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ASP EXAM ESSENTIAL PRACTICE, 2021 Farcas, Hammond & Cena

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ASP EXAM ESSENTIAL PRACTICE, 2021 Farcas, Hammond & Cena

ASP EXAM ESSENTIAL PRACTICE


SIMPLY AND THOROUGHLY EXPLAINED
By

Dr. Daniel Farcas, CIH, CSP, CHMM


Damien Hammond, MS, CIH, CSP
Dr. Lorenzo Cena, MS, PhD

2021

Copyright Daniel Farcas, 2021


www.DanielFarcas.com

ISBN: 9798592894992

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ASP EXAM ESSENTIAL PRACTICE, 2021 Farcas, Hammond & Cena

Also available:

CSP EXAM Equations simply CIH EXAM Equations simply


explained and with examples explained and with examples

CIH EXAM ESSENTIAL PRACTICE CHMM EXAM ESSENTIAL PRACTICE


SIMPLY AND THOROUGHLY SIMPLY AND THOROUGHLY
EXPLAINED EXPLAINED

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ASP EXAM ESSENTIAL PRACTICE, 2021 Farcas, Hammond & Cena

Dr. Daniel Farcas has more than 20 years of experience in conducting


scientific research and leading production teams in various fields, including
public health, infection control, nanotechnology, microbiology, silica, and
asbestos. He is the author or co-author of numerous scientific manuscripts
in peer-reviewed journals. His research interest is erionite, an emerging
naturally-occurring carcinogen that, through continued and frequent
exposure, can lead to mesothelioma and firefighters' exposure to
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) through turnout gear
or personal protective equipment (PPE) vectors. Dr. Daniel Farcas is a
Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) CP #11723, a Certified Safety
Professional (CSP) #36048, and a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) #24712.

Mr. Damien Hammond SR, President of Windjammer Environmental, has


over 20 years of experience in providing industrial hygiene, environmental,
and occupational health and safety services. His educational
accomplishments include a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the
University of the District of Columbia and a Master of Science in
Environmental Sciences and Public Policy from George Mason University.
He has served as the President of the American Industrial Hygiene
Association (Potomac Section), a professional organization with roughly
one thousand members in the Washington DC metropolitan area. As
President of AIHA (Potomac), Mr. Hammond was responsible for
developing practices, which helped promote increased member participation within the
organization. Since becoming a Board-Certified Industrial Hygienist and Certified Safety
Professional, Mr. Hammond has grown Windjammer’s technical capabilities and expanded its
national presence with operations in five states. Windjammer’s commitment to excellence serving
clients such as the US Department of State, The US Coast Guard, DuPont Personal Protection,
and many others have earned the distinction of being selected as one of the Emerging Businesses
of 2017 by the US Small Business Administration.

Dr. Lorenzo Cena is an aerosol scientist and industrial hygienist with


expertise in occupational and environmental health. He has extensive
experience in controlling and assessing occupational hazards associated
with exposures to aerosols and nanoparticles. Before joining the West
Chester University faculty, Dr. Cena has worked for five years for the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the National Institute
for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). He has published several
articles on workplace exposures, particle characterization, toxicology,
exposure assessment, and analytical methods and has presented his work
at national and international conferences. Dr. Cena is also the co-inventor of a personal sampler
for nanoparticles.

The authors would like to thank the following reviewers for their insightful comments and efforts
towards improving this book:

Michael McCawley, Ph.D., West Virginia University.

Khachatur Sarkisian, M.S., National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

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ASP EXAM ESSENTIAL PRACTICE, 2021 Farcas, Hammond & Cena

“The ASP Exam - Essential Practice by Farcas, Hammond, and Cena is, as the name
implies, an essential set of questions in Occupational Safety. This book is well laid out in
19 sections. It draws the reader in, which certainly assists with their increased retention
of the amount of material that has to be covered. The questions are well introduced with
a short narrative before presenting the pertinent equations and solution to the over 700
example essential questions. The book serves as a formidable preparation for the CIH
exam and a good review of basic principles, a reference for many of the day-to-day
technical issues confronting the practicing worker’s safety, and a guide for raising
awareness of potential problems for which alert action is required. The authors bring a
breadth of experience and insight into the issues handled in the text. They bring context
to the basic principles highlighted by the examples of the questions and their solutions.
ASP Exam - Essential Practice should be a must-have text for everyone in the field.”

Michael McCawley, Ph.D., West Virginia University.

Dr. Daniel Farcas would also like to thank Bowen EHS and its staff for the help and
guidance received through his studies for certification.

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Content

Code of Ethics……………….………………………..7
Safety Management………………………………….9
Electricity…………………………………………….27
Sound..………………………………..………………31
Vibrations...…...……………………………………55
Ergonomics……………………………………….…58
Thermal Stressors……………………………….…65
Toxicology……………..………………….…………72
Personal Protective Equipment……………..….112
Biostatistics……..………………………………..121
Epidemiology……………………………………....129
Radiation………….……………………………..….131
Hazardous Materials Management…………..…145
Sampling……………………………………..…….147
Immediately Dangerous Situations...................157
Biosafety...………………………………………….171
Ventilation……………………………………..…...181
Community Exposure…………………….………194
Working Environment…………………………….202
Transport……………………………………………215

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Safety Professionals

CODE OF ETHICS AND PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT

1. Hold paramount the safety and health of people, the protection of the environment
and protection of property in the performance of professional duties and exercise
their obligation to advise employers, clients, employees, the public, and appropriate
authorities of danger and unacceptable risks to people, the environment, or property.

2. Be honest, fair, and impartial; act with responsibility and integrity. Adhere to high
standards of ethical conduct with balanced care for the interests of the public,
employers, clients, employees, colleagues and the profession. Avoid all conduct or
practice that is likely to discredit the profession or deceive the public.

3. Issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner and only when
founded upon knowledge of the facts and competence in the subject matter.

4. Undertake assignments only when qualified by education or experience in the


specific technical fields involved. Accept responsibility for their continued
professional development by acquiring and maintaining competence through
continuing education, experience and professional training.

5. Avoid deceptive acts that falsify or misrepresent their academic or professional


qualifications. Not misrepresent or exaggerate their degree of responsibility in or for
the subject matter of prior assignments. Presentations incident to the solicitation of
employment shall not misrepresent pertinent facts concerning employers,
employees, associates, or past accomplishments with the intent and purpose of
enhancing their qualifications and their work.

6. Conduct their professional relations by the highest standards of integrity and avoid
compromise of their professional judgment by conflicts of interest.

7. Act in a manner free of bias with regard to religion, ethnicity, gender, age, national
origin, sexual orientation, or disability.

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8. Seek opportunities to be of constructive service in civic affairs and work for the
advancement of the safety, health and well-being of their community and their
profession by sharing their knowledge and skills.

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Safety Management

1. What is safety? Safety is the state of being "safe" or relatively free from
harm or other non-desirable outcomes. Safety means the control of
recognized hazards in order to minimize risk. Management is ultimately
responsible for safety. The safety professional’s duty is to advise
management.

Example: A wet floor is a slip and fall hazard (because we cannot say if the
unaware slip victim will die, end up with a broken bone, or just be bruised).
By placing “wet floor warning” signs, the risk of falling is reduced, or by
blocking access to the wet area, the risk is lowered even more, and the area
becomes safe.

2. What do “health” and “protecting the environment” mean for the


safety professional? “Health” means in occupational settings, worker’s
well-being in the physiological and psychological sense, like, for example,
not suffering from fatigue or stress. “Protecting the environment” means to
prevent any harm to the environment’s ecosystem and sustainability, or
simply stated, prevent the destruction of land, water, and air natural
resources or endangered flora and fauna and their food chain links.

Note: The three main reasons to promote health and safety standards within
an organization are Moral, Legal, and Financial.

3. What is risk? Risk is the possibility of loss, injury, or other undesirable


outcomes with respect to humans’ values like health, well-being, wealth,
property, or the environment. Probability is the likelihood that the risk will
occur. “Zero Risk” does not exist!

Note: The probability of a fatality or getting an occupational disease is


measurable for a population but is not measurable for an individual worker,
although it may be predictable.

4. What are the different types of risk? There are four types:

A. Risk-avoidance is when the business decides not to produce high-risk


products or enter uncertain markets.

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B. Risk-retention is when the business chooses to self-insure (does not


take out any third-party insurance).

C. Risk-transfer is when the company decides to buy insurance.

D. Risk-reduction and control is the primary goal of the safety professional


and Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) department.

5. What are Risk Assessment and Hazard Analysis? Risk assessment


is the process of estimating the probability of injury from a hazard. Hazard
analysis only identifies the potential hazards that exist without putting a value
on the risk associated with the potential hazards.

Risk = Hazard’s severity X Probability of exposure to the hazard

Note: In a risk assessment process, we are trying to minimize the risk by


reducing the hazard or exposure likelihood (like using hoods, protective
cream barriers, developing safe procedures for hazard handling, or using
personal protective equipment).

6. Why should we use redundancy in hazard control? Because


redundant controls decrease the likelihood of a control failure thus reduceing
the probability that the hazard will occur.

7. What are some consequences of poor health and safety


performance? There are direct and indirect costs, some legal and financial.

DIRECT COSTS INDIRECT COSTS

 Medical Treatment / Sick Leave  Delays in Production


 Insurance Claims  Increased insurance renewal
 Compensation  Training of new personnel
 Loss of Production and Products  Loss of corporate image
 Equipment and Material Damage  Investigation and reports
 Repairs to Plant  Low employee morale*

* Low employee morale is the silent killer of the workplace. Losing a good
colleague due to a workplace accident, is difficult.

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Remember: In addition to having employee rights, employees also have


responsibilities.

8. What are the four (4) types of human errors according to Human
Factors Engineering?

Remember C.O.S.T.

Commission: performing a task the wrong way


Omission: failing to do a task
Sequence: doing tasks in the wrong order
Timing: doing tasks too fast or too slow

9. What is the difference between abatement and mitigation?


Abatement, in safety, means to put an end to something that is finite in
quantity. In contrast, mitigation means to lessen a hazard that can keep
developing in certain conditions, like mold growth, if not repressed. Lead-
based paint hazards are eliminated from a house through abatement, but
radon in a home can only be mitigated and lessened to the global outdoor
radon level.

10. What is the leading cause of work-related deaths in the U.S.?


Motor vehicle crashes are the #1 cause of occupational fatalities.

Note: The major regulatory agencies for fleet safety are the Department of
Transportation (DOT) for traveling on public roads & highways and the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for loading and
unloading trucks.

11. What is OSHA’s Recordable Incident Rate or Total Case Incident


Rate (TCIR)? OSHA’s Recordable Incident Rate is a metric calculated by
multiplying 200,000 with the number of recordable cases and dividing by the
company's number of labor hours. Why 200,000? Because 200,000
represents 100 employees working 50 weeks at 40-hour per week. OSHA’s
300 log and 300A Summary have the information needed to find the rate of
recordable injuries.

Example: What is the TCIR rate for a company with 400,000 worked hours
and two recordable incidents?

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200,000 ∗ 2
TCIR = =1
400,000

Note: On average, 15 workers die every day from job injuries, and over 5,600
Americans die from workplace injuries annually.

12. What are Douglas McGregor’s three management theories?

Theory X presumes that employees detest work and must be pressured,


monitored, and pushed toward organizational goals with rewards and
punishments.

Theory Y presumes that employees are delighted to work, motivation is


inherent, and the workers are self-controlled and self-directed.

Theory Z is focused on employee’s long-term job security, collaborative


decision making, emotional well-being to foster employee loyalty and
dedication.

13. What are Herzberg's “Motivation” Hygiene Theory factors?

A. Hygiene factors, or extrinsic motivators like salary, status, challenging


work, and benefits.

B. Motivation factor, intrinsic motivators like achievement, promotion,


recognition, and responsibility.

14. What are the four types of torts (wrongful acts or an infringement
of rights)?

 Trespass is committed when an object or a person intentionally enters


a property without permission.

 Nuisance is an unreasonable interference with the enjoyment of the


property.

 Negligence is the failure to exercise reasonable care and is the most


preventable type of tort.

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 Strict Liability is legal responsibility for consequences although there


was no criminal intent.

15. What is an attractive nuisance? Attractive nuisances draw children


(that do not have the ability to identify potential dangers) onto land and held
the landowner liable for injuries to trespassing children. Some examples of
attractive nuisances are swimming pools or construction sites.

16. What are the three forms of product liability?

A. Warranty may be express or implied. Express warranty is an oral or


written statement to provide repairs or a replacement within a specified
period. An implied warranty is an assumption that the product or service is
guaranteed to work if used for its intended purpose, e.g., the pizza you order
is edible.

B. Negligence is when someone or someone's property is harmed due


to failure to exercise proper care, like an employee that fails to put up the
“Wet Floor” warning sign after mopping.

Note: Contributory negligence is when the hurt person contributed somehow


to the injuries, like looking at their phones instead of where they are going.

C. Strict Liability is the legal responsibility for the outcomes in the


absence of fault or criminal intent, as the spill and release of transported
dangerous chemicals that may cause personal injury or environmental
damages.

17. What are ISO 9001, ISO 14000, ISO 45001, and OSHAS 18000?

ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization.

The ISO 9000 is a set of quality management systems (QMS) that outlines
a framework that guarantees internationally recognized standards for
product and service providers.

The ISO 14000 is a set of environmental management standards that help


companies minimize their negative environmental impact, comply with laws
and regulations, and reduce industrial waste.

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The ISO 45001 is a set of standards that stipulates the international standard
requirements for occupational health and safety (OH&S) management
system. ISO 45001 concentrates on preventing illness, injury, and death in
the working environment while proactively improving the OH&S
performance. ISO 45001 draws from OHSAS 18000.

OHSAS stands for the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series.

The OSHAS 18001 is an international OH&S management system (based


on the British Standard BS 8800) specification covering issues like hazard
identification and risk assessment & control. Most companies are currently
transitioning from OHSAS 18001 to ISO 45001.

18. What is ANSI/ASSP Z10? The ANSI/ASSP Z10 standard helps


organizations holistically view common core elements and establish well
thought OH&S managing systems that improve employee safety, lessen
workplace risks, and build better working environments.

ANSI stands for the American National Standards Institute.

ASSP stands for the American Society of Safety Professionals.

19. What is the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle? The PDCA Cycle or


Deming Cycle for health and safety issues is a nonstop quality development
pattern that consists of four key phases: Plan, Do, Check, and Act.

Plan: identify the problem and develop a hypothesis (for example, inside a
workshop, the noise level is at 90 dB due to a noisy machine, and we believe
that enclosing the machinery will reduce reflected sound).

Do: test potential solutions (we fully enclose the noisy machine).

Check: study the result and measure the effectiveness (we measure the
sound pressure level in the room with a noise dosimeter and obtain a 60 dB
value).

Act: choose the best solution and implement it (we decided to adopt this
method as the solution).

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Note: 60 dB might be still too noisy, and someone suggests adding acoustic
panels on the walls to reduce reverberations, and in this way, the cycle is
restarted.

PDCA Cycle

Note: OSHA's motto is “plan, prevent, and protect.”

20. What are the factors that can lead to occupational stress? Basic
workplace stressors are:

A. Poor work conditions like cramped and dirty work area, excessive
noise, poor lighting, or lack of privacy.
B. Poor management attitude like lack of flexible working hours, lack of
communication and support, high responsibility with unrealistic
performance, or negative health and safety culture.
C. Job redundancy like boring and repetitive work.
D. Poor workplace interactions like bullying, discrimination, or threat of
violence.

21. What is the sequence of the budget process? First, identify


projected income & costs, then assign a budget for each department. After
industrial hygiene & safety programs are funded, the safety professional
must monitor expenses and keep within the projected expenditures.

Note: Injuries and illnesses in the workplace are expensive through costs like
worker compensation payments, investigations, training of the replacement
worker, product and line damage, and lower the work environment morale.

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For all these reasons, it is better to prevent accidents through a properly


financed safety program than to pay after the injuries or deaths happened.

22. What is the Time Value of Money (TVM)? The TVM also referred to
as “present discounted value,” is a core principle in finance that holds that
money available now worth more than the same amount in the future due to
the potential earning capacity (not inflation).

23. What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? Maslow’s hierarchy of needs


is comprised of five hierarchical levels and is one of the best-known theories
of motivation in human beings. Some needs, like physiological and safety,
are more primitive than evolved ones like social and ego. Employers should
strive to meet workers' needs, which will create a highly motivated and happy
environment and are also more likely to be productive. Some employees may
be motivated by financial safety while others by esteem or just glad to belong
to a community.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Note: Common triggers that anticipate workplace verbal and physical


aggression are company layoffs, disputes between personnel, unfavorable
performance reviews, substance abuse, personal and social problems.

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24. What are the most common accident theories? There are four:

A. Near-Miss Relationship according to recent studies, for every


reported serious injury, we have 59 minor and 600 near misses (close calls).

B. The Domino Theory asserts that accidents come from a sequence of


successive events, like in a row of dominoes that propagates a chain
reaction. Suppose we remove a key factor such as unsafe acts or conditions,
underlying factors, social environment, or worker with poor conduct. In that
case, we prevent the start of the chain reaction and, therefore, the accident.

Note: Unsafe acts include using damaged equipment, unsafe methods, or


neglecting to use PPE. Unsafe conditions are machines without guards,
defective equipment, or inefficient use of PPE. Underlying factors may be a
lack of skill or improper training.

C. Heinrich's axiom proposes that 2% of accidents are just unavoidable,


10% are credited to unsafe conditions, and 88% are credited to unsafe acts.

D. William Haddon Energy Release Theory depicts accidents in terms


of energy transference in large amounts at rapid rates with the potential of
causing injury.

25. What is the difference between an incident and an injury? An


incident is an event that has the possibility to end in an injury. An injury is a
form of physical harm to a person resulting from an event. Some incidents
do not include injuries.

26. What is the Pareto Distribution? Named after the Italian economist
Vilfredo Pareto, the Pareto distribution asserts that 20% of causes lead to
80% of effects. This principle in safety management can be translated as:
20% of the workers are responsible for 80% of the incidents and injuries in
the workplace.

27. What is Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (FMEA)? FMEA uses
forward logic (inductive reasoning) that examines causes, failure modes, and
effects. FMEA uses a step-by-step investigation to identify possible failures

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in a design, starting at a low level of the process and working its way to the
impact on the major system of subsystems (bottom-up approach).

Failure Mode & Effects Analysis (FMEA)

28. What is Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)? FTA is a qualitative and


quantitative analysis that searches for the failure path diagram under various
circumstances based on a fault tree. FTA uses Boolean logic's deductive
processes (true/false statements) to reach lower-level and basic event
malfunctions (top-down approach). Fault tree analysis may identify safety
challenges at design time and allows the user to “see” the complete system
being examined.

Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)

29. What are the laws of learning for working personnel? The most
efficient cognitive learning laws are:
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A. Repetition, so reiterate to personnel when necessary.

B. Interest, employees will learn better if they are interested in the


subject area.

C. Importance, workers have high retention for essential events.

D. Involvement increases the retention level. Workers will remember if


they are personally involved in the learning process.

30. What is the Incident Command Structure? The Incident Command


System (ICS) was developed to help organize the communication process
during disaster response efforts.

The Incident Commander manages all aspects of an emergency response


like assessing the situation, developing the incident objectives, assuring

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overall safety, distributing resources, and assigning responsibility for all


persons involved.

Note: The incident commander implements the Incident Action Plan (IPA).

Command Staff

The Public Information Officer disseminates information to the public and


media.

The Safety Officer is responsible for the assessment and monitoring of


hazards and ensures personnel safety during incident operations. The Safety
Officer can immediately stop operations that may cause injury to emergency
personnel.

Note: ASPs are likely to be designated as Safety Officers in an emergency


response situation.

The Liaison Officer is the contact point between organizations and


agencies to coordinate their activities efficiently.

General Staff

The Operations Section Chief reports directly to the incident commander


and manages all tactical operations and progress related to the incident.

The Planning Section Chief collects, manages and tracks resources,


analyzes information, and maintains documentation.

The Logistics Section Chief must provide the needed resources and
services to support the incident objectives' attainment.

The Finance Section Chief monitors expenses related to the incident,


provides time recording and administrative services, and cost analyses.

31. What are OSHA forms 300s? OSHA forms 300, 300A & 301 are logs
of recordable injury or illness cases required by the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA). An injury or illness needs to meet the
following criteria: result in a worker’s death, days away from the workplace,
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restricted work or transfer to other less demanding jobs, medical treatment


beyond first aid, and loss of consciousness. Minor injuries are recorded in
the First Aid log.

Note: Generally, the responsibility for safety within an organization lies with
the line supervisors who are overseeing the employees' immediate work.

32. Where should the Hazardous Material Response Team be


positioned during an incident response? Upwind and uphill of the spill!

33. What are the roles of the approved, designated, qualified and
competent personnel?

 The employer approves AUTHORIZED personnel to enter a site to


perform a specific job duty.

 The employer assigns DESIGNATED personnel to perform a specific


task at the job site.

 QUALIFIED personnel has degrees, certificates, or standard


professional training to perform specific job duties.

 COMPETENT personnel has the authority to train the workers and stop
production and take prompt corrective measures that will eliminate
existing or foreseeable hazards.

Note: As an ASP, you need to be authorized to enter a job site by the


employer and designated to recognize hazards at a specific location,
providing that you are qualified for it. You will communicate your findings to
the competent person who has the power to take corrective measures.

34. All safety training programs should include:

A. Needs Assessment – determine what kind of training is necessary.


B. Lesson Plan – should address the learning needs, including learning
objectives, and be delivered by a competent person.
C. Program Evaluation – make sure that the training needs were met,
and the workers gain the knowledge and skills (usually assessed through a
quiz).

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