Is safety good enough in your company?
Resolute targeting to improve health, safety and the environment (HSE) in industry prevents accidents, fires, explosions,
emissions etc, and unwanted incidents which might result in injury and material costs for the company. Should an accident
occur in spite of safety precautions, effective emergency plans can make all the difference between insignificant or catastrophic
consequences.
The employees in a company must be protected, and the company's technology, information and material values must also be safeguarded.
This applies regardless of whether the potential threats stem from accidents or criminal acts. Protective measures must be
an integral part of the company's total safety and security management.
Own protection - emergency preparedness
Emergency preparedness is a company's own protection against undesirable incidents, and should safeguard life and health,
the environment and material values. A company required to maintain emergency preparedness, must have a functioning emergency
preparedness organisation suited to the company's risk factors and its own unique character. Tasks include both preventive
and emergency measures.
Norwegian companies do not want compartmentalised concepts. NSO's safety philosophy is based on a total solution: Security
against criminal acts is therefore included in the concept of own protection.
The owners' and users' responsibility for safety is strongly underlined in our legislation. Safety and security present a
real challenge to company management in particular.
Safety work is rarely effective without the involvement and active participation of management. Management must prepare an
HSE programme, ensure that employees are well acquainted with the programme, and implement follow-up and control.
A company's risk level is dependent on the branch, production and processes, storage, buildings, location and other local
factors. The company's risk class, set by NSO, delineates minimum requirements for the organisation of emergency preparedness.
A risk analysis is used to tailor emergency preparedness to the individual company. The analysis is an important tool in the
planning of preventive work, and in dimensioning the operative emergency preparedness, training, procurement of equipment,
organisation of drilis etc.
Emergency preparedness is an important part of a company's HSE work and is also covered by the regulations relating to systematic
HSE work in companies (internal control).
The main purpose of the Norwegian Industrial Safety and Security Organisation (NSO) is to organise and control own protection
(emergency preparedness) in operations governed by the regulations relating to ernergency preparedness requirements.
NSO fulfils its task by
- preparing guidelines for emergency preparedness and ensuring the regulations are up to date
- advising individual companies, distributing training material and arranging courses
- inspecting companies required to implement emergency preparedness
- collating status reports from companies required to implement emergency preparedness dealing with plans for, and carrying out inspections of, fall-out shelters
The Norwegian Industrial Safety and Security Organisation
- is led by a Board appointed by the Confederation of Norwegian Industry
- reports professionally to the Directorate for Civil Protection and Emergency Planningand and the Ministry of Justice. The Ministry of Justice also approve the guidelines for own protection (emergency preparedness) which NSO distributes to the companies.
- is financed by duties from companies required to implement emergency preparedness and earnings from course fees, sale of material, etc.
Formal regulations of the Norwegian Industrial Safety and Security Organisation
- Act Of 17 July 1953 relating to civil defence § 47 and § 48
"Owners and users of real estate - public or private - shall improve and implement own-protective measures forthe estate in accordance with regulations laid down by the Ministry. The King can impose specific rules relating to internal control and internal control systems to ensure that requirements for own-protection (emergency preparedness) specified pursuant to § 41 are upheld." - Statute governing own protection-measures in industrial companies etc., Order in Council 29 November 1996:
"NHO, through the Norwegian Industrial Safety and Security Organisation, is required to organise and monitor own protection at industrial and trade and industry companies which ... on average employ 40 or more people annually." - Statute governing systematic health, safety and environment work in companies (internal control), 6 December 1996
- Regulations and Guidelines relating to Industrial Protection dated 2008
- Instructions for Norwegian Industrial Safety and Security Organisation
