policy

Part 3 Action at a national level
Part 4 Action at the level of the
undertaking
Legal Standards

• Shall
• Reasonable
• Practicable
• So far as is ‘reasonably practicable’
C155

Governments responsible for;

• Setting national policy on OH&S
• Effective inspection and
enforcement of relevant legislation
• Providing Guidance to employers
C155

Employers Shall be required to;

• Ensure that, so far as is reasonably
practicable, the workplaces,
machinery, equipment and
processes under their control are
safe and without risk to health.
C155

Employers Shall be required to;

• Ensure that, so far as is reasonably
practicable, the chemical, physical
and biological substances and
agents under their control are
without risk to health when the
appropriate measures of protection
are taken.
C155

Employers Shall be required to;

• Provide, where necessary, adequate
protective clothing and protective
equipment to prevent, so far as is
reasonably practicable, risk of
accidents or of adverse effects on
health.
C155

Whenever two or more undertakings

engage in activities simultaneously at
one workplace, they shall collaborate
in applying the requirements of this
Convention.
C155

Employers shall be required to;

• Provide, where necessary, for
measures to deal with emergencies
and accidents, including adequate
first-aid arrangements.
C155

There shall be arrangements under

which-
• Cooperate with Employer.
• Safety Representation
– Information
– Training
– Reporting to employer
C155

Employers shall be required to;

• Co-operation between management
and workers and/or their
representatives

Occupational safety and health measures

shall not involve any expenditure for the
workers.
Group work

• In your groups discuss the different

sources of information available to
Health and Safety Professionals
Sources of information

• Internal
• External
• Primary
• Secondary