NEBOSH

MANAGEMENT OF HEALTH AND SAFETY

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

Open Book Examination

ANSWER TEMPLATE

Available for 24 hours

Learner name IRFAN KHAN

NEBOSH learner 00553051
number
Learning Partner name 989-ACE Training & Consulting

Please note: if you decide not to use this template, you will need to include the same
information on your submission, including the following:
• your unit code (eg IG1);
• the examination date;
• your name;
• your NEBOSH learner number;
• your Learning Partner’s name;
• page numbers for all pages;
• question numbers next to each of your responses.

You do not need to copy out the questions.

Please save your completed answer document with your surname,

your first name, your NEBOSH learner number, and your Learning
Partner’s name.
For example, a learner called Dominic Towlson with the learner number
12345678, who has taken their course with a Learning Partner called
GMMTA International will name their submission:
Towlson Dominic, 12345678, GMMTA International

Answer sheet IG1-0032-ENG-OBE-V1 Nov23 © NEBOSH 2023 page 1 of 8

Task 1: Poor health and safety leadership

Question 1
Negative aspects of MD’s Health and Safety Leadership could be understand effectively
by comparing them to general Positive Aspects of good leadership within any
organisation. Positive aspects of good leadership are as follows,

Health and Safety Policy: - A good leader develop and introduce open end H&S Policy
within their organisation and all aspects of this policy is well informed to all employees
within organisation and afterwards it is posted in organisation where anyone can easily
read and understood it, but as seen in scenario, MD has not taken that responsibility of
developing their organisation policy by themselves instead they had printed and vaguely
edited other organisations H&S Policy.

Management Visibility: - Management visibility is very important in any organisation as

they being visible at site or in organisation motivates other employees as well. Being
seen and getting involved in works and correcting deficiencies as and when required. But
as seen in scenario MD is always busy on their mobile phone and has never been seen
out of their office.

Reporting Issues: - Having an open door policy regarding H&S issues will help workers
to raise concerns and report it to higher management accordingly. As seen in scenario,
MD never introduced such system within their organisation nor do personnel get involved
to get workers feedback about H&S inside VAULT.

Promoting Changes to Improve H&S:- Several aspects can be used to promote

changes within any organisation to improve its H&S such as revisiting H&S Documents
as and when required, hiring a robust H&S Team and encouraging them a high visibility
to identify potential hazards and risk and implement mitigation measures. But as seen in
scenario, MD; s approach towards H&S was negative and was never found doing any
attempt to implement above mentioned changes.

H&S daily reports: - It is routine job for H&S team to observe and identify deficiencies
within organisation which will help to reduce risk. But as seen in scenario, MD never
instated any H&S team and was least bother to identify hazards and risk within VAULT.

Provide sufficient resources:- It is higher management such as MD;s responsibility to

provide suitable and sufficient resources to all employees within VAULT so that they can
carry out their jobs safely, but as seen in scenario even newly instated DPP machine was
being in used without proper SSOW.

Provide proper PPE: - in any organisation PPE could be the last resort to mitigate risk
and its higher management responsibility to provide it and its employee’s responsibility to
use it in correct manner but as seen in scenario, no PPE was ever provided to workers.

Provide Training: - It is very important to ensure all personnel working within VAULT are
competent and to ensure that appropriate training as to be provided by MD. But as seen
in scenario, no training was provided for DPP machines as well as no H&S training such
as emergency procedure training was ever conducted.

Enforcing VAULT’s Rules and Regulations:- it is very important for any management
to ensure all rules and regulation within organisation is fully followed and if not MD should
have used proper means to ensure their implementation, such as laud music being
played within VAULT work area which can lead to poor communication in case of
accident.

Answer sheet IG1-0032-ENG-OBE-V1 Nov23 © NEBOSH 2023 page 2 of 8

 Double Standards: - It is management responsibility within an organisation to ensure no
double standard are being followed which can eventually lead to accident. MD
themselves didn’t care about staircase ends being in damaged condition and this led to
their own accident.

Emergency Arrangements: - It is management responsibility to provide adequate

emergency arrangements such as operational fire/smoke alarm, fire extinguishing system
or cylinders, first aid kits (fully equipped) but as seen in scenario, fire alarm was
neglected by MD themselves, first aid kit was found empty.

Other negative aspects of MD’s H&S leadership could be their busy and stressed
scheduled meetings, not providing adequate resources to use DPP machines such
as proper training, SSOW, RA and method statement, their ignorance towards H&S
System within their organisation etc. etc.

Task 2: Making first-aid recommendations

Question 2
Recommendations which can be made inside VAULT to improve first aid provisions so
that they are realistic and proportionate are as follows,

Firstly a proper assessment should be made within VAULT to ensure first aid provisions
made are adequate and if they are not systematic approach to be used to fulfil it.

Assessment can be done by using following points such as nature of work, number of
people involved within organisation, level of provision required etc.

After assessments are done a detailed report with appropriate recommendation should
be submitted to higher management and ensure those recommendations are being
implemented.

Such recommendation at VAULT could be,

• Provision of at least one FIRST AID BOX (KIT) kept within OPEN PLAN AREA and
it should be located in such a manner that it can be easily reached and can be
used by competent first aider.
• These first aid boxes or box should be adequately marked and can be seen easily.
• First aid box should be fully stocked at all times and inspection checklist to be
made mandatory with it at all times.
• Fulfilment of this checklist should be given to responsible person (competent first
aider) and records to be kept.
• One or more than one as required Competent First Aiders to be instated by higher
management of VAULT by giving adequate trainings to their employees about
First Aid.
• This First Aid team should be known to everyone within VAULT and their names
along with their photos and phone numbers to be displayed within VAULT.
• FIRST AID Register has to be maintained and responsible first aiders should
ensure whatever has been used from box is ell recorded and again it is stocked
in timely manner.

Task 3: International Labour Organisation’s (ILO’s) Recommendation R164

Question 3 (a)
According to ILO’s recommendation R164 clause 10, following recommendations may
not have been followed by VAULT,

Answer sheet IG1-0032-ENG-OBE-V1 Nov23 © NEBOSH 2023 page 3 of 8

 10(a):- It says that employer should provide and maintain workplace, machinery
equipment and use work methods which are safe and without risk to health of their
workers and it should be reasonably practicable also but as seen in scenario workplace
provided by VAULT management to their employees is in deteriorated condition and is
not safe also. Also, machinery and equipment such DPP machine provided to VAULT
workers is not safe for use and they have not been provided with adequate training to
how to use it in safe manner also no SSOW was ever developed by MD using workers
consultation. Also, work methods at VAULT was found inappropriate as MD was found in
great stress and was never found between their workers and zero management
commitment (visibility) was also observed.

10(b):- To give necessary instructions and trainings but as seen in scenario, only
induction training was provided to VAULT workers that too long before audit was
conducted. Workers lack of awareness about DPP machine SSOW, H&S Policy,
Emergency Procedures and absence of deployment of FIRST AIDER clearly says that it
was not been followed.

10(c):- To provide adequate supervision for work and work practices and use of
occupational safety and health measures but as seen in scenario no supervision was
provided while using DPP Machine and Occupational H&S was found absent as workers
were ignoring fire alarm, leakage from smoke alarm, absence of designated first aider
and emptied first aid box.

10(f):- To ensure that work organisation, particularly with respect to work hours does not
affect workers occupational H&S, but as seen in scenario MD was working continuously
without breaks and was found in fatigued and stressed condition.

Question 3 (b)
According to ILO Recommendations R164 clause 16, following recommendations were
not followed by VAULT,

16(a):- Employees should take reasonable care for their own safety and other persons
safety who may be affected by their work but as seen in scenario when fire alarm ranged
auditor take their exit route but was stopped by worker Z and was informed to ignore fire
alarm and all other workers were still working and ignoring fire alarm also they informed
auditor that MD has instructed to ignore fire alarm.

16(c):- Employees should safety devices and equipment correctly and do not render them
inappropriately but as seen in scenario MD in hurry left their office and directly headed to
activated fire alarm and when auditor met MD after accident fire alarm batter was in hand
of MD, this clearly states that they were not following ILO recommendations within
VAULT.

Task 4: Assessing the auditing approach

Question 4
Negative aspects of my (H&S Consultant) H&S Auditing approach are as follows,
• It was my first time carrying out an audit and I didn’t informed VAULT management
about it which could have resulted in arranging experienced and competent help
for me.
• I was not sure about my audit that how detailed it had to be meaning I was unware
of scope of audit to be conducted and action plan to be implemented while
conducting this audit.
• I was also unware about VAULT’s previous history in case of Health and Safety
and layout and nature of work what Vault did.

Answer sheet IG1-0032-ENG-OBE-V1 Nov23 © NEBOSH 2023 page 4 of 8

 • Then also I was confident that I can conduct this audit in suitable and sufficient
manner, eventually I understood it was not confidence it was overconfidence.
• As I was new as auditor, when Vault management gave me only one day as
auditing I was unable to ask for more days to complete proper audit.
• Given my negative approach, I was unable to get MD’s involvement in my audit and
was unable to emphasise or convince MD about importance of this audit.
• As I was inexperienced auditor nobody at Vault respected my position and was
vaguely answering my questions during audit.
• I even ignored major issues such as VAULT’s H&S Policy was fabricated and
forged from other organisation and didn’t bothered to question MD about this then
and there, which is major violation of both national and international labour laws.
• During time of accident I also noticed VAULT’s inefficient emergency arrangements
but was unable to point out these major points.

Task 5: Evaluating safe systems of work

Question 5 (a)
Safe system of work is a formal written procedure, which is based upon systematic
examination of task/working process/nature of job or equipment etc. to identify potential
hazards and implement mitigation measures written in SSOW. Following is general
method of developing and implementing SSOW along with reasons why DPP Machine
SSOW in VAULT was insufficient,

• SSOW should be developed by competent personnel only but as seen in scenario

when asked about DPP machine’s SSOW auditor was presented with
downloaded instructional manual from machines second owner and along with it
was just hand written notes which does not confirm if competent personnel was
involved while writing it.
• Consulting Workers: - It should be developed by consulting actual workers
working at that machines but as seen in scenario, workers had no idea about
SSOW and they were following old instruction manuals as SSOW.
• Employers Duty: - It is general employer duty to provide SSOW of DPP Machine
at VAULT and as seen in scenario it was MD’s biggest failure.
• Instructions: - Adequate and clear instructions are a part of SSOW and as seen in
scenario DPP Machine SSOW was itself instruction manual with just hand written
notes.
• Training: - SSOW outlines number of trainings/ nature of trainings and frequency
of training to be provided to workers so that they can work n safe manner which
machine but in scenario no such trainings were ever conducted by MD’s or
VAULT managements.
• Supervision: - SSOW outlines frequency and level of supervision needed for a
particular machine but in case of DPP no such points was outlined in SSOW
presented to auditor.
• General and Specific controls:- SSOW helps in identifying general and specific
controls of machines and helps in distributing responsibilities upon who can
operate machine ad how but in case of DPP no such controls were ever outlined.
• Procedural Controls:- SSOW outlines procedure to correctly operate machine in
safe manner as it already identify potential hazards and risk associated with
machine but in case of DPP no such procedures were outlined.
• Behavioural Controls: - SSOW also take care of human behaviour ad risk and
hazards associated with it and give mitigation or prevention measures for safe
working of machines and human safety but as seen in scenario it was never
discussed in DPP machine SSOW.

Question 5 (b)

Answer sheet IG1-0032-ENG-OBE-V1 Nov23 © NEBOSH 2023 page 5 of 8

 As seen in scenario, even before DPP Machine was delivered to VAULT office, MD
Emailed all employees working instructions of machine. These instructions was based
and taken directly from instruction manual which was provided by machine second
owner. Also, these instructions manual was downloaded from manufacturer’s website as
second owner of machine did not had their own original copy.

Assumption made by MD that by just reading instruction on how to use DPP Machine is
clearly ineffective as in training each and every aspects of machine is briefly discussed
along with hazards and risk associated with machine and what control measures to be
taken.

Ineffectiveness of DPP Machine training can be clearly seen in scenario, as when asked
about it worker Z gave a vague reply which means they are not confident about it and this
questions competency of all workers within VAULT about how to use DPP Machine.

Task 6: Identify job factors

Question 6
Job factors that have negatively affected H&S at Vaults can be understood by elaborating
below points,
Ergonomics: - ergonomics is about ensuring a good match between workers and
machine they use. Giving spacious spaces between machine operator and machine,
providing ergonomically designed chairs or desk system etc. helps in positively affecting
H&S culture at work but as seen in scenario, DPP machine was situated in lower floor
within a small printing room which says that there was not enough space to ensure
adequate ergonomics was being followed.

Task: - Providing task to workers according to their capacity. Matching a task with
accurate individual will ensure they are not overloaded and are able to make affective
contribution to business. But as seen in scenario, MD was found stressed out and over
phone for meetings all time of the day, this could negatively affect their performance and
can lead to potential human error. As scenario says that exactly happened MD in hurry
didn’t remembered broken steps and due to this human error leads to accident.

Environment/Workplace:- Workplace should be safe and sound for human being so that
they can work stress free and contribute positively within organisation, but as seen in
scenario condition of VAULT office is totally deteriorated and in very bad condition which
has also affected VAULT’s workers perception towards H&S.

Procedures:- Operating and maintenance procedures of any machine is very crucial for
people working with or around that machine as it helps them to carry out their job in safe
manner. But as seen in scenario, DPP machine SSOW was vaguely downloaded and
hand written notes were made available for VAULTS workers. This could negatively
affect human behaviour eventually negatively affecting H&S at VAULT.

Training: - Providing training regarding H&S, safe use of equipment’s, emergency

procedures etc. helps workers to carry out their job in safe manner and also helps in
identifying and reporting deficiencies within system. But as seen in scenario, no such
trainings were ever made available for workers and it affected negatively towards H&S at
VAULT.

Consultation:- Humans get motivation when Higher Management consult them

regarding their job/risk/hazards etc. and it also helps in cultivating positive H&S culture
but as seen in scenario, MD was never available at site, never had a word with their
workers, never consulted while developing SSOW for DPP machine. Such job factors has
adverse effect upon an organisation (VAULT) health and safety.

Answer sheet IG1-0032-ENG-OBE-V1 Nov23 © NEBOSH 2023 page 6 of 8

Task 7: Understanding emergency procedures

Question 7
Possible reasons for lack of understanding about emergency procedures are as follows,
• Workers at VAULT are unaware of real meaning and definition of emergency
procedures and they mixed it with fire evacuation instructions.
• Even that fire evacuation procedures has not been refreshed by providing refresher
training since last time they were informed about this in their induction training.
• Workers seems to forget those procedures and cannot recall in front of auditor.
• Workers are unaware of written emergency procedures.
• Only one worker remembers that some sort of fire evacuation instructions was
posted at wall even that has been faded out and was hidden behind coats.
• Workers were never informed about emergency procedures.
• MD never developed emergency procedures and no records of this was ever found.
• No training was ever conducted regarding emergency procedures.
• VAULT MD was found negligent and ignorant towards H&S procedures including
emergency procedures.
• MD and higher management at VAULT has a perception that safety equipment’s
and procedures are just waste of money and time.
• Poor H&S culture instigated by MD within VAULT could be major reason for lack of
understanding about emergency procedures.
• Lack of manpower could also be a reason as MD is found stressed and hence can’t
focus on H&S matters.
• Change in management can also be a reason as any overtaking of business will
focus more on profit rather than H&S.

Task 8: Investigating near misses

Question 8
Following reasons are identified that if previous near misses were investigated may be it
could have helped to prevent MD’s accident,
• Initially when auditors enters VAULT office they observed entrance ramp was in
worn condition, if previous near misses were had been investigated it could have
resulted in renovation of whole office including this entrance ramp.
• Auditor also sees square patch of blue masking tape at entrance floor.
• And when asked about it they informed them that there was a hole underneath tape
for long time.
• Even water dropping from ceiling and smoke alarm would have been included in
previous investigation.
• Auditor observes more blue masking tape at some of staircase edges.
• Several near misses has been already reported but was never investigated.
• All above information suggest that is near misses were investigated it would have
given a report about poor condition of office building.
• Suggestions made in investigation report such as renovation of building/office could
be major reason in preventing MD’s accident.
• Building owner has previously fixed water leakage at building but was never
informed about steps edges being broken or hole at entrance wooden area.
• VAULT employees and their MD’s perception about repairing a staircase or hole at
entrance is just a cosmetic issues for owner led to accident. Which could have
been prevented if all near misses have been investigated.

Your total
3035
word count*

Answer sheet IG1-0032-ENG-OBE-V1 Nov23 © NEBOSH 2023 page 7 of 8

* please note that this form already has 295 words (excluding text boxes and footers),
which you can deduct from your total amount if you are using your word processor’s word
count function.

Documents and Scenario, stockwellsafety.com, RRC international book for

sources of information NEBOSH IGC, Personal experience from site and Hindi to
you used in your English Dictionary.
examination

End of examination

Now follow the instructions on submitting your answers in the NEBOSH Certificate Digital
Assessment - Technical Learner Guide, English. All Open Book Examination guidance
documents can be found on the NEBOSH website:
https://www.nebosh.org.uk/digital-assessments/certificate/resources-to-help-you-prepare/

Answer sheet IG1-0032-ENG-OBE-V1 Nov23 © NEBOSH 2023 page 8 of 8