Lead By Example: Understanding the IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors Course

The IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors is a widely adopted health and safety training course. It embeds high-end, sophisticated understanding that can trickle down and have a profoundly positive effect on your organisation. 

This blog will cover everything you need to know concerning the IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors course and why you or your organisation's executives will want to enrol on to it as soon as possible. 

What is the IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors course?

Luckily for us, the course is relatively self-explanatory. The course is aimed at senior-level staff, primarily executives and directors, who may or may not need a brush-up on their health, safety and environmental understanding. 

It provides an insightful overview of the responsibility, compliance and mindset required at the highest echelons of business.

The course offers a blueprint for effective, safe leadership and the traits that heighten safety in any workplace. The course looks to embed the structure of the globally-adopted 'Plan-Do-Act-Check' model that implements a proactive and effective health and safety system in any industry, helping to prevent risk and hazards in the workplace. More than anything else, however, the course introduces the mentality required to safely lead and influence others in an organisation. 

The course is split into five units, four of which are primarily focused on the 'Plan, Do, Check, Act' system;

The Moral, Legal and Financial Case

This module will investigate the effects of positive and progressive attitudes towards health, and safety can radically improve your business. This is the one unit in the course that does not integrate any of the 'Plan, Do, Check, Act' methodology. 

This module will gift learners a fundamental understanding of the why behind certain practices and actions that must be administered and upheld to sustain an effective health and safety system in any organisation. It will analyse not just the organisational case for why certain things must or must not happen, but it will investigate the human elements behind effective health and safety strategies. Fundamentally, however, this module introduces the oversight required to lead organisations all whilst keeping taps on the following areas

• Moral arguments
• Financial arguments
• Reputational arguments
• Reporting system failures
• Legal requirements
• Important Legislation
• The cost of failure 

Plan - How to successfully plan for a health and safety upgrade

A focus on the PLAN phase of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. Effective planning is an essential cog in any successful health and safety system. More often that not, poor planning can lead to accidents, incidents or even disaster in the workplace. Therefore, having the foresight to know what is around the corner is essential. The IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors course provides learners with a top-down strategy, with added emphasis on how to handle/allocate responsibility at the very top of any organisation. 

Learners will work through the following sections:

• The health and safety policy
• Roles and responsibilities
• Priorities, plans and targets
• How to identify and manage risks
• Emergency planning
• Necessary resources
• The importance of consulting with employees

Do - How to implement the health and safety system and have it improve business

A focus on the DO phase of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. Other than addressing the 'Do' stage of the cycle, learners will be privy to the most effective ways to engage in top-down communication. This is incredibly vital in order to articulate health and safety practices to entire workforces and how to engage staff positively with health and safety. In the past, organisations have found it difficult to engage their workforce with health and safety - the IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors course offers a definitive blueprint to remedy disengagement with the importance of workplace health and safety. 

Learners will work through the following sections

• The Do stage
• Top-down communication
• Engaging the workforce
• The importance of high-quality training
• Developing standards of procurement
• Control

Check - How to monitor health and safety performance

A focus on the CHECK phase of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. The 'Check' stage is arguably the most overlooked part of the cycle. It involves auditing and being confident that risk exists or not. Making the wrong call at this stage can be extremely costly to the organisation and may be detrimental to the health of those in the workplace. Being able to monitor and audit correctly is imperative to successfully administer the 'Plan, Do, Check, Act' model.

Learners will work through the following sections:

• The check stage
• Auditing
• Monitoring
• Reactive measurement
• Proactive measurement
• Where to obtain information
• Ensuring key outcomes

Act - How to improve health and safety performance

A focus on the ACT phase of the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. The final stage of the cycle requires possessing the mindset to act on the knowledge and analysis gained from the previous stages in the 'Pan, Do, Check, Act' cycle. It requires decisive leadership and the foresight to acknowledge methods to continually improve and articulate them to the organisation as a whole. 

Learners will work through the following sections:

• The Act stage
• Strong and visible leadership
• Commitment to social responsibility
• Celebrating good performance
• Corporate governance
• Continuous improvement 

How can this IOSH course improve my career or organisation?

The IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors course is a distinct top-level health, safety and environmental course designed to add finesse to the arsenal of executives and directors. 

Those enrolled on the course will begin to have a comprehensive understanding of the progressive, forward-thinking mindset required to lead organisations safely and effectively in the 21st century.

Enrolling onto the IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors can greatly enhance careers and organisations in the following ways;

Legal Compliance: Executives or directors have legal responsibilities for the health and safety of their employees and others affected by their organisation's activities. The IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors course helps them understand and fulfil these legal obligations, ensuring compliance with relevant health and safety regulations.

Risk Management: The course provides learners with a comprehensive understanding of workplace risks and how to effectively manage them. Learners will know more about identifying hazards, assessing risks, implementing control measures, and monitoring safety performance. This knowledge enables learners to make informed decisions to minimise risks and protect employees and organisation.

Improved Safety Culture: By undertaking the training, learners demonstrate their commitment to safety and set a positive example for others in their organization. This can contribute to fostering a strong safety culture, where employees prioritise and actively participate in safety initiatives, leading to reduced accidents, injuries, and incidents.

Financial Benefits: Implementing effective health and safety measures can help reduce costs associated with accidents, injuries, and ill-health. By understanding the principles and practices taught in the course, learners can make informed decisions to invest in the right safety measures, potentially reducing insurance premiums and compensation claims.

Reputation and Stakeholder Confidence: Demonstrating a strong commitment to health and safety enhances a organisation's reputation and builds confidence among stakeholders, including employees, customers, investors, and regulators. 

Professional Development: The IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors course provides learner with valuable knowledge and skills that can enhance their professional development. It equips learners with the necessary tools to lead safety initiatives, effectively communicate safety messages, and drive continuous improvement within their organisation.

Organisations can enrol their executive level staff and reap the following benefits:

• Create a good health and safety culture, reduce accident rates, absences and sick leave
• Ensure health and safety is considered in strategic planning and decision-making
• Health and safety management is driven through all levels of the company
• Improve reputation among supplier, clients and partners

Aspiring individuals can take that next step on their career journey with the following benefits:

• Understand their responsibilities for health and safety in the workplace
• Recognise the importance of integrating health and safety objectives and strategies
• Enable benchmarking of their performance and identify good practice from similar businesses
• Shape their health and safety vision and identify how to achieve it

How can you study the IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors course?

Every learner is different. Every learner learns in their own specific way. That is why we have greatly emphasised offering our global learner base a wide range of learning options. We offer the IOSH Safety for Executives and Directors course in the following learning methods: 

• Online learning - *Presale of the new online course available now*. Innovative digital training features position the format as extremely learner-centric. IOSH recommended study time is four hours with optional three hour additional readings. Learners will have six month access to the course.
• Virtual Classroom - The Astutis exclusive Virtual Classroom infuses the traditional classroom structure with the undeniable convenience and flexibility of virtual study. One-day course delivered through webinar software. The course is a blend of live sessions delivered by our IOSH-qualified trainers, supported by our digital learning platform.
• Onsite Classroom - In-person classroom training is delivered by IOSH-qualified trainers at a location of your choice. Training can be tailored to incorporate organisation-specific details, embedding the fabric of your organisation into the course materials. 

The key is to understand your preferred learning style. It is important to factor in the time in your past that has reinforced and assisted your learning. 

We recommend reading our What's Your Style guide to help identify your preferred learning method. Picking the right format for you is pivotal for you to gain as much as you can from the course. 

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