Managing Safely

Online Course User Guide

3.0

Contents
Introduction

Module 1: Introducing Managing Safely

Module 2: Risk Assessment

Module Objectives

Module 3: Risk Control

Module Objectives

Module 4: Your Responsibilities as a Manager

Module Objectives

Module 5: Identifying Hazards

Module Objectives

Module 6: Investigating Accidents and Incidents

Module Objectives

Module 7: Measuring Performance

10

10

Module Objectives

Module 8: Protecting Our Environment

11

11

Module Objectives

The Course Tutor

12

Managing Safely Questions and Assessments

13 - 14

Managing Safely Project

15 - 17

Managing Safely Administration

18 - 19

3.0

Introduction

Congratulations, as a participant in an IOSH health

and safety course you are one of the thousands of
people every year who take part in training accredited
by the Institution, which is Europes leading

professional body for health and safety practitioners.

The Institution works to advance the health, safety
and welfare of people at work, and those affected by
work activities.

This Course User Guide is designed to:

Provide you with an overview of the online course content, including the different types of questions and
assessments you will encounter
Provide you with all the necessary information, including the formal brief, enabling you to complete the
course Project
and
Explain any relevant matters of administration; in particular what you have to do when you have completed
the course, the final assessment and the project in order to receive your Managing Safely certificate
Good luck and enjoy this Managing Safely course.

Module 1

Introducing Managing Safely

Module Objectives
Having completed this module you will be able to:
State the structure and content of the course
Explain the legal, moral and financial reasons for managing safely
Explain managers responsibilities and accountabilities for health and safety

Unit 1: Course Aims and Content

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
State the structure and content of the course
Explain how the assessments and project are undertaken
Describe the tutor support

Unit 2: Why Managing Safely is Important

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Describe the legal, moral and financial reasons for managing safely
Explain the consequences of failing to manage safely for the organisation and the individual

Unit 3: Your Responsibilities as a Manager

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
List the benefits of effective health and safety management
Explain the role of leadership in creating a positive health and safety culture and effective
health and safety systems
As a manager, describe your responsibilities for health and safety

Module 2

Risk Assessment

Module Objectives
Having completed this module you will be able to:
Explain what is meant by the term risk
Explain the purpose of risk assessment
Describe the process of risk assessment

Unit 1: The Meaning of Risk

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain what is meant by the term hazard
Explain what is meant by the term risk
Describe how a hazardous event occurs
Explain the terms likelihood and consequence

Unit 2: The Meaning of Risk Assessment

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain the purpose of risk assessment
State who is responsible for conducting risk assessments
List the benefits of risk assessment

Unit 3: How to Carry Out Risk Assessment

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Describe the risk assessment process
Using a case study, estimate likelihood and consequence
Using a case study, calculate a risk rating
Explain the range of available actions following rating of the risk

Module 3

Risk Control

Module Objectives
Having completed this module you will be able to:
Explain how health and safety risks are reduced
Describe how to decide which risk controls to use

Unit 1: Reducing Risk

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain the effect on risk of reducing likelihood and consequence
Using a case study, demonstrate how likelihood and consequence is reduced in practice
Explain what is meant by the term residual risk

Unit 2: The Risk Control Hierarchy

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Describe the risk assessment hierarchy and explain each element of it
Explain how and why weaknesses occur in risk control measures
Using a case study, undertake an exercise in controlling risks

Unit 3: Identifying the Right Method of Risk Control

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain the principle of reasonably practicable
Describe the factors you must consider before deciding whether a control measure is
reasonably practicable

Module 4

Your Responsibilities as a Manager

Module Objectives
Having completed this module you will be able to:
Describe your legal responsibilities in respect of health and safety
Explain how UK criminal and civil law works
Explain and describe the key elements of a health and safety management system

Unit 1: Your Legal Responsibilities

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
List the benefits that accrue as a result of understanding your responsibilities and taking
steps to fulfil them
Explain the principle of the reasonable person and its implications for you as a manager
Explain how, using key tests, risks can be said to be reasonably foreseeable

Unit 2: Criminal Law and Civil Law

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Describe the legal implications of health and safety failure
Explain how criminal law and civil law apply in the health and safety context
Explain the differences between statute law, common law and European Community law
Explain the function of the health and safety enforcement authorities

Unit 3: Health and Safety Management Systems

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain how management systems use the methodology of Plan-Do-Check-Act
Describe the benefits of a health and safety management system
List and explain the six elements of an effective health and safety management system

Module 5

Identifying Hazards

Module Objectives
Having completed this module you will be able to:
List the common hazards found in most workplaces
Describe how to manage the risks arising from these common hazards

Unit 1

Unit 2

Unit 3

An Introduction to Common
Workplace Hazard

Fire and Emergency Procedures

Electricity

Unit 4

Unit 5

Unit 6

Vibration

Slips and Trips

Vehicles at Work

Unit 7

Unit 8

Unit 9

Working at Height

Manual Handling

DSE & Workstations

Unit 10

Unit 11

Unit 12

Noise

Hazardous Substances

Access to Work Areas

Unit 13

Unit 14

Unit 15

Violence

Bullying

Stress

Unit 16

Unit 17

Unit 18

Temperature

Lighting

Housekeeping & Welfare

Unit 19
Machinery

Module 6

Investigating Accidents and Incidents

Module Objectives
Having completed this module you will be able to:
Explain why it is important and necessary to investigate accidents and incidents
Explain how accidents and incidents happen
Describe how to carry out an accident or incident investigation

Unit 1: Why Investigation is Necessary

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain the difference between accidents and incidents
Explain why it is important and necessary to investigate accidents and incidents

Unit 2: How Accidents and Incidents Happen

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain how accidents and incidents happen
Using a case study, explain what is meant by immediate, underlying and root causes
Using a case study, explain what is meant by causal factor tree analysis

Unit 3: Carrying Out Investigations

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Describe what your initial responses should be to an accident at work
Describe how to carry out an accident or incident investigation
Explain the requirements for reporting an accident, dangerous occurrence or disease
to the enforcement authority

Module 7

Measuring Performance

Module Objectives
Having completed this module you will be able to:
Explain the principle of performance measurement
Describe how to measure health and safety performance
Explain what is meant by auditing

Unit 1: Understanding Performance Measurement

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain the principle of performance measurement
Explain where performance measurement fits on the Plan Do Check Act cycle
Describe the factors that can be established through performance measurement

Unit 2: How Health and Safety Performance is Measured

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Describe what is meant by reactive and proactive measurement and explain why
both are essential to measuring health and safety performance
Explain how injury incident rates are calculated

Unit 3: Auditing Health and Safety Management Systems

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Describe what is meant by health and safety auditing
Explain the difference between internal and external audit
Describe the audit process

10

Module 8

Protecting Our Environment

Module Objectives
Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain how the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle applies to environmental management systems
Describe the structure of an EMS and explain how it operates
List and explain the benefits of an EMS

Unit 1: Industry and the Environment

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain what we mean by the term environment
List the main environmental impacts
Explain how air, land and water pollution occurs
List the main sources of waste

Unit 2: Controlling Pollution and Waste

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain the difference between environmental aspects and impacts
List the organisational activities that should be addressed in order to control pollution
Describe how such activities should be addressed
Describe the waste management process

Unit 3: Environmental Management Systems

Having completed this unit you will be able to:
Explain how the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle applies to environmental management systems
Describe the structure of an EMS and explain how it operates
List and explain the benefits of an EMS

11

The Course Tutor

Throughout the time you are working on this course
you will have access to a course tutor who will be able
to help you if there is anything you do not understand
or need explaining more fully.
Your tutor can be contacted by email or fax, and these
details can be found by clicking on the Resources tab
at the top of the screen.
Your tutor may not be immediately available, but he will
respond to you within 48 hours of your contacting him.
Before contacting your tutor you may wish to try and
resolve any queries yourself by talking to your

organisational sponsor or your health and safety manager.

If you cant resolve your query, problem or issue,
however, contact your tutor straight away to ensure
your progress through the course is disrupted as little as
possible.
Note that the course tutor also appears in the course
itself! He appears as a virtual tutor whenever there
is a particularly important or complex learning point,
and will provide you with additional information, a
summary or a different perspective on the subject in
hand.

12

Managing Safely Questions and Assessments

The course is designed to be interesting, interactive
and enjoyable. It is important, however, that you both
understand and remember what you learn after all,
lives could depend on it! For this reason, the course
contains a range of interactive mechanisms designed

to help you achieve this aim. It also contains various

types of questions and assessments which regularly
enable you to satisfy yourself that you really do
understand the subject in hand.

13

Managing Safely Questions and Assessments cont.

Knowledge Check question screens appear at

regular intervals, providing variety by breaking up the
learning content screens and enabling you to check you
understand what has just been discussed. Feedback
on your answer is provided in all cases so that, if you
happen to get one wrong, you know why.

On completing each learning unit you will find a set of

End of Unit Assessment questions, usually between
two and four. These questions are intended to check
that you have understood the key learning points in
the unit, and once again provide you with feedback on
your answers.
Note that you must pass the End-of-Unit Assessment to
successfully complete the unit.

The third type of online assessment is the Final

Assessment. This multi-choice question assessment
is designed to test your overall understanding of the
key course elements, and it is only by passing the Final
Assessment that you can earn the Managing Safely
Certificate. Dont feel daunted by the Final Assessment;
you will not be asked anything that isnt covered within
the course.

Note that you will be unable to enter the Final Assessment until you have passed all the End of Unit
Assessments. This ensures that you do not attempt the Final Assessment until you are ready, and should
also give you confidence in your ability to pass it.
If you do not pass the Final Assessment first time you may re-sit it.
The questions contained within the assessment are drawn randomly from a large bank of questions; this
means that the same questions are never asked in any two Final Assessments.
14

The Managing Safely Project

As part of the Managing Safely assessment procedure,
you must complete a project and have it assessed.
The project requires you to inspect a suitable workplace,
describe 9 different hazards and then carry out a
written risk assessment of 3 of them, using the 5 x 5
matrix system. If you work in a very low risk area, for
instance a relatively hazard free office, you may wish
to extend the area studied or use another area that

enables you to consider a wider range of hazards for

your project. For instance you may be able to use a
delivery bay, a car park, or a maintenance workshop.
Alternatively you could seek permission from your
employer to conduct the activity in a different
organisation to your own, but one presenting more
scope for your project.

Completing the Project Successfully

The purpose of the project is to enable you to demonstrate that you can put into practise what you have learnt
on the course. You are required to show that you can identify a range of hazards in the workplace, and that
you recognise all the different groups of people whose safety may be affected by those hazards.
Whilst carrying out the project you are encouraged to talk to those who work in the area concerned, and to
refer to the course materials if you wish to clarify anything.
N.B.1 The Project must be handwritten on the project submission forms provided. We cannot accept
submissions on any other form, nor can we consider or mark any extra materials or attachments sent in with
the form.
N.B.2 You must complete all parts of every page, even where the information is repeated, and particularly in
Parts 5 and 6, which simulate a written Risk Assessment document that may be reviewed by another person at
some point. It is important therefore, that you provide all the information that a reviewer or auditor, who is not
familiar with your workplace, might need.
Blanks and dittos get no marks.
You are strongly advised to keep a copy of your project and to send it to us by recorded post.
The Project document and instructions can be obtained by clicking on Resources on the top bar of the main
menu screen, and is a PDF document. For your convenience a copy has also been included with this user guide.
There is a two week time limit for the return of the project.
Once the project has been sent to us for marking, only those who need to re submit their project will be
contacted. Certificates will be issued during the second week of the month following their marking i.e. if
you submit and pass your project during January, your certificate will be sent to you during the second week
in February.
15

Project Instructions
Please read all of the instructions before starting work on your project.
A video of the course tutor describing how you should approach the project can be viewed by clicking on the
Resources tab in the course. The project is broken down into a number of parts. Please complete each part as
detailed below.

Part 1 -

Description of the work tasks that are your responsibility

This part of the project is designed to enable you to give the examiner a brief description of the place that you
have chosen, and what its function is, as well as an indication that you have considered the full range of things
that could present a hazard, and the different groups of people whose health and safety could be affected.
Details of what is required are printed in the header to each box.

Part 2 -

A hazard checklist of the location(s)

This part requires you to record a brief description of 3 (three) location hazards associated with the workplace
itself: the structures, layout, or fixtures of the site, for example holes in a floor, worn steps and dangerous
vehicle routes.
For each of these hazards you must include:
A description of the location
A description of the hazard
The number and occupation of people who could be affected by the hazard
Whether a risk assessment is recommended

Part 3

A hazard checklist of permanent and/or temporary items of equipment and substances

used in your work environment

For this part you must record a brief description of 3 (three) hazards associated with the equipment and
substances that are on the site. Examples might be badly guarded parts of machinery, damaged electrical leads,
generation of high levels of noise, slip hazards or substances that could cause injury or ill health to people.
N.B. It is vital to describe hazards that relate to the items themselves, not to the things people do with them.
N.B. Different hazards to those in Part 2. For each of these hazards please include:
A description of permanent and/or temporary items of equipment and substances used
A description of the hazard
The number and occupation of people who could be affected by the hazard
Whether a risk assessment is recommended

Part 4 -

A hazard checklist of the activities carried out within your work environment

Here you must record a brief description of 3 (three) hazards associated with the activities on site i.e. things
that people DO or DONT DO. Examples might be: not wearing hearing protection in a noisy area, using machines
or tools incorrectly, walking where one should not, etc.
N.B. The descriptions of these activity hazards always need a verb (a doing word).
N.B. Different hazards to those in Parts 2 and 3. For each of these hazards please include:
A description of the work activity
A description of the hazard
The number and occupation of people who could be affected by the hazard
Whether a risk assessment is recommended
16

Project Instructions cont.

Part 5 -

Carrying out a risk assessment

Parts 5 and 6 consider the 3 hazards from Part 4 in more detail, assess them using the 5 x 5 matrix system,
describe what controls are in place and what improvements should be made, and examine how you would
know if those improvements worked or not.
Part 5 requires you to carry out a risk assessment on all three of the activity hazards you have listed
on Part 4. Please make sure you include:
A description of the work activity
A description of the hazard, hazardous event and expected consequence
The number and occupation of people affected
An assessment of risk (you must use the 5 x 5 matrix)
Whether risk controls are required
N.B. For the purpose of this exercise all three activity hazards that you are assessing in
Part 5 must require risk controls in order to gain marks in Part 6.

Part 6 -

Risk control recommendations

Please complete the risk control form for all 3 (three) activity hazards you have listed on Part 4.
Please make sure you include:
A description of the work activity and risk level from the risk assessment you completed in Part 5
Existing risk controls
Any further risk controls required
The residual risk ( please use the 5 x 5 matrix)
A description of the type of monitoring required and how often
N.B. Where you have large numbers of hazards in your work environment you will not have space to
record them all. In these circumstances, select a representative sample of hazards for the purposes of this
project and record only these.
Remember that three different hazards are required for each of Parts 2, 3, and 4. Do not submit any
additional material in support of your project work as only the six parts of the project will be assessed.
Each part has a maximum number of marks which can be awarded and details are given in the table
below.

Part

Maximum marks

1
2
3
4
5
6

19
18
18
18
43
39
155
78

Total
Minimum mark

17

Managing Safely Administration

As a busy manager the

last thing you want
when you undertake
training is to be
bogged down with
administration and
paperwork! For this
reason we have kept the
admin side of things very
easy and manageable.
All you need to do is
follow the simple process
outlined below and the
route from commencing
your course to receiving
your IOSH Managing
Safely Certificate will
be straightforward and
trouble free.

Step 1

Once you have placed your

order you will receive your user
access details.
Note that you must complete
the course within 3 months
of receiving your user access
details.

Step 2

Complete all the course content

and pass all End of Unit
Assessments.

Step 3

Undertake the online Final

Assessment.
If you do not pass the Final
Assessment first time you may
re-sit it, though clearly it may be
advisable to revisit appropriate
parts of the course content
to check your understanding
before doing so.

18

Managing Safely Administration cont.

Step 4

Confirm successful completion of

the Final Assessment with IOSH.
In order to do this you will
require the Unique ID code
given to you by your manager or
learning&safety4business vendor.
Ensuring you have your
UniqueID code to hand, click
on the Certificate tab in the top
bar of the Mainmenu / course
screen.
Enter your Unique ID code into
the box indicated, and then click
the submit button.

Step 5

Complete the project (for details

see Managing Safely Project on
page 16 of this User Guide).
Remember that you must
complete and return the project
within two weeks of passing the
Final Assessment.
Your project must be posted to
learning&safety4business with
your Certificate of Completion.
Please remember to include
your contact details (including
email address) to ensure
your submission is dealt with
promptly.

Step 6

Your project will be assessed by

an IOSH approved health and
safety practitioner.

Step 7

If you achieve the requisite

standard in your project you will
receive your IOSH Managing
Safely Certificate by recorded
delivery.

IOSH Administration Team

Safety4Business
1st Floor
Fromehall Mill
Lodgemore Lane
Stroud
Gloucestershire
GL5 3EH
Tel: +44 (0) 1453 756000

If you do not achieve the

requisite standard you will be
offered written feedback and
invited to re-submit your project
for assessment within 2 weeks of
being advised of the result.

19

1st Floor Fromehall Mill Lodgemore Lane

Stroud Gloucestershire GL5 3EH
T: + 44 (0) 1453 756000
F: + 44 (0) 1453 751148
Email: info@safety4business.com
Website: www.safety4business.com

Specialists in online training