NEBOSH International General Certificate

Unit 1 Management of International Health and Safety

Element 2 Setting Health & Safety Policy

1. (a) Outline the general content of the THREE sections of a health and safety
policy. (6)

(b) Explain why the health and safety policy should be signed by the most
senior person in an organization, such as a Managing Director or Chief
Executive· Officer. (2)

Answer

(a) The general content of the three sections of a health and safety policy are the
'statement of intent', which is the outline of organisational approach and it
demonstrates management's commitment to health and safety, sets goals and
objectives for the organization, plan for adequate resources and training and it
carries the signature of the key personnel, then to the 'organization' section,
the purpose of which is to allocate health and safety responsibilities within the
company, to ensure effective control, competency, cooperation and to set up
lines of communication, and finally, to the 'arrangements' section which sets
out in detail the systems and procedures to implement the policy such as
controlling hazards, provision of PPE, emergency procedures, monitoring
plant and equipment etc.

(b) The signature of the most senior person like CEO or MD in the organization
would demonstrate management commitment towards health and safety,
responsibility for health and safety in the organization, to set, approve and
review the policies and to ensure the resources for effective implementation of
health & safety.

2. (a) Explain the purpose of the 'statement of intent section of a health and safety
policy (2)

(b) Outline the circumstances that would require a health and safety policy to be
reviewed. (6)

Answer:

(a) The 'statement of intent' section of a health and safety policy is designed to
demonstrate management commitment to health and safety in terms of aims and
objectives, for example, commitment to improve trainings, reduce the
accidents/incidents etc.

1
 (b) The circumstances to review the policy include: significant changes in the
organization; after the introduction of new machinery or new processes or work
methods; following changes in key personnel; following changes in legislation;
following changes with consultation with employees; following new
information from manufacturers/suppliers; following the findings of an external
health and safety audit; following an accident and finally after a sufficient
period of time has been elapsed.

3. (a)Outline why it is important for an organization to set health and safety targets.
(2)
(b) Identify health and safety targets that an organization could set. (6)

Answer

(a) It is important for organizations to set health and safety targets to give
evidence of management commitment; to motivate staff by providing them with
goals and rewards; to act as evidence during the audit and reviews and for
benchmarking against other similar organizations.

(b) The health and safety targets that an organisation could set include: reductions
in the number of accidents and incidents; an improvement in the reporting of near
miss incidents or minor accidents; an improvement in inspection and audit scores;
a reduction in actions taken by the enforcement authorities; reduction in the
number of civil claims; a reduction in sickness absence; an improvement in the
outcome of benchmarking of performance against similar organizations; reduced
insurance costs; an increase in the degree of worker involvement and additionally
in the number of workers trained in health and safety.

4. (a) State the legal requirements whereby employers must prepare a written
statement of their health and safety policy. (6)

(b) Outline the various methods for communicating the contents of a health and
safety policy to a workforce. (2)

Answer

(a) The legal requirements such as Health and Safety at workplace regulations act
1974, requires that employers with five or more employees, need to prepare
and review the policy on a regular basis. It is required for the policy to
including the statement of intent, organization and arrangements to carry it
out. The policy should be signed by the most senior person with date, and
communicated to all stakeholders and made available to interested parties.

(b) The various methods to communicate the contents of health and safety policy
are: giving employees a copy of the policy or a summary of it; displaying the

2
 policy prominently on notice-boards; explaining the content of the policy at team
briefings, tool-box talks, during induction or refresher training courses; referring
to the policy in internal newsletters, booklets, emails and intranet communications
and making the policy an agenda item at meetings of the health and safety
committee.

5. Outline the issues that are usually included in the ‘arrangements’ section of a
health and safety policy? (8)

Answer

The issues that are usually included in the arrangements section of a health and
safety include: employee health and safety code of practice; accident and illness
reporting and investigation procedures; emergency procedures; first aid
arrangements; fire drill procedure and evacuation procedure; procedures for
undertaking risk assessments; procedure for maintaining cleanliness & safe access
and egress; control of exposure to specific hazards; machinery safety; electrical
equipment and maintenance procedures; permits to work procedures; use of PPE;
monitoring procedures including health and safety inspections and audits;
procedures for control and safety of contractors and visitors; provision of welfare
facilities; training procedures and arrangements; arrangements for consultation
with employees; procedures for waste disposal and manual handling.

6. Outline the purpose of an organisation’s health and safety policy. (8)

Answer

The main purposes of an organisation’s health and safety policy are to set out the
employer’s/management commitment to health and safety; set out the
organisation and arrangements for controlling work related hazards; reducing the
potential risks; protect people from injury and occupational ill health; reducing
the number of accidents and incidents; comply with legal requirements; avoiding
prosecutions, fines and imprisonment; manage health and safety on a cost
effective basis.

7. Outline the key elements of a health and safety management system. (8)

Answer:
The key elements of the health and safety management system include

Policy is the top management commitment with setting the main health and safety
aims and objectives of the company.

Organization includes the allocation of responsibility to appropriate members of

staff, with the emphasis on achieving competency, control, communication and
consultation.

3
Planning and implementation, where a plan should be made to remedy the
deficiencies or weaknesses of the health and safety management system. It
includes hazard identification and carrying out risk assessments, setting of
standards for legal compliance and setting the objectives to verify the
performance and also the introduction of appropriate control measures to achieve
them.

Proactive and reactive monitoring systems ensure how the activities are being
monitored and measured against the objectives and also include the investigations
related to incidents and injuries, ill health in order to reduce or eliminate their
recurrences.

Review and audit should be carried out to check whether the planned
arrangements are being implemented and to consider options for improvement
and to set new targets where necessary for continual improvement.