Health

1
Health Safety at Work act etc 1974
Section 2 2.1 General duty to ensure so far as
reasonable practicable the health safety of
employees 2.2a Provision maintenance of safe
plant SSOW 2.2b Safe use, handling, storage and
transport of materials 2.2c Information,
Instruction, Training and Supervision 2.2d Safe
access and regress 2.2e Adequate safe
facilities 2.3.3 Policy 2.2.4/5 Safety
rep 2.2.6 Consultation with safety
reps 2.2.7 Establish committee if requested by 2
reps in writing
Section 4 Sharing workplace
Section 3 Public contractor Visitors disclosure
of information
Section 5 Emission
Section 6 Manufacturers
Health Safety at Work act etc 1974
Section 7 Employee duty
Section 8 Employees not to interfere
Section 9 Charge for PPE
Section 37 Prosecution of Director / Managers
Section 33 Not to obstruct inspector
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Whistle Blowing
Employee good faith
Prescribed People -Union Safety
rep -Employer -HS advisor -Professional body -HSE
Law The Public Interest Disclosure act 1998
Employees must have reasonable belief of one or
more of the following
Breach of legal obligation
Whistle Blowing
A criminal offence
Prescribed people
Employees protected against -loss of
job -victimisation -if job lost, case for unfair
dismissal
Miscarriage of justice
Employee good faith
Danger to the HS of an individual
Protected disclosure
Danger to the environment
3
Domino Theory
Heinrich / Bird Loftus
Event 5 Effect - injury
Natural culmination of a series of events leads
to a preventable injury occurring
Event 4 Accident
Domino Theory
Event 3 Unsafe act or condition
Chain of events
Remove as to prevent accident
Event 1 Ancestry / social environment
Event 2 Fault of person

• Bird Loftus developed Heinrich model to include
  management influence
• Benefits
• Structured accident investigation
• Bird Loftus version encourages the search for
  underlying causes
• Limitations
• Simplistic straight chain thinking
• Heinrich model restricts the findings of
  underlying causes

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Compensation Amounts
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Reducing the risk of component failure
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Factors that affect perception
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Gaining Workforce Commitment
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Accident Interview Techniques
Put person at ease by explaining purpose of
investigation
Finish interview on a positive note perhaps
what witness thinks can be done to improve
Take notes
May need to adjust language for witness
Repeat witness account back to them to check that
it is fully understood
Accident Interview Techniques
Interview person at the scene if possible (props
easily available, help memory)
Listen without interruption

• Careful Question Phrasing
• What happened
• What did you see
• What times
• Where
• When
• How
• Who
• Not why

Invite witness to have accompanying person
Interview ASAP after the event
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Benefits of staying with HSG65
Existing system may be working well
HSG65 is used by the enforcing bodies
No cost for certificates / maintain certification
HSG65 was created to address the requirements of
Reg5 MHSR99
Benefits of staying with HSG65
Audits are generally carried out by health
safety specialist
Organisation could be exposed during change over
OHSAS model may be too sophisticated for smaller
companies
Cost of change over
Increased paperwork
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Consideration when developing an audit program
Applicable legislation
Resource required to audit
Monitoring systems for results
Training for auditor
Consideration when developing an audit program
feedback
Frequency of audits
Scoring system
Aspects to be audited e.g.. Elements of HSG65
Time required
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Benefits of OHSAS18001
External regulation e.g.. customer
Customer demand
Clearer standard for benchmarking
Benefits of OHSAS18001
Recently accredited to ISO standard (2007)
More prescriptive system
International recognition
External assessment
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Benefits of Integrated Management Systems
Team approach
Improved and/or equal culture for all
standards/disciplines
Equal business priority
Benefits of Integrated Management Systems

• Reduction in costs
• Combined audits
• Less duplicates
• Same format used
• Combined information systems

Holistic approach to risk management
Equal influence
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Benefits of separate management systems
Existing systems may work well
One discipline may require a more complex system
to meet business needs
Resistance to change
Benefits of Separate Management Systems
Business exposure during integration period
Health Safety / Environmental have a minimum
legal requirement

• Customer demand
• ISO/OHSAS required
• Complex auditing

Potential loss of professional disciplines
required
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Multiple causation
May be more use than one underlying cause

• Benefits
• Thorough accident investigation
• Identification of all underlying causes including
  effects of managers and management systems
• Encourages the use of a more systematic accident
  analysis such as fault tree analysis

Not only if happens in sequence
Multiple causation
Thorough accident investigation requires all
cause to be identified
Failings usually interact with each other causing
incident, can be major
Look at all factors including culture, management
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HSWA 74 Disabled person considerations
Section 2 1. General duty HS of employees
Safe access and regress
Welfare provisions
Workplace circumstances
HSWA 74 Disabled person considerations
Reasonably practicable measures to ensure safe
Nature of disability
Appropriate means of training providing
information
Safe plant
Adaptation of SSOW to suit
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Disability discrimination act 1995
Unlawful for employer to discriminate against a
disabled person when he employs
Not to discriminate during recruitment
Consider effectiveness of modifications. E.g.
fire alarm effectiveness
Disability discrimination act Disabled person
considerations
Equal promotion prospects

• Reasonable adjustments
• Premises, access /egress, welfare

Emergency procedures
Workplace layout
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Vicarious Liability
Breach of civil law

• Cases
• Lister Vs Romford Ice Cold Storage
• Hudson Vs Ridge manufacturing (competent fellow
  employees)

Means to pay claimant
Employers liability insurance
Vicarious Liability
Employee employed by employer

• Defences
• Volenti non fit injuries
• Contributory negligence
• Not acting within scope of employment
• Not employed
• No injury or unforeseeable

Tort of negligence committed by employee
Employee acting in course of employment
Negligent act cause injury or loss to third party
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Near miss systems
Clearly definition of near Miss
Who will report near misses
Positive feedback for reporters
Training required
Considerations when developing a near miss system
Define reporting lines to ensure actions are
implemented
Consultation with employee
Ease of reporting, clear, straight forward format
Provision of information, instruction and training
Building of a fair blame culture
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Purpose and Benefits of Near Miss Data
Investigation of near misses and carrying out
improves/implementing preventative measures
Near misses have the potential to become an
accident
Helps get everyone involved in safety
Identifies opportunities for improvements
Shows management commitment through action follow
up and feed back
Purpose Benefits of near miss data
Identifies inadequate health and safety
management and/or elements of the management
system
Data analysis can show trends and reoccurring
issues indicates areas to improve
Identifies inadequate training
Proactive approach to incident management
Helps to identify inadequate SSOW
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Design of controls
Keep number to minimum
A change of system state should only occur after
operation of a control
Easy to use e.g.. Toggles / switches
Space between each control
Operating a control should require a positive
action by the operator with immediate effect
Control design
Arrange of controls in sequence of use
Stop controls should be easy to activate
System restarts should only occur after operating
a control
Controls should be kept next to the display that
gives the reading of its output
Labels shape put to effective use
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Design of Displays
Digital for quantative information
Direct relation between readout and control
Emergency displays should be clearly identifiable
Dials with pointers to convey qualative readings
Display design
Use of colours to give clear indication of a
change in state
Lights used for status readings
Correct number of controls, too many will
overload operators
VDUs to show process overview
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Characteristics Of A Positive Safety Culture
Open communication between managers and shop floor
Management commitment
Reporting of hazards by employees
Leadership by managers
Characteristics Of A Positive Safety Culture
Potentially low accident rates
Availability of funds and resources
Mutual trust
Good quality of health and safety training
Strong participation by employees
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Strategic role of HS profession
Ensuring organisation is legally compliant and
keeping up to date with legislation changes
Policy development and setting of objectives
Managing enforcing bodies
Strategic role of HS profession
Auditing identifying further opportunities for
improvement
Advising senior managers
Formulating developing elements of the HS
management systems
Developing strong good safety culture
Involvement in reactive monitoring e.g. accident
investigation
Developing / agreeing plans for improvement,
short and long term
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Employer responsible for negligent act of
contract vicarious liability
Case Mersey docks harbour board Vs Coggins
Griffiths
Act caused harm or loss to third party
Contractor under control of employer
Employer responsible for negligent act of
contract vicarious liability
Acting in course of employment
Employer authorises negligent act
Contractor carrying act over which employer has
control
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Requirement of Reg7 MHSR1999
Person competent to advise
Exemption for partners if one or more is competent
Appoint one or more persons
Requirement of Reg7 MHSR1999
Information on temporary workers
Arrangements for cooperation if more than one
Preference is internal appointment
Number of and time available sufficient for size,
risk and risk distribution of the company
Provision of information on health safety
issues to externally appointed (consultant)
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Typical client / contract for work carried out
Responsibilities for emergency planning
Contractor to maintain legal compliance
Provision of competent persons
Clients right to stop work if unsafe
Employer liability insurance
Typical client / contract for work carried out
Define safety responsibilities between client
contractor
The requirement that the contractor has RAs,
SSOW,MSs
Clients right to monitor safety standards of
contractors
The contractor / client supplies appropriate
welfare
Requirement to attend site HS induction before
workers start work on site
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Limitations of measuring HS performance by
accidents / incidents
Reactive
Does not reflect chronic health issues
May take long time for data to provide trends
Absence of incident does not mean good procedures
in place
Limitations of measuring HS performance by
accidents / incidents
Under reporting particularly when targets are set
Accident data may be small hence not being easy
to see trends
Data is a measure of failure not success
Data is subject to random fluctuation
Historic performance can not predict future
performance
Data measures effectiveness of previous safety
measures not new measures
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Contracts
An offer from one party acceptance from another
can be verbal or written
Contract must not be to commit a crime
The intention to create legal relations
Elements of legally enforceable contract

• Legal considerations
• Money
• Undertaking work/tasks

Not mentally incapacitated at the time of the
contract
Parties involved must have legal capacity to do
so e.g.. adult
Genuine consent gives the terms of contract e.g..
No misinterpretations
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HAZOP

• Create action plan for improvement
• Owner
• What
• When

Design stage of process
Define scope
Team effort
HAZOP
Identify possible preventative measures

• Appropriate specialist
• Engineers
• Health safety advisor
• Operators
• Managers
• Defined Hazop leader

• Assess impact of deviations
• No flow
• Flow

Identify possible deviations from normal running
Process broken down into sections to analyse
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Why a PTW system may not be used
Too bureaucratic
Difficult to organise control measures
Difficult system to use
Potential hazards not fully identified
Why a PTW system may not be used
Poor safety culture e.g.. Routine work
Absence of competent person to authorise
Lack of information, instruction, training and
supervision
Permit not specific to task
Too time consuming
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Reasons to establish effective consultation with
employees

• Statutory requirement
• Health and safety (consulting with employees reg
  1996)

Improving perception about value of HS
Promotion of good safety culture through employee
involvement
Reasons to establish effective consultation with
employees
Promote employee ownership
Identification of improvement opportunities
Information from shop floor
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Practicable
Where technology or knowledge exists must be
implemented

• Cases
• Adsett vs K L steel founders (technology not
  known, silica dust)

Not as high a duty as Absolute but higher duty
than reasonably practicable
Practicable
Cost of precautions is not a factor
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Reasonable Practicable
Balance of cost vs risk
One factor must be grossly disproportionate to
the other
Duty not as strict as Absolute or practicable
Reasonable Practicable
Decision is reached to implement precaution or
not after balancing

• Cases
• Edwards vs National coal board
• (shoring up of roadway) NCB found liable as risk
  and consequences was greater than cost
• Marshall Vs Gotham (gypsum mine)

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Reasons why accidents should be investigated
Establish causes both immediate and underlying
causes
Obtain information/evidence for any future civil
claim
To ensure future preventative actions can be
defined and implemented
Assess whether further training and/or
supervision is required
Reasons why accidents should be investigated
Investigation could provide useful information
for evaluating the costs of accidents
Assess compliance with legal requirements
Demonstrate management commitment
Information gathered from investigation can be
used to evaluate whether current precautions are
adequate, also SSOW and existing risk assessments
are they adequate
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Accident investigation
Take photos, make sketches take measurements of
scene
Interview all parties involves ASAP, e.g. injured
party, witnessess
Obtain and CCTV footage that may be available
Identify immediate causes/underlying causes
Accident investigation
Identify environmental factors that could have
contributed to the accident e.g. poor light,
noise, wet conditions
Look at any relevant procedures that are in place
Look at any RA/SSOW in place
Look at training records that may exist for
people involved in accident
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Analysing accident investigation data
Examine information objectively i.e with a view
to identify the causes
Existing health and safety culture
Look at job factors involved e.g. distractions
Quality of supervision
Analysing accident investigation data
Look at any organisational factors which may have
contributed
Where procedures adequate e.g. RA/SSOW
Plant/equipment factors e.g. serviceable/inspected
Assess human factors that may have been involved
e.g. fatigue, stress, alcohol
Take into account any environmental factors that
may have exited e.g. noise, light, air condition
Competence of person involved e.g.
training/supervision
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Gain Support Of Workforce To Improve Health And
Safety Culture
Consultation, co-operation, participation,
competence, commitment
Ensure positive feedback is given
Show management commitment by leading from the
front
Talk to the workforce, get their input
Introduce new consultation forums
Gain Support Of Workforce To Improve Health And
Safety Culture
Understand current employee perception of health
and safety
Increase employee participation e.g. risk
assessments. H S meetings
Set health and safety targets and create plans
for improvement, communicate these plans to all
of the workforce
Demonstrate good resource for H S
Have informal discussion, team meetings etc
Train them, - show the benefits of improved
safety conditions
Introduce new improved safety policy's and
programmes e.g. behavioural safety programme
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Consideration For Emergency Planning Including
COMAH Site

• Identification of roles and responsibilities of
  key individuals in the planning stage e.g.
  technical support, engineers, safety advisors,
  key managers
• Consider the quantities involved e.g. flammables
  stored
• Provision of information to local authorities
• Possible causes of major incident e.g. fire in
  flammable tank farm
• Estimating the likely extent of damage e.g.
  dispersion analysis of a gas release/explosion
• Staff and equipment required to control the
  incident/minimise impact, call out arrangements
• Setting up of an incident control team
• Resources needed to deal with incident e.g.
  specialists
• Raising the alarm both on site and off
• Evacuation for both site and nearby
  residents/shelter arrangements
• Training for staff in emergency plans
  arrangements
• Action to minimize extent e.g. shutting of
  service
• Search and rescue arrangements
• Notification of emergency services and HSE
• Control and management on site including roles
  and responsibilities for emergencies incident
  team
• Provision of information for emergency service
  e.g. location of hazards and potential impact
• Control of spillages/pollution,
  toxicity/flammability and possible adverse
  effects
• Clean up/decontamination procedures
• Dealing with the press

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Human Failure
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European Law

• Regulations
• Apply directly in member states
• Go straight into member law
• If conflict with National law European prevails
• Rarely used
• Directives
• Can be applied to all members or individual
  members
• Lay down objectives what achievement is required
• Directives have to be implemented by member
  states.
• Decisions
• Can be made by Council or commission
• Biding upon those they address
• Main use is to allow a member state to depart
  from a requirement of a EU treaty

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Articles of Treaty of Rome

• Article 95
• Intended to remove barriers to trade/ensure
  unrestricted movement and sale
• Harmonised product standards
• E.g. Machinery Directive
• Article 137
• Setting of minimum standards of health and safety
• Harmonisation and improvement of workplace health
  and safety standards
• E.g. Frame work directive 6 pack

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Procedure for making regulations under HSWA1974
Power to make regs given to secretary of state by
section 15 HSWA
Subject matter of reg should fall within schedule
3 of the act
If vote against they are annulled
Procedure for making regulations under HSWA1974
Passed it no vote against
Consultation between secretary and HSC and other
relevant government bodies must occur
HSC could make proposal to secretary of state
Proposals must lie before both houses of
parliament for 40 days
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Cost vs Benefit Analysis as applies to proposed
regulation
Identify overall value to society of proposed
regulation
Comparison with cost of implementing the
regulation
Finally the calculated monetary values are
compared and a decision is reached
Cost vs Benefit Analysis as applies to proposed
regulation
Cot and benefits both converted into monetary
values
Cost of benefit in terms of prevention of death,
injury and ill health
Cost adjusted for different time scales of
implementation and benefits that may occur
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Ensuring Safety of other workers while
construction work is undertaken
Agree schedule/time frame for work
Contractors informed of any site hazards
PTW system may be required for abnormal activities
Provision of information on things such as
signing in/out procedures
Monitoring of contractor health and safety
performance
Ensuring Safety of other workers while
construction work is undertaken
Ensure all waste removed controlled
Site induction procedure
Office employees fully informed of location and
nature of work
Establish emergency procedures for contractors
and normal staff during the work
Presence of asbestos and control measures
Barrier area of, close sections where work
carried out
Safe storage of hazardous materials