NEBOSH National Certificate in Construction Health and Safety

Guidance on the practical application (Unit NCC2)

NEBOSH does not allow tutors to comment on assessments once they are in progress.
It is important, therefore, that you read this document carefully and ask any questions
before you leave the course.

Introduction

The practical application tests your ability to:

• Carry out a health and safety inspection, identify the main hazards, decide whether they are
adequately controlled and, where necessary, suggest appropriate and cost-effective control measures.

• Prepare a persuasive report which urges management to take action, explains why such action
is necessary and makes a series of prioritised recommendations.

The practical application is divided into two parts:

Part 1 – Observations (30 marks)

Part 2 – Report (70 marks)

The pass mark is 60 out of 100.

Wherever possible, the practical application should be completed in your own workplace and must be based
on construction activities. The workplace and activities must have at least 20 uncontrolled hazards.

If you don’t have a place of work, or if your workplace is unsuitable, you should arrange access to another
workplace through professional contacts, friends or family.

The deadline for submission is 5 working days after the date of your written examinations. (This does not
include weekends or bank holidays). There are strict deadlines by which course providers have to submit
assessments to NEBOSH, so late submissions will not be accepted.

The practical application can be completed in one day. You should set aside a day during the week following
your written examinations. Don’t let your practical application interfere with revision for your examinations.

The observation sheets can be handwritten or typed. You may wish to handwrite them initially (as you
carry out the inspection) and type them up later. You are advised to type up your observations (it is easier
for an examiner to read typed text). If you submit handwritten work, make sure that it is legible.

1
Part 1 – Observations

Range and outline of hazards and consequences (15 marks)

In order to gain maximum marks, NEBOSH requires you to outline 20 uncontrolled hazards. These must be
drawn from 5 hazard categories and must relate to construction activities.

We advise that you outline TWENTY-EIGHT uncontrolled hazards drawn from SEVEN hazard categories.
This will give you some leeway in case any of your hazards are inappropriate.

Examples of hazard categories are fire, electricity, hazardous substances, machinery, manual handling,
work at height, workplace transport and working environment (e.g. slips and trips).

For each hazard category, we suggest that you outline FOUR hazards (7 x 4 = 28).

For each hazard, you must outline the consequence. For example, boxes stored on the floor may cause
obstruction of exit routes putting people at risk in the event of a fire and/or potential musculoskeletal injury
if the boxes are lifted.

A mark will only be awarded if there is a clearly defined hazard AND a consequence.

You are advised to clearly differentiate between the hazard category, the hazard and the consequence
by using sub-headings.

As well as outlining 20 (or 28) hazards, you must also outline ONE example of good practice. We suggest
that you outline TWO examples of good practice in case one is deemed inappropriate.

Identification of suitable control measures and timescales (15 marks)

For each hazard, you must outline the immediate and longer-term control measures required to reduce the
risk to an acceptable level.

Immediate actions are likely to be direct physical interventions, whereas longer term actions are likely to
involve changes to organisational systems.

For example, the immediate control measure for a spillage may be to clean up the spillage and inform the
supervisor, whereas the longer-term control measures may be regular inspections and modification of the
work process to prevent future spillages.

If existing control measures are considered adequate, you should outline the measures required to maintain
this level of control.

You are advised to clearly differentiate between immediate and longer-term control measures by using
sub-headings.

You will not get any credit for generic references to “training”, “monitoring” or “supervision”.
You need to outline the type of training, the type of monitoring or degree of supervision.

For each control measure, there must be a realistic timescale. This should be expressed as a measure of time,
for example “within 24 hours”, “weekly”, “within 3 months”. Phrases such as “immediate” and “ongoing” are not
creditworthy.

2
Exemplar observation sheet
One example of a hazard and one example of good practice
Observations
Hazards and consequences
Hazard category
Fire
Hazard
Empty cardboard boxes
adjacent to racking containing
electrical equipment and IT
servers which are giving off
intense heat.
Consequences
Heat from electrical
equipment could trigger a fire
of the combustible materials,
resulting in asphyxiation,
burns or death.
Good practice
Personal protective
equipment
Observation
All employees wearing full
Class 2 high visibility jackets,
safety helmets, safety
glasses, safety gloves and
safety boots.
Control measures Timescale
Immediate and longer-term actions
Immediate action
Remove cardboard and any other combustible 24 hours
materials away from the heat source and store
in a segregated area ready for disposal.
Longer term actions
Weekly inspections by the IT manager to Weekly
ensure that cardboard boxes are being from now
removed from the area.
Install cooling fans to maintain optimum 2 months
temperatures for the electrical equipment and
servers.
Install racking made of non-combustible 6 months
materials, including intumescent ventilation
to prevent the risk/spread of fire.
Maintain level of PPE usage (high visibility Weekly reviews
jackets, safety helmets, safety glasses, safety
gloves and safety boots). Team leaders to
ensure that PPE is being worn.
3
Part 2 – Report

The report must be typed into the template provided by NEBOSH and structured under the following headings:

• Introduction
• Executive summary
• Main findings of the inspection
• Conclusions
• Recommendations

The report should clearly relate (refer back) to the observations. However, it should not simply duplicate
the observation sheets. It must provide a lot more detail.

The report should be written in such a way that management would be persuaded to take action based on
clear moral, legal and financial arguments.

Hazards and control measures referred to in the report must have appeared on the observation sheets.
You cannot introduce additional hazards and controls in the report.

The report should NOT contain photographs, printed matter or other extraneous material.

Introduction (5 marks)

You must provide enough information for the examiner to visualise the workplace. The clearer the
‘mental picture’ the easier it is for the examiner to award marks.

• State the date, time and location of the inspection

• Describe the inspection area in terms of size and layout
• Describe the work activities and processes
• State the number of staff involved in these activities
• State who else was on site at the time of the inspection, e.g. contractors, visitors

You should aim to type about half a page of A4. Certainly no less than half a page of A4.

Executive summary (5 marks)

This should be written after you have completed the rest of the report, but it should be inserted at the
beginning of the report (after the introduction).

• Summarise the main findings of the inspection.

• Summarise the main conclusions
• Summarise the recommendations
• Outline the costs involved
• Outline the moral, legal and financial benefits of taking action
• Outline the consequences of not taking action

You should aim to type about half a page of A4. Certainly no less than half a page of A4.

4
Main findings of the inspection (30 marks)

This is the main body of the report. There are 30 marks available as follows:

Quality and interpretation of findings (15 marks)

Identification of possible breaches of legislation and standards (5 marks)
Persuasiveness / conciseness / technical content (10 marks)

From your 20 hazards, select the FIVE hazards that you consider to be the most significant based on risk.

The main findings of the inspection must be based on these five hazards.

The main findings should be divided into SIX sections – one for each of the five most significant hazards
and a final section summarising the moral, legal and financial implications.

Each section should be about half a page of A4 (typed), i.e. three pages of A4 in total.

The five hazards

Use a sub-heading to clearly state the hazard. The name of the hazard must be consistent with that used
on the observation sheet.

For EACH hazard, write THREE paragraphs.

Paragraph 1
The first paragraph should provide information about the hazard. This should be consistent with the
observation sheet but include more detail. You should also explain how the hazard might cause harm
and to whom. There should be reference to the moral implications, i.e. preventing injury and ill-health.

Paragraph 2
The second paragraph should identify any legislation, standards (including local standards) or conventions that
may have been breached. For each breach, you must explain the reason for the breach. For example, you
can’t just say “This is a breach of the Management Regulations”. You would have to say “The company is in
breach of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (Regulation 3) because it is not
undertaking suitable and sufficient risk assessments.” Make sure that legislation is written out in full (not
abbreviated).

In order to gain maximum marks you must identify at least FIVE different legislative breaches across the five
hazards. Citing a breach under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 for every hazard will only
gain one mark out of five. Think about other possible breaches of legislation / standards / conventions, e.g.
fire, electricity, welfare, noise, asbestos, work at height, CDM.

Paragraph 3
The third paragraph should describe the additional control measures required to reduce the risk to an
acceptable level. These should be consistent with the observation sheet but include more detail.
Where possible, put these control measures in the context of the general principles of prevention and/or
the general hierarchy of control. There should be reference to financial costs and benefits.

5
The sixth section

This section should be titled ‘Moral, legal and financial implications’.

You should aim to type a page of A4, divided into THREE paragraphs.

Paragraph 1
Explain that people have a moral right to be kept healthy and safe at work and therefore employers have a
moral obligation to keep their staff (and others) healthy and safe,

Outline the consequences of employers not meeting this moral obligation in terms of possible injury and
ill-health and the effect on people and their families.

Paragraph 2
Summarise the main legal duties placed on employers in terms of duty of care.

Outline the consequences of failing in this duty of care, both in terms of criminal law (unlimited fines,
imprisonment, director disqualification, remedial orders, publicity orders) and civil law (compensation claims).

Paragraph 3
Outline the financial costs of poor health and safety standards and the financial benefits of improving those
standards.

Refer to the list of recommended actions and highlight any recommendations which could have a high cost
in terms of finance, inconvenience or time.

Conclusions (15 marks)

This section should provide a concise summary of the main findings.

You must NOT introduce any new issues or factors that were not mentioned in the main findings

• State the total number of hazards and the types of hazard

• State that there were also examples of good practice (and give an example)
• For each of the five significant hazards summarise the main findings
• Summarise the moral, legal and financial benefits of taking action
• Point out that the benefits outweigh the financial and non-financial costs.

You should aim to type about half a page of A4. Certainly no less than half a page of A4.

Recommendations (15 marks)

Recommendations must be outlined using the NEBOSH template. Failure to use this template will result in
no marks being awarded.

Recommendation Likely resource implications Priority Target date

The recommendations must relate to the five hazards discussed in the main findings and be consistent with
your conclusions. There should be a logical progression from the observation sheets to the main findings to
the conclusions to the recommendations.

For each hazard, there may be one or more recommendations.

Your recommendations must be realistic and cost effective. For example, if you recommend the complete
resurfacing of a road on site because of a small pot hole, you will receive low marks.

6
If training is recommended as the solution, don’t just write “training”. You should indicate whether this will be
a few hours of work-based instruction or several days of costlier off-the-job training.

Likely resource implications should include direct costs and indirect costs (e.g. time). For the direct costs give
a realistic estimate. (You can find out the price of equipment online). For the indirect costs, calculate the cost
of people’s time. For example, you might cost a worker at £100 a day and a manager at £200 per day.

Remember to include all of the direct and indirect costs. For training, the direct costs might include the training
provider’s fee and the hire of a room. Indirect costs will include the downtime of the attendees, for example
10 members of staff taken off production for a day.

The recommendations should be ranked in order of priority. Instead of ‘high’, ‘medium’ and ‘low’
(which are somewhat subjective), state ‘1st’, ‘2nd’, 3rd’, etc., so there is a clear order.

Priority should be given to the issues that present the highest risk levels, but also to those that can be resolved
immediately at little or no cost (the ‘quick wins’).

Each recommendation should have a target date for completion. These should be specific dates.
Do not write ‘one week’ or ‘one month’.

Submitting your assessment

The deadline for submission is 5 working days after the date of your theory examinations.
(This does not include weekends or bank holidays).

Your submission should include, in the following order:

• Your NEBOSH candidate letter (remembering to sign the NCC2 line)

• The Declaration that this is your own work
• The Observation Sheets
• The Report

Your submission should be scanned and e-mailed as a PDF to examinations.officer@britsafe.org

If you have any queries about the submission, please e-mail examinations.officer@britsafe.org

You will receive your NCC2 result at the same time as your NGC1/NCC1 results, which is normally
10 weeks after the date of the examination.