NEBOSH

MANAGEMENT OF HEALTH AND SAFETY

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

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.

IG1-0038-ENG-OBE-QP-V1 May24 © NEBOSH 2024 page 1 of 6

SCENARIO

The organisation
Northern Mill is an organisation that manufactures a range of cloth (textiles) for national and
international customers. They have a large factory that produces textiles made from a range of
fibres. The owner of Northern Mill runs the factory and employs 50 people. There are 30 factory
workers and four factory supervisors, all working a range of shifts throughout the week. The rest of
the workforce carry out administrative functions.

At the building entrance there is a reception area. Along a corridor leading from the reception area,
there are doors to the factory floor. These doors have ‘no unauthorised access’ signs on them.
There are also stairs to the upper floor where there are offices for the administrative teams and the
owner. There are also private meeting rooms for use when customers and visitors are on site, a
large kitchen and break room, and toilets.

Textile-making process
Northern Mill produces both small and large volumes of textiles for a range of customers. The
textiles produced on site are used by customers for products such as clothing, interior furnishings,
and luggage.

The factory floor is a large open space. It has open plan areas for each stage that uses different
machinery in the textile-making process.

Firstly, yarn is woven into 250kg rolls of textiles by machines in the knitting area. The textiles are
then transferred by hand into large vessels in the dyeing area where they are bleached, dyed,
finished, and rinsed. The textiles continuously move inside the machines. Every machine is clearly
labelled with a name, load capacity limit of 500kg, and basic working instructions.

The textiles are then run through machines to untwist and smooth them out on the way to the pad
area, where softeners and treatments are applied. Finally, the textiles are run through chambers in
the drying area, where they are dried using biomass steam and then pressed by rollers. The
temperature and humidity in these chambers are carefully monitored. The textiles are then folded
into containers for processing where they are cut to size before shipping.

Most of the machinery is automated, but workers have to change machine settings for each textile
order to fit the individual requirements. The workers closely monitor the machines throughout the
process.

Health and safety changes

Following a serious accident six months ago involving a worker on the factory floor, the owner has
made a considerable effort to improve general health and safety at Northern Mill. They have made it
clear to factory workers that they want to achieve zero lost time accidents going forward.

The owner hired an external health and safety consultant to carry out an audit of health and safety at
the factory. Following this audit, the owner has worked hard to apply the recommended
improvements. Some actions carried out were revising the health and safety policy, updating the risk
assessments of tasks completed in the factory, and implementing a planned preventative
maintenance program for all machines. The owner also spent time with factory workers to determine
their level of health and safety knowledge in the workplace, which was found to be significantly
lacking. As a result, all factory workers are now required to complete annual refresher health and
safety training. Additionally, the owner has hired a full-time health and safety adviser.

At induction, new factory workers are given a basic overview of all areas of the factory floor. The
owner has re-designed the induction to include basic health and safety training, and to help give
them an understanding of the revised health and safety policy. The new factory workers are also
eventually trained on the safe systems of work for using all factory machinery.

IG1-0038-ENG-OBE-QP-V1 May24 © NEBOSH 2024 page 2 of 6

Supervisor R has worked at Northern Mill for over 10 years and is popular among the workers. Since
the changes in the approach to health and safety management at the factory, Supervisor R has
persistently voiced their opinion that these changes are a waste of time and money. They have said
that they are too busy on the factory floor to spend time on health and safety.

Recently, the owner asked Supervisor R to carry out the induction for three new factory workers, on
their first day. Resentfully, Supervisor R gives the new factory workers a tour of the factory and gives
them printed copies of the health and safety policy, telling them to read it in their own time.

Near miss incident

A week later, one of the new factory workers is assigned the task of transferring a large order of
textiles from the knitting area to the vessels in the dyeing area. Supervisor R tells the new factory
worker that because of an error with the delivery date of this order, they need to speed up as this
needs to be completed as soon as possible.

Supervisor R is due to finish their shift in 15 minutes, but wants to leave early to attend a personal
event. They tell the new factory worker that the next supervisor due on shift (Supervisor S) is
probably around somewhere, so they are fine to get on with the task. Concerned, the new factory
worker starts to question being left to work alone on a machine they have not previously used.
Supervisor R shouts that the new factory worker should “do as you are told, or I will report you to the
owner”, then leaves.

There are 10 rolls of textiles for the new factory worker to transfer to the dyeing area. Worried that
they will not finish on time, they quickly begin loading the textiles into a dyeing vessel. They force the
textiles from four rolls into the vessel, before they start the machine.

The machine starts; immediately, a warning flashes on the information panel indicating a potential
overload. Frustrated, the new factory worker reaches into the vessel to remove some of the textiles.
At the same time, Supervisor S walks onto the factory floor to start their shift. As they pass the
dyeing area, they see the new factory worker reaching into the vessel, so they rush over to stop
them.

The new factory worker’s wrist has become entangled in the textiles, and they cry out as they are
pulled forwards. Just in time, Supervisor S presses the emergency stop button on the machine and
manages to free the new factory worker before they are injured.

Supervisor S calls over to another factory worker, telling them to “close down this machine to prevent
it from being used until further notice.” The new factory worker is visibly distressed. Supervisor S
uses a two-way radio to ask the owner to supervise the factory floor, while they take the distressed
new factory worker to an empty meeting room to calm down. As the first-aider on shift, Supervisor S
checks the worker’s wrist for any injury. The new factory worker is not physically injured, only
shocked by the event, so they are sent home to recover.

Supervisor S returns to the factory floor to carry out and record a near miss investigation with the
help of the owner.

IG1-0038-ENG-OBE-QP-V1 May24 © NEBOSH 2024 page 3 of 6

Task 1: Auditing approach

1 (a) What are the likely reasons that a health and safety audit was carried out
instead of an inspection at Northern Mill? (10)
Note: You should support your answer using relevant information from
the scenario.

(b) What are the advantages of Northern Mill using an external auditor? (5)

Task 2: Management of risks

2 What are the strengths of the organisation’s approach to managing risks in the
factory? (11)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 3: Individual factors

3 What individual factors of the new factory worker could have contributed to the
near miss? (10)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 4: Management of near miss

4 Comment on what worked well with Supervisor S’s management of the near
miss involving the new factory worker. (7)
Note: Your answers must be based on the scenario only.

Task 5: Procedural controls

5 What procedural controls were in place to reduce the likelihood of an incident

involving the dyeing machine? (8)
Note: You should support your answer using relevant information from the
scenario.

IG1-0038-ENG-OBE-QP-V1 May24 © NEBOSH 2024 page 4 of 6

Task 6: Policy implementation

6 The revised health and safety policy for Northern Mill reads as follows

To the best of our ability, we commit to

Preventing accidents, near misses, injury, and ill-health.

Investigating accidents and near misses.
Providing safe and healthy working conditions.
Providing safe plant and equipment.
Setting and reviewing health and safety objectives.
Identifying health and safety hazards and risks in the workplace.
Providing adequate training.
Providing health and safety information to workers.
Involving workers.
The provision of resources required to make this policy and arrangements
effective.

To what extent has this policy been implemented over the past six months? (16)
Note: Your answers must be based on the scenario only.

Task 7: Workers’ duties in the workplace

7 Under Recommendation 16 (parts a, b, and d) of the International Labour

Organisation’s (ILO’s) – Occupational Safety and Health Recommendation,
1981 (No.164), Northern Mill workers must co-operate with their employer to
help them fulfil their obligations under C155.

Comment on the extent to which the workers have not co-operated with their
employer. (10)
Note: You should support your answers, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 8: Benefits of worker involvement

8 What are the potential benefits of involving Northern Mill’s factory workers in
workplace health and safety? (10)
Note: Learners should not focus on consultation.
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant
information from the scenario.

Task 9: Learning lessons from adverse events

9 Why is it important for Northern Mill to learn lessons from adverse events such
as the near miss? (13)

IG1-0038-ENG-OBE-QP-V1 May24 © NEBOSH 2024 page 5 of 6

End of examination

Now follow the instructions on submitting your answers.

Important note
All NEBOSH Intellectual Property shall remain vested in NEBOSH. NEBOSH assessment papers,
supporting documents and answer sheets must not be reproduced/copied/distributed in any way, or
any form, electronic or otherwise, without the prior written consent of NEBOSH or as required by law.

IG1-0038-ENG-OBE-QP-V1 May24 © NEBOSH 2024 page 6 of 6