Occupational health and safety

Why train your teams in occupational health and safety?

Because most accidents happen in situations nobody prepared for: maintenance on a running machine, entry into a tank, scaffolding put up in a hurry, a small fire nobody dares tackle. Training turns a posted instruction into a mastered action.

The starting obligation is broad. The Moroccan Labour Code requires employers to take all necessary measures to protect the safety, health and dignity of employees (Article 24). Customers add their own requirements: a European buyer auditing a cannery, a project owner imposing a prevention plan on a Casablanca construction site, a group requiring ISO 45001 from its sites in Tangier, Abidjan or Dakar.

The question is always the same: do your people recognise the hazard, follow the instruction and respond to the emergency? And can you prove it?

Which OHS training does the Moroccan Labour Code require?

One training obligation is explicit: first aid, in workshops where hazardous work is carried out (Article 317). The other articles mainly require employers to inform workers, install protection and organise prevention; training is the surest way to meet them, but the text does not call for it by name.

The official text published by the ministry in charge of employment is in Arabic; the summary below is our reading, in English.

In this table, only first aid training is an explicit obligation of the Code (art. 317), which does not itself list hazardous work. The implementing measures for Articles 281 to 291 are set by an order of the labour minister (art. 292), Order No. 93-08 of 12 May 2008 cited in the Code: we review it with you for your work at height, in confined spaces and near electrical equipment, without presenting these courses as mandatory where the text does not say so.

The ministry also publishes, on its occupational health and safety page, the procedures for designating bodies that inspect electrical installations and lifting equipment. These inspections cover equipment, not people’s competence: the two complement each other. For sites in other African or Middle Eastern countries, the legal register is built on the local texts.

What does the occupational health and safety domain cover?

Emergency response, high-risk work, prevention methods and HSE supervisory qualifications.

In the 2027 training catalogue, these courses form the occupational health and safety domain. Practical authorisation courses (first aid, fire, work at height, scaffolding, electrical) are run with equipped partner trainers, listed and rated in Inspirra, and lead to named certificates per symbol or category, to attach to the authorisation the employer issues.

The catalogue’s HSE coordinator cycle covers six modules in 9 days: regulations, risk assessment, cause tree, inspections, permits to work, safety culture. The ISO 45001 certification path takes 8 to 9 days over 4 to 6 months.

Plant operation and lifting belong to the plant, lifting and handling domain; site prevention plans to construction site management. All domains are on our training page.

Risk assessment, permits to work, cause trees: how do you train the people who prevent?

On your real risks and your real accidents. These methods cannot be learned from a textbook case.

• Occupational risk assessment. Split the activity into work units, identify hazards, rate risks, choose measures in the right order (eliminate, reduce at source, protect collectively, then individually). It is also the core of ISO 45001:2018, whose revision is expected in 2027.
• Permits to work. Who issues, who performs, who checks; risk analysis before the job; isolation; completion and hand-back. Essential as soon as a contractor works on your site.
• Cause tree analysis. Gather facts, not opinions; trace multiple causes; choose actions that address the organisation, not just the gesture. In Morocco, the Labour Code requires the safety and hygiene committee to investigate every occupational accident or disease, through two members, one representing the employer and one the employees, with a report following the model set by the administration (Article 340), sent to the labour inspectorate within fifteen days (Article 341).

The committee also keeps a register that includes the annual programme for preventing occupational risks (Article 343). Training its members gives it the means to fulfil that role. For a certifiable approach, see the ISO standards domain and the ISO 45001 certification path.

NEBOSH IGC in Morocco and Africa: who is it for and how does it work?

NEBOSH’s International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety is aimed at managers, supervisors and anyone with health and safety responsibilities, and at people starting an HSE career. NEBOSH states that there are no entry requirements.

What NEBOSH says about the current qualification:

• two assessments: GIC1, a scenario-based open-book examination with a closing interview; GIC2, a practical risk assessment in which learners develop an action plan for their workplace;
• a syllabus focused on managing health and safety, controlling common workplace hazards, measuring performance and key international standards;
• several study languages, including French and Arabic, with digital assessments in these languages, although not for every sitting;
• mandatory registration with a NEBOSH accredited Learning Partner: self-study is not possible.

ACG’s trainers are NEBOSH qualified. ACG offers the NEBOSH IGC with a NEBOSH-accredited learning partner, through which registration and assessment take place.

For French-speaking teams in West Africa, or Moroccan sites whose managers work in French, studying in French is a real advantage.

Safety culture and HSE coordinators: how do you embed the right reflexes?

Through line managers. A safety culture shows in what a team leader does on seeing a removed machine guard or a badly fastened harness. In Morocco, the Labour Code gives the safety and hygiene committee the task of developing awareness of risk prevention and a safety mindset within the company (Article 338).

Safety culture courses equip managers: safety walks, short toolbox talks at the start of a shift, recognising good behaviour, correcting without humiliating, reporting near misses. Our HSE coordinator cycle gives coordinators their tools: risk assessment, inspections, indicators, committee preparation. For a site without a full-time HSE manager, see also our outsourced QHSE manager service.

How are these courses delivered?

On your premises wherever possible. Extinguishers, evacuation, confined spaces and work at height are practised with your equipment, instructions and evacuation plans. Theory modules can run in open sessions or online through OmniLearn.

• Languages: French, Arabic and English; Spanish and Portuguese on request.
• During: QR-code attendance, practical exercises, marked test, end-of-course evaluation.
• After: numbered certificates and a report produced with Inspirra, the CourseTwin AI tutor, automatic refresher reminders.

The full sequence is on our before, during and after page; for a programme built on your procedures, see custom programmes and paths.

How can these courses be funded in Morocco?

By including them in the training plan before they take place. ACG is eligible for OFPPT special training contracts (CSF). Reference rules: 70% for planned training delivered by an external provider, 40% for unplanned training, the same rates applied to a retained cost of MAD 800 per day per participant for in-house training, within a ceiling based on the declared vocational training tax. These rules come from the CSF procedures manual (May 2006, Amendment No. 2 of 2 June 2014): rates apply to costs excluding tax, and only in-person modules qualify, not theory followed online.

Refresher courses can be planned, which is the best way to stay at the planned-training rate. Our simulator gives an order of magnitude, with no commitment. Details on our CSF and OFPPT funding page.

How do you prepare a training request?

• The list of your workshops and the hazardous work carried out in them
  
• The number of trained first aiders and fire wardens per shift, and their refresher dates
  
• High-risk work done by your staff and contractors (height, confined spaces, electrical, hot work)
  
• Your recent accidents and near misses, and the safety committee’s reports
  
• Participants’ languages and shift patterns
  
• Your training plan and, in Morocco, your vocational training tax, for the CSF simulation