NEBOSH IG1 Open Book Exam August

2020
SCENARIO
You have recently moved to a new job. You are now responsible for health and safety
at a large, busy retail store that is located on the outskirts of a large town served by
good roads. The store sells do-it-yourself (DIY) and hardware goods, such as tools,
equipment, and hazardous chemicals, to the local businesses and the general public.
The organization that owns the store has 100 stores nationally and 10 in your area.
The main part of the store is open to customers to view and buy goods. At the back of
the store, through an automatic-opening door, is a large warehouse, where stocks of
goods are arranged on racks of shelving. Only store workers are allowed in the
warehouse. Warehouse workers use forklift trucks (FLTs) to move goods from
delivery trucks into the warehouse. When the store is closed to customers the goods
are moved into the main part of the store to restock shelves.
You report to the overall Store and Warehouse Manager. The warehouse workforce
consists of:
- 20 workers (including 2 shift supervisors) split equally between two 12-hour shifts
(08:00 – 20:00 and 20:00 – 08:00) on a rota basis of 4 days on, 4 days off.
Since you started your new job, you have seen a lot of examples of rule-breaking in
the warehouse. For example, you have seen goods stacked in aisles and blocking
designated walkways. Workers have to avoid many obstacles as they walk through the
warehouse, causing them to step into vehicle routes. Workers have told you that there
are frequent near-misses between FLTs and workers, and collisions with products
causing damage and spillages. There are no written records of any of these.
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There have been many injuries recorded over the years. Most recently, a repeat of a
more serious collision occurred involving a young FLT driver. The brakes were
applied too late, as the driver was distracted by their mobile phone, the FLT skidded
on an oil spillage and knocked goods over onto a passing worker.
On this occasion, the worker’s leg was broken, which required urgent hospital
treatment. The hospital is 5 miles (approximately 8km) away from the store. The
worker is expected to be off work for six weeks to recover from the injury. The
injured worker is seeking legal advice to make a compensation claim.
Worker absence and turnover are high in the warehouse. There are no health and
safety worker representatives. Warehouse workers have told you that they have
complained to management about working conditions many times. They rarely see
management in the warehouse. You cannot find any written records of complaints.
You have tried to convince the overall Store and Warehouse Manager that something
needs to be done to improve health and safety in the warehouse. You are told that
there is no money for ‘that kind of thing’, and even if it were available, it would cause
too much disruption to the business.
As a result of the recent FLT collision, you were visited by a labor Inspector who has
made a formal order that requires workplace changes to improve the health and safety
of the workers. The Inspector thinks it is only a matter of time before workers are
more seriously injured or even killed in the warehouse. The Inspector also observed
that the written risk assessments are too general and do not reflect the actual risks in
the warehouse. The Inspector wants to see a more effective health and safety
management system at their next visit.
You have discussed with the Inspector possible improvements to health and safety in
the warehouse. The proposed solution involves segregating FLTs and workers with
barriers, pedestrian walkways, designated crossing places, and separate entrances for
workers and FLTs. In addition, you tell the Inspector that you will review health and
safety performance, internally and externally, to make comparisons.

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Task 1:- What financial arguments could you use to justify your proposed
recommendations to segregate FLTs and the workers?
Answer-  Proposed recommendations will give following financial benefits-
Implementation will help the organization avoid various direct, indirect costs of
which only some may be insured while a major portion could be in-insured.
Avoid first aid and medical costs arising from similar accidents involving a collision
between FLT and workers.
Avoid sick pay costs in the future. 6 weeks sick pay had to be given due to the
incident.
Lesser accidents mean avoidance of a sick pay scenario.
Avoid costs arising from repairs and maintenance to damaged property such as
those arising from damaged hardware goods, tools, and even hazardous chemicals.
Avoid costs arising from loss of products and production time due to re-ordering or
manufacturing to compensate for the damaged hardware products or for other
remedial action.
Avoid costs due to staff turnover and high attrition rates arising from re-hiring,
training new employees.
Avoid costs arising from legal claims by affected employees similar to that was
initiated by the seriously injured worker.
Avoid costs arising from damage to reputation and brand image. Retail store brand
image will lower and will affect sales and marketing causing losses.
Avoid costs arising from the investigation, fees for investigators, and
interruption to operations during the investigation.
Avoid fines that may be initiated by the labor inspector. Heavy fines could be levied
on employers due to a breach of legal safety requirements.
Avoid costs arising from transportation of injured workers to the hospital which is
8km far away.
Avoid costs arising from compensation to victims, rehabilitation of the injured
worker, and their phased return to work. The above all obligations of the employer
and will incur costs through the work of the Occupation health department.
Avoid costs arising from loss of morale and reduced productivity. Workers will feel
demotivated when frequent accidents occur and it may also trigger unrest in the form
of worker strike or protest which is further loss due to shut down of operations. 
Task 2:- You email a report to the overall Store and Warehouse Manager, in a
further attempt to convince them that safety needs improving. The report
contains unsafe behavior that you have observed, unsafe behavior associated
with historic incidents, and unsafe behavior relayed to you from other
workers. Also, the report contains voluntary feedback on safety given to you
by workers and managers. (a) what unsafe behavior would be included in the
report? (b) what voluntary feedback would be included in the report?
Answer- 2 (a) Report on unsafe behavior would include
Various rule-breaking saw in the warehouse including goods being stacked in
walking aisles and blocking of designated walkways.
Workers stepping into vehicle routes which may lead to a collision
FLT colliding with products and causing spillages due to unsafe driving techniques
possibly due to poor safety culture or lack of trained FLT drivers
Usage of mobile phone while driving FLT which causes distraction and increase
reaction time possibly due to a lack of rules on phone usage.
Driving of FLT over oil spillages that may have arisen out of poorly maintained FLT
Absence of management visit to warehouse and addressing the concerns of
complaints made by workers
Answer- 2 (b) Voluntary feedback was given by workers and managers could include
Frequent near misses between FLT and workers and collisions with products causing
damages.
High worker absence rates and high turnover rates
Absence of health and safety worker representative
Complaints raised by workers to management about working conditions and
the inaction toward the complaints.
Absence of management visit in the warehouse.
Manager’s input on having no money for improving safety and that it would cause
too much disruption to the business. 
Task 3:- When selecting the external contractors, what would you consider
when assessing their competence?
Answer- External contractor’s competence can be assessed based on
Contractor Health and safety policy whether they have covered any accident
prevention in their policy or not.
Quality of risk assessment and whether it is sufficient and suitable, method
statement and safe system of work so that an accident can be averted after
appointing the contractor arising from the contract workers and their work.
Contractors staff qualification and training records whether contractor staff is
competent to do his job safely and aware of how to prevent accidents at workplace
and specific skill sets that may be required such as welding or scaffold erection.
Whether contractor is a member of any professional body like HSE or whether he
is authorized or having a license to do this type of work since the membership
bodies give their membership only after careful evaluation of the contractor
competency.
Maintenance records of the contractor equipment, plants, machinery whether the
contract is maintaining his equipment in safe condition and safe to use at the
warehouse so there will not be any accident due to faulty equipment.
Past experience in work closely related to the planned work of segregating pathways.
Details of previous and current clients of the contractor to see the performance of
the contractor in respect to Health and Safety
Accident history records of the contractor, record of any enforcement action was
taken by legal authorities against him, if there would be any case and he gets heavy
penalty and imprisonment, my warehouse business activity will be at a halt.
Proof of adequate resources like safety equipment, sufficient number of workers, enough PPEs for
all his workers, and whether the Contractor is having the accessibility of any  specialist safety
advice during his work or not.
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Task 4:- To satisfy the expectations of the Inspector, you have developed a
formal safety management system in line with ISO 45001.  Based on the
scenario only, what are the likely benefits to the organization of having this
formal safety management system?
Answer- Benefits to the organization on implementing an ISO 45001 based safety
management system includes moral, legal, financial gains apart from reducing
accidents and improving safety performance. Below are other specific benefits-
Having a structured management approach based on the Plan-Do-Check-
Act cycle concept which will simplify day today safety management across all 100
stores nationally. Currently, there is no system for recording near misses in written
format, no HS representative chosen, no written system for registering complaints.
Being able to demonstrate the commitment of top management by setting a policy,
a framework of OHS objectives, and targets. This will help to reduce worker absence
and turnover as the commitment will be clear to workers.
Being able to comply with all legal requirements, closely monitor compliance and
thus avoiding any fines, prosecutions from regulatory authorities.
Being able to deal with non-conformities and deficiencies and having a monitoring
arrangement. Currently, there is no system to attend to complaints.
Being able to fulfill the needs and expectations of the workers and
stakeholders. Leadership and worker participation in the core of an OHSMS and
can be achieved through safety committees, feedback systems, etc. This will also
boost worker morale and improve productivity and ownership at all levels.
Being able to consider internal issues, external issues, needs, and expectations of
workers and stakeholders while making the framework. This will help the
organization to consider varied aspects while doing risk assessments and make them
suitable and sufficient.
Being able to specify roles and responsibilities for each worker and manager. This
will avoid confusion and encourage the store manager to address worker complaints,
take a site tour thus involving his role in safety management.
Being able to improve the reputation of the organization by complying with a
standard. ISO 45001 standards will give recognition in the market and attract more
customers and clients towards the business giving financial gain and competitive
advantage.
Being able to facilitate consultation and participation from workers before
decision-making. Currently, workers' inputs and complaints are not being responded
to or considered.  This will improve ownership and boost worker morale.
Being able to set criteria on how to assess worker competence, how to improve
their awareness towards risks, how to manage internal and external
communication, how to allocate sufficient resources, and how to document
information that may be used as evidence when labor inspector revisits for future
inspection.
Being able to implement management of change, informing workers on the progress
of changes, its reasons, and benefits and thus keep all workers in the loop.
Having a system in place for emergency management and preparedness. The
hospital being 8 km away would require the organization to do a first aid assessment
and provide suitable facilities in the warehouse. 

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Task 5:- What are the negative indicators of safety culture at the warehouse?
Answer-  Indicators showing negative safety culture includes-
Unsafe behavior and acts that include rule-breaking in the warehouse, stacking
goods in aisles, stepping into vehicle zones.
Absence of written records for all near-misses that have been verbally reported.
A repeat of more serious injury and records of many injuries in the past indicate
poor safety performance and lack of action from management to improve safety
performance
High worker absence and turnover as understood from the staff records possibly
due to high rate of accidents and poor commitment from management. It could also be
due to excessively long working hours which is currently at 48 hours a week instead
of the standard 40 hours a week by 8hrs for 5 days a week shift system.
Absence of health and safety worker representative as understood from the records
possibly due to lack of election arrangement in place.
Absence of written records or worker complaints and their verbal account of not
seeing management visit the warehouse for safety tours.
Poor leadership, commitment, and negative attitude towards safety from
management/warehouse manager which is evident from his perception of lack of
money and that it would cause disruption to business.
Absence of suitable and sufficient risk assessment and the fact that it does not
reflect actual risks in the warehouse. This shows poor attention while doing the risk
assessment
Absence of arrangement to review safety performance as of now evident from the
fact that it is being planned to be done in the future based on the inspector’s feedback.
Using Young workers (vulnerable category) for critical tasks like FLT driving. They
are likely to be inexperienced, untrained, or having excessive enthusiasm which may
make them more vulnerable to accidents.
Absence of first aid provisions which is understood by the fact that injured worker
had to be rushed to the hospital which is 8km away. This shows poor planning and
foresight.
Possible absence of procedures on mobile phone usage especially during driving or
a possible violation of procedures and associated disciplinary action.
The fact that worker is having to take legal advice for seeking compensation rather than the
organization offering him support, rehabilitation, compensation, and access to OH support.
Task 6:- What do you need to consider so that first-aid needs are realistic and
proportionate for the warehouse workers?
Answer-  For the first aid needs to be realistic and proportionate for warehouse
workers, following need to be considered
Activities and nature of work at the warehouse and Risk & hazards present in the
warehouse that includes the movement of vehicles like forklift, using hazardous
chemicals, using hardware DIY goods and putting them on shelves. These activities
pose could cause various types of harm such as breaking bones upon collision with
FLT, chemical exposure to hazardous substances, manual handling injuries,
entrapping at automatic door.
Past accident history, previous near-misses, previous collisions that happened at the
warehouse, and what were the consequences of the incidents like what were the
injuries or ill health to the workers, what level of treatment was required.
The geographical location of the warehouse that is located on the outskirts of a large
town served by good roads and distance from the nearby Hospital is 5 miles which are
very far the workers cannot get immediate medical help.
Work pattern and shift systems. The current system involves 12 hours work
duration which is long and workers may tend to lose focus and concentration. Night
Shift poses an increased risk of injury to due lighting conditions causing slip, trip and
falls and overall efficiency at night will be lesser than the day shift.
Availability of trained First aiders at the warehouse. Scenarios depict a possible
absence of first-aiders
Presence of vulnerable workers. In this case, young workers are present who are
more prone to accidents and injury.
Total several workers. The provisions like first aid equipment should be sufficient in
quantity for 24 people working.
The spread of the ware house concerning areas which are more prone to accidents. First aid
provisions should be stored where the likelihood of an accident is higher.
Task 7:- Decide what level of investigation (minimal, low, medium, high) is
appropriate in this case, clearly justifying each step you take that leads to
your decision.
Answer-  A A high level of investigation would be taken in this case
Likelihood of recurrence

Certain, Likely, Possible, Unlikely, Rare

The potential worst consequence of the adverse event

Minor, Serious, Major, Fatal

Likelihood is very likely, since many such incidents have occurred in the past as
given in the scenario.
Consequence is Major or can even be fatal, as collision with FLT broke his bone
which required 6 weeks of medical care and there are possibilities for more severe
injury and even fatality.
A high-level investigation will involve a the team-based investigation, involving
supervisors or line managers, health and safety advisers, and employee
representatives. It will be carried out under the supervision of senior management or
directors and will look for the immediate, underlying, and root causes.
A high the level investigation will help function as reactive monitoring and analyze
trends. It will focus on root cause analysis and prevent it in the future. It will also give
an idea on what new control measures to implement, which in this case was to appoint
an external contractor to design the dedicated pathways. It will also help to find the
costs behind the accident, to comply with legal requirement considering the level of
the accident, to initiate disciplinary actions against workers who were involved or in
breach and to process claim from an insurance agency. 

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Task 8:- What individual human factors could have negatively influenced the
behavior of the young FLT driver?
Answer-  Individual human factors that could have negatively influenced the behavior
of the young driver include-
Poor perception since he is young and lack experience and possibly training too. He
may not have been able to recognize spilled oil to be a slip hazard while driving FLT.
Routine and repetitive tasks of driving FLT could have reduced his attention levels
and led to failure of identifying the risk of spilled oil and hard braking.
Fatigue and stress due to long working hours especially towards the end of shift
could have deprived his perception towards identifying the risk.
Attitude could have been influenced by the prevailing negative safety culture which
is evident from poor visible leadership and lack of worker participation.
Peer group pressure could have influenced him because other experienced workers
have taken the absence of a structured system lightly and their casual attitude towards
high frequency of incidents.
Lack of motivation due to inadequate levels of worker consultation and participation
and absence of any incentive schemes or adequate supervision levels or high absence
levels
Lack of adequate competence which can be understood by the high number of
collision-related incidents. Drivers may not have adequate training, license,
experience and supervision to drive FLT safely.
Possible influence of drugs and alcohol. Young workers are more prone to consume
drugs and alcohol due to peer influence which will increase reaction time and lead to
accidents.
Young workers are more vulnerable to the frequent use of mobile phones and thus
more susceptible to get distracted to the excessive influence of social media on the
young generation.
Young workers are more prone to drive faster due to higher enthusiasm and thrill factor which may
have also been a factor
Task 9:- The investigation into the recent accident, when a worker’s leg was
broken, is now focusing on management failures.  Based on the scenario only,
what management failures could have contributed to this accident?
Answer- Management failures that could have contributed to the accident include-
Failure to identify hazards and risks arising from routine activities, unsafe
behaviors, and conditions visible at the warehouse
Failure to provide an arrangement to report near misses in written format and to
review the same to take further action.
Failure to provide clear & written Policy, rules & regulation, absence of safety
management system and not kept any provision of disciplinary actions against the
violation of rules & regulations inside the warehouse by workers. 
Failure to identify root causes and analyze from past incidents and take further new
control actions to avoid repetition of similar incidents in the future.
Failure to depute experienced workers for critical activities like FLT driving.
Young workers need more supervision and should be avoided for critical activities.
Failure to provide adequate training on FLT operation to understand the correct
braking technique.
Failure to control violations and develop a policy on mobile phone usage while at
work.
Failure to organize safety inspections and safety tours as part of active
monitoring to identify oil spillages, blockages of walking paths, etc.
Failure to assess first aid requirements and provide the necessary equipment,
arrangements, and first-aiders at the site.
Failure to address causes for high attrition and absence rates and failure
to appoint a worker representative as required by the law.
Failure to provide arrangements for written reporting of
complaints, addressing them and to show visible leadership through safety tours and
site visits by top management.
Failure to give priority to safety and the attitude maintained by a top manager
Failure to review safety performance and making risk assessments not in a specific,
suitable, and sufficient manner.
Management has failed to develop & implement the suitable control measure giving the excuses to
money problem and if money available also, then disruption of the business.
Task 10:- (a) Based on evidence from the scenario only, comment on how the
organization is performing in the following areas (i) active and reactive
monitoring. (ii) the adequacy of current risk assessments. (iii) operational
procedures and rules. (iv) compliance with legal requirements. (b) Based on
evidence from the scenario only, what sources of benchmarking information
could be used?
Answer- 10 (a) (I) Organization is not performing well as there is no active
monitoring like safety inspection, safety survey, safety sampling, safety Audit, and
safety tours. Management is not seen on the site as per the scenario.
The organization is not doing any Reactive monitoring like investigation, root cause
analysis and review of previous near-misses, previous collisions, analysis of
Accident statics like Accident rate, Worker absence, and turnover rate. The
organization not collecting any information & data to enhance the performance at the
warehouse.

Answer- 10 (a) (ii) Risk assessments are found to be too generic in nature and not

considered the specific factors like young workers, night shifts, and do not reflect the
actual risks in the warehouse. It has been found not to be suitable and sufficient as
required for the site.
 Answer- 10 (a) (iii) There appears to be a lack of organizational procedures
about mobile phone usage at work, method statements for specific work, rules on
where it is allowed to walk, and where it is not. Lack of procedures on where to stock
the goods, procedures for reporting near misses and complaints, procedures
for dealing with emergencies.
Lack of rules about usage of dedicated FLT-only pathways and on storage of
hardware stock.  Past relevant data is also not be considered during the risk
assessment.
Answer- 10 (a) (iv) The the organization has not complied with the legal
requirements of HASWA Act 1974, The Management of Health and Safety at Work
Regulations 1999 as there are more than 5 workers at warehouse. It is clearly visible
from the warehouse that it is in breach of ILO conventions C155 and
recommendations R164. Situations like young person assigned for high-risk
activities like FLT driving without supervision, not doing a proper risk assessment,
not creating provision of First Aid & First Aiders, Not able to provide a safe
workplace, Safe plant, and machinery.

Answer- 10 (b) Sources for benchmarking includes safety performance within

the warehouse in the past months and years and its trend, safety performance of
other branches in the country, accident incidence rates across other branches, near
miss statistics across branches, training and competency records of workers, staff
turnover rates and absence rates across branches, formal order records in the past,
audit, and inspection data.