NEBOSH Certificate Essentials: - The Six Pack

The Six Pack

• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
  
• The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
  
• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
  
• Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992
  
• The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992
  
• The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992
  

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

• The assessment of risks to health and safety
  
• Access to competent health and safety advice
  
• Co-operation of employers and those who share premises
  
• Preparing for emergencies
  

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998

• The assessment of machinery hazards
  
• The process of installation, commissioning and use of work equipment
  
• The hazards created by introducing a piece of work equipment into a workplace
  

Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992

• Common features of a workplace
  
• Minimum standards of workplace hygiene
  
• Identification of potential workplace hazards
  

Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992

• The interaction of a person with their workstation within the work environment
  
• The design of tasks using new technology
  
• The assessment of those at most risk of work related upper limb disorders
  

The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992

• The prevalence of back injury
  
• The assessment of a task, the person performing the task, the load to be moved and the environment in which it is moved
  
• The preference of eliminating or minimising lifting and handling
  
• Emphasis placed on mechanical handling
  

The Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992

• Personal protection is the last line of defense
  
• An assessment of the hazards a person is exposed to is required
  
• Specification of the equipment standards aids selection of appropriate PPE
  
• All PPE has to be maintained and has a finite life
  

RIDDOR - (Reporting Of Injuries, Diseases And Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995)

Introduction
Under RIDDOR, employers and other responsible people who have control over employees and work premises have certain responsibilities.
If any of the following events occur at work, employers and other responsible people must report the incident to the relevant enforcing authority.
What has to be reported?
If incidents involving staff, patients, contractors and visitors fall within these criteria, they should be reported under RIDDOR.

• Deaths

• Major injuries

• Accidents resulting in over three-day injuries

• Diseases

• Dangerous occurrences

• Gas incidents

Death or major injury
Line managers, the nominated person, safety supervisor and health and safety services must be informed immediately so they can report to the HSE without delay.
Health and safety services will report the accident to the HSE by telephone and complete the appropriate form within 10 days.
Death
If there is an accident connected with work and:

• Your employee, or a self-employed person working on your premises is killed or suffers a major injury (including as a result of physical violence); or

• A member of the public (including students) is killed or taken to hospital.

Major injuries

• Fracture other than fingers, thumbs or toes

• Amputation

• Dislocation of the shoulder, hip, knee or spine

• Loss of sight (temporary or permanent)

• Chemical or hot metal burn to the eye or any penetrating injury to the eye

• Injury resulting from an electric shock or electrical burn leading to unconsciousness, requiring resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours

• Any other injury leading to hypothermia, heat-induced illness or unconsciousness; or requiring resuscitation or admittance to hospital for more than 24 hours

• Unconsciousness caused by asphyxia or exposure to harmful substance or biological agent

• Acute illness requiring medical treatment or loss of consciousness, arising from absorption of any substance by inhalation, ingestion or through the skin

• Acute illness requiring medical treatment where there is reason to believe it resulted from exposure to a biological agent or its toxins or infected material.

Accidents resulting in over three-day injuries
An over three-day injury is one which is not 'major' but results in the injured person being away from work OR unable to do their full range of their normal duties for more than three days.
If there is an accident connected with work (including an act of physical violence) and a person working on your premises suffers an over-three-day injury, you must report it to the enforcing authority within ten days. This applies if the person is an employee or self-employed.
Disease
If a doctor notifies you that your employee suffers from a reportable work-related disease then you must report it to the occupational health service, who will notify the enforcing authority. Reportable diseases include:

• Certain poisonings

• Some skin diseases such as occupational dermatitis, skin cancer, chrome ulcer, oil folliculitis/acne

• Lung diseases including: occupational asthma, farmer's lung, pneumoconiosis, asbestosis, mesothelioma

• Infections such as: leptospirosis; hepatitis; tuberculosis; anthrax; legionellosis and tetanus

• Other conditions such as occupational cancer; certain musculoskeletal disorders; decompression illness and hand-arm vibration syndrome.

The occupational disease flowchart shows the procedures once a disease is identified.

Dangerous occurrence
If an incident does not result in a reportable injury, but clearly could have done, then it may be a dangerous occurrence and must be reported immediately (by telephone or completing a form on our website).
Reportable dangerous occurrences include:

• Collapse, overturning or failure of load-bearing parts of lifts and lifting equipment

• Explosion, collapse or bursting of any closed vessel or associated pipe work

• Failure of any freight container in any of its load-bearing parts

• Plant or equipment coming into contact with overhead power lines

• Electrical short circuit or overload causing fire or explosion

• Any unintentional explosion, misfire, failure of demolition to cause the intended collapse, projection of material beyond a site boundary, injury caused by an explosion

• Accidental release of a biological agent likely to cause severe human illness;

• Failure of industrial radiography or irradiation equipment to de-energise or return to its safe position after the intended exposure period

• Malfunction of breathing apparatus while in use or during testing immediately before use

• Failure or endangering of diving equipment, the trapping of a diver, an explosion near a diver, or an uncontrolled ascent

• Collapse or partial collapse of a scaffold over five metres high, or erected near water where there could be a risk of drowning after a fall

• Unintended collision of a train with any vehicle

• Dangerous occurrence at a well (other than a water well)

• Dangerous occurrence at a pipeline;

• Failure of any load-bearing fairground equipment, or derailment or unintended collision of cars or trains

• A road tanker carrying a dangerous substance overturns, suffers serious damage, catches fire of the substance is released

• A dangerous substance being conveyed by road is involved in a fire or released.

RIDDOR

(Reporting Of Injuries, Diseases And Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995)

Health Surveillance

Introduction

Over the years health surveillance has developed and expanded. There are many definitions for the term health surveillance, but the idea behind health surveillance has always remained the same and concentrates on the well-being of the employee. As a subject, it concentrates specifically on how certain work practices and activities can adversely affect the health of any employee in the work place.

Health surveillance is implemented to protect the health of the individual employ

• It concentrates on work processes and analyses any possible issues that may occur when an employee completes this process.
• It looks at any adverse effects this process could have and tries to implement guidelines that would avoid any problems to the health of the employee.
• It is vital in some jobs especially when employees are working with certain machinery or working with chemicals and substances.

How is it done?

This depends on the type of health surveillance required when people are working with something that could harm their health. Various methods can be used:

• A 'responsible person', such as a manager, looking for a clear reaction e.g. checking for skin conditions
• A 'qualified person' asking
  employees about symptoms, or inspecting or examining individuals for ill-health e.g. OH Nurse doing lung function tests
• Medical surveillance by a doctor which can include clinical examination
• Biological and biological effect monitoring to measure effects of exposure e.g. blood tests
• Keeping individual health records for all types

Other elements include:

• Self-checks by employees to look for and report any signs of work-related ill health. BUT to comply with regulations these have to be part of a program in which health records are kept and where employees are:

1. Trained about signs of illness or disease, and how and when to look for them
2. Told how and when to report signs and to who – a responsible or qualified person
3. Also subject to periodic checks by a responsible or qualified person

• Baseline health assessment on commencing a new post or placement

Why carry out health surveillance?

To benefit workers by:

• Detecting harmful health effects at an early stage
• Check that control measures are working
• Provide data by health records to detect and evaluate health risks
• Provide an opportunity to train and instruct employees
• Give employees a chance to raise concerns about the effect of work on health

But carrying out the health surveillance is not enough – you must act on the results.

Line Management Responsibilities

Ensure that:

• Risk assessments for work activity involving hazards; include consideration of the need for health surveillance
• Where health surveillance of individual employees is deemed to be necessary, it takes place at the required frequency.
• The results of health surveillance are acted upon to meet statutory and management requirements
• The records of results of health surveillance are maintained to meet statutory requirements and are available to HSE Inspectors requesting them

Employee Responsibility

To co-operate fully with employers' health surveillance programmes made during working time.

If the employee does not co-operate then we cannot advise management that the employee is fit to continue in those duties.

Making sure that health surveillance works!

Be clear about the purpose, who is in charge of the program, who is accountable for it and that the results are acted upon.

Involve employees and their representatives, so that there are clear lines of communication.

Introduce the right programme.

Have clear roles and responsibilities, with competent people, and appropriate instructions and time scales.
Record and act on the results in an appropriate manner.
Certain groups may need special protection e.g. pregnant workers, young workers.
Monitor and evaluate the programme.
Health records
Health surveillance programs should include keeping a health record for each individual to provide:

A historical record of jobs involving exposure to workplace hazards

A historical record of the outcome
Information for HSE or local authority inspectors

Ensure that the health records are completed routinely and systematically, are paper based or held on computer and, as a minimum, contain:

• Surname
• Forename
• Sex
• Date of birth
• Permanent addres
• NI number
• Date started present job
• Historical record of jobs involving exposure to the hazard for which health surveillance required during this employment
• Conclusions, decisions, fitness for work (but not clinical information)
• Date carried out
• Name of person carrying out the health surveillance

These records are subject to The Access to Health Records Act 1990 and Data Protection Act 1998. Health records must be kept for as long as those employees are employed. Some specific regulations state that the records need to be kept for up to 50 years (e.g. Ionising Radiation). It is good practice to offer the employee a copy when they leave the company.

Facilities

Where health surveillance involves inspections, examinations, taking samples and making enquiries it is essential that suitable facilities be provided. Rooms must have privacy, be clean, warm and airy, and have washing, lighting and separate toilet facilities.
In certain circumstances, medical surveillance is specified, which states that the employee requires surveillance carried out by a registered medical practitioner, who is "appointed" by the Health & Safety Executive for this purpose.
Where these requirements exist, the employer must ensure that a doctor is appointed and that he has the required access to the site, both to carry out the surveillance, and be aware of the work practices.

RIDDOR Reporting

For most businesses a reportable accident, dangerous occurrence or case of disease is a comparatively rare event. However, employers, self-employed or persons in control of work premises should be aware that they still have duties under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 (RIDDOR'95). Information from reported accidents etc. enables enforcing authorities to identify where and how risks arise and to investigate accidents as considered appropriate.

Common Abbreviations

I don't know about you guys but it seems every way we turn there is fist full of abbreviations or acronyms to learn, well here is a list of abbreviations commonly associated with Health & Safety although this list is not exhaustive and in fact if there is anything I've missed please feel free to add as a comment

ACM	Asbestos containing material
ACoP	Approved Code of Practice
CAR	Control of Asbestos Regulations
CBI	Confederation of British Industry
CDM	Construction (Design and Management) Regulations
CECA	The Civil Engineering Contractors Association
CHIP	Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging) Regulations
CIRA	Construction Industry Research and Information Association
CONIAC	Construction Industry Advisory Committee
COSHH	Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations
dB(A)	Decibel (A-weighted)
dB(C)	Decibel (C-weighted)
DSE	Display Screen Equipment
DSEAR	Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations
EAV	Exposure Action Value
EC	European Community
ELV	Exposure Limit Value
EMAS	Employment Medical Advisory Service
EPA	Environmental Protection Act 1990
EU	European Union
HAV	Hand–Arm Vibration
HSC	Health and Safety Commission
HSE	Health and Safety Executive
HSW	Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974
ILO	International Labour Office
IOSH	Institution of Occupational Safety and Health
LEAL	Lower Exposure Action Level
LOLER	Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations
MCG	The Major Contractors Group
MHOR	Manual Handling Operations Regulations
MHSW	Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations
MoT	Ministry of Transport (still used for vehicle tests)
NAWR	Control of Noise at Work Regulations
NEBOSH	National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health
OHSAS	Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series
OSH	Occupational safety and health
PPE	Personal Protective Equipment
PUWER	Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations

Past Exam Paper INTERNATIONAL CERTIFICATE IN CONSTRUCTION

INTERNATIONAL CERTIFICATE IN CONSTRUCTION HEALTH AND SAFETY
UNIT ICC1: MANAGING AND CONTROLLING HAZARDS IN INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES

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