NEBOSH-IGC1, ELEMENT-1- THE SCOPE AND NATURE OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

THE MULTI-DISCIPLINARY NATURE OF HEALTH AND SAFETY

Workplace health and safety practice brings together knowledge from many different disciplines. Some health and safety topics are simple to understand; others are technical and require specialist knowledge.

In order to fully understand a health and safety issue you need to be familiar with the:

• Technical background to the issue and have the relevant knowledge.
• Standards that may apply to the workplace and to the specific health and safety issue under consideration.
• Possible strengths and weaknesses of the various options available to solve the problem.

The study of health and safety therefore involves many different subjects, including the sciences (chemistry, physics and biology), engineering, psychology, sociology and the law. 

BARRIERS TO GOOD STANDARDS OF HEALTH AND SAFETY

There are many barriers to good standards of health and safety in a workplace:

• Complexity - workplaces can be complicated areas, involving the co-ordination of many people performing many different activities. Finding a solution to a specific health and safety problem or issue can be complex, requiring extensive background knowledge and an awareness of the possible consequences of  the various courses of action that are available.
• Conflicting demands - there are often competing and conflicting demands placed upon people and organisations. A common conflict of interest is that between the need to supply a product or a service at an appropriate speed so as to make a profit, and the need to do so safely and without risk to people’s health. Another conflict can be created by the need to comply with different types of standards at the same time, e.g. health and safety law as well as environmental protection law.
• Behavioural issues - good health and safety practice often relies on the perfect behaviour of individuals, and people sometimes do not behave in this ideal way. The solution to a health and safety problem usually requires a worker to carry out their job in a particular way. For example, a worker on a construction site should wear a hard hat to protect themselves from falling objects. But people are not robots; they do not behave as they are supposed to all the time. Workers sometimes make mistakes (they do the wrong thing thinking that it is the right thing to do). Sometimes they deliberately do the wrong thing, knowing that it is wrong, but doing it anyway. The fact that health and safety standards are affected by worker behaviour can be a significant barrier to maintaining good standards in a workplace.