NEBOSH

MANAGEMENT OF HEALTH AND SAFETY

UNIT IG1:
For: NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety

MANAGEMENT OF INTERNATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

UNIT IGC1:
For: NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety
NEBOSH International Certificate in Construction Health and Safety
NEBOSH International Certificate in Fire Safety and Risk Management

Open Book Examination

Available for 24 hours

Guidance to learners

This is an open book examination. It is not invigilated, and you are free to use any learning
resources to which you have access, eg your course notes, or a website, etc.

By submitting this completed assessment for marking, you are declaring it is entirely your own work.
Knowingly claiming work to be your own when it is someone else’s work is malpractice, which carries
severe penalties. This means that you must not collaborate with or copy work from others. Neither
should you ‘cut and paste’ blocks of text from the Internet or other sources.

The examination begins with a scenario to set the scene. You will then need to complete a series of
tasks based on this scenario. Each task will consist of one or more questions.

Your responses to most of these tasks should wholly, or partly, draw on relevant information from the
scenario. The task will clearly state the extent to which this is required.

The marks available are shown in brackets to the right of each question, or part of each question.
This will help guide you to the amount of information required in your response. In general, one mark
is given for each correct technical point that is clearly demonstrated. Avoid writing too little as this
will make it difficult for the Examiner to award marks. Single word answers or lists are unlikely to
gain marks as this would not normally be enough to show understanding or a connection with the
scenario.

You are not expected to write more than 3 000 words in total.
Try to distribute your time and word count proportionately across all tasks.
It is recommended that you use the answer template.
Please attempt ALL tasks.

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SCENARIO

A steel-working organisation operates 30 steel-working plants globally, including a plant located on

the outskirts of a large town, where you are employed.

This steelworks contains many different workshops that cover the whole steel-producing process.
This involves repair, maintenance, fabrication and welding of large steel structures.

Within the fabrication and welding workshop an overhead crane is used to move heavy steel into
position. There are signs on this crane stating that only trained workers can operate it. Workers
understand that manual handling and mechanical lifting aids should be considered first, with the
crane only used as a last resort.

The workforce consists of 20 workers. These include a general workshop manager (GWM) and 2
workshop supervisors. There are also 3 apprentices, who are not trained in the use of the crane.

In your new role, you work in the fabrication and welding department as the Health and Safety
Manager, reporting to the GWM. The GWM does not believe that they should be responsible for
health and safety, and they do not have time for it. They welcome the fact that you are taking on this
role and acknowledge that you have recently started to study the NEBOSH General Certificate.

You have observed hazards such as scrap metal in walkways. This sometimes forces workers to
step into the path of the overhead crane, while walking through the workshop. Because of these
obstructed walkways workers often carry heavy objects instead of using mechanical aids. Workers
inform you that there are frequent near misses, involving the overhead crane, when it is being
operated by the apprentices. You find an email from one of the supervisors to the GWM requesting
crane operation training for the apprentices, but this seems to have been ignored.

There are no written records of any of these near misses. Workers have told you that they have
complained to the GWM many times about the workshop working conditions. They have also
informed the GWM that the crane operation alarm is not working. You cannot find any written
records of such complaints.

No-one represents the workers in raising health and safety concerns. The GWM is not interested in
people moaning about insignificant issues; which makes workers believe their views are not heard.
The GWM is only seen if something goes wrong.

Workers tell you that the GWM wants tasks completed quickly and demands too much of them. The
GWM knows that shortcuts are taken to achieve this.

You start looking for different risk assessments, but only find one generic risk assessment. This
lacks specific details and seems to focus on low-risk activities. It was completed three years ago.

You try to convince the GWM that health and safety in the workshop needs prioritising. The GWM
says that there is “no money for that kind of thing, and even if it were available, it would cause too
much disruption to production”.

There have been many injuries recorded over the years that have led to worker absences. Most
recently, an apprentice was injured after being hit by a load suspended from an overhead crane.

On one of the dedicated ground-level walkways, an apprentice was typing a message on their mobile
phone, although they knew that the use of mobile phones was banned in the workshop. At the same
time, an overhead crane, operated by another apprentice, was moving a steel beam. The
apprentice, on the ground-level walkway, tripped on a trailing cable. This forced them to move
outside of the dedicated walkway and into the path of the steel beam. Fortunately, they noticed the
steel beam and bent down to avoid it, instinctively raising their arm. The beam struck their forearm,
which caused them to fall onto some scrap metal.

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A first-aider attended the scene and said that the apprentice’s arm appeared to be broken. The first-
aider also treated a deep cut on the apprentice’s leg. The first-aider reported this to one of the
workshop supervisors, who then called for an ambulance.

The hospital confirmed that the apprentice had broken their arm in several places and required an
operation. They were expected to be off work for six to eight weeks to recover from the initial
injuries. However, there were complications following surgery that extended their time off work.

The apprentice, who operated the crane, was off work for one week due to post-traumatic stress.
You talk to the GWM about the accident, they tell you to take no further action for now, and that an
investigation will be carried out in a few weeks.

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Task 1: Workers’ responsibilities in the workplace

1 The two apprentices may have contravened some of their obligations as

workers within International Labour Organisation Convention C155 –
Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No.155) Article 19 and
associated Recommendation R164 – Occupational Safety and Health
Recommendation, 1981 (No.164) recommendation 16.

Comment on the extent to which Article 19 of C155 and recommendation 16

of R164 may have been contravened. (10)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 2: Financial arguments for the GWM to improve health and safety

2 What financial arguments could you use to convince the GWM that health and
safety needs to be improved? (10)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 3: Suitability of the generic risk assessment

3 Based on the scenario only, what is negative about the management

approach to assessing health and safety risks in the fabrication workshop? (10)
Note: Learners only need to focus on the general approach of the
organisation to assessing health and safety risks, and NOT a detailed 5-step
approach.

Task 4: Management failures

4 Based on the scenario only, what management failures could have contributed
to this accident? (10)

Task 5: Reporting the accident

5 (a) Why must this accident be reported by the employer to the competent
authority? (5)

(b) How would you notify the competent authority about this accident? (5)

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Task 6: Health and safety management systems

6 Part of a health and safety management system is having good leadership in

place.

Comment on the negative GWM leadership in the fabrication and welding

workshop. (15)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 7: Near misses

7 It is often a matter of chance that a near miss turns into an accident.

How could an investigation of the previous near misses have helped prevent
this accident? (15)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 8: Prioritising health and safety issues

8 You have decided to form a health and safety committee to help improve
health and safety at the steelworks.

Based on the scenario only, identify TEN health and safety issues that the
committee should prioritise at their first meeting. (10)

Task 9: Training

9 You have decided to compile an induction pack for new apprentices.

Based on the scenario only, what information should you prioritise in this
induction pack? (10)

End of examination

Now follow the instructions on submitting your answers.

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