ISPON Professional Membership key terms

A ranked order for reducing risk: eliminate the hazard, substitute something safer, use engineering controls, apply administrative controls, then rely on personal protective equipment as the last barrier.

A structured process of identifying hazards, judging how likely and how severe harm could be, and deciding whether existing controls are adequate or further action is needed.

The systematic search for anything with potential to cause injury, ill health, damage or loss, covering tasks, equipment, substances, people and the working environment before harm occurs.

The level of risk that remains after all planned controls have been applied, which must still be judged tolerable and monitored rather than assumed to be zero.

A decision rule meaning risk should be reduced as low as reasonably practicable, balancing the cost, effort and difficulty of further controls against the safety benefit they would deliver.

A legal test weighing the likelihood and severity of harm against the cost, time and trouble of preventing it, so grossly disproportionate effort is not required but convenience alone is no defence.

Broad statutory obligations requiring employers to ensure safety and health at work so far as reasonably practicable, covering employees, contractors and others affected by the undertaking.

Nigerian legislation, now largely replaced by the Factories Act 1990, setting minimum standards on factory registration, cleanliness, ventilation, guarding of machinery, first aid and notification of accidents.

Nigerian law establishing a compensation scheme for workers who suffer injury, disability or death arising out of and in the course of employment, administered through the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund.

A documented framework of policy, planning, implementation, checking and management review that organisations use to control risk and continually improve safety performance.

A signed statement of intent from top management committing the organisation to protect workers and others, setting objectives and allocating responsibilities for health and safety.

A periodic, top-level examination of whether the safety management system remains suitable, adequate and effective, leading to decisions on resources, objectives and corrective actions.

The shared values, beliefs and behaviours in an organisation that determine how seriously risk is taken in practice, visible in reporting, learning and management commitment.

The measurable, short-term perceptions employees hold about safety priorities at a point in time, often surveyed to reveal gaps between stated policy and everyday experience.

An approach that observes defined safety behaviours, gives constructive feedback and reinforces safe habits, addressing what people do rather than only the conditions around them.

A formal written authorisation controlling high-risk tasks such as hot work, confined space entry or isolation, confirming hazards are assessed and precautions in place before work starts.

A procedure for isolating hazardous energy sources with locks and warning tags so equipment cannot be started or energised while maintenance or cleaning is in progress.

Entry into an enclosed or poorly ventilated space with limited access, requiring atmospheric testing, ventilation, standby personnel and rescue arrangements before anyone enters.

An atmosphere containing less than the normal 20.9 percent oxygen, causing impaired judgement, collapse and death, often without warning in tanks, pits or sewers.

Direct measurement of oxygen, flammable gas and toxic contaminants in a workplace atmosphere before and during entry or hot work, using calibrated detection instruments.

Systems such as labels, safety data sheets and training that give workers clear information about chemical hazards and the precautions needed to use substances safely.

A structured document supplied with a hazardous chemical describing its identity, hazards, safe handling, exposure controls, first aid, firefighting measures and disposal.

Harmful potential arising from substances through toxicity, corrosivity, flammability, reactivity or long-term health effects, requiring assessment and controlled exposure.

A benchmark concentration of a workplace contaminant in air, usually averaged over a reference period, that is intended to protect most workers from adverse health effects.

The discipline of anticipating, recognising, evaluating and controlling workplace stressors such as chemicals, noise, dust and heat so they do not harm worker health.

Testing blood, urine or breath to measure how much of a substance has entered the body, revealing absorption through skin or inhalation that air sampling may miss.

An illness caused or made worse by work conditions, such as silicosis, dermatitis, hearing loss or musculoskeletal disorder, often developing slowly over years of exposure.

Permanent damage to hearing from prolonged or intense noise exposure, usually affecting high frequencies first and prevented through engineering controls, hearing protection and audiometric testing.

Designing tasks, tools and workstations to fit human capabilities and limits, reducing strain, repetitive motion injury and manual handling risk.

Lifting, lowering, pushing, pulling or carrying loads by hand or bodily force, assessed for weight, posture, repetition and distance to prevent back and limb injury.

Injury or pain affecting muscles, joints, tendons or nerves, frequently caused by awkward posture, repetition, vibration or excessive force at work.

Equipment worn or held to protect against specific hazards, such as helmets, gloves, respirators and eye protection, chosen after other controls and maintained in serviceable condition.

Devices that filter or supply clean air to protect against dust, fumes, vapours or oxygen-deficient atmospheres, requiring correct selection, fit testing and training.

Physical changes to plant, processes or workplace design, such as guarding, ventilation or enclosures, that remove or reduce hazard exposure without depending on worker behaviour.

Procedural measures such as job rotation, training, work permits, signage and scheduling that limit exposure or guide behaviour, though they rely on human compliance.

Planned instruction that builds the knowledge and skills workers need to recognise hazards and follow safe procedures, ideally verified through assessment and on-the-job observation.

A structured inquiry into an unwanted event to establish what happened, why defences failed and what changes will prevent recurrence, using evidence rather than blame.

A method such as the five whys or a fishbone diagram used to trace an incident beyond immediate actions to underlying management, design or organisational failures.

An unplanned event that did not cause injury or damage but had the potential to do so, valuable as free warning that controls are failing.

A change made to remove the cause of a detected nonconformity or incident, tracked to completion and checked for effectiveness so the problem does not recur.

Planning and resourcing for credible emergencies, including alarm systems, evacuation routes, assembly points, trained responders, drills and liaison with external services.

A documented set of roles, actions and communication arrangements activated when an emergency occurs, reviewed after drills and real events and kept accessible.

A rehearsed exercise testing alarms, escape routes, assembly and accountability of people, used to identify weaknesses before a real emergency exposes them.

The three elements needed for combustion: fuel, oxygen and heat, so fire prevention and extinguishing work by removing at least one of them.

Groupings of fire by fuel type, such as solids, flammable liquids, gases and electrical equipment, used to select the correct extinguishing medium and avoid dangerous mismatches.

A structured evaluation of ignition sources, combustible materials, people at risk and escape arrangements, leading to controls that reduce the chance and impact of fire.

A regular, planned walk-through of a work area checking conditions, equipment and practices against standards, recording findings and assigning actions with deadlines.

A systematic, evidence-based examination of management systems and compliance against defined criteria, producing findings, ratings and recommendations for improvement.

A proactive measure of preventive activity, such as inspections completed or training hours delivered, that predicts future safety performance rather than recording past harm.

A retrospective measure of outcomes already experienced, such as injury rates or lost-time incidents, useful for trends but unable to prevent the harm it counts.

An element of an organisation's activities, products or services that interacts with the environment, such as emissions, waste or water use, and may cause an impact.

Any change to the environment, adverse or beneficial, wholly or partly resulting from an organisation's aspects, assessed for significance to prioritise control.

A structured framework for managing environmental responsibilities through policy, aspects and impacts, objectives, operational controls, monitoring and review, often aligned with ISO 14001.

Meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs, balancing environmental, social and economic performance in workplace decisions.

A set of expected professional behaviours covering honesty, competence, confidentiality, conflicts of interest and respect, which members of a professional body agree to uphold.

Moral principles guiding safety practitioners to protect people above commercial pressure, report truthfully, admit limits of competence and refuse unsafe compromises.

Raising a genuine concern about wrongdoing or serious risk through internal or external channels, protected by law and policy when done in good faith.