Element 1: Why We Should

Manage Workplace Health and

Safety
 Why We Should Manage Workplace Health & Safety: Element 1

1.1 Morals and Money

Definitions
Health and safety need to be managed to protect employees, and others, from potentially
harmful effects of work.

Health
Health was defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), in 1948 as:
a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of
disease or infirmity.

Safety
Safety may be considered to be the state of being safe, i.e. free from the unacceptable risk
of injury, danger, or loss.

Welfare
Employers are required to provide adequate arrangements for the welfare at work of their
employees. ‘Welfare facilities’ are those that are necessary for the well-being of employees,
such as washing, toilet, rest and changing facilities, and somewhere clean to eat and drink
during breaks.

MORAL EXPECTATIONS OF GOOD STANDARDS OF HEALTH AND

SAFETY
Organisation, which view its staff as their main assets, have a moral obligation to prevent
unnecessary suffering and loss of life. Although they do not intend to harm, most
companies fail to take effective measures to manage health.

The need to provide a safe place of work, safe plant and equipment, safe
systems of work, training and supervision, and competent workers
Corporate responsibility determines how companies manage their core businesses to add
social, environmental and economic value, and to have a positive and durable impact both
on society and on companies themselves.
In accordance with H&S law, the employer must ensure that all employees ' health, safety
and well - being are reasonably practicable. In particular:
• Safe facilities and work systems
• Safe workplace, access and exercise
• Safe workplace with adequate welfare facilities
• Written safety policy, along with organizational arrangements and other
agreements (if more than four workers)
• Consultation with safety officials and formation of safety committees

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 Why We Should Manage Workplace Health & Safety: Element 1

• Safe use, management, handling, transportation and storage of substances and

products
• Competent people who work diligently
• Training & Supervision

The Employer must provide the information, training and training required for employees
to safely perform their duties. Staff should also be monitored to ensure compliance with
the policies and procedures. Supervisors have to be made aware of their own
responsibility.

Competent Workers
The Employer should ensure that competent advice is available on health and safety from
inside or outside the organization. The information, instruction and training required in
order for employees to carry out their work safely should be provided.

THE FINANCIAL COST OF INCIDENTS (INSURED AND UNINSURED

COSTS).
Many of the company's decisions are based on financial problems. This also applies to the
consideration of health and safety functions. The financial resources of an organization
are drained considerably because of poorly managed safety.

The health and safety financial explanation is specified in the cost / benefit balance,
provided that the advice provided by the ready accessibility of the opinion from a
competent person is beneficial to the company's costs of obtaining such data.
Any accident or ill - health event will result in direct and indirect costs, sustained and
insured costs and non - insured costs. In a research study conducted by the HSE, indirect
costs or hidden expenses may be 36 times greater than direct accident costs.
Direct costs: These are costs that are directly associated with the accident and can be
insured or not.
Indirect costs: These costs cannot be attributable directly to the accident but can be
caused by a number of accidents. They can again be insured or uninsured.

Direct Costs (Insured) Direct Costs (Uninsured)

• Employers and third-party liability • Enforcement agency’s fines

Claims
• Payment of sickness
• Recovery of Property Damages
• Damages not directly attributed to the
• Any problems associated with accident.
production or general losses of business
• Premium Insurance increases

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• Insurance claims payable in excess.

Indirect Costs (Insured)
• Cumulative loss of business
• Claims on product or liability for
processing
• Reclamation of certain substitutes.
• Legal representation after any claim for
compensation
Indirect Costs (Uninsured)
• Renunciation and business image losses
• Time required for investigation and any
remedial action required
• Delay in production.
• Extra payments for overtime.
• Last time of recruitment and training of
replacements to other employees, such
as a Prime Aider, who assists the injured.
• Further time incurred by the
administration.
• Provision of first-aid assistance and first-
aid training.
Table Source: PCFSM

Some of these items, such as corporate losses, could be insurable or too costly to insure.
Insurance policy can therefore never cover all accident and/or illness costs because certain
items are not covered by the policy, or because the insurance excess is higher than the
item cost.

Costs of Insured and Uninsured Accidents and Ill Health

The insurance employers are convinced that most of the cost of the incident is insurance
covered. In general, insurance companies don't cover all. There could even be an
insurance premium for a future insurance cover due to a poor record of health and safety
or a rejection of future insurance cover. Uninsured costs were between 8 and 36 times
higher than insured costs in the studies.

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 Why We Should Manage Workplace Health & Safety: Element 1

1.2 Regulating Health and Safety

WHAT ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES DO AND WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU
DON’T COMPLY
There are differences in the way legislation is implemented with reference to enforcement
standards worldwide. One or more of the following factors may determine the difference
in implementation in a country or country:
• Implementing Standards by the legal system
• Advising companies, staff and the general public
• Uniform approach-Approaches should be followed by an appropriate and fair
mean for individuals or organizations that willingly and deliberately avoid national
law-enforceability. The sanctions for the offender shall be appropriate for the
offence.
• Target Setting – Governments are relied on introducing initiatives to improve the
national future performance.
• Encouraging co - operation among the parties concerned

Enforcement
Enforcement authorities are usually government bodies and normally empowered to deal
with infringements and all situations that they consider unsafe.
The powers of Enforcement Officers might be considered under the headings of: -
1 Informal
2 Formal

1. Informal
This requires health and safety advice and guidance, verbal advice and, if necessary,
written advice without further action.

2.Formal
• Formal action may involve such actions: -
• Issuing legal mandates to comply with the law and put right the breach
• Legal warrants to immediately stop dangerous activities
• Intention to prosecute or punish a person or company which can lead to fines and
/ or imprisonment
• Issuing a caution (warning), that can be used in evidence at a later date, often for
minor repeat offences.

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CONSEQUENCES OF NONCOMPLIANCE
A breach of health and safety legislation is usually a criminal offense – wherever you are in
the world.
Failure to meet legal standards might lead to:
• Formal enforcement action: an enforcement agency might force an employer either to
make an improvement within the workplace within a given time period or to stop
carrying out high risk activities altogether until improvements are made. Failure to
comply with formal enforcement action is usually considered to be an offence in itself.
• Prosecution of the organization in the criminal courts: successful prosecution might
result in
• punishment in the form of a fine.
• Prosecution of individuals, such as directors, managers, and workers: successful
prosecution might result in punishment in the form of a fine and/ or imprisonment.
As well as the criminal law consequences there is also the matter of compensation for
workers and others injured in a workplace accident. Depending on the region/ country
concerned, this might involve the worker:
• Taking legal action against their employer through the civil legal system, and having
to prove that their employer had been negligent and was, therefore, to blame for their
injury.
• Claiming compensation from national or regional compensation schemes, with no
requirement to prove negligence or blame through the use of the legal system.

THE PART PLAYED BY INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS (LIKE ISO

45001)
The ISO, the central secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland that coordinates this system, is a
network of national standards institutes in many countries. While the organisation is a
non-governmental it still occupies a special position because many of its member
institutes are part of the governmental structure of their countries or are mandated by
their government, and other members have their roots in the private sector. It thus makes
it possible to reach a consensus on solutions that meet both business and social needs.
Standards the ISO have issued include: -
• ISO 9000: Quality Management Systems
• ISO 14001: Environmental Management Systems
One point of interest with the name of the ISO is that it would have different
abbreviations in different languages, so its founders decided to give a short all-purpose
name. They chose ISO-derived from the Greek meaning equal. Regardless of which
country or language the short form is ISO.

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THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION’S (ILO)

CONVENTION C155 AND RECOMMENDATION R164
Employers’ responsibilities (C155 Article 16 and R164 Recommendation 10)
The ILO recommendation on safety, health and the working environment (R164 – 1981)
fulfills employer obligations:
• Perform risk evaluations to address all risks that could harm people at work.
• Provide training, monitoring, guidance and risk information on the workplace, the
way in which workers and other individuals are being protected and risk
management.
• Consultation is a two-way process. The director must either be a safety
representative elected by the staff or appointed by a syndicate through the safety
representative.
• Providing personal safeguards to prevent harmful exposure. A competent person is
a person with the necessary skills, skills and experience to manage health and
safety. The person responsible is a person with the necessary knowledge and
expertise. The policy should be communicated and accessible to all workers and
others. The Management commitment to safety and health should be made clear,
including who, when, how, and what.
• Health and safety policy should be developed and published describing how health
and safety should be managed.
• Provide all employees including persons with disabilities with working facilities.

Workers’ responsibilities and rights (C155 Article 19 and R164

Recommendation 16)
• Focus on the health and safety of persons affected by their actions or inaction and
their own actions.
• Collaboration and collaboration in the area of health and safety with others
without interference with or abuse of anything for their health or safety
• Continue to use and follow the training received when using any items provided by
the employer

Employees Rights
Employees have the right to:
• Work in areas in which risk to safety and health is controlled
• Stop working and leave the area when they think they are in danger
• Consultation on health and safety issues at work
• All safety and health concerns or concerns should be communicated to their
employers

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 Why We Should Manage Workplace Health & Safety: Element 1

• In the event of continued concerns about health and safety the local authorities
need to be contacted
• be a safety representative, or even join a trade union
• If they are a safety official, they need to be paid time off training work
• Adequate and sufficient toilet, washing and drinking water
• Appropriate first aid facilities

WHERE YOU CAN FIND INFORMATION ON NATIONAL STANDARDS.

There are many sources of information available to support hazard identification and risk
management in the workplace. Broadly these can be categorised based on whether the
information is available internally (within the organisation) or externally (sourced outside
of the organisation).

Internal sources of information are restricted to the range of experiences within the
organisation and can be further limited due to inadequate reporting or poor record
keeping.

External sources of information provide opportunities to learn from a much broader field
of experience and to benchmark against recognised best practise but may not be directly
relevant in the context of a specific organisation.

Internal and external sources are generally complementary and used together help to
provide useful, contextual information to help identify hazards and evaluate risks.

Internal sources of information

• Accident / incident and ill-health data and rates can help in the identification of
hazardous events.
• Incident investigation reports may provide root cause information.
• Occupational illness records are likely to be less useful in cases where there is a long
delay between exposure and illness.
• General sickness / absenteeism records will provide useful information on workplace
pressure and stress.
• Maintenance records can be a useful source of information on machinery damage and
damage to the building fabric.
• Training records, training needs analyses and competence maps can provide an
indication of the competence of individuals and the overall workforce.

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External sources of information

• Trade / industry bodies such as the Chemical Industries Association.
• National / state enforcement agencies or government departments, e.g.
• UK – Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
• USA – Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
• Western Australia – WorkSafe
• Canada – The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).
• Commercial databases of health and safety information, e.g. Technical Indexes,
Barbour or Croner.
• Specialist textbooks.
• Magazines and journals.

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1.3 Who Does What in Organisations

ROLES OF DIRECTORS/MANAGERS/SUPERVISORS
Top Management/Directors
They are responsible for all those who work or visit the organization's health, safety and
welfare. They are especially responsible for ensuring:
• The policies of the organization shall be reviewed as necessary to ensure continued
adherence to existing policies, current legislation and any changes to the law.
• The policy of the organization is reflected in appropriate strategic and operational
objectives and arrangements are in place to assess the performance of the targets.
• The necessary resources are made available to maintain effective and efficient
health and safety arrangements, and one or more competent persons are
appointed to provide assistance in fulfilling the health and safety obligations of the
organization (including specialist assistance where necessary
• Health and safety responsibilities are appropriately assigned within the
management structure and accepted in all respects.

Senior management provides safety leadership in terms of both the importance of health
and safety arrangements and their continuous improvement. Each director will also have
personal responsibilities within the organization regarding his / her areas of responsibility
and relationship with senior managers and other employees. Directors approves,
implements and monitors all site health and safety policies, rules and procedures, and
annually reviews the effectiveness and, where necessary, requires a review of the health
and safety program.

Managers’ Role in Health and Safety

Departmental and section operations are responsible for this level of management. They
are responsible for ensuring:
• Health and safety policies and programs are frequently monitored and reviewed
• Safe work systems are implemented for all operating procedures and practices are
properly documented and adhered to
• Provision of appropriate work equipment, properly maintained and used at all
times
• Understanding, promoting and adhering to health and safety policies and
procedures
• Engaging employees in an open, honest and meaningful manner to ensure that
they understand what safety standards to which they are expected
• Encouraging feedback and communication channels with employees

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• Ensuring that safety practitioners and senior management are made aware of
safety issues or concerns, especially when hazards or flaws are identified in any
operational procedures.
• All employees are adequately trained and competent to carry out the work
assigned to them without exposing themselves
• Activities carried out by all employees do not pose a risk or hazard to other
employees, property, customers or visitors and the general public
• Work carried out by contractors does not put employees or people at risk.
• All necessary measures for reporting accidents, first aid, fire safety measures and
so on are in place.
• All incidents and hazardous accidents are fully investigated, and preventive
measures are recommended with the Safety Professional in close cooperation.

Supervisors’ Role in Health and Safety

In addition to the responsibilities of the basic employees, supervisors (and managers) may
also be responsible for specific worker groups or specific parts of the workplace. There
may be additional responsibilities to ensure that:
• Risk assessments are current and effective
• Employees work according to safe work systems
• The workplace is kept clean and clean and free of obstacles
• Adequate supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) are available
• Accidents and near-misses are reported and investigated appropriately.

SECURING COMMITMENT OF MANAGEMENT

Leadership is more reliable if noticeable board members can reinforce health and wellness
policy by being seen on the 'shop floor,' setting self-example by following all precaution
themselves and dealing with any breaches instantly.
• Consider health and wellness when deciding senior management visits.
• Having procurement requirements for products, devices and services can help prevent
the intro of high health and safety risks.
• The health and wellness arrangements of partners, crucial suppliers and contractors
must be evaluated: their efficiency might adversely impact director's own ability.
• Establishing a separate risk management or health and safety committee as a subset of
the board, chaired by a senior executive, can make certain the key concerns are
addressed and guard versus time and effort being lost on minor threats and unneeded
bureaucracy.
• Providing health and safety training to some or all of the board can promote
understanding
• and knowledge of the relevant concerns of the organisation. Supporting worker
involvement in health and safety, above the legal duty to consult employee
representatives, can improve

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• participation and help prove senior management commitment

RESPONSIBILITIES OF ORGANISATIONS WHO SHARE A

WORKPLACE TO WORK TOGETHER ON HEALTH AND SAFETY
ISSUES
Many work premises come under the description of “shared workplaces”. This is typically
where a workplace is occupied by more than one employer (such as in a business or
enterprise centre). However, if external contractors are used (such as security, catering or
cleaning staff) on a sole occupation premise, it must also be considered as a shared
workplace.

The main aspects that need to be considered — particularly for a contractor that only has
a few employees on a client’s site — will include:
• access, including the use of vehicles on site
• security, mainly if the contractors are the security for the site
• fire and emergency procedures
• first aid
• reporting of incidents
• welfare facilities, including toilets, washing facilities, eating and rest facilities
• provision of adequate information about hazards on site
• provision of information about site rules (if any) necessary to ensure the safety of
the employees of all organisations with employees on site.

One issue that can cause difficulty with multiple employers sharing a site is the control of
visitors. If the control of visitors is not practical, it is quite likely that people walking
around the premises will be assumed to be connected with one of the “other” employers.
As a result, it is vital to have some practical means of distinguishing visitors from other
employees. This should cover shared welfare facilities, including toilets, eating and rest
areas, and corridors, reception areas, stairways and lifts.

Duties of an occupier of premises that are a workplace

The general duties of HSWA apply to all premises under the control of an organisation. In
most cases, these premises will also be workplaces and therefore fall within the scope of
the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (WHSWR).

It is important to remember that the controller of the premises, whether the occupier or
not, is required to ensure that the premises comply with the requirements of the

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regulations. This applies to anyone who uses or is permitted to use, the premises for work
purposes, whether they are the employees of the controller of the premises or not.

According to WHSWR, “workplace” means any premises or part of premises that are not
domestic premises and are made available to any person as a place of work. This includes:

• any place within the premises to which such person has access while at work
• any room, lobby, corridor, staircase, road or other place used as a means of access
to or egress from that place of work, or where facilities are provided for use in
connection with the place of work other than a public road.

HOW CLIENTS AND CONTRACTORS SHOULD WORK TOGETHER

The duties they owe each other
There are shared responsibilities for ensuring the health and safety of client and
contractor staff and anyone else who may be affected by the work where clients use
contractors. If not, accidents that are properly managed are likely. Requirements for
health and safety should be written into the work contract, clearly defining each party's
responsibilities. According to the following table, responsibilities will vary depending on
the nature of the contract.
Labor only Where an agency provides workforce under the control of employers
contract direct, the contractor should be treated as an employee. It should be
clearly defined the responsibilities of the agency concerning the
provision of competent workers and personal protective equipment.
Fixed price The most prevalent type of contract. The five steps discussed below
contract concern a fixed price contract in particular.
Separate site The contractor is responsible for health and safety at the separate site
if the contracted work can be completely separated by secure fencing.
The customer may still be responsible for hazards that cannot be
separated such as noise, and access and egress to and from the
separate site may still overlap with the customer undertaking.

Table Source: PCFSM

Effective planning and co-ordination of contracted work

Planning the work
Information between the client and the contractor should be exchanged. The customer
must inform the contractor about the hazards and risks in the office, and the contractor
must inform the customer about the hazards and risks created by the contract work. In
this way, the work can be prepared to protect everyone. The contractor should carry out
risk assessments on the work involved and develop safe working methods to manage the

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identified risks. It is necessary to document this safe working technique and is often
referred to as a "method statement."

Co-ordination of the work

Customer and contractor should carefully coordinate their work to avoid conflict. At any
time, there may be multiple contractors working on a site, and one person / organization's
activities should not trigger a risk to another in the site. If one contractor works at the
highest level, it would be practical to prevent others working in the area below them.

Pre-selection and management of contractors

Contractor selection is a vital process in building projects. When selecting contractors,
there are many factors that need to be taken into account. In the course of work progress,
the wrong choice of contractors could lead to many problems. These include poor work
quality and delay in service production and/or delivery. Contractor work must be planned
thoroughly, taking into account the scale of the contractor's use, the duration of the work,
the dangers and risks associated with the contract work, etc. A management strategy has
five main elements to work successfully with contractors. The extent to which each
element is relevant depends on the level of risk and the nature of the work to be
undertaken.
1. Selecting a contractor.
2. Planning the job.
3. Controlling contractors on site.
4. Checking the contractor's work.
5. Reviewing the contractor’s performance, and the effectiveness of control.

Step 1: Selecting a Contractor

The contractor's competence should be properly assessed before the appointment. This
may be through formal systems such as central purchasing and select tender lists or may
be less formal. Checklists may be used to gauge how seriously a potential new contractor
regards health and safety. The depth of questioning needs to be tailored to the risks of the
job, but general considerations include:
• The experience of the type of job and the industry sector
• Suitable references
• Enforcement history, e.g. Prosecutions and enforcement notices
• Safety management documentation including policy, risk assessments, safe
systems of work, e.g. Method statements, and monitoring arrangements
• Accident and ill-health data
• Membership of trade / professional bodies
• Means of demonstrating employee competence, e.g. Qualifications, experience,
training, etc.

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• Arrangements for selection and management of sub-contractors, if used

• Arrangements for ongoing liaison with the client and
• Arrangements for managing and supervision of employees.

The contractor best equipped to meet the job requirements should be selected.
Step 2: Planning the Job
Health and safety must be managed effectively throughout the project. Client and
contractor need to coordinate their activities through effective communication and close
cooperation to ensure that all the risks associated with the job are adequately addressed.
Information on the nature of the job, task, site - specific hazards and site rules will need to
be passed from the client to the contractor. The contractor will need to incorporate this
information into the job risk assessment and resulting safety method statements detailing
how the job is to be done so that risks are effectively managed. Each party’s
responsibilities for health and safety throughout the project should be clearly defined and
documented.

Step 3: Controlling Contractors on Site

Site health and safety rules should be communicated to the contractor in advance and
reiterated when the contractors first arrive on site. A site induction should be provided
and checks should be carried out to ensure that essential points are understood. To liaise
with the contractor, a site contact should be nominated. The site contact should have
sufficient authority and competence to take on the role that involves:
• General communication
• Pre-commencement checks to determine whether the contractor is able to carry
out the job as agreed
• Ensuring site controls, e.g. Permits-to-work and emergency arrangements, are in
place and
• Monitoring performance.

Step 4: Checking Contractors Work

All parties should monitor their performance in terms of health and safety to verify that
risk assessment is current and that control measures are effective. The level of monitoring
depends on the risks–the higher the risks, the more frequent the monitoring. Contractors
and subcontractors should carry out day-to-day checks to see what should be done and
clients should periodically check the performance of the contractor to see if the work is
done as agreed. Information from proactive monitoring and reactive investigation
should be used to learn lessons and improve future performance.
Where requirements are not met, the client should take appropriate action to ensure that
the work is carried out in accordance with the required standard.

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Step 5: Reviewing the Contractors Performance and the Effectiveness of Control

Both the client and the contractor should review the work after completion to see if
performance could be improved in the future. The customer should review both the job
and the contractor. Consideration should be given to the planning effectiveness, the
performance of the contractor, and how smoothly the job went. Learned lessons should be
recorded and used to influence future decisions.

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References
• ILO Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (ILO-OSH
2001) http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/ilo-bookstore/order-
online/books/WCMS_PUBL_9221116344_EN/lang--en/index.htm
• ILOLEX (ILO database of International Law) http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/index.htm
• Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS 18000): Occupational
Health and Safety Management Systems OHSAS 18001:2007 ISBN: 978-0-5805-9404-
5 OHSAS18002:2008 ISBN: 978-0-5806-2686-9
• www.hse.gov.uk/business
• Occupational Safety and Health Convention (C155), ILO
http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO:12100:P12100_I
LO_CODE:C155
• www.ilo.org/global/standards/introduction-to-international-labour-
standards/conventions-andrecommendations
• Occupational Safety and Health Recommendation (R164), ILO
http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO:12100:P12100_I
NSTRUMENT_ID:312502
• www.ilo.org/global/topics/safety-and-health-at-work
• ILO 1981 C155: Occupational Safety and Health Convention.
• ILO 1981 R164: Occupational Safety and Health Recommendation.
• www.hse.gov.uk/business
• ILO 2001 ILO-OSH: Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management
Systems.
• ILO 2005 ILOLEX (ILO database of International law).

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