4E1 Past Exam

Question 1

Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, employers are required to put a Safety Statement in place. (i) What is the purpose of the safety Statement?

Answer 1

The purpose of the safety statement is to identify the manner in which the safety, health and welfare at work of his or her employees is to be secured and managed.

Question 2

(ii) List and describe the key elements of the Safety Statement.

Answer 2

• Hazards identified and risks assessed
• Protective and preventive measures put in place, including resources provided
• Emergency plans and procedures
• Duties of employees in relation to health and safety at work
• Names of responsible persons and tasks
• Arrangements for appointment of safety representatives and/or for consultation

Question 3

(iii) List and describe any steps the employer needs to take once the Safety Statement is in place.

Answer 3

General overriding duty contained in Section 8(1)
Every Employer shall ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safety, health and welfare at work of his or her employees
Statutory definition of “reasonably practicable” as an employer has exercised all due care
• put in place the necessary protective and preventive measures
• identified the hazards and assessed the risks to safety and health likely to result in accidents or injury to health at the place of work concerned,
• having regard to the unusual, unforeseeable and exceptional nature of any circumstance that may result in an accident at work or injury to health at that place of work.

Question 4

(iv) Outline the core duties of both employers and employees.

Answer 4

Employer - duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable the health and safety of employees at the place of work (various particular duties) and duty to manage and conduct undertaking/activities so as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that third parties at the place of work, not being their employees are not exposed to risks to their health and safety.
Employees
• various duties to take care of own safety and that of others affected by their acts or omissions
• comply with instructions
• training and use equipment as instructed
• use PPE
• not be under influence of intoxicant
• report defects

Question 5

(v) List the potential parties to whom the employer may owe a duty towards.

Answer 5

Duties owed to
• employees,
• employees of other companies,
• visitors to the place of work,
• members of public and
• trespassers.

Question 6

Diversity and inclusion (D&I) is more than policies, programs, or headcounts. Organisations create a competitive advantage by respecting the unique needs, perspectives and potential of all their team members. Diversity and inclusion are two interconnected concepts—but they are not interchangeable. Based on this statement, please respond to the following questions: (i) What is the difference between diversity and inclusion?

Answer 6

Diversity is the representation of different people in an organization, this includes race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, age and abilities.
Inclusion is ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to contribute to and influence every part and level of a workplace, while ensuring that everyone feels safe and can bring their full, unique selves to work.

Question 7

(ii) Why is diversity and inclusion important in the workplace?

Answer 7

Its more than just the right thing to do and social justice is not the only driver for D&I. It’s important because it contributes to
• higher revenue growth,
• increased access to talent and skills,
• increased customer reach,
• higher employee retention and reduced turnover,
• greater employee engagement,
• enhanced creativity and innovation,
• team effectiveness (performance and collaboration), and
• increased productivity.

Question 8

Performance management is essential to businesses success; however, an effective performance management approach is more than the annual appraisal. (i) What are the main elements of a continuous performance management process?

Answer 8

• Modern, person-centered approach to promoting, evaluating, and improving employee performance.
• Measurable goals and objectives with continual review of progress.
• Alignment of individual objectives to organisational strategy and goals.
• Continuous communications between Manager and Employee.
• Real-time performance feedback – celebratory, positive, and constructive up, down, and across an organization with input to development planning.

Question 9

(ii) What are the benefits of performance management?

Answer 9

• Improved employee engagement and motivation.
• Better talent retention.
• Promotes organizational connectedness
• Better overall business performance.
• Identifies potential risks.
• Helps to eliminates bias.
• Develops more effective managers.
• Identify development opportunities and training needs and Nurtures trust.

Question 10

For a professional engineer, what is meant by the requirement to “behave ethically”?

Answer 10

Commentary to include some of the following points:
a. The philosophy of the choice between right and wrong
b. Standards – what you “ought” to do, and “ought” not to do
c. Responsibility for avoiding harm
d. May relate to risk
e. Ethical dilemmas
f. Ethics includes the concepts of: Honesty, Integrity, Fairness, Respect, Treating all others as equals, Loyalty, & Confidentiality
g. Ethics go far beyond the difference between what is “legal” and “illegal”

Question 11

Select THREE of these points and for each one: (i) Explain the point in your own words. (ii) Give an example of a situation in which an engineer might face an ethical dilemma related to the point. (iii) Explain how you would decide what to do in the situation you described in (ii). NOTE: The Engineers Ireland (EI) Code of Ethics 2018 has been updated to the 2023 version. Please follow the lecture notes and reading material uploaded for ethics.

Question 12

To support intrapreneurship, describe two individual level and two organisational level factors that help fosters this type of ecosystem.

Answer 12

The answer should include detailed descriptions including the points as shown below.
Individual
• Self-attitudes – key role of personal initiative, self-efficacy, recognises capability, proactiveness, positive attitude
• Capabilities – educational level, characteristics (skills, abilities, perception, etc), knowledge, agentic and strategic, career adaptability
• Judgements – forming sustainable initiatives, perception of risk and reward, incentivisation and rewards, probability of success
• Personality attributes/traits – flexibility and drive, openness, extroversion, conscientious, emotional stability,
Organisational
• Development support and work design – supportive structure promotes participation, work discretion, coaching supports engagement, advice and mentoring,
• Resource availability – financial, physical (technological), intellectual capital, workshops, peer-to-peer sharing
• Managerial style – self-determination theory, creativity and framing research, organisational strategy and resources needed, trust.
• Innovative culture – autonomy, tolerance to failure, allow to take risks, support skills development, culture

Question 13

Briefly explain the difference between entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship.

Answer 13

Entrepreneurship is the willingness to start a new business, whilst intrapreneurship is entrepreneurship within an organisation or firm, with a bottom-up rather than a top-down focus.

Question 14

(ii) What is the objective of a bank reconciliation?

Answer 14

The objective of a bank reconciliation is to ensure that the records of cash book balance (i.e., business’ record of their bank account) match the corresponding information in the bank statement (i.e., the bank’s record of the bank account). This process helps identify discrepancies, such as errors or omissions, and ensures accurate financial reporting.

Question 15

(iii) Provide the 2 reasons why you might have difference between the bank statement and cash book.

Answer 15

Differences between the bank statement and the cash book
When attempting to reconcile the cash book with the bank statement, there are three differences between the cash book and bank statement:
• unrecorded items
• timing differences
• errors

Question 16

(i) What is accounting?

Answer 16

Accounting is concerned with collection, analysing and communicating financial information. The ultimate aim is to help those using this information to make more informed decisions.

Question 17

(ii) Provide examples of three user types of accounting information.

Answer 17

Owners, Managers, Lenders (banks), Suppliers, Investment Analysis, Customers, Competitors, Employees, Government.

Question 18

(iv) Why are financial ratios used?

Answer 18

Financial ratios provide a quick and relatively simple means of assessing the financial health of a business.

Question 19

(ii) Explain why you chose that effect?

Answer 19

• Repaying borrowings requires that case be paid to the lender. This means that 2 figures in the statement of financial position will be affected, but none in the income statement
• Making a profitable sale on credit will increase the sales revenue and profit figures. No cash will change hands at this point, however.
• Buying a non-current asset on credit affects neither the cash balance or the profit figure
• Receiving cash from a credit customer increases the cash balance and reduces the credit customer’s balance. Both figures are in the statement of financial position. The income statement is unaffected.
• Deprecating a non-current asset means that an expense is being recognised. This causes a decrease in profit. No cash is paid or received.
• Buying some inventories for cash means that the value of the inventories will increase and the cash balance will decrease by a similar amount. Profit is not affected.

Question 20

What are the two methods of deprecation that are commonly used in practice?

Answer 20

Straight Line Method
Reducing Balance Method

Question 21

Name the three reasons why differences can arise between the Cash Book/Bank Account balance and the Bank Statement?

Answer 21

1. Timing Differences
   - outstanding/un-presented cheques (cheques paid out by the business which have not yet appeared on the bank statement)
   - outstanding lodgements (money paid into the bank by the business but not yet appearing as a receipt on the bank statement)
2. Errors by the Business.
   - Omissions e.g. interest, direct debits, or transposition errors
3. Errors by the Bank

Question 22

Describe the different requirements for managing a Project, Programme and Portfolio.

Answer 22

• Projects are a unique transient endeavour intended to deliver planned objectives. They are unique, time bound, have specific costs, clear scope, acceptance criteria, risk and uncertainty, and are run by dynamic, transient teams with specialist roles as and when required. Projects are typically; Focused on outputs, Less Complex, Have defined start and end dates, Agreed total budget, Defined Scope, Less Risk. Project management uses processes, methods and training, together with knowledge and skills of the project manager and team to deliver the required outputs.
• Programmes are a group of related projects and change management activities that will deliver beneficial change. Grouping allows oversight and prioritisation of resources, economies of scale, minimising duplication, management of interdependencies, co-ordination of stakeholders and communications, and easier sharing of lessons. Programmes Management includes: a focus is on outcomes, Higher Complexity than projects, Longer Timescale, Higher Budget, Scope is less defined, Higher Risk. Programme Management requires staying out of the weeds. Programme Managers are responsible for the overall planning of the programme, co-ordinating the management and control of the projects, prioritising resources, senior stakeholder management, supporting and communicating high level risk, and delivering benefits. Their key role is to support the project managers and unblock issues. They can act as sponsor for the projects.
• Portfolio management includes the selection, prioritisation and control of projects and programmes which are aligned with the organisation’s strategy and objectives. Portfolios typically focus on: Strategic Grouping, Focus on maximising return on investment, Balanced mix of projects and programmes, Ongoing, Higher risk. The portfolio manager decides which projects/programmes to undertake, provides the required resources, makes sure they are being used efficiently, and chases benefits. The portfolio manager is responsible to the executive board for delivery.

Question 23

Why do we have a habit for underestimating engineering costs in some sectors, for example construction? In addition, what steps can be taken to improve our cost estimating at the outset of projects?

Answer 23

The reason we typically overestimate construction costs is largely due to human judgement being generally optimistic due to overconfidence and insufficient regard to distributional information about outcomes.
Ways in which we can improve our cost estimation are:
• Think slow, act fast: Spend more time planning and less time delivering as the the delivery phase is the riskiest and is when the unknown risks can hit the project the hardest. (i.e. you’d rather have been planning a project than delivering one when Covid hit).
• Think from right to left: Projects are often started by jumping straight to a solution, even a specific technology. That’s the wrong place to begin. You want to start by asking question and considering alternatives. At the outset, always assume that there is more to learn. Start with the most basic question of all: why?
• Your project is not unique: Do lots of research into other reference projects and what their outturn cost was to give you the ability to benchmark from a top-down perspective.
• Follow the lego principle: Break big undertakings into small, reputable ones. Each iteration will bring efficiency gains – i.e. modular construction.

Question 24

What is asset information management? Why is it important for asset intensive organisations such as utilities, ports, rail companies etc?

Answer 24

Information Management (IM) is the process by which an asset’s or organisation’s data is managed over the lifecycle of an asset or project. This includes how data is structured, curated and stored and made available to users, both within and between organisations.
Why is it important?
• In the construction and infrastructure sectors, vast amounts of data are generated throughout the asset lifecycle.
• The use of IM enables organisations to draw insight from their data and in turn enables more efficient and effective decision-making in the design, construction and operation of built assets. It creates value and resilience for organisations as well as benefits for the wider economy, society and the environment.