Element 1
Why We Should Manage Workplace
Health and Safety
Morals and Money
Regulating Health and Safety
Who Does What in Organisations
Reasons for Maintaining and
Promoting Good Standards of Health
and Safety
• Moral reasons.
• Legal (or social) reasons
• Economic (or financial) reasons.
❑ Moral Reason
No one want to get injured or make others
injured by their work(Duty of care). Accidents reduce
the moral confidence of employees. A reasonable care
need to be provided by the employer to prevent
accident, injuries and ill health.
According to Global statistics from the International
Labour Organization (ILO)
• Over 350,000 work-related fatal accidents each year.
• 2.75 million work-related fatalities each year.
• 2.4 million fatalities from occupational diseases.
• 270 million accidents and 160 million diseases a year due
to work.
• 4% of global GDP is lost.
❑ Legal Reason
• OHS Law (Civil & Criminal) need to be followed by
everyone all the time.
• Violation of it will lead accident following the
accident there will be enforcement action such as
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Fine
Prosecution
Ban
Black listing
Company closure
Cancellation of certification / contract /license / tender etc.
• There may be international standards also to be
followed such as ILO guidelines and
recommendations
❑ Economic (Financial) reason
• Every accident will cost money either as a Direct cost
or Indirect cost.
• If accidents are not happening this cost will be
converted into profit.
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Direct costs – the measurable costs –
those which arise directly as a
consequence from the accident.
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First-aid treatment.
Worker sick pay.
Repairs to, or replacement of, damaged
equipment and buildings.
Lost or damaged product.
Lost production time while dealing with the
injury.
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Indirect costs – those which arise
indirectly as a consequence of the event.
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Reduction in staff morale (which impacts on
productivity, quality and efficiency).
Loss of time for recruiting and retaining
staff
Loss of goodwill of customers following
delays in production and fulfilling orders.
Damage to public image and business
reputation.
Damage to industrial relations, perhaps
leading to industrial action (e.g. strikes).
why an Organisation shall prevent accidents?
– Prevent financial loss
– Prevent enforcement action
– Prevent loss of employees confidence
Benefits of maintaining good standards of OHS?
– Increase in Profit
– Increase in reputation by avoiding enforcement actions
– Workers confidence & happiness
An employee at your workplace has been
seriously injured in a workplace accident.
• Identify the possible effects and implications
of this accident on the:
a.
Injured employee.
b. Company.
c.
Line manager.
• 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 skilled member from team, time and cost of
retraining replacement, effect of overtime cover on
shifts.
Role of International Bodies
International Bodies
Globally International Labour Organisation (ILO) which is an Agency of
United Nations Sets international standards for H&S by publishing:
Conventions, Recommendations ,Articles.
( https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12030:::NO::: )
• Occupational Safety and Health Convention (C155) – a goal-setting policy
for companies and nations.
• Occupational Safety and Health Recommendation 1981 (R164) –
supplements C155 and gives more guidance on how to comply with its
policies
These guideline are available to member as well as non member countries.
Most countries are members of ILO and they use it to frame National Law.
Conduct research in the field of OHS, Collect and analyse data's on OHS world
wide & publish reports.
Role of National Governments
• Frame OHS Law based on ILO guidelines
• Appoint enforcement Agencies to ensure
compliance of OHS Rules & Regulations.
• Set up Employers Liability insurance schemes
• Promotes charitable organisations spreading
the message of OHS.
Employers responsibility for Health and Safety
According to Article 10 of ILO recommendation R164 and Article 16 of ILO convention C155
– Safe place of work – Must be suitable for nature of work, must have
safe access and egress, must be protected from external weather,
Internal environment in terms of heating, lighting, ventilation, humidity
space, noise etc must be adequately controlled.
– Safe plant and equipment – Must have Quality Assurance, Design &
suitability, Fitted with safety devices, Have inspection & maintenance.
– Safe system of work –Work should be safe in all circumstances –
Proper planning and control (eg: Risk Assessments),appropriate review,
ensure availability of emergency procedures..
– Safe worker- Make Competent by Providing Training , SOPs,
supervision, Health check ups, Job rotations, Rest break, welfare, PPE
Free of cost.
Workers responsibility in OHS
Article 19 of C155 also places obligations on workers, expanded in R164
• Duty of Care- Take reasonable care of own safety
and their action, omission to do certain action
shall not affect others safety.
• Obey rules & regulations set on OHS by employer
• Use , maintain & do not damage PPE provided by
employer
• Report all incidents, injury, ill-health , accident to
employer with out fail which they cannot correct
themselves.
Workers Rights
• Right to information on matters related to
OHS within their place of work, the
equipment/materials they use, the activities
they undertake including a specialist opinion.
• Right to leave the premises of work without
intimation when there is a immediate danger
to Health & life which they cannot control
themselves and remain in a safe place till the
time the workplace is declared safe by a
competent authority.
Role of Enforcement Agencies
• Investigate all work place accident, Identify causes
& take necessary steps to prevent recurrence.
• In case of violations:– Take Formal Enforcement action by
Suspending high risk activity with prohibition notice
Provide advice , guidelines & reasonable time for
improvement, re inspect and allow work.
In case of repeated violations:-Prosecution
It can be Against Individual- Fine, imprisonment OR
Against organisation: Fine, Ban , Cancellation of
contract, tenders.
Purpose & Benefits: Employers liability Insurance
• Purpose
To provide financial assistance to victim of an
accident irrespective of financial condition of
employer.
Benefits
Employee
• Receive financial compensation irrespective of
financial condition of employer
• Gives moral confidence to undertake high risk
activities
• Employer
Receive financial assistance following an
accident if premium is paid covering all
foreseeable accidents and no violation of law
occurred.
• Governments
Gets reports of legal compliance through
insurance audits.
Insure & Uninsured Costs
• Insured Costs
£1
• Fire.
• Worker injury/death.
• Medical costs.
• Uninsured Costs
• Loss of raw materials due to
accidents.
• Sick pay.
• Overtime.
• Equipment repairs.
• Lost materials.
£8 - £36
Who Does What in Organisations
Duties of Directors and Senior
Managers in OHS
– set up a OHS policy,-to demonstrate clear commitment
and leadership towards OHS, meet legal requirements
– allocate roles, responsibilities for OHS at all levels in
organisation. Give an organisation its direction,
– Set priorities for OHS & ensure that all activities taking
place within organisation is as per SSW.
– Allocate reasonably practical resources for OHS and
appoint competent persons.
– Ensure regular monitoring of OHS perormance
– Consult with workers on OHS matters
– Ensure regular review of OHS policies and procedures.
– Ensure regular Audits for continual improvement.
Middle Managers and Supervisors
•Middle managers and supervisors to ensure day-to-day
operational running of the organisationas per SSW
•Have Risk assessments carried out & controls implemented
•Ensure health and safety standards within the operations under
their control.
•Safe working practices are followed.
•Have emergency procedures
•Agree to management policies & procedures
•Ensure Issue & correct use of PPE by workers
•Workers receive necessary OHS training
•.Ensure All incidents are reported by workers and passed to Top
management for further necessary actions.
Health and Safety Organisation Chart
OHS specialist
• Advice top management to set up a OHS policy meeting legal
requirement
• Coordinate with middle level management & make them agree with
policy & procedure
• Implement OHS policy among work force
• Oversee development of SSW (Risk assessment, PTW) involving middle
& floor level management
• Over see development of training programmes
• Ensure that all implemented controls are effective in preventing
accident/ ill-health
• Ensure all proactive monitoring measures are taking place effectively (
eg: inspections)
• Ensure all accident/ ill-health are reported & investigated involving
middle & floor level management.
• Ensure regular worker consultation between workers & management
on OHS related matters.
• Provide input for review of OHS policy to top management
• Ensure all OHS related activity documentation.
• Maintain good professional relation will external agencies
Clients and Contractors
• Controller of premises is responsible for all
accidents created by Joint Occupiers.
Outline actions client will take in order to
prevent accidents from contractors & sub
contractors before & during the project?
How a client manages contractors to
prevent accident :• Before starting project
– Selecting the competent contractor.
– Planning the work.
– Co-ordinating the work.
• During the project
– Monitoring the work.
Things you should check:
when selecting the contractor
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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:
• Client will inform Hazards posed by the site
and work carried out.
• The contractor will inform Hazards posed by
his activities.
• Carry out Risk assessments by contractor.
• Submit Method statements.
Co-ordination of Work
Arrangements between the client and all
contractor to ensure activities don’t conflict.
A joint meeting will be arranged by Client with
all contractors & subcontractors to ensure:– Sharing of information about hazards , risk,
precautions & emergency procedures.
– Client Make project OHS policy.
– Appoint Key contacts, e.g. works foreman
identified to ensure continuity.
Monitor and Control the work
Clients must:
• Provide induction training
• Sign in-out procedure
• Appoint foreman (for all communications)
• Monitor the work to ensure safety.
• All high risk activity under PTW from client
• The client can:
• Stop the work if it involves unsafe practices.
• Conduct Auditing against agreed method
statements.
Duties of Client (Controller of Premises)
• Ensure only Competent Contractors/Sub
contractors are working in the premises.
• All information about hazards present in the
premises need to be shared with Joint
Occupiers
• Ensure all joint occupiers are carry out Risk
assessments, Developing SSW, Control
measure, Emergency procedures.
• Ensure all joint occupiers are submitting
method statement.
Duties of Client (Controller of Premises)
• Ensure all joint occupiers are sharing information about
Hazards, Risk, Precautions, Emergency procedures,
Communication among each other & client.
• Make project HSE policy.
• Appoint key contact people for communication.
• Provide Induction training
• Control movement of Men/ Material in site with sign in-out
procedure
• Monitor, Audit Joint occupier activites
• Issue PTW for High Risk activity
• Ensure regular reviews as and when required.
Duties of Joint Occupier
• Carry out Independent Risk assessment on all activities
done by them, Identify Hazards, Risk, develop Controls,
Emergency procedure & Communication.
• Sharing of information about Hazards, risk, controls,
emergency procedures, communication with other
joint occupiers & client.
• Ensure all workers under them are competent
• Obey OHS rules/policy set by client
• Ensure all employees are provided with PPE & correctly
using it.
• Attend all training/meetings arranged by client/ other
joint occupiers.
• Report all accident/ ill health/ near miss to client
without fail.
Explain how two organization who have the same work place can work together to ensure
that good health and safety standards are achieved.
They must have an independent risk assessment on all the ACTIVITES undertaken by them,
Make Own employees safe, Report all incidents to client, Obey OHS policy of cleint.
There after for sharing;They can consider and have a joint co-ordination committee
They can have a common procedure for handling visitors to the premises
They can decide and have common assembly point or master point for assembling during
and emergency
They can have a common emergency siren code
The route and movement of personnel and vehicles can be jointly coordinated and
synchronized to avoid or prevent any difficult (conflict)
They could consider and have a joint health and safety committee or council to sharing or
exchange of information or knowledge on the subject
They could share together a safety alerts, Hazard information, control measures,
Emergency communications.
They could conduct joint safety training program on common subjects such as
- Fire prevention and fire fighting,- First aid,- Manual handling of material,- Electrical safety
- Working at height,- Emergency management
They can consider and joint mock drill exercise for emergency control
They can co-ordinate the use of all means of communication e.g.: telephone, fax, etc…
They can jointly decide who should do what during an emergency.
They can share certain common resources. e.g.: toilets, wash room, canteen, medical central
or first aid facilities and fire facilities
Sources of Information
Internal
– Accident records.
– Medical records.
– Risk assessments.
– Maintenance reports.
– Safety inspections.
– Audit reports.
– Safety-committee minutes
– Absentee records
– Break down records
– House keeping reports
– Atmospheric monitoring
report.
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External
National legislation.
Safety data sheets.
Codes of practice.
Guidance notes.
Operating instructions.
Trade associations.
Safety publications.
Insurance reports
Enforcement reports
SDS, User manuals.
Nature of Health & Safety
• OHS Is a Multi-Disciplinary subject as Health and
safety practitioners need to be familiar with:
• Chemistry/physics/ biology.
• Engineering.
• Psychology.
• Sociology.
• Management
• Legislation:
– Standards that apply.
– Strengths and weaknesses of options.
Barriers to Good Standards of H&S
• Behavioral issues:
People failing to act safely as desired (unsafe acts), or making
mistakes (unsafe conditions) that can lead to accidents .
Eg:- not using PPE correctly.
• Complexity of the workplace.
Various activities, different category of People, Variety of
equipment and material when work together at one place makes it
a complex phenomena increasing the chance of accidents.
• Conflicting demands:
The need to finish the job with in targeted time period may face
conflicts from OHS requirements in terms of:o Timescales.(Overtime & no trainings, Maintenance etc)
o Standards, Legal requirements( Fire safety X Environment law)
o Budgets.( no money for resources)
Why might the management of an organisation not
consider health and safety to be a priority?
• Ignorance of legal duties
• Lack of care for staff welfare
• Focus on output and profitability at expense of worker wellbeing
• Cost to the business – taking a short-term view
• Ignorance of true cost to the business of worker ill health
• Competition within the business for access to limited funds
• Unwillingness or lack of resources to devote time to H&S
management
• Failure to perceive hazards in their operations
• Cavalier attitude to the management of risks
Assignment
Task 1: Discussing moral reasons for managing health and safety
1) You have been asked to chair the health and safety committee meeting.
Before the meeting, you decide that you will open the meeting by
reminding everyone of moral expectations of health and safety.
Prepare notes of the moral arguments you will use at the meeting.
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the
scenario.
Task 2: Discussing moral reasons for managing health and safety
2 ) Comment on the organisation’s health and safety morals.
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario. (10)
Assignment
Task 3: Justifying health and safety improvements
3 ) What financial arguments could you use to justify your proposed
recommendations to modify the car parking facility for preventing accidents?
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.
(10 )
Task 4: Financial arguments for the store manager to improve health and safety
4) Based on the scenario only, what financial arguments could you use to
convince the contract manager that health and safety need to be improved? (10)
Assignment
Task 5: Explaining to the managers the obligations of employers to workers
5) What employer obligations are likely to have been contravened, leading to the Car parking incidents
in this scenario?
You only need to consider those obligations placed upon employers under “Recommendation 10 of
International Labour Organisation R164 – Occupational Safety and Health Recommendation,1981 (No.
164)”.
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information from the scenario.
(10)
Task 6: Workers’ responsibilities in the workplace
6) The workers ( the driver and the pedestrian) involved in the incident may have contravened some of
their responsibilities as workers within International Labour Organisation Convention C155 –
Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No.155) Article 19 and associated Recommendation
R164 – Occupational Safety and Health Recommendation, 1981 (No.164) recommendation 16.
Comment on the extent to which Article 19 of C155 and recommendation 16 of R164 may have been
contravened.
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information from the scenario.
(10)
Assignment
Task 7: Managing contractors
7 ) Organisation management have accepted your proposed health and safety
improvement solution to modify the work area arrangement. They have made the
budget available. The organisation intends to use external contractors for the work.
When selecting the external contractors, what would you consider when assessing
their competence? (10)
Task 8: Managing contractors
8) The contractors, who specialise in the modification and workplace extension work,
are ready to start work having been issued with a permit-to-work.
Based on the scenario only, discuss how effectively the contractors would be managed
by the organisation during the modification. (15)
Assignment
1. Explain moral, financial and legal reason for
managing Health & Safety in workplace?
(6 marks)
2. Explain how health & Safety is regulated in
a country and what are the consequences of
non compliance of it?(10 Marks)
Practice Questions
1. what types of barriers may be present within an
organization in relation to accepting health and safety? (8)
2. explain the purpose of employer liability insurance? (3)
3. List six costs of an accident which might be uninsured.(6)
4. What are the possible consequences of an accident to:
1. the injured worker
2.
their employer? (8)
5. List the direct and indirect costs to the employer of
accidents at work.(8)
6. what actions may an enforcement agency take following an
accident at work?(6)
7. Reasons why an organization should maintain and promote
good standards of health and safety in the workplace. (6)
Practice Questions
8. What are the sources of information can be used by an
organization to help maintain and promote good standards of
health and safety in the workplace? (8)
9. explain how ILO influences the standards among member states (4)
10.Explain the main health and safety responsibilities of:
a
Employers
b
Workers? (8)
11.Two organizations operate from the same workplace.
How could they co-operate to ensure good health and safety
standards are in place and maintained?
12.Identify factors should be considered when assessing the health and
safety competence of a contractor?
13.Contractors are carrying out a major building project for an client
organization.
Outline How can the client organization reduce the risks to contractors
before the start of and during the construction work? (8)