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Element 1: Foundation in Health & Safety

Element 2 – Setting Policy for Health and Safety

Element 3 – Organizing for Health and Safety

Element 4 – Promoting a Positive Health and Safety Culture

Element 5 – Investigation, Recording Health and Safety Incidents

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What are the benefits of a positive culture?

The benefits of a positive culture in the organization are:

• Increased levels of compliance with rules and procedure,
• Increased staff morale,
• Reduced staff complaints,
• Reduced staff turnover,
• Reduced absenteeism,
• Reduced sickness and accident rates.

What is the disadvantage of a negative culture?

The disadvantage of a negative culture in the organization are:

• Job insecurity,
• Reorganizations,
• Poor example set by management,
• Poor management decision making,
• Inadequate supervision,
• Poor working conditions.

What is the internal influences on Health and safety?

The internal factors that may influence hygiene and safety performance are:

• Competence,
• Commitment and control,
• Co-operation,
• Communication,
• Production/service demands.

What are the external Influences on Health and Safety?

The external factors that may influence hygiene and safety performance are:

• Society expectations,
• Political priorities,
• Legislation and enforcement,
• National or International agencies,
• Pressure groups,
• Insurance Companies,
• Workers unions,
• Stakeholders,
• Economic conditions.

What are the more effective measures to improve culture?

The most effective measures to improve the culture in your organization are:

• Senior management commitment,
• Ownership of health and safety at every level,
• Effective communication and consultation,
• Training for all levels of employee,
• Shared perception of risks,
• Standards of acceptable behavior,
• Learning from experience through monitoring and review,
• Balance between health and safety and production.

What are the personal factors that might place an individual at greater risk of harm while at work?

The most important personal factors that might place an individual at greater risk of harm while at work are:

• Poor attitude,
• Low motivation,
• Physical capabilities,
• Poor perception of risk,
• Drugs or alcohol problems,
• Age related factors,
• Medical problems,
• Levels of training and experience.

Let’s just have a deep focus on the following 3 personal factors:

• Attitude,
• Perception,
• Motivation.

Attitude:

Can be defined as:

The tendency to respond in a particular way in a given situation.

The Factors that affect attitude are:

• Background,
• Personality,
• Experience,
• Training,
• Competence,
• Peer group pressure,
• Management actions,
• Culture of the organization.

Perception:

Can be defined as:

The way that people interpret and make sense of presented information

The Factors which may affect perception are:

• The nature of the hazards
• Previous experience
• Over familiarity
• Feeling of being in control
• Level of training
• Peer group pressure
• Confidence in others ability
• Personal characteristics

And Motivation:

Motivation is the driving force behind the way a person acts in order to achieve a goal.

And what motivates people?

• Reward,
• Fulfilment,
• Job satisfaction,
• Recognition,
• Peer approval,
• Threat of Discipline.

Why person may fail to comply with safety procedures?

The main reason why people fail to comply with safety procedures are:

• Lack of motivation,
• Unrealistic working procedures,
• Lack of management commitment,
• Over familiarization,
• Repetitive work leading to boredom,
• Peer group pressure,
• Inadequate supervision,
• Fatigue and stress,
• Lack of information, training and consultation,
• Job insecurity.

What are the Human Error causes?

The most common human error are:

• Slips,
• Lapses of attention,
• Mistakes,
• Violations.

How can we reducing human error?

The best strategies to reduce human error are:

• Skilled competent workers,
• Well motivated employees,
• Clear roles and lines of responsibility,
• Adequate levels of supervision,
• Clear information and instructions,
• Drug and alcohol prevention policies,
• Good environmental conditions e.g. lighting, noise, etc,
• Avoiding monotonous work,
• Breaks to avoid fatigue.

What are the best tools to promote safe behavior?

In order to promote safe behavior in the organization we can improve:

• Discipline,
• Reward,
• Informing,
• Facilitate safe behavior,
• Train.

What means competence?

If someone is competent means he or she has sufficient knowledge, training, experience, and any other qualities to carry out their functions.

• Competence
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Experience
• Training
• Recognition of limitations

What should be checked to assess competence?

To assess the competence it important to check:

• Qualifications,
• Level of training,
• Membership of professional/trade organisations,
• Undertaking written or practical assessments,
• Seeking references or recommendations.

When is training needed?

Training should be delivered:

• On recruitment (Induction),
• On the job training,
• Transfer,
• New equipment,
• New technology,
• New systems of work or system changes.

What should be the Induction Training program content?

As a minimum the induction should cover the:

• Health and safety policy,
• Culture of organization,
• Fire precautions,
• Emergency procedure,
• What accidents to be reported,
• How to report accidents,
• Hazards of the workplace,
• Drink and drugs policy,
• First aid precautions,
• Welfare provisions.

When should the organization deliver additional training?

The organization should deliver additional training when using:

• New processes,
• New equipment,
• Accidents/incidents,
• Enforcement action,
• New legislation,
• Result of risk assessment,
• Newly promoted,
• Refresher training.

How to define the Levels of supervision required?

In order to define the levels of supervision required we should take into consideration:

• Person’s skills and qualifications,
• Experience of the work involved,
• Age,
• Person’s attitude and aptitude,
• Nature and complexity of the task,
• Employee’s communication skills,
• Any special needs they may have.

What are the factors when preparing a toolbox talk or training on Health and safety?

The factors to take into consideration when preparing a toolbox talk or training on Health and safety are:

• Identify the training needs
• Identify the training objectives
• The target audience, knowledge, skills, etc.
• Training methods, lecture, video, etc.
• How to evaluate the effectiveness of training
• Number of trainees
• Time available
• Training aids required
• Suitability of training facilities, room size, etc.
• Course rules and administration

What are the barriers to communication?

The barriers to communication can be split into 3 different factors:

• The person,
• The deliverer,
• The place.

Regarding the person, the more important barriers can be caused by:

• Sensory impairment,
• Learning difficulties,
• Inexperience,
• Lack of motivation.

Considering the deliverer, the more important barriers can be caused by:

• Too much jargon, language or dialect,
• Ambiguity of the message,
• Too complex message,
• Lack of feedback.

And, when considering the place:

• High noise levels
• Interference from PPE
• Distractions

What are the usual methods of communication?

The more usual methods of communication to be use are:

• Team briefings
• Safety committee meetings
• Health and safety representatives
• Memoranda
• Toolbox talks
• Newsletters
• Standards/codes of practice
• Work instructions
• Posters
• Notices
• Electronic notice boards
• Safety policy
• Induction and other training

What are the written communication advantages and disadvantages?

For written communication, the most important advantages are:

• Written record,
• Can be referred to,
• Can convey complex ideas,
• Provide analysis,
• Many people in different locations,
• Can clarify or confirm oral.

But the most important disadvantages are:

• May not be read,
• Too complex and jargon,
• Time to produce and expensive,
• Tends to be formal and distant,
• Does not provide feedback,
• Difficulty to modify.