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IGC1 Element 1
IGC1 Element 1
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Learning Outcomes
• Outline the scope and nature of occupational health
and safety.
• Explain the moral, social and economic reasons for
maintaining and promoting good standards of health
and safety in the workplace.
• Explain the role of national governments and
international bodies in formulating a framework for
the regulation of health and safety.
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Scope and Nature of
Health and Safety
Multi-Disciplinary
Barriers to Good Standards
Definitions
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Multi-Disciplinary
Health and safety practitioners need to be familiar
with:
• Chemistry/physics/ biology.
• Engineering.
• Psychology.
• Sociology.
• Legislation:
– Standards that apply.
– Strengths and weaknesses of options.
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Barriers to Good Standards
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Definitions
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Group Syndicate Exercise
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Group Syndicate Exercise – Answers
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End-of-Section Quiz
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Unit IGC1: Element 1.2
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Why Manage Health and Safety?
Moral reasons.
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The Size of the Problem
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Group Syndicate Exercise
An employee at your workplace has been
seriously injured in a workplace accident.
In groups, as indicated by the tutor, list the
possible effects and implications of this
accident on the:
• Injured employee.
• Company.
• Line manager.
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Group Syndicate Exercise – Answers
Key points include:
• Injured employee:
– Pain and suffering, lost time/wages, impact on
family, on-going impact on work.
• The company:
– Payment of sick pay, overtime cover for employee,
recruitment costs for replacement, insurance claims,
fines/prosecutions, increased insurance premiums.
• The line manager:
– Loss of skills from team, time and cost of retraining
replacement, effect of overtime cover on shifts.
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The Legal and Social Expectation
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Who’s Responsible for
Health and Safety?
Everybody – but most of the responsibility lies
with the employer to provide:
• Safe place of work.
• Safe plant and
equipment.
• Safe systems of work.
• Training, supervision and
competency of staff.
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The Business Case
Accidents and ill health cost money.
Costs may be:
– Direct – measurable costs arising directly from
accidents.
– Indirect – arise as a consequence of the event
but may not directly involve money.
Often difficult to quantify.
• H&S failure can affect the broader
economy, as well as individual
companies.
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Group Discussion
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Group Discussion – Answers
• Fire.
• Worker injury/death.
• Medical costs.
£8 - £36
Uninsured Costs
• Loss of raw materials due to accidents.
• Sick pay.
• Overtime.
• Equipment repairs.
• Lost materials.
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End-of-Section Quiz
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Unit IGC1: Element 1.3
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Roles of National Governments and
International Bodies
International Labour Organisation (ILO)
• Agency of United Nations.
• Most countries are members.
• Sets international standards for
H&S by publishing:
– Conventions.
– Recommendations.
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The International Framework
Conventions
• Create binding obligations or policies to
implement their provisions.
• No legal authority, unless ratified by the
member state into its own legal structure.
Recommendations
• Provide guidance on policy, legislation and
practice.
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Examples of Regulatory
International Frameworks
Regulations adopted by the International Labour
Organisation (ILO):
Occupational Safety and Health Convention (C155)
– a goal-setting policy for companies and nations.
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Employers’ Responsibilities
Article 16 of C155 identifies obligations placed on employers
to:
• Ensure that workplaces, machinery, equipment and work
processes are safe and without risks to health.
• Ensure that chemical, physical and biological substances
and agents are without risk to health when protective
measures have been taken.
• Provide adequate protective clothing and equipment to
prevent risks of accidents or adverse health effects.
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Employers’ Responsibilities
Article 10 of R164:
• Provide and maintain workplaces, machinery and equipment
and use working methods that are safe.
• Give necessary instruction, training and supervision in
application and use of health and safety measures.
• Introduce organisational arrangements relevant to activities and
size of undertaking.
• Provide PPE and clothing without charge to workers.
• Ensure that work organisation, particularly working hours and
rest breaks, does not adversely affect occupational safety and
health.
• Take reasonably practical measures with a view to eliminating
excessive physical and mental fatigue.
• Keep up to date with scientific and technical
knowledge to comply with the above.
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Regulatory Frameworks
ILO has also published Conventions associated with
specific hazards:
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What Employers Must Provide
• Safe place of work – and safe access and
egress.
• Safe plant and equipment – the need to
inspect, service and replace machinery will
depend on the level of risk.
• Safe system of work – should be safe in all
circumstances – appropriate review, planning
and control ensure continued safety of
methods.
• Training and supervision to ensure
competency.
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What is “Competence”?
K – NOWLEDGE
A – BILITY
T – RAINING
E – XPERIENCE
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Group Exercise
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Group Exercise – Answers
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Workers’ Responsibilities
Article 19 of C155 also places obligations on
workers, expanded in R164 as follows:
• Take reasonable care of their own safety and
that of other people.
• Comply with safety instructions and procedures.
• Use all safety equipment properly.
• Report any situation that they believe could be a
hazard and which they cannot themselves
correct.
• Report any work-related accident/ill health.
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Workers’ Rights
Article 19 of C155 states that every worker must be:
• Given adequate information on actions the
employer has taken to ensure safety and health.
• Given the right to the necessary training in safety
and health.
• Consulted by the employer on all matters of safety
and health relating to their work.
• Given the right to leave a workplace that he has
reason to think presents an imminent and serious
danger to his life or health, and not be compelled
to return until it is safe.
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Enforcement Agencies
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Consequences of Non-Compliance
Prosecution:
– Organisation may be fined.
– Individuals may be fined or imprisoned.
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Claims for Compensation
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Claims for Compensation
No-Fault Systems
• National or regional
schemes.
• No need to prove negligence.
• Decided by a panel of
experts.
• No lawyers or courts.
• New Zealand and Sweden.
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Syndicate Group Exercise
Discuss the criminal and civil-law implications of the following:
• A technician escapes injury by diving under a bench when a
vessel blows up as a result of a design defect.
• A 12-year-old boy breaks his arm falling into a pit while
playing on an unfenced building site.
• A machine operator is blinded in one eye by a colleague
trying to help him remove a jammed machine part using a
hammer. There is a safe way to remove the jammed part,
which does not involve the use of a hammer, and the area
they are in is a mandatory eye-protection zone.
• A scaffolder is electrocuted when the pole he is carrying
touches a live overhead cable. The scaffolder works for a
company contracted to a roofing company, in turn contracted
to a factory owner.
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Other International Standards
International Organisation for Standardisation
World’s largest developer of management standards,
for example:
– ISO 9001 – Quality Management
– ISO 14001 – Environmental Management
– ISO 12100 – Safety of Machinery
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Source Organisations
International Labour Organisation (UN agency)
www.ilo.org
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (USA)
www.osha.gov
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU)
http://agency.osha.eu.int
Health and Safety Executive (UK)
www.hse.gov.uk
Worksafe (Western Australia)
www.commerce.wa.gov.au/WorkSafe
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End-of-Section Quiz