Professional Documents
Culture Documents
E1 - Foundations of Health and Safety
E1 - Foundations of Health and Safety
Complexity :
Workplace involves the co-ordination of People, Equipment, Material and Environment for various
activities (PEME)
Finding a solution to a specific health and safety problem depends on hazards identification
associated with the above parameters
The need to comply with different types law as well as environmental protection law.
Behavioural issues:
Workers sometimes make mistakes . Sometimes they deliberately do the wrong thing
In short unsafe behavior leads to unsafe acts creating unsafe conditions leading to Hazards
& Risk resulting in accidents / incidents
MEANINGS
Safety - “Absence of danger of physical harm”. Acceptable degree of freedom from harm.
such as toilet facility, hand was station, changing rooms, rest places
Accident: “An unplanned, unwanted sequence of events which leads to injury or loss
Near miss: An unplanned, unwanted sequence of events that had the potential to lead to
injury
Dangerous Occurrence – A high potential near miss – a specified event that has to be
reported to Enforcing Authority even if it did not lead to any harm – example: scaffolding
collapse, gas leak etc.
Ill Health – Diseases or medical conditions caused by a person’s work – example: asthma,
dermatitis etc
Hazard:
Risk - The likelihood that hazards will cause harm in combination with the severity of Injury,
damage or loss that might occur as a result.
MORAL REASONS
Duty of care
Societal concerns
Trust deficit
LEGAL REASONS
Criminal Offence
Enforcement action
Civil claims
PROVIDE A SAFE PLACE OF WORK : VENTILATION, LIGHTING, NUMBER OF ENTRY AND EXIT
POINTS, CONTROL STRATEGIES
PROVISION OF SAFE PLANT AND EQUIPMENT - All the machinery, tools, plant and
equipment should be safe & with out risk
ECONOMIC REASONS
– Indirect - arise as a consequence of the event but may not directly involve
money. Often difficult to quantify
• sick pay,
• Indirect costs
• Lost reputation
Insured Costs:
• Fire
• Worker injury/death
• Medical costs
Uninsured Costs:
• Sick pay
• Overtime
• Equipment repairs
• Lost materials
REASONS FOR EMPLOYER’S LIABILITY INSURANCE?
A legal requirement
EMPLOYER’S RESPONSIBILITIES
Safe methods
Provide PPE
No excessive overtime
Remove fatigue
Health surveillance
WORKER’S RESPONSIBILITIES
WORKER’S RIGHTS
ROLE OF LAW
Set boundary
Regulate relationship
Resolve conflict
Establish rights
CONSEQUENCE OF NON-COMPLIANCE
A breach of health and safety legislation is a criminal offence and It leads to:
Formal enforcement action can force an employer either to make an improvement within
the workplace within a given time period – IMPROVEMENT NOTICE
Can stop carrying out high risk activities altogether until improvements are made –
PROHIBITION NOTICE
Inspections
Audits
Training
Blacklisting
ABOUT ILO
– Conventions
– Recommendations
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Internal
o Accident records
o Medical records
o Risk assessments
o Maintenance reports
o Safety inspections
o Audit reports
o Safety committee minutes
EXTERNAL
• National legislation
• Codes of practice
• Guidance notes
• Operating instructions
• Trade associations
• Safety publications