Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is a chartered body that promotes health and safety for workers. It was established in 1945 in the United Kingdom. Today it has approximately 48,000 members in around 130 countries. The institution provides IOSH Course on health and safety-related training and support to workplaces and its members.
Every year, millions die due to workplace hazards and lack of proper safety measures. This fact makes it important to understand What is IOSH and why workplace safety matters. With proper training and awareness about health and safety measures, this loss can be minimised. In this blog, we explain what IOSH is and how it promotes workplace health and safety.
Table of Contents
History of IOSH
What does IOSH do?
IOSH campaigns
What is occupational safety and health?
Conclusion
History of IOSH
IOSH has gone through a long journey to reach its present form. Its history dates back to 1945, when it was established in the United Kingdom. That year, 18 safety professionals met in London to form an association focusing on the industrial safety of workers. As a result, the Institution of Industrial Safety Officers (IISO) was established. In 1955 its name was changed to the Institution of Industrial Safety Officers and Technicians (IISOT). Since 1981 the institution has been known as the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health or IOSH. Today, it has become the largest membership body for health and safety professionals worldwide.
What does IOSH do?
As the name suggests, IOSH promotes health and safety in the workplace. It provides health and safety-related training and support to organisations and helps spread awareness. It advises governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and policymakers on creating workplace work-and-safety balance. In order to achieve this, IOSH offers a wide range of training and courses for health and safety professionals. IOSH courses include the National Examination Board in Occupational Health and Safety or NEBOSH.
IOSH has two training courses: Working Safely and Managing Safely. The first course (Working Safely) is aimed at educating the workers regarding their workplace hazards and the safety measures they should follow. It provides a step-by-step guide to identifying different types of hazards. In contrast, the second course (Managing Safely) is for management. It explains how to create a healthy and safe environment in the workplace.
IOSH campaigns
To spread awareness about workplace health and safety, IOSH comes up with different campaigns time-to-time. “Activate 2028” is one such campaign. IOSH launched it in 2023. It is a five-year strategy about creating better working lives.
Similarly, in 2014, IOSH launched “No Time to Lose” campaign. It aimed to spread awareness about the causes of ‘occupational cancer’. It also helped businesses take action to curb such cases.
What is occupational safety and health?
People often compromise their safety at the workplace, sometimes due to negligence on the management’s part and sometimes due to unawareness on the employee’s part. In simple terms, occupational safety and health mean preventing work-related injuries. This concept has started playing a bigger role in recent times. In a broad sense, it is the identification and minimisation of hazards that can cause harm to workers at the workplace. This includes work-related diseases also. These hazards can be of any type- mechanical, physical, chemical or environmental. It is essential to make both- the workers and the management aware of controlling such unwanted incidents because human life is of utmost importance.
Conclusion
In this blog, we explained what IOSH is, what it does and why occupational safety and health matters. Working professionals’ health has been an essential area of concern for a long time. IOSH tries to achieve this by providing health and safety-related training and support to workplaces and its members.
