Health, Safety & Environmental Training that Works

Finding Health and Safety Guidance and Trusted Information

Finding Health and Safety Guidance and Trusted Information

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When I was studying for my NEBOSH Diploma and as a consultant, I always wanted to find additional information on various Health and Safety topics. However finding good, relevant, reliable and trusted information is not always easy, especially if you are new to the health and safety world.

In this article I’m going to share some of the sources I use. It won’t be an exhaustive list, (there’s always more to discover yourself!), but hopefully you’ll find something useful.

If you work in The UK, with the UK or if you intend to do so, your main source of guidance is the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (1). Even if you don’t, the UK standards and guidance are often seen as good models and used for reference in developing countries. International students are probably more familiar with the International Labour Organization (ILO) website (2)(3), which is a great source to find country specific legislation’s in English, or the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) website (4).

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But where else can you look for resources? Here are some of my preferred ones:

National General Certificate students can look at the free resources offered by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) (5) a membership body aiming to improve health and safety at work, and support health and safety professionals. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) (6) offers detailed advice and information on all areas of accident prevention. I also like the free downloadable expert guides produce by Arco Ltd (7), a family owned business dealing with a range of PPE in the UK as well as doing consultancy.

For more technical information, have a look at the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) (8), a professional membership organisation for chemical engineering professionals, who provide a selection of past accident reports on their website. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) (9) is another good resource, offering free information on key aspects of health and safety for engineers, technicians and managers. Other sources you may find useful are the Combustion Engineering Association (CEA) recources (10) or the Spirax-Sarco Limited tools, tutorials and downloads (11), particularly their Steam Engineering Tutorials.

For specific topics I use the resources from the Association for Project Safety (APS) (12), (although these are not offered free), the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) (13) and the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) (14).

Finally, you can look at the resources provided by Trades Union Congress (TUC) (15) which are aimed at safety representatives and others.

International General Certificate students looking for extra resources can use the Health & Safety Authority (H&SA) (16), they are the equivalent of the HSE in Ireland.

Australia also produces a lot of information freely available. You can start with the Australian Federal Register of Legislation (17), and then go to Safe Work Australia (18), who lead the development of national policy to improve work health across Australia.

You can also use Canadian resources from the Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) (19), also available in French, or WorkSafeBC (20) who promote workplace health and safety for the workers and employers of the British Columbia province in Canada (site in English, Traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese, French, Korean, Punjabi, Spanish and Vietnamese).

The USA National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) (21), Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) (22) and the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) (23) are also all full of valuable information.

France also produce a lot of free resources, you can look for the French National competence centre for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection (INERIS) (24) or the French National Institute for Research and Safety for the prevention of occupational accidents and occupational diseases (INRS) (25), both sites are mainly in French but do have some documents and web pages in English.

I also use the Tunisian Institute for Health and Safety at work (ISST) (26), the site is in French and Arabic (the English version is not yet populated); this Spanish website dedicated to the dissemination of the rules of industrial safety in Spain  (27); the Malaysia Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH) (28); the Government of Singapore Legislation for workplace safety and health (29); and the Danish Working Environment Authority (30).

Oil and Gas Operational Safety Certificate students can use the resources from the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) (31); Oil & Gas UK (32), who represent the UK offshore industry; Step Change in Safety (33), (a not-for-profit, member-led organisation which aims to make the UK oil industry safe);  and the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) (34) .

Norway also produce a great deal of valuable resources, start with the Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA) (35) which is the independent government regulator with responsibility for safety, emergency preparedness and the working environment in the Norwegian petroleum industry. Then look at the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (36), Standards Norway (37), the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association (38) and DNV GL Service documents (39).

As seen earlier, Australia produces lots of free resources. This is also true for the Oil and Gas sector with the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) (40), Australia’s national regulator for health and safety, well integrity and environmental management for offshore oil and gas operations.

Other Oil and Gas resources can be found at the American Petroleum Institute (API) (41) and at Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) (42).

I also find these two documents very helpful: the Oil and gas production handbook – An introduction to oil and gas production, transport, refining and petrochemical industry (43) and Gas Explosion Handbook (44).

Finally, (if you are still with me!), I use two sources for Marine and port safety issues: International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) (45) and Port Skills and Safety (PSS) (46).

You may have already been familiar with some of these resources, but I hope you have discovered some new ones that you will find useful in the future. There are many more out there for curious minds to find.

*Please note that this blog post refers to the old syllabus (before 5th September 2019) for The NEBOSH Certificate examinations. If you require further information on either the old or new syllabus, you can contact us; info@rrc.co.uk

Cecile Lartigue

References:

  1. Health and Safety Executive (HSE). [Online] http://www.hse.gov.uk/index.htm
  2. International Labour Organization (ILO). [Online] http://www.ilo.org/global/lang–en/index.htm
  3. ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health & Safety. [Online] http://www.iloencyclopaedia.org/
  4. European Agency for safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) [Online] https://osha.europa.eu/en/tools-and-publications
  5. The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). [Online] https://www.iosh.co.uk/Books-and-resources.aspx
  6. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). [Online] http://www.rospa.com/occupational-safety/
  7. Arco Ltd expert guides. [Online] http://www.arco.co.uk/resources#expert
  8. The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE). [Online] https://www.icheme.org/communities/special-interest-groups/safety%20and%20loss%20prevention/resources/hse%20reports.aspx
  9. The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET). [Online] http://www.theiet.org/factfiles/health/
  10. Combustion Engineering Association (CEA). [Online] http://www.cea.org.uk/index.php/policy/new-policy/
  11. Spirax-Sarco Limited tools, tutorials and downloads. [Online] http://www.spiraxsarco.com/global/uk/Resources/Pages/home.aspx
  12. Association for Project Safety (APS). [Online] http://www.aps.org.uk/publications
  13. Office of Rail and Road (ORR). [Online] http://orr.gov.uk/
  14. Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB). [Online] http://www.rssb.co.uk/
  15. Trades Union Congress (TUC). [Online] https://www.tuc.org.uk/workplace-issues/health-and-safety/guides-and-reports-reps
  16. Health & Safety Authority (H&SA). [Online] http://www.hsa.ie/eng/
  17. Australian Federal Register of Legislation. [Online] https://www.legislation.gov.au/
  18. Safe Work Australia. [Online] http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA
  19. Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS). [Online] http://www.ccohs.ca/ccohs.html
  20. WorkSafeBC. [Online] http://www.worksafebc.com/publications/default.asp
  21. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). [Online] http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/
  22. Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA). [Online] https://www.osha.gov/pls/publications/publication.html
  23. U.S. Fire Administration (USFA). [Online] https://www.usfa.fema.gov/index.html
  24. the French National competence centre for Industrial Safety and Environmental Protection (INERIS). [Online] http://www.ineris.fr/
  25. French National Institute for Research and Safety for the prevention of occupational accidents and occupational diseases (INRS). [Online] http://www.inrs.fr/
  26. Tunisian Institute for Health and Safety at work (ISST). [Online] http://www.isst.nat.tn/fr/
  27. Website dedicated to the dissemination of the rules of industrial safety in Spain. [Online] http://www.seguridadindustrial.org/index.htm
  28. Malaysia Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). [Online] http://www.dosh.gov.my/index.php?lang=en
  29. Government of Singapore Legislation for workplace safety and health. [Online] http://www.mom.gov.sg/legislation/workplace-safety-and-health
  30. Danish Working Environment Authority. [Online] http://engelsk.arbejdstilsynet.dk/en/regulations/executive-orders
  31. International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP). [Online] http://www.iogp.org/Our-library
  32. Oil & Gas UK. [Online] http://oilandgasuk.co.uk/knowledge_centre.cfm
  33. Step Change in Safety. [Online] https://www.stepchangeinsafety.net/
  34. International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA). [Online] http://www.ipieca.org/library
  35. Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA). [Online] http://www.psa.no/?lang=en_US
  36. Norwegian Petroleum Directorate. [Online] http://www.npd.no/en/Regulations/Guidelines/
  37. Standards Norway. [Online] http://www.standard.no/en/sectors/energi-og-klima/petroleum/
  38. Norwegian Oil and Gas Association. [Online] http://www.norskoljeoggass.no/en/Publica/Guidelines/
  39. DNV GL Service documents. [Online] http://rules.dnvgl.com/servicedocuments/dnv
  40. National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA). [Online] https://www.nopsema.gov.au/
  41. American Petroleum Institute (API). [Online] http://www.api.org/Standards/
  42. Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). [Online] http://www.pdo.co.om/hseforcontractors/Index.aspx
  43. Devold, Håvard. Oil and gas production handbook – An introduction to oil and gas production, transport, refining and petrochemical industry. [Online] http://www04.abb.com/global/seitp/seitp202.nsf/0/f8414ee6c6813f5548257c14001f11f2/$file/Oil+and+gas+production+handbook.pdf
  44. Gas Explosion Handbook . [Online] http://www.gexcon.com/article/handbook-content
  45. International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA). [Online] http://www.imca-int.com/
  46. Port Skills and Safety (PSS). [Online] http://www.portskillsandsafety.co.uk/publications/safety_in_ports_guidance
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