NEBOSH National General Certificate Promoting a Positive Health and Safety Culture Syllabus

Promoting a Positive Health and Safety Culture syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Promoting a Positive Health and Safety Culture in NEBOSH National General Certificate, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Health and Safety Culture

   3 topics

   • Defining Culture and Climate
     • Shared attitudes, values and beliefs
     • Relationship between culture and performance
   • Indicators of Culture
     • Accident and absenteeism rates
     • Compliance levels and staff turnover
   • Factors That Undermine Culture
     • Lack of leadership commitment
     • Poor communication and organisational change
2. 2

   Human Factors and Behaviour

   3 topics

   • The Individual, Job and Organisation Model
   • Individual Factors Affecting Behaviour
     • Attitude, aptitude and motivation
     • Perception of risk
     • Influence of fatigue, stress, alcohol and drugs
   • Improving Behaviour at Work
     • Behavioural safety programmes
     • Role of management commitment and incentives
3. 3

   Communication, Training and Competence

   3 topics

   • Methods of Communication
     • Verbal, written and graphic methods
     • Safety signs and the Safety Signs Regulations
     • Barriers to effective communication
   • Health and Safety Training
     • Induction, job-specific and refresher training
     • Identifying training needs
   • Developing and Assessing Competence

Promoting a Positive Health and Safety Culture flashcards for NEBOSH National General Certificate

25 of 50 cards from the Promoting a Positive Health and Safety Culture deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is a health and safety 'culture' within an organisation?

   The shared attitudes, values, beliefs and ways of behaving regarding health and safety that are common to the group. It can be summarised as 'the way we do things around here'.

2. How does safety 'climate' differ from safety 'culture'?

   Climate is the measurable, surface-level snapshot of the workforce's current attitudes, perceptions and mood about safety (often captured by a survey), whereas culture is the deeper, more enduring set of shared values and beliefs. Climate is a short-term indicator of the underlying culture.

3. What is meant by a 'positive' health and safety culture?

   One in which the shared attitudes, values and beliefs of the whole workforce are supportive of, and actively committed to, high standards of health and safety, so that safe behaviour becomes the norm at every level.

4. Name the four key indicators commonly used to assess an organisation's health and safety culture.

   Accident/incident rates (and trends), level of absenteeism and sickness rates, level of staff turnover, and the level of compliance with safety rules and procedures.

5. Besides accident rates and absenteeism, list further indicators of an organisation's safety culture.

   Staff turnover, compliance with rules/procedures, complaints about working conditions, worker morale, and the level of worker involvement/consultation.

6. Why is a high level of absenteeism considered an indicator of a poor safety culture?

   Frequent or high absence may reflect low morale, stress, dissatisfaction or poor working conditions, all of which suggest workers are disengaged and the underlying culture is weak.

7. List the main factors that can undermine or have a negative influence on a safety culture.

   Lack of management commitment/leadership, poor management decisions (e.g. cost-cutting), production/business pressures conflicting with safety, lack of consultation/worker involvement, blame culture, and external influences such as economic climate.

8. How does a high rate of organisational change tend to undermine a positive safety culture?

   Rapid change (restructuring, redundancies, new processes) creates uncertainty, insecurity, increased stress, loss of experienced staff and disrupted routines, all of which weaken commitment to and consistency of safe working.

9. Why does a 'blame culture' undermine health and safety?

   If workers fear punishment, they hide near misses, errors and hazards rather than reporting them, so the organisation loses vital information and cannot learn from or prevent future incidents.

10. What are the three groups of factors in the HSG48 'Individual, Job and Organisation' model of human factors?

    The individual (the person), the job (the task), and the organisation. Together they determine human behaviour and influence the likelihood of human failure.

11. Under the human factors model, give examples of 'organisational' factors that influence behaviour.

    Work patterns, safety culture, management commitment, resources, communications, supervision, levels of consultation and the prevailing rules and procedures.

12. Under the human factors model, give examples of 'job' factors that influence behaviour.

    The task itself, workload, the working environment, ergonomic/display and control design, procedures, and the man-machine interface.

13. Under the human factors model, give examples of 'individual' (personal) factors influencing behaviour.

    Competence (skills/knowledge/training), attitude, perception of risk, motivation, personality, and physical/mental capability.

14. Which of the three human-factor groups is generally regarded as the hardest to change, and why?

    Individual personality, because it is a stable, deeply ingrained characteristic. Attitudes, skills and motivation can be changed more readily through training, supervision and good job/organisation design.

15. Define 'attitude' as an individual factor affecting safety behaviour.

    A person's settled tendency or predisposition to respond in a particular (favourable or unfavourable) way towards something, such as a piece of equipment, a procedure or risk-taking.

16. Define 'perception' in the context of safety behaviour.

    The way a person interprets and makes sense of information received through the senses; it shapes how they recognise and judge hazards and risk, and can differ from the actual risk.

17. Define 'motivation' as an individual factor affecting behaviour.

    The driving force or reason that makes a person behave in a particular way, i.e. the willingness to act safely. It can be intrinsic (internal satisfaction) or extrinsic (rewards/sanctions).

18. List four individual factors that can increase the likelihood of a person behaving unsafely.

    Low skill/competence, poor (negative) attitude, low risk perception, low motivation, unsuitable personality (e.g. risk-taking), and reduced physical or mental capability (e.g. fatigue, stress, illness).

19. How can a worker's age and experience affect their safety behaviour?

    Inexperienced or younger workers may lack hazard awareness and skills, while very experienced workers may become complacent or over-confident and take short-cuts; both extremes can raise risk.

20. Give three ways an employer can improve the safety behaviour of individuals at work.

    Provide training and develop competence, improve risk perception/awareness, ensure good supervision, involve and consult workers, and use positive motivation (recognition/rewards) for safe behaviour.

21. What is the difference between internal (intrinsic) and external (extrinsic) motivation for safe behaviour?

    Intrinsic motivation comes from within the person (personal satisfaction, sense of doing the right thing); extrinsic motivation comes from outside (incentives, rewards, praise, or sanctions/discipline).

22. How can effective leadership improve workforce safety behaviour?

    Visible senior commitment, leading by example, setting clear standards, providing resources and consulting workers signals that safety is genuinely valued, which positively shapes attitudes and behaviour.

23. What is meant by a 'no-blame' or 'just' culture and how does it improve behaviour?

    An environment where honest errors and near misses can be reported without fear of unfair punishment (while genuine recklessness is still addressed). It encourages reporting, learning and continuous improvement.

24. List the three broad categories of communication methods used in health and safety.

    Verbal communication, written communication, and graphic/visual communication.

25. Give two advantages and two limitations of verbal communication for safety information.

    Advantages: immediate, allows two-way questioning/feedback, personal. Limitations: no permanent record, can be forgotten or misunderstood, affected by language/jargon, noise and the recipient not listening.

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