DEFINITION OF A HAZARDS :

Anything with the potential to cause harm (Injury, ill health etc).

DEFINITION OF RISK :

Risk is the likelihood that the harm from one or more particular hazards
is realized ( will occur)

DEFINITION OF ACCIDENT :

An unplanned, unwanted sequence of events which result in loss of

some kind.

DEFINITION OF INCIDENT :

An unplanned, unwanted sequence of events which had the potential

to result in loss of some kind.

ALARP : As Low As Reasonably Practicable.

SFAIRP : So Far As Is Reasonably Practicable.

ILO : International Labour Organization

ELI: Employers Liability Insurance.

HSE in UK : Health and Safety Executive

IT IS : Information Training Instruction Supervising.

COMPETENT : Skill Knowledge Experience

AUDIT : Systematic Formal Independent

JSA : Job Safety Analysis

MSDS : Materials Safety Data Sheet

ERGONOMIC: The relationship between human and machine.

The study of people’s efficiency in their working
environment.

MATHAMATIC FORMULA OF RISK / HAZARD:

Risk = Likelihood X Severity

FIVE STEPS OF RISK ASSESSMENT:

1. Identify the Hazard

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 2. Identify Those at Risk
3. Evaluate the Risk
4. Record
5. Review

HAZOP : HAZard and OPerability Study

ROPS : Roll – Over – Protective

M.E.E.P. (Safe System of Work – SSW) :

M Materials
E Equipment and Plant
E Environment
P People

BSAFE ( Common Hazards from Electricity ):

B Burns
S Shock
A Arcing
F Fires
E Explosions

SREDIM ( Job Safety Analysis ):

S Select
R Record
E Evaluate
D Develop
I Implement
M Maintain

ERIC PD ( Risk Control Hierarchy ) :

E Eliminate
R Reduce
I Isolate
C Contain

P PPE
D Discipline (IT IS)

ENITICE ( Machinery Hazards – Mechanical) :

E Entanglement

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N Nips
T Trapping
I Impact
C Contact
E Eject

FIAT ( Remember the hierarchy of machine control) :

F Fixed
I Interlocked
A Adjustable
T Trip Devices

PPE : Personal Protective Equipment

RPE : Respiratory Protective Equipment

RCD in UK ( Circuit Breaker ) : Residual Current Device

The Spread of Fire : Conduction Convention Radiation

Details of Signage Color:

 Yellow : Warning
 Blue : Mandatory
 Green : Safe Condition
 Red : Danger

4C’s The activities necessary to promote a health and safety

culture are divided into the 4C’s
 Control
 Co-operation
 Communication
 Competence

MUSCULOSKELETAL: Relating to the Muscular and Skeleton

together – e.g Repetitive Strain injury,
Hernia, Slipped Disc

HEALTH & SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

HS (G) 65: ‘Successful Health & Safety Systems’

OHSAS 18001: Occupational Health and Safety

Management Systems – Specifications

ILO / OSH 2001: ILO Guidelines on Occupational Safety &

Health Management systems.

HS (G) 65 ALL ELEMENTS:

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Students Areas to concentrate on for the written Examination:

It is important that you read the questions very carefully, answer the questions
you feel comfortable with first and leave the other until you can formulate your
thoughts.

Remember the rules answer the question that is asked: e.g.

Outline – Give the most important features of (less in depth than

‘Explain’ or ‘Describe’, but more in depth than ‘List’.
Define – Provide an generally recognized or accepted definition
Describe – Give a word picture
Explain – Give a clear account or reasons for
Give – Provide without explanation (used normally to ‘give’ an
example)
Identify – Select and Name
List – Provide a list without explanation
Sketch – Provide a simple line drawing using labels to identify specific
features
State – A less demanding form of ‘define’ or where there is no
generally recognized definition.

NOTE:
 Do not use word like “Proper” Use “Sufficient / Suitable /
Adequate”.
 Do not use word like “Capable Person” Use “Competent Person”

Some Simple examples are:

Q: List six items of PPE required on a construction site?

A: Hearing Protection
Respiratory Protection
Eye Protection
Protective Clothing
Skin Protection
Safety Belts and Harness

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Q: Define the acronym ALARP and give an example where you would
use it?

A: The acronym ALARP is As Low As Reasonably Practicable and an

example of usage would be – After completing the quantified risk
assessment the team looked at extra control measure to ensure the
risk was as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP)

POLICY : STATEMENT OF INTENT

The Statement of intent is intended to communicate to all

employees the importance of, and the commitment to health and
safety.

The ‘statement’ should bear the signature of the owner,

managing director, chief executive or other ‘most senior person’ to give
weight to the commitment being shown in what is a very important
feature of the policy.

Q: Outline the three main reasons why manage health and safety and
explain which is the most important of those reasons (6).

A: Moral, Legal and Financial are three main reasons for promoting good
standards of health and safety within an organization. The most
important reason is MORAL because, we all have moral obligation not
to cause harm to others. Employers have a moral obligation toward,
their employees and others.

Q: Explain the difference between Pro-active and Re-active

monitoring and give and example of each (8).

A: Proactive monitoring which monitors the achievement of plans and the

degree of compliance with standards before an Accident, Incident on Ill
Health.
Reactive monitoring which monitors after accidents, ill health and
incidents.
Examples for Proactive Monitoring: Performance Reviews, Review of
Training assessments, Records and needs, Workplace Inspections,
Management system audits & Safety Survey.
Examples for Reactive Monitoring: Accident / Incidence Rates, Ill
Health Incident rates, Accident frequency rates, Accident severity rates
& Sickness absence.

Q: Name the three spheres of influence related to ‘Safety Culture’

and explain how these three spheres of influence interact to
ensure safety at work (8)

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A: The three spheres of influence related to Safety Culture are
 The Organization (The Organizational controls from management)
 The People (Employees / Contractors etc)
 The Job (Tasks)

The three spheres if influences are known to work together to influence

and foster a positive safety culture. The organization that ensure a safe
place of work, information, training, instruction, and supervision,
together with good risk controls sets the scene for employees to work
in a secure and well motivated environment. With this the people within
the organization and those connected to it should be competent and
believe in the goals and preventative measures set by management,
this forms a team of well-motivated employees. The third sphere of
influence is essential to complete the interrelation of the three spheres
of influence. This is the ongoing tasks / jobs, which if well organized
and controlled by management with good communication, consultation
and supervision will go a long way to ensuring and reinforcing a
positive safety culture.

PAPER - I

Q: An employee has been seriously injured after being struck by a

reversing vehicle in a loading bay.

I. Give four reasons why we should investigate accidents? (6)

The reason this accidents should be investigated are numerous and

they include –
 Examining the direct cause of the accidents and the root cause
of the accident to try to prevent future accidents by identifying
and eliminating or reducing the causes.
 Accidents also give use valuable information in relation to
hazards that may exist in the workplace that have not been
identified by a pro-active approach.
 To ensure compliance with legislation and accident reporting
internally
 To ensure training and information can be targeted in the areas
of concern and management controls can be strengthened.

II. Outline the information that should be included in an accident

report (6)

An accident report should be comprehensive to enable the direct and

indirect (root causes) to be identified.

The report should ideally contain the events preceding the accident,
the date and time of the accident, the precise location information on
person(s) involved. A clear account of what was found at the accident
scene with the possible direct causes, together with witness
statements.

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 Initial injuries of person(s) if medical personnel are at the scene their
initial findings should be included.

Other information as required, e.g. – weather conditions, road or

ground conditions etc.

If root cause analysis has been carried out this information should be
included. A conclusion by the accident investigation team is important
for clarity.

III. Give four possible immediate causes of accidents and underlying

(root causes). (8)

Four possible causes of immediate caused of the above accidents may

be slips on workplace surface on the level, employee not paying
attention, no reversing alarm on the vehicle, fork lift truck operator not
be attentive and looking around for pedestrians.

The route causes for the above accidents could be:

 Slips on the workplace level may have a root causes of oil being
split and not cleaned up immediately
 The root cause of a Fork Lift truck could be attributed to the
driver being not properly trained and inadequate training in
reversing techniques.
 The root cause of the employee slipping may be that the
housekeeping regime is in adequate and not monitored.
 The fork lift truck may not be well maintained to check the
reversing alarm is working.

SECTION : 2

Q: 2. Outline the factors you should consider when developing a

safe system of work (8)

When developing a safe system of work you should consider the

following,

Materials – how and what we will use and under what circumstances.

Environment – will the environment in which the work is being carried

out have sufficient heating, ventilation, lighting etc. will the activity or
process have an impact on the environment?

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 People – are people ‘competent’ trained to conduct the specific work /
task

Equipment – is the machinery / equipment to specification for the work

and is it is good condition, with guards where necessary

Within the consideration risk assessments, inspection and accident

reports should be consulted to ensure the safe system of work
addresses all hazards and risk which are likely to arise. Also
manufactures instruction and information and equipment, machinery
and chemicals etc should also be consulted.

Q: 3. Explain why PPE should be considered as the last resort in

the control of occupational hazards? (8)

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is considered the last resort in

the hierarchy of control measures / precautions, as hazards should be
assessed by the risk assessment process and all hazards where
possible should be eliminated or controlled at their source – e.g.
reduce the noise of a compressor by engineering controls by making it
quieter with insulation etc, this will help reduce the level of noise at
source prior to issuing PPE (ear protection). If PPE is given without
trying to eliminate or reduce the hazard (s) we are not using a
systematic method of permanent controls. PPE is a good method of
control for various hazards, however, if we use PPE without first trying
to eliminate or reduce the hazard, the hazard may still exist in its full
form and PPE may not be sufficient means of safe control, also
different types and ranges of PPE protect at varying levels so health
may be compromised, more importantly PPE depends on the user to
wear it and this is practice is difficult to ensure to enforce with
consistent supervision and regular inspections etc.

Q: 4. Describe the main components of a health and safety

management system (10)

The main components of a management system are: Policy,

Organization, Planning and Implementation, Measuring Performance,
Reviewing Performance, Audit and Continuous Improvement.

The components are explained as follows:

Policy should contain

 Protecting the safety and health of all members of the

organization by preventing work related injuries, ill health,
diseases and incidents.

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  Complying with relevant OSH national laws and regulations,
voluntary programmes, collective agreements on OSH and other
requirements to which the organization subscribes.
 Ensuring the workers and their representatives are consulted
and encouraged to participate actively in all elements of the
OSH management system: and
 Continually improving the performance of the OSH management
system.
 Signed / endorsed by senior management and cascaded to all
employees.

Organization Section should ideally contain: a chart illustrating the

management structure so far as health and safety is concerned. The
section should also show details of employees from the lowest levels to
the highest with key personnel identified by name as well as by job title.
Also arrangements, procedures, instructions or other internal
documents used within the framework of the OSH management
system.

Planning and Implementation – An effective planning system for

health and safety requires organization’s to establish and operate a
health and safety management system that, Controls Risk Reacts to
changing demands, Sustains a positive health and safety.

Measuring Health and Safety performance must be monitored at all

levels of the organization from day to day monitoring by line managers
and supervisors to periodic audits of management systems.
Performance measurement techniques fall into two broad categories:
Reactive monitoring which monitor accidents, ill health and incidents
Active monitoring which measure the effectiveness of management
systems and the extent of compliance with standards and the
achievement of plans.

Reviewing Performance – Annual or periodic review of the

performance to ensure the system is working on the ground and
assess if any of the components need more attention.

Audit – An audit is not intended to identify all of the hazards, it is

intended as an evaluation of health and safety management systems,
and is often independent.

Q: 5. Outline the topics that may be typically included on the

agenda of a safety committee meeting (6)

A safety committee would normally include subjects which were of

concern to employees on various health and safety issues. The agenda
would be made up of suggestions and issues which may have been
brought up by employees, contractors and others. The agenda items
that may be typically included are any recent accidents, incidents and
near misses, any problems arising from workplace inspections, e.g.

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 housekeeping, blocked fire exits etc. Also areas such as the
identification of unsafe acts, conditions and hazards that have been
reported and perhaps not suitably rectified.

Other topics may include, stress at work, due to long hours, or

environmental conditions, manual handling issues, worker
dissatisfaction with welfare arrangements, food and catering
contractors etc.

Q: 6 (a). Explain the reasons why young persons may be at a greater

risk of accidents at work. (4)

Young persons at work are more prone to risk due to various factors.
They include their age and physical capability, their lack of knowledge
and experience of the workplace. Also the young person’s perception
of risk has not developed in the workplace setting. The general move
from home/school and a tendency of young persons to take risks to
respond to peer group pressures is also a factor.

6 (b). Outline the measures that could be taken to minimize the

risks to young employees. (4)

It is mandatory to conduct a risk assessment of the areas of work and

activities where a young person is required to work. This should ensure
that all hazards are controlled to as low as reasonably practicable.
Young people should not be subject to excessive hours of work,
exposed to risks (such as dangerous machinery, heavy lifting – manual
handling, excessive heat or cold etc.). Other control measure should
include comprehensive safety orientation (which should include
emergency procedures), PPE where required and competent
supervision and monitoring.

Q: 7. Outline the practical means by which a manager could

involve employees in the improvement of health & safety (8)

Management can involve employees in many projects and schemes

which will enhance and improve health and safety in the workplace.

Some of the methods for involving employees in the improvement of

health and safety include, active involvement in reporting of near
misses, unsafe acts and conditions – this could be accompanied by
and incentive scheme to encourage participation. Also the involvement
of employees in ‘Town Hall’ meetings and with safety committee is a
way of ensuring participation in health and safety improvements. Other
methods include; training which outline the results of poor health and
safety practices, involvement in the selection of PPE and other safety

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 equipment and materials. Active participation in monthly campaigns
such as the health hazards of smoking, and the benefits of wearing
PPE are all helpful tools in improving employee involvement in health
and safety.

Q: 8. Outline four active monitoring methods that can be used

when assessing health & safety (8)

Active (Proactive) Monitoring is intended to reveal hazards that are not

controlled to a standard. Reveal visible non compliance with standards
relies heavily on visible evidence only
When assessing health and safety in the workplace proactive (active)
monitoring can be achieved by various methods. Those methods
include:

Documented workplace inspections which are conducted on a regular

basis to spot immediate hazards, unsafe acts and conditions and
ensure action is taken for remedial measure as soon as possible.
Checklists are often used for inspections, but care should be taken not
to miss ‘other’ hazards that are not part of the generic checklist.

Risk assessments is a major active monitoring tool as this systematic

method highlights hazards and risks and eliminates of or reduce them
to ALARP.

Auditing is also a voluble monitoring tool as this method examines the

health and safety management systems and outlines areas for
improvement.

Reporting near misses / incidents is very important as this can lead to

prevention of major accident in the future.

Q: 9 (a). Explain the purpose of the ‘Statement of Intent’ of a health

& Safety Policy (2)

The statement of intent is intended to communicate to all employees

the importance of, and the commitment to health and safety. The
‘statement’ should bear the signature of the owner, managing director,
chief executive or other ‘most senior person’ to give weight to the
commitment being shown in what is a very important feature of the
policy.
Q: 9 (b). Outline the circumstances which would require a health and
safety policy to be reviewed. (4)

A health and safety policy is not a static document and should be

reviewed at regular intervals, those intervals can be determined by
certain factors and they include:

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 The circumstance that may lead to a need to review the health and
safety policy:

 Passage of time – at least annually is there have not been

organizational changes.
 Technological, organizational or legal changes – when new
technology has been introduced into the workplace that may
pose further hazards, the workface or management has been
reduced or increased or new legislation required that changes is
area of health and do safety be reflected in the policy – e.g. if a
pattern accidents in a certain area have been highlighted.

Q: 10. Giving reason in each case, identify FOUR categories of

persons who may be considered a useful member of an accident
investigation team. (6)

Accident team members must be chosen for their knowledge, skill and
experience in certain areas. Four members who could be useful are:

Health & Safety Manager – the individual would bring the skills and
knowledge of a health and safety professional and have in – depth
knowledge of accident investigation.

Supervisor – this individual would have first hand knowledge of the

workers task and activities and the ‘on the job hazards’.

Worker Representative – this individual would bring the experience of

the work and have information gained via interaction with colleagues
on a range of issues in the workplace. Worker and the

Site Engineer – This person would probably be the most senior to lead
the investigation, the professional engineering background would bring
a systematic methodology of examining any mechanical failures etc.

Q: 11. Identify the factors to be considered to ensure the health

and safety of persons who are required to work on their own away
from the work place. (8)

Risk assessment is essential to examine the hazards and potential

risks of lone workers who are more vulnerable. Control measure
include

Procedures will need to be put in place to: monitor lone workers to see
they remain safe.

These may include supervisor’s periodically visiting and observing

people working alone; regular contact between the lone worker and
supervision using either a telephone or radio.

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 Automatic warning device which operate if specific signals are not
received periodically from the lone worker, e.g. systems for security
staff;
Other devices designed to raise the alarm in the event of an
emergency and which are operated manually or automatically by the
absence of activity. Checks that a lone worker has returned to their
base or home on completion of a task.

Lone workers should be capable of responding correctly to

emergencies. Lone workers should have access to adequate first – aid
facilities and mobile workers should carry a first – aid kit suitable for
treating minor injuries.

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