NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational

Safety and Health

Unit IGC1

Element 3: Health and Safety

Management Systems 2 - Organising
 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 health and safety roles and responsibilities of

employers, managers, supervisors, workers and other relevant
parties

• Explain the concept of health and safety culture and its

significance in the management of health and safety in an
organisation

• Outline the human factors which influence behaviour at work in

a way that can affect health and safety
 Learning Outcomes
Continued…

• Explain how health and safety behaviour at work can be

improved

• Outline the need for emergency procedures and the

arrangements for contacting emergency services

• Outline the requirements for, and effective provision of, first aid
in the workplace
 Unit IGC1
Element 3.1

• Organisational Health and Safety Roles and

Responsibilities
 Standards for Organising

•Responsibility for ensuring that the workplace

is safe and free of health risk rests with the
employer.
•As we noted earlier, this responsibility is
made clear in:
• ILO Convention C155
• ILO Recommendation R164
Reminder - What are the Employer's Four
Duties?
Safe Place of Work

Safe Plant and Equipment

Safe System of Work

Training and Supervision

Organisational Health and Safety Roles and
Responsibilities
• Employer
• Directors and senior managers
• Middle managers and supervisors
• Safety specialists
• Workers
• Controllers of premises
• Self-employed
• Suppliers, manufacturers, designers
• Contractors
• Joint occupiers of premises
 Employer
The employer carries
ultimate responsibility for
ensuring that the workplace
is safe and free of health and
safety risks.

Ensures the safety of workers

and “others” e.g. visitors and
contractors
 Directors and Senior Managers

Directors and senior managers:

– Give an organisation its direction
– Set its priorities
– Allocate resources and appoint competent persons
– Allocate responsibilities
– Are responsible for ensuring that all of the legal
requirements are met
 Middle Managers & Supervisors
Middle managers and supervisors are involved in the
day-to-day operational running of the organisation so
are responsible for the health and safety standards
within the operations under their control.
 Safety Specialists

Safety Specialists (or

Practitioners) are responsible
for giving correct advice to
the organisation so that the
organisation can meet its legal
obligations and achieve its
policy aims.
 Group Discussion
• What are the typical responsibilities of
a health and safety specialist?
 Group Discussion
• Typical responsibilities include:
– Providing advice and guidance on health and safety
standards.
– Promoting a positive culture.
– Advising management on accident prevention.
– Developing and implementing policy.
– Overseeing the development of adequate risk
assessments.
– Identifying training needs.
– Monitoring health and safety performance.
– Overseeing accident reporting and investigations.
 Workers
Workers have a
responsibility to take
reasonable care of their
own health and safety
and that of other people
who might be affected
by what they do (or don't
do).
Workers must also co-
operate with their
employer on matters of
health and safety.
 Controllers of Premises
To the extent that they
have control, controllers
of premises are
responsible for ensuring
that the premises are safe
to use as a workplace, and
that there is safe access
and egress to it and from
it.
 Contractors & Self-Employed
These two groups have similar
responsibilities:
• To take reasonable care of
their own health and safety
and the health and safety of
others who might be
affected by their acts or
omissions.
 Suppliers, Manufacturers, Designers

Designers, manufacturers,
importers and suppliers
of items and substances
form the “supply chain”.
They have responsibilities
to ensure their products
are safe.
 Clients and Contractors
If a client can be held responsible for an
injury caused by a contractor working for
the client then it must be in the client’s own
best interests to ensure that contractors do
not endanger workers or others.
 Clients and Contractors

The way that a client manages

contractors can be broken down
into three key areas:
• Selecting the contractor
• Planning the work
• Coordanation of the work
• Monitoring the work
 Selecting the Contractor
Things you should check:
• Health and safety policy
• Risk assessments
• Qualifications and training records
• Membership of a professional organisation
• Maintenance and equipment testing
• Previous or current clients
• Accident records
• Enforcement action
• Adequate resources
 Planning the Work
Information to be shared between client and
contractor:
• Hazards posed by the site and work carried out
• Hazards posed by the contractor’s activities
• Risk assessments
• Method statements
 Co-ordination of Work
Arrangements between the client and
contractor include:
• Ensuring activities don’t conflict
• Permit-to-work system to control activities
• Key contacts e.g. works foreman identified to
ensure continuity
 Monitor and Control
Clients must:
• Monitor the work to ensure
safety
• The Client can:
• Stop the work if it involves
unsafe practices

•Auditing against agreed method

statements is a good technique.
 Joint Occupiers of Premises
• ILO Convention C155 – Article 17
• ILO Recommendation R164 – Article 11
• Employers in shared facilities should communicate
to develop appropriate health and safety standards
and appropriate policies and procedures.
• This may include:
- sharing of procedures e.g. fire and emergency
response
- sharing of risk assessments
- joint management committee meetings
 End of Section Quiz
1. Who does an employer owe a duty to
with regards to health and safety?
2. How can directors influence health
and safety?
3. What are the key workers
responsibilities?
4. What would you look for/check when
selecting a contractor?
 Unit IGC1
Element 3.2

• The Concept and Significance of Health and Safety

Culture
 Group Discussion
• What do we mean by the term “health
and safety culture”?

• What features would you expect to see

in an organisation with a “good health
and safety culture?”
 Definition of Culture
• The safety culture of an organisation is
the shared attitudes, values, beliefs and
behaviours relating to health and safety.
Influenced by:
– Management
– Communication
– Worker competence
– Co-operation
 H&S Culture Indicators
Poor health and safety culture leads to poor
performance
The following things need to be spotted early:
• Accident records
• Sickness rates
• Absenteeism
• Staff turnover
• Compliance with safety rules
• Worker complaints
• Staff morale
 Group Syndicate Activity
• What factors could result in the
deterioration of an organisation’s
health and safety culture and hence
safety performance?
 Factors Promoting a Negative
Culture
• Lack of leadership from management
• Presence of a blame culture
• Lack of management commitment to safety
• Health and safety a lower priority than other issues
• Organisational changes
• High staff turnover rates
• Lack of resources e.g. too few workers, low investment
• Lack of worker consultation
• Interpersonal issues e.g. peer group pressure, bullying
• Poor management systems and procedures
• External influences e.g. economic climate
 Reorganisation
• Company takeover
• Merger
• Management buy-out
• Change of management
• Departmental restructure
• Redundancy
Leading to:
• Concentration on the 'new order'
• Uncertainty over roles and responsibilities
 Uncertainty
• Increases at times of change
• Reduces morale
• Focus moves away from H&S
• No clear framework for decision-making
• Individuals make their own decisions
 Blame Culture
What is it?
Workers believe that if they report an
incident or make a complaint, they are
going to get:
• Blamed
• Punished
• Sacked
 Poor Leadership
• No clear rules or policies
• Decisions
– Not in line with policy
– Inconsistent
– Frequently reversed
– Influenced by personal reasons
• Conflicting priorities
• Poor communication
• No consultation with workers
Relationship Between Culture and
Performance
Group Discussion Point
• We have already considered what can
influence an organisation’s culture.
What would an organisation with a
positive culture “look” and “feel” like?
What characteristics would it
demonstrate?
 Relationship Between Culture and
Performance
• In organisations with a positive safety
culture…
– Health and safety is important to everyone
– There is strong policy and leadership
– Managers and directors lead on safety and
workers believe in it
– Health and safety performance is good:
– People work safely
– There are fewer accidents and ill health events
 Relationship Between Culture
and Performance
• In organisations with a negative safety
culture…
– Most feel safety isn’t important
– There is a lack of competence
– Safety is low priority
– Safety conscious workers are in minority
– Health and safety performance is poor
– There is a lack of attention to detail and procedure
– Lack of care and poor behaviour results in accidents
 Indicators of Culture
• Accident rates
• Absenteeism
• Sickness rates
• Staff Turnover
• Compliance with safety “rules”
• Complaints from employees about
working conditions
 The Influence of Peers
• In groups a hierarchy naturally forms
– Pressure is exerted from the top down
– Can happen in informal groups or formal
team
• Peer group pressure can result in:
– “good people” breaking rules to fit in
– “bad people” coming into line and working
safely!
• Key is to get the influential people on
board
– e.g. through training.
 Summary
• There is a link between safety culture and
performance.
• Safety culture can be assessed by looking at
indicators.
• Certain factors promote a negative safety
culture.
• Peer group pressure can result in the
individuals changing their behaviour to fit in
with the group.
 End of Section Quiz
1. Give a definition of Health and safety
culture
2. What factors could result in the
deterioration of the health and safety
culture of an organisation?
3. What indicators can be used to assess
the health and safety culture?
4. What is “peer pressure”?
 Unit IGC1
Element 3.3

• Factors Influencing Safety Related Behaviour

 Safety Related Behaviour
Three significant factors influence worker
behaviour:
The Individual
– Personal characteristics
The Job
– Nature of the job
The Organisation
– Characteristics of the business

Graphic taken from HSG48 from

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg48.htm
 Organisational Factors
• Safety culture
• Policies and procedures
• Commitment and leadership from management
• Consultation and worker involvement
• Levels of supervision
• Peer group pressure
• Communication
• Training
• Work patterns
 Job Factors
• Task
• Workload
• Environment
• Displays and controls
• Procedures
 Individual Factors
• Competence
• Skills
• Attitude
• Motivation
• Risk Perception
 Attitude, Competence and Motivation

• Attitude
– A person’s point of view or way of looking at
something; how they think and feel about it

• Motivation
– A person’s drive towards a goal; what makes
them do what they do
– Particular care needed with the use of
financial incentives!
Changing Attitude

• Education & training

• High impact intervention

("aversion therapy")

• Enforcement

• Consultation
 What is “Competence”?
• A combination of:
– Knowledge
– Ability
– Training
– Experience
• A competent person isn’t just one who
is trained
– nor is it someone who has been there
a long time!
 Perception
Perception: the way a person interprets
information detected by their senses:
• Sight
• Hearing
• Smell
• Taste
• Touch
 Perception
Factors which can affect perception
include:
• Illness
• Stress
• Fatigue
• Drugs and Alcohol
• Previous experiences
• Training and education
Improving Hazard Perception
• Understand why hazards are not
noticed by talking to workers
• Awareness campaigns/training
• Highlight hazards e.g. signs
• Ensure adequate lighting is available
• Reduce distractions e.g. noise
• Avoid excessive fatigue
 End of Section Quiz
1. What three key factors influence a
worker’s behaviour? Give examples of
each.
2. What is “competence”
3. How can an organisation inadvertently
motivate people to behave unsafely?
4. Suggest reasons why two people may
perceive hazards differently
 Unit IGC1
Element 3.4

• Improving Health and Safety Behaviour

 Management Commitment
• Securing management commitment is
essential
– Senior managers provide leadership and
motivation
– Needs clear policy, priorities and targets
• Commitment cascades down through
the organisation
• Requires visible leadership
 Group Syndicate Exercise
• In groups discuss the leaders that you
have worked with. What made them
good (or bad) leaders, particularly on
health and safety?

• From here think about what managers

can do to demonstrate their
commitment to health and safety.
 Visible Commitment
• Demonstrated by:
– Behaving safely themselves
– Involvement in the day to day
management of safety
– E.g. attending safety meetings
– Taking part in safety tours and audits
– Promoting activities to improve safety
– Enforcing the rules
 Disciplinary Procedures
• Sometimes rules are broken
• Employees may endanger themselves
or others
• Ignoring issues can result in injuries
• Sometimes it is necessary to use
discipline to enforce the rules
 Who Would You Discipline
• A supervisor who orders the team to
cut corners to save time?
• A reckless fork lift truck driver?
• A persistent prankster?
• An office worker who repeatedly fails to
wear PPE when in the factory area?
• A maintenance worker who doesn’t
isolate a machine as the job was only
10 minutes?
 Competent Staff
• Competence
– Knowledge, ability, training, experience
• Competent Managers
– Understand the implications of their
decisions on health and safety
– Often a weakness!
• Competent Staff
– Enables job to be done safely
 Communication
Individual Activity
List as many methods of communicating in the
workplace as you can think of, splitting your list
into:
● Verbal communication
● Written communication
● Graphic communication

What are the advantages and disadvantages of

each method?
 Verbal Communication
Limitations Merits
• Language barrier
• Jargon • Personal
• Strong accent/dialect • Quick
• Background noise • Direct
• Poor hearing • Check understanding
• Ambiguity • Feedback
• Miss information • Share views
• Forget information • Additional information
• No record (Body language)
• Poor quality (telephone or PA)
 Written Communication
Limitations Merits
• Indirect • Permanent record
• Time • Reference
• Jargon/abbreviations • Can be written carefully for
• Impersonal clarity
• Ambiguous • Wide distribution relatively
• May not be read cheaply
• Language barriers
• Recipient may not be able
to read
• No immediate feedback
• Cannot question
• Impaired vision
 Graphic Communication
Limitations Merits
• Very Simple • Eye-catching
• Expensive • Visual
• May not be looked at • Quick to interpret
• Symbols or pictograms may be • No language barrier
unknown • Jargon-free
• Feedback • Conveys a message to a wide
• No questions audience
• Impaired vision
 Communication Media
• Posters
• Video/films
• Memos/emails
• Employee handbooks
• Toolbox talks
 Consultation With Workers
• Often a legal requirement to consult
with workers
• Consultation is a two-way process
– Managers inform workers of plans, etc.
and listen to employee concerns
 Methods of Consultation
• Direct consultation
– Employer talks to each worker and
resolves issues
• Through worker representatives
– Committee is formed to represent workers
– Regular meetings to discuss and resolve
issues
– Members may have rights in law
 Typical Issues to Consult on:
• Introduction of new measures
affecting health and safety
• Appointment of new advisors
• Health and safety training plans
• Introduction of new technology
 Co-operation & Consultation
Negative Culture
• Informing
• Dictatorial approach

Positive Culture
• Consultation
• Worker involvement
 Training
What is Training?

Training (in the context of health and

safety) is:
“…. The planned, formal process of
acquiring and practising knowledge and
skills in a relatively safe environment.”
A trained person will therefore be
competent.
 Training
● Dramatic effect on safety related behaviour
● Without training workers try to do their jobs:
– By copying others (with their bad habits)
– By doing the job the way they think is best
 Training
Helps workers to understand:
• Hazards and risks
• Rules and precautions
• Emergency procedures
• Limitations and restrictions
 Training Opportunities:
When Do You Need to Train?
Induction − For new employees
training
Job − New hazards following a change in job
change
Process change − New hazards associated with new
ways of working
New technology − New hazards associated with plant and
machinery
New legislation − Implications of the new legislation
 Training Needs Analysis
• Factors to be considered include:
– The type and function of the organisation
– The hazard and risk profile
– The accident history of the organisation
There may be statutory training
requirements
– The level of training previously provided,
together with the detail of which
employees have been trained and when.
 Post Training Activities
• Maintain training records
– Who attended which sessions and when
• Carry out evaluation of effectiveness
– Look for indicators such as:
– Reduced incidents
– Increased awareness
– Improved compliance to rules
 Group Activity
Design a health and safety induction
training programme for new starters.
Consider the following:
• What topics should be included?
• In what order?
• How long should the induction take?
• When are you going to do it?
• What problems might be involved in
doing it?
 New Employee Induction Topics
• Health and safety policy
• Emergency procedures
• First aid
• Welfare facilities
• Safe movement
• Accident and incident reporting
• Consultation arrangements
• Safety rules
• Personal protective equipment
• Safe working and permits
• Risk assessment system
 End of Section Quiz
1. How can directors/managers
demonstrate their commitment to
health and safety?
2. What are the 3 different
communication methods that are
used?
3. What is the difference between
“consulting” and “informing”
 Unit IGC1
Element 3.5

• Emergency Procedures
 Emergency Procedures
• Why do we need them?
• Because despite all of the precautions,
things can still go wrong!
 Group Syndicate Activity
• What emergency situations would the
following organisations have to
consider when developing emergency
procedures?
– A primary school
– A chemical manufacturing plant
– A shopping centre

• Be prepared to feed back to the group

 Group Syndicate Activity
• Primary School
– Fire, first aid, bomb threat (possibly), severe
weather, outbreak of disease.
• Chemical manufacturing plant
– Fire, first aid (including multiple casualty
incident), bomb threat, severe weather, outbreak
of disease, chemical release, toxic chemical
exposure. Possible outbreak of disease.
• Shopping Centre
– Fire, first aid, terrorist threats including bomb
and/or suspect packages, multiple casualty
incident, severe weather, crowd control/panic.
 Emergency Procedures
The organisation needs to arrange:
• Procedures to be followed
• Suitable emergency equipment
• Responsible staff
• Training and information needs
• Drills and exercises
 Contacting Emergency Services

• Communication equipment
– Phones, radios etc.
• Contact Details
– National and local emergency numbers
• Responsible individuals
– ESSENTIAL to understand who’s
responsibility it is!
– Must be trained
 End of Section Quiz
1. What types of emergency situation
might an organisation need to
consider?
2. You are developing fire response
arrangements – what key things would
you include?
 Unit IGC1
Element 3.6

• Requirements for, and effective provision of, first aid

in the workplace
 First Aid
An employer has a duty to make
appropriate first-aid provision for his
employees which include:
• Facilities
– An appropriate location where first-aid
treatment can be given
• Equipment
– Suitably stocked first-aid kits and other equipment

• Personnel
– Trained staff

Must inform people of these arrangements

 'The 3 Ps'
Basic principle of first-aid is to keep the injured
person alive until professional medical assistance
arrives, sometimes called 'The 3 Ps':
P reserve life
P revent deterioration
P romote recovery

Also provide treatment for minor injuries

 Personnel and Coverage
Trained personnel:
• First aider – full training
• Appointed person – basic training only

Coverage will depend on:

• The general risk level of the workplace
• The hazards present in the workplace
• Accident history
• Vulnerable persons
• The number of workers
• Work patterns and shift systems
• Workplace location (geographic)
• The spread of the workplace
 First Aid Facilities
Equipment First Aid Room (possibly)
• First aid boxes (minimum) • Centrally located;
• Plus accessible by
- Eye-wash stations emergency services
- Emergency showers
• Clean and adequately
- Blankets
heated, ventilated and
- Splints
lit
- Resuscitation equipment
- Stretchers • Hand-wash facilities,
- Wheelchairs chair, clinical waste bin,
- Other equipment as etc.
required
 End of Section Quiz
1. What is the basic function of a first
aider?
2. What should be considered when
determining the number of first aiders
on site?
3. What other factors should be
considered when evaluating the
overall level and type of first aid
provision for a site