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NEBOSH National General Certificate

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Moral, economic and legal bases for good standards of health and safety ... binding on member states without further action (e.g. tachograph requirements) ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: NEBOSH National General Certificate


1
NEBOSH National General Certificate
  • Unit 1 Session 1
  • Scope of the health and safety problem
  • Moral, economic and legal bases for good
    standards of health and safety
  • Sub-divisions and sources of law
  • Civil liability

2
The occupational health and safety problem
  • Total cost to UK society estimated to be between
    14.5 and 18.1 billion/year (2.1 -2.6 GDP)
  • Loss to employers estimated to be 3.5 - 7.3
    billion pounds/year (4 - 8 of gross company
    trading profits)

3
Injury and Ill-Health
  • Information from RIDDOR indicates that each
    year
  • approximately 250 workers are killed
  • there are approximately 27 500 major injuries
  • there are approximately 130 000 over 3 day
    injuries (believed to be as much as 50
    underreported)
  • A major government survey in 1995 showed that
    2.25 million people were suffering ill health
    caused, or made worse, by work. The most common
    were
  • musculoskeletal disorders 1.2 million
  • stress related 0.5 million
  • lower respiratory disease 202 000
  • hearing problems 170 000

4
Arguments for good management of health and
safety
  • Moral ethical and responsible behaviour
  • Financial the costs of injuries and ill-health
  • Legal criminal and civil liability

5
Costs of injuries and ill-health
  • Direct costs directly related to accident (e.g.
    personal injury claims, fines, plant damage)
  • Indirect disruption to business, damage to
    reputation, investigation resources
  • Note some of these costs may be insured

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9
Law
  • Rules of human conduct, imposed upon and
    enforced among the members of a given state

10
Sub-divisions of Law
  • Civil Law
  • Regulates relationships between legal persons
    (individuals and corporations)
  • Proceedings started by one of parties - may
    settle at any time
  • Court may consider disputes arising out of
    property rights, employment, family, etc
  • Court may compensate for wrongs
  • Criminal Law
  • Regulates conduct considered by state to be
    prejudicial to community
  • Proceedings instituted by officers of crown
  • Court decides on guilt or innocence
  • Principal object is to punish the guilty

11
Civil Law
  • Law concerning private and civil affairs without
    direct involvement of the state
  • Relevant law may be a mixture of common law and
    statute law
  • Breaches usually remedied by compensation
  • Costs and damages normally covered by insurance
    Employers Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act
    1969
  • Burden of proof on a balance of probabilities

12
Criminal Law
  • Addresses public and moral wrong doing and made
    by parliament written law of the land
  • Crime is a wrong doing which directly and
    seriously threatens the well being and security
    of society and which cannot be left to be
    redressed by compensation of an injured party
  • No absolute definition and may change over time,
    eg drugs
  • Generally anyone may begin a criminal prosecution
    but not health and safety offences - change is
    being considered
  • Prescribes punishment eg, fines, imprisonment
  • Burden of proof beyond reasonable doubt

13
Sources of Law Common Law
  • Evolution of legal principles over time by
    decisions of courts and judges - system of rules
    or precedents which bind future similar cases
  • Some common law offences are crimes, (e.g.
    murder, criminal libel)

14
Sources of Law Statute Law
  • Addresses public and moral wrong doing and made
    by parliament written law of the land
  • Crime is a wrong doing which directly and
    seriously threatens the well being and security
    of society and which cannot be left to be
    redressed by compensation of an injured party
  • No absolute definition and may change over time,
    eg drugs
  • Supreme over all other sources of law
  • Prescribes punishment eg, fines, imprisonment

15
European Dimension
  • UK bound by by EU legislative procedures on
    joining (then EEC) in 1972
  • Veto by member states on proposed legislation
    changed to qualified majority voting on adoption
    of Single European Act 1986
  • Significant progress made since SEA on new health
    and safety legislation

16
Single European Act 1986
  • Article 100A safety standards of plant and
    equipment (barriers to trade) - Directives
    implemented by Dept of Trade and Industry
  • Article 118A minimum standards of health and
    safety in employment - Directives implemented by
    HSC/HSE

17
EU Law
  • Regulations similar to statute law and binding
    on member states without further action (e.g.
    tachograph requirements)
  • Directives prescribe a result to be achieved by
    a set date leaving member states to transpose
    into national law (e.g. The Six Pack)

18
The European Courts
  • European Court of Human Rights - interprets
    European Convention for Protection of Human
    Rights and Freedoms
  • European Court of Justice - gives rulings on
    interpretation of EU law at request of a member
    state or an individual

19
Common Law Negligence
  • Negligence as a tort a breach of a legal duty to
    take care that results in undesired damage by the
    defendant to the claimant (plaintiff )
  • Three essential elements of proof on claimant
  • 1. Existence of a duty on defendant
  • 2. A breach of the duty
  • 3. Damage/injury

20
Duty of Care
  • Donoghue v Stevenson 1932 - established duty to
    take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions
    which on test of reasonable foreseeability would
    be likely to injure a neighbour
  • neighbour - persons so closely and directly
    affected by acts that they ought reasonably to be
    held in mind as being affected when acts or
    omissions are called into question

21
Duty of Care Extent
  • Wilson v Clyde Coal Co English 1938 Non
    delegable duty to take care for safety of
    employees in particular provision of
  • safe place of work
  • safe plant and equipment
  • safe systems of work
  • safe and competent fellow employees

22
Vicarious liability
  • Responsibility for actions of others when
    committed in course of employment, ie employer is
    responsible for torts of servants (employees) in
    course of employment authorised or not
  • Employer is not generally responsible for torts
    of an independent contractor except where
    authorised to commit and/or in respect of
    extra-hazardous operations

23
Breach of Statutory Duty
  • A common law action based on statute to protect
    employees - usually linked with a claim in
    negligence (the double barrelled approach)
  • Claimant will succeed in an action for negligence
    if a breach of statute law is shown to have
    caused the injury
  • Act or Regulations may prohibit right of action
    in civil proceedings, eg HSWA 1974 and Management
    of Health and Safety at Work Regs 1999 - this may
    change

24
Negligence Defences
  • Lack of duty
  • Lack of negligence eg, employee on a frolic of
    his own
  • Voluntary acceptance of the risk rarely of
    relevance to health and safety cases
  • Contributory negligence rarely a complete
    defence - compensation may be reduced in
    proportion to claimants fault

25
Civil Law Cases
  • Action must commence within three years of injury
    or when injured party becomes aware that injury
    has been caused by employer
  • Burden of proof on a balance of probabilities
  • Hearings take place in County Court or High
    Court without a jury
  • The Woolf reforms (1999) designed to ensure
    claims are dealt with speedily and justly

26
The Civil Courts
  • The County Court hears most civil actions
  • The High Court hears complex cases and those
    where damages expected to be in excess of 50000
  • Industrial Tribunals

27
Industrial Tribunals
  • Bodies established to take decisions in
    particular areas of law
  • Main involvement of Industrial Tribunals in
    health and safety system is to hear appeals
    against Improvement and Prohibition Notices
    served by inspectors
  • Refusal to work employees protected by
    Employment Rights Act 1996 where there is
    serious, imminent and unavoidable danger
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