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

You are a Health and Safety consultant and have been telephoned by an organisation called MSL,
who are a large pharmaceutical distribution company. MSL procure, store, and distribute
pharmaceutical products across Europe. The organisation has been operating from a new
warehousing site, that includes office space, for two years. The site is on a busy junction that
provides excellent access to the motorways. The workforce is made up of 1 200 workers which
includes order pickers, team leaders, distribution drivers, and sales representatives. Office workers
include Human Resources (HR) and a Health and Safety Manager (HSM) who has just started their
NEBOSH Diploma.

Recently, there has been an accident where a worker was hit by a reversing truck. Several other
workers witnessed this accident and have been traumatised by what they saw. However, this is not
the only accident that has happened in the last 12 months. Previously, an automated order-picking
cart collided with a worker, resulting in a broken ankle. This accident led to the organisation being
issued with an enforcement notice. The organisation is expecting another visit from an enforcement
officer. As a result, they have asked you to carry out a full review of their health and safety.

Before you start looking around the site you are introduced to the Managing Director (MD). The MD
tells you about the two accidents and the expected visit from an enforcement officer. They add that
both the accidents were due to ‘worker error’. They also want you to produce a report demonstrating
that the management of health and safety at MSL has nothing to do with the accidents.

The MD introduces you to the HSM and leaves to attend a Directors’ meeting. The HSM escorts you
to the goods-outwards warehouse. During the walk, they immediately disclose that the Directors
believe that there are no risks if common sense is used. The Directors are more interested in making
as much money as possible. An annual bonus is offered to all workers to incentivise this.

You watch workers picking products to fulfil orders and notice two, small forklift trucks are being used
for restocking the racking. You see fire extinguishers and fire notices at various points around the
warehouse, along with call points near to the doors. There is a first-aid kit located near to a desk at
one end of the warehouse.

You speak to the warehouse manager (WM) who explains that there are three temporary order
pickers starting today. One of the team leaders is presenting an induction training session and the
WM invites you to observe. You accept this offer and follow the team leader.

On the way to the training room the team leader tells you that there is a high turnover of workers, so
they are used to delivering the induction training. You are told that the induction will cover site rules
and fire arrangements. You ask if the nominated first-aiders list is shared at the induction. The team
leader tells you that it is not shared, but that all warehouse managers and team leaders have
received first-aid training. You find out that the induction is the same for all new workers, whether
they are temporary or permanent. You question how the workers will know about risks they are
exposed to in their roles. The team leader insists that if the workers do the job as instructed there will
not be any risks. You also learn that no written job description is provided to new workers. Once
they are put into their teams, their team leader will tell them how to do the job.

After the induction you speak to the HSM and ask to see all of the health and safety documentation.
The HSM shows you the fire procedure and the goods-outwards warehouse risk assessment. You
are also shown the risk assessment and guidance for working from home, which the sales team are
familiar with. You ask to see the fire risk assessment; the HSM explains that it does not exist
because they do not know what to include in it.

You read through the fire procedure, which includes alarm recognition. You notice that a fire drill was
last carried out in 2018. You meet up with the MD and explain why fire drills should be practised.
The MD says that “Everyone has been told that the assembly point is in the car park at the back of
the building”. Although the MD believes that fire drills disrupt work, they reluctantly agree that they
should be practised, and speak to the HSM about organising this.

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The next day you continue your review of the documentation and look at the generic goods-outwards
warehouse risk assessment. You notice that this was also carried out in 2018. The HSM tells you
that they developed the last risk assessment alone. The findings were fed back to the workers by the
team leaders. You intend to revise this risk assessment.

You now look at the documentation about working from home, which relates directly to the sales
team. The Sales Manager (SM) has previously noticed that more than one of the sales team workers
has poor posture in their chair during online meetings. The guidance document includes advice for
workstation assessment for long-term working from home. The SM has regular 1-2-1’s online with
the individual team members and twice-weekly sales team meetings. At the team meeting each
member gives an update on what they are doing, and among other things, the wellbeing of the team
is discussed. There is also the opportunity for them to chat with colleagues.

Moving on from this, you ask the HSM if sickness absence is recorded. The HSM replies that HR
record this.

You learn that the HSM carried out an audit about six months ago. The Directors seemed to think it
was a good idea and showed some interest in reviewing the findings. The Directors were not
interested in a plan or scope, because they were convinced by the HSM that they knew what they
were doing. Although, the HSM had previously carried out inspections, they had never done an audit
before. The HSM analysed documentation such as risk assessments, spoke to workers and
recorded their feedback.

When you speak to the HSM about the audit you ask about the audit team and the plan. The HSM
says it only took a couple of days and they did not have anyone to help them. You ask if there were
any significant findings and if the Directors had seen them. The HSM replies that the Directors were
not interested and said they were too busy. The significant findings were that many risks were not
assessed. These included stress and DSE use. Other risk assessments and procedures needed
revising. These significant findings were presented in a report.

You move on to accident investigations. The HSM explains that the details of any accidents and
incidents are recorded, if they are reported. Various statistics are produced from these records. The
HSM doubts that all accidents and incidents are reported.

Training and inspection records are kept, although training has not resumed since the site move.

The fire drill starts at 10.00 the following day. You notice that some workers appear to be taking on
the role of fire marshal, even though they have not been officially appointed. As you leave the
building you look at the front of the building where a few people have gathered. At the nominated
assembly point there is chaos. Some workers are trying to work out if everyone is there.

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Task 1: Fire arrangements

1 (a) What are the positive points about the fire arrangements at MSL? (5)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

(b) What are the negative points about the fire arrangements at MSL? (10)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

(c) Why is it important to practice the fire drill? (5)

Task 2: Managing risks for those working from home

2 Comment on the organisation’s approach to managing risks to those working

from home. (10)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 3: Suitability of the generic risk assessment / risk assessments

3 Based on the scenario only, other than working from home, comment on the
organisation’s approach to assessing health and safety risks. (15)

Task 4: Monitoring and measuring (audits)

4 (a) (i) Based on the scenario only, what is negative about the HSM’s
auditing approach? (4)
(ii) Based on the scenario only, what is positive about the HSM’s
auditing approach? (3)

(b) Based on the scenario only, what is negative about the Directors’
response to the audit? (3)

Task 5: Adequate first-aid provision

5 What would you consider in a review to determine if first-aid provision is

realistic and proportionate at MSL? (15)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

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Task 6: Health and safety management roles and responsibilities

6 Comment on the effectiveness of roles and responsibilities in relation to health

and safety management at MSL. (10)
Note: You should focus on roles and responsibilities and not the health and
safety management system.
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 7: Financial arguments to improve health and safety

7 What financial arguments could you use to convince the Directors that health
and safety needs to be improved? (10)

Task 8: Human factors

8 Based on the scenario only, what organisational factors might have negatively
influenced health and safety behaviour at MSL? (10)

End of examination

Now follow the instructions on submitting your answers.

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