Part 1 – knowledge/thinking/planning

Syllabus Unit ID1: Know – workplace health and safety principles (International)
Learning outcome 1
You will be able to advise on the types of legislation likely to apply to your organisation and how enforcement actions could apply;
the relevance of the International Labour Organization’s conventions/recommendations to the organisation; how non-government
bodies and standards could influence health and safety in the organisation.

Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Outline how legislation can Socio-legal 1.1 • The role, function and limitations of legislation as a means of promoting positive health and safety
promote positive health models outcomes

and safety outcomes, ‘goal- • What are ‘goal-setting’ and ‘prescriptive’ legal models; the advantages and disadvantages of each
setting’ and ‘prescriptive’
• Legal hierarchy of state and federal laws and their application to health and safety law
legislation and possible
• Loss events in terms of failures in the duty of care to protect individuals and the compensatory
compensatory mechanisms
mechanisms that may be available to them:
for loss event where there is
> compensatory schemes that allow individuals to seek restitution for damages ie, no fault
a failure of the duty of care. liability and fault liability claims
> punitive damages – general, special and non-economic damages.

Outline the purpose of Enforcement 1.2 • The purpose of enforcement

enforcement (including • The principles of enforcement with reference to the British HSE’s Enforcement policy statement
the principles of the (HSE41):
enforcement policy > proportionality of enforcement
statement). > consistency of approach
> transparency.

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Syllabus Explain the role of the

International Labour
The
International
1.3 • The role of the United Nations including:
> the role of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and International Labour Conference

Organization and the status Labour > status of ILO conventions and recommendations

of relevant conventions Organization • The roles and responsibilities of ‘International governments’, ‘enterprises’ and ‘workers’ as given in
and recommendations in and its C155 Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 and in the publication R164 Occupational

a global health and safety conventions Safety and Health Recommendation, 1981

setting. and • How International conventions can be used as a basis for setting International systems of health and
recommend- safety legislation ie, Occupational Safety and Health Convention and Recommendation (C155 and
R164 respectively) and Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention and
ations
Recommendation, 2006 (C187 and R197 respectively).

Summarise the role of non- Non- 1.4 Cross reference with:

governmental bodies and governmental - assessment criteria 7.1 – societal factors

self-regulation in securing bodies - assessment criteria 7.2 – Corporate Social Responsibility

- assessment criteria 8.1 – supply chain management
common health and safety and health
standards in a global and safety • Examples of relevant influential parties (employer bodies; trade associations; trade unions;

economy. standards professional groups (eg, IOSH, ASSP, Board of Certified Safety Professionals)); pressure groups, public
etc, and their role in influencing health and safety performance

• The importance of print, broadcast and social media in a global economy and their role in changing
attitudes to health and safety

• The benefits of schemes which promote co-operation on health and safety between different
companies eg, supplier auditing, good neighbour schemes

• The possible adverse effects on a business’s reputation due to stakeholder reaction to health or safety
concerns

• An organisation’s moral obligations to raise standards of health and safety within their supply chains

• The meaning of ‘self-regulation’ and the role and function of corporate governance in a system of
self-regulation

• How internal rules and procedures regulate health and safety performance.

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Syllabus Outline how and why third Third parties 1.5 • Reasons for ensuring that third parties are covered by health and safety management systems
parties must be managed • Basic duties owed to and by third parties ie, visitiors, agency workers, members of the public, other
within the workplace. employers (shared premises)

• Responsibilities for control of risk associated with third parties

• Reasons for providing information relating to hazards/risks to third parties.

Outline the role of insurers Insurers 1.6 • How insurers can influence organisational health and safety
in health and safety. • The role of loss adjusters and claims handlers.

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 Learning outcome 2
You will be able to promote a positive health and safety culture by:
Syllabus • gaining commitment and participation; and
• engaging, supporting, and influencing leaders (and others) to change attitudes and behaviour and make health and safety a
priority.

Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Recognise different Organisational 2.1 • The concept of the organisation as a system

organisational structures structures
• Organisational structures and functions – including formal and informal; hierarchical vs flat
and where conflicts in goals
management structures; organisation charts; role of management
could lie and how these
conflicts can be resolved. • Potential conflict between organisational goals and the goals of the individual

• The integration of the goals of the organisation with the needs of the individual – authority,
responsibility, accountability

• The internal influences on health and safety within an organisation eg, finance, production targets,
trade unions, organisational goals and culture

• The external influences on health and safety within an organisation eg, legislation, enforcement
authorities, courts, contracts, clients/contractors, trade unions, insurance companies, public opinion.

Recognise the different Leadership 2.2 Cross reference with assessment criteria 6.1 – the role of the health and safety professional
types of safety leadership
• The meaning of safety leadership
and the behavioural
attributes of an effective • Types of safety leadership, their advantages, disadvantages, typical behaviours and likely impact on
leader. safety performance:
> transformational
> transactional
> authentic
> resonant

• Behavioural attributes of an effective leader.

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Syllabus Understand how an Consultation 2.3 Cross reference with assessment criteria 6.1 – the role of the health and safety professional
organisation can consult
• The role of consultation within the workplace with reference to principles laid down in ILO
effectively with its workers.
Occupational Safety and Health Convention (C155), Article 20 and ILO Occupational Safety and
Health Recommendation (R164)
• The four stages to consultation (with reference to Involving your workforce in health and safety,
HSG263 produced by the British Health and Safety Executive):
> get started: prepare
> get organised: plan
> get it done: consult and involve
> get it right: keep improving

• Behavioural aspects associated with consultation – peer group pressures, danger of tokenism,
potential areas of conflict

• The role of the health and safety professional in the consultative process.
Understand what Health and 2.4 Cross reference with:
contributes to an effective safety culture - assessment criteria 2.5 – traditional vs proactive safety management models
health and safety culture - assessment criteria 7.3 – organisational change
Behavioural
and climate and the impact
change • The meaning of ‘health and safety culture’ and ‘health and safety climate’; what is organisational
that behavioural change
programmes culture; how organisational culture interlinks with health and safety culture
programmes can have on
culture. • Indicators of health and safety culture and measuring health and safety climate

• What may promote a positive or negative health and safety culture or climate (ie, management
commitment and leadership, high business profile of health and safety, provision of information,
involvement and consultation, training, promotion of ownership, setting and meeting targets
organisational change, lack of confidence in organisation’s objectives and methods, uncertainty,
management decisions that prejudice mutual trust or lead to confusion regarding commitment)

• Changing the culture:

> planning and communication
> strong leadership
> the need for a gradualist (step-by-step) approach
> direct and indirect action to promote change (including cultural benefits from risk asessment)
> strong worker engagement
> training and performance measurements and the importance of feedback
> changes to work environment and the positive and negative impacts this has on workers

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Syllabus
2.4 > building trust in the workforce including psychological confidence ie, workforce know that
their views matter and are not afraid to voice an opinion

• Problems and pitfalls (ie, attempts to change culture too rapidly, adopting too broad an approach,
absence of trust in communications, resistance to change)

• The elements and levels of the British HSE’s Safety culture maturity model with reference to OTO
2000/049 report

• The concepts of blame, no-blame and just culture (Dekker)

• Behavioural change programmes:

> why behavioural change programmes are used
> advantages and disadvantages of behavioural change programmes
> the principles of behavioural change programmes

• The organisational conditions needed for success in behavioural change programmes.

Outline the main Traditional 2.5 Cross reference with:

differences between and proactive - assessment criteria 2.4 – health and safety culture
traditional and proactive safety - assessment criteria 5.2 – health and safety monitoring
safety management management
• Traditional safety (sometimes called ‘Safety I’)
models.
> focus on the absence of danger where as few as possible events/actions go wrong (the
absence of accidents, errors and violations)
> often reactive
> main focus is compliance
> negative outcome KPIs eg, number of incidents, counting/reporting on accountabilities
> people mainly seen as part of the problem/cause
> performance variation – should be avoided wherever possible

• Proactive safety management (sometimes called ‘Safety II’ and ‘Safety Differently’)
> extension of traditional safety with a different focus (safety is the presence of positives and
not the absence of negatives)
> ethical responsibility (removing unnecessary bureaucracy – devolve, declutter, decentralise)
> reduces risk-based decisions to lowest possible level
> continuous learning

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Syllabus 2.5 > people seen as the solution/an essential resource – treat people as experts; talk to the
workforce regularly (ask them what they need); listen to the workforce (there may be more
than one way to do a job safely)
> the benefits of investigating the positives (what goes right rather than what goes wrong)
> past success is not a guarantee for future safety – how can success be created
> the four varieties of human work (work as imagined, prescribed, disclosed, done)
> work as done:
- builds trust in the workforce
- can identify risks and where potential incidents could come from
- events become more foreseeable
- learning to improve by analysing normal work
> look at low likelihood but high consequence events (unlikely to be considered in ‘traditional
safety’ as events have not happened)
> resilience – workers’ ability to recover from adverse situation, change and absorb disruptions
without failure occurring
> performance variation – useful and unavoidable; to be monitored and managed; encourage
sharing

• Some limitations of traditional and proactive safety management:

> traditional:
- reactive/post event
- bureaucratic and compliance driven
- authoritarian
> proactive:
- future is uncertain – cannot foresee all events
- predicted situations may not happen (wasted resources – people/time/money)
- predictions may not be right (wrong assumptions and arrangements made – incident
could still occur)
- organisation may be averse to trying the system eg, as it is not as common as ‘traditional’
safety or it goes beyond traditional beliefs

• The effects of proactive safety management on health and safety culture.

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Syllabus
Know how perception of Risk 2.6 Cross reference with assessment criteria 4.2 – managing health and safety risks
risk can affect health and perception
• Human sensory receptors and their reaction to stimuli, sensory defects and basic screening
safety in an organisation.
techniques

• The process of perception of danger, perceptual set and perceptual distortion

• Errors in perception caused by physical stressors

• Perception and the assessment of risk, perception and the limitations of human performance,
filtering and selectivity as factors for perception.

Understand how human Human 2.7 Cross reference with assessment criteria 3.1 – competence, training, information and
factors and failures are failures and supervision
classified, connected and factors Human failure
can contribute to incidents
Improving • The classification of human failure (with reference to HSG48)
and how human reliability
human
in the workplace can be • The application of cognitive processing: knowledge-based, rule-based and skill-based behaviour
reliability
improved. (Rasmussen) and the potential for human failure.

Cross reference with assessment criteria 7.3 – organisational change

Human factors
• What are human factors (with reference to HSG48)
> Job factors
- the role of ergonomics in job design:
» the influence of process and equipment design on human reliability
» the worker and the workstation as a system
» elementary physiology and anthropometry
» the degradation of human performance resulting from poorly designed workstations
- ergonomically designed control systems in relation to human reliability – ie, examples of
applications: production process control panels, crane cab controls, aircraft cockpit, CNC
lathe
- matching the job to the person:
» physical match: design of the workplace and working environment

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Syllabus
2.7 » mental match: consider the individual’s information and decision making skills and
perception of tasks and risks eg, task complexity
- the application of task analysis in predicting the probability and prevention of error
> Individual factors:
- the relationship between physical stressors and human reliability
- the effects of under-stimulation, fatigue and stress on human reliability
- the effect of personal attitudes (including risk perception), skills, habits and personality on
task demands
> Organisational failures:
- the effects of organisational factors on health and safety culture including leadership and
commitment at all levels
- organisational factors that affect human reliability: patterns of employment, payment
systems, shift work
- the effect of weaknesses in the health and safety management system on the probability
of human failure eg, inadequacies in the setting of standards, policy, planning,
information responsibilities or monitoring
- the influence of formal and informal groups within an organisation
- organisational communication mechanisms and their impact on human failure probability
eg, shift handover communication, organisational communication routes and their
complexity, reliability and degree of formality

• Contribution of human failure and human factors to incidents.

Improving human reliability

• Initiatives for improving individual human reliability in the workplace:
> motivation and reinforcement; workplace incentive schemes; job satisfaction and appraisal
schemes
• selection of individuals – matching skills and aptitudes; training and competence assessment; fitness
for work.

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 Learning outcome 3
Syllabus You will be able to assess, develop and maintain individual and organisational health and safety competence.

Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Understand how providing Competence, 3.1 Cross reference with:

information, instruction, training, - assessment criteria 2.7 – human failures/factors
training and supervision information - assessment criteria 4.2 – competence relating to risk assessment programmes
helps to develop and and - assessment criteria 6.1 – the role of the health and safety professional (in relation to
maintain a competent supervision competence)
workforce.
• The meaning of competence

• The difference between training and competence

• The circumstances when training is likely to be required, including:

> induction
> changes in work activities
> introduction of new technology or new equipment
> changes in systems of work
> refresher training due to declining skills

• The groups of people having specific training needs including supervisors, young and vulnerable
people; the need for training to be carried out upwards in the organisation

• The relationship between competence and supervision (external and self-supervision)

• The circumstances where there are specific training needs for certain hazardous types of work
equipment (including self-propelled work equipment, chainsaws, woodworking machines, power
presses, abrasive wheels)

• The scope of information required for the safe use and operation of work equipment, specifically:
the conditions under which the work equipment may be used; foreseeable abnormal situations and
the action to be taken; and any conclusions to be drawn from experience in usage

• The methods by which information and instructions regarding the operation and use of work
equipment can be easily understood by those concerned

• The requirements for training lift truck operators (basic, specific job training and familiarisation).

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Syllabus Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Recognise the High 3.2 • What is a HRO?

characteristics of and what Reliability
• Characteristics of a HRO:
can be learnt from High Organisations
> containment of unexpected events
Reliability Organisations
> effective problem anticipation
(HROs).
> Just Culture
> learning orientation through continuous technical training
> mindful leadership

• The lessons that other organisations can learn from HROs.

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 Learning outcome 4
Syllabus You will be able to understand risk management including the techniques for identifying hazards, the different types of risk
assessment, considerations when implementing sensible and proportionate additional control measures and develop a risk
management strategy.

Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Recognise and apply Hazard 4.1 • Types of hazard identification techniques: using observation, task analysis, checklists, and failure
different hazard identification tracing techniques such as hazard and operability studies
identification techniques. techniques
• The importance of worker input.

Explain the principles Managing 4.2 Cross reference with:

of implementing and health and - assessment criteria 3.1 – competence, training, information and supervision
maintaining a sensible risk safety risks - assessment criteria 2.6 – risk perception
management programme. - assessment criteria 6.1 – the role of the health and safety professional

• The meaning of the term sensible risk management including the importance of proportionality
when assessing and controlling risk

• Principles of and differences between qualitative, semi-quantitative and quantitative assessments

• How to engage workers at all levels in the risk assessment process

• When dynamic risk assessments/situational awareness should be used

• The link between the outcomes of risk assessments and the development of risk controls

• Factors affecting the choice of sensible and proportionate control measures: long term/short term,
applicability, practicability, cost, proportionality, effectiveness of control, legal requirements and
associated standards, the competence of workers and training needs relevant to preferred controls

• Organisational arrangements for implementing and maintaining an effective risk assessment

programme including: procedures, recording protocols, training, competence, responsibilities,
authorisation and follow-up of actions, monitoring and review

• Acceptability/tolerability of risk.

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Syllabus Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Outline what should Risk 4.3 • Organisational risk profiling: its purpose (including to convince top management when there is or is
be considered in a risk management not a problem), practicality and organisational context
management strategy for
• Why health and safety risks must be integrated into main business risk
an organisation.
• The concepts of avoidance, reduction, transfer and retention with/without knowledge within a
health and safety management system, with relevant examples (eg, redesign of tasks, automation of
process, insurance policies, use of specialist contractors)

• Circumstances when each of the above strategies would be appropriate

• Factors to be considered in the selection of an optimum solution based on relevant risk data

• The principles and benefits of risk management in a global context.

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 Learning outcome 5
Syllabus You will be able to develop and implement proactive and reactive health and safety monitoring systems and carry out reviews and
auditing of such systems.

Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Explain different types of Loss 5.1 Theories/models and use of loss causation techniques
loss causation theories/ causation • Understand some of the underlying principles connecting causes and outcomes:
models, tools and > incidents with the same cause(s) usually have a range of possible outcomes eg, near misses
Quantitative
techniques and how loss to injuries to fatalities
analysis of
data can be analysed. > there is an underlying randomness to outcomes:
data
- often difficult to predict exactly when or where incidents will happen or their severity
- whether severity is minor or major can just be a matter of chance
- more severe incidents will happen sooner or later if you just leave it to chance
> consideration should be given to:
- potential outcomes as well as actual outcomes
- tackling root causes to avert far more serious outcomes
> cautionary use of incident ratio data studies eg, Bird’s Triangle:
- still useful in communicating the importance of safety
- limitations include:
» accuracy in statistics – connection between near misses and serious injury eg, not all
incidents are realistically capable of leading to a fatality
» consider numbers as guide rather than an absolute (basic shape more important than
detail)
» does not consider failure of management systems (incidents often seen as being
caused by operator fault)
» usually look at incidents as a single sequence of events influenced by an intervention
(multi-causality theories are ignored)
• Understand the following theories/models, tools and techniques:
> multi-causality theory (immediate, underlying and root causes)
> latent and active failures: Reason’s model of accident causation (Swiss Cheese Model)
> the principles and application of root cause analysis tools: 5-Whys, fishbone diagram, fault
tree, event tree and the Bowtie model.

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Syllabus 5.1 The quantitative analysis of accident and ill-health data

• The impacts that statistics can have on an organisation and organisational reputation
• Methods of calculating loss rates from raw data: accident/incident frequency rate, accident incidence
rate, accident severity rate, ill-health prevalence rate
• The limitations of accident and ill-health data eg, importance of representative samples, sampling a
population, errors in data.

Outline the purpose Measuring 5.2 The purpose and use of health and safety performance measurement
of health and safety and Cross reference with assessment criteria 2.5 – traditional vs proactive safety management
performance measurement, monitoring models
monitoring and review. • The meaning of key performance indicators and their role in setting business objectives
• The types, benefits and limitations of leading and lagging indicators
• The assessment of the effectiveness and appropriateness of health and safety objectives and
arrangements, including control measures
• Making recommendations based on performance, for the review of current health and safety
management systems
• The benefits of measuring what goes right (proactive safety management).

Health and safety monitoring

• The objectives of active monitoring – to check that health and safety plans have been implemented
and to monitor compliance with the organisation’s systems/procedures and legislative/technical
standards
• The objectives of reactive monitoring – to analyse data relating to accidents, ill-health and other loss
causing events
• The distinction between, and applicability of, active/reactive, objective/subjective and qualitative/
quantitative performance measures.

Health and safety monitoring and measurement techniques

Cross reference with:
- assessment criteria 2.5 – traditional vs proactive safety management models
- assessment criteria 6.1 – the role of the health and safety professional
• Collecting and using sickness absence and ill-health data to develop occupational policy, strategy and
targets

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Syllabus 5.2 • The role, purpose and key elements of health and safety audits (improvement opportunities),
workplace inspections, safety tours, safety sampling, safety surveys, safety conversations and
behavioural observations
• The in-house health and safety professional's role in audits carried out by external/third parties eg,
during a certification audit
• Comparison of previous performance data with that of similar organisations/industry sectors and
with national performance data
• Use and potential benefits of benchmarking.

Reviewing health and safety performance

Cross reference with assessment criteria 6.1 – the role of the health and safety professional
• Need for formal and informal performance reviews
• The importance of reviewing positive outcomes (what’s gone well)
• The review process
• The inputs to a review process – internal performance data, health and safety objectives,
organisational arrangements and change, external standards and expectations
• The outputs from a review process – actions and improvement plans, stakeholder reports,
performance targets.

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 Learning outcome 6
Syllabus You will be able to continually develop your own professional skills and ethics to actively influence improvements in health and
safety by providing persuasive arguments to workers at all levels.

Cross reference with:

- assessment criteria 2.2 – leadership - assessment criteria 4.2 – managing health and safety risks
- assessment criteria 2.3 – consultation - assessment criteria 5.2 – audits
- assessment criteria 3.1 – competence - assessment criteria 7.3 – organisational change

Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Describe the role of Professional 6.1 The role of the health and safety professional
the health and safety skills • Why a health and safety professional must understand what can affect their organisation’s ability to
professional, the essential manage its health and safety responsibilities (the context of the organisation)
communication and • The role of the health and safety professional in protecting workers, employers and third parties and
negotiation skills needed the potential conflicts that this brings
and how to use financial • The importance of a health and safety professional recognising the limits of their own competence
justifications to aid decision • The need for health and safety professionals to evaluate and develop their own practice to maintain
making. competence
• The role of the health and safety professional in mentoring and supporting the development of
health and safety competency in other relevant workers
• The distinction between leadership and management and how this can apply to a health and safety
professional
• The role of a health and safety professional in encouraging positive leadership and supporting
managers at all levels to exhibit commitment to a safe and healthy workplace
• The need to adopt different management styles (which may include problem solving) dependent on
any given situation
• The role of the health and safety professional in the development, implementation, maintenance and
evaluation of health and safety management systems
• Why workers’ information needs to be handled confidentially
• The health and safety professional’s role in enabling work activities as part of proportionate and
sensible risk management
• The contribution of the health and safety professional in achieving the objectives of an organisation

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Syllabus Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

6.1 • Health and safety professional’s role in change management:

> involved from the start rather than at the end of the process or when things go wrong
> how to influence organisational change
> use plan-do-check-act to help solve issues
• The meaning of the term ‘ethics’
• The practical application of ethical principles (ie, honesty, respect, integrity, personal conflicts of
interest) that underpin health and safety professional codes of conduct.

Effective communication and negotiation skills

• Why effective communication is important
• The need for health and safety professionals to consult and negotiate with others when developing
an organisation’s health and safety objectives
• Influencing ownership of health and safety at all levels of an organisation via:
> participation
> management accountability
> consultation
> feedback
• The benefits of the health and safety professionals engaging with stakeholders
• Ways that the health and safety professional can understand and influence different stakeholder
groups
• The importance of receiving and acting on feedback on health and safety performance from all
stakeholders
• The use of different types of communication media available to promote the health and safety
message ie, verbal, electronic, printed, pictorial and social
• Why an organisation’s top management (Chief Executive, Managing Director etc) should be media
trained eg, public attention in the event of a major incident.
• Procedures for resolving conflict and introducing change
• Ensuring roles and responsibilities are clear, understood by all workers and implemented.

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Syllabus Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

6.1 The health and safety professional’s use of financial justification to aid decision making
• The significance of budgetary responsibility, including profit, loss and payback analysis
• Importance of recognising who is the responsible budget holder and how they can be influenced to
make appropriate health and safety decisions
• Cost-benefit analysis in relation to risk control decisions (organisational, design, planning,
operational)
• The internal and external sources of information that should be considered when determining costs
• The necessity of both short- and long-term budgetary planning when seeking approval for new
initiatives, projects and campaigns.

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 Learning outcome 7
Syllabus You will be able to develop a health and safety policy and strategy with your organisation (including proactive safety, Corporate
Social Responsibility and the change management process.

Cross reference with:

- assessment criteria 2.2 – leadership
- assessment criteria 9.2 – mental ill-health

Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Outline societal factors Societal 7.1 Cross reference with assessment criteria 1.4 – the role of non-governmental bodies and health
that could influence an factors and safety standards
organisation’s health and • Economic climate, government policy and initiatives
safety policy and priorities. • Industry/business risk profile
• Globalisation of business
• Migrant workers
• National level of sickness absence
• Incapacity
• Societal expectations of equality eg, adjustments for workers with disabilities.

Outline the four types Corporate 7.2 Cross reference with assessment criteria 8.1 – supply chain management
of Corporate Social Social • What is CSR ie, socially and environmentally friendly actions not only required by law, but going
Responsibility (CSR) and Responsibility beyond compliance
the benefits it brings to • The four types of CSR:
organisations. > philanthropic
> environmental protection
> organisation diversity
> volunteering commitments
• The benefits for organisations from CSR.

Outline why and how Organisation 7.3 Cross reference with:

organisational changes change - assessment criteria 2.7 – human factors
should be effectively - assessment criteria 6.1 – the role of the health and safety professional
managed. • Why organisational change needs to be effectively managed, ie, impacts on safety and health
(especially mental health) of workers

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content
Syllabus 7.3 • Use of the Kubler-Ross Change Curve to manage the change process:
> shock/denial: share relevant information with the workforce – irrelevant details may cause
panic
> frustration/anger: expect this behaviour, change managers to remain calm and communicate
and/or respond quickly, frequently, clearly and logically with workers
> bargaining: be flexible and open to worker suggestions but keep them advised of
organisational expectations following change
> depression: listen to workers, positive actions to reward those with new roles and
responsibilities eg, financial rewards, fun/formative training
> experiment: initial engagement with the new situation; develop workers’ capabilities/
competences
> acceptance/decision: reinforce purpose of change, update change strategy based on lessons
learned from previous stages
• Key principles of managing organisational change:
> identify the direct and indirect effects of proposed changes on control of hazards
> avoid too many simultaneous changes or unnecessary changes
> planning should be thorough, systematic and realistic
> risk assessment to consider risk and opportunities resulting from the change and risks from
the change process
> consultation with workers – before, during and after the change
> identify key tasks and responsibilities and ensure they are successfully transferred
> training and supervision required for workers in new roles.

NEBOSH International Diploma for Occupational Health and Safety Management Professionals 35
 Learning outcome 8
You will be able to manage contractors and supply chains to ensure compliance with health and safety standards.
Syllabus Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content

Outline the principles of Contractors 8.1 Cross reference with:

managing health and - assessment criteria 1.4 – non-governmental bodies and self-regulation
Supply chains
safety in supply chains - assessment criteria 7.2 – Corporate Social Responsibility
and the general control of • Selection of contractors:
contractors. > clear definition of roles and responsibilities for the start of contract
> the purpose of preferred lists and pre-qualification
> organisational procurement process to outline health and safety criteria for the selection of
contractors
> contractors’ capability, consider: evidence of experience in the same type of work; checkable
references from previous clients; membership of trade or professional bodies; accident/ill-
health statistics; evidence of prosecutions (convictions) and notices; evidence of qualifications
for all relevant workers; evidence of skills and ongoing training (especially health and safety
training); risk assessments and method statements; evidence of how sub-contractors are
selected; recognition of their limitations
> demonstration that appropriate resources and equipment are adequate and available for
work to proceed
> additional requirements when selecting a specialist contractor eg, occupational hygienists:
- evidence of relevant competency ie, qualifications, member of a trade or professional
body at a relevant level that will include completion of continuing professional
development
- conformation to relevant code(s) of ethics and/or demonstration of independence,
impartiality and integrity
- ask contractor to demonstrate why they are competent to do the work
- evidence good practice/industry standards are followed
> procedures in place for ensuring co-ordination between organisation and contractor of:
- information sharing eg, site rules
- hazard reporting
- control of access to hazardous areas
- emergency procedures
- safe systems of work (including permits-to-work)

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 Assessment criteria Topic Ref Content
Syllabus 8.1 - assessment of exposure to hazardous substances
- sign in/sign out
- active monitoring
- assessing number of incidents and special arrangements
• Managing health and safety within supply chains:
> what is a ‘focal company’:
- rule/govern the supply chain
- provide direct customer contact
- design the product or service offered
> the role of a ‘focal company’ in supply chains eg, drive better health and standards across
supply chains by expectation of minimum health and safety standards, communication and
training
> formal health and safety management systems’ role in supply chains:
- standards require a minimum standard of compliance
- certification of systems demonstrates confidence by a third-party auditor
- reduced audit/inspections costs eg, organisations do not have to be audited separately by
each of their customers
> management of contractors within the supply chain:
- suitable communication methods between all parties in the supply chain of relevant
information
- co-operation between all supply chain parties
- suitable training on site health and safety issues before work begins
- joint control procedures eg, same procedure for issue of permit-to-work between all
contractors, reporting incidents etc
- contractor evaluation during and after projects (including managing projects that go
wrong)
• Why modern slavery must be managed within supply chains
• Awareness of where modern slavery may be happening in supply chains.

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